July 21, 2025 • 31 mins
"The Violent Hour" is the debut EP from Carla Harvey and Charlie Benante. Carla talks about making this new project with her boyfriend Charlie (aka the Anthrax/Pantera drummer), their experience at Black Sabbath's "Back to the Beginning," and a staunch defense of Axl Rose at 63.
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/carlaharvey/
https://www.instagram.com/theviolenthourband/
https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Violent-Hour-61565904311273/
WEBSITE: www.afdpod.com
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/carlaharvey/
https://www.instagram.com/theviolenthourband/
https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Violent-Hour-61565904311273/
WEBSITE: www.afdpod.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, yes is Appetite for Distortion.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite four Distortion, Episode number five
hundred and twenty. My name is Brando. Welcome back to
the podcast. Carla Harvey. How are you hi?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm doing all right, So I don't expect you to
remember the last time you were on. No.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I remember because I love guns and roses, so anything
dedicated to roses I obviously enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
All Right, all right, cool, I'm just one of those
I'm like, they never remember, so thank you. You look
exactly the same as many one hundred episodes ago. So
before we get into the violent Hour with Charlie, who
I understand was going to join us, but I mean,
the guy is wearing so many different hats, going so
many different places. I was amazed. I was going to
(01:15):
get both of you, But I'm happy with I don't
know if I could have had.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
He might get home in time to pop in.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, Yeah, no worries. I'm obviously happy to talk to
because last time. It's before we get into the violent Hour.
It's a nice little segue for those who remember you
told a very funny story about meeting Axel Rose and did.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I tell this, I actually tell the story.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah about when he saw your shot, when he saw
your shirt and yeah, commented on your you know, a
favorable comment on your appearance. I don't know if you
want to, we can just tell people to go back
and listen.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And I almost had a chance to.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Sorry, I have like something on my lips.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I always get beer hairs on my lips. So no words,
not your case, but you know.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
What I mean. Terracians everywhere.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, I almost had the chance this past weekend at
the the the Black Sabbath event to you know, finally
get my Axle picture. But everybody else did except for me.
We were at a big after party and like we
had to leave because our van was leaving. And then
right as we're leaving, you know, of course Axl Rose
(02:22):
goes into the party.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
But I did get to watch side stage this weekend,
and I.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Do have my my Axul story that'll last a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So so people can go back and listen to two
o eight for that story because I wanted to be organic.
But yeah, that was my segue before we go into
the Violent Hour and everything else you have going on,
because it's I'm still buzzing from watching back to the beginning.
I just did a review episode. You know, I watched
the entire thing, like five million other people did. I
(02:52):
told the story because I'm I have a two year
old boy and I had to watch like the first
half of it with trying to balance him. I just
wanted baby Shock on the TV and I'm just trying
to watch, you know, Anthrax. I'm trying on a missing
performances because I'm changing diapers and all that. And I
did the interview the episode with a listener who went, however,
(03:12):
you really got more of an immersed experience. So before it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Was incredible, and you know, obviously I went to support
Charlie and watch him kill two sets, but being back there, man,
it was just magical. And one thing I'll say about
Charlie and I, it's like, no matter we're both like fans.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Of things still which it's it's a.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Magical feeling to still like get that excitement over meeting
somebody and I don't take a second of it for granted.
You know, the thirteen year old kid in me was like,
oh my god, I can't believe that person's right there.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I talked to Steven Tyler, got a photo of Steven Tyler.
Ronnie Wood squeezed my hand and I almost died. I
was like, holy crap, Like how often do you get
your hands by a rolling stone?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But the coolest thing was that there was just such camaraderie.
There was no ego anywhere, and you know, I was
just there as a fan again watching you know, my
man play whatever.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
But to see all.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
These greats, like the greatest of the greats, and the
camaraderie and just the love and the excitement to be there,
it was really really special and it's something that I'll
never forget. I can't even imagine what it would have
felt like to actually play the show.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
It was. It was magic.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I mean as I mean, as you and Charlie spoke
about it like that, or does he confine you or
is it just kind of like, yeah, I played it
and you just kind of move on.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, I mean, obviously we talk about everything. And also
when you've been together for like ten years, there's no
words needed.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I know, I.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Know what I meant. That's kind of what I meant,
just more looks.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Or you got Yeah, it's more like I just know
how he feels because I know him. You know so,
and he always you know, he knows, he knows me
and how I feel, and he always makes sure that
I get an experience that I want as well, you know.
But I could tell that he was just you know,
it was I'm sure he's still on cloud nine from
(05:18):
that experience. I'm so glad that he got to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How are you, I guess as a significant other, you know,
I'm just trying to think of when I'm nervous, because
I always getting nervous for interviews, you know, and my
wife is just like, oh, you can do it, you know,
be supportive, you've done it before, You'll be fine. Are
you do you need to do that? Or since you
are both also peers.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Get nervous before he goes on stage. I think I'm
more of like nervous energy. I mean, there's been times
when he's been nervous, Like before the Pantera stuff started,
he was pretty nervous, and I was there with him
for everything and I helped him through it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I think that having your person just there on standby
with you is very helpful.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's why I try not to like miss any moments anymore.
I try to like go as many places as I
can with him and just be a part of his life.
I think it's important for your person to be there
watching you during big moments. Uh. He just flew out
to LA to see me perform with Lords of Acid,
which was really cool. And he had a busy schedule
that month and I was on tour, but he made
(06:22):
time to come see it.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
And experience it. And I was having a bad day.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I wasn't I was sick, and I was worried that
the show wouldn't be good enough, you know, for him.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
To see it, you know, that particular night.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
But I worked extra hard because he was there in
the crowd, you know what I mean. But yeah, it's
just just to have your someone there that you know
is is watching you and will be there for a
hug when you get out stage.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
That's always a good.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Feeling, right, Oh, absolutely. I mean we see it as
guns or Roses. Fans keep it within the theme. You
always see Susan Susan on side stage for Doff and
meganside stage, and it's just it's cool. You just you
see that it's more than just awesome music. That's it's
a family on and off the stage. Those are special moments,
and I know.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Guess yeah, it's a huge thing.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You know, It's like it's again, it's family, it's in
we're just regular couples and then we do we maybe
do things that are you know, kind of out out
of the ordinary, but we're regular couples and you need
your person there.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And you know, I.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I see some stupid comments sometimes why is she always everywhere?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Why not? It's my She's going to be my husband.
