Cary Brothers may not be a household name just yet, but hes well on his way. He first hit the spotlight when his song Blue Eyes appeared in the smash indie film Garden State. Currently touring in promotion of his debut album, Who You Are, Brothers has long been a staple of the Los Angeles based singer/songwriter community. His tunes waver between beautiful love songs and all-out thumpers along with a cover of that classic Sixteen Candles ditty that will flat out melt you. Not to mention that hes just about the coolest motherfucker youll ever meet.
Steve Markoff: Yo!
Cary Brothers: Yo bitch!
SM: Where are you?
CB: Im sitting in front of a Cracker Barrel outside Lawrence, Kansas.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: Where else would I be?
SM: Thats fucking awesome!
CB: [Laughing] I just ate a pound of mac and cheese. Im so happy right now.
SM: Disgusting. How was Columbus, Ohio?
CB: Columbus was great man. Everything is good but it is just such a great vibe with this tour because I was doing a headlining thing and there was a lot of pressure around that. Its really nice to be doing openings where we just show up and play and then we just pack up and have fun then go to the next town.
SM: Would you say youre better or worse off having met me?
CB: Wow. I dont know. It is yet to be determined.
SM: Ok.
CB: One late night, its like with any relationship when you meet a really nice person you dont want to see them go.
SM: That is fair.
SM: How many people have come up to you over the years and wondered where the other Cary Brother is?
CB: Id say like fifty percent of people who come out to the shows, but at this point I really dont care if they dont know that Im not brothers as long as they are saying the name, buying the CDs, and coming to shows. I really dont give a fuck.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: They will figure it out.
SM: How is the new album doing?
CB: Everything is going great man. It was really nice being on a headlining tour seeing the momentum of the record as I went across the country, shows getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then going and playing sold out shows. The Bowery in New York was pretty much the best time I have ever had on stage in my life. Everything just keeps growing everyday and more stuff is happening, and I could not be happier. Especially since the label, Bluhammock, has been absolutely amazing
SM: After all the hard work how does it feel to finally release an album on a label that you absolutely love?
CB: You know man, I was always writing music for me, like, in the corner of my bedroom for years. So the idea of even taking music out to the public, it may have took me eight or nine years to even get to the point to do that. So the EP was like baby steps. You put a little bit of music out there at a time and it was more important to me during that time to be on the road non-stop and really grow as a live performer. I knew I felt more comfortable in the studio than I did on stage and I didnt want to put a full length out until I was as comfortable on stage as I was with the recorded stuff. I was on the road pretty much non-stop for two years and got the live show down then I felt like, ok, this is the complete package and I could roll out with a full length and feel pretty happy about it.
SM: How did the label come about?
CB: Last fall, there was a big kind of a push with the labels after the Garden State stuff happened and I said at the time that I saw some great opportunities but I just knew I wasnt ready for that. And I wanted to stay independent. Also, Im not very good with authority and I didnt really want anyone telling me what to do [laughs]. So I just decided to stay independent. Ive been running a label in LA for the last few years and then last fall the majors just kind of came into the picture and wanted to see what I wanted to do with the full length. And at that point I knew the kind of deal that I wanted. I wanted to have a lot of control creatively and financially what was going on with the major labels The majors arent in a position to really do that anymore. You know, not only do they want your masters and your publishing network, they want a piece of the tour, and merch and all that. And I just wasnt really going to go there. Then Bluhammock came along and was totally down to do the kind of deal I wanted and gave me an imprint so that my label still exists under them. So half and half. Half was being able to put my record out and the other half is getting my label out there for real, distributed through Sony. It is just as important to me as putting out my own records. I think part of playing the Hotel Caf in L.A. is playing with a lot of young musicians and having done this and having learned the right way to put music out, I really want to help some other young musicians do that.
SM: Do you associate yourself better with singer/songwriters or rockers?
