Detritus
Mini-Issue #491.5
March 13, 2009
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/
http://www.myspace.com/visionlakeoffire

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.myspace.com/kdsteve

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*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
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-Hola and happy Friday. We're really on a roll here lately with all
the mini-issues. Here's another. :) - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
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-Interview w/ Stacey Quinealty (Carbon 9)
January 31, 2009

Typically I'm not a huge fan of industrial/techno-styled artists such
as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, but I recently
became acquainted with a band I quite enjoy who draw on those very
influences to create a rather unique and powerful sonic brew,
showcasing metal undertones while accentuating melody and substantial
lyrical content. The band I refer to is called Carbon 9 and apparently
they have been Los Angeles' best kept secret for several years, their
dynamic theatrical shows rather legendary in a city that has seen its
fair share of electrifying rock performances. In anticipation of the
March 10th release of their brand new album THE BULL (WorldSound
Music), I spoke with vocalist Stacey Quinealty to find out more about
this emerging force on the metal scene...

DETRITUS: Carbon 9 is an interesting name -- what does it represent?

STACEY QUINEALTY: Well carbon is the base element for all life on
planet Earth and 9 is the highest single digit known to man,
everything after that is combinations thereof, so Carbon 9 to us means
living your life at the highest possible level, moving forward.

D: Okay. I got ya, excellent! THE BULL is the name of the upcoming
album and it's a cool mix of styles; how would you characterize your
music?

SQ: Well we really do have our own sound so that does make it hard to
categorize, it's a blessing and a curse, but now that there is the
extreme alternative rock kind of classification out there we seem to
fit in that perfectly, finally we have a home. I mean I think of it as
contemporary hard rock with a variety of influences but everybody
wants to nail it down to something.

D: Who are your main influences?

SQ: My personal main influences -- as far as overall music -- I really
love Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, I like Marilyn Manson; even
though our stuff is different those are big influences on me. I like
some aggressive techno, but I pretty much get into anything, good
music is good music, but if I had my choices to sit down and vibe out
it would be something like that.

D: Do the other band members share those or is everybody different in
what they like?

SQ: Yeah, it's pretty incredible with the five members we have five
completely different paths; one guy is a huge Radiohead fan, another
one of our guys is really eclectic, into world music, our guitar
player is really into Pantera and heavy bands which is great, being
from Louisiana originally I grew up with Phil and Pantera.

D: Do you have a primary songwriter or does everybody contribute?

SQ: I write the music, lyrics and melodies, and Darwin [DeVitis,
guitars and vocals] writes all the guitar parts, and then everybody
contributes their own thing to it but as far as the actual song pretty
much Darwin and I write everything together.

D: Do you have a particular songwriting process that you go through?

SQ: Yeah, my process is kind of backwards, I actually start out
usually with sequencing, try to get certain vibes that I'm going for,
'cause I'm really big into the music having its own place, then we'll
throw around a bunch of riffs, put riffs to it, Darwin will have a
bunch of riff ideas, I'll build sequences around just that one riff
and then we'll start to structure out a song from that. Then of course
it goes through a hundred different phases before we ever settle on a
final piece, but I usually take every song and run with it as if it's
going to be one of the finals on the album.

D: I had a chance to listen to the album and I really enjoyed it, you
guys have a knack for writing really infectious melodies with a lot of
power...

SQ: Well thanks a lot, thank you!

D: I don't know what you plan to release as a first single but I was
thinking "Somebody Like Me," "Lonely In Love," "Loving You" or even
the title track would probably work...

SQ: Yeah, the song "My Friend" from the pre-release has been getting a
lot of airplay on like AOL Radio and XM Radio so that's the one that
kind of took on its own game, and now "Mother" is getting a lot of
hype, so that's a tough one, I guess I'll just have to leave that up
to the label and see what they want to do. My guess would be "My
Friend."

D: That's a nice version of "Mother" -- what made you choose that one
to cover?

SQ: That's interesting, we talked about doing a cover for years and I
can't even guess how many times we brought cover songs to the table
saying "Hey, can we do this?" because we've never done covers at all,
and finally one day somebody mentioned "Mother" and I was like "That's
it, that's the one song!" The reason being I was really picky about
choosing a cover song, I really wanted to make something that could be
our own but not change the melodies you know, I didn't want to butcher
the song which a lot of bands do, they make it their own but then it's
something completely different...

D: Barely recognizable from the original...

SQ: Exactly. So I really wanted something we could stay true, was a
song that probably was going to last forever, but something that we
could creatively shape and be our own style.

D: I really like the lyrical content -- a good example is "I'm On My
Own." How important to you is the message contained within the songs?