We've been together for ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Why wouldn't I want to be where he's at, like
being around the people you love.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
To me, that's the most important thing in life.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Do I because you said it subtly, do I ask
when is there a date being said? Or is it
just kind of like we're just a common law marriage situation.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Oh no, it's this. It's this year. We're having a big,
a big shindig for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Mazeltov advance, good for you. Uh yeah, because Heidi, who
helped set up this interview, just more than anything, was
just glowing about how you two love each other, you know,
more than just like the projects talking about And I
was like, I love because we follow each other on
Instagram and I'm just it's just really cool. You don't
often see that, especially in the rock world where it
(08:17):
could be fleeting. So just good people making awesome music.
It's very It's just a good It's a great story,
and I know we can live in the story. And
I don't want to do a second review of the
Sabbath thing. I do want to talk about gn R
later because of course that's where we are. But this
will be a nice segue into the Violent Hour because
it's going to head to the Sunset Strip. And I
(08:38):
know you can see where I'm going with this, But
just your reaction with Ozzy when he's singing the Lemmy
the song that Lemmy wrote you know, Mama, I'm coming home.
I did not expect to watch it this show and cry.
I just hearing Ozzy talk and hearing everyone just get quiet,
(09:00):
that whole same quiet and listen to every word that
he said and hear the isolated vocals are now you
can hear them online, And it was just one of
those moments I will never forget as a rock fan
and music fans. So where were you during art he
set and how did you take that all in? So?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I there was a one balcony like just above the
stage on the stage, you know, and so I watched
from right there and my mom, I'm coming home was
definitely like I definitely cried doing that. It was It's
because the first couple songs that he's sang it was
it sounded like, you know, perfect, and then he made
(09:40):
his speech and then like his voice was breaking up
so much live during that song.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
And I love that song too.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I love that song from when I was a teenager,
so and just the lyrical content of that song, it's
just like stop.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
It was. It was insane. It was an insane moment.
It was so sad.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Charlie felt more emotional when they played when he played
mister Crowley, but for me, it was definitely, mom, I'm
coming home.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Let's pivot here, and I was gonna try to make
this segue from Ozzy to obviously let me living in
the Whiskey and then talking about your new video, and
I felt like I was there the violent out or
Hell or Hollywood. I mean, what a what a brilliant
idea that I don't know if it's ever been done
(10:35):
like that. You really get give like a tour of
the sunset strip into the Whiskey and I just feel
as somebody I've never been. I felt like I was there.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Oh no, you've never been. Yeah, you gotta go.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So when I was a kid, I of course we
all know I was in love with Guns n' Roses,
but just the music. It was the first, like Welcome
to the Jungle was the first song that you know,
the hair on my arms raised up when I heard it,
saw the pictures of guns and roses, and I was like, it.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Was so mind blowing to Midwest kid.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I mean, I still wear motorcycle boots to this day,
you know, and cowboy boots because of Axl Rose.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
My style.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I mean, I was telling my friend the other day,
I've like always got a flannel around my waist, shorts
on and my boots on and a leather jacket because
I am Axel Rose all the time. And I've never
changed my style. It kind of which is kind of.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Weird, but I mean, you're talking to somebody my first
changing your style. My first word was boopy. I was
trying to say snoopy, and I'm currently wearing a snoopy shirt. Yeah,
nothing's changed.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, but when you're a kid and something, there's always
that moment when like something in life defines who you're
going to be going forward, and I guess Guns and
Roses kind of did that for me.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
So when I saw the Guns and Roses videos back.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
In the day, I knew that I wanted to move
to Los Angeles. So in nineteen ninety eight, I drove
my car across the country with paper map and you know,
made my way to Hollywood. And then the very first
day that I got there, I immediately went to the
Rainbow to you know, and I was there probably every
night of my life. It was a huge part of
(12:16):
the reason that I went, huge part of the reason
I stayed, you know, and I wanted to do like
an homage to those Guns and Roses videos, even the
song itself, you know, when I was writing for The
Violent Hour, you know, I've been in an extreme metal
band for the last fifteen years, but I'm also a
hard rock kid.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And I wanted to be true to that hard rock kid.
And Charlie, he.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Knows I love Aerosmith, I love Guns and Roses, so
he wrote the you know, in case anyone doesn't know
that's watching. Charlie wrote all the music and played every
single instrument on my album, and.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I did the vocals and that stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But he knows my taste in music, so he wanted
to make a song for me that really paid tribute
to my earliest loves.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
And so that's how her Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
And while I was writing the lyrics, I'm like, I
want to make a video for this song at the Rainbow.
There's no place in the world that I can film
it at. And I had this, you know, this idea
in my head for this video where this you know,
midwestern girl goes into the rainbow to have the night
of her life and she's partying with all these people,
and then she looks around and she's parting with these
(13:29):
rock stars who aren't with us anymore. So where is she?
Is she in Hell or Hollywood? But it was so
much fun, full circle moment. I couldn't believe they let
me film a video there because to me, when I
was a kid, like Guns and Roses film videos.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
There, it's iconic, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And I filmed everywhere there and even up in the
you know, the layer of the Hollywood Vampire, where you know,
insane people were up there doing drugs every night of
their life.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
It was just such a cool, cool.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Thing for me to be able to do to pay
homage to my favorite bands, but also to myself as
a teenager and like my dream life, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So it was such a cool experience.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I threw a Kurt Cobain look alike in there for irony,
because if you were in the Rainbow and Kurt Cobain
was there, you know, you'd be in hell because it's
the kind of place you wouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Caught dead, right, right, right, Well, I guess it would be,
you know, if he was dead and for right, yeah, tell.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
But I loved making the video there and the Maglaries
are so cool.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I'm so honor they to let me do that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I got to imagine they get a lot of requests
to do that too, right, I don't know, I.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Mean I had I asked and they said yes, and
like I said, I couldn't believe it. But yeah, I'm
just I feel so lucky this whole album process, I
really do, just to have John five on my album,
to have Zach Wild on my album, to have Charlie
Bononte do the music for my album, to be able
(15:07):
to film these these unique videos that I wanted to film, like,
I have so much gratitude.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I also I get to say right away because I
always get names wrong. I think I've mispronouncing Charlie's last
name in my entire life now, So it's Bonante, and
I've been saying Bonanti like I say, it's like a
long island theer like I'm a long Island Bananti, Charlie Bananti.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
I don't want to be Carla Bonante.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's definitely Bonante Banante. I like that, you know you
sounds like you have your pinky up while saying.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
That, Charlie Bonante, Carlo Bonante.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Oh, I love it, But they go back Italian sounding.
