Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Good Things Come To Those Who Wait With IAN KENNY From KARNIVOOL
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I've got you and Kenny here today from Carnival to
- 0:02Speaker 1: chat about his upcoming new album, in versus Ian How
- 0:06Speaker 1: are we today?
- 0:07Speaker 2: Very well? Thank you doing well?
- 0:09Speaker 3: Excellent now.
- 0:10Speaker 1: In Verses has been described as a creative awakening. How's
- 0:14Speaker 1: everyone feeling about its release in the Carnival camp?
- 0:18Speaker 2: Oh, the Carnival camp feels great post release? Yes, feeling
- 0:23Speaker 2: it's feeling great.
- 0:24Speaker 4: We're literally in rehearsals at the moment learning how to
- 0:28Speaker 4: approach this record.
- 0:30Speaker 2: Live and that's going to take some time.
- 0:32Speaker 4: That will take a bit to figure out. Yes, it's
- 0:34Speaker 4: feeling great. There's a sense of achievement, a sense of
- 0:38Speaker 4: disbelief that we actually fucking did it. It was like, wow, okay, cool,
- 0:44Speaker 4: we did it and that's a huge win. Everyone survived it.
- 0:50Speaker 2: You know, missing bits and pieces, but we're still here.
- 0:53Speaker 2: So I talk good.
- 0:56Speaker 3: You say, you finally fucking did it?
- 0:58Speaker 1: What was What was the thing that made we go, okay,
- 1:00Speaker 1: we're ready, we can finally do it.
- 1:02Speaker 3: Let's release it.
- 1:04Speaker 4: I think in December twenty twenty four was probably the
- 1:09Speaker 4: first real, you know, window that we could start this record.
- 1:15Speaker 4: I think we've picked it up and put it down
- 1:17Speaker 4: so many times over the years. But yeah, December twenty
- 1:20Speaker 4: four we had Forest to come on board into the
- 1:22Speaker 4: chats and the sort of approach for the record, and
- 1:25Speaker 4: then we were like, oh, you know what, this is
- 1:27Speaker 4: starting to line up. So yeah, that was December twenty four,
- 1:30Speaker 4: and then we started recording January twenty twenty five, and
- 1:34Speaker 4: that was January through till May in a studio in
- 1:39Speaker 4: Perth called Foxhole.
- 1:41Speaker 2: Forrest was there for most of that.
- 1:43Speaker 4: We had our assistant engineer on Thomas for all of that,
- 1:48Speaker 4: like he was, yeah, those two guys are working hard man.
- 1:51Speaker 2: So yeah, just all lined up. The banker could see
- 1:54Speaker 2: it clearly.
- 1:55Speaker 4: Finally Forest was on board and yeah, stars aligned and.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Here we are. We did it.
- 2:02Speaker 1: You've starts starts finally lined up for you. And would
- 2:06Speaker 1: you say that you made any changes to appease like
- 2:09Speaker 1: the modern day consumer market and like social media behind
- 2:12Speaker 1: it all. I obviously you're well versed in releasing with
- 2:15Speaker 1: Birds of Tokyo and whatnot.
- 2:16Speaker 3: As well, but what's kind of all specifically?
- 2:19Speaker 1: Would you say that you made changes along the way
- 2:21Speaker 1: to kind of appease this market?
- 2:25Speaker 2: Not at all? No, not at all.
- 2:30Speaker 4: I don't think that we just sort of No, No,
- 2:34Speaker 4: we just did what we do, whatever that is, and
- 2:37Speaker 4: we did. We were just trying to get the best
- 2:40Speaker 4: out of the band creatively, like like we always do.
- 2:45Speaker 2: So that was the focus of just.
- 2:46Speaker 4: Finishing the record and getting it to where we think
- 2:49Speaker 4: it should sit. I mean there's many times where we
- 2:53Speaker 4: thought we had it right or good enough to go
- 2:56Speaker 4: in and record. Like I said, we picked it up
- 2:58Speaker 4: and put it down many many times. So even though
- 3:02Speaker 4: it took what twelve years of time, yeah waiting, it
- 3:07Speaker 4: definitely didn't take twelve years of working.
- 3:10Speaker 2: On it we did not do.
- 3:11Speaker 4: That was literally months, months or years where we just
- 3:14Speaker 4: left it alone because it wasn't it wasn't bright.
