by Dominic Acito (@mycamgrlromance)
Kal Marks started as the solo songwriting project of Carl Shane but has shifted through the years. Their sound is difficult to define as it moves from speaker-rattling sludge metal to moments of tenderness. Known mainly as a power trio, early 2020 saw that long-standing lineup dissolve, but Shane had a handful of songs already written, and with a phone call from Dylan Taggart (from the band A Deer A Horse), Kal Marks had a drummer again. Soon John Russel joined on bass, and Christina Puerto (of Bethlehem Steel) became the group's first-ever second guitar player. With a revitalized lineup, Kal Marks was reborn and hit the studio to record their latest release, My Name is Hell.
I had the opportunity to chat with Shane in August, on the heels of the release of Kal Marks’ My Name is Hell as he settled into his new apartment in Rhode Island after relocating from Massachusetts. Shane assured me he would shortly be painting over the bright green walls and purple trimming (think hulk color scheme) that served as his backdrop for the zoom call. We talked about The Sopranos, his changing voice, masks, and his latest project Mulva.
photo: Stephanie Andreana
Dominic Acito: Congratulations on the new record. It's really great. You released an album of demos called Broken Songs beforehand. How did that feel to have the songs reach an audience before you really felt done with them? Did you feel like you were responding to feedback from people who had heard the demos?
Carl Shane: The songs changed a good amount, but not because of feedback, because, honestly, there wasn't that much feedback on it. I think when I released the Broken Songs stuff, there was just so much going on. I thought I was going to make, like, a reasonable amount of money to put towards the record, but I totally didn't. It was just there was so much stuff going on that I understand it's not viewed as a real release. I think our actual full length official LP is always going to get a lot more attention, and it's also got, like, PR behind it and record label behind it. So, me releasing demos, it's just for the real avid people, and it's not like so and so from Houston, Texas, is going to be like, hey, this is what I thought. I didn't really get much feedback on it. And honestly, I don't know, I might be wrong about this, but some people might have just bought it just to support us and may have not even listened to it. I have no idea. So the songs didn't change based on feedback at all. It was just all the songs changed just because a lot of those demos are just by myself.
When we get together with a band, everybody's taste and style is affecting the song and changing it and honestly, changing it for the better, in my opinion. I'm not too precious about my vision or whatever I am, but I also understand that the people that play in Kal Marks, they're not getting paid, really. We do it because we love it. Hopefully we can make some money. But I have to be respectful of their time, so if they're going to be part of it, they want to have their voice heard, actually, most of the time.
Just, like, letting the other folks in the band have a say and everything is good for them and it's good for the songs because I don't know how to play drums. Leave that to somebody that's been playing drums their whole entire life.
DA: There's a cover of the Sopranos theme on there. Were you watching Sopranos in lockdown?
CS: Yeah, we started watching it in lockdown and I never watched The Sopranos before and I fell in love with it. It was very much a lockdown watch. We were hardly seeing anybody. So, it started out with my friend Pat from Bethlehem Steel and he's also in a new band that I'm in with Christina from Kal Marks and Bethlehem Steel. We would just watch it on Zoom Together and yeah, I fell in love with that show. I can't believe it took me this long to watch it.
DA: It's a big commitment. The interesting thing is, though, I don't know if you've seen The Wire, but the intro to that definitely seems like a song that could be on My Name is Hell because this record has so much to do with heaven and hell and the devil and God, themes like that. I know you're also a Tom Waits fan as well and he wrote the theme song “Way Down in the Hole”.
CS: Yeah. I love Tom Waits. Honestly. Everybody complains about Sopranos theme song It seems like. I actually love it, and I think it’s kind of iconic, but maybe it could have been a better song if it was by somebody like Tom Waits.
DA: Yeah, it definitely feels very nineties. Did you immediately love the song, or did you eventually just start enjoying it because you had heard it so much?
CS: I had heard it even before I watched the show because one of my best friends, she was obsessed with the show. it was funny, when I would go over to hang out with her and her husband, I would hear the song because they would have it on in the background. So I was like, what is that song? And she's like, oh. She's like, I'm deep in the Sopranos. Yeah. I get the fandom of it.
DA: Do you have a favorite Sopranos character?
