Exclusive Interview: Emo Alt-Punk Band Tarnish Leaves A Patina
San Diego and Sacramento band Tarnish explains to Clear Vision the challenges they've faced, and just how it's impacted their music and sound. Hear how these four have grown in the face of opposition and what they have to tell others looking to book their own DIY shows at home. If you haven't heard them yet, they'll be sure age like fine wine in the mean time.
Here's what Karl, Jack, Dane, and Chris had to say:
Jorge: First off, what's your guys's band name?
Karl: So we are called Tarnish! You can hit us up on Instagram, @tarnish.ca
Jorge: Okay, so who are your guys's members? And what are you guys' roles?
Karl: So my name is Karl I play rhythm guitar and I'm the lead singer.
Jack: My name is jack. I play drums.
Chris: My name's Chris I play lead guitar.
Dane: My name is Dane I play bass.
Jorge: Alright, where are you guys based and located?
Karl: So me and jack are from here, north Sac. And the rest of the band is from San Diego. So we kind of have a little mix and match type deal. We went down for a show there last weekend. They came up here this weekend, but it's 'cuz I went to college in San Diego met Dane, at a show, which was cool, and then moved up to Sac I met Jack. Dane already knew Chris, kind of just worked out. Yeah.
Jorge: It seems you guys not only have a foot in the door here in this scene, but a foot in the door of others as well!
Karl: Right, and a place to sleep in both!
Jorge: Definitely! How long have you guys been a group, and how long has the group been a part of the scene?
Dane: Well we started the band in May last year, but we didn't release anything until March of this year. But I mean, I feel like we've been a part of the scene like for like a while, you know, like both Karl and I especially played in other bands and gigs and stuff like not together but like in other bands. And then I'm not sure how much Chris or Jack have gigged in the past few years.
Chris: I've been in a couple of bands, nothing serious, but I've been going to shows since I was like 12 years old so I've been in the scene, but not playing in the scene.
Jorge: So kind of a mixed range, but for quite some time now. How'd you guys like the Blue Goose event hall and the crowd?
Karl: If I would have known that this venue was a thing like when I first moved to Sac, we would have definitely played a show here by now. This place is lit, I definitely would like to come back, crowd was cool. We have a lot of friends out there, but also we had a couple randoms, and that's sick, because you want people that you don't know to come out. If you look up and like they're having a good time, You're like, Oh, it's not just my friend being nice, like, so that was cool. But yeah, great, great place.
Jorge: If you guys did have the chance to play another event here would you?
Karl: Totally, totally. Yeah.
Jorge: Great! Some more questions about the scene and how it has impacted you guys, what are some of the challenges you guys have faced setting up DIY shows this year?
Jack: I mean, obviously, there's a lot of you know, COVID concerns and wanting to be like, you know, safe and that sort of deal, and then just networking, because shows really only started happening again over summer. So all of our network is like, pretty much just through people we found on Instagram and stuff, and so you know, we're still working on finding our crew and our people that we can do shit with. So yeah, it's just just connecting which is just hard to do when you know you're all at home.
Karl: Like you and I Dane already knew people from other bands from the scene which helped us out a lot, he knew a lot of people in Santa Cruz, I knew a lot of people in San Diego, he new people in San Diego too, so we kind of had a little bit of like a head start, which was cool, but it definitely does feel like we're still figuring out everything.
Jorge: Awesome! For my next question, how has the DIY underground scene impacted your guys's music?
Karl: I think it's been great. I mean, like our first show, we expected nothing. You know, we're down in San Diego, we had a good amount of people there, and people didn't even know our music yet, but they were just getting down. So I feel like mainly the cool thing is that those are the same people that then actually follow us on Instagram after. So the people that are down for the scene are very loyal, and I think that's awesome.
Jack: We had a show in Riverside last weekend, that I feel like was a really good example of it. Because like, the entire crowd was like, pretty much just people who like to go to shows on the weekend. No one knew us, but it was sick. We had a great crowd, we had a good pit going, and it literally felt Yeah, literally felt like a hometown show. Like it's like these were people, you know, coming to see us like forever. And it was just the total randos but it's just because it was the scene, you know, and that's what they do. They just go to whatever show's nearby, it is really rad.
Chris: That was actually the first show I did with these guys playing guitar and I was just amazed, man, like, I appreciate you. But yeah, it was at a bar, we were on the floor on the patio, and the whole patio was just packed. We didn't know anybody at that show. We knew like, one of the