- 3:19Speaker 2: So yeah, a long time waiting. But I'm kind of
- 3:20Speaker 2: glad in a way that.
- 3:21Speaker 4: We just didn't try and push it, which is a
- 3:25Speaker 4: funny thing to stay.
- 3:27Speaker 2: After twelve years. But yeah, we got to write and yeah,
- 3:31Speaker 2: the band's happy.
- 3:32Speaker 3: Yeah excellent.
- 3:34Speaker 1: Now I'm from Perth myself originally from Rockingham.
- 3:37Speaker 3: Don't hold it against me, but it is really hard
- 3:42Speaker 3: exactly them.
- 3:44Speaker 1: It's really hard to crack outside of wa though as
- 3:47Speaker 1: a band. So tell me a bit about your journey
- 3:49Speaker 1: and when you actually realize, like holy shit, we're actually
- 3:52Speaker 1: doing this, Like we've got fans all over the world.
- 3:55Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure. I think two thousand and five put out Marta.
- 4:02Speaker 2: Prior to that we had an EP Corp Porsona two
- 4:06Speaker 2: thousand two, I don't know whatever, but prior to that,
- 4:11Speaker 2: I think we started writing. In two thousand and we
- 4:13Speaker 2: basically just.
- 4:16Speaker 4: I mean properly writing. Was like, oh, you know, we
- 4:20Speaker 4: probably can do this to some capacity. But we spend
- 4:23Speaker 4: it like a year or two in a shed in
- 4:25Speaker 4: the back of Drew's parents' house, just working on that
- 4:27Speaker 4: without showing anyone until we sort of got confident enough,
- 4:30Speaker 4: and then the AP came out. We thought, cool, we've
- 4:32Speaker 4: got some people in Perth. Then the Marta came out
- 4:34Speaker 4: two thousand and five. Just after that, two thousand and six,
- 4:37Speaker 4: I think was we started touring outside of Perth across
- 4:40Speaker 4: the country. That might have been one of our first
- 4:43Speaker 4: tours with COG and bands alike, and we're like, oh, fuck,
- 4:46Speaker 4: like people know about us on this side of the country.
- 4:50Speaker 4: And the more we went over there, we figured out
- 4:52Speaker 4: that people know us all over the country and that
- 4:54Speaker 4: led us to.
- 4:57Speaker 2: Yeah, sound Away from two thousand and nine. That got
- 4:59Speaker 2: us through to a year they got us into North America.
- 5:01Speaker 4: And beyond, and at that point we were like, wow, okay,
- 5:05Speaker 4: this is becoming a thing.
- 5:07Speaker 3: Yep. Yeah, you mentioned touring with Corgans. I had a
- 5:11Speaker 3: chat with woolfgang.
- 5:12Speaker 1: Man Haleen not too long ago, and of course he
- 5:15Speaker 1: was singing your praises and I just thought to myself,
- 5:17Speaker 1: that is so fucking cool. Like, there's these guys from Australia.
- 5:21Speaker 1: This guy has access to the biggest bands and musics in.
- 5:23Speaker 3: The world and you're at the top.
- 5:26Speaker 2: Yes, pretty pretty wild.
- 5:29Speaker 4: It's amazing. I mean, he's it's so cool. He's just
- 5:32Speaker 4: got it. He just sings like a good dude.
- 5:34Speaker 2: I like his vibe.
- 5:35Speaker 4: He's fucking cool man. Yeah, it's bad ripped to So
- 5:41Speaker 4: what a dude?
- 5:44Speaker 3: You mentioned persona before. Have you guys ever had like
- 5:47Speaker 3: a gig and played it live and full again and
- 5:49Speaker 3: gone down that path?
- 5:52Speaker 2: Absolutely? Not absolutely what was on that thing that was
- 6:01Speaker 2: like fade?
- 6:02Speaker 3: But oh man, it would do it?
- 6:05Speaker 1: Know it just to appease the old fans, It.
- 6:10Speaker 2: Would be an interesting conversation put it that way. I
- 6:13Speaker 2: don't know, I don't know, I don't know exactly.
- 6:17Speaker 4: No appetite for that would be to be honest.
- 6:22Speaker 2: All right.
