Is Tarah Who? ready for a Grammy?

0 Shares

TARAH WHO? Grammy ready

Interview conducted on March 25, 2020

The Ladies of Tarah Who? are a fascinating flashback to 90’s rock with anthemic singalong choruses and a raw,grungey edge.They aren’t afraid to do their own thing with their unique brand of intense, engaging rock.- Gig Radar UK

Tarah G.Carpnter: Vocals, Guitar, Drums,Coralie Herve: Drums

Dan Locke: What was your upbringing like, and how did that influence your sound?

TGC: My mom was born in 43 and was abandoned because her father was a German soldier. My dad came from Vietnam with our family during the war. They both have gone through really hard times. When we grew up with my brothers, they had really big expectations of us doing big studies.
My brothers studied but I chose music. No one supported my choice but my mom who still just want one thing: for me to be happy. We still share music and she really loves what we do with the band or other bands I am involved with.
I know the other side of my family will never support my choice because it is not a career they can understand. I think the rawness or anger of our music comes from desperately trying to prove that I am not, not doing anything with my life!
I like authenticity and it is far more important to me to be true to myself than sell out.

How did you discover music?

CH: My parents always listened to music, mostly French one. One day my uncle showed me this band called Nightwish and I just fell in love with this band and this genre, symphonic metal band. It opened the door to the metal scene.
TGC: My mom was the musical one. She would blast the Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dreams, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, etc… while cleaning the house. When I started getting into music and artists, I listened to a lot of Alanis Morrissette. That was until I discovered The Distillers, Pantera, Motorhead, Tool, RATM, RHCP, Foo Fighters, Hole, L7, The Smashing Pumpkins, etc…

How do you feel about how the Coronavirus has affected the music world today?

TGC: It has affected our tour, unfortunately. We have had to cancel all of our shows if they were not already postponed. We were really looking forward to going up north, and Vancouver. Luckily it is just rescheduled 🙂
We were very pleased to be able to shoot the music video for ‘Pantomath’ RIGHT before the lockdown!!
Now, we are editing and setting everything up for the release of the videos. I was able to finish episode 3 of our docuseries, which will be premiered on Thursday! So, in a way, it has helped me focus on the behind the scenes, managing aspect.
I miss playing with Coco. I am happy to have a home studio so that I can play at home, but I miss playing LOUD and banging my drums.

How is your new video coming along?

TGC: We were really happy on set. We had SUCH a great team! We work with Maria Quintana as a DP. She is a good friend of ours now. It is our third video together. She is like a third member of Tarah Who? She makes us look good!
I love working with her, because she has such a good eye, that we can just rely 200% on her. She is super creative, and when she gets in the zone, you know you are getting what you are paying for!
Jude Abadi, and Kay were also part of the music video and live sessions we recorded the next day.
We call Maria, Jude, and Kay the three musketeers with Coralie. You should see them work together. 3 super talented women who work really really hard!
They know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. It is very impressive. They are on the ball constantly. Since the first video for ‘Numb Killer’ we noticed and we told ourselves. From now on, if we make a video it has to be this team.
Director for this video is Ellinor. She was so great at directing us/me. She is very creative, and she was really into it. It was a great experience.
Overall, we had an amazing crew. The ambiance was super fun on set, weird circumstances but we made light of the situation when we could. Nupur, we have worked with on the video ‘Hurt’ makes sure everything is on time, Lena directed our live sessions. working 2 days in a row is also fun because we are all as exhausted, but we keep making things happen!
Please check all of the crew’s names on our Instagram. They all deserve it!

How did you find Da.quest.called.tribe?

TGC: I have known Yael, one of the riders for quite a while. She is a well-known hard rock drummer. When I started riding, we talked about motorcycles and riding gear. She introduced me to her motorcycle group “A Quest called Tribe”. When Maria and I met to talk about what we could come up with for the music video, I suggested motorcycles. I asked Yael if that was something that the ladies would want to be a part of, and they said “yes!”. That was super exciting. ‘Pantomath’ is about mansplaining and the road to success, and basically listening to yourself more than others, since you don’t know other people’s intentions. When the Quest comes in, basically I have just faced and smashed my fears, doubts, and obstacles, and I’m meeting with my group of friends (women supporting each other instead of being in competition). So yeah it was really cool to shoot this video with them!

