Puscifer - Carina Round
Questions: Stuart Millen
Puscifer are back with a new album. Money Shot is the band's third full length release, following on from Conditions Of My Parole in 2011 and the Donkey Punch the Night EP in 2013. Hitting the road in support of the new release, the band, consisting of Maynard J Keenan, Mat Mitchell, Carina Round, Jeff Friedl and newcomers Mahsa Zargaran and Paul Barker, will play 29 dates through the US this November and December.
On a wintery afternoon between shows, Caught in the Mosh spoke with vocalist Carina Round about working on their latest album, touring the new material and the difficulties of releasing music on vinyl...
Hi Carina, lovely to speak to you... I’m going to have a guess that you’re in Charlotte this afternoon?
That’s right. Charlotte, North Carolina. And it’s raining. But it’s great. There’s autumnal colours, rain and cold temperatures. Which is great! Because I live in LA, I don’t get to experience a lot of that.
The Money Shot tour has just started. How’s it going so far?
We’re four shows in and they’re going great. The shows are quite a spectacle, the Puscifer shows. And the Puscifer fans have come to expect the unexpected. The first show was only a day after the record came out, so there wasn’t really a lot of time for the people to learn the material. But the response has been really amazing.
You have some new faces in the live band, with Mahsa Zargaran and Paul Barker hitting the road with you on this tour. How much of an influence has their individual style brought to the live show?
Well, that’s one of the things about being in a band as a collective... Everyone gets hired for their strengths. So people’s style does play a big part in the sound of the show and the record that they’re playing on. For the most part, the parts they’re playing were already there but... Paul Barker for instance... His style is so heavy handed. His tones and sounds and that sort of thing. He can’t play a single note without sounding like Paul Barker. So his style in particular is heavy throughout the show. And Mahsa is a ball of unique energy, as a person and as a performer. So their style has bought a lot to the table.
Money Shot’s been out for a little over a week. You’re playing the entire album during the show. How’s the crowd reaction to the new tracks?
Amazing! Like I said, with the first show, the album had only been out for a couple of days. Well, it had been streaming on Pandora for a while. But the reaction has been great. Just wonderful. I guess Puscifer fans are quite intense people to begin with, so they’re going to get the record and they’re going to listen to it. And the people who bought tickets to the show are fully invested. They want to enjoy themselves. They want to open themselves to the experience that is a Puscifer show, which is quite unique in itself. And the energy of the shows has just been great. Openhearted. It feels good. Good clean fun. Just without the clean part (laughs).
On a wintery afternoon between shows, Caught in the Mosh spoke with vocalist Carina Round about working on their latest album, touring the new material and the difficulties of releasing music on vinyl...
Hi Carina, lovely to speak to you... I’m going to have a guess that you’re in Charlotte this afternoon?
That’s right. Charlotte, North Carolina. And it’s raining. But it’s great. There’s autumnal colours, rain and cold temperatures. Which is great! Because I live in LA, I don’t get to experience a lot of that.
The Money Shot tour has just started. How’s it going so far?
We’re four shows in and they’re going great. The shows are quite a spectacle, the Puscifer shows. And the Puscifer fans have come to expect the unexpected. The first show was only a day after the record came out, so there wasn’t really a lot of time for the people to learn the material. But the response has been really amazing.
You have some new faces in the live band, with Mahsa Zargaran and Paul Barker hitting the road with you on this tour. How much of an influence has their individual style brought to the live show?
Well, that’s one of the things about being in a band as a collective... Everyone gets hired for their strengths. So people’s style does play a big part in the sound of the show and the record that they’re playing on. For the most part, the parts they’re playing were already there but... Paul Barker for instance... His style is so heavy handed. His tones and sounds and that sort of thing. He can’t play a single note without sounding like Paul Barker. So his style in particular is heavy throughout the show. And Mahsa is a ball of unique energy, as a person and as a performer. So their style has bought a lot to the table.
Money Shot’s been out for a little over a week. You’re playing the entire album during the show. How’s the crowd reaction to the new tracks?