- 6:23Speaker 1: So I've been a long time family you guys, and
- 6:26Speaker 1: for some reason I've just never been.
- 6:27Speaker 3: Able to line up seeing you.
- 6:29Speaker 1: But I did get to catch you at the Fortitude
- 6:31Speaker 1: Music Hall in twenty twenty four, and there's just this
- 6:34Speaker 1: unspoken cohesion between you guys.
- 6:37Speaker 3: It's just I don't know, it's beautiful to watch.
- 6:39Speaker 1: So what would you credit that to be able to
- 6:41Speaker 1: sustain that relationship to Like, how did you how do
- 6:44Speaker 1: you keep it going for so long?
- 6:48Speaker 2: It's a good question.
- 6:48Speaker 4: We're doing a long time over twenty years.
- 6:54Speaker 2: I guess. I guess we all just it comes down
- 6:58Speaker 2: to basic stuff. We truly appreciate.
- 7:01Speaker 4: And really do love what it is we find in
- 7:06Speaker 4: the center when we all come together in that creating,
- 7:09Speaker 4: that creation, when we get it right, it's the thing
- 7:12Speaker 4: that just keeps drawing you back. And it can be
- 7:17Speaker 4: like some of this type of weird abusive relationships sometimes
- 7:20Speaker 4: wrecking your brain, but you just know that when it's good,
- 7:25Speaker 4: it's good. And it's a lot deeper than that. But yeah,
- 7:30Speaker 4: and then on a live front, I guess we're playing
- 7:33Speaker 4: together whatever one sort of brings to the performance part
- 7:36Speaker 4: of Carnival. It's a space I don't think we can
- 7:38Speaker 4: find anywhere else. And it's when it's on, it's killer man.
- 7:42Speaker 2: Yeah, so much fun.
- 7:43Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like bloody magic.
- 7:45Speaker 1: I was going to say that after being together for
- 7:47Speaker 1: so long and maintaining other projects along the side, is
- 7:50Speaker 1: kind of all kind of like that sexy, alluring project
- 7:53Speaker 1: that just keeps you coming back in.
- 7:55Speaker 4: Oh. Yeah, it's it's like a it's like a family
- 7:58Speaker 4: member these days. It's like it's like a friend. And
- 8:03Speaker 4: it's just part of the fabric for everyone.
- 8:06Speaker 2: So and I don't.
- 8:08Speaker 4: Know if we expected to be in a band for
- 8:11Speaker 4: over twenty years when we were younger. So we've had
- 8:14Speaker 4: to manage what it takes to live that long with
- 8:17Speaker 4: this and manage it and love it and hate it
- 8:20Speaker 4: and understand the way it changes from year to year
- 8:25Speaker 4: as life does. So yeah, it's it's just part of
- 8:28Speaker 4: our fabric. And I'm blown away that we're still doing it.
- 8:35Speaker 4: I can't believe that.
- 8:35Speaker 2: We've got to fourth studio record about to come out. Ye,
- 8:39Speaker 2: it's fucking wild.
- 8:41Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And the album is fucking wild. I was
- 8:45Speaker 1: running these questions out and I had it Plane in
- 8:47Speaker 1: the background and honestly stopped two or three times just
- 8:50Speaker 1: to close my eyes and just oh shit.
- 8:52Speaker 3: It felt like I was like entering someone's home, like
- 8:55Speaker 3: a very good friend that I haven't seen for years.
- 8:57Speaker 3: Like it just fucking great, Like you go that love that. Yeah,
- 9:02Speaker 3: it was fucking awesome.
- 9:04Speaker 1: So you're talking about going overseas when you play over there,
- 9:08Speaker 1: where's your favorite place that you hear the accents singing
- 9:11Speaker 1: your songs.
- 9:11Speaker 2: Back to you?
- 9:12Speaker 3: Like Germany?
- 9:15Speaker 2: Oh that's a good one.
- 9:16Speaker 4: Yeah, there are some wonderful places where you hear things
- 9:19Speaker 4: come back with their own vibe on it. Yeah, definitely
- 9:23Speaker 4: Germany and parts of further into like Poland and the
- 9:28Speaker 4: furthy going there.
- 9:29Speaker 2: It gets it gets stronger, I guess in a way.
- 9:34Speaker 2: And sometimes it is the singing, but it's when they
- 9:36Speaker 2: yell out the stuff.