CS: Probably Bobby. He's the only decent person. I was heartbroken when he had to kill a guy. He had never had to kill somebody and they forced him into it and he was wrecked from it. But I don't know. Tony is just, like, an amazing, dynamic character. He's such a piece of shit. But then at moments you're like, I really like this guy. That's the push and pull of the show. It's like you're kind of falling in love with these people, but they're the worst people on earth.
DA: Yeah. That's what makes it great. So talking about watching shows in lockdown, it seems like there's kind of a theme of waiting and boredom on the album. You don't seem like the type, and correct me if I'm wrong, that when you get time off, you want to be sitting on the beach doing nothing. Do you feel like that the space that boredom creates makes you feel the need to fill that free time with something that keeps your mind busy?
CS: Even when sometimes watching a movie. Like right now, we're getting ready for tour, I'll start rolling our shirts and taping them up, getting stuff ready while watching a movie or whatever. Yeah, it's different day to day. Some days I'm so tired that I can sit on a beach chair or a couch and just sit there. But actually, it was like the first time I did get to slow down, and I did kind of just try to soak that in. I've been working my whole life. I've been working since I was 14 years old. I would work at McDonald's. I would work at a garden store. So, when I got furloughed for three months, I kind of treasured it a bit, actually. But after three months, I was clawing at the walls. I’m grateful and appreciate that time that I did have off. I got to give my ears a break, too, which I didn't realize that I kind of needed constantly working in a loud warehouse and then playing shows all the time. It was kind of nice to have a break.
DA: Do you wear hearing protection at work or when you're practicing or when you're playing shows?
CS: Practicing, for sure. Sometimes I go overboard with ear protection in practice versus shows. Like, sometimes I'll wear headphones in the practice room because the practice room is really tight and everything is blasting in your face, where in a live setup, it's better prepared. Most venues are a little bit more acoustically treated. Like in a practice space, everybody's amp is pointed at you, and you're right next to the drums. Cymbals actually are the things that kind of kill me the most. They're so loud. The other thing about boredom, though, like, with that song “Bored Again,” I think all I was trying to say with that song is that in those moments when you're bored, you have to realize you're lucky. Because when I worked there was a period in time when I was in a lot of debt and I didn't know what to do with myself. So, I just started working multiple jobs, and I was working like, 80 hours a week. My life sucked a lot. Nobody should be working 80 hours a week. It sucks. But I was not bored. I was never bored.
Boredom, usually you have to realize, like, oh, right now you have the luxury of not having to do anything, but you want to do something. So you just kind of have to realize, like, wow, I have this privilege of being bored right now.
DA: That's part of the reason that it makes it so agonizing, right? Because you dream and you idealize this free time, and then when you finally get it, you’re itching to do something else.
CS: I think the part of boredom that feels so bad is when you start feeling guilt about it, being like, I am wasting my life. That does get to me pretty bad. My guilt is agonizing.
DA: On songs that talk about boredom and I'm just interpreting your lyrics, but it seemed like there is a commentary on addiction in those songs. There’s this kind of need to fill that empty space. I don't know if you were directly commenting on addiction as something people use as a consequence of boredom or people are just kind of almost addicted to keeping their minds busy.
CS: Yeah. Unfortunately, I've lost a handful of friends to addiction and I don't know exactly why they were led down that path, but usually it's a lot of just trauma. Well, when you are in the suburbs, though, there's not a lot to distract you then that might be part of it.
DA: Addiction always feels like it comes from someone trying to fix a pain. It's not about getting high. That kind of boredom is like an empty stomach. You feel hunger, an empty mind fills it with melancholy to a certain extent. That was just my interpretation.
CS: Yeah, that's kind of my interpretation, too. I'm not sure if it's true for everybody, though. I don't want to make a blanket statement, but that's kind of what I feel like. I've noticed with some of my friends that have had trouble and unfortunately some of my friends that I've lost. I think loneliness, feeling alone and feeling like nobody's going to understand your pain. It's heartbreaking to hear that. The truth is that I wish people realize that you're totally not alone. A lot of people feel this way. A lot of people feel like they don't fit in, like they have no place to go. So, there's actually plenty of people that you can actually relate to. Yeah, I mean, I'm just very lucky that I get to do music.