SQ: Oh they are extremely important! I spend a lot of time on my
lyrics and they are one of the most important things in my life.

D: It shows.

SQ: Oh thank you. I've had hard times like everybody else but it's
just time to be optimistic, time to move forward and find that inner
strength and that's what most of the lyrics are really about. My
lyrics are extremely important to me because they are my diary, you
know you live life one way but like I always tell people, if you
really want to know who I am just read all the lyrics to my songs and
that's just the clearest telltale sign of exactly who I am.

D: The optimism is what I really got out of it, a lot of the lyrics
relate to the struggle of life but overcoming it...

SQ: Yeah, exactly. I think everybody, all walks of life, all
cultures... (pauses) It's interesting, I've traveled the world and I'm
just fascinated that everybody all over the world really has one
common goal. We battle each other and we argue and stereotype and we
do all these things from all these different cultures but the reality
is everybody is just trying to survive and hopefully enjoy life as
they go through that journey. It really is the common goal and you see
that in Europe and in Asia, in South America, it's just incredible. So
that's what is inspiring for me to write about, different societies
and yes, we all have struggles, yes, life sucks sometimes but you know
what? A lot of it is mentality, it really is. It's can you overcome
it, how do you shape it and are you going to sit there and live in
that world?

D: "Tongues" was a bit off the beaten path -- what was the inspiration
for that one?

SQ: I've always had a huge fascination with tribal elements in music
and off of one of our other CDs there is a tribal song which is just
immensely popular in our live show -- we've done well over 1,000 shows
and we've never not played that song! (laughs) We've always had to
play it because people beg for it so for this record I just wanted to
do a little closer, kind of just for me, my little thing, kind of just
saying -- being at the end of the album -- the one thing that we all
have in common is the innate elements of rhythm, it's just rhythm,
that's it, nothing else to it, just rhythm and there's a message
saying "The mirrors never lie," if you want to know the truth about
life just look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.

D: Do you have a song that you feel sums up the Carbon 9 style?

SQ: Ahh, you know, I would say... (pauses) That's interesting. I think
"The Life" and "Crawling Over Me" is the middle ground of what our
style really is, those two would be what my style really is and
obviously we kind of stretch off of those directions into different
ways...

D: Well personally I'm kind of a traditional metalhead so "Crawling
Over Me" is more along the lines of what I usually listen to...

SQ: Oh cool! Yeah, it's one of my favorites too actually.

D: A lot of musicians say all their songs are their "babies" but was
there anything on the album that you were especially proud of, happy
with the way it came out?

SQ: Yeah, of course like everybody I'd have to say all of 'em but...
(pauses) That's a really, really good question! (laughs) I was really
proud of the way "Mother" came out, because I felt like I really paid
tribute to Glenn Danzig, I didn't change his stuff at all, but we took
it and twisted it into our place; the guitar riffs are the same, the
melodies are the same, the lyrics are the same -- but it's Carbon 9,
and I'm really proud of that because doing a cover song in that
element is really, really complicated. As far as our own original
songs, I think I was most proud of "I'm On My Own."

D: I like that one quite a bit as well, it's one of my favorites on
there...

SQ: The message is so strong, it's so important, but yet there are a
lot of dynamics to it and then there's this in-your-face chorus. I
don't know, it's just one of those songs that when it was done I was
like "That's just great!"

D: The album has a great sound, the individual instruments were mixed
really well...

SQ: Yeah, that was Frank Gryner, he is just phenomenal.

D: Yeah, he has done Rob Zombie and A Perfect Circle, things like that
so he has some good experience...

SQ: Yeah, he is Rob Zombie's sound, the "Matrix" soundtrack, all kinds
of stuff, he's pretty phenomenal. We recorded everything and produced
it ourselves and actually premixed everything and gave it to Frank and
said "Here is the energy that we are going for..."

D: ...and he worked a little magic on it?

SQ: Yeah, I mean when I got it back I was just like "Finally!"
Somewhere in my life somebody can take my style and bring it to the
level where I've always wanted it to be.

D: I like how you use keyboards, very atmospheric...

SQ: Oh cool! I love doing programming, a lot of sequencing, I love
arpeggiators and all types of different keyboards, that's kind of a
passion of mine.

D: Is it difficult to reproduce that sound live?

SQ: No, we have a system down. I mean we actually do a live show --
it's like a big theatrical show with synchronized video and all these
crazy props onstage to kind of express our message, so we have a lot
of technology onstage. And we do everything to click -- I don't put
any live instruments to click at all but we have all these segues --
it's like a mini movie our show, so you have all these computer
voices, all these crazy things that go on, video that's all
synchronized so it's a lot of work to get it to the point where we're
ready to do our show but once it's there, it's there.

