21/02/2011 – Shiny Toy Guns (Carah Faye and Jeremy Dawson)

The first Shiny Toy Guns‘ line-up is back. After years, Carah Faye has rejoined the band and they’re currently working on III, their new album. Due to these news, we thought that would be interesting to have the chance to talk to them about the new era they might be starting, so here you are, a new interview with Carah Faye and Jeremy Dawson. Enjoy!

ENJOY THE SHOW: Through all these years, the band has had some changes in the line-up but now, as we can see thanks to the ‘Together Again’ reunion video, the dream team is back. How is having Carah back along with Daniel Johansson, her husband and new member?

Shiny Toy Guns (Carah Faye and Jeremy Dawson): The Dream Team is right haha. It’s so funny and so beautiful how people are saying that. I can’t really explain what it feels like. The best word is “right”. Because it is exactly right and exactly where and who we are supposed to be.

ETS: Talking about that video, when and where did you record it?

STG: We shot the video the last week of January at Mammoth Mountain ski lodge in central California.

ETS: How and when did this reunion start and how did everything happen exactly?

STG: It started back in October… Mikey and I (Jeremy) decided that our friendship with Carah was never going to be mended if we don’t get the face time that a relationship must have in order to exist. None of us actually thought that the band was going to get back together… But after a long time of doing exactly what we WEREN’T doing before (the reason we split up) which is TALKING, we begin to fall back in love as a band all over again. Everything that was said, that was thought, that was presumed was left behind on Carah’s coffee table in Sweden.

ETS: Carah: You were in Versant before this reunion and it is said that “Versant isn’t going anywhere”. Are you and Daniel going to work with both bands then?

STG: Absolutely. We will continue to work on both bands through out all of this.

ETS: It’s been more than five years since you released We Are Pilots. How do you feel now about that album as your first one?

STG: We love our records on a personal level.

ETS: What are your expectations for III?

STG: III is our newness of life. We expect nothing short of the best thing the 5 of us could possibly do. There is a lot of emotion pouring out of us lyrically and we are melodically pushing and challenging ourselves to new levels on this record.

ETS: What will the fans be able to see in this new album, something different compared to your first one or Season Of Poison?

STG: We Are Pilots was our bold entrance, our individual identity album. Poison was a dark and confusing point in our career, with our personal lives riddled with death and loss of life of immediate family members, abuse of alcohol in terrible ways, and the separation of the 3 boys and Carah. Each album is completely different, one being one color, one another. III is going to take over from where we left off from the last moment of We Are Pilots. But on a 2k11 level.

ETS: III is said to be arriving this summer, but what about the writing process, have you got all the material or you’re still working on that?

STG: We have been writing for this album for over 2 years. But now, we are able to hear what these songs sound like with Carah singing them. Carah has been writing a bunch of material as well. And on top of this Chad and I had been working on various other projects… so a combination of all of these songs, plus a large fresh batch of tunes we are all writing together has given us many, many options to choose from song wise. We are currently in the studio producing and mixing these songs, over 20 have been written and recorded already. We are deep into the process now.

ETS: Any plans to hit up the studio soon?

STG: I’m actually writing this with Carah in the studio right now.

ETS: After the release is it all gonna be touring non-stop?

STG: Yup.

ETS: Girls Le Disko is your first remix album. How did the idea come? Are you going to do something like this in the future?

STG: We will do something with remixes in the future, yes. We haven’t gotten that far yet in our head, we are just ultra-focused on the album right now.

ETS: Shiny Toy Guns is a Grammy nominated band. You didn’t win, but being nominated must be such an honor. What do you think it is that made this possible?

STG: We just worked really really hard and we along with several other groups were part of a new sound and scene that now is the staple sound of pop music. I think Grammy noms are pointed more at artists that are taking risks and trying to shape-shift popular music nowadays rather than just handed to artists who have sold/scanned more than others.

ETS: You started gaining popularity years ago thanks to MySpace. In your opinion, does this website still help like it did with your band or are there any other ways you prefer to use now?

STG: It doesn’t right now. SN’s constantly change and morph. It’s like pants or shoes. You just have to stay young and stay viral as a band or you are just so screwed.

ETS: How would you describe your music genre at this moment?

STG: Epic cyber pop.

ETS: Do you all have similar or different music tastes that help you mixing different styles?

STG: We have different tastes. Hence the multi colors you feel on our records. We jump all over the place a lot.

ETS: How do you know that you have finally finished a song?

STG: It’s this weird feeling where you can listen to the entire song and you get super excited and pumped from the beginning second of the intro all the way to the tiniest decibel in the fade of the ending. When the song takes you on a journey and you listen to it over, and over and over and over. Like listen to “BloodBuzz Ohio” by the National. Or on a different vibe, “Pop the Trunk” by Yelawolf.

ETS: Your band is not as easy as getting a guitar, a bass and drums, you use a lot of equipment to play, for example, ‘Le Disko’. That must not be easy to write at first.

STG: Actually it took 5 hours to do haha : ). But a fuckton of money and weeks in a studio to get it to sound right.

ETS: And finally, anything you want to say to your fans?

STG: Yes. Thank you for believing what we didn’t. Because you were right. And now we are going to make you something really fucking awesome, and give it to you. New song in like a week, for free. On http://www.shinytoyguns.com