DA: Yeah, I was going to say that's one of the reasons why bands like Kal Marks are so important to people, where they see you up there and you're shouting about these things in an almost, triumphant way and it's like, oh, wow, other people feel this way and these kinds of feelings that would normally be swept under the rug out there.
CS: Yeah, there's some music out here where they're like basking in the glory of being heartbroken and all this stuff. It's weird. I feel like no, you bask in the glory of that you survive and that you get to. The world can be kind of a shitty place. This is all just like stuff that I've learned from Tom Waits. Well, the world is shitty, but you have to hold in there and you have to be patient for the really fucking amazing moments. There are amazing people you can get to know and there's amazing times to be had. I can't say enough how some of my favorite times in my life have just been like talking to people, talking to my best friend, just sitting in chairs, talking. Wow. It's people and sharing time together with good people. It's the best. It really is the best.
DA: Are there any songs or bands you have in mind when you say that? Maybe they're basking in the heartbreak too much?
CS: You know what? I shouldn't be talking because the truth is that's just my opinion and it's not wrong. It's just not my cup of tea. But it's usually with emo. Yeah, I guess that's not a good term. Because the thing is, even Fugazi was called emo and that's one of the greatest bands ever. But that kind of generation of swoopy hair kind of stuff, we're like talking about suicide. It's this beautiful thing. It's like, what? I've lost friends to suicide. It fucking tore me apart.
DA: I mentioned this a little bit in my review but there feels like a little bit of a vocal shift on your most recent record. I know that listeners sometimes comment on your vocal affectation on past records, and it seems to be a little bit more absent on this album. Was that an intentional shift or is that just your voice changing over time?
CS: It's a little bit of both. My voice has dropped, like almost a full octave. It just happens over time. Like most people's voices drop. Listen to the first Leonard Cohen record and then listen to any record past 1980 and his voice is like several registers lower. But it's also a little bit intentional. A lot of that early Kal Marks stuff, I had to listen to some of it to re-learn for shows and whatnot. It was like, what the fuck? What was I doing? I can't even sing like that anymore. But I think it was just like I was young. Life is Murder is ten years ago now. I was 24, 25 maybe. I was really shy and really not confident. So I did put a bit of affect on my voice. This like rattly affect. There's moments where it doesn't bug me, but there's moments on those records where I'm like, holy shit. Like I was hamming it up way too much because I was afraid of being myself or something, maybe.
DA: Speaking of the idea of self, and this is kind of more or less about the music and more about the album artwork, but it seems like masks play a huge role in some of your album art. This album has a mask on it. There's actually three records because I think Life is Murder has a mask and then the wolf mask as well. Do you have a lot of masks at home lying around?
CS: I have a friend that is obsessed with masks and that wolf mask is actually his and I've just been holding onto it. He loves masks. I don't know why he really loves them. The thing is, to this day, even though I said I kind of get rid of the affects, I still have my affects and whatnot. I still have places I go to because it's kind of fun, like putting on a mask. You can put on a mask to then share the stuff that you are too afraid of sharing. Normally in my life, I'm not going to be just talking to strangers about losing a friend or being scared about where the world is heading. Normally. I wouldn't do that. Normally nobody does that. So when you can put a mask on, when you can put an asset on your voice, when you can strap on a guitar, it's like this shield so you can deliver your fucking sword.
DA: I suppose it's like a performance. Like putting on a play and writing a character that represents you, but being able to distance yourself a little bit from it.
CS: Yeah. I was listening the to a commentary about Taxi Driver, the movie, the writer of that was like, obviously, I'm not Travis Bickle. That guy is messed up. But there are aspects of my frustration that was the origin of writing that character and writing that movie. I am getting real emotion out there, but sometimes it's not my full self. It's just like an exaggeration, but it's still stemming from the truth.
DA: I had read another interview with you where you mentioned that you had written some of these songs while playing bass as opposed to guitar.
CS: I just clicked this button and I didn't realize it would make a noise. Some of the songs, in order to keep things interesting for myself, I just need to change things up a bit. I didn't play bass on the record at all, but “Freak Show,” the first song was started on bass. “Who Waits” I started with writing a bassline, and I think that was actually our old bass player kind of just like digging around. Then I was like, oh, give me that. Then I wrote the whole entire song. There's something to it that he was just warming up kind of thing. Then there's also “New Neighbor,” that started on piano. I'm not a great piano player and I'm not a great bass player either, but I just have to try different things out. Also I find that if you can write a really good bassline, the rest of song can write itself. A good bassline doesn't have to be extremely complicated.
