Carrollhood Interview with Nathan Young, Reed Murray & Tim McTague

Newly formed , Carrollhood, just released their first song titled "Remission" which can be heard on their website (http://www.carrollhood.net/). The band, consisting of Tampa, Florida natives Nathan Young(Anberlin), Tim McTague(Underoath) and Reed Murray(Marksmen), set aside a few days in between separate hectic touring schedules for some face-to-face collaboration and writing. "Remission," recorded in a matter of days, features vocals from each of the three members, shows incredible promise and a good bit of diversity. I had a chance to chat with each of the guys briefly on their new side project and discuss their instant chemistry, future plans and even the age old question of how their band name came about....

Cliche one to begin... How the name Carrollhood come about?
 Young: I grew up in Carrollwood my whole life. Carrollhood was the neighborhood gang that used to spray paint their name all over the rich peoples cars and mailboxes. I was terrified of them. Every time I'd ride my bike around I was scared they were going to kill me. Then when I was older I realized they we're all probably the rich people's kids that were my age that discovered their dad's spray paint in the garage. A solid gang name though for sure.
How did you guys originally meet up?
 McTague: We are old friends in the Tampa scene. Played in different bands together and just hung out. 
 Young: I've known Tim since I was a kid playing in other bands around Tampa. Then later on in life, we married sisters and became brother in laws. I met Reed when I was younger too and have been best friends ever since. Where did the idea for the project begin?
 Young: Tim &; I had been trying to do a side project for like the last 6 years. We messed around with a few different things, but due to separate busy schedules it never happened. About 6 months ago I asked Reed to start writing with me & throwing around ideas. Tim basically started with us right after that and the ideas came fast as crap. Reed was the missing link to getting Tim and I to finally jam together.
 McTague: Nate and Reed were jamming on some demos and I got looped in on the production end etc. We all started riffing on ideas and all of a sudden we had a band going. Chain emails, emailed demos and 48 hours in the studio we had Remission and a bunch of other ideas that will be recorded later this year.
What would you say are your goals for this project thus far?
 Young: To write jams together that we all would want to listen to. Because of nature of this project, we'll be able to avoid a lot of the "conventional band" stuff. We'll just write and record as much as we can, and put it out as soon as we can.
McTague: To spread our music and ideas as far and wide as humanly possible. I hope to play some shows sometime soon and hopefully muster up a tour or two somewhere in there as well.

Young and McTague recording studio

I read that you guys began writing in January of this year. How has the writing process panned out for you guys thus far? Do you find that it varies from past projects you have been involved in?
Murray: The interesting aspect of our writing process is that we have yet to sit down together and write out these songs face-to-face due to our busy, conflicting schedules. Instead, we've been writing numerous demos on GarageBand and sending them back and forth to each other in an effort to nail down the best structure and melody to shape potential songs. The result has been so open and natural - we couldn't be more excited!
 McTague: The writing process has been awesome. I have never been in a band where there are so many co-writers/collaborations. In my current band I usually end up heading up the writing side for the most part, and it is crazy to have full songs dropped in my lap without me working on anything. It makes things super productive and creatively freeing. Everyone is pulling weight and contributing. It's awesome.
 Young: It's been great! It's been way more natural than I thought it would be. We never sat down and said, "lets sound like this. Or write a certain way". We just started demoing songs and it came out the way it did. I think with the next few songs people will see how eclectic all of it will be. And yeah, definitely different from our other bands.
Do you guys plan on touring anytime soon? Or will this stay a studio project for now?
 Young: For now, just writing and recording songs. When we have enough jams I'm sure we'll play live at some point
 McTague:I would love to play out when it is possible. It's just so hard with conflicting schedules.
How would you describe your sound, in comparison to the other projects that you have been involved in?
Young: Not sure really. I'd like other people to decide our sound for us. But they'll probably need more than 1 song. So I'll let you know in a few months.
 McTague: This is way more raw. WIth Underoath everything is taken, then retaken and pondered over. Carrollhood is just all about " what do we want and what feels good." which is super freeing.

