Led by Curt Kiser, Carriers is Cincinnati’s best-kept secret, blending heartland rock with dreamy, introspective Americana. With a devoted local following and support from indie heavyweights, Carriers is ready to take the national stage. Their latest record, Every Time I Feel Afraid, is out now on Brassland.
(Photo Credit: Liddy Hade)
Carriers is a project helmed by Cincinnati-based singer-songwriter Curt Kiser; Bryan Devendorf is the also-Cincinnati-based founding drummer for The National. Bryan features on a track on the new Carriers record — Every Time I Feel Afraid, out now on Brassland — so to celebrate its release, the two got on Zoom to catch up about their chance meeting at the Cincinnati Zoo, odd jobs, and more. Carriers’ album release show will be May 24 at the Woodward Theater in Cincinnati.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
Curt Kiser: What’s up, Bryan?
Bryan Devendorf: Hey, Curt. It’s nice to talk to you in this interesting way. [Laughs.] I guess a starter would be how you and I initially met.
Curt: Well, I was a fan of you for a long time, so I was aware of you the day that you came into LaRosa’s at the zoo.
Bryan: Do you remember what year this was? 2013, maybe?
Curt: I think 2013. You had just moved to Cincinnati.
Bryan: Yeah, I’d moved back after a 20 year absence. We were at the Cincinnati Zoo. At that point, we had two young boys in the brood; I think they would have been one and two years old. And there’s a local chain — sorry to take over the story — it’s an acquired taste. It’s one of those things like our Skyline Chili, but the pizza version, called LaRosa’s. It’s a local shop that opened in the ‘50s on the West Side, I believe, by Buddy LaRosa.
Curt: Old Buddy LaRosa.
Bryan: Get yourself a Baked Buddy. Anyway, take it from there, Curt — we’re at the Cincinnati Zoo summer of 2013, at the LaRosa’s.
Curt: Yeah, I feel it was the hippo exhibit not too far away. Fiona was there.
Bryan: Harambe was in the rear view.
Curt: The lions were right down from the LaRosa’s. I would always stop in and say hi to the lions in the morning.
Bryan: But at this point, you’d been in bands, you have some songs under your belt. Are you performing solo at this point?
Curt: Yeah, I think I had written a lot of songs. Pomegranates [Curt’s former band] had just ended and then Carriers was… I think I was just writing and recording songs. I don’t think I even called it Carriers until the next year. But, yeah, I remember you walked in to LaRosa’s, you had a Pabst Theater shirt on, and I was like, “Oh, Pabst Theater… You’re the drummer for The National!” And you were like, “Oh, yeah, you’ve heard of us?” That was the beginning of it. And I remember, a friend of mine had just been in a really scary accident right around that time, and I asked you to write a little note for him on a napkin, because you were one of our favorite drummers through high school. That meant a lot to him.
Bryan: Oh, good.
Curt: I remember that day you were like, “You should come over for a barbecue or something sometime.” And then we reconnected, I don’t know, several months after that, when I was working at Whole Foods pushing carts. I think I told you I’d been working on some demos, and you had been working on some demos with Pfarmers at that time.
Bryan: That’s right. And that will dovetail in the future, because one of the Pfarmers members is Dave Nelson, a collaborator on—
Curt: The song “Sometimes,” on this new record.
Bryan: Dave Nelson and Danny Seim from Menomena are the members of Pfarmers.
Curt: Which was awesome because — I think I told you probably that day, you and Danny are two of my favorite drummers. But, yeah, you said you were working on that. I sent you a demo later that night, of that song called “Union,” that I’ve never released or anything. It was the 3/4 song.
Bryan: Yeah, yeah.
Curt: You were like, “What are you smoking over there?” [Laughs.] It was really encouraging because I hadn’t really shared much of that music with people. And I was like, Bryan from The National digs this song. That’s cool. You really helped me feel confident in my voice, because you were like, “Your vocals sound great.” And that was the beginning. I think we were fast friends, because it was just the appreciation of each other’s kind of kind vibe.
Bryan: Easygoing, but with a deep simmering well of angst that can sometimes bubble to the surface. [Laughs.]
Curt: Exactly. Then you played on the first album with me and John.
Bryan: Oh, that’s right. There’s all these connections — John Curley is the bass player from the band Afghan Whigs. He ran the studio Ultrasuede [in Cincinnati]. But he’s in the Afghan Whigs, and my first drum teacher was their drummer during their rise from Up In It to Gentleman, Steve Earle. Not the singer-songwriter, a different Steve Earle. But Curley plays Rickenbacker bass like a boss. That was really fun. And [that record]’s being rereleased by Brassland.