The more the names I can pronounce, like John five
and Zach Wilde. So Zach was part of the Heaven
or excuse me the Hell or Hollywood video? How many people?
Because you obviously have a ton of friends, Charlie is
a ton of friends. You could have made this. I
mean it is almost like an all star album anyway.
(16:04):
But what made Zach and John the people that you called?
When I'm sure you have a roster of friends that
would help would help you out.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Well. I was on a John five song once called Euphoria,
So it's time for him to return the favorite.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, No, I I just that's sick ones.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
The first song that I put out, I wanted something
really unique for the guitar solo, and John five plays
guitar like no one else, and the solo that he
gave me was insane.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It's so cool and.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
It's like this, it's exactly what the song called for,
but I could never have pictured it before.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
So it's so cool.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And then with Zach Wilde, you know, he's got that
that swagger that I thought would fit perfectly with a
song like Heller Hollywood. So and of course I toured
with with Zach Wilde for two months at a time.
A couple times we did some of our biggest tourists
with Sack with Black Label, and so I've known him forever.
(17:09):
And of course you know he's playing in Panthera with Charlie,
So got a little hook up there.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, yet an end uh no, that that's cool. What
were the challenges? I mean, well, you know, then we
back up because you've been up, you've been with Charlie
for a while, both musicians. What made this the right
time to put this project out? I mean, or was
there any hesitation because they say sometimes don't work with
your significant other. But sometimes that's good. So was there
(17:38):
any trepidation about working together.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
I'm not gonna say no to working with this brilliant person.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
It'd be stupid to not do it. But you know, after.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
You know, I left Butcher Babies, I went through I
had a period of grief.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
You know, and like what am I going to do next?
What's next for me?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
You know? And I hadn't been like ecstatic for a while.
Just life was changing and I'm like, what's next? And
you know, Charlie saw how I was feeling and what
I was feeling, and he started writing songs and he's like, we're.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Gonna You're gonna do this. You know.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
We had done some songs together during the pandemic, some
quarantine jams. But I think he saw that I didn't
want music to be over for me, and that when
one door closed, it didn't mean that something else was
going to open up for me.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And he really did this beautiful thing for.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Me by writing all these songs with me, and it
really helped me like put one foot in front of
the other and just like go on with things.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So it's like it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And you know, we don't always agree on everything when
writing together. But I don't think that we should. You know,
we're very different people and we've learned to you know,
I had to learn how to not be nervous about
telling him how I really felt.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
About something, you know what I mean, Okay, because I
you know, he's Charlie Bononcee.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Usually most of the time he's just my boyfriend, just
my fiance, whatever. But he's also Charlie Bonont and he's
a prolific writer, and he's worked with incredible people, and
so I had to make sure that I didn't feel
intimidated about my thoughts or feelings about a song. I
(19:40):
had to, you know, make sure that I was like, no,
I don't like that part, I like it like this,
Or if he didn't like the lyrics I.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Wrote for something, I'm like, no, the stays I like this.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
So, you know, a little back and forth, but I
think it's it's good and it's.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Healthy to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah, No, I agreed, because and what's that's out of that?
Sometimes the conflict or the back and forth, the better
idea commes. But yeah, and to have that support from him,
as from your person is truly Yeah, it's truly special.
What about the vocal approach because it's certainly very different
than the babies.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That was another hard thing for me because I've been
doing gutturals for so long, and a bunch of babies
has a lot of singing in it too. We do
a lot of choruses, but generally I would always do
kind of like the lower harmony and then the guttural screaming.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
So I really had to like think about how I.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Was going to approach these songs, cause I didn't want
to shoehorn guttural vocals into a song, just because I
wanted to be true to what the songs were and
what they called for.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
And to be honest with you, I'm just when you
do the.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Same thing year after year after year, you get kind
of bored with it. Anyways, Like I've proven it. I
can rowl with the best of them. I can sing
as low as anybody. I'm great at it. And you know,
there's so many other things that I want to do
and try, and so many other ways that I want
(21:14):
to sing. Uh. You know, there's a Loretta Lynn cover
on this album. You know, I do Portland, Oregon, and
it's completely different than anything I've ever done. But I
think that you want to grow in life, and you
hope that fans and friends will will want that for
you as well, and we'll want to hear you do
(21:36):
different things. But there's also in the back of your head,
you're like, do people only want to hear me do
gutt roles? Am I only cool if I do gutt roles?
So it's it's kind of a mental, you know thing
to get past that. But when I got in the
studio with the right people and I, you know, the
right and I started to sing and I felt started
to feel confident, you know, you know, it just everything
(21:58):
opened up for me and I started to try things
that I've never tried. And I'm just I cannot stress
enough that it just I was so happy and excited
for the first time in a long time. I felt
so just free to be who I want to be,
free to be who I want to be.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It comes across in the music and it's almost like
a not even like like a new chapter we're talking
about that before. It's almost like a I don't want
to oversell it, like a rebirth, and like almost meeting
Carla again because we knew you as not you're not
you're different, but you're showing another side of you. And
I was like, oh, oh okay, cool, you can do this.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You know that cookie monster kid is still in me,
you know what I mean, Like that's not going anywhere,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
But I I love so many different things growing up.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You know, I loved Pantera, I loved thrash metal, but
I also was obsessive about prog rock. You know. I
loved Rush, I loved Yes, I loved Guns n' Roses
and Aerosmith and you know classic rock and Leonard skinnerd.
