In February, Airstream Futures released their second album, titled Le Feu Et Le Sable. We recently conducted a phone interview with singer Devon Carson and guitarist Jeff Dean. (The band’s lineup also consists of drummer Mike Soucy and bassist Katie Karpowicz). We talked about how the album was written and recorded, what some of its songs are about and the meaning behind its title. The record demonstrates the band’s ability to further sharpen their sound, which incorporates elements of punk, indie rock and alternative, as well as a touch of added aggression. We also discussed the band’s future, including how they plan to navigate these uncertain times.
Bill – Tell me about the writing process for this record.
Jeff – It went in sections. I kind of hit a writing streak, musically, after the first album. We toured the UK pretty much right away and started playing consistently a lot, so a lot of these ideas just happened really quickly. Mike and I went into the studio and we knocked all the songs out, guitar and drums, in like three days. When we went in, it was originally just supposed to be demos. We thought we would kind of refine them a little bit and then come back and retrack everything a little more diligently. But the energy in the takes and everything just felt right, so we decided to use it for the record. Musically, it all really happened quickly. Then came the vocals and that’s where Devon comes in, because we kind of just presented her with twelve songs.
Devon – Yeah, the writing process usually goes like that. At least it has so far where Jeff and Mike have guitars and drums done first. We’ll come in with vocal melodies and lyrics and then kind of work together on a lot of that stuff. Bass usually comes last. Once Jeff and Mike had the twelve songs, it took us a while to get the lyrics and melodies finished. It was a mountain of a project to do twelve songs at once. It took some time, but we got it done in the end. We had some help from friends of ours as well, like Joseph Grillo, Bob Nanna and Rodrigo Palma. Rodrigo’s always a big help in the studio with producing.
Bill – Rodrigo helped out on the last album too, right?
Jeff – Yeah, him and Derek Grant both helped out. On the first record it was almost equal and then on this one Derek was in a bunch to kind of refine some of it, but Rodrigo was more at the helm.
Bill – Given that it was basically the same cast of characters, was there anything that was different this time around or was it a similar experience to the first album?
Jeff – The intention with the first album was that we wanted it finished and done before we even played our first show. There was a lot of work on that first album before we even got in the studio. But with this one, for the music side of things, we went in with the intention of it being demos, but the vibe was right so that’s just the new record. I think there’s a little more looseness in the recording that adds to these songs. It just kind of came together that way. With the lyrics and the vocals, it was similar to the first one, but we took a bit longer. We were a little more meticulous with things. When we got into the studio with the vocals this time, we were probably more focused than the first one.
Devon – I know for me the process for the first record was really intimidating and really scary. I didn’t have as much confidence. This time around it was a lot more fun. I had released a little bit of that terror that I had the first time around. I think touring and playing shows for a year definitely helped. This time I had a little more confidence and a little more fun. A lot of these songs are more personal to me than the first record for sure.
Bill – What inspired the album’s title?
Jeff – For some reason, Mike decided that all our albums are going to have French titles. I can’t say there wasn’t Malört involved when this decision was made, (laughs).
Devon – Mike’s family is French in origin, so I feel like we can at least tie that in a little bit. Whatever conversation happened was definitely booze-fueled, but now it’s just a thing. It translates to “the fire and the sand.” Mike came up with that and I thought it was really cool.
Jeff – Mike handles all the design and layout stuff for our records. I feel like the artwork kind of ties in to what the record titles are when he’s designing everything. I think it all came together really well.
Bill – Absolutely. “Stubborn Bones” is one of my favorite songs on the record. How exactly did that one come together?
Devon – I remember that song was particularly hard to figure out, at least in terms of the vocal melodies and lyrics. When it came time to do the lyrics, I was re-reading the graphic novel the Watchmen. There’s a famous image from that graphic novel where the two skeletons are embracing when a nuclear bomb goes off. That’s where the song came from and it was literally that image and that kind of feeling of not wanting to let someone go. There’s a part in the graphic novel where they play the Billie Holiday song “You’re My Thrill,” so I kind of added a couple lines from that song in the bridge of our song. It was one of those things where I just happened to be re-reading this graphic novel that I’ve read a thousand times and I had that image of the skeletons in my head. I just used that to finish up the song.
Bill – That’s really cool. I actually own the first issue of that comic. I never get to talk about comics in interviews, (laughs). In fact, this might be the first time that somebody’s ever brought up comics.
Devon – That’s awesome. That makes me so happy. I didn’t think anyone would ever put it together. It was just something that was in my brain, but that’s really cool. Then you know the reference I’m making.
Bill – Right and even if you’re not into comics or the Watchmen, I think a fair amount of people are familiar with that image. It is a very powerful image just to look at.
Devon – Absolutely. And the song is about that desire to hold on to someone no matter what and never wanting to let go. I think that’s a little more universal than a reference from a comic book. Still, that’s really cool that you’re a fan of the Watchmen.
Bill – I wanted to ask about another song, but on a totally different topic. “My Moral Line” is a very topical song that talks about gun violence in America. Was there a particular incident that made you want to write this song?
Devon – That’s interesting that you specifically mentioned gun violence. To me, that song is about everything that’s going on in the world and the feeling of being a coward and being afraid of everything. It’s about the struggle with that feeling. And knowing what you should do versus what you are physically able to do or morally compelled to do, but can’t. The feeling that it’s all so overwhelming and there’s so much to fix, so much going wrong and so many atrocities happening. It’s about feeling like you can’t handle the pressure and feeling like a coward. That struggle between knowing what’s right and not acting on it. It makes me angry whenever I sing it. Recording it was very much about getting that kind of anger out. It’s one of our only songs that’s about complete and utter frustration for me. And wanting to do so much to help fix all of the horrible things and feeling like you can’t do anything.
