Rise Carmine Drifts Us Into a Haunting Psychedelic Dream on Debut EP ‘No Coup for Anyone’
“I'm a big fan of horror movies and of that whole aesthetic,” says Toronto bred multi-instrumentalist, whose debut EP is like a haunting dream.
Photo by Evie Maynes
Like a nightmarish lullaby, the opening track on Rise Carmine’s debut EP wistfully drifts you into a restless, angst fueled trance. “Sin City” is a pin on the map of where Rise Carmine’s No Coup for Anyone promises to take us – on a journey through tyranny and mutiny to the human race’s darker side, “Like moths to a doomed destination”.
Rise Carmine is Toronto bred multi-instrumentalist Liam Colbert’s alter ego, crawling out of the shadows to rattle the rules with modern psych-rock songs fueled by poetic, politically-charged lyrics. Liam partnered with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Schiffman, who has worked with bands like Weezer and Vampire Weekend, to create No Coup for Anyone, a thinly veiled window into our shadow selves. The nostalgically melancholic EP maintains an eerie, dreamlike quality with hypnotic guitar patterns and reverberating synths. Driving it all home, Liam casts a spell with his melodic voice quipped with a hard edge, akin to singer-songwriters like Dallas Green or Frank Turner, whose hard-rock, punk backgrounds provocatively bleed through.
The six songs that make up the EP are like a short film depicting the world’s march to its own demise. On first listen, it’s easy to get lost bopping along to tracks like “No Coup for Anyone” and “Weight of the World”, but when you peel back the groovy bass lines and solid percussion, you’re met with Liam asking us to confront our self-destructive behaviours, “Will you tap out have you had enough?/Mutiny is our safe word/Isn't it easy?/Operate the hands of fate/How much more do you want to take?” (“No Coup for Anyone”). Hidden behind Liam’s refined and rhythmic melodies is a plea to look at the dark road we’re headed down and snap out of it. “Is the belly of the beast inviting?” he sings on “Silence on the Radio”, tauntingly, hauntingly.
Although it’s the poppier songs whose catchy choruses will get stuck in your head, “Down” and “Silence on the Radio” are the real standout tracks of the EP. It’s on these songs that Liam’s 70’s acid rock and 90’s alt-rock influences converge through droning, grunge sounds. Skillfully pulling from a scope of classic and modern influences, Liam’s tightly crafted EP provides a glimpse into his potential. Months prior to the full release of No Coup for Anyone, we sat down with Liam for an exclusive interview and though Liam may warn us “On the surface we're just swinging in the dark now/Only way to go is down” on “Down”, with his talent, hard work, and artistry, you can’t ignore that Rise Carmine is bound to only go up from here. Read the full interview below.
| A Conversation with Rise Carmine |
Purple Glow (Rumi/Tegan):
So, your new single dropped – very exciting stuff! How's the reception been so far and can you tell us a bit more about the process leading up to it?
Liam Colbert (Rise Carmine):
Good! I've been dropping singles since last summer from some material that I recorded back in October of 2020. I've dropped five singles so far, “Weight of the World” was the latest one. Now I'm going to compile them and put them out as an EP. The reception has been good. A lot of close friends and family have really enjoyed listening to all the singles as they've come out. People that I don't know are also coming out and you know, saying that they really enjoy it which is always nice. At this point in the band's career or the band's trajectory, it's always nice when strangers discover your music and like it. It's always something that keeps you moving forward, So that's been really nice. But yeah, the reception has been great. It's been really fun to put them out and I'm excited to play shows and play the songs that I've put out. We did get to play one Toronto show during that window when things opened up again. So, that was nice. I'd like to sort of continue to play shows and share these singles with people.
Purple Glow:
Cool, cool. Just before we get into more questions, we were wondering if you could give a bit of background about yourself, the band, and how you got to be where you are now.
Liam:
Yeah, for sure! I grew up in Toronto and I went to St. Michael's choir school which is in downtown Toronto, Dundas Square, area. I learned singing and piano there, sang in the choir, which was mandatory if you went to the school, and sang pretty much every day. We sang Christmas concerts at Massey Hall and things like that. So that's kind of how I got started, and was there for 10 years, actually, from grade 3 to grade 12. I picked up guitar around age 12 because piano just wasn't really cutting it for me. It was very, very classical. Classically based, and I was like, you know, a young teenager who was listening to a bunch of 70s rock and it just wasn't really the vibe. So I picked up the guitar instead, fell in love with it, and started making music. Then I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston for 4 years and studied music and guitar. And from there, I came back home with the intention of writing my own music and starting to put it out. I moved back into my parents' place in Toronto and I recorded an album that I put out under the name “Patiohawk” in 2017. Then I put a band together and we started playing around. That band has kind of gone through a few iterations. And then “Rise Carmine” was sort of just the same project, if you will, just with a different name and a sort of different vibe that is still my music, still my project. And yeah, so now I'm putting out these singles. I'm going to be working on a new album in April with the same producer, Dave Schiffman, and playing shows, fingers crossed, as we go into the summer and beyond.
Purple Glow:
Sounds awesome. So, how would you describe your style and the direction you are taking your music now since the name change?
Liam:
Yeah, so I grew up pretty exclusively on 70’s Rock. When I was a teenager, I wouldn't listen to anything else; I was a bit of a snob. I would go to HMV and order all these really obscure 70’s Rock CDs and pick them up when they showed up a week later. And yeah, I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. But as I grew older, I realized that there's a lot of other really good music out there. So, I started to get into a ton of different stuff. And now, I'll listen to just about anything. So both of those things have kind of shaped my sound. It's definitely very rooted in what I grew up on, that sort of 70’s Rock sound. You know like, twin guitar leads and very warm production as well as sort of high, loud and heavy vocals at times. But then, as I've sort of evolved my musical tastes, my music and my writing have evolved with that. So, there's a ton of Psychedelic and New Age vibes that have sort of seeped into my music, as well as a ton of influence from Hip Hop, R&B, and Motown. So, it is fairly eclectic, but it is pretty much rooted in that sort of 70’s Rock vibe. When I explain it to people quickly, I just say it's like modern Psych Rock with an old school Classic Rock twist. And yeah, it's kind of like, Tame Impala meets Queens of the Stone Age meets Thin Lizzy. That kind of thing.
Purple Glow:
Cool. So you mentioned it briefly, but it was the EP that you recorded with Dave Schiffman, right? He's worked with tons of people such as Toronto’s own, PUP. How was working with him the overall process? It was Dreamhouse Studios, correct?
Liam:
Yes, that's right. It was my first time there and first time with Dave Schiffman. It was great! When the lockdown first happened in March 2020, I lost my job as a bartender, as most of us did, and I sort of just holed up in my room for two or three months, pumped out demos, and just wrote songs. By the end of that, I had like 20 demos that I wanted to send out and hopefully attract a producer that I could make an EP or an album with. And so I sent them to him because I knew that he had worked with a bunch of bands that I really liked, PUP, like you said, being one of them. I sent an email and he got back pretty quickly saying he really liked the stuff and that he'd love to do an album with me. So, that was pretty exciting. What he usually does is he'll come to Toronto at least once or twice a year and he'll rent out a place like Dreamhouse, and just kind of like, post up for a little while. Sometimes for like a month or two at a time and he’ll just have like four or five bands roll through and record with them. So, that's basically what we did. He came up in October 2020 and I think he worked with five bands. And yeah, I was one of them and we spent a week at Dreamhouse.
Purple Glow:
Sounds awesome. Any fun stories from the process?
Liam:
Well, so the thing was, because it was COVID, we couldn't really have anyone around. So it was just me, my friend Mitch, Millie (who did the drums), Dave, and Calvin Hartwick, who is the engineer at dreamhouse. So, it was just the four of us and we couldn't have people come through. That would be like something you would expect in normal times and that's usually a very fun environment. Like, you're in the studio and you’ll invite friends in. They'll come and maybe lay down a track, listen to some tunes and give their opinion on them. Just like hanging out, right? But yeah, we couldn't do that. So, it was just basically seven days of us showing up, just the four of us, putting down tracks and yeah, masks on the entire time unless I was singing. So, it wasn't his typical way to work. But like I said, we made it work. And it was fun. We had a good time.
Purple Glow:
Speaking of recording experiences, are there any places you have recorded in the past that you have really enjoyed or feel connected to.
Liam:
Yeah, there is. I've only really been to Dreamhouse and Canterbury music, which is at Dufferin and King, if you know it. That was a great time recording there. And right now, I rent out a space called Banquet Sound in the West End. It's in Mimico. And it's owned by Nixon Boyd, who was the guitar player for Hollerado. So we're pretty close at this point, which is great. I rent it out every Sunday. I would say that's the place that is sort of special to me because I'll just kind of go there every Sunday and just do whatever I want. Just like, put down demos by myself and kind of just live there. And I've stayed overnight sometimes and just worked on music. It's like living in your bedroom and making music in your bedroom. It has a sort of nostalgic vibe because that's kind of how I've always made music. And I think that's how a lot of people make music these days. Like, when I was living at my parents’, I just had a, you know, a makeshift studio setup in the basement. And I would just go down there every day, stay down there and make music. And so Banquet Sound is kind of a similar thing for me where it's the home base. I just go for an entire day and don't leave until I've created something.
Purple Glow:
Cool. Yeah, it sounds like a safe space or something.
Liam:
Yeah, exactly.
Purple Glow:
Keeping on the favorite places, is there a favorite venue in Toronto or anywhere that you've played whether it be as the band's former name, Patiohawk, or more recently as Rise Carmine? I guess with COIVD and all, I am not sure how much you've been able to play as Rise Carmine…
Liam:
Yeah, we've played at the Horseshoe a lot. I've gotten pretty close with Craig Laskey, who is the booker there. I’d say that's sort of been home to us over the past few years. Haven’t played there in a while, obviously, but we'll be there soon. I'm sure. But yeah, you know, it's the legendary horseshoe – everybody knows it, everybody has played there, or would love to play there. We've had some really good nights there opening for some bigger bands, as well as headlining our own shows. We always seem to get a really good crowd there. So yeah, I'm excited for the next time we get to play there.
Purple Glow:
Yeah, it’s a great place! Okay, so what would your dream venue be if you could play anywhere in the world?
Liam:
Dream venue? Hmm. My short term dream venue is The Phoenix. You know, because I think if I was able to play a show at the Phoenix, it would be like a goal realized. But, that's kind of a boring answer.
Purple Glow:
No, it's not. It’s got a good capacity to it. That’s a good one.
Liam:
Yeah. It's a great capacity. But I would say a dream venue is Red Rocks in Colorado. It's so cool. I've seen a bunch of live videos from other bands playing there.
Purple Glow:
Yeah, that one is amazing! It was canceled due to COVID, but I was seriously considering going to see King Gizzard there since they were supposed to play 2 nights, each with a different 3 hour marathon set.
Liam:
Yeah, it's so cool. It's an open air natural amphitheater. You're like, in a mountain, basically. It always seems to have such a good vibe there and the sound also just seems impeccable. So that's definitely a dream venue for me.
Purple Glow:
Totally. So, regarding your songwriting process, you mentioned earlier you kind of got your kickstart on the piano. When you work on something today, does that play a key factor at all? When you're writing, do you start on the piano or do you just go right to the guitar?
Liam:
Yeah, every once in a while I'll start something on the piano. If you're sort of building the skeleton of a song on a certain instrument, depending on what instrument you start with, it's going to take on a different flavor. So every once in a while, if I kind of want to switch things up and approach a song completely differently than I usually would, I'll try something on the piano, but I don't usually go to the piano. I actually usually go to the bass to write because I love playing bass, and I love good bass lines. I like the concept of counterpoint in music, basically the relationship between two lines, and how they sort of interact with each other. And so I find that the voice and the bass sort of act as those two single note lines. You can create some really cool ideas with just those two as the skeleton for your song and build it out from there. My music has a very sort of bass driven feel to it. And I love you know, just like funky bass lines and the groove that you get from a really good baseline. So yeah, that's usually what I write on. And then some on guitar, of course, but yeah, mostly on bass.
Purple Glow:
Cool. So, bass and vocals are key to starting a song for you. Do you ever try to switch it up and start with the lyrics first and then try to add a bassline to them?
Liam:
Always lyrics last. Yeah, I can't seem to switch it. I've tried to write a poem and then put it to music, but it just never happens that way. I always come up with you know, riffs or, like lines in my head. Not vocal lines, but, you know, lines on a bass or lines on a guitar and then the song will sort of form that way. Because I grew up listening to guitar riffs and things like that, right? So those will sort of just form in my head or I'll be playing an instrument and I'll form them that way. And then it kind of just unravels. That's way before I can even think of a single word to put on it. So yeah, it just naturally happens that way and then I'll sort of build the lyrics around that.
Purple Glow:
Cool. Yeah. Makes sense. You’ve got a process that clearly works. Is a bassline that you particularly love that comes to your mind quick that you could share?
Liam:
There's a song by Don Blackman. It's called Heart's Desire. It's, like, the funkiest bassline ever. It's slap bass. It's just unreal. The song is awesome, too. There's so many great basslines out there, but that's recently been a favorite.
Purple Glow:
Awesome. We will have to look it up. Okay, so how did you come up with the new name, Rise Carmine, for your band?
Liam:
So it's kind of funny actually, because I'm a bit of a stickler with names. It takes me a while to come up with one because, you know, you just like, come up with cool ones and then a day later you realize, like, oh, that kind of sucks. And then it's just a constant cycle of that. I have a big list of band names on my phone, but I've never liked one of them enough to go with it. I knew I was going to change the name, but I wasn't sure to what. So, I sat with a big list of band names for a year or two, because I just couldn't pull the trigger. And I realized, I didn't like any of them enough. Like I was saying, I was trying to pull the trigger on one of them. So I wrote out a list of words that I like, just like a huge list. Then I put them into a list randomizer on Google and just inputted the entire list of like, 200 cool words that I liked. I just hit refresh, like randomize, randomize, randomize over and over again until like, like two of the words would just sort of sit next to each other and, you know, it would all make sense. Then finally Rise and Carmine just ended up next to each other and I kind of said it a few times and I was like, ooh, I kind of like that. And then from there, I kind of came up with a backstory for the name to flesh it out a bit more because for myself, I needed a visual. And yeah, you can see how much I agonize over this just from how long my answer is.
Purple Glow:
What's the backstory?
Liam:
I'm a big fan of horror movies and of that whole aesthetic. Sort of like the metal band aesthetic, but like the old school metal bands, where it was kind of like, like Halloweeny type vibes. Like the Iron Maiden kind of thing, where they have a character and all of their album art sort of revolves around that. And so I sort of envisioned Rise Carmine as a person, Carmine, crawling themselves out of the grave and rising up. I just thought that was really cool.
Purple Glow:
That's cool. That could definitely inspire fun EP artwork.
Liam:
Exactly. Yeah. Even like cool music videos as well.
Purple Glow:
So what was the reasoning behind the band name change? Was it because you wanted to take the band in a different direction, kind of like a birth of something new?
Liam:
Yeah, a little bit. To be honest, I was getting a little sick of the name Patiohawk and I kind of wanted to change it. Because yeah, the direction hasn't changed that much. It's sort of changed naturally, just as anyone's direction would change as they sort of, you know, write more music and go through the years. But it wasn't like a very distinct switch that I needed a new name. It was more just that I, you know, didn't really like the name anymore and wanted to change it.
Purple Glow:
That kinda wraps up our questions. Anything else you would like to add or shoutout? You have an upcoming show, right?
Liam:
Yeah, so on March 25, we're playing at the Bovine Sex Club opening up for Kasador, who's a cool Kingston based, alternative rock band that we've played with before. And, yeah, that's gonna be a great show. I'm very excited to get back on stage in any capacity. Then after that, we're gonna be opening for The Mysterines who are kind of blowing up right now from Liverpool. That's going to be at the Monarch Tavern on May 14. So very excited for those two shows, as well as some shows outside of Toronto, that we have coming up. But yeah, booking more shows as we speak, and trying to fill up the calendar a little bit and hopefully book some festivals as well over the summer. There's a lot of festivals right now, like Canadian Music Week that just announced new dates in June. So everybody's kind of pushing things slightly back.
Purple Glow:
Very exciting. Ok, last thing to end off on – is there a date set for when everyone can expect to see the full EP drop?
Liam:
That's a good question. I don't have a date yet. We were going to do an EP release show February 16th and drop it then. That was going to be at the Horseshoe. But you know, things change and plans have to evolve. Within the next couple months, we'll be dropping it and then working on new material.
Purple Glow:
Grind never stops. Cool. Well, thanks so much for chatting with us today.
Liam:
Yeah, thanks for having me. This was fun.
You can catch Rise Carmine live at the Horseshoe Tavern on June 1st with We are Scientists.
Photo by Elle Marie