Amazing! Like I said, with the first show, the album had only been out for a couple of days. Well, it had been streaming on Pandora for a while. But the reaction has been great. Just wonderful. I guess Puscifer fans are quite intense people to begin with, so they’re going to get the record and they’re going to listen to it. And the people who bought tickets to the show are fully invested. They want to enjoy themselves. They want to open themselves to the experience that is a Puscifer show, which is quite unique in itself. And the energy of the shows has just been great. Openhearted. It feels good. Good clean fun. Just without the clean part (laughs).
Can you describe for us the Puscifer writing process?
For a lot of the beginning part of the writing of the songs, it’s a heavy collaboration between Mat and Maynard. And I come in a little later when... at least when the melodies are already there. I guess I can get involved with the arrangements when the songs are mostly put together. My strengths that I bring to this project is no so much the actual beginning, it’s more later in the process. A lot of the beginning is between Mat and Maynard. Mat comes up with ideas... he has a cell phone full of hundreds of embryonic ideas for songs. He gives his favourites to Maynard, he chooses his favourites from those, Mat works on those. They go back and forth a lot. Maynard puts vocal ideas down, Mat plays with it, build on it from that, he sends it back to Maynard, he builds up on that... Maynard might say, “I want something that sounds or feels like this movie or this landscape”. Or “I want a mandolin at the top”. He puts in a lot of raw mood. Then when something starts to form, that’s when I come in and work on it.
Then there’s the times we go into the studio together and play back and forth off each other. It’s different. It’s different every time. Because of the nature of the band and the fact that we’re all... Maynard lives in Arizona, we live in Los Angeles... There’s different musicians in and out on the record. It’s kind of like a carousel. You never know whether what you played is going to end up on the record. There might be a couple of different drummers on one song; they might bring in two drummers to play on the same song and they play something completely different to each other... it’s a very strange and beautiful process, the writing and creative process of this band. It’s a slow burn in terms of the ideas germinating over time and then the bulk of the work is done over a very short amount of time. It makes for a strange and kind of fresh energy but the roots are also very deep. The songs have more than likely been rooted in Mat and Maynard’s subconscious for a very long time. So the nucleus of what the songs should feel like is very particularly rooted in them. All the external stuff is done in a really short blast. So yeah, it’s an interesting process.
Money Shot is your second full length album with Puscifer. Were you feeling more comfortable with the process this time around?
Yeah. I think everyone developed a little more trust in each other. So much so that this the time I would just take a song home and work on it, or go down to Arizona when I had time. I’d take vocal ideas down and work with Maynard whenever I could. And Mat and I would work together a lot. I think, due to the nature of the project, there was a lot more freedom. I guess Mat and Maynard trusted that was I was going to come up with would be good and have a certain amount of quality control. I just found that the... I don’t know... the chemistry just changed this time.
How much of the album’s writing and recording was done in Arizona and how did the location effect the outcome?
Well, a lot of the creative process of the writing, more so, was done in Arizona. All of Maynard’s creative parts were done in Arizona. He lives there. He lives and breathes it. He lives on top of a mountain in northern Arizona, so everything, every breath he takes, everything he creates, is born of that at this point. But we had a studio in North Hollywood where a lot of the recording process was done. And then Mat and myself, or just Mat, would go to Arizona to record Maynard’s vocals. It was spread out over a lot of different locations. But you know, creating or recording in a beautiful cellar in Jerome, with windows all around, where you can just look at the mountains is certainly a different feeling to recording in a studio with no windows in North Hollywood. So that is definitely going to change your creative process a lot. And there’s also something very different about being in a home environment than there is to being in a studio. It creates a different energy.
For a lot of the beginning part of the writing of the songs, it’s a heavy collaboration between Mat and Maynard. And I come in a little later when... at least when the melodies are already there. I guess I can get involved with the arrangements when the songs are mostly put together. My strengths that I bring to this project is no so much the actual beginning, it’s more later in the process. A lot of the beginning is between Mat and Maynard. Mat comes up with ideas... he has a cell phone full of hundreds of embryonic ideas for songs. He gives his favourites to Maynard, he chooses his favourites from those, Mat works on those. They go back and forth a lot. Maynard puts vocal ideas down, Mat plays with it, build on it from that, he sends it back to Maynard, he builds up on that... Maynard might say, “I want something that sounds or feels like this movie or this landscape”. Or “I want a mandolin at the top”. He puts in a lot of raw mood. Then when something starts to form, that’s when I come in and work on it.