CB: Well, this is funny man. If I could do it all over again I would have just created a band and gone out as a band. Its funny. I was talking to Matt Nathanson about this. When its just your name people automatically assume you are a singer/songwriter and I have never been a big fan of singer/songwriters. I was always the rock-n-roll guy and when I played at the Hotel Caf, that room is a singer/songwriter room but I love it. So I stripped everything back down to songwriting and it was great for me because it all came down to voice and guitar. And the songs are the most important thing and, once I felt comfortable doing that, then I kind of built it back up. This record is not a singer/songwriter record. It has a much bigger sound than that. I felt like I became a singer/songwriter for a brief period of time to make sure my song writing was up to par and then go back to my influences and really reflect them on this record. I get lumped in the singer/songwriter world but I dont really think my music has much to do with you know what guys like John Mayer and that world is doing.
SM: Right.
CB: So, its really not that.
SM: I actually looked up some stuff about you online, not that I really gave a shit.
CB: [Laughs]
SM: I did it because Im told thats what journalists are supposed to do. Some of the stuff I found made it seem like a big deal that you grew up in Nashville but that youre a brit-pop fan, as if growing up in Nashville restricts you to listening to only country music.
CB: Yeah, right. Everybodys stupid like, Oh you grew up in Nashville so you must love Elvis and country music. I cant think of anything the press overreacted about more. When I grew up in Nashville it wasnt like bad-ass Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson country and it also wasnt even like the pop country thats out now. It was like rhinestone, cocaine fueled, 80s cheese-ball kind of country.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: And it was on the radio everywhere. I wanted my music to be a little darker, more scary. Everything is just so obvious in country music. I think thats why I was fond of the British stuff because it was just a dark element with a sense of mystery to it that I just like a little more in my music. I dont like how its just all too on the nose with country. Nothing wrong with a little ambiguous content.
SM: Right.
CB: But since Ive left Nashville, I have much more of an appreciation for country music now than I ever did when I was growing up.
SM: Where did you go from Nashville? Were you there up until college?
CB: Yeah, 18 years, born and raised.
SM: And then you went to Northwestern?
CB: Yeah, and straight to Chicago. I was up in Chicago for four years. I had a little college in me when I was in Chicago but I was mostly just writing a lot and recording just for myself and working more in like the film world. I was actually an English major but I was doing a lot of projects with the film department.
SM: Northwestern obviously has an amazing film program. Was that a big factor in you going there?
CB: Oh, yeah. I mean my first love was always writing music, but what I really loved was film and I thought I was going to go off and write and direct and produce movies. And that is why when I moved out to L.A. I actually worked for a film company and produced a couple of independent films and I realized that I love movies, but I hated making them. It was just a total nightmare. When Im writing a song, I go to my studio and the original institution of the songthe finished song is the same intention from when I wrote it. If I was going to go make a movie, there would be 300 to 1,000 people who have to make decisions which ultimately affect the final film. And so I just got really frustrated at too many cooks in the kitchen when you make a movie. So I got out of film and really thats when I shutdown my production company and found the Hotel Caf and Gary Jules got me up on stage there. Ive been there ever since.
SM: What was the feeling the first time you heard one of your songs in an actual movie?
CB: Oh, it was amazing dude! So much of the music that Ive found growing up was through film. You know associating it with great movies that I love and it was pretty special. To be honest getting a song on Garden State You know Zach [Braff] and I were friends in L.A. and we were both broke and after I shut my company down I was playing open mics and working odd jobs and he was waiting tables. And when he was working on that script I saw it from the time it was an initial idea all the way through a completed script and I actually kind of helped him work on that script a little bit. It wasnt just being able to hear one of my songs in the movie but it was also like my friends movie. That was as important as anything. No one knew at that time Garden State would go on to become this big successful film and soundtrack. I was more just excited that A) I got a song in a movie and B) Its my buddys film, so that felt pretty cool.
SM: [Laughs] I know the answers to these two, but go ahead and tell everyone else. Favorite drink?
CB: Jack and Coke.
SM: Jack and Coke!
CB: Jack Daniels mostly. Jack and Coke is my magic vocal elixir before the show.
SM: Can you play well on Jack and Coke, do you play worse on Jack and Coke, or can you not play at all without Jack and Coke?
CB: I can play without. I think I play better with a cocktail. I dont need to get wasted before a show. Not that I havent done that a few times but that was more an accident than anything. When you get to the venue early theyre like, Have a drink, and then the show gets pushed a little later and youre like, Oh whoa, I cant really remember the words to the song but well see what happens.
SM: Favorite cigarette?
CB: Ah, Camel Light.
