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Photo by Alexa Jae |
Alternative rocker CARTER BRADY has released two full-length album's, EP, an assortment of single's, with so much new music, that several albums could come forth from it all! But not yet, but in time more new material should move forward in due time. For now though, new music is set, with even playing live coming up, with much else to grow as an act and release, release, and release as much as possible over time. The man behind this artist project, does the discussion about all of this below.
1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?
This is a funny answer, because the name of my band name/artist name is just my name, Carter Brady. If you can picture other male solo artists like Mac DeMarco, Tame Impala, etc. who write and record most of or all of the parts on their song recordings and play live with a band, that's me. I have been in many bands and groups over the years, but right when Covid happened it became harder to keep doing shows and recording music with my college band at the time (I left school in South Carolina to finish out my senior spring semester at home in New York), so it kind of happened naturally. That's when I decided to carry on the foreseeable future making music under my name as a solo artist (not with an alias name or anything) and I just stuck with it and never looked back. That's not to say I'm not open to pursuing that side of me in the future (because truthfully I do really like the different dynamics, influences, and experiences you get from being in organically-formed bands); in fact, I'm currently working on a side project that I will certainly front as a band (so kind of doing half of what I mentioned with the branding at least haha) so stay tuned for updates on that.
2. Why did you want to play this genre?
While I have experienced and am versatile in many different musical genres, 90's alternative rock has always gravitated to me the most from a pure songwriting and music creation perspective. I find it to be the most natural and fun at my age of 26 and since I really got into a groove with songwriting a little over 5 years ago. I also find that it allows me to channel my raw emotion and feelings the best through the lyrical themes and complimenting chord progressions and riffs I build most of my songs around. I think that while a lot of amazing music exists already and has come out of this genre and that decade, there is still a lot of new interpretation and refreshing sounds to be brought to light to new and existing audiences.
I am determined to make that happen, and it is not a chore given how much I enjoy writing, recording, and producing music (minus the mixing and mastering which I hope to one day be able to do at a high enough level so I can make my own records for far cheaper ,but still involve people in the process so it's collaborative). Many amazing bands are already been doing it as of late and many did even 10 years ago, but don't always get as much attention given rock is not currently the mainstream genre in today's society and pop culture. That doesn't matter to me, however, which is why I continue to make the music I want to make and know that while the ceiling of my potential audience is currently a lot smaller than that of a pop artist, I am fully content with that.
I do like to occasionally dip my feet in pop, EDM, lofi, and other genres for either alternate versions of my songs or collabs with other artists, so always open to releasing other music genres despite what I said above. I would also love to make albums one day when I'm a bit older with more diverse genre overlap outside of rock, perhaps a jazz record once I get my music theory back up to snuff!
3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?
I did not know my band at all before our first show and my New York City debut gig at The Bowery Electric in September 2022. It was crazy how it all happened and fell into place so perfectly. My producer for my 2021 album 'Blue Reverb', Joe DiGiorgi, had his friend and one of his go-to guys for rock drums in Westchester, Matt Graff, play on a bunch of songs off that album. So, that summer of 2022 I decided to reach out to him and let him know I was trying to start a band and play my first show in New York City. So, he said he'd be part of it and help me put a band together, and put me on an email thread with a few other guys.
I soon learned that those guys, Michael Iaciofano and Ryan Datino, were go-to session musicians he booked for work at his studio in Irvington, NY (The Koop Studio), and he kicked it off and we started coordinating availability and who would play what for the show. I could tell everyone was very musical, and after a short while we were locked in for the date at The Bowery Electric. But then Matt got back to all of us and said that he now wasn't going to be able to do the gig, so he got his friend from Berklee and co-owner of The Koop, Sammy Wags, to step in as an alternate. Given Sammy had learned the songs and Matt clearly had a lot of other ongoing projects keeping him busy, I decided to keep having Sammy do shows. And by a certain point, it was clear that our band was a thing and we were sticking with our lineup. Again, it really was meant to be and I am so lucky and thankful to have them in my life.
4. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
In terms of live performing, we are mainly based out of New York City thus far in the time we've been a band. I would like to venture out as much as we're able to other markets in close by regions, but that is still something we're working towards. I work a 9-5 job in marketing/advertising, so I am a bit tied to that weekly schedule but I still manage to find a lot of time to dedicate to this and plan shows around that. Whenever we need to rehearse, we go to my drummer's studio The Koop up in Irvington, and sometimes practice at my family's house in Pelham where I have a basement music room studio.
In my opinion, the New York indie rock scene is awesome and is very prosperous at the moment, with a lot of up and coming bands spawning out of it and going on to become bigger acts and more well-known. What's great about it is that as long as you can get a good draw and generate enough ticket sales, venues let you play sets of entirely original songs (we like to mix in a couple covers here and there but you get what I mean). Bands like Momma (who of which I did a fun cover of their song "Medicine" with my friend Deanna who goes by the artist name smudgeout) and The Backfires in particular have exploded from this scene and are representing the NY and Brooklyn indie rock community very well by doing more expansive national and global tours.
In terms of more local bands and artists, I would totally recommend Cry Baby, Middle Part, Book/Spirit, and The Powerviolets, who are all awesome acts and some of which I have seen perform at some shows in the past year (I am about to be on a bill at Brooklyn Made with Book/Spirit). But I along with a lot of people can do more of their fair share of going to local shows and getting out to watch newer groups shine and seeing who all is out there making a statement.
5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?
I think what mostly inspires me to write songs are the underlying feelings and emotional responses I seem to get from either small things that might not go my way, or a simple desire to pair a cool melody and chord progression I had already put together with lyrics that match that energy. I think given I am in my mid-late 20's and still young enough to feel and channel that rebellious side of myself, I am able to get myself musically excited and self-inspire my songwriting through those feelings and musical ideas I hear in my head. I also of course have listened to so much rock over the years (from all decades despite me saying it's mainly 90's rock) that my music inherently is going to lean in that direction.
6. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
My songs are mostly about self-reflection revolved around life's challenges in your 20's, feeling stuck in a moment or hopeless sometimes because of certain roadblocks or societal biases that might get to me no matter how much I try to ignore it, or self-created concepts or themes loosely paired to cool-sounding lyrics and phrases put together into one cohesive idea that flows somehow. It's usually one or the other. But I do find that when I try to go into a songwriting session with a clear-cut objective that it needs to be about something very particular (unless something significant enough recent just happened that provokes an emotional response), those usually either take longer to formulate or don't end up being as good quality songs. Sometimes I'm able to create a fake love song I'm proud of that sounds like I actually experienced it, and I guess for those I just get lucky haha!
7. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Other than some collaborations with my band mates in a couple high school and college groups, I have always been the one writing the songs. And I write everything I do in my first last name solo project, and often play most of or all of the instruments on my songs. Since I'm prominently a guitar player, I almost always start with that instrument and usually come into a spark of a song idea from a progression or riff I come up with in the moment. Sometimes on the rare occasion it's bass if the song is centered around that, and one day I do want to do a song stemming from the drums (if I'm good enough to play the part!).
Anyway, once I have that I mess around with it for a few minutes and if I am inspired in the moment a melodic idea(s) will pop into my head and I'll start singing gibberish in order to come up with subconscious phrases or words that follow from that. Then, if the ideas are flowing and I've improvised/jammed with myself for a few minutes and built out enough of a song structure (and recorded a bunch of voice memos to have saved down to reference later), I'll start writing lyrics over that. At this point in my career, I really try to finish songs like that where something feels special about it all in one sitting, and if it seems forced I'll either come back to it or usually shelf it for a while. Lots of musicians and songwriters also record directly out of their DAW and lay down instrumentals and build from there; I do a little bit of that too, but I still find the most success and enjoyment out of the above process with just an acoustic or electric guitar and singing until I get in the zone, and once the song is finished or near finished I'll then start the recording process in my DAW for guitar, bass, and vocals (sometimes synths, piano, or mandolin too if that's the vibe I want to add to it).
For drums, I have recorded some rough recordings at my basement studio in the past that have made it onto records I've released, but now I only record drums at other people's studios and do the demoing in my basement for songs I'm either playing on or creating ideas to inform what the song could sound like, as well as give whoever plays on it a little bit of direction while still letting them do their thing and leave their mark musically and stylistically.
8. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
So far, I have released two full-length albums, an EP of acoustic versions of songs from Blue Reverb, a handful of standalone singles and pre-album singles, and a cover of Momma's "Medicine" as I mentioned earlier. In terms of what someone can expect from the work I have already put out, be ready for some unique and refreshing emulations of rock sounds from the past several decades, particularly 90's alternative. I never want to release a song if I think that someone has released something already that sounds identical to it (well that would be plagiarizing anyway haha) and while something always can be compared to something else, I really try to make it my own as much as I can so it's not derivative. I used to find that when I did this exercise too much, it often resulted in more obscure songs that didn't always get positive attention from listeners. So, I would say that now I have found the perfect middle ground between writing songs with potential mass appeal and originality, while still making the music I want to make on my own terms.
9. Do you have any new music in the works?
Yes! This is something that I have a lot of. I never thought I would ever have this problem back when I first started writing songs seriously in high school, but I do now. Truthfully, without sounding too full of it, I have enough album-quality material to put out 4 LPs this year, but the problem is that no one in their right mind would or can do that (especially an indie artist like myself on a very limited budget paying rent in New York City). My day job in marketing/advertising pays the bills and funds my music, but without going broke it still is not nearly enough to pump out release after release given I do not and can't mix and master my own records at this current moment. But, the good news is that this day in age is built around putting out singles once a month, so I see it as only being a good thing to be in my current position.
10. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Right now my band and I are playing a New York show at Brooklyn Made on March 20th, and we'll see what I can put together from there (I am currently not on a label, just my self-created Shopping Cart Records I did for branding purposes because my latest album is called Shopping Cart and my nickname is Cart, so I have to book everything on my own). Would be great to be able to lock in enough shows this spring so I can market it as a regional micro tour and get a buzz going, but that is still up in the air so stay tuned!
11. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Right now, the plan is to keep playing live when we're all free, grow our audience as much as we can through that, releasing as much music as humanly possible in the next two years, and of course self-promoting on social media with a consistent release of content across all platforms. I am still not in the mindset of pitching to labels just yet (even though I am confident in my latest material) given my fan base is still on the smaller side. If something went absolutely viral on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts, I would absolutely consider that route and take a break from the corporate life to pursue that dream. And of course there are a ton of benefits to being on a label, so we'll see what direction I decide to go in depending on the terms. But for right now, I am in a good developmental period in my music career and I am just taking in as much of it as I can and appreciating the small wins and fun moments along the way.
12. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen to my music on all streaming platforms (universal link to 'Shopping Cart' below) and also buy my music on Bandcamp if you want to support that way (link below)! I also released music videos for every song off of 'Shopping Cart' as well as live show videos on my YouTube channel, that if you like the music I encourage you to go check out as well. Thank you all in advance for taking the time to give my music a chance and hope you enjoy listening and resonate with something you hear.
Listen to 'Shopping Cart'
https://ffm.to/shoppingcart
Carter Brady on Bandcamp
https://carterbradymusicofficial.bandcamp.com/album/shopping-cart
Carter Brady on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@carterbradymusicofficial