Then there’s the times we go into the studio together and play back and forth off each other. It’s different. It’s different every time. Because of the nature of the band and the fact that we’re all... Maynard lives in Arizona, we live in Los Angeles... There’s different musicians in and out on the record. It’s kind of like a carousel. You never know whether what you played is going to end up on the record. There might be a couple of different drummers on one song; they might bring in two drummers to play on the same song and they play something completely different to each other... it’s a very strange and beautiful process, the writing and creative process of this band. It’s a slow burn in terms of the ideas germinating over time and then the bulk of the work is done over a very short amount of time. It makes for a strange and kind of fresh energy but the roots are also very deep. The songs have more than likely been rooted in Mat and Maynard’s subconscious for a very long time. So the nucleus of what the songs should feel like is very particularly rooted in them. All the external stuff is done in a really short blast. So yeah, it’s an interesting process.
Money Shot is your second full length album with Puscifer. Were you feeling more comfortable with the process this time around?
Yeah. I think everyone developed a little more trust in each other. So much so that this the time I would just take a song home and work on it, or go down to Arizona when I had time. I’d take vocal ideas down and work with Maynard whenever I could. And Mat and I would work together a lot. I think, due to the nature of the project, there was a lot more freedom. I guess Mat and Maynard trusted that was I was going to come up with would be good and have a certain amount of quality control. I just found that the... I don’t know... the chemistry just changed this time.
How much of the album’s writing and recording was done in Arizona and how did the location effect the outcome?
Well, a lot of the creative process of the writing, more so, was done in Arizona. All of Maynard’s creative parts were done in Arizona. He lives there. He lives and breathes it. He lives on top of a mountain in northern Arizona, so everything, every breath he takes, everything he creates, is born of that at this point. But we had a studio in North Hollywood where a lot of the recording process was done. And then Mat and myself, or just Mat, would go to Arizona to record Maynard’s vocals. It was spread out over a lot of different locations. But you know, creating or recording in a beautiful cellar in Jerome, with windows all around, where you can just look at the mountains is certainly a different feeling to recording in a studio with no windows in North Hollywood. So that is definitely going to change your creative process a lot. And there’s also something very different about being in a home environment than there is to being in a studio. It creates a different energy.
Of the new tracks, which do you look forward to preforming live the most?
I’m really enjoying Galileo because it’s really satisfying to sing the harmonies, the very close, three-part harmonies. It just feels really good to do that as a singer. And of course, that song, the groove is so beautiful and the lyrics are great and it builds beautifully. That’s really fun to sing. Also I love Life of Brian because, again, we get to do some really intricate counter point vocals and harmonies. I love that. But Grand Canyon is epic and that’s always really fun to play. And Money Shot fucking kicks arse (laughs). I guess they’re my favourites at the moment.
Rather than ask if you have a favourite song on the album, do you have a favourite Money Shot moment, whether writing, recording or rehearsing? Perhaps a story that makes you laugh?
I really loved working on Life of Brian. That song sounded completely different. The original version of that song... like I say, you never know what’s going to happen with a Puscifer record, even down to the very last minute. That song sounded a little bit like Money Shot, when it was in its first incarnation. I’d take the track away and make a vocal part for it... And while Mat was mixing it... Two days before the deadline for the mix, he sent a completely different version that he’d taken away. He’d completely deconstructed it and turned it into what it is today. When we were in the mixing session, he just took all of the vocals from all of the versions, all of the incarnations that I’d sung on and just put them all in there. And the effect of listening back to it... It was crazy when he played it for the first time after putting all the vocals in there. The effect it had after coming from three different sessions... It just fit somehow. I love the sound of two different songs and the completely different structures that changed into something else and the changes that were inspired by some of the stuff that had been done vocally. I love the interaction in that. It can change at any moment.