So there's so much and life is so sure. You
should be able to just like do whatever you want
to do. You know.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I amen to that. And before we get into guns
and Roses and I want to talk about them back
to the beginning because I don't want to keep you
here forever. I know we had a little bit of
a downtime with the uh you know, the technical issues.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yeah, I think I have something at noon to go.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Choose or I will be I will be a well aware.
I got to put one of those like Simpson screens
like technical difficulties, I get something like that. What about
just because obviously it's a band with Charlie, but was
there Did you ever think about just doing it as
a Carla Harvey project or is it is a band?
(23:48):
Is it? Because I love the name of the band,
The Violence Tower.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I so, and I do have a band in rehearsal
right now. So yeah, because I got shows booked at
the Whiskey, which is really exciting with Buck Cherry and
Michael Monroe. So I'm super stooked for that in September.
So I have a band together. It's always been important
for me to be part of a band. I don't
like the whole like solo artists thing.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I always as.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
A kid, I was infatuated with bands that all have
their own character, you know, and just kind of you
fell in love with each person, just like Guns and
Roses and Rex even has that quality, you know, they're
all like I always felt like if you could draw
the character the people in a band, that's if you
(24:36):
can identify them by like the hat Slash always wears,
the flannel around Axel's waists, Like these are important things
and I love that dynamic and I just always love
the idea of a band. So I don't want to
be you know, Carla Harvey project. I want to be
the violent hour a real band.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I love that. Yeah, yeah, same. I use that as
one of the reasons why I do a podcast about
Guns and Roses, not because they're my favorite band, but
just like if you can tell the silhouette of Yeah Slash,
you get the silhouette of scott Ian. You know, you know,
you just know these are identifiable characters. And yes, I
love that because that's what makes a band and that's
(25:18):
what makes you fall in love with the band.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
So, speaking of which the band, that's a lot of
all the posters behind me and whatnot. It was cool
to be able to watch them, you know, for me
back to the beginning. So I guess where were you
during that that said? I know you said, at the.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Beginning stage, right next to Del James Nice's. We just
went on a trip with Del James and his wife
last year with a bunch of us friends went on
a so I got to know him a little bit better.
We went on a big yacht trip together, like I
think there was like twenty five people on a boat
and so that was really fun. But he's amazing and
(25:55):
he pushed me up to the front there so I
could watch like first row side.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Stage, it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Like there's Courtney Kardashian and her little baby right behind me.
Me and Charlie are watching yeah, and you know, you
can't wipe the smile off my face, like watching.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Watching Guns n' Roses. It's just so so.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Cool, and it is cool, I guess as a vocalist,
and I'm trying to avoid any sort of like clickbait
that comes out of it. But it was like a
contra and I want to use a chord controversial, but
just like a divided opinion a bunch like fans about
Axel and the way he sounds. Now, I'm just I.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
You know what, I will say this.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
So I was on tour a couple of years ago
and we played his show with Guns and Roses, and
they went on stage for like something.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Crazy like three hours.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
If someone's going to put a three hour show on
for me, I'm not going to complain that they don't
sound like they did in nineteen eighty seven. He puts
on a great show. He's still running around everywhere he looks,
and I don't know, I like side stage, the sound
was great. I didn't hear anything amiss. I I.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Charlie knows I get really worked up when people talking about.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So upset because and I hate that people aren't allowed
to like to have miss steps sometimes or have a
bad day.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
I've got bad days.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I was just on the road for five weeks with
Lords of Acid singing, and I got really sick. And
thank god, everything came out every day and I was
able to sing every day. But every day I was worried, like,
what's going to come out of my mouth? What are
people going to think? It is incredibly stressful to be
a vocalist, and I can't imagine how stressful it is
(27:48):
for people to want to hear exactly what they heard,
like I said in nineteen eighty seven, all the time.
And I think ninety percent of his vocals are still awesome.
I think he's you know, and man, if your heroes
are still out there again putting on three hour shows
(28:08):
for you, two hour shows for you, take it and
shut up.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
That's been my basically I've been saying. I've been telling
people to get bent, but I like to take it
and shut up as well, because and he performed a
three hour show the night before too, and to do that,
and you're right, I mean, that's what the Sabbath thing
has really showed us, and this conversation has showed me
just from whether it's a younger artist. You know, I
love you know, I love what you're doing a new band,
(28:36):
like I call it a younger artist's new band because
it's the Violent Avenue or like Hailstorm and you're looking
at Black Sabbath Slayer. I mean, it's just all this
great music. Everyone's hugging it. Every guy who said it
might have been like Kelly Osbourne. It was like a
heavy metal summer camp. It seemed to be over there
and just watching it, just like these are all the
guys I look up to and the girls I look
(28:57):
up to. They're all friends, they all make music, and
this is just there's no reason to criticize any of
this because it's not the X factor. It's not American Idol.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Nobody got paid. Nobody got paid to do that. You know.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So I know somebody I'm not going to ask you.
I know some band got asked, and I'm waiting for
Sharon to say who that is.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I mean, well I heard who supposedly who it is,
but you never know through the room or meal. But yeah,
It's like everyone went there on their own accord, paid
paid for flights or whatever to do it, And.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I don't know, I.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Feel super lucky to just be able to see the
bands that I loved, and, like I said, as a
vocalist myself, I'm still coughing after being on tour for
five weeks, and I know how hard it is to
to be the face of a band and be the
one that everyone's going to judge every night.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
It's very difficult.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I really appreciate your perspective because you know what you're
talking about. It's one thing is coming from a fan
being like live Writtney alone, leave Axel's, It's it's another
coming from you. So I appreciate your your your professional
and expert opinion, and the violent hour. I love what
I've heard so far. That's such an awesome tour that
you're taking a part of UH with, with Buck Cherry
(30:15):
and Michael Monroe who just joined Guns and Roses on
stage for Bad Obsession. I mean, they're all living their
best life. Rock fans are eating good right now. So Carl,
I just thank you for your time, thanks for the
little seat. I have bad days too. I had a
hiccup with my technical issues, I slur my words. It happens,
(30:35):
but hopefully at the end of the day, at the
end of the day, see it gets mumbled my words.
