Q&A: Carver Jones Is Following His American Dream With His Fourth EP, 'AMERICAN DREAMERS, Vol. 3'
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY NINA KUDLACZ ☆
Photo By Nathaniel Lee
CARVER JONES IS JUST GETTING STARTED—After making a big move to Nashville this past summer, alternative/indie artist Carver Jones released his fourth EP, AMERICAN DREAMERS, Vol. 3 last Friday and isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
The EP features five songs, "DOG TAG," "COCAINE BLONDE," "WHITE UMBRELLA," "OVERNIGHT" AND "AMERiCAN WAStELAND," all of which evolve Jones’ sound as he matures as an artist.
Alongside his two best friends, Alec Allhijjawi and Max Soderberg, the 22-year-old left his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to chase his dreams of making music in Nashville. When the three perform together as a band, they make up the band Carver Jones and The American Dreamers, entertaining and captivating crowds with their harmonious energy.
Jones has always loved to sing and perform, though he never intended to take music seriously. That was until the three got in a van to drive across the country on a busking tour, which ultimately led him to signing a deal with Concord Publishing. With no previous professional musical training, Jones has made a name for himself through his own passion and dedication.
Lately, Jones has stayed busy writing songs, recording music videos and just recently finished a tour. With his addicting guitar riffs, sickening lyrics and commitment to the grind, Jones is destined for success.
Jones and The American Dreamers will return home to Omaha to play their first annual friends and family show on Dec. 18 at the Reverb Lounge. Read below to hear about the third volume of the AMERICAN DREAMERS series and where his American Dream is taking him next.
Photo by Nathaniel Lee
LUNA: Can you talk about your inspirations behind the EP?
JONES: One of the biggest things with this one was there's a specific song, “DOG TAG," where it's a little bit more of a rap moment. I think listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dominic Fike stuff and I've also been listening to a lot more other rap, a lot of Tupac and stuff like that, so I think that there's a little moment where that shines but still through and through guitar and bass.
LUNA: What do you love about this EP?
JONES: I like the versatility. There's a lot of different types of songs that are still me and still sound like me, but could fit into multiple different genres. Some are a lot more singer-songwriter and then more of a rock ballad and then kind of a pop/R&B type of thing, so it's very versatile.
LUNA: How is your sound evolving? Sonically, how is this EP different from past music you’ve made?
JONES: Every time I go and make new records it's evolving in some way, just from experiences that I've lived and also just being in Nashville. I get to actually make songs every day and it's almost sharpening my tool. It’s getting better just from repetition and putting the work in and then also being influenced creatively.
LUNA: What did the writing process for this EP look like?
JONES: Some of the songs I would write by myself, but it was really just a lot of being in the studio in Nashville just going in with no set ideas, maybe just little one-word things or little sentiments and then getting all these records and stockpiling them and then putting them all into one project.
LUNA: How do you think you’ve changed as an artist from American Dreamers, Vol. 1 to Vol. 3?
JONES: I think I've just become kind of like a better writer. I can say what I want to say a little bit more fluently than I used to be able to. I know a little bit more of my direction and how to blend all the things that I love without making it too much of one thing or not enough of the other. I'm also a lot more free with my process of putting stuff out. I used to think about a lot more than I do now, it's really just things that I love regardless of if it's this particular sound or genre. It's just exactly what I love and I'm happy to put that out and think of it more as a sonic scrapbook rather than some sort of master plan.
LUNA: What's been giving you joy lately?
JONES: We just got off tour and I think that that whole experience was like the coolest thing. I think me and the boys are still very amped up off of that. When we practice and we jam we're all very excited about playing live. We're also all back in Omaha for the holidays so of course just being around family and taking a break from Nashville has brought me a lot of joy, but I know I feel really good about all the music stuff.
LUNA: What have you been up to in Nashville?
JONES: It’s really just making songs and then hanging out with people. I mean, it's exciting because it's like I get to be in there with some of the coolest producers in the world and like just speed date people and like figure out if this is a producer I really love or this person doesn't work as well. I'm really getting my core group of people that I like to work with, so then going into next year we all know each other well enough where I feel like we can make some really really cool music.
LUNA: What do you want people to know about you as an artist or as a person?
JONES: I love making music and I want to play it everywhere in any opportunity I can. I think that I'm just happy to be able to create a sonic scrapbook and hopefully people will be interested enough to follow that and be able to add their own memories to that as well.
LUNA: What’s next for you?
JONES: I'll go back to Nashville and we're gonna work on a project idea we have called Hazard. We're kind of sketching that out, getting all the records for those visual ideas then we're shooting a short film in LA in January called Lucky Cigarette. So just kind of building this kind of new world outside of the American Dreamers thing with all the same people and transitioning it to a different thing and packaging it up all different.
Photo by Nathaniel Lee
