The Carbons perform at the De'd Dog Bar and Grill at 8 p.m. on January 31 and at Marmot Basin on February 1 at 2 p.m. 聽| Supplied photo
Unless you鈥檙e out of town, there is no reason to miss The Carbons鈥� upcoming shows during Jasper in January. If you鈥檝e ever belted along to The Black Keys, head-bobbed to Foo Fighters, or found a piece of yourself buried deep in Red Hot Chili Peppers鈥� lyrics, The Carbons will align satisfy your musical tastes on multiple levels.
Lead guitar and vocalist Tomy Thisdale spoke with the 51暗网鈥檚 Nicolle Hodges about their upcoming tour dates in Jasper, hit song Black Mirror and colourful band biography.
51暗网: There are three of you in the band, correct?
Tomy: That鈥檚 correct.
Fitz: Where are the other two?
Tomy: One of them is teaching guitar right now and the other one is teaching drums.
Fitz: That鈥檚 fitting.
Tomy: We all do music full time.
Fitz: Congratulations. I know that can be hard. Going through your website it looks like you guys are doing well?
Tomy: Yeah, it鈥檚 been a rollercoaster ride since our album dropped in 2018. We played over 100 shows, went to Australia, played a festival in the US, and went across Canada as well.
Fitz: Comforts That Kill is your latest song release?
Tomy: Yeah, it came out in September.
Fitz: How do you feel about where the band is at right now, musically?
Tomy: I feel really good. Black Mirror is still our number one song. It came out in March 2019 and it鈥檚 taken off. It allowed us to go to Australia and booked us the most gigs and earned us the most fans. That鈥檚 the direction I wanted to go after the first album. It鈥檚 the sonic direction I want.
Fitz: Explain the shift from the first album to the song Black Mirror being what encapsulates the sound you want?
Tomy: When I started writing a lot of the songs for August Ash, I had lots of inspiration from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters, and a lot of funk; even Stevie Wonder and Black Keys. We have been getting Pearl Jam a lot too, probably because my vocals are similar to Eddie Vedder. This new direction is more like all the fast stuff that Kings of Leon do.
Fitz: The song Black Mirror, you wrote it as well?
Tomy: I did.
Fitz: I love the idea behind the song that there is a common fear we share that our best days are behind us. It鈥檚 such a melancholy, philosophical rabbit hole one can go down. Is this feeling based on your own experiences?
Tomy: Yeah. It鈥檚 about the fear that our best days are behind us but in reality, our best days are never behind us.
Fitz: It comes down to how you believe life works.
Tomy: Exactly. It鈥檚 fear but it鈥檚 never true. Our best years are ahead of us as long as you want them to be.
Fitz: I think as a creative, artist, musician, you have to have a relentless sense of hope or else it鈥檚 hard to do what you鈥檙e doing.
Tomy: Yeah. I just spent all day sending emails booking a tour in the States, we鈥檙e releasing a song next week, and I鈥檓 trying to write a song by Sunday. My brain is in three different places. I took on too much this week. Personally, with the song, I had definitely been feeling that. I turned 30 in 2019.
Fitz: Congratulations! When was your birthday?
Tomy: July 9.
Fitz: Leo?
Tomy: Cancer.
Fitz: So you鈥檙e all full of feelings?
Tomy: Haha, that鈥檚 what everybody says. It must be true.
Fitz: Reading the lyrics of some of your songs, it makes sense.聽
Tomy: Full of feelings. I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e heard it quite like that before. I鈥檒l have to add it to our bio.
Fitz: Your bio already sounds fantastic. If I recall from reading it, you guys like to have movie quote battles, end the day with a craft beer in hand, shred the gnar and ride motorcycles through the Rockies. Did I get that right?
Tomy: Yeah. Wow. You鈥檙e well-researched.
Fitz: Not really. I just have a strong ability to memorize things on a first pass.
Tomy: I am very jealous because I forget my own lyrics all the time.
Fitz: So people coming out to the show, in terms of what they can expect, I know you鈥檝e drawn comparisons to some other bands and artists.
Tomy: We just had an interview in Australia and we keep getting that question, 鈥渨hat to expect at your show?鈥� We never know what to say. I noticed that we鈥檝e been stumbling. I mean, it鈥檚 a rock show.
Fitz: Maybe our mission here is to find a way for you to answer that question or to reframe it entirely, which I guess is my job.
Tomy: Let me tell you what we came up with. We basically said that if you鈥檝e never come to our show before, going to a Carbons show is like the best first date you can imagine. The first half will make you dance, laugh, and sing. We鈥檒l get to know each other. In the second half, we鈥檒l get deeper and go into more serious topics. And then - I just came up with this part recently - we鈥檒l leave you wanting more and we won鈥檛 take you all the way but we will if you want us to. For me, that鈥檚 what an encore is.
Fitz: Consider me a fan. See you at the show.
The Carbons perform at the De'd Dog Bar and Grill at 8 p.m. on January 31 and at Marmot Basin on February 1 at 2 p.m.