SM: Do you have any tattoos?
CB: No, but you know how many times Ive wanted to get a tattoo and I could never figure out what I wanted. So many of my friends have tats and they have tried to get me to get tats forever and I just never went for it. When I was younger, just for some reason in the back of my head, I thought I was going to end up being a secret agent or being in the CIA or something so I didnt get a tattoo so I could go fucking undercover and be James Bond but that never really happened. I still feel like its not too late. One of these days some magic idea or some symbol is going to pop in my head and Im going to have to put that on my body.
SM: I can imagine that touring with you would just be constant fun but were there any big name acts that you have toured with that you thought were amazing guys and you just had the time of your life hanging out with, drinking?
CB: I have yet to tour with anyone that I havent had a good time with. My goal every time I get offered an opening spot or when I put my own show together and have to pick the openers is 60% music, 40% hang and sometimes its even closer to 50/50. There are bands that I have had the opportunity to go out with that I knew were douche-bags and so I didnt do it. And it would have been a successful tour and a good look and seen by a lot of people and there are some opening bands that I really like their music but I knew it just wasnt going to be a good hang. In general, I mean, youre only playing music two hours out of the day and the rest of the day you are going to have to hang out with these people and at night you have to go out and have beers with these people, so they had better be a good time. I think the first tour I ever did was with Aqualung and hanging out with the Brits is always a good time. And KT Tunstall, as well. That girl is a riot.
SM: What is your favorite part about being on the road, touring, playing live?
CB: I was never much of a traveler when I was a kid so finally being able to actually get out and see the country. And when I look back on the last two years, Ive been to all but like two states, touring. Its pretty amazing but to me its about connecting with people and meeting different people, and hanging out with different people. The show is fun, the show is amazing but again like the hang experience of meeting new people and whether its fans or people youre meeting at the bar afterwards and having relationships with people all across the country is pretty incredible. Because at the end of the day, success and failure can come and go but the only things that last are the fans and people. You know they arent going to go anywhere. So, the relationships that I build out on the road and the friends I make is what it is about for me.
SM: Thanks man.
CB: Next time we do this we should sit at a bar and do shots in between every question.
SM: How bout we just drink straight through I ask you one question every thirty minutes and we see where we are four hours later.
CB: NICE!
For more information go to www.carybrothers.com
Steve Markoff: Yo!
Cary Brothers: Yo bitch!
SM: Where are you?
CB: Im sitting in front of a Cracker Barrel outside Lawrence, Kansas.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: Where else would I be?
SM: Thats fucking awesome!
CB: [Laughing] I just ate a pound of mac and cheese. Im so happy right now.
SM: Disgusting. How was Columbus, Ohio?
CB: Columbus was great man. Everything is good but it is just such a great vibe with this tour because I was doing a headlining thing and there was a lot of pressure around that. Its really nice to be doing openings where we just show up and play and then we just pack up and have fun then go to the next town.
SM: Would you say youre better or worse off having met me?
CB: Wow. I dont know. It is yet to be determined.
SM: Ok.
CB: One late night, its like with any relationship when you meet a really nice person you dont want to see them go.
SM: That is fair.
SM: How many people have come up to you over the years and wondered where the other Cary Brother is?
CB: Id say like fifty percent of people who come out to the shows, but at this point I really dont care if they dont know that Im not brothers as long as they are saying the name, buying the CDs, and coming to shows. I really dont give a fuck.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: They will figure it out.
SM: How is the new album doing?
CB: Everything is going great man. It was really nice being on a headlining tour seeing the momentum of the record as I went across the country, shows getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then going and playing sold out shows. The Bowery in New York was pretty much the best time I have ever had on stage in my life. Everything just keeps growing everyday and more stuff is happening, and I could not be happier. Especially since the label, Bluhammock, has been absolutely amazing
SM: After all the hard work how does it feel to finally release an album on a label that you absolutely love?
CB: You know man, I was always writing music for me, like, in the corner of my bedroom for years. So the idea of even taking music out to the public, it may have took me eight or nine years to even get to the point to do that. So the EP was like baby steps. You put a little bit of music out there at a time and it was more important to me during that time to be on the road non-stop and really grow as a live performer. I knew I felt more comfortable in the studio than I did on stage and I didnt want to put a full length out until I was as comfortable on stage as I was with the recorded stuff. I was on the road pretty much non-stop for two years and got the live show down then I felt like, ok, this is the complete package and I could roll out with a full length and feel pretty happy about it.
