In this intimate interview, the members of Carey reveal the profound layers of their musical identity, woven from diverse influences and a history rich with local resonance. Discover how their partnership with People of Punk Rock Records has shaped their journey and how the legacy of Asbestos mining in their region has infused their work with narrative power. This enthralling conversation with Pascal Rouleau, the band's guitarist, will take you to the heart of artistic creation, where melody meets passion and every song tells a story.
( © Photo credit: Charles-Alexandre Tourchot / Carey)
1. Since forming in 2011, how would you describe the evolution of your sound and musical identity?
When we first started, influences were more in the lines of Verse, Have Heart, The Carrier, Defeater, Make Do and Mend, Renee Heartfelt and that type of stuff. When Olivier joined the band, we started experimenting with delay, reverb and other effects. We tried incorporating other influences like Caspian, Mogwai and bands like that to craft a soundtrack that would be more appropriate for the concept we wanted to write about. We wanted to create an ambiance to fit with the storyline. From there, we never stopped adding new inspirations, whether it’s musical (Choke, Envy, Amenra, Modern Life Is War, Crusades, Oathbreaker, Cult of Luna, The Get Up Kids, ect) or just stories from old folks from our area.
2. As the band signed to People of Punk Rock Records, how has this collaboration shaped your musical journey?
When we first talked to Anthony about releasing our album, he thought it would be too hardcore, I guess because of some of our previous projects. After harassing him for a while, he accepted to hear what we were working on. Tony is an old friend from our area so he knows what we’re about and we are very happy to work with such a dedicated person! We did not play a lot since the album came out on POPR, but we’ll soon be able to play more and we are excited to expose our music to a different crowd, which is one of our ultimate goal.
3. How do diverse influences, such as, post-hardcore, progressive metal and experimental sound, manifest in your music?
Well, we like to think there is no riff too heavy or too soft for this band. Therefore, I think our wide range of influences can be heard in the different dynamics and textures we use but also in the structures of the songs. Something I really love with this band is that we can do blast beats, fast punk, super heavy, ambient and shoegazy in only a few songs. There is really no boundaries.
4. Is there a particular band or artist that inspired you during the creation of your latest album?
Not a particular one. Like the long list I mentioned before, we draw inspiration from a lot of different bands. Though we did pay an homage to two bands we deeply love on Fervet Opus. If you find these two little nuggets, let us know!
5. What's the story behind the title "Fervet Opus", and how does it reflect in the themes explored in your songs?
"Fervet Opus" means “L’ardeur au travail” in French or something like “Hard at Work” in English. This is the motto of the city of Thetford Mines. It’s on the coat of arms of the city. We thought it would be appropriate to use it as our album title since the history of the whole region could be described with these words. The harsh working conditions these people went through have been compared to slavery and concentration camps by journalists at the time so we thought these men and women should be honored rather than forgotten. You can see a bunch of archive images in our video for the song “Altered History” directed by our old friend Daniel X Vandal (Kreact).
6. How has the rich Asbestos mining history of your region influenced the writing and production of "Fervet Opus" and another albums?
The inspiration to create a whole concept for this project came from a Syracuse, NY metalcore band called Unholy. I felt tired of the traditional punk/hardcore topics so we thought it would be cool to have a recurrent theme that would mean something dear to us and we came up with an idea for something close to home. So much has been said about the asbestos mining industry but most of the time, content is manipulated by people or organisations with a political agendas. We thought it would be important to give a voice to people who lived this story but can’t really tell it from their point of view. We then created fictional characters in a fictional city that represents the whole region and we write factual events and stories through them since our first effort “Desolation” released in 2013.
7. Can you discuss the creative process that led to the blend of melodic and hardcore elements in this album?
Like I mentioned earlier, we first played melodic hardcore but when we completed our line-up, we evolved in something a little different, with a wider range of influences. We sonically distanced ourselves from traditional hardcore a bit to incorporate other genres but I think you can still hear it. It’s not really mosh oriented like most bands. Our goal is more to build an ambiance that fits with the mood of the lyrics. As for the process goes, I usually bring a riff, an idea or a drum fill to our drummer John and we write a skeleton of song together that we later work with the others. When the song is pretty much complete, I write the lyrics depending on where we think the song will be in the sequencing of the release, since our releases are chronologically written.
8. Which track from "Fervet Opus" best represents the essence of Carey and why?
I think I would personally choose “White Scare” because musically, it contains a lot of the main elements of our signature sound in a single song.
9. We've heard that another record, this time a surprise, was released today without any major advertising campaign. Is it true that it would be a session of three tracks recorded live in a minibus, the title would be "King Beaver Phase One"?
It is indeed a three songs EP titled "King Beaver Phase One". It was recorded and filmed by our friends from the now legendary Mixbus Studio. They often record/film in their three busses (We did a session in Jacob’s first bus in 2018) but this particular EP was recorded in a small cabin on the side of an abandoned asbestos quarry in East Broughton, QC. The three songs you can hear on this EP were recorded in a single take. We thought recording and filming live would better capture the ambiance and the essence of the songs even though there might be some small mistakes here and there. We’re really happy with the result and we hope you dig it too!
10. Can you tell us more about the impressive depth that lies in the lyrics of the three songs on King Beaver Phase One, as it seems to form a long mining story representative of historical identity?
The songs chronologically start after the closing of several mines in the late 80’s/early 90’s and the fall of the “Father-to-son” tradition of working at the mines. A high rate of unemployment, suicide and psychological distress hit the region. All of this pain was accompanied by a disastrous ecological impact left by the exploitation of our resources. Companies left town like thieves in the night and went back to the US without any reparation. You can still see huge mountains of sterile materials and enormous holes in the ground that characterise our landscape alongside abandoned mining structures. Organisations tried to take actions against the impact of this whole history on our ecological system but governments historically don’t seem to have any other interest than impose restrictive measures against the region. There’s no political will cause there’s no political gain to get from taking concrete actions. Some issues are slowly starting to get resolved in the recent years but we’re far from there yet!
11. During the filming session for this new record, you play in the reddish darkness which almost forces us to close our eyes and immerse ourselves in the melodic atmosphere. Have you ever recreated this same darkness during performances?
Yes. We always carry two original lamps from the Carey Mine with us that are installed on top of our guitar amps and we try as much as possible to have a static red lighting with smoke when we play. It is part of the ambiance we try to build with our songs and lyrics. The live session was a bit different from our live shows since the lighting was brought by our friends from Mixbus but it is in the same vein.
12. Will the Europeans have the chance to see you this year or do your future plans seem to remain Quebec, Canada, or perhaps an American tour?
We often talk about it and it came close once but there is no concrete plan for now. We hope to be able to make it overseas sooner than later but with families and jobs, it can be tricky. Maybe in 2025? As for USA and other Canadian provinces, we would love to play there more. We can’t do extensive touring but week-ends are always a possibility. Just hit us up and we’ll try to work something up for sure!
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This band has an interesting life experience to share through their music and performances, which should resonate with people born in towns or mining villages deceived by large capitalist companies. Their dedication to creation is what makes their growing reputation, and it will be something to watch in the coming years. In the meantime, do us a favor and go get the band's records, either through People Of Punk Rock Records or through their own Bandcamp.
We will offer a review of the new opus "King Beaver Phase One" soon on the blog, you can already read our review of "Fervet Opus", it's the very first record chronicled in the history of Loyalcore in the first punch pack.
