Forming a band is a lot like putting together a jig-saw puzzle. You really do have to find all the right pieces to make it work and not try and force pieces to make them fit.
The indie band Tattermask hails from Charlotte, North Carolina and they seem to have all the pieces to their musical puzzle fitting together perfectly. Proof of that is evident in their newest album Carpe Noctem which is being released this month. I recently sat down with lead singer Amanda Caines and guitarist Josh Wright and they gave me a crash course on all things Tattermask as well as filled me in on their killer new album.
Let’s start off with a question that someone asked me recently; what exactly is a tattermask?
Amanda Caines: I came up with the band as a suggestion for another band that I was in. It was a 90s alternative, almost folky rock band and I pitched it to the lead singer and he thought that it sounded like a metal band name. I actually came up with it when I was looking at a wall hanging of a comedy and tragedy mask. I was thinking of how everybody kind of wears a mask when they go out into the world. To me, a tattermask is an emotional facade that you put out to try and hide your true feelings from those around you.
How long has the band been together?
Amanda: We’ve been a band for seven years, with the four of us without Travis (Dry) being together for three years. We added Travis to the mix two years ago.
Josh Wright: We released our first EP Looks Can Be Deceiving in 2008 and a couple of other special editions since then including an acoustic one and a collection of oddities and rarities.
You’re about to release your new album this month entitled Carpe Noctem. When you look back at your first EP that you released in 2008, how do you think the band compares now to where you were then?
Amanda: There are a lot of excuses that I would make for the very first album that we put out, even for After the Storm sometimes. I wouldn’t really say we cut corners sometimes, but we really didn’t know to spend adequate time or money on an album. We were all about the do it yourself stuff kind of stuff and a lot of people do that. They’ll take the money that they would have spent on a producer and buy equipment and do it themselves. Realistically, if you need surgery, you could get a do it yourself at home kit and do the surgery yourself or pay a professional who has been doing it for a long time. So, this time, we decided to go with the best producer that we could afford which was Cory Plaugh (Weaving The Fate/Crossfade) and we think he did a fantastic job with the record. He pushed us really hard and we had never really had an outside person come in and do that before.
Josh: He’d break us down into almost into tears in the studio.
Amanda: Almost? When we were recording “Asylum”, I had never had a producer push me like that. I’ll be honest, I broke down into tears right in the middle of the recording booth and when we left, I remember saying that we were never going with this guy again. After he sent us back the final mixes, I remember saying that we had to go with this guy again (laughs).
TATTERMASK – Asylum (Live Video)
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It can be a bit difficult to be pushed out of your comfort zone like that, but it seems that it can be a learning experience as well.
Amanda: Oh definitely because it was so rewarding. I also didn’t know how to prepare for the studio before Cory, but now I know how much I need to practice and how much I need to practice.
Josh: Pre-production is key and making sure we work out all the kinks by doing demos first and that way we don’t waste valuable studio pointing out to one another that they’re not playing something right or that doesn’t need to go there. You definitely need to take care of all the pieces before you go in there and waste money.
Carpe Noctem is the follow-up to After the Storm which came out in 2011. Was the creative process any different when you started putting the new album together?
Josh: I think the only thing that we did differently was to allow an outside producer to kind of sway where we were going with the songs. We would send Cory our demos and he would tell us that this part was too long or try going to this key here. At first, it kind of pissed us off that this guy was making changes to our songs and who does he think he is. Then, after we worked it all out, we realized that he was really right and we should have done this to begin with.
I’m really glad that the cover of Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” made it onto the CD after hearing you perform it for a while now at your live shows. You mentioned just a moment ago that you weren’t a cover band. What was it about this song that made you want to cover it?
Amanda: I guess I was the one who lead the charge on this, but apparently our drummer Adam also brought up the song in another band that he was in. I love Seal and I’ve always loved that song ever since I heard it on the Batman Forever soundtrack. I went out and sang it karaoke and I was amazed at how many different people from all walks of life were singing along with it. I mean, everyone from little pop kids to the guy who just sang Black Sabbath. I thought that we could totally rock that song, so we tried it and I think that we do; I’m so proud of that song.
I’m also a bit curious about the album’s title.
Amanda: Carpe Noctem is Latin for seize the night, which you probably know. I turned 30 a couple of years back and I started to feel old; I had a real crisis with it. I thought about it and knew there was so much more life ahead of me. I’m still relatively young in the grand scheme of things and I took what I thought was going to be a dark period of my life and decided to make it cool. So, that’s where seize the night came in, I was taking what I thought was darkness and I seeing the good.
Josh: Plus, that’s what bands actually do; we go out into the night and own it the best that we can’ grab it by the horns and don’t let go. You don’t see too many bands during the day unless it’s at a peach festival or strawberry festival. Most of us are out in clubs until two or three in the morning paying our dues.
I’m always curious about what the front person of a band was like growing up. Amanda, were you the class clown or the shy, introvert type?
Amanda: I sang in little choirs when I was a little kid, but I never sang in alone in front of a person until I was in college and they made me because I was in an acting class. I wasn’t really the class clown, but every now and then I would snap and do something ridiculous like throwing a rug over the head of this guy who like me. For the most part, I was pretty quiet and kept to myself.
What have been some hurdles that the band has run into along your journey?
Josh: Other than money, I’d say age because being in our late 20s and early 30s; people don’t seem to take us as seriously. They think that we’re getting older, so we need to go look and do something else with our careers.
Good Help is Hard to Find – Tattermask Webisode
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Amanda: Well, not necessarily people in the scene because they keep telling us to go for it, but family and friends keep asking us if we’re going to get a real job. Our parents keep asking us if they’re going to be getting any grandkids because Josh and I have been married for years. We tell them we’re not doing kids right now, we’re doing music instead. We could take a family picture with the new CD and send it to everyone (laughs). I guess the other thing would be that for certain opportunities that we could get, some of us would have to quit or lose our jobs. We obviously have to have our day jobs because it’s impossible to make a living just being a local band, unless you play covers which we don’t. We’ve had to turn down some offers for big festivals or small runs of tours because we just can’t afford to quit our jobs to go out on tour right now.
That has to be a really tough balance to have to try and find.
Amanda: Yeah, some people say that it’s the hardest part of the climb. You’re big enough that you’re getting offers, but still small enough that music can’t pay all your bills.
I hope that this new album helps to elevate you to the next level. I also hope that your album release party at Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 21 is a huge success for you all and that everyone picks up a copy of Carpe Noctem. Is there anything else to let the readers in on?
Amanda: We do a lot of artsy, fartsy stuff with video and photoshop and we decided to channel that towards the band in some way with our webisodes and photo-mashups. We love to make people laugh and it’s probably our second favorite thing to do after making music.
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By: Johnny Price, Lead Senior Journalist
