I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Breathe Carolina is composed of  Kyle Even and David Schmitt, however, listening to them perform you would think there were  way more players involved. Often referred to as screamo, Breathe Carolina have made a name for themselves in the industry with their unique sound. They recently released their first full length album entitled It’s Classy, Not Classic and have garnered a dedicated fan following of young  girls who pretty much faint at the sight of them (trust me I witnessed this myself). I got the chance to speak with them after their set at The Phoenix in Toronto and asked them a few questions on the particulars of their band name and what they really thought about Canadian fans.

iheartthemusic: Let’s begin with your name, there’s a rumour that it came to you in a dream…

David: Yah, I was in ninth grade and I had one of those dreams where you wake up and are like “what the fuck just happened?” So it was this crazy dream where I saw this older lady whose name was Carolina and I was watching her as an outsider living my life – hanging out with my friends and shit. I started to notice that she was freaking out all the time, which made sense because I was going through so much shit back then. So I just had to say to her “you need to just calm down and chill out, just breathe Carolina.” At the time I was  in another band and when I got out of high school that band broke up, but I always remembered that dream so vividly. So then when Kyle and I started this I was like, “dude, you wanna call it Breathe Carolina?” and it stuck from there.

iheartthemusic: That’s a very unique story,  how did you two link up then?

Kyle: David was actually living with me and three other people at the time. One day he asked me to come and scream on this track just for fun. We ended up recording the whole day and then we had a party that night where we played it for some kids and they liked it a lot. So we basically started by just playing our songs at parties that we had until eventually kids wanted to hear more and more.

David: It was kind of weird asking people to check out our songs, but people were just down. We’d have the craziest parties too because we had this big house in downtown Denver, and we would throw huge parties and turn our songs on and people would start to dance. So we were like, “this is cool, maybe we should go with this.” That’s how it came together.

iheartthemusic: Let’s talk a little bit about Warped Tour. You guys are playing the tour this summer, that must be exciting!

David: They sent us an offer forhalf of it at first and we were really excited. I mean, I went to Warped Tour when I was like nine and saw all these crazy bands that I loved and then to have them ask us to join- it was crazy to me! They then  sent us another offer for the whole tour  and we were like “ok yah, sign me up and see you there!”

Kyle: Definitely an amazing feeling.

iheartthemusic: Have you been starstruck by any bands that you have met?

Kyle: Pretty much everybody that we have played with we have looked up to. Playing with those kinds of bands that, genre-wise and band-wise, we have listened to is incredible. Some we look up to more so after we tour with them, but we for sure know every single band that we have played with. Definitely a really cool experience.

David: That’s the best thing about touring: making good friends.

Kyle: I mean we are four days into this tour and I don’t think that any of us have been this comfortable on a tour.

David: You feel like you can walk up to anyone on the tour and give them a hug. It’s really cool.

iheartthemusic: So is it weird to think that you guys are this “big thing” now?

Kyle: Yah, I mean you’re still a regular person like everyone else, but there have been moments where you are like “whoa, that’s really happening to me.” There is one moment in particular that I have never told anyone before. It was even before we had a MySpace page I think, which is kind of weird to say. Our music had been put on at one of our parties and I was coming down the stairs and then the song suddenly changed and everyone that was in the room screamed for some reason and started singing the song. I remember thinking “what the fuck just happened?” I mean these are our friends! At that point I was like I’m ready to push this, I’m ready to do it, work my ass off to try and tour and do what I can on the other side. David produced and wrote the whole CD, so it’s been great to work with him.

iheartthemusic: That’s incredible, and you are so young!

David: Yah, I’m 20, which I guess is pretty young.

iheartthemusic: Well, you are at least legal drinking age in Canada!

David: Yah I know, that’s why I was so pumped to come to Canada. This is our first time here. I’ve never stepped foot in Canada so we are pretty stoked.

iheartthemusic: Well we are happy to have you! What’s in store for you guys next?

Kyle: After this tour we’re actually going to be in the studio recording our second album which we are hoping to release at some point this year, either during Warped Tour or afterwards.

David: Yah we are planning on releasing it in August. After recording we do the Warped Tour which comes to Canada twice, so we will be back!

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to add for your Canadian fans?

David: Just thank you guys for everything. We love everything that you have done for us and we wouldn’t be anywhere without your support. We love you a lot.

Kyle: It’s funny because we definitely remember Toronto as being the place that kind of struck us when we first started. People were hitting us online everyday and were like, “hey, I’m from Toronto.” We were like, “what is the deal with Toronto?” It was almost like they were the ones that found us. It’s cool that they are digging it. So it’s always stuck in our heads as a really great place to be and play. It’s cool to actually come here and meet the fans that have stuck by us for so long. So thank you to all those kids who followed us for two years. Thank you!

iheartthemusic: Well there you have it, talented and they love Toronto. Be sure to check them out when they hit a city near you on Warped Tour this summer, in the meantime check out the sounds on their MySpace:

www.myspace.com/breathecarolina

photography provided by Matt Vardy, www.mattvardy.com

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