Hi, everyone! It’s been another busy week with more interviews! I got sit down for a call with Kassie Carlson, lead singer of the Boston/Brooklyn-based art rock group Guerilla Toss. The group was founded in 2012 after Carlson was added to the band’s roster. Since then, they have released four studio albums and a handful of EPs. Over the years, Guerilla Toss has dabbled in many different genres of music, including no wave, math rock, disco, and funk. In fact, their unique approach to more antiquated genres got them signed on LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy’s record label, DFA. They were even named one of the “10 Great Modern Punk Bands” by Rolling Stone magazine in 2016. After hearing about their impressive music background, I was very interested in finding out more about the band’s history. Despite being on tour, I was grateful that Kassie could work in time for a short interview.
bazzreviews: Which artists or albums inspired you to start a music career in the first place?
Kassie Carlson: For me, I really liked seeing my brother perform in a lot of punk bands, and I wanted to be in a band like that, too. I grew up listening to a lot of punk music, especially Sonic Youth. I definitely listened to a fair amount of 70s and 80s krautrock, too. The band’s influences all are over the place, though. Some of the guys in the band went to study jazz, and I was studying violin. In that time, I learned a lot of classical music. Like I was saying earlier, krautrock was definitely an influence on our last record, Twisted Crystal.
br: I understand you were not an original member of Guerilla Toss- how did you end up meeting the other members?
K.C.: We met because both of our bands were playing in a basement in Alston [MA]. At the time, my band was breaking up at the time, and their saxophone player was leaving the band at the time, so we just ended up joining forces. Our show together was pretty crazy. Everyone was falling all over the place, it was packed to the brim. When my band was playing, somebody reached up to gain footing when there was a mosh. They pulled down on this pipe and water spilled all over the basement and on my band’s amps.
br: Though I missed your show in Cleveland, I’ve heard you guys put on some crazy good live shows. Do you guys thrive off of performing live rather than working in the studio?
K.C.: I mean, it’s a different experience. When you’re in a studio, you’re creating a piece of art that’s going to be etched in time forever. We definitely feed off of the live energy, though.
br: After working in Boston for a while, I saw you guys shifted out to Brooklyn. What caused you guys to relocate?
K.C.: We just wanted to try something different. We really loved Boston because of the community environment. We were performing in illegal spaces like basements and warehouses. However, a lot of these DIY spots were getting shut down because there was a huge crackdown by the police. A lot of people had to move out of their house to find a city that they could play in. The reason we picked New York is because a lot of our friends were there. It’s great here, and we enjoy it a lot.
br: How did it feel getting signed to DFA Records, owned by one of the most respected musicians in today’s music, James Murphy?
K.C.: DFA has been really wonderful and supportive to us. We were given the opportunity to work in a pretty nice studio, and they helped us get our sound nailed down.
br: Can you describe how you guys typically make a song?
K.C.: Our songs aren’t made in the studio, per say. We work on them for months at a time beforehand. Twisted Crystal was made differently than we had made records in the past. It was originally going to be a side project of the drummer and I, but at the last minute we decided that the whole band should be with us. It was produced with a lot of MIDI stuff, with me and Peter [Negroponte] (drummer) sending stuff back and forth to each other. When we went to record the album, it was produced in a mostly analog studio in Upstate New York called Outlier Inn. We got to use a lot of cool gear, and that’s why it sounds so cool and warm.
br: When you guys are in the studio, do you guys like to get things right or do you prefer improvising?
K.C.: There is no improvising in the studio, everything is composed before we go in to record. We do a lot of improvising live, though. We try to create new things in between songs.
br: What is more important to you, lyricism or production style and instrumentation?
K.C.: It’s all really important. I don’t think there’s a part that’s more important, we spend a lot of time on every aspect. The lyricism is poetry, and all the instrumentation is pre-composed, and thought about for a long time. It’s never the first idea that becomes the right idea.
br: I know Twisted Crystal came out last year, but do you guys have any projects in the work?
K.C.: We haven’t recorded anything yet, but we’re definitely working on new material. We’re not stopping anytime soon, as we’re still touring and heading out to Europe in May. We’ll probably do a lot of stuff in the fall, too.
br: What music goals do you guys have for the future?
K.C.: I hope we keep putting out records, tour new places, and we want to inspire people with our music. We love it when our fans become empowered to dance or create their own stuff.
Thanks so much again to Kassie for giving her time for an interview. For those of you who haven't checked out any of Guerilla Toss' stuff yet, I strongly suggest that you do. With each release, they continue to change the game with their revolutionary sounds. Thanks so much to you guys for reading this article, and more great content is coming your way soon!
To hear more music from Guerilla Toss, go to https://guerillatoss.bandcamp.com/
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