Murray in studio

How did the song "Remission" come together? What would you say inspired the song?
 Young: Just by us throwing around ideas. Reed brought the base of the song, then we all just kept adding and adding until we thought it ruled. The lyrics are inspired by Reed's sister going through and recovering from cancer. Hence the name, Remission. She's been cancer free for over 4 years now, which rules beyond belief!
 Murray: "Remission" started as one of the first few demos we had written for this project. I wrote the foundation of the song and with the great help of Nate and Tim, we constantly made revisions until it felt right. When it came time to write lyrics, they were inspired by my sister having cancer in the past, overcoming it, and being in remission for over 4 to this day, which is nothing short of a miracle and a blessing!
Any idea when the debut EP will be released? Do you have a time frame you are shooting for yet?
McTague: We hope to record end of the year and see what happens from there. As soon as possible is our goal. We have tons of songs and just need to set the appropriate time aside to make them happen.
Young: This fall we will definitely do the majority of the recording though. So maybe the end of this year to have an EP. But hopefully more songs and such before then.
Perfect day, driving with the windows down, what are you listening to?
Murray: Peter Bjorn & John!

Young: Right now, Cults.
McTague: Bon Iver...new record, Kanye West...new record.....that's it!

Underoath Interview with Grant Brandell

The summer that I graduated high school, I found myself drawn to a certain album cover. "They're Only Chasing Safety," may have been the first album that I had purchased that included "scream" vocals, but it certainly was not the last. For over a year, that album was in heavy rotation in my car and on my very cool stainless steel Dell DJ, on top of being one of my favorite album to listen to with the windows down. It also acted as a gateway to appreciating other types of music, that I had previously not been exposed to. Over the past several years, Underoath has continued to release heavier music that breaks the barriers of hardcore by inventing brand new sounds outside of the normal spectrum of the genre.
With the release of their new record, "Disambiguation," quickly approaching (November 9th), I had the chance to speak briefly with bassist Grant Brandell concerning their fresh take on the writing/recording process and how they managed to generate a darker overall sound.

