Carpool Tunnel Syndrome, aka C.T.S., is a 5 piece band from Winnipeg with a solid background in band experimentation. Bringing together an eclectic harmony of influences, these young rockers work to combine the driving energy from bands like Lamb of God, with the ambient melodics of Mars Volta... and although they're relatively fresh on the stage, they always seem to leave their audiences wanting more.
Supernova has seen several of the C.T.S. band members play their shows, but it was this year's performance at the Winnipeg Break Your Band show that really caught our attention. The band took 5 hours of recording time as a prize and while we wait for the music to arrive, Supernova grabbed an interview to give fans a chance to get to know C.T.S. a little better.
So who makes up C.T.S. and how do you each fit in to the band?
Well there are five of us in the band. We have two guitarists, Harlyn and Josh, a drummer, Cory, a singer Jarrod, and I'm Calvin...the 'rumbla of death'.
We don't really have any nicknames, but we like to verbally abuse each other by calling each other names. Does that count?
Most definitely... how did you guys end up together in a band?
Well I have been in many bands like Lack of Jester, Pornocracy, and Black Rose for Broken Hearts. I also used to jam with Harlyn alot back in the day.
I met Josh at school and his 6'9, 796 lb frame blew my mind. He looked like he could take on a bear. Once I started jamming with him, he showed me that big men can play music too.
Cory WAS the only drummer willing to jam with us, which turned out really well because he fit in perfectly with the rest of us. Jarrod came along a little later when we realized that we needed some words for our music. He came from two bands called The Exception and Angel Lust where he was the drummer.
Wow, a lot of musical experience in the band! How would you describe your sound now?
Well the first song we ever played was 'Laid to Rest' by Lamb of God...it sometimes still makes an appearance within one of our songs from show to show. The goal of the band was to keep writing songs that challenged us as musicians. We like to incorporate a variety of genres into our music. We play lots of metal, funk, punk, and we're toying with other styles like jazz and classical.
Well you obviously love music. What's been the most rewarding thing about being in a band?
When you write a song, and you practice it like crazy to get it perfect, and eventually you record it and hear it played to back to you...that's pretty kick ass.
Jarrod's previous bands have won a lot of Supernova shows. He told us the prizes were great and that it was free to enter.
We would tell other bands to sign up because it's a good opportunity to meet other bands and get your name out there.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing ‘new’ artists today?
The lack of cash keeps a lot of bands where they don't want to be. If we had money, we would upgrade our gear and be able to promote ourselves and play some shows.
Of course, but you guys obviously have had some support... where does that come from?
Our family and friends have been absolutely awesome. We're just starting to meet some online fans.
What would be your band’s ‘motto’ or ‘recipe’ for playing shows like Supernova's?
BRING DOWN THE HAMMER!!!!! Keep fit and have fun.
What other artists would you want to tour with someday?
The Gorillaz, Straight Reads the Line, Lamb of God, Morglbl, The Mars Volta, Godsmack, The Holly Springs Disaster, NOFX, and Primus forsure. There are too many to name.
Great choices!! So what would C.T.S. do with a major music deal? Tour?
Well we really have no idea where we would start. We would love to record a full length album, promote ourselves and go on tour... If we had any money leftover we might want to upgrade our gear to fine-tune our tone a bit.
Is there such a thing as ‘bad’ music? If so, how do you
define it?
I feel you can tell when a band puts their heart into their music. It all has to come naturally. You can hear the effort a band puts into their music. If there's no effort, you have bad music.
Well said! Is there anything else that new listeners should know about C.T.S.?
90% of the time, we bust out a new song at each show or we redo one of our songs. Once we make a song, we love to mess with it. We love to jam at our shows, throw in an oddball cover of another song, and occasionally play our instruments behind our heads. The energy is always great so come on down!!!
