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wmua-amherst · 4 years

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A Conversation with Kassie Carlson of Guerilla Toss

By Alex MacLean and Judge Russell On a humid Saturday in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the 2019 Dream Picnic took place at Gateway City Arts. A day festival curated by Brooklyn indie band Rubblebucket, this year featured performances from Western MA acts such as Carinae, Raspberry Jam, and And The Kids, as well as national touring acts STRFKR, Sidney Gish, and Guerilla Toss.

After Guerilla Toss’s performance, we caught up with the New York dance-punk band’s singer and violinist, Kassie Carlson, and asked her a few questions about movies, restaurants, and inspirations behind the band’s upcoming EP, What Would The Odd Do?, out November 15 on NNA Tapes. The band will be on a US tour starting October 19th.

WMUA: So y’all have a new EP coming out soon, yeah? Kassie Carlson: Yep! What Would The Odd Do?

WMUA: So I was going to ask what some of the inspirations behind the new songs were, in terms of the music and lyrics? KC: What Would The Odd Do? Is kind of, like, all of us, the counterculture people, the weirdos, the freaks. Like instead of asking, “what would Jesus do?,” anyone who has grown up in a religious environment, y’know, and weighing so much on god, this is what would the Odd do! [laughs]

WMUA: and the lyrics?

KC: Mostly just about existential dread and the presence of darkness, and lightness in the world.

WMUA: I feel that. So what was the recording process like?

KC: Well, we recorded at the Outlier Inn in Upstate New York, it’s kind of like a retreat/recording studio that our friend has where you can go and stay there and record a record, but it’s actually near where my house, so I didn’t stay there. My friend Josh has got goats on the property!

WMUA: Goats are so funny, there’s goats by my house and me and my housemates whenever we drive by we yell “GOATS” and they all look at you

KC: I don’t know how true it is, but I read something recently that goats can see facial expressions, and understand them. It’s the eyes, the square pupils.

WMUA: Woah! I’ve never really gotten that close to a goat before.

KC: You should! Y’know, there’s like the cat eye, the goat eye...I was thinking a lot about eyes and perception when I was watching this animal show the other night, about predator and prey, how the prey has eyes on either side, the predator has eyes on the front, and what that does to how you see and interpret things.

WMUA: Wow, what a thought! It’s all in the eyes.

WMUA: So some of the questions I’ve written here have to do with the music but some of them are just fun questions, like if there are any movies you’re loving as of late?

KC: Oh God.

WMUA: Or any movie you’ve seen recently that you liked?

KC: I saw Midsommar in theaters, it was cool, maybe that’s like an obvious thing,

WMUA: That’s the last one I went to see in theaters, I loved it.

KC: There’s lots of people with flower headbands out today, so I was thinking about it. It’s fucked but like, also beautiful. You know our music video for “Plants”?

WMUA: Haven’t seen it yet, no.

KC: Well the editor for Midsommar did that video.

WMUA: Woah, that’s so cool!

KC: Yeah, Max Berger and Jade Goheen. It’s got really cool editing.

WMUA: I’ll have to check that one out!

KC: New song “Plants”!

WMUA: New song “Plants,” it’s great, we’ve been playing it at the station.

KC: Sweet! [laughs]

WMUA: So y’all currently live in New York? KC: I don’t live in NYC anymore, I live upstate in the mountains now.

WMUA: Well, so do you have a favorite place to eat in New York?

KC: I do, of course! It’s called Lupe’s East LA kitchen, it’s in SoHo. It’s amazing, it’s where we have all our band meetings, so if you go there you might see us!

WMUA: What kind of food?

KC: It’s Mexican food.

WMUA: Are there any bands that you’re looking forward to seeing tonight? KC: Oh yeah, well I saw Homebody earlier, amazing band, amazing beats, amazing voice, also Rubblebucket obviously, STRFKR, it was cool to see Toth, all the bands are really specal and curated tonight, so it’s fun.

WMUA: For sure for sure! [laughs] oh this question is kinda goofy, but, I really like your song “Jackie’s Daughter,” yeah, I was wondering how Jackie and her daughter are doing?

KC: They’re doing awesome! Killing it, yeah. That song, people always request it, but it’s kind of hard to do it live, we haven’t really figured it out yet.

WMUA: I’m really glad you played “Meteorological,” I love that song!

KC: Yeah, that one’s about trying to predict your own feelings and thoughts.

WMUA: Like a meteorologist!

KC: Exactly! But they’re always wrong!

WMUA: I also really like all of the artwork on your records, I was wondering how you go about picking it or designing it if someone in the band does it

KC: It’s actually a lot of different people, Keith Rankin does a lot of our art, he does Orange Milk Tapes, and he does, like, epic airbrush stuff, he’s killing it right now, doing billboards, other albums, stuff for magazines. But GT Ultra, that’s like 70s acid strip paper from Mark McCloud, his house is filled with acid sheets, they all have really interesting designs, and that was one of them. And the new one is Yu Maeda, an artist I found on Instagram who is super amazing.

WMUA: What are you guys listening to in the van? KC: Usually a lot of the Grateful Dead, because it’s something everyone likes, I’m also really obsessed with Emeralds.

KC: Thanks for taking the time to do this, hope the tour goes well!

Guerilla Toss’s new EP What Would The Odd Do? is out now on NNA Tapes.

#interview #guerilla toss #wmua

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