So how did you guys land on the name “Disambiguation” for your new album?
Grant: Well, the name (“Disambiguation”) came from the actual symbol that we have ( ᴓ). It has a bunch of definitions for, but that is one of them. Basically what we were trying to do originally was leave the album name just as the symbol, but obviously people need a name to call it by so we decided to go with that definition of the symbol. The symbol has so many different definitions, and so many different ways to define it. It kind of represents what we thought of our band in the regard that not one member makes up or group. People come and go, there are no original members now and the band seems to be it’s own thing. We thought that was pretty cool, so that is where it came from.
The album is coming out on Tooth & Nail and Roadrunner?
Grant: Yes, it is going to be released in the States and Canada on Tooth & Nail, and the rest of the world on Roadrunner.
How did you get hooked up with Roadrunner?
Grant: We met one of their agents over in Germany, when we were over there on tour. Tooth & Nail does a great job for us in the states, but there hasn’t been a big push for overseas growth. We wanted to try something new and we were in the works of renegotiating, so we brought the idea to them and it ended up working out well without hurt feelings. We are stoked to be on Roadrunner, because from what I have seen they always do a great job pushing a band.
How would you say the recording process for “Disambiguation” differed from previous releases?
Grant: Well we did this one with Matt Goldman, who did the last one too. This one was a lot more comfortable, at the same time extremely analytical. We pretty much analyzed every point, but in a good way. It would be stressful at times, but everyone was down with trying to go in the same direction, which we haven’t been before. With past members we caught a lot of bumps in the road with where the song should go, what should happen in the song and the overall vibe. I think this is the first time on a record that everyone was on the same page, to go wherever the song took them and not forced at all. It was defiantly stressful, but it was the most exciting vibe that we have had in the studio. It was great that we were able to create something new that was fresh and really stoked to be a part of.
Has having a new drummer brought change to the group?
Grant: It was kind of a big change; because our old drummer Aaron (Gillespie) did a lot of the singing too and now our signer Spencer does everything. So it was definitely a big change in that regard.
With Aaron’s departure, is anyone going to step up and do the clean vocals? Spencer maybe?
Grant: Yeah, he is going to be doing all of the vocals. I wouldn’t say that it was fifty-fifty, scream to clean vocals, but it is pretty close to that. He is doing a lot of singing, which is awesome. He has always been a good singer, but it just never came up because Aaron had such a great voice. He just kind of took the reigns this time and shocked everyone really. He did a great job.
How would you say the writing differed for this album, from than that of previous releases? Was it written before or after Aaron left?
Grant: There were a couple of ideas with Aaron, but it was actually very much like the theme/style like “Changing Future Dreams.” When we got Spencer in the band, we were like “We have a new singer, lets put the record out now. Let’s get it done because we haven’t put anything out in two years.” We had a writing schedule already booked for this album; we had studio time already booked. We wanted to release the record before it was too late. A lot of times with labels, if you try to release an album in mid-to-late November, it get pushed back to February. So we had all of this time booked and everything, and were on the last leg of a European tour that we were on, before we came home and started writing, Aaron ended up leaving. Literally, within a week from being back home, we called Daniel and he was down at the house. He just jumped in headfirst. He never played on a metronome, and he learned that. We wrote the whole record in a about a month and a half, and just crunched it out three to five times a week. It was definitely exciting and it felt the same way as when we were making “They’re Only Chasing Safety.” There was a new vibe there and a new direction to go. Looking back, it was kind of ridiculous that we were able to pull it off, and keep the same schedule that we had planned, which was already tight. As far as the writing process went, everyone was involved and even Daniel came with guitar riffs and such (he used to write guitar riffs for Norma Jean back in the day). In the studio, it wasn’t sold, until all six dudes were sold on it.
So when you guys approached a song for this album, you just brought in separate ideas and collaborated from there?
Grant: Yeah, pretty much. We are all on the same page, as far as everyone has an equal say. Obviously just because of musical purposes, Tim writes the most because he is the guitar player, whereas someone like Chris who plays the Keyboards, he has an equal say. If a part sucks, you have to tell the guy “the part sucks.” It is just cool to know that everyone is on the same page, and we have passed the “emotional/hurt feelings stage.” We realize that what we are trying to do is important, and that we are trying to make music with these other five guys, because you trust them and you care about their opinion. When they say something, you are going to listen and take it in.
In your past records, especially in your last release, “Lost in the Sound of Separation,” a great deal of the lyrics seemed to be faith-based. Is that trend going to continue in this album?
Grant: Yeah, we are still the same dudes. Spencer writes most of the lyrics, and he is the same guy. Kind of the same themes, like moving on with life, and different struggles. I think the big thing with us is that it is written more from a “Christian perspective,” not “Christian lyrics.” Things like dealing with situations, whatever they may be, and how God intertwines with that. How your views, beliefs, and feelings intertwine with those decisions. Spencer has been writing a majority of the lyrics since “Define the Great Line,” so I think that the style of the lyrics will keep the same path, but kind of a little darker this time. He is the kind of guy who has been through a lot of stuff, and struggles with a lot of stuff and at the same time has a lot of views and thoughts about being in the world. So that is all kind of mixed in there.
You had stated that Spencer’s lyrics were a little bit “darker” this time around. Do you think that extend into the actual music? Does the album have an overall “darker” vibe to it?
Grant: I think so, for sure. This album has some of the heaviest songs that we have ever written. I think that the “sing” melodies are a lot more minor and have a darker vibe to them. Even the stuff that could be considered the “prettier” stuff, still has that kind of dark/indie mood to it. There is very little on the record that sounds “poppy.”
What is next for you guys? Touring?
Grant: Yeah, we actually leave in November for a tour with A Day To Remember