by Jade Marantz (@jade.marantz)
Chicago-based indie rock band Widemouth is gearing up for an eventful Spring. After two years of live shows, constant song writing, and immersing themselves in the rich Chicago scene, the quartet will be putting out their first full-length record, No Gasoline. I sat down with founding members Jamie Eder and Makena lei Carnahan, as well as the honorable four-legged band member Cleo to talk about the experiences that have led up to the forthcoming release.
Widemouth by Renee Story
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jade Marantz: I know every single article about Widemouth talks about this, but I want to hear the story of you guys meeting via flyer in your own words.
Makena lei Carnahan: I was finishing my freshman year of college at Northwestern, and was having that feeling of wanting to find a band. And wanting to put a lot more energy and time into music than I was able to at the time. So a friend and I made a flyer together. I was kind of reluctant and felt kind of embarrassed about it, but she urged me to do it, so I put it up. I think it said, “do you want to be in a really awesome band?” Something like that. I had drawn stars on it, and put bands I liked. And it basically said if you play literally any instrument text this number. Jamie texted the number a few weeks later. So we played together, and it was really fun! We just had a lot of the same music taste.
JM: You guys play a lot of live shows in Chicago. I'm curious to hear a little more about the “scene,” as it were, that you're a part of. Would you consider yourselves a Chicago band, or do you feel like the city has influenced you in some ways?
MC: Yes, I would. We see a lot of music here. I feel like my music taste has changed a lot living in Chicago, just because there's so many great local bands who are making the kind of music I love. When we get called a Chicago band, I think we all feel a sense of pride about that, because even though we're from all over, the Chicago scene has definitely been really foundational in creating our sound as a band.
Jamie Eder: For sure. Even just Sam [Genualdi, co-producer] who we met through this songwriting workshop class. Sam was hosting an in-person song share. We didn't know him. We went to his house, played a song, and he was like, “Do you guys want to record in my basement, for free?”
MC: There's such a feeling in Chicago that people are so welcoming and wanna help each other make music.
JE: The number of good bands is pretty staggering too. I feel like we've been around for long enough where we've heard of all these bands and played with all these bands, but there's still so many that we have no idea about. Definitely an inspiring part of our musical lives is going to see shows in Chicago. Local bands, specifically.
JM: Speaking of playing live, you tracked most of the songs on the upcoming album as a full band with live vocals. Are there particular reasons why you prefer to record this way? Are there particular things that are challenging or interesting to you about it?
MC: We knew we wanted to go more that direction versus building songs from the ground up, instrument by instrument. That’s kind of more what we did for our EP, just because we had to. We were making it whenever we all had a free night.
We had so many songs that we loved that we wanted on this record, and we only had five days in Indiana at the studio. So part of it was, like, “how can we put all these songs on this album?” And then also just, for me vocally, I used to be so specific about my vocals and wanting to have total control. So it was really freeing to focus more on the way the song felt to play. It felt a lot more like a collective effort than each of us trying to perfect our individual part. I loved it, personally.
JE: I think we're definitely proud of what we sound like when we just play songs in a room together. I think we wanted to capture that. We wanted to be able to have a good record of what it sounds like to listen to us live.
MC: Yeah, because we put so much time into our live arrangements. We put a lot of time and collective energy into making each song, moment by moment, feel good. So I think we kind of wanted to let that exist on the album.
JE: There were two songs that we built track by track. One is “Transformers,” and one is “Pinecone.” Those are two that we finished the week we recorded. “Transformers” we wrote the first night that we were there. So we had to build them by necessity, because there wasn't a live arrangement. But they ended up being some of the coolest recordings that I think we got.
MC: Yeah, I think Jack [Henry, co-producer] and Sam were able to get in there creatively and be like, “Ooh, try this guitar tone” or whatever. So yeah, I'm also glad that we got to have both.
JM: So you were finishing writing songs right up to when you were recording them. Was it a pretty long time range of when you were writing these songs, or did they mostly happen in a smaller time frame?
MC: It's a pretty wide range, but I'd say most of them happened between making our first EP and making this album. So most of them happened after we kind of had our feet on the ground.
JE: But we're always writing. There's not dedicated writing time. But we had our 10 songs that were all arranged and done, but we just were like, “might as well keep writing!” I think it ended up being a really fun thing to be able to do, to build a song in the studio.
JM: Were there things that felt really different between recording your EP Well, and then recording the upcoming LP. Was there anything that stuck out to you?
JE: The EP is very much songs that Mak and I wrote for Mak and I to sing. And then we figured out how to get drums and bass onto it. And then, pretty much all of these songs [on the LP], to me, feel like band songs. I don't think they would sound at all the same if it were just me and Mak doing this as a duo.
MC: To me, it just feels much more unapologetic…a lot more confident. There's something about feeling like a couple of songwriters trying to make your songs fully realized, versus this album; it really felt like we were a unit, the four of us. I feel like Lily [Mitchell, drummer] has gotten more comfortable throwing their ideas in. And Levi [Saltzman], we wrote a couple songs with Levi on the album. Levi's our old bassist before Pat [Pilch].
JE: Yeah, and I think just the two years of practice, shows, and like…our musical world was a lot bigger. I think we didn't totally believe we were a real band when we made the EP. But just meeting so many people, and having so many people that are supporting us with this album feels very different.
JM: Your new tracks strike me as kind of nostalgic. Your vocals bring this really wonderful emotional quality to what are already some evocative lyrics and melodies. I'm curious to hear if there's any narrative behind the album–or if not a narrative, any theme in general that you feel like is a driving force behind the album as a whole?
JE: We have a slow and steady approach to writing, it's not like we're crafting a narrative, really. But certainly a lot of the songs are about things that have happened to us. It seems like that's what most songs are about. For everyone.
JM: Fair enough.
JE: Just starting from a place of storytelling…I'm sober, I've been sober almost four years. A huge part of the process of recovery is kind of accepting the past as it is, and coming to terms with it. So definitely a big part of my emotional life is going through old heartbreaks and loss. I think the story of the album, for me, is more like growing up, moving from, like, “Oh god, my life is awful,” to, “Yeah, but we're still singing together, and where we are is full of love.” I think that's in the songs, and also more so in the actual recording and the band sound.
MC: I think something that is really cool that happens when you write with someone else, is you have these two pools of life experience. And what often happens, I feel like, when we write a song is I pull something from mine, and Jamie pulls something from his, and then there becomes this, like, third thing. This doesn't happen on purpose, usually. That's a really cool thing that I think is why I love writing with other people, Jamie specifically. I get so bored of my own life! I think that a lot of the album is things like that happening.
JM: You're going on tour soon, are you? Getting prepped and packed? What does that look like?
MC: We're going in our minivan, with Cleo the dog. I'm so excited. It very much is a looking-forward-to type of tour. We're basically just staying with family and friends, who are warmly welcoming four adults and a pit bull into their homes! But yeah, I'm so excited.
JE: We didn't set it up to be, like, a grind-style tour.
JM: I was looking at your beautiful website earlier…
MC: Designed by our friend Theo Marino, shout out!
JM: I read there that treats and desserts are very important to your band. I'm curious, is there a treat that you feel exemplifies the upcoming record?
MC: Okay, you know the Trader Joe's ice cream sandwiches that have the chocolate chips on the outside? They're vanilla ice cream and cookies, chocolate chip cookies. My reasoning: soft and gooey on the inside, a little crunch on the outside, a little edge, and then classy chocolate chip cookie outside.
Widemouth’s new LP No Gasoline will come out on May 29th via Urban Scandal Records, and don’t forget to catch them on their six show tour between March 21st and April 3rd.