Your current tour is billed as Round 1. Can you give any hints as to whether there’ll indeed be a Round 2?
I don’t know. Hopefully. I’m assuming... I don’t have any dates or anything, so don’t hold me to it, but I’m assuming we’re going to do at least another round in the States. But it’s a self-financed record and a self-financed project, so in order to move around the continent with all of our gear and the show and our people it has to be financially viable. So I can’t answer that question until I get told, which is usually a couple of weeks before the shows (laughs).
You’ve been busy on a number of projects this year, including touring with Tears for Fears. How did that opportunity come about?
Well, I’ve worked with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics for many years and he was good friends with Curt Smith. And he introduced me. But that was many years ago. Curt became a great supporter of mine, of my music, and I sang on a few of his songs on his solo record.
I’m really enjoying Galileo because it’s really satisfying to sing the harmonies, the very close, three-part harmonies. It just feels really good to do that as a singer. And of course, that song, the groove is so beautiful and the lyrics are great and it builds beautifully. That’s really fun to sing. Also I love Life of Brian because, again, we get to do some really intricate counter point vocals and harmonies. I love that. But Grand Canyon is epic and that’s always really fun to play. And Money Shot fucking kicks arse (laughs). I guess they’re my favourites at the moment.
Rather than ask if you have a favourite song on the album, do you have a favourite Money Shot moment, whether writing, recording or rehearsing? Perhaps a story that makes you laugh?
I really loved working on Life of Brian. That song sounded completely different. The original version of that song... like I say, you never know what’s going to happen with a Puscifer record, even down to the very last minute. That song sounded a little bit like Money Shot, when it was in its first incarnation. I’d take the track away and make a vocal part for it... And while Mat was mixing it... Two days before the deadline for the mix, he sent a completely different version that he’d taken away. He’d completely deconstructed it and turned it into what it is today. When we were in the mixing session, he just took all of the vocals from all of the versions, all of the incarnations that I’d sung on and just put them all in there. And the effect of listening back to it... It was crazy when he played it for the first time after putting all the vocals in there. The effect it had after coming from three different sessions... It just fit somehow. I love the sound of two different songs and the completely different structures that changed into something else and the changes that were inspired by some of the stuff that had been done vocally. I love the interaction in that. It can change at any moment.
Your current tour is billed as Round 1. Can you give any hints as to whether there’ll indeed be a Round 2?
I don’t know. Hopefully. I’m assuming... I don’t have any dates or anything, so don’t hold me to it, but I’m assuming we’re going to do at least another round in the States. But it’s a self-financed record and a self-financed project, so in order to move around the continent with all of our gear and the show and our people it has to be financially viable. So I can’t answer that question until I get told, which is usually a couple of weeks before the shows (laughs).
You’ve been busy on a number of projects this year, including touring with Tears for Fears. How did that opportunity come about?
Well, I’ve worked with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics for many years and he was good friends with Curt Smith. And he introduced me. But that was many years ago. Curt became a great supporter of mine, of my music, and I sang on a few of his songs on his solo record.
Then he interviewed me for a show he was working on... He was a fan of the Early Winters, another band that I’m in. We just became friends. And I said one day that I love the band, that Tear for Fears were a big influence on me. It was a very personal accolade for me to be able to sing in the band and I offered my services. So cut to a year later maybe and he asked me to join. And it was fun. A really great experience. Touring with those people; they’re really lovely people and the music is just legendary.
And you released Tigermixes for Record Store Day in July. How did you go about choosing artists to remix your tracks?
