The career Richmond’s own Carbon Leaf has had since the early 90s should really be something of a guidebook for any band out there. They’re a true testament to the fact that you can make a long run as band together and make a good living for yourself without having hit songs and records or sacrificing your artistic integrity. All you need is a strong work ethic, a deep appreciation of your fans, and a keen understanding of what they want to hear and do. Doesn’t sound so hard on paper, but you just know some bands out there would zone out after the first half of that sentence.
The career Richmond’s own Carbon Leaf has had since the early 90s should really be something of a guidebook for any band out there. They’re a true testament to the fact that you can make a long run as band together and make a good living for yourself without having hit songs and records or sacrificing your artistic integrity. All you need is a strong work ethic, a deep appreciation of your fans, and a keen understanding of what they want to hear and do. Doesn’t sound so hard on paper, but you just know some bands out there would zone out after the first half of that sentence.
One of the most successful bands in Richmond’s history has kept their hectic output this decade continuing this year as they’re tackling two projects pretty much simultaneously. The first culminates this weekend in the 2nd Annual Ragtime Carnival held at Pocahontas Live in Chesterfield, a weekend full of events from acts such as Von Grey and People’s Blues Of Richmond as well as two full sets and two mini-sets from Carbon Leaf themselves. While the band admittedly has less involvement in the show than they do with the rest of their projects, it’s pretty apparent that this alone would be more than enough for the band. But the band is also tackling their second re-visited project through PledgeMusic, this time tackling their 2006 album Love Loss Hope Repeat. Announced only a few weeks ago, the project is already half-funded with more than a month to go and the band is naturally hard at work in order to make sure the unveiling of their recent revision is as great and as smooth as possible.
With his mind in a million places, lead singer and frontman Barry Privett was gracious enough to talk to us about their recent projects as well as some future plans. Just as the band’s career is a great guidebook for aspiring bands out there, listening to Privett speak, as well as the rest of the band if you ever have the opportunity, is just a great learning experience from a band completely comfortable in their own skin, but still looking to grow after all these years together.
How much work do you have left for the Ragtime Carnival show?
We’re working up until the last minute if you can believe it. There’s lots of stuff to do and we’re recording too, which is usually the way it works out. They’re pretty good over there at Pocahontas Live so I think most of the big stuff has kind of fallen into place. All we really need to do is get some crew together, some set-lists together, and then we’ll be good to go.
Anything different this year?
Well, we just got word that the campfire is going to work out for late night after Friday’s set so anyone who’s going to be camping out is going to be able to take part in that. We wanted to do it last year, but we weren’t able to organize it in time so that’s what we were shooting for this time. We’ve got Butch Taylor, who used to play keyboards with Dave Matthews Band, on both nights which is awesome. Set-wise, we’re not going to repeat songs so that will give the two-dayers a lot of stuff to listen to from our catalogue. What we did decide to do this year was to trim back a couple of acts because we wanted to allow all the artists a little bit more time to play than last year so I think that it will be a positive improvement. I think we had like eighteen bands last year and this year I think we have fourteen. That’s going to make for a smoother day and allow us to breathe a little bit better.
Has it been smoother planning this year than it was last year?
It has and the guys over there went on good faith with us last year which I would say is pretty commendable for a state park. They had a positive experience last year and enjoyed it. I think they were impressed with the attendees and wanted to get behind it again. Having done it last year, things have been pretty smooth.
You guys have always been advocated of the do-it-yourself mindset and are always in the mix with any thing you do. How hands on are you here?
There’s always some of that, but actually this festival is actually a lot more hands off for us than other things we put together. I think the fact that Pocahontas Live is an established venue inside the state park helps a lot. The promoter has certainly done shows before so that goes a long way for sure, but yeah, we’re always hands on and we like to be in the mix like you said. We certainly like to be out and about and make sure the other artists are taken care of. In terms of the nuts and bolts and catering and production and sound and lights, all that stuff is pretty in place by the time we get there.
