Guerilla Toss: “I was so nervous I couldn’t even form words”

Ahead of their Sub Pop debut we caught up with Kassie Carlson from Guerilla Toss, who shared what made the hyper-punk powder keg that is ‘Famously Alive’.

Kassie Carlson, lead vocalist for enigmatic force Guerilla Toss, joins me on zoom from the band’s studio space in upstate New York, having left the city life for a more peaceful existence. “I felt like the universe was telling me to slow down,” shares Kassie. “You know, I’ve heard other musicians actually say that too, not that I’m a super religious person or anything, but I was just trying to look at the bright side of this horrible situation and keep my head above water”. 

After years of extensive touring, often playing over 100+ shows a year, Carlson and fellow bandmates found themselves, like many others, unable to depend on the life of touring. Shortly after the pandemic struck, the band escaped to the countryside where they were able to focus more on their creative work than ever before. It was nice for the band to find peace and clarity in getting away from the bustling life of the city. “It’s cool to walk around and not run into anyone and just focus on music. And I had various jobs that I could do remotely so that was cool, too.”

The pandemic saw opportunities for the band that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. “I’ve been doing a radio show up here, so that was nice to kind of be on the radio and talk and feel like I was performing that way.” Showcasing mostly female artists, Carlson’s show empowered and displayed the best of post-punk, new wave, no wave and Hyper Pop. “It was nice to just learn about music and force myself to listen to new music,” Carlson reflects. 

“It was also kind of eerie because it felt like wartime, you know, when other people are at home too and you’re on the radio and you’re like, ‘Hey guys, how’s it going? I know it’s crazy, but we’re going to listen to some music and hope everyone’s doing OK out there,’ you know?” Carlson says. Shocked, I probed whether she had been tempted to pull off a War of the Worlds type scenario “There’s aliens outside!” I jokingly suggest. “People didn’t need that, you know?” Kassie laughs. 

Recently, the band signed to Sub Pop, a label that needs no introduction for its influence on modern music. “They’re such a great label. They’re so helpful and I feel they genuinely like music, you know? They delegate tasks in a way that I’ve never seen before.” Having been on the scene for years, Guerilla Toss were surprised when it looked like things were starting to move with Sub Pop. “What happened was I asked my manager to invite Sub Pop, kind of as a joke, to our show in Seattle. But I was just feeling bold that day, you know?” Kassie laughs. “Then they actually said they were going to come and then I was so nervous. I was freaking out. And yeah, they put something like 14 Sub Pop people on the guest list. And they all came, including Jonathan Poneman,” Carlson shares, recalling how the opportunity came about. 

“I was so nervous I couldn’t even form words, really, and I was sweating. And we were like: ‘Oh man, it feels like they’re going to sign us. Or maybe they’re going to ask — like they’re going to ask us out, to go steady, you know?’” Carlson jokes.

Beginning in April, the band plans to return to touring, doing some US East Coast dates. This will be the first tour for the band in two years. “I’m really excited to get back out there on the road and I’m excited to perform. I hope we can come to Europe soon. That would be really awesome.” Carlson shares. “I miss walking the streets of London and having new food and hearing cool stories,” she continues. “I had so much fun in London. Like, I bought so much clothing; I found so much cool shit.”

With their new album slated for late March, “Famously Alive” sees Guerilla Toss at their most optimistic and joyous. 

“I feel like it’s one of our best works. It’s the most thought out and the most fun and clear, and yeah, I’m really excited about it.” Carlson enthusiastically spills. 

“I’ve always been against that hyper positivity but it’s not really that it’s just a kind of stoicism,” she remarks, noting this switch in energy on the new record. 

Talking about where the album got its name Carlson shares that “It was a poem written by one of my closest friends, Johnny. He’s in L.A. and he helped me a lot through some of my mental health issues and my addiction issues, and he’s just always been such a cool, funny, great friend. So, yeah, he wrote those lyrics and we set them to music, and it was a really awesome album title.”

The album was written in the room Carlson joins me from but the final product was actually recorded in Brooklyn. “We went to the city to record it at Transmitter Park Studios.” 

“We produced it and Sub Pop are super hands off, which is cool. They are just like, ‘Yeah, just make whatever you want. We like you guys and we like the stuff you’ve done in the past. So go for it,’ which is nice.” Carlson shares. 

With the plethora of genres under their name, on Famously Alive, Guerilla Toss takes a step towards hyper punk. 

With their music feeling more accessible than ever it wasn’t surprising to find Carlson wanting more people to hear it. Curious as to whether this was a conscious decision by the band I was warmly greeted with an interesting reality of Guerilla Toss’s music. “I mean, I felt a lot crazier back then. You know, all the music is just a direct reflection of what was going on.” This is incredibly true of the band, as there have been many moments in the band’s lifetime of uncertainty and darkness, with their music often reflecting the energy of the band. “Yeah, but that rage is still deep inside.” Shares Carlson. “It’s just that I can hold it now.”

Carlson took vocal lessons for this album, a first for her, given this opportunity by pandemic downtime. She learned that she was doing some things naturally and learnt more about where the power comes from and why she never lost her voice (because she was listening to her body). “When I’m doing those super aggressive vocal parts it doesn’t hurt. People would always come to me like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you could do that. Like, I can’t believe you don’t lose your voice.’” Shares Carlson. 

Visually, Guerilla Toss has always been consistent. Lavish displays of colour, crazy cartoon characters and weirdo aestheticism have always been Guerilla Toss’ go to. Having signed to Sub Pop, the band had more opportunity to experiment with their music videos. “Sub Pop were like, ‘have you ever thought about getting a music video director?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, jeez, no, I haven’t,’” shares Carlson. The idea for the video of their lead single literally came to Carlson in a dream.

For the Famously Alive video, Carlson flew out to L.A. to meet Johnny, the guy who wrote the lyrics for the song. Johnny, Kevin Carney and Michael Chadwick, Carlson and her friend Gracie all worked on this video. Gracie helped with the styling, and Chadwick did the CGI green screen, and Kevin Carney did the editing.

“That was really interesting, like working with a green screen. You know the tracking and when the door opens on my forehead? Yeah, there were all these like black little tracking dots. Yeah… And for the CGI horse we had to do, there was a box with a green cloth over it.” They also tied fishing lines to Carlson’s braids and were pulling them from side to side. “It was amazing!” exclaims Carlson. This was the first time the band had worked with CGI. “It was low budget but it turned out really cool.”

“We just had so much fun, you know?”

In the future, Carlson would like to do some sort of electronic project: more slimmed down, less bandy and more showy, more performative. “I don’t know. I’m a child of the nineties, so I grew up listening — listening to Britney Spears and the like. I love Madonna. I live like I’m early Madonna and Cyndi Lauper.”

“I only recently started getting into liking newer pop music because I’ve been running on the treadmill to pop music. Yeah, it’s fun. It’s pretty fun. So it’s become a guilty pleasure.”

Carlson has been listening to a plethora of cutting edge artists: Caroline Polachek, Arca, Sophie, Weyes Blood during recent times. But in terms of modern pop and its boundary-pushing, we couldn’t help but speak of Charli XCX. Carlson shares with me that their hair stylist actually worked with Charli. “It was fun. Seeing all the boys get their hair done too, I saw them eyeing themselves in their mirror.” She adds that their adorable Chow Chow and band mascot “Watley was there too during the photo shoot.”