Most of the people... Well, Curt Smith is one of them... Honestly, it’s just a family thing, that record. I didn't go out of my way to try to find big names or remixers or anything like that. Because Tigermending, to me, was such a close knit community that made the record... Because I financed it myself, I put it out myself. Dan Burns produced it and he did one of the remixes. Pelle Hillstrom played guitar with me in my band and he did the Mother’s Pride remix and as I said earlier, Curt Smith’s a good friend of mine and he did the remix for You Will Be Loved. Sierra Swan is a dear friend of mine and she and her sister did Pick Up the Phone. The Last Time was Alessandro Cortini, he’s a very close friend of Mat Mitchell. And Mat did one remix. It’s all really just close friends and people that were involved in the record, for the most part. And Gary Go, who wrote Marcel Marcel with me, did the remix for that track. And Ian Pai from Avan Lava, who co-wrote Weird Dream with me did the remix for Weird Dream, and Zac Rae, who played all over Tigermending, did Set Fire. It’s really just my close friends and family who worked on Tigermixes and I love it for it. I think it’s a really... Honestly, when I put those songs together and listen to them, as a record, I just think it works so well together and it was so beautiful and it’s all kinda dark. There’s no real flat-out dance remixes. It just felt like a real family soup (laughs).
And speaking of Record Store Day and vinyl, Money Shot’s vinyl release has been delayed due to pressing plant backlogs.
Yeah, it’s insane! Honestly, to get Tigermixes out for Record Store Day I had to have everything ready by November or December. It’s insane! They’re having to open more pressing plants because of the demand for vinyl. It’s just crazy! It’s become so popular. It used to feel like the wait time was a long time when they said 10 weeks. And now it can be four months. It’s really crazy. And you might never actually know. They might tell you one thing and because demand is so high, it could take much longer than you expect. And you never know. You could think you’re giving yourself so much time by giving yourself three months (laughs). And then you call and you order the pressing and they tell you it’s going to be longer and you can’t do a damn thing about it. It’s a strange phenomenon. First of all the explosion of vinyl and then the fact that the vinyl plants can, quite literally, take as long as they want to print the shit (laughs) and you can’t do a thing about it (laughs). But you’ll get it in the end and it’ll be worth it!
It must be reassuring to know that vinyl sales are improving to the extent that production can’t keep up?
Yeah! It is actually a great thing as an artist and someone who makes something that wants to be collectable. That the stuff is valuable. But it’s also, it can cost up to $10 to manufacture a single piece of vinyl. So basically, your manufacturing costs are what people are already used to paying for an entire record. Which is why sometimes you end up having to pay so much money for a piece of vinyl. As vinyl gets more popular, people make things more special but... You know, with someone like Arcade Fire, they can press 30,000 vinyl and it’s a lot cheaper for them. They’re getting something special and not spending very much money. But for an artist like myself, I can never really press more than 500 vinyl. A lot of times, the minimum amount is 1,000 pressings. Without boring you with all the details, it’s really fucking expensive to press vinyl (laughs). So, it’s a wonderful thing, but it’s become more collectable and music is becoming valuable to people, as something you can hold in your hand. But it’s an expensive endeavour.
But it's worth it! Having something that you can hold is better than a digital file!
Exactly.
Well, that's about it. Thanks for your time Carina. Best of luck for the rest of the tour.
Thank you...
And you released Tigermixes for Record Store Day in July. How did you go about choosing artists to remix your tracks?
Most of the people... Well, Curt Smith is one of them... Honestly, it’s just a family thing, that record. I didn't go out of my way to try to find big names or remixers or anything like that. Because Tigermending, to me, was such a close knit community that made the record... Because I financed it myself, I put it out myself. Dan Burns produced it and he did one of the remixes. Pelle Hillstrom played guitar with me in my band and he did the Mother’s Pride remix and as I said earlier, Curt Smith’s a good friend of mine and he did the remix for You Will Be Loved. Sierra Swan is a dear friend of mine and she and her sister did Pick Up the Phone. The Last Time was Alessandro Cortini, he’s a very close friend of Mat Mitchell. And Mat did one remix. It’s all really just close friends and people that were involved in the record, for the most part. And Gary Go, who wrote Marcel Marcel with me, did the remix for that track. And Ian Pai from Avan Lava, who co-wrote Weird Dream with me did the remix for Weird Dream, and Zac Rae, who played all over Tigermending, did Set Fire. It’s really just my close friends and family who worked on Tigermixes and I love it for it. I think it’s a really... Honestly, when I put those songs together and listen to them, as a record, I just think it works so well together and it was so beautiful and it’s all kinda dark. There’s no real flat-out dance remixes. It just felt like a real family soup (laughs).
