The EARL Presents Carnivores on January 20 for its 7-Inch Series

By Ellen Eldridge

On Friday January 20 Carnivores will play The EARL’s 7-inch release series where fans can come to hear Carnivores, The Coathangers, and Frank Boyles of Balkans for $5, and take home a limited color vinyl 7-inch. Caitlin Lang (keyboards) and Ross Politi (drums) of Carnivores said, “This is our first time releasing an official “Live at The Earl” 7-inch. The overall experience has been great. It is really nice to know that a local institution, like The EARL, reaches out to local acts to support their growth within the industry. We picked a couple tracks from two different shows.  “Georgia Power Company” was taken from a show we had with Davila 666 about a year ago, and “Prom Night” was taken from our most recent show with Thee Oh Sees.”

While many fans prefer the ease and convenience of downloading music one song or album at a time off sites like iTunes or even Amazon.com, the traditional feel and sound quality of a 7-inch stimulates fans’ connection with a band. Lang and Politi said, “I think that people feel safe when they buy 7-inches.  The metric system is taking over the world and the 7 inch record is one of the last lingering artifacts of the “Great American Era.”  I also think they are fairly cheap and less of a commitment. You would hope when you buy a 7-inch that these two songs should be something special if someone put the effort into specifically pressing them.  And, also, they are classic in the sense that early rock n’ roll artists like Buddy Holly only released singles before albums became popular later on.  It’s traditional like that.”

This 7-inch release is one in a line of records recorded and released at The EARL, with previous bands involved including The Coathangers and Noot D’Noot. Says Damon Hare of The EARL, “Essentially the idea for the records has been one of my boss’s dreams since he’s been affiliated with The EARL.  We have close to 13 years worth of board recordings so we thought it’d be an interesting way of promoting the club along with giving the bands involved a free merch item for them to sell.  Not sure if it brings much to the community but something for geeks to collect.”

Of course, The EARL treats its guests to the 7-inch included with the admission price so coming out to one of these series shows helps the local music scene. The outreach itself makes a big difference for both the bands and the fans. Staying savvy and creative can mean the difference between staying in business these days as well.

For those unfamiliar with Carnivores, the band consists of Philip Frobos, Nathaniel Higgins, Caitlin Lang, Billy John Mitchel, and Ross Politi. According to Lang and Politi, “They came together through a series of events. Not too great of a back story… basically this ooze fell into a sewer and a half-man half-rat trained us to play instruments, and named us after his favorite country rock heroes.”

Get out and see the show at The EARL on January 20, if not for the chance to support the music scene, then for the chance to get a limited color vinyl.