There you enjoy yourself. So uh, Carla, this was a
pleasure and I hope we get to through this again.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Me too. Awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You got it. That does it for this episode of
Appetite for Distortion. When we see the next one. In
the words of AXL Rose, concerning Chinese democracy, I don't
know as soon as the word, but you'll see it
thanks to the lame as security.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
I'm going home.
You know, yes is Appetite for Distortion.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite four Distortion, Episode number five
hundred and twenty. My name is Brando. Welcome back to
the podcast. Carla Harvey. How are you hi?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm doing all right, So I don't expect you to
remember the last time you were on. No.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I remember because I love guns and roses, so anything
dedicated to roses I obviously enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
All Right, all right, cool, I'm just one of those
I'm like, they never remember, so thank you. You look
exactly the same as many one hundred episodes ago. So
before we get into the violent Hour with Charlie, who
I understand was going to join us, but I mean,
the guy is wearing so many different hats, going so
many different places. I was amazed. I was going to
(01:15):
get both of you, But I'm happy with I don't
know if I could have had.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
He might get home in time to pop in.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, Yeah, no worries. I'm obviously happy to talk to
because last time. It's before we get into the violent Hour.
It's a nice little segue for those who remember you
told a very funny story about meeting Axel Rose and did.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I tell this, I actually tell the story.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah about when he saw your shot, when he saw
your shirt and yeah, commented on your you know, a
favorable comment on your appearance. I don't know if you
want to, we can just tell people to go back
and listen.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And I almost had a chance to.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Sorry, I have like something on my lips.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I always get beer hairs on my lips. So no words,
not your case, but you know.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
What I mean. Terracians everywhere.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, I almost had the chance this past weekend at
the the the Black Sabbath event to you know, finally
get my Axle picture. But everybody else did except for me.
We were at a big after party and like we
had to leave because our van was leaving. And then
right as we're leaving, you know, of course Axl Rose
(02:22):
goes into the party.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
But I did get to watch side stage this weekend,
and I.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Do have my my Axul story that'll last a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So so people can go back and listen to two
o eight for that story because I wanted to be organic.
But yeah, that was my segue before we go into
the Violent Hour and everything else you have going on,
because it's I'm still buzzing from watching back to the beginning.
I just did a review episode. You know, I watched
the entire thing, like five million other people did. I
(02:52):
told the story because I'm I have a two year
old boy and I had to watch like the first
half of it with trying to balance him. I just
wanted baby Shock on the TV and I'm just trying
to watch, you know, Anthrax. I'm trying on a missing
performances because I'm changing diapers and all that. And I
did the interview the episode with a listener who went, however,
(03:12):
you really got more of an immersed experience. So before it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Was incredible, and you know, obviously I went to support
Charlie and watch him kill two sets, but being back there, man,
it was just magical. And one thing I'll say about
Charlie and I, it's like, no matter we're both like fans.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Of things still which it's it's a.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Magical feeling to still like get that excitement over meeting
somebody and I don't take a second of it for granted.
You know, the thirteen year old kid in me was like,
oh my god, I can't believe that person's right there.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I talked to Steven Tyler, got a photo of Steven Tyler.
Ronnie Wood squeezed my hand and I almost died. I
was like, holy crap, Like how often do you get
your hands by a rolling stone?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But the coolest thing was that there was just such camaraderie.
There was no ego anywhere, and you know, I was
just there as a fan again watching you know, my
man play whatever.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
But to see all.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
These greats, like the greatest of the greats, and the
camaraderie and just the love and the excitement to be there,
it was really really special and it's something that I'll
never forget. I can't even imagine what it would have
felt like to actually play the show.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
It was. It was magic.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I mean as I mean, as you and Charlie spoke
about it like that, or does he confine you or
is it just kind of like, yeah, I played it
and you just kind of move on.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, I mean, obviously we talk about everything. And also
when you've been together for like ten years, there's no
words needed.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I know, I.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Know what I meant. That's kind of what I meant,
just more looks.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Or you got Yeah, it's more like I just know
how he feels because I know him. You know so,
and he always you know, he knows, he knows me
and how I feel, and he always makes sure that
I get an experience that I want as well, you know.
But I could tell that he was just you know,
it was I'm sure he's still on cloud nine from
(05:18):
that experience. I'm so glad that he got to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How are you, I guess as a significant other, you know,
I'm just trying to think of when I'm nervous, because
I always getting nervous for interviews, you know, and my
wife is just like, oh, you can do it, you know,
be supportive, you've done it before, You'll be fine. Are
you do you need to do that? Or since you
are both also peers.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Get nervous before he goes on stage. I think I'm
more of like nervous energy. I mean, there's been times
when he's been nervous, Like before the Pantera stuff started,
he was pretty nervous, and I was there with him
for everything and I helped him through it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I think that having your person just there on standby
with you is very helpful.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's why I try not to like miss any moments anymore.
I try to like go as many places as I
can with him and just be a part of his life.
I think it's important for your person to be there
watching you during big moments. Uh. He just flew out
to LA to see me perform with Lords of Acid,
which was really cool. And he had a busy schedule
that month and I was on tour, but he made
(06:22):
time to come see it.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
And experience it. And I was having a bad day.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I wasn't I was sick, and I was worried that
the show wouldn't be good enough, you know, for him.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
To see it, you know, that particular night.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
But I worked extra hard because he was there in
the crowd, you know what I mean. But yeah, it's
just just to have your someone there that you know
is is watching you and will be there for a
hug when you get out stage.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
That's always a good.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Feeling, right, Oh, absolutely. I mean we see it as
guns or Roses. Fans keep it within the theme. You
always see Susan Susan on side stage for Doff and
meganside stage, and it's just it's cool. You just you
see that it's more than just awesome music. That's it's
a family on and off the stage. Those are special moments,
and I know.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Guess yeah, it's a huge thing.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You know, It's like it's again, it's family, it's in
we're just regular couples and then we do we maybe
do things that are you know, kind of out out
of the ordinary, but we're regular couples and you need
your person there.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And you know, I.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I see some stupid comments sometimes why is she always everywhere?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Why not? It's my She's going to be my husband.
