Interview: The Callous Daoboys
I would say about, like, 50% of the crowd every night like us. The other 50% were like, “What is this shit?”
Jody Dunstan had a quick chat with Carson and Dan from The Callous Daosboys ahead of their wonderful set at ArcTanGent 2023 to talk about their first trip to the UK, doing whatever they want and winning over crowds.
E&D: So, first time in the UK, I understand.
Carson: Yes sir!
E&D: How’s your experience been?
Carson: Fantastic. I love the walkable cities. I love the, you know, the city. I love the services. I love me some Gregs!
E&D: Because you played up in Manchester, it’s my hometown. So, I saw you at…
Carson: RADAR festival.? Yeah, that was a lot of fun. We didn’t get to explore Manchester, I was bummed. But we were right next to the Man U stadium and that was crazy. That was very surreal.
E&D: Yeah. But hopefully, you guys come back, cause there are some great venues.
Carson: Yeah, we played Manchester with TesseracT, I believe that same venue in February.
Dan: Yeah, some, uh… Wait, really? Yeah. Whoa, that’s cool.
E&D: So, how have you found the reaction (to your band)?
Carson: Um, it’s been pretty crazy. We did a tour back in February with the band Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, Craig Owens from Geodos’ band. That was the first time we were playing this music to, like, an emo crowd.
I would say about, like, 50% of the crowd every night like us. The other 50% were like, “What is this shit?” I feel like we’re able to win people over pretty easily just because we’re such a fun band. We’re always, you know, trying to figure out how we can make the live set, more fun and more engaging. Of course, just, tightening up and, you know, practicing a lot. So, I think that when people like us, they, really, really like us, and when people don’t know who we are, we eventually win them over. And then the people who don’t like us, I don’t give a shit about, you know? I don’t give a fuck.
E&D: I guess if you get 50%, that’s a good score.
Carson: Yeah, 50% is a pretty good score. We did a tour with Avatar last year where I’d say about 5% of the crowd liked us every night, so that was, that was a little rough.
E&D: Yeah. I guess it’s difficult if you don’t really fit into any sort of genre neatly?
Dan: Yeah, I mean, uh, the people who like it, like it, you know what I mean? But with the Avatar crowd, you could see, like, people’s eyes light up and it was like something like, oh, that’s cool. And then they’re like, really? Really? Dance music? Yeah.
Carson: We went to, like, a particularly dance -y part at one of the Avatar shows, and this guy on the front row just yelled, NO! NO! He was loving it! He was loving everything else about it. And then he was like, no!? No, What is this?
Dan: You can hear him in this video too, just, NOOOOO! Oh, he’s like sad, but at least it’s awesome. So very funny.
E&D: I think one thing about Art TanGent, that we kind of refer to as a gathering of the weirdos, but were all here for the music
Carson: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Even with the music too, it’s all over the fucking place. It’s crazy. So cool. Going from seeing a band like Sikth last night to, like, Bellwitch and, like, some stuff that’s like, literally just like, jam -band music.
Dan: Jaga Jazzist. And there’s And So I Watch You From Afar, I used to play in bands that sounded like that.
E&D: So what has the reaction to Celebrity Therapist? Has that ‘launched’ you?
Carson: Yeah, it kinda launched us and it’s such a batshit crazy record you know, I feel like it just kind of established us as this band that kind of does whatever we want.
Dan: We have new music coming out very soon. And it’s, again, an example. It’s totally different from Celebrity Therapist, but like an example of just, like, we do whatever the hell we want. We do whatever the hell we find interesting. So I think it was good to just, like, establish ourselves outside of this niche genre that we’re in. We’re gonna do what we do, you know, and the reaction to it was you know, incredibly positive. There are only a few people that I saw that like just didn’t like it, you know That’s okay, you know, you can call us a Dillinger rip-off, all day, that’s fine! I mean part of you is right, you know
E&D: So Worse things to be compared to, right?
Carson: Exactly, there are worse things to be compared to than my favorite band.
E&D: So is your process for creating music, has that changed? Especially with the new album
Carson: Definitely like I think the process has and I think the process needs to change, you know If I was still writing the music If I was still writing music the same way I did when I was 21 where I was just like I was like, okay You know listening to The Chariot and Norma Jean riffs just being like, okay How can I play this backwards so that no one realizes I’m ripping it off?
I think nowadays it’s more so just like kind of doing it without thinking. This is how Celebrity Therapist was written because I mean we wrote that record in such a short amount of time We had like a couple of the songs before COVID, but it was mostly recorded in the process of like, I don’t know, probably five or six months So a lot of that was just me just like not thinking. It’s just like I’m just gonna do exactly what comes to mind immediately. I think that’s what made it turn out so great and with the new EP that we have coming out pretty soon. I think that that was kind of the same process of just like what do I want to hear right now immediately after this part? And you know just keeping that going until you find sort of a natural end. Which is why Celebrity Therapist was such a helpful tool in our you know early discography here is no, it’s just like we are just gonna say “hey fuck you we do whatever we want”.
E&D: What direction is the new EP going to go in?
Carson: We’re gonna continue to do whatever we want, so which we’re actually you go in and for our new EP It kind of just establishes that this is what the new band is like it’s not like a revival or anything like that, of the band. There’s a slightly new lineup and we have a slightly new guitar player and a new drummer
He’s the new guitar player (gestures at Dan)
Dan: Hi!
Carson: I think it kind of establishes like ‘hey like this band is capable of a lot more than what you’re anticipating’ and we are going to but as long as we’re throwing out comparisons Deftones and Mars Volta anf Fall Out Boy. Yeah, that’s that’s that’s what I’d say about the new EP
E&D Are there any other bonds you want to give a shout to anyone we should be listening to at the moment?
Carson: No Cure a hardcore band from from Alabama.
Dan: Fromjoy from joy from Texas, Your Spirit Dies, Dr. Acula.
Carson: Circuit Circuit from Nashville. Ballista from Texas, Every Promise Kept.
Carson: Dan, no one can see you doing the hand movements.
Dan: I don’t care! (whilst gesturing wildly).
E&D: It’s ok, I’ll describe it in the review!
Dan: Thanks!
Carson: Death Goals, Rolo Tomassi, LLNN…There you go!
