An interview with Martin Kirby:
Please introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Carpathian, and how long the band has been together?
My name is Martin. I sing for Carpathian and the band has been around for 5 years with too many member changes.
Where is the band from and what is the hardcore scene like there?
We're mainly from the coastal towns of Melbourne, Australia. Our bass player is from Cardiff, Wales originally. The hardcore scene in Australia and Melbourne especially right now is awesome, shows are huge, there's some great new bands, touring is wild and there's a bunch of international bands touring here either recently or soon.
Is there any story or concept behind your CD title "Isolation"?
There's no huge story or concept behind the record, it is just a hardcore record. Some of the issues I touch on lyrically in the album are understanding human existence and purpose, vegetarianism, straight edge etc.
What do you know and think of Romania?
I think the Carpathian Mountains are in Romania, right? I guess it's an eastern European country with wild mountains and scenery and vampires. If what I know and think is true, then I think the place is awesome and I hope we get to tour there one day.
Who did the artwork on the new CD "Isolation" and how much input did you have on it?
The artwork on the new record was done by my good friend Adam. We lived together until early this year when he moved to Tokyo, Japan and I had a big input on the art direction. We would video chat almost every day for a month and send countless e-mails about the record, the Australian release has a new style of packaging from Sweden called a "jakebox" which is pretty unique, also artwork for the Deathwish Inc. and Resist releases are different, so there was definitely a lot of time spent on the artwork.
Is MySpace the great Satan of the 21st Century?
Yes. For real life it is the devil. My ex-girlfriend would spend too much time on the internet hunting down girls I would talk to on tour, it always ended in huge fights even though I was completely faithful. Haha! It was insane. At the same time it is an extremely intuitive invention, it's obviously revolutionized the way bands, musicians, artists, labels etc. promote, market and distribute their music and has definitely played a big part in Carpathian's small success as a touring band.
Where did you get ideas and inspirations for some of the lyrics on "Isolation"?
There are a few Joy Division references with the record, 'Isolation', 'Ceremony', 'Permanent', etc. are all Joy Division song titles. The writing style of Curtis and Morrissey I guess played an important part lyrically in this record as I wrote in a more personal, self deprecating fashion than I previously had. Modern hardcore bands we have toured with such as Down To Nothing, Have Heart and Blacklisted especially I take huge influence from as they are great musicians, different and inspiring people and great friends.
What are your future plans for Carpathian?
As I am writing this, we are flying to New Zealand to take out Shipwreck AD for a week there. We get home and tour with those guys in Australia for most of October. In December we go to Europe with Have Heart and Cruel Hand. The band is going to Dubai on the way to Europe to go to Wild Wadi which is apparently the worlds largest water park and that is important to us. In 2009 we want to tour as much as possible hopefully in the US, Japan and South East Asia, Europe, anywhere that will have us.
What do you think of this year's presidential election? Do you like any of the candidates?
To be completely honest I don't follow news and international politics as much as maybe I should. I don't have a TV, a radio or read newspapers. I have a rough idea of the candidates and what they stand for and personally I hope Obama is elected as from the small amount of media I have seen or heard, he sounds pretty cool. Australia is still in the early stages of a new Prime Minister in Kevin Rudd, who so far hasn't been very pro-active, but no doubt will make better choices for Australia as a country than our last Prime Minister.
Would you ever want to do an all acoustic show?
Definitely. It's something I've been working on lately in my studio at home, just recording acoustic versions of "Isolation" with more melodic vocals, it's been cool so far.
What would you compare your music too, out of the varitey of bands out there?
I want to say Joy Division. I'm sure people have compared us to bands such as Modern Life Is War, Blacklisted, Have Heart etc.
What bands have you toured with? Are there any that you would definetely want to tour with?
We have toured with so many bands, it's impossible to name them all, I guess some of the bigger festival tours in Australia we toured with 35+ international bands. Some of my favourite tours were with Down To Nothing, On Broken Wings, and Bleeding Through. In the next few months we are taking out Shipwreck AD, Verse, and Comeback Kid in Australia and again going to Europe with Have Heart and Cruel Hand which we are super excited for.
What do you think of the genre of music you choose to do?
I love it and can't imagine being anywhere but where I am right now!
http://www.deathwishinc.com/
http://www.myspace.com/carpathian
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