I remember last year during your Saturday afternoon set, you singled out someone wearing the first t-shirt you ever put out some twenty-odd years ago. What does it mean to see someone not only still have that shirt, but also still come out to see you?
It’s really humbling and nice to have those kind of people. You know when you get older in life, life gets complicated and it’s really tough to just go out. It’s tough enough to go out on date night and do something entertaining, but to go out to the state park and see a band you used to listen to 20 years ago is pretty cool. We’re really appreciative that we have a nice span of audience that may not come to every single show, but they’re still very active.
I know you guys have a good following across the country too. Do you have any fans like that who’ve been reliably coming to your shows for decades?
Yeah, absolutely. You definitely recognize people and sometimes they’re out of place from where you remember them. People move across the country and all of sudden you have a group that comes out and sees us in San Diego that have been living there for a year or two. When we see them, they’re super excited that there’s someone representing what they remember as home coming through. It’s a neat connection.
And they come from out of town for something like this too.
Definitely. That’s kind of where trying to create an experience comes in. If you’re able to offer something unique in terms of a memory that’s worth investing in, then that’s ultimately the kind of business you want to be in. Being able to play over the course of weekend and give the out of towners maybe three or four days in town is great. You would hope people treat it as a destination, must-attend event.
Have you guys started to do any elaborate planning for the next year’s show?
No, we haven’t really started thinking like that. It’s always our hope that at the end of each one, we had good weather and we’ve grown a little bit and can do it next year. I think really for us, just putting the money on the stage with the artists is key. For Pocahontas itself, the setting takes care of itself for people so there’s not a ton of things we’re looking to invest in beyond making that memory for people. “I went to this awesome area and saw some awesome music and I thought it was just really well run.” Let’s start there. This year, we’re adding the after-show bonfire. Who knows? If we can do it for a third year, we’ll start expanding ideas. We don’t want to bite off more than we chew and lose focus.
So with the Love Loss Hope Repeat Revisited project being announced a few weeks ago, do you think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
Well, we’ve always done that. The truth is most of our projects have been about six-to-eight month apart since 2010 if I’m not mistaken. The goal for these Vanguard releases was to get it done in a concentrated amount of time that we would have used anyway to write and come up with new material. After releasing two albums back to back in 2013 of original material, it seemed like a good time to take stock of some of these other ideas that we wanted to do. Luckily, I think that fans so far seem to be into it. I’m sure there are some people that just want some new music and I understand that, but we’re doing what we need to be doing right now.
What’s the mindset behind this revisited project because I know you didn’t do much to alter the state of Indian Summer, but Love Loss Hope Repeat does come off as perhaps your most disjointed album in your catalogue?
Well, it provides an opportunity where the strategy is different because with Indian Summer, our goal was to not change things too much. We wanted it to sound like Indian Summer, but sonically just feel and play better. I feel like we achieved that and improved on the original without stripping away things that people would say that’s not “One Prairie Outpost” for instance. With this one, there is a lot of production things that we did not have time for at that time in order to develop songs the way we would normally do them. There was one time we went down to Nashville and worked with a producer we hadn’t worked with before and we had a very concentrated short amount of time to get the session done. I think the album felt the strain of that. It was a good exercise for us to get in and have to create quickly though. We should have known better and maybe we kind of did, but we had to take the leap of faith. If we had known better though, we would have stepped back at a certain point and fleshed the ideas out so that’s what we’re doing now.
We know the things that don’t work on the album and I don’t feel like it’s the songs. While some of the songs are definitely different from each other, our goal is to make the album still cohesive and make the songs feel like they belong together. I don’t know if the same kind of comparison can be made to Indian Summer. That album is kind of a time and place record with a definite thread running through that far more than Love Loss Hope Repeat, but that’s also kind of the point of the album and the title. This kind of seasonal cycle where you have these wildly varying things throughout the year and they are different in and of themselves, but they repeat and come back around. I’m hoping we’ll get there. In my opinion, the stuff we’ve recorded so far is a world of difference than the production on the label version which had a very aggressive kind of treatment. Lot of drums and lot of vocals with not a lot of acoustic instruments. We’re just going to go back and take some of these songs from where they were at the demo stage and what inspired them at that moment. I think sonically, it’s going to be very different.
