Carver Commodore on the new era of the band
Carver Commodore is a dynamic five-piece band that can really do it all. Whether that is writing a variety of genre-changing music, performing electric live shows, or brute Alabama strength (keep reading for that story), the band seems to be the full package. The group began in 2017 by releasing their first single, and have since released several singles and full length albums. The band includes Payton Pruitt (vocals and guitar), Phillip Blevins (guitar), David Smith Jr. (bass), Clayton Christopher (guitar and keys) and Noah Freeman (drums).
Their music has a variety of influences in their sound. Some range from classic americana, (think Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), to a guitar heavy rock sound, and even some punk influences that are heard during jams or instrumental breaks with heavy bass lines.
Carver Commodore released their latest EP, “If Nothing Happens,” in August of 2023. Inspired by a new era of the band, the EP explores the emotions faced by people in creative fields and pushing forward to keep working towards what you believe in. We spoke to Carver Commodore ahead of their New York City show at Heaven Can Wait.
So this group has been coming together piece-by-piece since 2017. Can you give a very brief overview into how each member came along?
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
Clayton: Took many years to find each other.
Payton: Me and Phil met each other in 2011, started playing music together, and then we were in a few different bands. Then we started playing with Clayton and Noah's other band from back in the day. And then we got them to join our band over the years. Noah joined first in 2018 or 17, and then Clayton in 2020, and then David in 2021. We just met David over Instagram and we needed a new bass player. We were like, David's cool.
David: They made me audition. I did animations on it of Spider-Man dancing and spaceships flying. Eagles flying around. That's not a joke. That's completely true.
Phillip: We should post that.
David: I told them after the fact that it was kind of like a test of my own. If they thought it was funny, then it was meant to be. We'd never met in person. Me and Noah had followed each other for years. I played in a band that one of his close friends played in, and so we kind of followed each other and our lives kind of paralleled each other. We got married in the same month, and we were both doing the same kind of music, but didn't know each other. So it was just cool. And then when they needed a new bass player, he remembered me, and then we met and we all fell in love and it was great. It feels like we've known each other a lot longer than three years.
You released, Tell Me What You Want in 2020 and Welcome To The Modern World in 2021. And both are quite long albums, more than a lot of other ones, which is a testimony to your skills as musicians. 13 and 15 songs. So what does a typical songwriting process look like for you guys?
Payton: Whenever I write songs, I normally just write them as a full demo just because that's kind of how it comes out in my brain. So I'll make it on [Apple Logic Pro] with drums and I'll record the bass and the guitar parts. Then the keyboard parts and write the vocals and lyrics and stuff. I send it to these guys, see what they think. Sometimes nobody really cares, and I'm like, ‘Ah, it probably wasn't a great song.’ And then sometimes they're like, ‘Oh yeah, stoked.’ And then sometimes nobody says anything, but it ends up being a song that everybody likes. Everybody's just busy. It just depends on the day. So that's the normal process. That first record, I mean, I'd been writing those songs for years. You can write, and spend your whole life writing your first record. But the second record, we recorded 17 songs before, and then ended up splitting that off and putting 13 on the record. And then putting out a five-song EP the next year. So we just kind of split those up. But sometimes we just come in with a bunch of material and get it all at once and then release it however we want to later.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
David: We've just recently started trying to write together in person for the first time as well, which has been cool. And so hopefully in the future, that'll be something that becomes a mainstay for us as well as writing in the same room. It kind of brings a different energy and vibe.
Payton: It was just the last EP that we released where we recorded all together at the same time the first time. First time we've been able to do that.
So you've released quite a few acoustic singles since you started releasing music in 2017, and there are acoustic songs on the albums. What attracts you to acoustic songs?
Payton: Our first record was like we decided to do a deluxe version. Our manager at the time thought it would be a good idea. We just went along with it. It was a fun experiment. Some of that stuff ended up sounding cool. Some of it sounded kind of bad and we still put it out. So that's on us. But we like changing things. We do different versions. The last acoustic thing that we did was an acoustic version of “Drown Me in Emotions,” and we just kind of did that all at home. It was fun. Do something different. It's just a way to show our softer side.
For your new EP, “If Nothing Happens,” you started releasing all the singles in 2023 and every single you would add the old single on top of it on streaming platforms, if that makes sense.
Payton: Waterfall.
So why did you choose to keep doing the re-release and adding the other single onto the new one until the full album came?
Clayton: The algorithm. It just makes it easier for somebody that can hear the new song and then also have the song right before it right next to it, so they don't have to go search for it. It's just convenient for the listener.
I thought it was a very cool idea.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
David: We liked the idea of five songs in five months, one a month, and then when the last single drops, it's the full product. So it's kind of a play. Releasing music in the digital age is so random right now. You just don't know what's going to stick, what people are going to like, what's going to get playlisted. Especially when you're independent like we are, you just don't know. So we thought it would be cool to try out that kind of release schedule. It's just kind of trying to learn the ins and outs of streaming and see what works for us.
Payton: There was one side of it that was good because it made everybody have an opportunity to hear every song because every song had a possibility to be on playlists and all that stuff. But then from a listening perspective, I never really love it when bands do that. I always like a few singles and then to hear the whole record. But yeah, it definitely was an experiment, and it actually worked well for the most part. Some of the songs didn't get as much attention as others, but that's going to happen no matter what.
David: Some got more attention than we expected them to.
Clayton: I think it worked for a smaller body of songs versus an album.