This guy that I just recently became friends with has been really nice to us. Ian. He's the bass player in Kowloon Walled City. He writes the best basslines which aren’t actually that hard. They're just really memorable and they got character.
DA: There's definitely a groove added to this record that’s noticeable. Did you have that in mind because pretty much the song “Mr. Dictionary (A Satire)” is like a mosh song, but the rest of them are almost like groovy dance songs. Do you picture an audience dancing or how they're going to react to the performance of some of these songs?
CS: No, I think that's just like completely subconscious. I do like funk and disco and stuff like that, but I guess I didn't think about that. I didn't think about that until last night. We played a show and when we played “My Name Is Hell,” people were doing like a hippie dance. I was like, what is this? Then I think when we played, I can't remember what song we played, but people were like, moshing. Normally it doesn't happen at our shows. People usually stay in place and just go like that. It wasn't really intentional. No. Maybe it was unintentional on Dylan's part, though. That's a good question for him. I love basslines, and honestly, basslines are kind of a big part of what makes a song have groove.
DA: Definitely. You have a new rhythm guitarist as well, which kind of frees up the bass so it can kind of go do its own thing.
CS: I wouldn’t say rhythm guitar. I would say we both kind of back and forth kind of do stuff. Christina has multiple lead line moments like “My Name is Hell” and “Ovation”. Actually, kind of in every song she has some leads and some rhythms. I have some leads and some rhythms. If you can't tell the difference, mine are really sloppy and just noise and hers are more calculated. I really love bands that have two guitars where it's not like definitive. Like this is the lead guitar player, this is the rhythm guitar player. I'm not a fan of like, Guns and Roses. They live in that construct a lot. But I like Television, Thin Lizzy, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth, all those bands. Nobody has a definitive role as rhythm and leads. I really like those kinds of bands.
DA: Yeah, it definitely comes off on this record too, that there are two distinct guitar players. I understand that you've joined her band, Mulva.
CS: Yeah. And that actually is a little bit more like, I believe, guitar player a bit, but it's a case by case basis. It's just that with that I don't have to sing so in that band I can kind of go a little bit more buck wild with my guitar playing. I'm also playing a twelve string in that band.
DA: A twelve string electric?
CS: Yeah, twelve string electric and I'm like blasting with it. So, it's a very weird different kind of sound. I don't really know too many bands that are using a twelve string and putting it through like distortion and all this. She plays baritone guitar in that, but she has some lead lines in that too. But she's mostly focusing on singing and holding stuff down.
DA: As far as I could tell, Mulva doesn't have any music streaming.
CS: It's really new. Yeah. We're going to record, I think, in January at the same studio that we did My Name is Hell.
DA: The songs that were just released on My Name Is Hell, you're touring them, but they're kind of a couple of years old at this point. How do you feel playing these older songs?
CS: I mean, “Bored Again” is actually a song that changed that's like from twelve years ago, “Bored Again” was called “Born Again”. It was like completely different lyrics and we recorded it on Life is Murder, but it didn't make the cut. It's a good song but I wasn't really happy with the way it turned out. I wasn't happy with my voice and my guitar on it. So, for this record we revisited, dropped the key a full step down to make it easier for my voice, and I changed and then rewrote all the lyrics.
DA: Do you have outtakes from most of your recording sessions?
CS: No, not usually, but that record, we actually had two songs that didn't make it, because truth is, we had never done a vinyl record before. We had never released something on vinyl, so we weren't aware that that 40 minutes is the ideal time. You could go a little bit over 40 minutes on a single twelve inch record. So, we just came in with, I think, twelve songs or something like that, and recorded them all, and it came out to be like, 53 minutes, and they're like, well, we can't fit this. So we were like, well, these two songs aren't as hot.
DA: Do you think you'll release those at that point in the future?
CS: I think that outtake was on a charity compilation years ago, but I can't remember. The other song I kind of don't want anybody to hear. I don't even know what it's called, but I can hear it in my head right now.
DA: It might be interesting to revisit. Are you already working on new material? Or are you just excited to be out performing, letting these songs kind of live in a live performance environment?