SM: How did the label come about?
CB: Last fall, there was a big kind of a push with the labels after the Garden State stuff happened and I said at the time that I saw some great opportunities but I just knew I wasnt ready for that. And I wanted to stay independent. Also, Im not very good with authority and I didnt really want anyone telling me what to do [laughs]. So I just decided to stay independent. Ive been running a label in LA for the last few years and then last fall the majors just kind of came into the picture and wanted to see what I wanted to do with the full length. And at that point I knew the kind of deal that I wanted. I wanted to have a lot of control creatively and financially what was going on with the major labels The majors arent in a position to really do that anymore. You know, not only do they want your masters and your publishing network, they want a piece of the tour, and merch and all that. And I just wasnt really going to go there. Then Bluhammock came along and was totally down to do the kind of deal I wanted and gave me an imprint so that my label still exists under them. So half and half. Half was being able to put my record out and the other half is getting my label out there for real, distributed through Sony. It is just as important to me as putting out my own records. I think part of playing the Hotel Caf in L.A. is playing with a lot of young musicians and having done this and having learned the right way to put music out, I really want to help some other young musicians do that.
SM: Do you associate yourself better with singer/songwriters or rockers?
CB: Well, this is funny man. If I could do it all over again I would have just created a band and gone out as a band. Its funny. I was talking to Matt Nathanson about this. When its just your name people automatically assume you are a singer/songwriter and I have never been a big fan of singer/songwriters. I was always the rock-n-roll guy and when I played at the Hotel Caf, that room is a singer/songwriter room but I love it. So I stripped everything back down to songwriting and it was great for me because it all came down to voice and guitar. And the songs are the most important thing and, once I felt comfortable doing that, then I kind of built it back up. This record is not a singer/songwriter record. It has a much bigger sound than that. I felt like I became a singer/songwriter for a brief period of time to make sure my song writing was up to par and then go back to my influences and really reflect them on this record. I get lumped in the singer/songwriter world but I dont really think my music has much to do with you know what guys like John Mayer and that world is doing.
SM: Right.
CB: So, its really not that.
SM: I actually looked up some stuff about you online, not that I really gave a shit.
CB: [Laughs]
SM: I did it because Im told thats what journalists are supposed to do. Some of the stuff I found made it seem like a big deal that you grew up in Nashville but that youre a brit-pop fan, as if growing up in Nashville restricts you to listening to only country music.
CB: Yeah, right. Everybodys stupid like, Oh you grew up in Nashville so you must love Elvis and country music. I cant think of anything the press overreacted about more. When I grew up in Nashville it wasnt like bad-ass Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson country and it also wasnt even like the pop country thats out now. It was like rhinestone, cocaine fueled, 80s cheese-ball kind of country.
SM: [Laughing]
CB: And it was on the radio everywhere. I wanted my music to be a little darker, more scary. Everything is just so obvious in country music. I think thats why I was fond of the British stuff because it was just a dark element with a sense of mystery to it that I just like a little more in my music. I dont like how its just all too on the nose with country. Nothing wrong with a little ambiguous content.
SM: Right.
CB: But since Ive left Nashville, I have much more of an appreciation for country music now than I ever did when I was growing up.
SM: Where did you go from Nashville? Were you there up until college?
CB: Yeah, 18 years, born and raised.
SM: And then you went to Northwestern?
CB: Yeah, and straight to Chicago. I was up in Chicago for four years. I had a little college in me when I was in Chicago but I was mostly just writing a lot and recording just for myself and working more in like the film world. I was actually an English major but I was doing a lot of projects with the film department.
SM: Northwestern obviously has an amazing film program. Was that a big factor in you going there?
CB: Oh, yeah. I mean my first love was always writing music, but what I really loved was film and I thought I was going to go off and write and direct and produce movies. And that is why when I moved out to L.A. I actually worked for a film company and produced a couple of independent films and I realized that I love movies, but I hated making them. It was just a total nightmare. When Im writing a song, I go to my studio and the original institution of the songthe finished song is the same intention from when I wrote it. If I was going to go make a movie, there would be 300 to 1,000 people who have to make decisions which ultimately affect the final film. And so I just got really frustrated at too many cooks in the kitchen when you make a movie. So I got out of film and really thats when I shutdown my production company and found the Hotel Caf and Gary Jules got me up on stage there. Ive been there ever since.