We’re in a unique situation though with the main impetus for doing this being that we didn’t have control over those original recordings. But now, we have the opportunity to have a copy. If the Department Of veteran Affairs calls and says they want to use “The War Was In Color” in this documentary they’re doing, which happened a couple of months ago, we don’t have to send them to Vanguard and have no involvement in it. We can say we’ve got a copy and we can kind of control that.
Was there a song on Love Loss Hope Repeat that you were most anxious to start re-working?
Well, just about every one of them really. There are different things within each one I want to change. I’d like to get a better vocal take on “The War Was In Color” and get more emotional. “Learn To Fly” has some different drum patterns that are missing from the original demo. Some songs have longer structures. “Block Of Wood” had extra verses that we trimmed out at the time and we’re going to put back in. Songs like “Texas Star” and “Under The Wire,” they have a more ambient kind of treatment to them originally than the way they are cut on the album. I think we’re going to improve upon songs like “Royal One for sure. Songs we’ve never even played before I think will become fan favorites. I think they will definitely surprise people. We’ll probably even re-sequence the album. I think the production behind it will change enough where we’ll feel that there’s a different flow. It’s not like people listen to albums front to back anymore though.
The big question has to be if you’re going to get Katy Perry back for a new music video to “Learn To Fly?”
Ha! Of course. Yeah…we’ve sent the offer in. We’re just waiting to hear back now.
So with the way things are unfolding, is it a safe bet that 2016 will see a Nothing Rhymes With Woman project?
It’s highly likely for sure.
What about re-visiting the older, pre-Vanguard records though because I know you’ve talked about it before like on the Q&A from your Live, Acoustic…And In Cinemascope! DVD?
We would need to release some new material before we keep recording all the old stuff. Right now, it’s all we got time for. Things are always in the back of our minds, especially mine. When you’re in production though, it’s kind of all you can do. It’s not just recording though; it’s also packaging and releasing it so hopefully when things die down after this campaign this summer, there will be a good writing spurt and I’ll go off and get some lyrics down. I’ve got a lot of half-finished songs right now so hopefully they can get finished soon.
As far as revisiting the old records though, I would love to. I’d love to do that more than the Vanguard records frankly. The fact that Jason and Jon aren’t on any of them as well as the fact that they are very early recordings and we were just learning how to record and to perform is really compelling. I would love to see re-records of Echo Echo or Ether-Electrified Porch Music or Shadows In The Banquet Hall for sure. It’s a lot of work though. It’s not just, “Oh, we already know these songs so we can do this in two weeks.” It’s still going to take us four to five months to make Love Loss Hope Repeat. It’s still a process in between touring and everything else you need to do. I would love to do that stuff, but we might have to see if our fans will be interested. There’s a lot of fans who don’t even have that music so it’d be neat to kind of update it and release it with Jason and Jon on it. Re-introduce what I think are good songs in our catalogue to the fans without just posting the old stuff. I don’t know – is that something you’d be into?
Definitely, but I’d really love to see you guys re-visit Meander, your first album that’s kind of this black sheep of your rich catalogue.
Well, it’s funny, I’ve listened to it recently. It definitely has its vibe. There’s a few big missteps on that album, but there are some good songs on there so who knows? Maybe that will be the last thing we ever release one day. Bring everything full circle and then call it quits.
Carbon Leaf, as well as fourteen other bands, perform tonight and tomorrow at Pocahontas State Park for the 2nd Annual Ragtime Carnival with one-day and two-day passes still available to purchase here. The band’s PledgeMusic campaign for Love Loss Hope Repeat is also still on-going with 36 days later. To pledge or find out more information on that, click here.