D: I understand your concerts are like two hours?

SQ: Yeah, a lot of times we have two shows: a short show if we ever
need to do a short show and also we do our extended show most of the
time -- like in L.A. if we headline one of the clubs here we take two
time slots, we do like an hour and 45 minutes, so yeah, like 20 songs
or so.

D: So you can play quite a few! Do you get most of the songs from all
your albums in there?

SQ: Yeah we actually have three albums and a couple of EPs so it's a
variety from all the fans, songs that fans have picked as their
favorites over the years.

D: Speaking of playing live, what are your tour plans once the album
is released?

SQ: We're workin' on that right now so I'm hoping to hear something in
the next few days.

D: So it will be posted on your Web site and MySpace?

SQ: Exactly.

D: I guess you don't know yet but do you think you'll be able to come
out this way?

SQ: Oh I'm dying to, we have a big fan base in the South and like I
said, I'm from Louisiana so we're really dying to get down to
Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, because there's some good
rockers down there!

D: Oh yeah, I'd really like to see your live show, sounds great!

SQ: It's fun!

D: How is the music scene in L.A. these days?

SQ: It's L.A. you know, I don't think it has changed a whole lot.
There's a million clubs, there's 10 million bands, everybody's
fighting for everything, a lot of bands are doing the pay-to-play out
here again...

D: They're doing that again?

SQ: Yeah and that sucks because you want to go to a nice club, you go
to a nice club and you see any old crap band because they've paid 500
bucks and that sucks. But it's still L.A. We're lucky we have a huge
fan base here and a big following, but we're dying to get out and let
people across the U.S. see what we do.

D: Do you keep up with what other bands are doing much or are you
pretty much focused on your own music now?

SQ: I pretty much just focus on us to be honest. We have so much going
on and it's a full time job to get our shows together and get
everything prepared so I just stay focused on that. We've been doing a
couple of videos so it's something every day.

D: I bet a lot of people have heard Carbon 9's music and don't even
realize it -- you've been featured on a bunch of commercials haven't
you?

SQ: Yeah, I do music for a lot of big shows for all these huge
corporations, do a lot of music for Universal Studios in Hollywood,
and all the guys in Carbon 9 are playing on them and doing all the
stuff so I'm sure a lot of people have heard our stuff and just don't
know it.

D: Have you ever thought about doing a movie soundtrack?

SQ: Yeah, I would love to, that would be one of my ultimate things to
score a soundtrack in my style of music.

D: Do you have a big party planned for the album release?

SQ: Yeah, we're going to have a big show here in L.A. and then
hopefully jet out on the road pretty soon thereafter.

D: L.A. Alive wrote that they had seen the future of rock and it is
Carbon 9, that is a nice compliment...

SQ: Yeah, that is a nice compliment. They were big supporters of us
and it's great, you know?

D: Do you have any predictions about what's in store for rock music in
the next few years?

SQ: I see metal is really going to make a huge resurgence...

D: I hope you're right!

SQ: Yeah, it's so funny because just three years ago, everyone was
walking around going "Rock is dead, rock is dead," and I'm going "This
is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life!"

D: I've heard that for the last 25 years! (laughs)

SQ: It's like saying country music is dead, it changes but it's not
dead.

D: I don't think it is.

SQ: Of course not, it's never gonna die, rock and roll is never gonna
die, and they're like "Heavy metal is gone." And it's the same with
touring, they were saying touring is over, it's done with, nobody will
be touring anymore, you can't make any money... Now, the big thing is
tours because of course there's no more music stores, so the big thing
is getting out, touring, and the next thing is all the heavy metal
that is resurging. It's so funny seeing 12 year old kids wearing Iron
Maiden T-shirts! (laughs)

D: Isn't it? (laughs) That's cool...

SQ: With hair down to the middle of their back -- it's the same thing
you know? They say everything cycles every, what, 30 years, 20 years?

D: It always comes back around...

SQ: It always comes back around so we're going to see a big...
(pauses) I think heavy metal is going to get really, really popular
again. I don't know how long it will last and stay out in the
mainstream but it's gonna hit hard.

D: That's an excellent prediction, I'm looking forward to that one
being right!

SQ: Oh yeah, you can count on it...

D: Well Stacey, do you have anything you want to add in before we
finish up here?

SQ: No, I appreciate it -- thank you.

D: Thank you and I hope to see you live soon!

SQ: Yeah, us too, I hope to see you down in Georgia!

Relevant links:

Carbon 9
http://www.carbon9.com/
http://www.myspace.com/carbon9
http://www.worldsound.com/carbon9/
http://www.megapress.com/carbon9/

WorldSound Entertainment
http://www.worldsound.com/

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*** OUT ***
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