Saturday Spotlight: The Carbons

KelownaNow wants to get to know the hard working, up and coming artists who fill our city with music and we’re almost positive most of you do too!

Our Saturday Spotlight series that will feature a new, local act every other weekend, to better strengthen our scene and get to know the people behind the music.

Get to know: The Carbons

Comprised of Tomy Thisdale on lead vocals and guitar, Paul Minor on drums and Conroy Ross on bass, The Carbons have been a well-known name in Kelowna’s music scene for the last two years.

Influenced heavily by titans of modern rock such as The Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys and Canada’s own The Trews — The Carbons are working hard to keep one of music's most beloved genres at the forefront of Kelowna’s scene.

Having said that, The Carbons have crafted a sound all their own, dubbing it Groove Rock. According to Thisdale, the sound is a combination of blues, funk, reggae and obviously a heavy dose of rock and roll.

What got you started in music?

We all fell in love with our instruments at a young age and have always wanted to play music as much as possible.

Is there an interesting story behind the name The Carbons?

Music, much like carbon, connects all living things and every living thing vibrates at a frequency that can be translated to music.

When it comes to writing, and creating titles The Carbons often focus on deeper topics than one might initially think upon hearing one of their catchy and upbeat tracks.

“I like to write about human challenges and overcoming those challenges,” said Thisdale.

“More specifically, addiction, minimalism, personal crisis, love and lust, mental illness. People and nature are the top two places I draw from.”

However, when it came to titling their debut full-length record, the band went fairly literal.

“The Carbons was created in 2017. Our first show was at the end of August and it was raining ash, hence the name August Ash, ” said Thisdale.

Though they can be spotted playing gigs at Kelowna’s staple live music venues and are frequently on tour, we quizzed Thisdale on his favourite gigs to date.

“There's a few actually,” he said. “We opened for Pop Evil last November and that was really memorable because they are one of the first bands I started covering when I started playing,”

Pop Evil are not the only legends the group has had the chance to share the stage with, but this past winter they had the opportunity to open for their inspirations The Trews.

Thisdale had the opportunity to play for his home city of Granby, Quebec last fall an experience he pegs as "pretty special."

“It felt like the whole town came out and my family had never seen me play really, other than the occasional acoustic Christmas songs so it was pretty special,” he said.

What has been your biggest musical achievement so far?

Writing, recording, and releasing August Ash. It's been a dream of mine to have an LP for years. I can't believe we have it on vinyl now. It is on my wall where my degree used to be!

Recording with John-Angus and writing a song with him and his brother Colin was an incredible experience also. If all goes well, that song should come out mid-September at the latest.

What is your favourite part about being involved in the Okanagan music scene?

It's a tightly knit community. I love going out to the venues and recognizing so many faces. I don't have to invite anyone out, I always end up running into someone I know and having a spontaneously enjoyable evening.

You can catch The Carbons on Friday, June 21 at Fernando’s or follow along with them via Facebook and Instagram. You can also stream their music on Apple Music and Spotify.

If you know of a local band or musician the community needs to hear, nominate them for a Saturday Spotlight by sending an email to savannah@kelownanow.com