We've been together for ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Why wouldn't I want to be where he's at, like
being around the people you love.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
To me, that's the most important thing in life.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Do I because you said it subtly, do I ask
when is there a date being said? Or is it
just kind of like we're just a common law marriage situation.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Oh no, it's this. It's this year. We're having a big,
a big shindig for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Mazeltov advance, good for you. Uh yeah, because Heidi, who
helped set up this interview, just more than anything, was
just glowing about how you two love each other, you know,
more than just like the projects talking about And I
was like, I love because we follow each other on
Instagram and I'm just it's just really cool. You don't
often see that, especially in the rock world where it
(08:17):
could be fleeting. So just good people making awesome music.
It's very It's just a good It's a great story,
and I know we can live in the story. And
I don't want to do a second review of the
Sabbath thing. I do want to talk about gn R
later because of course that's where we are. But this
will be a nice segue into the Violent Hour because
it's going to head to the Sunset Strip. And I
(08:38):
know you can see where I'm going with this, But
just your reaction with Ozzy when he's singing the Lemmy
the song that Lemmy wrote you know, Mama, I'm coming home.
I did not expect to watch it this show and cry.
I just hearing Ozzy talk and hearing everyone just get quiet,
(09:00):
that whole same quiet and listen to every word that
he said and hear the isolated vocals are now you
can hear them online, And it was just one of
those moments I will never forget as a rock fan
and music fans. So where were you during art he
set and how did you take that all in? So?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I there was a one balcony like just above the
stage on the stage, you know, and so I watched
from right there and my mom, I'm coming home was
definitely like I definitely cried doing that. It was It's
because the first couple songs that he's sang it was
it sounded like, you know, perfect, and then he made
(09:40):
his speech and then like his voice was breaking up
so much live during that song.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
And I love that song too.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I love that song from when I was a teenager,
so and just the lyrical content of that song, it's
just like stop.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
It was. It was insane. It was an insane moment.
It was so sad.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Charlie felt more emotional when they played when he played
mister Crowley, but for me, it was definitely, mom, I'm
coming home.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Let's pivot here, and I was gonna try to make
this segue from Ozzy to obviously let me living in
the Whiskey and then talking about your new video, and
I felt like I was there the violent out or
Hell or Hollywood. I mean, what a what a brilliant
idea that I don't know if it's ever been done
(10:35):
like that. You really get give like a tour of
the sunset strip into the Whiskey and I just feel
as somebody I've never been. I felt like I was there.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Oh no, you've never been. Yeah, you gotta go.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So when I was a kid, I of course we
all know I was in love with Guns n' Roses,
but just the music. It was the first, like Welcome
to the Jungle was the first song that you know,
the hair on my arms raised up when I heard it,
saw the pictures of guns and roses, and I was like, it.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Was so mind blowing to Midwest kid.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I mean, I still wear motorcycle boots to this day,
you know, and cowboy boots because of Axl Rose.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
My style.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I mean, I was telling my friend the other day,
I've like always got a flannel around my waist, shorts
on and my boots on and a leather jacket because
I am Axel Rose all the time. And I've never
changed my style. It kind of which is kind of.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Weird, but I mean, you're talking to somebody my first
changing your style. My first word was boopy. I was
trying to say snoopy, and I'm currently wearing a snoopy shirt. Yeah,
nothing's changed.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, but when you're a kid and something, there's always
that moment when like something in life defines who you're
going to be going forward, and I guess Guns and
Roses kind of did that for me.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
So when I saw the Guns and Roses videos back.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
In the day, I knew that I wanted to move
to Los Angeles. So in nineteen ninety eight, I drove
my car across the country with paper map and you know,
made my way to Hollywood. And then the very first
day that I got there, I immediately went to the
Rainbow to you know, and I was there probably every
night of my life. It was a huge part of
(12:16):
the reason that I went, huge part of the reason
I stayed, you know, and I wanted to do like
an homage to those Guns and Roses videos, even the
song itself, you know, when I was writing for The
Violent Hour, you know, I've been in an extreme metal
band for the last fifteen years, but I'm also a
hard rock kid.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And I wanted to be true to that hard rock kid.
And Charlie, he.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Knows I love Aerosmith, I love Guns and Roses, so
he wrote the you know, in case anyone doesn't know
that's watching. Charlie wrote all the music and played every
single instrument on my album, and.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I did the vocals and that stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But he knows my taste in music, so he wanted
to make a song for me that really paid tribute
to my earliest loves.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
And so that's how her Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
And while I was writing the lyrics, I'm like, I
want to make a video for this song at the Rainbow.
There's no place in the world that I can film
it at. And I had this, you know, this idea
in my head for this video where this you know,
midwestern girl goes into the rainbow to have the night
of her life and she's partying with all these people,
and then she looks around and she's parting with these
(13:29):
rock stars who aren't with us anymore. So where is she?
Is she in Hell or Hollywood? But it was so
much fun, full circle moment. I couldn't believe they let
me film a video there because to me, when I
was a kid, like Guns and Roses film videos.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
There, it's iconic, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And I filmed everywhere there and even up in the
you know, the layer of the Hollywood Vampire, where you know,
insane people were up there doing drugs every night of
their life.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
It was just such a cool, cool.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Thing for me to be able to do to pay
homage to my favorite bands, but also to myself as
a teenager and like my dream life, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So it was such a cool experience.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I threw a Kurt Cobain look alike in there for irony,
because if you were in the Rainbow and Kurt Cobain
was there, you know, you'd be in hell because it's
the kind of place you wouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Caught dead, right, right, right, Well, I guess it would be,
you know, if he was dead and for right, yeah, tell.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
But I loved making the video there and the Maglaries
are so cool.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I'm so honor they to let me do that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I got to imagine they get a lot of requests
to do that too, right, I don't know, I.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Mean I had I asked and they said yes, and
like I said, I couldn't believe it. But yeah, I'm
just I feel so lucky this whole album process, I
really do, just to have John five on my album,
to have Zach Wild on my album, to have Charlie
Bononte do the music for my album, to be able
(15:07):
to film these these unique videos that I wanted to film, like,
I have so much gratitude.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I also I get to say right away because I
always get names wrong. I think I've mispronouncing Charlie's last
name in my entire life now, So it's Bonante, and
I've been saying Bonanti like I say, it's like a
long island theer like I'm a long Island Bananti, Charlie Bananti.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
I don't want to be Carla Bonante.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's definitely Bonante Banante. I like that, you know you
sounds like you have your pinky up while saying.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
That, Charlie Bonante, Carlo Bonante.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Oh, I love it, But they go back Italian sounding.