What type of motorcycle do you have?

TGC: I have a Suzuki Van Van. It is a small bike, that fits my needs at the moment. I just wanted a vintage-looking, small bike to commute. I live by the ocean so it’s really nice to just ride on the PCH. My friend Eddie Chappell made a custom leather seat, and leather pouch so I can put all of my things and ride safely. You can find those items on my Instagram or his (@tarah_g_carpenter / @streetknightgear) Eventually I will get something bigger. I love the MUTT motorcycles; they have the look that I love.

What is you’re feeling about the Me2 Movement?

TGC: Unfortunately, I have had too many “me too” situations from the time I was a little girl too sometimes now still. So, I can’t deny that this is a serious topic. I am really happy that Women started opening up. It is a difficult situation because we can’t generalize men and their bad behaviors. They are some really great men out there. I think that it should inspire parents to educate their sons to be respectful of women from their first encounters with women. Respect their mothers, sisters, cousins, classmates. Dads should be an example. Daughters should be taught how to respect themselves from their first age as well and not letting certain situations happen. WE KNOW when things are happening that it is not right but for some reason, most of us don’t DARE to stop it. Most of the time because we don’t want to OFFEND or EMBARRASS, or we are not 100% sure that this is happening, however, deep down we KNOW and after the fact, we are really upset at ourselves that we didn’t do what was necessary. Just a few weeks ago, I had a business lunch not too long ago and I was asked some really inappropriate questions. REALLY inappropriate, I didn’t want to look like I was uncomfortable, or I guess I wasn’t sure what to think really …I was caught off guard. After the meeting, I thought about it again and realized that If I were a man in that business meeting, I would not have been asked so many questions that had nothing to do with the band, music or business. I was asked about my sexuality and what I thought of men, and if my wife and I were an open couple. My mom was born in 1943, in France. Living in the US since 2006, I can tell you that there is a big difference between women raised in France and in Los Angeles. In France, women still put men on a pedestal sometimes, which is shocking to me when I go back to visit. We are in 2020 after all… My mom was raised by nuns (she was abandoned because her dad was a German soldier. who knows what happened there…) and I have always felt that she or women of her generation were more used to be at the service of men, even if they worked their asses off doing everything for their families? I think that it is amazing that Women are talking, but just like everything in life. There needs to be balanced.
I was getting food the other day. The girl at the register goes ” stop it! I don’t like it!” I look in the back, there was a boy laughing with all of his co-workers. He was touching her ass. I saw him doing it again and she said again ” I said STOP!” turns around and looks at me ” Sorry what can I get for you?” They are all laughing and high-fiving each other. I looked at him in the eyes and said ” hey You! What you are doing is actually called Harassment.” She looked at me with a big smile of relief and tears in her eyes.
I went to talk to the manager and explained what I had just witnessed. I guess the crew calmed down.
A few days later, I called the restaurant and I asked about the girl. The manager said that she had made a complaint after I left. I was really happy to hear that. I don’t wish this boy to get in trouble, but this is exactly the type of education I am talking about. If no one ever tells him anything, he is going to become an adult and might not understand still that his behavior is inappropriate. Bullying and Harassment are both very wrong, obviously…but it doesn’t mean that he can’t learn that this is not ok.

Did Harry the Punk Terrier get a lot of screen time?

TGC: HAHAHA!!! so unexpected question!!! Humm you know what no… not much… he did go on our last tour with us. You will see more of him on the next episode of our docu-series (probably on ep. 4) lolI love it!!

I see that Fender is endorsing you. What other surprises have they given you?

TGC: Fender has given me the best experience or Endorsement with Blackstar.
I walked in and Jason (my A&R) takes me to a room filled with guitars. I tried like 5 guitars, and Jason was really helpful with picking one that was good for our sound. Otherwise, it could have taken the whole day!! There were too many guitars!
I picked the Vintera, and he said ” alright I’ll have it sent to you, let’s go meet everyone now, I will show you around” So here we are meeting the Fender crew, and how they make it all happen. Towards the end of the tour, Jason goes” alright, this is the room where you can pick what you want, have fun!” It was full of Fender accessories. I grabbed as much as I reasonably could. I was really shy about it, I kept asking Coralie ” this or this” she would say ” take both! It’s free!” lol!!

