HOT GIG ALERT: Carlie Hanson shines at Royale in Boston on Saturday (Interview in Post)

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HOT GIG ALERT: Carlie Hanson shines at Royale in Boston on Saturday (Interview in Post)

“Who runs the world? Girls”. In the famous words of Queen B, female artists are quickly becoming the chart toppers again, the award winners, the top people to collaborate with on tracks. And one of the girls of 2019’s freshman class is midwestern girl Carlie Hanson who despite not having an initial EP out, already has garnered over 55 million streams of her breakout track ‘Only One’ and is currently on her second tour of North America. That first tour with Yungblud and the second one with Bad Suns.

Not only is Hanson seriously destroying this year, she is only the ripe age of eighteen, but don’t let her age fool you. Hanson has been writing music since she was thirteen, and independently releasing until and now is signed to Warner Brothers only two months ago.

Lucky for Boston, you have the chance to get this girl early in her career at her sold out show supporting Bad Suns at Royale in Boston on Saturday. Despite this, while no one likes taking a risk on third party sellers, tickets on Stubhub are available still starting at a definitely worth it $20 for the show.  Doors are early at 6 pm with Carlie Hanson opening it up at 7. The gorgeous venue turns into nightclub mode so shows are always early on Friday and Saturdays, but it’s sure to make an incredible background for Hanson’s first show in Boston. Find our chat below with this beyond talented woman and see you at the show!

 

Obviously you have a lot of things going on right now. You’re about to embark on this national tour with Bad Suns. Maybe preparations that you’re making for this tour?

Well, the thing is I just got off this tour with Yungblud so I feel like I’m already ready. Finished that one not even two weeks ago. I’m literally in the parking lot of the rehearsal space right now while I’m talking to you. We’re rehearsing a bunch of new songs for this tour but preparation wise, I feel like I’m always ready. Now that I’ve experienced touring, I actually hate coming back home. Maybe for two days I like it but then I’m tired of it, I just want to go right back out.

 

Maybe how was that experience then with Yungblud? Just from speaking to him as well, obviously he’s still young, but it’s really picking up for him.

Dude, it was probably the most enlightening, inspiring experiences I will probably ever have. I changed as a performer over the time that I was with him. Watching him perform was just so inspiring. If you haven’t seen his show, I’d recommend it. Whenever he comes near you, you have to go. Not even because I’m a fan of his music. Literally even if you aren’t a fan of his music, there’s no way you can’t say he’s not a great performer. He’s so good at what he does and it just inspires me so much. Him as a person, his whole crew and everything, it was the best time ever. And his fans were so welcoming. It was just amazing. If I could tour with him the rest of my life, it would be very, very cool.

 

Excellent! Then you’ve been doing this slow release of music online but really doing it independently in the beginning. When it came to recording these tracks, what was your set up? Was that fully DIY as well or did you work with other people when you were recording these songs?

Yeah, so back when I wrote “Why Did You Lie” and “Only One”, it was really just me and one of my best friends Dale Anthoni and House of Wolf, the producers. But yeah it was just us at the beginning. I wanted it to stay that way forever because I loved it there and it was my comfort zone and only work with my friends. We really made a lot of great music together but once “Only One” started going and I moved out to LA, I was continuously doing different sessions with different writers and producers. Some I vibed with, some I don’t and it’s very hard to connect with people you don’t know right away. It’s very hard to just open vomit what’s going on in your life with people that you don’t know. And especially for me, it’s very hard to open up to people that I don’t know. But I got used to that process and I found what worked for me. And it’s been amazing since. I think I have over like 120 songs. I have so many songs so it’s been a good problem to have. I’m trying to plan this EP tracklist. Honestly it’s been a really great experience.

 

I’m sure! Maybe how is that process? I mean, it’s kind of like choosing your babies. Figuring out which ones are going to make this EP. I’m sure it’s hard.