SM: What was the feeling the first time you heard one of your songs in an actual movie?
CB: Oh, it was amazing dude! So much of the music that Ive found growing up was through film. You know associating it with great movies that I love and it was pretty special. To be honest getting a song on Garden State You know Zach [Braff] and I were friends in L.A. and we were both broke and after I shut my company down I was playing open mics and working odd jobs and he was waiting tables. And when he was working on that script I saw it from the time it was an initial idea all the way through a completed script and I actually kind of helped him work on that script a little bit. It wasnt just being able to hear one of my songs in the movie but it was also like my friends movie. That was as important as anything. No one knew at that time Garden State would go on to become this big successful film and soundtrack. I was more just excited that A) I got a song in a movie and B) Its my buddys film, so that felt pretty cool.
SM: [Laughs] I know the answers to these two, but go ahead and tell everyone else. Favorite drink?
CB: Jack and Coke.
SM: Jack and Coke!
CB: Jack Daniels mostly. Jack and Coke is my magic vocal elixir before the show.
SM: Can you play well on Jack and Coke, do you play worse on Jack and Coke, or can you not play at all without Jack and Coke?
CB: I can play without. I think I play better with a cocktail. I dont need to get wasted before a show. Not that I havent done that a few times but that was more an accident than anything. When you get to the venue early theyre like, Have a drink, and then the show gets pushed a little later and youre like, Oh whoa, I cant really remember the words to the song but well see what happens.
SM: Favorite cigarette?
CB: Ah, Camel Light.
SM: Do you have any tattoos?
CB: No, but you know how many times Ive wanted to get a tattoo and I could never figure out what I wanted. So many of my friends have tats and they have tried to get me to get tats forever and I just never went for it. When I was younger, just for some reason in the back of my head, I thought I was going to end up being a secret agent or being in the CIA or something so I didnt get a tattoo so I could go fucking undercover and be James Bond but that never really happened. I still feel like its not too late. One of these days some magic idea or some symbol is going to pop in my head and Im going to have to put that on my body.
SM: I can imagine that touring with you would just be constant fun but were there any big name acts that you have toured with that you thought were amazing guys and you just had the time of your life hanging out with, drinking?
CB: I have yet to tour with anyone that I havent had a good time with. My goal every time I get offered an opening spot or when I put my own show together and have to pick the openers is 60% music, 40% hang and sometimes its even closer to 50/50. There are bands that I have had the opportunity to go out with that I knew were douche-bags and so I didnt do it. And it would have been a successful tour and a good look and seen by a lot of people and there are some opening bands that I really like their music but I knew it just wasnt going to be a good hang. In general, I mean, youre only playing music two hours out of the day and the rest of the day you are going to have to hang out with these people and at night you have to go out and have beers with these people, so they had better be a good time. I think the first tour I ever did was with Aqualung and hanging out with the Brits is always a good time. And KT Tunstall, as well. That girl is a riot.
SM: What is your favorite part about being on the road, touring, playing live?
CB: I was never much of a traveler when I was a kid so finally being able to actually get out and see the country. And when I look back on the last two years, Ive been to all but like two states, touring. Its pretty amazing but to me its about connecting with people and meeting different people, and hanging out with different people. The show is fun, the show is amazing but again like the hang experience of meeting new people and whether its fans or people youre meeting at the bar afterwards and having relationships with people all across the country is pretty incredible. Because at the end of the day, success and failure can come and go but the only things that last are the fans and people. You know they arent going to go anywhere. So, the relationships that I build out on the road and the friends I make is what it is about for me.
SM: Thanks man.
CB: Next time we do this we should sit at a bar and do shots in between every question.
SM: How bout we just drink straight through I ask you one question every thirty minutes and we see where we are four hours later.
CB: NICE!
For more information go to www.carybrothers.com
I got to meet and hang with him about two years ago when he was opening for a former friend of mine. Definitely worth checking out.