Amazing!

With Blackstar, it is a little different, I have gotten close to Loren. We like to catch up and he is really supportive of the band. He helps us out a lot with any amp we can possibly need, anywhere in the world!

I see you are submitting for Grammy consideration. How does one submit to the Grammys, and what was that whole process like?

TGC: You know, that was for 2020 so we were submitted in 2019. I have NO IDEA how it works. I didn’t do it; I think you have to be a part of the Grammys I have no clue. I received an email one-day “Congratulations, ‘Hurt’ is in the pre-selection for the Grammys 2020. “WHAT???!” then we received a list with the other 99 artists who were selected and then I think it was in November, they pick 5 out of the 100.
I was really surprised too because ‘Hurt’ is not our most representative song. so Hopefully it happens again next year with “Pantomath”!

Since we are talking about award shows, how do you feel about shows like The Voice

TGC: I haven’t had a TV since I was 15 so I have actually never watched but I know the gist of it. I am not really into this type of shows but I guess some people can be discovered? If they are pop, I guess?
It is not my idea of being an artist. it doesn’t mean that those people don’t have talent (writing I mean), maybe some of them are just doing it for the push and exposure. I personally could never be a part of this. Actually, that reminds me, I have a funny story. I was visiting France and my old bass player Ash, whom I have another music project within which I play the drums, asks me if he can use some Tarah Who? footage to be part of casting.
I had no idea what he was talking about but I said ‘sure” a few days later, he calls me back to ask if someone can call me about a TV show. Something, I have no idea what he was talking about but I said “sure” This scout calls me and tells me that he looked at the video and offered me to be a part of a TV show. I went to the “meeting” wondering what this was about, I had to prepare a few songs so I said, ” can I just sing my song?” He says, ” I guess you can do a soft one but the other 2 will have to be in French” Anyway, I went to that meeting which actually was a big audition (and a waste of time) After I don’t know how long I waited, I finally go into a room full of “music industry” people, cameras, and whatnot. I sang my song first, got interrupted” why are you singing in English?” Well, I write in English…. play us another song” I was already boiling inside. I played the other 2 songs everyone is into it, but the main guy it appears who confronted me in the beginning.
When I left, I was followed by a guy who told me to wait. I really didn’t want to but I was also curious about how far this thing goes. He comes back saying ” Everyone liked you, you just have too much personality for the show…!” lol!!
I forget what happened with the main guy but it got a little tense. Anyway, this whole molding thing is not for me. Telling you what to do, how to sing, what to play… no… If you are an artist with A VOICE (as in something to say) you can’t go on a TV show like that…People will listen/support to who believe in their art.

Digital vs. vinyl?

CH: I prefer vinyl, I just love having the material in my hands and the sound is just amazing!!
TGC: It depends on which mood I am in. If I am cozy at home, Vinyl, If I am on the road, on the go, Digital because I need choice! Any way I can listen to music, I use. Digital, CDs, Vinyl…

Any plans to tour?

CH: We actually were supposed to be on tour as we speak but with everything that is happening, we had to cancel and we will postpone it.
TGC: Yeah that sucks because we were going to have a really good tour going all the way to Vancouver. Everyone has been so nice though. We are rescheduling everything with everyone, and some promoters even offered to have us play live on Instagram. It’s really cooling what is happening. I love those chaos moments when people become creative and make things happen no matter what.

What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?

CH: I always have a Nightwish song in my head hahaha, I’ll say “Ghost Love Score” my favorite song. I listened to it a hundred times but it always gives me the chills.
TGC: Oh well, I was just editing some Tarah Who? songs so “In a Rush” is stuck in my mind right now! I wrote that song when I was 21 and about to move from Paris to LA, for good. Not knowing if it was the right decision to make, leaving everyone behind, starting new, alone but my dreams were bigger.

How do you see yourself in the next five years?

CH: Being a better musician hopefully hahaha and making the best out of my instrument.
TGC: Well I hope that we will have won that Grammy! And that we will have toured the entire world and expanded our fan base intensively, playing along with bands like the Foo Fighters!
Hopefully, I will be a mother of one or 2 human beings too.

Anything you would like to say in closing?