Exclusive: Breathe Carolina Talks Fans, Snacks And Their Sleepless EP

It’s been a minute since we caught up with the guys of Breathe Carolina. Since our last conversation, they’ve continued to tour, write, record and just dropped a new EP, Sleepless. Yes yes, we’re sure you’ve had every lyric memorized since the day it came out, but just in case you wanted a little more insight to what went into their most recent release, Buzznet got the chance to ask singer Dave Schmitt about their favorite songs, inspiration, what makes them sleepless, and most importantly how they hope to connect with their fans through their new music.

Check out our Q&A below and don’t forget to take their EP for a spin!

1. Congrats on Sleepless! How was the process of putting this EP together compared to your past albums? The process was a bit different as we worked with so many different artist. In the dance world it’s special because collaborating and sharing ideas isn’t as rare as say a “rock or warped” type of world so it was different and a lot of fun.

2. Which song is the band’s favorite? Why? I think either “sleepless” or “stable” it was cool to write these because we kind of went back to our roots of more of an “emo” sounding vocal but still with our recent production sound and the new direction. Almost like collabing  with ourselves from 7 years ago to now.

3. You have a dedicated legion of fans, what do you hope they get out of your new music? We hope they can just see our new sense of direction and understand that nobody wants to stay the same for years and years. We hope they respect the fact we wanted to branch out and explore our musicianship through different genres and push ourselves outside of our comfort zones.

4. Touring plans? We are always playing shows, but it’s a bit different now as we fly to each show rather than taking a bus out for months at a time. We are gone about 3-4 days a week so we are able to be home more but still play a lot throughout the entire year. We recently have done a lot of shows in Asia, which we never really had before. It’s an amazing market right now and fun to go over there. We have our tour dates on all our socials so make sure to check it and see when we will be in your area.

5. What makes you guys sleepless? We called it sleepless because this journey and process of changing our sound and genre has been a wild ride. It’s left us with a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of discouraged nights, and over all stressed the fuck out. But we didn’t let anything stop us from doing something we wanted. A lot of people were confused and intrigued to say the least about our switch and we had to spend all day and all night proving to not only ourselves but to everyone we could do it.

6. Best/weirdest/most unexpected place you found inspiration for songs on the EP? Idk haha we write songs as a group usually in the studio but a lot of ideas will come very randomly late at night. I remember being like out at bars or parties and would have to write down ideas or go into the bathroom and record a voice note. Haha, you never really know when and where it’s gonna come from.

7. How many unreleased songs didn’t make the cut for Sleepless? Do you have plans to put them on a future album? We have SO much music lol, we spent the majority of 2015 writing songs so we have over probably 30-50 ideas that we are just sitting on and we’ll see what happens with them.

8. What’s your favorite thing to eat while in the studio? Pistachios, any kind of good snacking nut.

9. Do you have any rituals in the studio during recording? No not really just trying to get down the best ideas. We have routines, like we will always eat at the same time every day. If we are stuck we’ll go out, grab a beer, or bring bottles back to the studio to loosen up.

10. What is the best thing a fan has ever said about your music? It’s always great hearing fans say our music helped save them or spoke to them when they were in a dark place. When I was growing up I remember hearing songs that really helped me through a hard time. So, I know the feeling exactly, and it’s amazing I’m able to do that and seeing it all come full circle.

11. Speaking of fans, what gifts do you love receiving from them? I did an interview like 5 years ago where I said I really liked gummy bears and for whatever reason that just stuck. Anytime we tour we get so many gummy bears lol it’s literally like out of control. I love good letters you know or like custom shirts kids make. It’s always cool to receive any gift honestly it’s rad.

12. How many times will you guys wear clothes on tour before they absolutely have to be washed? Hahaha, depends show clothes can go for a while cuz you’re already sweaty while you play and not trying to impress anyone with how you smell. But like if we’re trying to go out to dinner or after party you definitely have to clean your shit up for that.

13. What bands are you listening to right now? Terror J and GTA are some of my favorites. As a group we have been playing the shit out of the new Zedd’s Dead Album “Northern Lights.” That album is really impressive from start to finish.

14. Dream collaboration? Mannnn, so many people come to mind haha. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Blink 182, Rae Sremmurd, Britney Spears would make my mom stoked for sure!