Cary Brothers on Tours and Music

A new Label and CD Sees big Changes for Nashville indie Singer

Jun 20, 2007

Cary Brothers has always been a huge live favourite. Now, with his Who You Are CD he tells us how a different label means a different outlook, in part 5 of our interview.

Genre: Alternative / indie / rock
Cary Brothers (vocals / acoustic), Jason Kanakis (guitar), Marco Meneghin (drums), Matt DelVecchio (bass)
Sounds like: Pete Yorn, Badly Drawn Boy
Home: Los Angeles, California
Cary Brothers

Controlled Independence

One of the old-school singer-songwriters, Nashville indie artist Cary Brothers has been a consistently active live performer from the very beginning. But in those days, he controlled all aspects of playing live - selling merchandise, arranging gigs, etc.

Now, with a new label, as well as the backing of Sony Music for distribution, much of that control is in other people's hands. Here, in part 5 of our interview, Cary tells us how it's not always easy to get used to this new feeling.

Special thanks go to Cary for being such a wonderful and genial interviewee, and to Jenna LoMonaco at Girlie Action Media for arranging everything.

Cary Brothers Interview Part Five: New Label, New Tour, New Outlook

Suite: We talked earlier about how you're now with BluHammock and Sony – how much has that changed everything for you? You mentioned a lack of control now, as opposed to your early days.

Cary: It's been a big change. I mean, so far I've pretty much done everything myself, and I'm used to that – whether it's been the art, the recording or the touring, I've handled it all. So to have other people involved is amazing in one way, but at the same time, I'm not really good with authority (laughs). I'm not that good at delegating authority either, so it's been a really interesting process to learn how to kinda take things to another level. It is nice though – I mean, the record was still independently created, I did the artwork I wanted to do, and BluHammock totally supported that, so that was good. So even though Sony are involved for the distribution and promotion, alongside BluHammock, everything's still been done independently, and that's helped the change, I think. Now it's my job to go out there and work my ass off and make sure people hear it.

Suite: Speaking of touring, you've toured with a good mix of different styles of artists, like The Fray, Aqualung and Imogen Heap, for instance. Is there anyone you would absolutely love to tour with?

Cary: I think The Police would have to be in there. That's one of the things I'm looking forward to this summer, in that now I'm headlining, I'm getting to choose some really good people to tour with me – maybe I could ask Sting to come out on the road with me (laughs). But yeah, I'd love to play with The Police – them and U2 were making the music that I loved at that time, when I was a kid growing up, and for them to have the success they had with it was pretty massive. Old REM would also be in there, late 80's REM – for a kid in Nashville, Tennessee, who was surrounded by a lot of small-mindedness, for wont of a better word, it was nice to see a bunch of guys from the south who really didn't give a f**k! They really made me feel that if these guys could do it, so could I. Plus you don't really get that feel of epic bands anymore, like REM, U2 and The Police.

Suite: Do you feel that the ease in which music can be downloaded now has affected these types of superstar bands, if you like, and that people are now just getting odd songs as opposed to albums, making it harder for artists to get to the same level as these bands from the 80's and 90's?

Cary: Definitely. I mean, okay, everyone talks about the fall of the music industry now because of downloading, and yeah, it does stop bands from possibly getting to that level of hugeness. But at the same time, it also means that there's that much more music out there now, so how can it be wrong, you know? We have more options, so it's harder for anyone to get that big, but who cares? If you're an independent artist who's not distributing but making your money on digital downloads, that's where you can make good money as well as have control over what you're doing. So in that respect, it's definitely a plus point. Plus, it takes away the power from the bigger guys who've been controlling the music industry for so long, and that's why they're scared.

Suite: I agree. It's like iTunes and EMI with the whole removal of DRM fiasco at the minute.

Cary: Exactly, and that's one of the best things that has happened to the digital industry yet. My attitude is that when I put a song out there, it's not mine anymore. Okay, some kids might not pay for the download and get it from somewhere like Limewire. But then, they play it to their friends, who might pay for the EP, then come out to the shows and be inspired to actually support me and buy my CDs or my t-shirts, so in the end, I'm still making an existence. Why should we be trying to stop that process?

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