In this interview spotlight, I chat with Shane Carroll about influences, motivations, challenges, his latest project and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

Louisiana. But now I stay in Missouri.

As far as style of music that I create, I’d say different levels of rock. I think. If rock is different levels of fire, I’d say I try to create 2 stages.

“Smoldering” songs: Burning, but no real flames. Heat and energy is there, but it’s a glow. I think of Heath as that. Maybe Horrow Chapel as well.

And then “crackling” songs. Songs that carry some flames, but it’s the pop and crackles behind them that will catch you. I think of All but Left as one of those. The screams behind the chorus are faint but they sort of deepen things.

Either way though, for me it’s all about story.

What led you down that path of story driven music and what motivates you to keep going?

I’d say 3 songs if I’m being honest. 3 songs stand to me as forever blowing my mind. And I owe it all to my parents.

“I’ve got to get a message to you” – by The Bee Gees. They make you feel for a killer. And not until the end do you realize it.
Best Story ever

Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles. So dark and beautifully done.
Second best story ever.

Finally Twist and Shout by the Beatles. This song had such a voice behind it. The lyrics weren’t anything special to me, but the way he tore them apart with his screams still blows me away.

Those 3 songs make me want to keep those things going. Unique Stories, dark realities put to beautiful melodies, and just outright pouring your heart into your voice.

With that, friends and family who supported me to learn and write, I fell in love with it and progressed. Making music is a dear thing to me.

How is The Mice That Reign In Horrow different than previous projects? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

I was with a band. It didn’t work out. I am very particular about my songs and I don’t like a singer trying to turn a small indie tune into a Korn single. I wasn’t the best team player at the time lol. We had fun though.

I have constantly made songs by myself though. Very rarely would I make complete projects though. I always got distracted by a new idea or style.

This time I had 3 ideas. So I said “Okay. just finish 3 demos for each idea”. And so instead of working on 9-12 songs for the same idea, I did 3 ideas at once. If I got bored or tapped out with Mice, then I moved to Horrow, or Reign.

This was the first time that, even though they are not completely where I want them to be, the songs and the project itself that I finished felt just that. Finished. My EP compilation was complete and I had a 3 song, fleshy skeleton, for 3 projects to share.

And for once, people can find it all in one place and actually download it. It’s really exciting just to be able to have done that.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

The only means that I have to make this music is my guitar, and an iPhone. With GarageBand I can do so much and I’m still learning. So tech is my best friend right now. Because studio time is out of the question until I can support myself more with music.

As far as the over saturated challenges. It makes this daunting. And while I really wish that there were more subdued stacks of music out there, I think that good music still will stand out. If you keep putting in the work and building the “fires”, someone will notice good music.

Again, with the fire analogy.

Good music is fire of some sort. Even if it is small and doesn’t signal a bunch of people, It burns. It carries itself and warms you, or it teases you with the little bit of warmth that it gives and it makes you take action to get more. It can terrify you, but it also attracts you with its power. It lights darkened areas and allows you to see new things. It even takes raw and infectious meat, and purifies it to where it is digestible. Good music can help you cope with things that you couldn’t quite handle before.

And this life can be pretty cold, infectious, and dark.

So to me, even if it’s oversaturated out there, and even if it’s hard to reach more people, I get to light these small fires to warm a few people and make them happy for 20 minutes. Maybe even help them digest a hard part of life. That makes me not care about the negatives of creating these days.

What was the last song you listened to?

Beyond the Pines by Thrice.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

Vinyl.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Bandcamp! It’s where you can find me!

Though honestly…. Apple Music is so dope.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

ShaneCarroll.Bandcamp.com has my biggest and most complete release for download. The Mice that Reign in Horrow. Plus a bonus sample from the next project.

For just streaming them you can go to https://m.soundcloud.com/user-556926400/sets/the-mice-that-reign-in

It has the full playlist for the EPs

If you want more, hit me up at TheOldBaba@Gmail.com and I can send you some demos of some other projects. I have tons of stuff that I work on from beat driven fully electronic stuff, to very stripped down songs. Heck even if you have a suggestion or request for a project, I’m pretty flexible.

Also you can tweet me at @TheOldBaba1

Anything else before we sign off?

Just a thank you for letting me in here. It’s been nice.

Also, be on the lookout, I will have another project out soon. I hope you guys enjoy this one.