The more the names I can pronounce, like John five
and Zach Wilde. So Zach was part of the Heaven
or excuse me the Hell or Hollywood video? How many people?
Because you obviously have a ton of friends, Charlie is
a ton of friends. You could have made this. I
mean it is almost like an all star album anyway.
(16:04):
But what made Zach and John the people that you called?
When I'm sure you have a roster of friends that
would help would help you out.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Well. I was on a John five song once called Euphoria,
So it's time for him to return the favorite.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, No, I I just that's sick ones.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
The first song that I put out, I wanted something
really unique for the guitar solo, and John five plays
guitar like no one else, and the solo that he
gave me was insane.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It's so cool and.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
It's like this, it's exactly what the song called for,
but I could never have pictured it before.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
So it's so cool.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And then with Zach Wilde, you know, he's got that
that swagger that I thought would fit perfectly with a
song like Heller Hollywood. So and of course I toured
with with Zach Wilde for two months at a time.
A couple times we did some of our biggest tourists
with Sack with Black Label, and so I've known him forever.
(17:09):
And of course you know he's playing in Panthera with Charlie,
So got a little hook up there.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, yet an end uh no, that that's cool. What
were the challenges? I mean, well, you know, then we
back up because you've been up, you've been with Charlie
for a while, both musicians. What made this the right
time to put this project out? I mean, or was
there any hesitation because they say sometimes don't work with
your significant other. But sometimes that's good. So was there
(17:38):
any trepidation about working together.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
I'm not gonna say no to working with this brilliant person.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
It'd be stupid to not do it. But you know, after.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
You know, I left Butcher Babies, I went through I
had a period of grief.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
You know, and like what am I going to do next?
What's next for me?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
You know? And I hadn't been like ecstatic for a while.
Just life was changing and I'm like, what's next? And
you know, Charlie saw how I was feeling and what
I was feeling, and he started writing songs and he's like, we're.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Gonna You're gonna do this. You know.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
We had done some songs together during the pandemic, some
quarantine jams. But I think he saw that I didn't
want music to be over for me, and that when
one door closed, it didn't mean that something else was
going to open up for me.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And he really did this beautiful thing for.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Me by writing all these songs with me, and it
really helped me like put one foot in front of
the other and just like go on with things.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So it's like it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And you know, we don't always agree on everything when
writing together. But I don't think that we should. You know,
we're very different people and we've learned to you know,
I had to learn how to not be nervous about
telling him how I really felt.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
About something, you know what I mean, Okay, because I
you know, he's Charlie Bononcee.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Usually most of the time he's just my boyfriend, just
my fiance, whatever. But he's also Charlie Bonont and he's
a prolific writer, and he's worked with incredible people, and
so I had to make sure that I didn't feel
intimidated about my thoughts or feelings about a song. I
(19:40):
had to, you know, make sure that I was like, no,
I don't like that part, I like it like this,
Or if he didn't like the lyrics I.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Wrote for something, I'm like, no, the stays I like this.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
So, you know, a little back and forth, but I
think it's it's good and it's.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Healthy to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah, No, I agreed, because and what's that's out of that?
Sometimes the conflict or the back and forth, the better
idea commes. But yeah, and to have that support from him,
as from your person is truly Yeah, it's truly special.
What about the vocal approach because it's certainly very different
than the babies.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That was another hard thing for me because I've been
doing gutturals for so long, and a bunch of babies
has a lot of singing in it too. We do
a lot of choruses, but generally I would always do
kind of like the lower harmony and then the guttural screaming.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
So I really had to like think about how I.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Was going to approach these songs, cause I didn't want
to shoehorn guttural vocals into a song, just because I
wanted to be true to what the songs were and
what they called for.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
And to be honest with you, I'm just when you
do the.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Same thing year after year after year, you get kind
of bored with it. Anyways, Like I've proven it. I
can rowl with the best of them. I can sing
as low as anybody. I'm great at it. And you know,
there's so many other things that I want to do
and try, and so many other ways that I want
(21:14):
to sing. Uh. You know, there's a Loretta Lynn cover
on this album. You know, I do Portland, Oregon, and
it's completely different than anything I've ever done. But I
think that you want to grow in life, and you
hope that fans and friends will will want that for
you as well, and we'll want to hear you do
(21:36):
different things. But there's also in the back of your head,
you're like, do people only want to hear me do
gutt roles? Am I only cool if I do gutt roles?
So it's it's kind of a mental, you know thing
to get past that. But when I got in the
studio with the right people and I, you know, the
right and I started to sing and I felt started
to feel confident, you know, you know, it just everything
(21:58):
opened up for me and I started to try things
that I've never tried. And I'm just I cannot stress
enough that it just I was so happy and excited
for the first time in a long time. I felt
so just free to be who I want to be,
free to be who I want to be.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It comes across in the music and it's almost like
a not even like like a new chapter we're talking
about that before. It's almost like a I don't want
to oversell it, like a rebirth, and like almost meeting
Carla again because we knew you as not you're not
you're different, but you're showing another side of you. And
I was like, oh, oh okay, cool, you can do this.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You know that cookie monster kid is still in me,
you know what I mean, Like that's not going anywhere,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
But I I love so many different things growing up.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You know, I loved Pantera, I loved thrash metal, but
I also was obsessive about prog rock. You know. I
loved Rush, I loved Yes, I loved Guns n' Roses
and Aerosmith and you know classic rock and Leonard skinnerd.
So there's so much and life is so sure. You
should be able to just like do whatever you want
to do. You know.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I amen to that. And before we get into guns
and Roses and I want to talk about them back
to the beginning because I don't want to keep you
here forever. I know we had a little bit of
a downtime with the uh you know, the technical issues.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yeah, I think I have something at noon to go.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Choose or I will be I will be a well aware.