And speaking of Record Store Day and vinyl, Money Shot’s vinyl release has been delayed due to pressing plant backlogs.
Yeah, it’s insane! Honestly, to get Tigermixes out for Record Store Day I had to have everything ready by November or December. It’s insane! They’re having to open more pressing plants because of the demand for vinyl. It’s just crazy! It’s become so popular. It used to feel like the wait time was a long time when they said 10 weeks. And now it can be four months. It’s really crazy. And you might never actually know. They might tell you one thing and because demand is so high, it could take much longer than you expect. And you never know. You could think you’re giving yourself so much time by giving yourself three months (laughs). And then you call and you order the pressing and they tell you it’s going to be longer and you can’t do a damn thing about it. It’s a strange phenomenon. First of all the explosion of vinyl and then the fact that the vinyl plants can, quite literally, take as long as they want to print the shit (laughs) and you can’t do a thing about it (laughs). But you’ll get it in the end and it’ll be worth it!
It must be reassuring to know that vinyl sales are improving to the extent that production can’t keep up?
Yeah! It is actually a great thing as an artist and someone who makes something that wants to be collectable. That the stuff is valuable. But it’s also, it can cost up to $10 to manufacture a single piece of vinyl. So basically, your manufacturing costs are what people are already used to paying for an entire record. Which is why sometimes you end up having to pay so much money for a piece of vinyl. As vinyl gets more popular, people make things more special but... You know, with someone like Arcade Fire, they can press 30,000 vinyl and it’s a lot cheaper for them. They’re getting something special and not spending very much money. But for an artist like myself, I can never really press more than 500 vinyl. A lot of times, the minimum amount is 1,000 pressings. Without boring you with all the details, it’s really fucking expensive to press vinyl (laughs). So, it’s a wonderful thing, but it’s become more collectable and music is becoming valuable to people, as something you can hold in your hand. But it’s an expensive endeavour.
But it's worth it! Having something that you can hold is better than a digital file!
Exactly.
Well, that's about it. Thanks for your time Carina. Best of luck for the rest of the tour.
Thank you...
Catch Puscifer on Round 1 of the Money Shot tour.
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Sun 1st Nov - Phoenix, Monster Mash Festival
Tue 3rd Nov - Dallas, Majestic Theatre Wed 4th Nov - Austin, Bass Concert Hall Thu 5th Nov - San Antonio, Tobin Center Sat 7th Nov - New Orleans, Saenger Theatre Sun 8th Nov - Atlanta, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center Tue 10th Nov - Charlotte, Ovens Auditorium Wed 11th Nov - Bethesda, Strathmore Theatre Thu 12th Nov - Boston, The Orpheum Theatre Sat 14th Nov - New Haven, Shubert Theatre Sun 15th Nov - Philadelphia, The Fillmore Tue 17th Nov - New York, Terminal 5 Wed 18th Nov - Albany, Palace Theatre Fri 20th Nov - Cincinnati, Taft Theatre Sat 21st Nov - Chicago, Riviera Theatre |
Sun 22nd Nov - Kansas City, Arvest Bank Theatre
Tue 24th Nov - Denver, Bellco Theatre Wed 25th Nov - Salt Lake City, Kingsbury Hall Sat 28th Nov - Portland, Keller Auditorium Sun 29th Nov - Spokane, INB Performing Arts Center Mon 30th Nov - Calgary, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium Wed 2nd Dec - Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth Theatre Thu 3rd Dec - Seattle, Paramount Theatre Sun 6th Dec - Fresno, Warnors Theatre Tue 8th Dec - Oakland, Fox Theatre Thu 10th Dec - Los Angeles, Ace Theatre Fri 11th Dec - Los Angeles, Ace Theatre Sat 12th Dec - Las Vegas, The Pearl at The Palms Casino Mon 14th Dec - Prescott, Yavapai College Performance Hall |