CS: We've worked on stuff a little bit, but our bassist and drummer live in New York, and we're moving to Rhode Island, so it's a little hard to get together. Also my work has been, after those three months, it's been pretty nonstop, so I'm kind of hoping I can cut back on my hours and just kind of focus on music. With moving, we're having a room actually dedicated to music where I can kind of retreat because I don't know, I don't like playing writing stuff while people are around. If I can get some privacy, that helps. I just feel self-conscious when people are in earshot, so I'm hoping that will change.
DA: I’m interested in what your ideal space for writing is. You said seclusion is important. Is it like a morning routine or do you have to set aside a time of day? Or is it like, you wait until the idea strikes you and you're just like, I need to move now, or or is it always different?
CS: I think it's always different. Sometimes I'm literally driving, and I hit record on my phone, and I just start going. Actually, on “Who Waits” it's just me going to myself. So, it can really be anywhere. I could be on the toilet, but I do try to set out time, but I haven't been lately because right now we're moving and we're just getting ready for tour. I'm just trying to tighten up everything and get everything ready. So I just don't have a lot of time to write. I'm really looking forward to the tour. I'm itching to play. Last night was our first show in several months, and everybody was just nervous and excited at the same time. So I think everybody has that on their mind. But at the same time, I'm looking forward to the tour being over and maybe I can work on new stuff because I always like working on new stuff and I always like trying new things.
DA: Do you ever write on the road? I know there's very little space where you're alone.
CS: There's been moments where, like, out of sound check, I'm testing out the guitar and what not, and suddenly I start playing a riff. I think there's a song on Life is Alright where a riff was actually born in a sound check. But other than that now it's kind of just way too hard to write on the road. But I should give that a try, though. There is a lot of downtime, so like, maybe I should just bring in a guitar into the hotel room or whatever and just mess around.
DA: It seems like it could be an inspiring time just because there's so much new stimulation.
CS: Yeah. I guess that's probably why everybody felt like they had writers block when the pandemic hit, it's just like life got just put on pause completely. I know some people that were like, I'm more productive than ever. I was like, I hate you.
DA: The upcoming tour is exciting, what are your plans after? Are you going to finish this tour and then you're going to focus on Mulva?
CS: We really just do both of them at the same time, Kal Marks will have more dates to come after that tour. I am really hoping we can get some support shows. We've never really opened up for anybody. We've never gone on tour with another band as an opener, and I'm really hoping that we can do stuff like that. I really feel like this band desperately needs that almost because we've just been doing the same shit. It would be great to play different kinds of venues than the normal smaller ones that we play. Not saying that we need to play stadiums. I'm just saying, like, we're playing 70 capacity rooms. It would be nice to play a 300 something.
DA: It's also nice to be done performing and getting to kind of kick back and watch another band.
CS: It fucking rules being the first band. We have opened up for bands, but only in Boston. Actually, Kowloon Walled City was the first and only band that ever had us open outside of our hometown. We opened up for them in Boston and it was great. They were amazing. Then the next night, their opener, their van broke down, so they actually asked us last minute, do you want to open our show in Brooklyn? And we're like, yeah. Fuck yeah. It was the first and only time, and it felt great to do that. There's a couple of times when we played at venues in Boston where you get hours of time to just set up and sound check and you're just ready to roll. That's amazing. Every time we play, it's like, it's always a mania. That would be amazing just to be like, our shit is on stage. I'm going to go do a vocal warm up and drink a bunch of water and just sit down and read a book. Then when they need us, I'll walk onto stage and that's it. That would be awesome.
DA: So, any bands reading this interview who are going on big tours, Kal Marks want to open for you.
CS: Yeah. Anyway, there are some other dates that haven't been announced yet, and there is one band that we really want to do their tour.
DA: Do you want to say the band? Or..
CS: It would probably jinx it. I've been seeing people post on Twitter like, “Hey, Unwound.” I don't think that works. I don't know. Maybe you could. Who knows? I was like, I'm not even going to bother reaching out. They probably already have thousands of bands being like, please, it's a big deal what they’re doing. A lot of people I know didn't get to see them. They were definitely broken up by the time I heard about them. Other than that, Mulva’s going to have a couple of shows coming up, too, and then we'll definitely be recording in January. I'm excited about that.