I got to put one of those like Simpson screens
like technical difficulties, I get something like that. What about
just because obviously it's a band with Charlie, but was
there Did you ever think about just doing it as
a Carla Harvey project or is it is a band?
(23:48):
Is it? Because I love the name of the band,
The Violence Tower.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I so, and I do have a band in rehearsal
right now. So yeah, because I got shows booked at
the Whiskey, which is really exciting with Buck Cherry and
Michael Monroe. So I'm super stooked for that in September.
So I have a band together. It's always been important
for me to be part of a band. I don't
like the whole like solo artists thing.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I always as.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
A kid, I was infatuated with bands that all have
their own character, you know, and just kind of you
fell in love with each person, just like Guns and
Roses and Rex even has that quality, you know, they're
all like I always felt like if you could draw
the character the people in a band, that's if you
(24:36):
can identify them by like the hat Slash always wears,
the flannel around Axel's waists, Like these are important things
and I love that dynamic and I just always love
the idea of a band. So I don't want to
be you know, Carla Harvey project. I want to be
the violent hour a real band.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I love that. Yeah, yeah, same. I use that as
one of the reasons why I do a podcast about
Guns and Roses, not because they're my favorite band, but
just like if you can tell the silhouette of Yeah Slash,
you get the silhouette of scott Ian. You know, you know,
you just know these are identifiable characters. And yes, I
love that because that's what makes a band and that's
(25:18):
what makes you fall in love with the band.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
So, speaking of which the band, that's a lot of
all the posters behind me and whatnot. It was cool
to be able to watch them, you know, for me
back to the beginning. So I guess where were you
during that that said? I know you said, at the.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Beginning stage, right next to Del James Nice's. We just
went on a trip with Del James and his wife
last year with a bunch of us friends went on
a so I got to know him a little bit better.
We went on a big yacht trip together, like I
think there was like twenty five people on a boat
and so that was really fun. But he's amazing and
(25:55):
he pushed me up to the front there so I
could watch like first row side.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Stage, it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Like there's Courtney Kardashian and her little baby right behind me.
Me and Charlie are watching yeah, and you know, you
can't wipe the smile off my face, like watching.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Watching Guns n' Roses. It's just so so.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Cool, and it is cool, I guess as a vocalist,
and I'm trying to avoid any sort of like clickbait
that comes out of it. But it was like a
contra and I want to use a chord controversial, but
just like a divided opinion a bunch like fans about
Axel and the way he sounds. Now, I'm just I.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
You know what, I will say this.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
So I was on tour a couple of years ago
and we played his show with Guns and Roses, and
they went on stage for like something.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Crazy like three hours.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
If someone's going to put a three hour show on
for me, I'm not going to complain that they don't
sound like they did in nineteen eighty seven. He puts
on a great show. He's still running around everywhere he looks,
and I don't know, I like side stage, the sound
was great. I didn't hear anything amiss. I I.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Charlie knows I get really worked up when people talking about.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So upset because and I hate that people aren't allowed
to like to have miss steps sometimes or have a
bad day.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
I've got bad days.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I was just on the road for five weeks with
Lords of Acid singing, and I got really sick. And
thank god, everything came out every day and I was
able to sing every day. But every day I was worried, like,
what's going to come out of my mouth? What are
people going to think? It is incredibly stressful to be
a vocalist, and I can't imagine how stressful it is
(27:48):
for people to want to hear exactly what they heard,
like I said in nineteen eighty seven, all the time.
And I think ninety percent of his vocals are still awesome.
I think he's you know, and man, if your heroes
are still out there again putting on three hour shows
(28:08):
for you, two hour shows for you, take it and
shut up.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
That's been my basically I've been saying. I've been telling
people to get bent, but I like to take it
and shut up as well, because and he performed a
three hour show the night before too, and to do that,
and you're right, I mean, that's what the Sabbath thing
has really showed us, and this conversation has showed me
just from whether it's a younger artist. You know, I
love you know, I love what you're doing a new band,
(28:36):
like I call it a younger artist's new band because
it's the Violent Avenue or like Hailstorm and you're looking
at Black Sabbath Slayer. I mean, it's just all this
great music. Everyone's hugging it. Every guy who said it
might have been like Kelly Osbourne. It was like a
heavy metal summer camp. It seemed to be over there
and just watching it, just like these are all the
guys I look up to and the girls I look
(28:57):
up to. They're all friends, they all make music, and
this is just there's no reason to criticize any of
this because it's not the X factor. It's not American Idol.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Nobody got paid. Nobody got paid to do that. You know.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So I know somebody I'm not going to ask you.
I know some band got asked, and I'm waiting for
Sharon to say who that is.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I mean, well I heard who supposedly who it is,
but you never know through the room or meal. But yeah,
It's like everyone went there on their own accord, paid
paid for flights or whatever to do it, And.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I don't know, I.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Feel super lucky to just be able to see the
bands that I loved, and, like I said, as a
vocalist myself, I'm still coughing after being on tour for
five weeks, and I know how hard it is to
to be the face of a band and be the
one that everyone's going to judge every night.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
It's very difficult.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I really appreciate your perspective because you know what you're
talking about. It's one thing is coming from a fan
being like live Writtney alone, leave Axel's, It's it's another
coming from you. So I appreciate your your your professional
and expert opinion, and the violent hour. I love what
I've heard so far. That's such an awesome tour that
you're taking a part of UH with, with Buck Cherry
(30:15):
and Michael Monroe who just joined Guns and Roses on
stage for Bad Obsession. I mean, they're all living their
best life. Rock fans are eating good right now. So Carl,
I just thank you for your time, thanks for the
little seat. I have bad days too. I had a
hiccup with my technical issues, I slur my words. It happens,
(30:35):
but hopefully at the end of the day, at the
end of the day, see it gets mumbled my words.
There you enjoy yourself. So uh, Carla, this was a
pleasure and I hope we get to through this again.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Me too. Awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You got it. That does it for this episode of
Appetite for Distortion. When we see the next one. In
the words of AXL Rose, concerning Chinese democracy, I don't
know as soon as the word, but you'll see it
thanks to the lame as security.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
I'm going home.
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