It is hard but sometimes I just have to think about the whole story behind the EP. So there are some songs that I think don’t fit with what I’m trying to tell through this project. But over the last couple of months, I’ve fallen in love, and probably because I’ve been on the road with Yungblud, with more rock and guitar sounds. I’m a huge fan of Nirvana, I have Kurt’s handwriting tattooed on me. I’m just a diehard fan. So I’ve incorporated a lot of guitar sounds, harder drums for this EP but also keeping it pop which is cool. I really don’t know what genres you could put my music in. I don’t even know. It’s kind of Post Malone-y a little bit. I don’t know, I’m really excited for people to hear it though because it’s a bunch of different sides of me. Which is really cool.

Is it something where it’s still planned for this summer/early fall or do you think it’s still a while away for you at this point?

I think the trajectory is for it to still come out this summer for sure.

Perfect, then mentioning it before, you’re still obviously very young. This is really just starting to kick off. You’re doing these tours, you were out with Yungblud, you’re about to go out with Bad Suns. I know you’re from the midwest like me, I’m from Illinois.

Hey yeah! My mom’s from Illinois. She’s from Aurora.

Oh nice, I grew up like twenty minutes away from there. Then you know, obviously the Midwest isn’t exactly a burgeoning music scene for this kind of stuff. When did you realize that music was something that you wanted to pursue? When did you really start getting into it and kind of making your own tunes?

Probably when I discovered Justin Bieber. When I was probably nine or ten, maybe even younger, but probably nine or ten. I saw his YouTube videos or when he was on the radio, I don’t remember exactly where because it feels like forever ago, but he just inspired me. I felt back then that you could just post covers online and you would just get famous from that. That’s what I thought because that’s how he did it obviously but yeah he just really inspired me when I was young. Just how talented he was, how young he was, everything about him really inspired me and I really think he’s a huge, huge part of the reason I’m even here today doing this.

Then after  I discovered him, I started writing in elementary school/middle school probably like 7th, 8th grade. Probably a bunch of shit that didn’t make sense but yeah, I just really fell in love with music when Justin Bieber popped out.

 

Perfect then you talked a bit about it, obviously being a huge fan of Nirvana, a lot of these rock influences. But recently so many female artists are getting their chance so young. Were there may be certain female artists when you were working on your own material?

Tracy Chapman definitely. My mom was always playing her albums in the car when I was younger. She was a big one for me. Just recently, I’ve been listening to Hole, so Courtney Love, she’s amazing. She just has great lyrics. Who else do I really love? No Doubt, I love the whole vibe of Gwen Stefani back in that era. She’s definitely somebody I look up to but those are probably the biggest inspirations for me. Oh also, Adele’s album, like the first one, my mom and I would always listen to that. She just really knows how to tell a story. I remember listening to her when I was young, being like I want to be able to make people cry. She’s just unreal.

 

No that’s awesome. And then to maybe end it off, obviously this tour is a focus. Getting new music out is a focus but just maybe personal focuses or goals for you over the rest of this year? I’m sure you can’t say much about plans but in general.

So I had a goal for this year that I didn’t get to achieve on the Yungblud tour, I really want to stage dive at some point. I want to feel what that feels like so that’s a small goal for me. Maybe on the Bad Suns tour, maybe in Boston, we never know! But honestly, I just want to do my own headline tour this year. I really just want to do my own headliner and see if I can sell out some venues. Because it’s obviously so, so amazing and I’m so grateful that I get to open up for amazing artists but it’s different when it’s their fans. I can’t wait to experience when it’s my own fans in the crowd. And they’re singing all my words. That’s something also that I’m really looking forward to. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of since I’ve been really young. I can’t wait to do my own tour. 

About Author

Colleen

Colleen has been writing about music since 2009. Interviewing bands since the glory days of Warped and has continued to do so for now over fourteen years. As well as doing freelance for other publications, the love for everything rock continues today.