Interview: From the Formation to 'Knees', Meet Mr. Carnivore
Cleveland indie-rock band Mr. Carnivore isn't backing down out of the music industry. With the release of their recent single 'Knees', they swarm up a storm and people are talking. Mr. Carnivore chats about the inspiration behind the single 'Knees', formation of Mr. Carnivore, and childhood memories.
Thank you for chatting with Music Update Central! You just released your new single ‘Knees’.With such a unique song title, where did you get inspiration from to write this song? [Mike] Knees is inspired by a real relationship that took place over a couple of years. Knees is about being in a tough relationship. You love each other, but you hurt each other. You try to make it work but you come up short. It ends with “when the rain washes off the pain of your love” – The love is there, or was there, but it was always with pain. Kind of a tortured love song disguised in pretty wrapping paper.
With the formation of the band ‘Mr Carnivore’, how did y’all meet? How did the band come to be? [Joe] Me and Pat go way, way back. We are brothers, so we’ve known each other our whole lives. Me and Mike went to high school together. We started playing in bands together when we were sophomores I believe. Mike, Pat and I have been in probably 5 or 6 different bands with each other over the years, so we have booked a lot of time playing and recording together. Mike spent about five years out in LA recording and writing and in that time I joined a band with Kevin. We played with that group for about three years. When Mike moved back to Cleveland a couple years ago, we started a production company called, The Deep End. While working as a production team, we started an open mic that meet on a weekly basis. While we were hanging out doing that, both Mike and Pat would separately take the stage and play their songs. One day I had a light-bulb moment where I thought, “hey, we might be a pretty good band.” So after about a month of convincing, everyone agreed to give it a try. It has been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun in the four months that we’ve been together.
What can readers expect from you guys in the upcoming months? [Joe] At this point we’ve just released our first official single, Knees. You can find this on just about any platform that you listen to music on. Knees, is the first single of a larger collection of songs that we are currently recording. The next few months are going to be focused on finishing this project. Once, we finish recording, we are really excited to hit the stage. I am spending a lot of time, working on getting airplay on college radio stations. Once we are getting plays on a lot of stations in the surrounding areas, we hope to put together a college radio tour. Always looking for opportunities to play festivals over the summer as well.
When writing music, where do you draw your inspiration from? [Pat] Lately I have found it really easy to be inspired to write lyrics. I have been writing a lot of 2 sentence phrases about things I see in everyday life that I find to be ironic or moving. I have been writing most of them on the back of a minute clinic print out in my car from the last time I thought I was dying and rushed myself to a CVS minute clinic. The act of writing lyrics on the back of that print out struck me as ironic so that has made it into a lyric as well. Outside of everyday life interactions I get inspired by other musicians. I have been keen on Jeff Tweedy for a couple months now.
[Mike] I really don't know. Music/lyrics just kind of come and then usually I spend time trying to hone in whatever feeling they provoke. Sometimes something feels nostalgic or suburban or dangerous etc. Then I'll try to find words/phrases that help push that mood further. That or girls.
MUC Random Question: What’s your favorite childhood memory? [Pat] This is kind of a tough question. I don’t remember a lot of my childhood off hand. Not because it was bad.. It was great, but I tend to try to stay in the present as much as possible. A Memory that jump into my mind right now was a time I was on a camping trip at Mohican State park and I was playing my guitar outside when a a young kid came over to me and started singing to whatever I was playing. He was making lyrics up off the top of his head. We jammed that song for a good 10 minutes and then he eventually said goodbye and walked away, never to be seen again.
[Mike] When I was a kid, famed Cleveland Indian Jim Thome (recently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame) told me to "shut the hell up" when I was 9 years old. I was asking for his autograph along with a bunch of other kids.
Its funny to me because since then I've been like "fuck that guy", but the rest of the world (apparently) loves him. I mean he has a statue outside the Indians stadium. I feel like I'm the only person in the world who knows what a real asshole he is. Fuck that guy.
Where can our readers follow you at? While a standard Google search will yield a plethora of options for everyone to listen and follow us on, our most popular platforms are:
Website: www.MrCarnivoreEats.com
Facebook: www.FaceBook.com/MrCarnivoreBand
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/mrcarnivore_
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/mr_carnivore/
Bands In Town: bandsintown.com/Mr.Carnivore
STREAM 'KNEES' ON SPOTIFY: