things you should know :::
THE SHORT VERSION: please buy Carina Round’s new EP – it’s absolutely brilliant, only costs £3.95 in the UK and will support a woefully under-recognised British artist. Seriously – buy it now!
THE LONG VERSION with photos and everything: Let me take you back to 2004 and the weird downtime days just after Christmas. I’d just come back from visiting my family in the countryside and was mooching around looking for things to do. The early, quiet days of a freelance career – lots of time on my hands!
She Makes War had been recently christened – a nameless entity for 6 months previously, things were starting to shape up. We were still a duo after months of trying to find a dedicated guitarist but were forging ahead regardless and had studio dates booked. I was spending a lot of time trying to find inspiration, trying to find reasons to make original music, reasons to try and do something interesting.
Two friends gave me CDs for Christmas that year, and as I hung out in my room thinking about lyrics and guitar parts I started listening to them. “Spend The Night” by The Donnas almost made me want to give up then and there. All the strutting, empty sentiments and the boy-rock-by-numbers music couldn’t have been further away from what I was trying to conceive of doing with my own songs and the effect on me was so strong I remember prying the CD out of the player and sitting on my bed, literally head in hands, wondering why I was even bothering trying to be in an all-female band if this was the best we could be. [as it happened six months later SMW was my solo project so I needn't have been so worried]
Time for a break from all this thinking, I decided, chucking the Donnas album in the bin and putting the next CD in to play while I checked my emails. And then I heard a song called “Shoot” for the first time. I don’t think I’d ever been so utterly blown away by an album since hearing “The Bends” in 1995 (I rented it from Bury St Edmunds library on cassette), and spent the rest of that day listening to “The Disconnection” over and over while I found out all I could about its mysterious creator, Carina Round. She was only a little older than me, it transpired, she was from Wolverhampton, this was her second album, she made brilliant music with an amazing voice and yet no-one seemed to know who she was.
Since her third album “Slow Motion Addict” came out I’ve seen Carina perform four times, became brave enough to say hello to her at the shows and even ask to be allowed to review and take photographs at the last one as part of my tell-everyone-about-Carina-Round quest. That solo gig was the most special of all for me as I stood mere metres away from this woman possessed, tenderly strumming her acoustic guitar one moment and raising the roof with a banshee wail the next. It was phenomenal and I have the review and photos to prove it.
Last year I visited LA on the Tricky tour and invited Carina to our gig at the Henry Fonda. I ended up spending a glorious California day with her and Dan Burns and have very fond memories of jamming on the beach, eating amazing vegan sandwiches and cupcakes and having inspiring whiskey-fuelled conversations with both of them. It’s rare to get a opportunity to spend time with a fellow musician you have so much respect for so it was all very wonderful.
This all made Tuesday an extra special and very exciting day – the release of Carina’s brand new EP “Things You Should Know”. Having left Interscope last year to go it alone, she’s worked tirelessly to create five stunning, emotional new songs, superbly produced by Dan Burns and released independently of a label, yay! Various packages are available to fans, some including special live performances – find out more here.
Carina Round’s music has been with me for most of the life of my solo project, and as I continue on the interminably slow journey towards completing and releasing my debut it’s at turns inspiring, challenging and comforting. I’m lucky I found her so early on – it’s high time you got in on the act. Buy “Things You Should Know” here right now.
I saw Carina during her most recent UK tour and was astounded at how empty the venue was. I think, for whatever reason, her UK-based PR company didn’t have the balls to promote her as much as they should have. I hope she gets the recognition she deserves by going it alone.