Curt: Which is funny because when I was shopping that record around, you were like, “You should send it to Brassland.” And when Brassland found the message from me four years later, he was like, “Oh, sorry, I missed that.” [Laughs.] But, yeah, John Curley was obviously a driving force. He was like, “We should jam sometime.” And then I asked him the next day, “Hey, I’d like to make a record. Would you want to be a part of that?” And he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” I don’t think he knew exactly what we were getting into. But shortly after that, I saw you driving into Whole Foods, and I was outside, so I asked if you’d want to play on a song. And you asked, “How many songs?” And I said, “However many you want.” And then we got together. Your wife was working on the sketch of your whole basement studio, right? She laid out that design.
Bryan: Mhm.
Curt: So then we quickly started working on those songs at your house.
Bryan: That was about 10 years ago — which, that went by quickly. But the new record, it’s great. Obviously I’m biased. It’s nine songs, right?
Curt: Yeah, nine songs.
Bryan: Perfect nine song, 40 minute little biscuit. It’s just been so interesting how it’s all happened. In this intervening period, you’ve been writing all these songs prolifically and sending me tracks, and I’m always like, “Wow, I’m blown away by this.” But there was one track you sent me that it turned out to be a very old song.
Curt: “Be the One.”
Bryan: Yeah. I was just like, “Oh, my goodness.” It was an interesting period — The National had been on a hiatus, and then we went back on tour, and I was going through all this personal stuff and trying a whole new way of living. It just really spoke to me on a very deep level. I got the chills and I was like, “Oh, man, this is a beautiful song.” And you were like, “Oh, yeah, it’s old. I recorded it in a closet in a basement somewhere five years ago.” I was like, “Let me get the audio and put it on our walk in music.” It was our second show back after the hiatus. We were playing at this venue in Paris, and then we used “Be the One” as the walk on music. It’s this slow burn, spacious… It’s almost like Magnolia Electric Co., Jason Molina. But it’s more optimistic, I guess, ultimately.
Curt: Yeah.
Bryan: So we used it as the walk on, and then Kyle Lewis, one of the techs in the band, filmed it and posted it on the internet. Then Alec of Brassland saw it, and he’s like, “What is this song? Let me hear the rest.” So it was the whole full circle, networking… And I would say fate, in some ways, played its hand again. Because from the very beginning, it’s just been this procession of random coincidences and fate. I’m very happy that it’s on the record, that song. Because that’s my favorite one.
Curt: What was so impactful to me, when you used that song, was that this record came out of a really scary time. I sent you “Be the One” while I was working at The Container Store, and I remember I got a text from you and I got in trouble — they were like, “We saw you on your phone.” But you’d said, “Hey, do you care if I show the band this song today?” And I was like, “Anytime.” Then a couple days later, Kristin [Curt’s partner] and I were in that really scary car accident.
Bryan: Oh, yeah.
Curt: And you guys were in Paris, so I don’t think you were even aware that happened.
Bryan: No.
Curt: You used the song the next day. Kristin’s mom took us to go see Maverick in the theater, and I get the text as I’m walking in. You were like, “Hey, dude, we used your song in Spain last night. Do you care if we use it the next two nights in Paris?” I was like, “Can you take a video?” And then you just thumbs-upped it. I was just like, What just happened? I was in this car accident, and then that happened… And then I get to Chicago a couple days later, I think it’s going to be really cathartic to play a few shows — and then all my gear is stolen. About a week later, I wrote about it all online, and I shared the video of you guys walking out, and Brassland reached out immediately and was just like, “What is this song? Do you have more?” I remember I was working at Pleasantry [a restaurant in Cincinnati], and you called me from Germany. I ran to the bathroom and you were like, “Brassland wants to put this record out with you. I think it’s a killer opportunity. You should do it.” And that’s what really began this record even coming out. That was June of 2022. So it almost took two-and-a-half years.
Bryan: Slow and steady.
Curt: [Laughs.] It’s been a patience game. But, yeah, I appreciate that it’s felt very organic and like fate. Like divine intervention or something. I definitely feel like it hit me when I really needed it, in the middle of a really hard week. It was a song I never even intended to put it out. There were three songs like that — “In My Head,” Share Some Wine,” and “Be the One” are all kind of from that same place and time, recorded in my bedroom with a shitty old mic and trying not to wake my roommates.
Bryan: Well, what are you looking forward to most this summer, Curt?
Curt: The record release show in Cincinnati, May 24!
Bryan: I’ll be there. I’ll be on stage for a track or two.