- 9:37Speaker 4: You just like, oh hey man, just yelling out in
- 9:41Speaker 4: between songs, all sort of stuff.
- 9:42Speaker 2: And then while I'm on India.
- 9:44Speaker 4: Hearing a crowd of Indian you know, mental heads singing
- 9:50Speaker 4: back our stuff.
- 9:51Speaker 2: It's awesome.
- 9:53Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that would honestly be one of my favorite
- 9:56Speaker 1: parts to look forward to.
- 9:57Speaker 2: Yes, it's special. It's so cool.
- 10:01Speaker 1: So being a band for so long and having that
- 10:04Speaker 1: you know, that setlist that you rely on, that you
- 10:06Speaker 1: know is going to be a sure thing. Are you
- 10:08Speaker 1: kind of shooting yourself knowing that your old faithballs aren't
- 10:11Speaker 1: there and you tried and tested and you're going in
- 10:13Speaker 1: there blind with all the new stuff.
- 10:15Speaker 3: How's it feel?
- 10:16Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, not so much shooting yourself. It's more about,
- 10:19Speaker 2: you know, how are we going to deliver the new stuff?
- 10:23Speaker 2: So that that's.
- 10:24Speaker 4: Why all these sort of research rehearsals and it's all
- 10:27Speaker 4: in the details. So it's just a bit of a climb,
- 10:29Speaker 4: like for the band, because we go in and basically
- 10:31Speaker 4: record the songs the way we want to, in the
- 10:33Speaker 4: way we see and a lot of time it's like,
- 10:35Speaker 4: you know, there's so much in the in the layers
- 10:37Speaker 4: of the of the design of the songs. You pull
- 10:40Speaker 4: them apart in the room you're like, okay, we're going
- 10:43Speaker 4: to play that best and who's going to do what
- 10:46Speaker 4: and all that sort of stuff. So kind of redesigned
- 10:48Speaker 4: the songs in the room for the live stuff, but
- 10:51Speaker 4: now for ofthing to play the new stuff. I mean,
- 10:56Speaker 4: if we were organized and we're not, if we were
- 10:59Speaker 4: prepared and we're not, we'd play the whole record, but
- 11:03Speaker 4: we're just not there say, it'll be a handful of
- 11:05Speaker 4: new stuff and then some some things that we just
- 11:08Speaker 4: love playing playing live, and and there's just some songs
- 11:12Speaker 4: in the rules set that have just earned their place
- 11:16Speaker 4: in the show each time.
- 11:19Speaker 2: And it's funny we try and.
- 11:20Speaker 4: Like, oh man, we didn't play that last time, played this,
- 11:22Speaker 4: and try and flip things around a bit. But there's
- 11:24Speaker 4: like a handful of songs when you don't play them
- 11:26Speaker 4: be like.
- 11:26Speaker 2: Oh, she's already missed that. Yeah, So yeah, it's a
- 11:30Speaker 2: bit of a juggle each time.
- 11:33Speaker 1: Yeah, cool, I'll good to hear it be a mix
- 11:35Speaker 1: and match too, though, But yeah, I feel like that
- 11:37Speaker 1: would be a little bit scary going in with all
- 11:39Speaker 1: your new stuff.
- 11:40Speaker 2: But if ought to be to.
- 11:42Speaker 4: Answer a question, if you had to play like the
- 11:43Speaker 4: new record in full in like yeah, in a month month,
- 11:47Speaker 4: I'd be like fuck, I'd be shitting it.
- 11:51Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. But at least you've got that solid fan
- 11:54Speaker 3: base behind you, So so that's going to be company
- 11:56Speaker 3: to know they're going to be there for a year ago.
- 11:59Speaker 1: Yeah, now writing lots songs these days, verses over twenty
- 12:04Speaker 1: almost thirty years ago, do you still resonate with that
- 12:07Speaker 1: same kind of songwriting, or do you find your lyrics
- 12:09Speaker 1: are completely changed and everything you connect with differently.
- 12:14Speaker 4: No, I think my relationship with the creative parts of
- 12:18Speaker 4: Carnival are the same, and the way I approach things
- 12:22Speaker 4: relatively the same. Now, that's things kind of the same
- 12:26Speaker 4: that it hasn't really changed.