Bill – I think that’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed at times with everything that’s going on in the world these last couple years.
Devon – Yeah and you mentioned gun violence. That’s definitely part of it. I think one of the big things that was happening when we were recording the song was the immigration detention centers. Also, Trump as president, women’s rights, so many things that just kind of overwhelm you. The last spoken word part is taken from a quote by Martin Niemöller. It’s from his famous poem “First they came…” that he wrote shortly after World War II. It’s specific to the time period, but that poem always hit me really hard. I never felt like this in my life until the last couple years, but it really has felt like that. There are moments where you really want to speak up and really know that something is happening in front of you that’s wrong. It’s so hard and it takes a lot of courage, sometimes more than you have, to stand up and say something, to stand up and fight. It’s hard to speak out sometimes because of fear. I really wanted to include some of that poem, so I adjusted some of the words to be less specific about the time period.
Jeff – One of the things that I really liked with Devon coming up with such a heavy vibe for this song was when I wrote the song I was actually coming from a similar place. Not as politically-charged, but there was a show on Vice called Abandoned. A skateboarder named Rick McCrank goes to all these abandoned places and skateboards there. It’s telling the stories of these cities and meeting people that are still around in these abandoned facilities and towns. There’s this episode where he’s in Alaska and he gets helicoptered in to this old mining town. There’s just these two people that live in this town still and at the end he’s like playing golf on top of this giant mountain. It’s just him and the guy that lives there. I was on my couch watching it and that main riff just came out when I was strumming my guitar. It was such a heavy topic, that episode of the show, that the song just came out of me. When Devon came in with a heavy lean to the lyrics, I felt like it really tied together well.
Bill – Definitely. The episode you’re describing almost sounds post-apocalyptic in a way.
Jeff – Totally. It’s like who’s left in these places that were once thriving? And we got Frankie Stubbs from Leatherface to do backups on that song, which was pretty fucking awesome.
Devon – Yeah, that was really cool. I don’t remember if he was asked specifically to do that song…
Jeff – No, we had talked with him about doing backups on the record and there was something about that song specifically that once we had the main vocals recorded, I knew that was the song he had to do. I didn’t even have any idea how he was going to approach it. I just sent the song over and then he sent back what he did and it just worked out right.
Bill – That’s awesome. I had no idea it was him on that song.
Jeff – Yeah, it’s pretty wild. Life is crazy sometimes.
Bill – Changing gears completely, assuming you’re able to play shows at some point in the next couple months, what sort of things would you like to do with the band this year?
Jeff – Well, we had a lot of great things that were booked. We had two shows opening for Hot Water Music and then we were playing Pouzza Fest in Montreal. They moved the Hot Water shows to September, so I’m confident that those will be able to happen. Pouzza Fest was cancelled, so that’s a big bummer. We were all looking forward to touring a little bit and getting up to Montreal again. I don’t know. How do you even plan for any of this stuff? You can tentatively plan for stuff at the end of the year. My fear with that is that everything in terms of shows and tours is seemingly rescheduled for the fall. I don’t know how everybody is going to go to every single festival or every single show. It’s all getting crammed into September through December. With everyone just coming out of this, I don’t know what people’s financial statuses are going to be or who’s going to want to spend their money on music. This is a really unpredictable time to try and book anything. And especially if it’s going to be that oversaturated, what’s the point? I’m stoked that these Hot Water shows are happening still. I’m hopeful that another festival or two will materialize before the end of the year. Realistically, once we can all get back to being in the same room, just the four of us, I think we’re just going to enjoy playing music with one another for a bit. I just want to hang out with my band again, drink beers, be loud and laugh.
Devon – For sure. We’re also working on a video for “My Moral Line.” We’re just doing that at home and it’s something we can do at the moment. Also, our bass player Katie, she’s a great singer and I’m excited for when we get out of this to have more live backing vocals. It’s exciting to think about playing shows again and adding that element to it, especially for the songs on the new record.
Bill – Has the recent downtime led to writing any new songs?
Jeff – I’m always kind of bouncing around ideas, but usually we get together in our practice space to kind of flush them out together. That’s not really an option right now. I haven’t been focused on it, honestly. It’s kind of shitty to say, but I feel a little better about it because our new album did just come out. I don’t feel too much pressure to write right now.
Devon – Yeah, I think also these last couple weeks have been kind of a slow settle in for me anyways. After the restaurants closed, my husband and I were both essentially laid off from our jobs. We had to figure out what we were going to do and apply for unemployment. And kind of adjust to this new normal of being at home all the time and not being able to go out and do the things that we normally do. In saying that, I am sort of feeling a big itch to do creative stuff. It seems like this situation is going to continue for a long time, so there is a lot of opportunity to work on creative stuff. I hope that we are able to get the juices flowing again, (laughs).
Bill – We already talked a little about future plans, but like you were saying, it’s almost too hard to really comment on anything because there’s so much uncertainty. What’s true today isn’t going to be true in a month or two months from now. With that said, any final comments?
Jeff – I hope everyone is taking care of themselves out there. I guess in one sense, all this downtime is a really great opportunity to discover new music. People are putting stuff out everywhere and everything is seemingly free. There’s a lot more accessibility to new music than I think there’s been before. Hopefully some cool stuff will come out of that. People hearing new things and inspiring themselves to create new stuff. There’s gotta be something good that comes out of this, I hope.
Devon – Absolutely. I totally agree with all of that.