For your new EP, regarding all the titles of the songs, they are all very real, but they're not necessarily the happiest of titles. So what originally inspired the EP and how did you name all the songs?
David: Well, the EP for the most part was mostly inspired by our collective experience as a band, as the five of us. I feel like with the exception of maybe one of the songs, but kind of a collective experience. I kind of like that the EP feels like a time-capsule in a way of what we were feeling and going through in the long conversations that we were having on long drives. Also on the flip side, be full of pride in what you do. You kind of have both sides of the spectrum in a long van ride, where it's like, "I love being in this band, I love what we're doing". And then you get into the comparison thing. Us coming to the agreement that basically if nothing happens, I'll be fine. We all kind of decided with that, if nothing happens, that at the end of the day we still believe in it. We are basing our value on the five of us and what we want to contribute versus outside forces.
Regarding that song, I thought it was really interesting, the last line of it, "Where’d the time go, I'm running out of peace of mind, thinking of leaving it all behind. If nothing happens, I'll be fine." And how that was the last line of the EP and that's how it ended. What do you really want people to take away? Especially that being the last line.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
David: That's good. That was very intentional. We talked a lot about this song, like the track listing, and felt like that was a good way to end it. The EP really is at its core about self-doubt and choosing not to wallow in that.
Phillip: We hope it inspires people to whatever it is with their career, with relationships, whatever it is, to just keep going, and hopefully it inspires them.
Payton: On one hand, it's about self-doubt. And on the other hand, it's about knowing that you have something special and what you got to offer is a good thing. And deciding to keep offering that thing. We really do feel like this is what we're supposed to be doing, making this music and stuff. It kind of tells a story in that track list. We do have a lot of cool things that have happened in our band and the growth, even though it's been slow, there has been real growth. We all share those emotions of the whole record together. It feels like we're screaming into the void constantly. And that's how it feels for any artist really these days.
Clayton: It's very up and down, like with the songs.
Payton: It's so oversaturated, and you never know if anybody's going to hear what you're putting out there. And then if nothing happens, being the last song, it's just trying to have a twinge of hope at the end.
Well, online you wrote that the EP is a time-capsule of feelings and a mix of self-doubt and industry comparison. So if you go back a few years, what's one piece of advice that you'd give either the band or yourself?
David: That we find each other sooner.
Payton: That's honestly the biggest, start earlier.
Noah: I wish that we would've all found each other in 2011 and started as the five of us then, because to me it feels like we've really found a final form.
David: I feel like if we would've found each other at 17 or 18 years old, that would've been it. I know even back then we would've connected and become friends like we are now just then.
Payton: It would've been nice if we could have started earlier. Yeah.
Clayton: But it's never too late.
Payton: The other advice I think we would all say is just try not to compare yourself to that so hard.
Noah: That goes with everything.
Payton: We still do it constantly, but just trying. Even if you're not a musician or artist in any way, just try to not compare yourself to everybody.
You guys have consistently been touring all over the country. So what are some of the trials and tribulations of constantly touring? Give your number-one best story.
Payton: The best is just getting to play great shows, but also just getting to go to all these new places together and experience new things.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
Noah: We've met some incredible musicians along the way.
David: Connecting with other bands that are kind of in the same vein as we are. Like Brother Moses, trying to do the same things we are and connecting with them.
Clayton: We played a show in Boston last year that was specifically pretty cool for me. I got engaged that day, and then we played a really great show. It was just super special. I had my people in one place and a great show opening for a great band.
David: And I'd say in that vein too, the pitfalls of touring, It's not internal as far as the band, but more like just being homesick. We're all married and we all miss our wives a lot. Love being home, loving being home. And a couple of us have kids now, and so that adds an element of loving to tour, but the homesickness to me is the worst.
Payton: Oh, I know. A good worst moment. I don't know if this is the worst, but we were playing South By Southwest (SXSW) last year. And we were about to leave. We're playing the last show. We were trying to get out of there as quickly as possible because a tornado was coming in.
Clayton: It was just an exhausting couple of days. We were exhausted.
Payton: We were in a parking lot and we got blocked in. And we had to take everything out of our trailer, pick it up, and move it so that we could back out and get out.
David: It was some real southern Alabama boy behavior. We were stuck in going back-and-forth trying to inch our way out enough. We were just like, “you know what? We're just going to pick up the trailer.”
Noah: There was a guy who was very skeptical of our strength as a group to pick up the trailer.
Payton: We did it.
Phillip: We did it right in front of him and showed that guy.
David: He was very impressed. He waved us goodbye as we drove away.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
For this next year, maybe everyone could go around and say, what's one thing that you hope to accomplish for this year?
Noah: I hope we can release a new record this year. Yeah, I mean that might be everybody's answer.
Clayton: I think with every year we hope that our music can reach a broader audience, but specifically this year, I would love to just reach more people with our music.
Phillip: I'd love to play another support slot. Yeah. An artist that we love, and we got to do that last year. It's incredible. Just keep that momentum going.
Payton: I’d love to play in a few new cities. We've gotten to do that every year. There are only a couple of pockets of the country that we've never been to. Never really been to the Northwest or West Coast. Or super far into Maine. We've never really been to the Kansas City area and all this stuff, so we're trying to do that this year. And yeah, the new record, new audience.
David: New record for me is definitely the answer.
Payton: I'm really proud of what we've been working on. Every time we put out a new record in the past, we haven't gotten to tour it much. So putting it out and actually getting to tour it in a good way. That's the goal.
Follow Carver Commodore on Instagram, Spotify and their website.
