A quick chat with the LA based rock duo TARAH WHO?, a band that kept busy releasing a lot of singles last year, and having a new one planned at the end of January – see them on their page https://tarahwho.com/ The project was started by Tarah G. Carpenter as a solo artist in Los Angeles and even if their main musical category can be labeled as punk, the band has described some of their songs as alternative, garage, and pop. Below is a cool reading about the band’s latest release and upcoming plans
What’s the hardest part about being a band in this day and age?
CH : Being an independent band is pretty hard !!! You have to do everything by yourself, recording, playing, booking, financing … It takes a lot of time and you have to love what you do to keep going.
TGC: In my experience, the hardest part is to find the team to play music with. People who understand musicianship and who have the same vision. Then, you can talk about the future of the project together. If you are one the same wavelength, you make incredible things happen but like Coralie said, the hard part then, is doing it all yourself! It takes patience, being creative, and perseverance. You can’t be a procrastinator. Everything is on a timeline, otherwise someone else is going to get it . If that makes sense…
When did you realise that your project had the potential to be much more than just a fun idea?
TGC: I never thought of this as a fun idea or as a project. I just wrote because I needed to. I have things that I needed to say and I still do. We are not still doing it for the money, we are still doing it because it is a fun challenge with ups and downs.
Tell us about your latest release, why should we check it out?
CH : Our last song that came out is called “Push Me”, it’s a collaboration with our friends Yur Mum. We had so much fun recording it and hopefully you guys will like it too!!
TGC: lol! Well… You should check it out because it is a fun rock n roll song first of all! so if you just want some new music in your ears, you should give it a spin. If you go deeper into the meaning of the song, the theme itself is about being pushed by the music industry to do all of those things so that we can hope to one day be gratified like major artists are. The reality is that unless the industry changes, hard working independent artists will never be able to reach that goal because there is so much more behind just seeing a band getting to an award show. ‘Push Me’ is also worth checking out because it is a collaboration between two bands, Tarah Who? and Yur Mum. Tarah Who? recorded their part in LA with Jason Orme and Yur Mum in England with Gabriell Ralls. Jason mixes all of the tracks together that became ‘Push Me’ . Then we were lucky enough that the borders reopened so that Yur Mum could come out to LA so that we could shoot the music video for ‘Push Me’ that is coming out on January 28,2020. So our latest release is about a lot of fun with a lot of meaning! Please check it out! It’s worth it!
How does a song typically come together for you?
TGC: I write the songs and send demos to Coralie for her to learn the drums. Then we go to the studio and we track with JAson. We usually do drums and my guitars live together. Then double y guitars, track the bass, vocals, lead guitar et vOILA!. ‘Push Me’ was a little different because it was a collaboration.
Photos by Robin LAANANEN
How would you describe your sound to an unfamiliar reader?
CH : I will say that the Tarah Who? sound is a mix between different genres like rock/punk/grunge but at the same time we have our own sound, raw and heavy.
TGC: Yeah… We are ROCK for sure but depending on the song, we have influences a little bit everywhere but typically we stay in the 90s type of sounds. The best is for the reader to go check us out and figure out themselves because really, we’ve been compared to everyone from the 90s! lol!
What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your band?
TGC: As a first listening, I think just enjoying the music itself, and accompanying the listener on their day to day. Whether it is on their way to work driving, in the subway or walking. Then going deeper into the lyrics, maybe our songs can be an inspiration to a moment in their lives or maybe they can relate to something I have gone through too. Either way, I hope that we all share a moment together when we play live shows.
Where would you really like to tour that you haven’t done so yet, and why?
CH : I don’t really know why but right now I would love to tour in Australia!!! Hopefully pretty soon hahaha.
TGC: I agree, Australia would be amazing!! and South America!
How would you say that the sound of your band has progressed over the years?
TGC: I started writing when I was a teenager.. So I could only hope for our music and sound to have evolved and matured over the years. 🙂 Just as I was discovering myself, I think that the sound of Tarah Who? was also going through some changes and evolution. As it should… :). In the beginning, I changed musicians and traveled between Paris and LA which also implied changing sounds, until I sort of made the decision of writing the whole song instead of having bandmates contributing to the music. It was easier for me and for the project to move forward. This is how we have been going for years now and it is working well and much faster. I think that Tarah Who? will always be Rock, but depending on what the song needs, it will have some punk, grunge, garage influence.. I don’t even know..! We do what the song needs.
How excited are you for 2022, and what can fans expect from you?
CH : Hopefully 2022 gonna be more live shows, being able to tour and play for people. We also have a new EP that should come out during the year and music videos of course !! Really excited !!!
TGC:I’m really excited about 2022. We have a lot happening stil from the last release. We recorded a new EP at the end of 2021 that may become an album. We are trying to keep the momentum going so you can expect more music coming out soon, more music videos and if everything goes well and everyone stays safe, many more live shows! 🙂