- 12:30Speaker 2: Probably think a little bit deeper these.
- 12:33Speaker 4: Days about lyrics and dig a bit deeper for them.
- 12:40Speaker 4: Early on and on the EPs and the early stuff,
- 12:43Speaker 4: it just was not thinking the fuck. I was just
- 12:45Speaker 4: like whatever, like Arthur doesn't really make any sense.
- 12:48Speaker 2: But it was more about trying.
- 12:51Speaker 4: To find pure flow state where you would unearth things
- 12:56Speaker 4: from your subconscious and some of that shit's important because
- 13:01Speaker 4: you don't really know what it means a lot of
- 13:02Speaker 4: the time, and then after the fact it really comes
- 13:07Speaker 4: to what you're how you're living, or what you're doing.
- 13:09Speaker 2: It's like wow, it's like what the fuck? How does
- 13:12Speaker 2: that lining up?
- 13:12Speaker 4: Now? It's like some crazy, some crazy science to it.
- 13:16Speaker 4: But these days dig a bit deeper. Yeah, it's a
- 13:21Speaker 4: fun way. I find writing lyrics we kind of challenging
- 13:26Speaker 4: because sometimes, let lands, the music's so obscure, you've got
- 13:30Speaker 4: such a palette like this space to dive into. I
- 13:34Speaker 4: can get a bit lost in there, and I keep
- 13:37Speaker 4: having to pull myself out a bit and sort of
- 13:39Speaker 4: stay on target. But it is, it is fun once
- 13:43Speaker 4: it all sort of comes together and people chuck in
- 13:47Speaker 4: their own ideas and you kind of work with those
- 13:50Speaker 4: and that's kind of the fun part as well.
- 13:53Speaker 2: Sometimes it's the hard part. But yeah, yeah, overall though
- 13:58Speaker 2: it hasn't changed.
- 13:59Speaker 4: It's just us up with ideas, trying to smash them
- 14:02Speaker 4: together until that thing makes sense, and they and this
- 14:06Speaker 4: is it. This is what it takes forever that will
- 14:07Speaker 4: kick on to the same basic process, transition by transition.
- 14:11Speaker 2: Until we can see things clearer. And yeah, just purely chasing,
- 14:16Speaker 2: chasing good vibes.
- 14:18Speaker 3: Cool, great answer, great answer.
- 14:21Speaker 1: Last one a bit of a funny one for you
- 14:23Speaker 1: before we finish up. Do you ever cop the Corey
- 14:26Speaker 1: Taylor moment and people go to you holy ship? That
- 14:29Speaker 1: kind of a guy sounds like the singer of Birth
- 14:30Speaker 1: of Tokyo.
- 14:32Speaker 2: I do.
- 14:33Speaker 4: Yeah, It's pretty funny when people ask me that and
- 14:38Speaker 4: I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm in I'm in both bands
- 14:40Speaker 4: and they're like no, and I'm like.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Wait, well, well I am and I'm like, I don't
- 14:48Speaker 2: know how to argue this point. You believe me or
- 14:52Speaker 2: you don't google the thing?
- 14:55Speaker 3: Man, that's that.
- 14:55Speaker 4: That's me.
- 14:56Speaker 2: I'm like cool man, so good.
- 15:01Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much for your time. And that
- 15:03Speaker 1: was fucking awesome to meet you. And I'm really excited
- 15:06Speaker 1: for the world to hear this album. That fucking kids us.
- 15:09Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, You're awesome. I really appreciate the chat.
- 15:13Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
- 15:13Speaker 3: Yeah, no worries, mate, and I'll hopefully catch you another time.
- 15:16Speaker 2: Awesome, see you again.
- 15:18Speaker 3: Day.
- 15:22Speaker 5: We all say, what's going on? Tad Gosha b that's
- 15:28Speaker 5: a freeman.
- 15:31Speaker 6: But we ever gonna see the sun reason by by
- 15:37Speaker 6: sake of bacause I'll stay many more.
- 15:43Speaker 5: I care fine, Nomen, how about you.
- 15:52Speaker 2: If I still jets this spot?
- 16:03Speaker 5: Jo Heir on the world, there's a cold swear on
- 16:13Speaker 5: the back of my head, Jelly Jo
- 16:19Speaker 2: The spo