Tarah Who? is female fronted power trio from Los Angeles: Punk, Rock, Alternative from the 90s. Meet Tarah G. Carpenter (Vocals,guitar), Joey Southern (Bass) and female drummer Coralie Hervé.
"...If Motorhead was fronted by Alanis Morissette!"
I recently chatted with this killer Punk-Rock band, check it out below:
Tarah G. Carpenter (TGC) : Vocals, Guitar
Joey Southern: (JS) Bass, Backing Vocals
Coralie Hervé (CH): Drums, Backing Vocals
ES: How did the name come about?
TGC: It was actually random. We had a bunch of gigs lined up when we first started Tarah Who? as a band and I could not use my name because there was another artist who happened to be French Vietnamese as well, who was blowing up! People thought that I was her, because she did not use her pictures for promo. I sent an email to my bandmates at the same time with a bunch of options. The subject of that email was "Tarah... WHO..???" and out of all of the band names i came up with they all responded " actually the subject is the best" which was not even an option!
I hate looking for band names so i said ok whatever.. we booked those shows under that name and got many more shows afterwards. Time passed by and 13 years later.. I just feel like it's too late to change it now!
ES: How would you describe your genre to someone who isn't familiar with your music?
JS: Its a touch of this and that, reminding you of the grunge years and the countless sub genres stretching to and beyond rock. Most importantly it is a breath of fresh air, original and meaningful. Every note played with a specific purpose and intention from dynamically soft to chaotically hard and that is evident in Tarah's finger's. I have had fingers bleed as well over time, however Tarah's fingers continue to bleed upon constant use and driving strumming. Tarah drives Coralie and I to play harder and louder than ever before. We play hard, we play loud and we play with purpose!!!
CH : I'll say it's a mx of rock/punk/grunge but at the same time is unique. Tarah, Joey and I have very different music backgrounds and I think that Tarah Who?'s sound is a mix of all of it.
TGC: Yeah... they said it all..but mainly.. we don't try to sound like anyone else and if we do, it is not on purpose. I actually don't know many bands. Most shows, we have people coming up to us and usually people ask me, do you listen to this band or this band and I have no idea who they are talking about. I never listened to Nirvana for instance, and a lot of people think that we sound a bit like them? I have no idea if it is true or not but now that people have said that once too many times, I definitely don't want to listen to them because I don't want to be influenced. I don't want to know who we sound like. It is not our intention. I write because I have something to say and I try to stay as authentic as possible to that first emotion. It is all I care about.
ES: You guys have two full length albums out currently, how would you say the two are different and how was the writing process for the albums?
TGC: Well, we actually have 2 full length from the early years of Tarah Who?, a single for "In a Rush", then 2 more Ep's and we have just released a third one.
I started writing music when I was 18.. So the music and lyrics have definitely matured. I have gone through a lot since, I use music as a way to express all of those feelings. In the beginning, it was definitely more mellow, and then I also gained confidence and dared more and more to go for a specific sound and caring more about making a product that I was happy about rather than pleasing everyone else around me slightly involved.
ES: What are some of the artists that influence you?
JS : Players like Lemmy, Geddy, Les and PNut!!! All different styles of bass have influenced me and one example is growing up I listened to 311 non stop and learned every bass line I could possible. Their music is a collaboration of various styles. I am grateful being exposed to so many styles in one band at a young age!
CH : I'm a big fan of Nightwish, a symphonic metal band from Finland, but more generally rock and metal.
TGC: I listened to a lot of Alanis Morissette growing up. I never wanted to be like her but I am sure she has influenced my writing in a way that I also write about very personal moments. Then I started listening to the Distillers, Motörhead, RATM, Pantera etc.. and it opened a new horizon :)
ES: If you could tour with any artist or band (still active or not) who would it be?
JS : It would be amazing to tour with Tool!!!
CH : Nightwish for sure, it will be a dream !!!
TGC: I would love to tour again with Yur Mum and do big festivals worldwide! I also really like Bala, a spanish band who kick ass. I think we would be a great line up.
ES: Do you guys have any plans for a future album?
TGC: Yes!
Actually now that the tour is over, I am going to take this slower time to work on those demos I have had for a little while, and hopefully we will have some new songs to record by the end of this year.
Comments