We had a fun, spicy and real conversation with Taylor Carik in the WMCN studio last weekend about his newest LP release under the PARISHES moniker – ‘Late Stages‘. The music captures the ethos of art and music support in Minnesota (and America) all while sounding amazing. The sound is a respite, the lyrics are a wake up for those who listen. The on-air conversation left me with a few more questions.
Also – you can see Talyor play on Friday at the Basilica Block Party in both PARISHES and in Whiskey Rock ‘n’ Roll Club MPLS.
Some leading questions for folks who haven’t listened to the interview:
Please introduce us to PARISHES and tell us a brief outline of the many roles you have and have had in the music and art scene in the Twin Cities.
PARISHES is both a solo music project and a local supergroup of sorts. I started working on some darker R&B and Blues music during the pandemic lockdown and Minneapolis Uprising that turned into PARISHES; I’ve written all the music and played nearly all the instruments across the first album ‘Bring On The …’, the EP ‘Felt The Saving Grace’, and this new ‘Late Stages’ with some collaborative support from incredible performers like Dean Brewington (formerly of Abstract Pack and UpRock), Ben Miller (The Federales), Sally Linda (Big Salt), and others. When we do an occasional live show I connect with talented players from around town like Sally, Kristyn Leigh (M.A.Y.), Pete Boulger, Chris Hepola, Charlie Milkey, Ted Welter, Liz Draper and others. The most rewarding thing for a musician/artist, in my opinion, is to hear from talented folks like these that I very much respect say ‘yeah I’ll play on that project, it’s cool’, that’s been incredible.
As for my background—where to even start. Musically, I’ve been in Whiskey Rock ‘n’ Roll Club MPLS, which is one of the staples of the local rock scene, readers have likely seen us and/or our merch on sound/door people around the Twin Cities venues. I’m one of the co-founders of the legendary Zombie Pub Crawl; I helped relaunch the Taste of Minnesota last year; I ran the Secrets of the City newsletter for 12+ years in various forms; I published the defunct-but-much beloved DISPATCH print publication; I’ve put together many different events, shows, and projects throughout the 25 years I’ve lived in Minneapolis. So, yeah, I’ve got some stories.
For folks who haven’t listened to the interview, can you give us an abridged version of the inspiration of ‘Betty White – All Time Great’?
It’s pretty common to hear both sincere and snarky discussions of “Minnesota Nice”, this widespread idea that Minnesotans are really nice, but they’re actually really fickle in friendship and scene-building. The same idea applies to all the bravado behind highlighting creatives and artists here, a lot of promotional material that’s not backed up in practice. I recently had some experiences where, like the lyrics imply, there’s an everything’s great until… culture here that highlights the reality vs. facade of living, working, and trying to make cool things happen in the extremely pastoral Minnesota. “You’re no Betty White” is both from the perspective of the day-to-day in people’s experiences and interactions, but at the same time commenting on institutions and their people saying we have all-time great music like Prince and the Replacements but not building up current music.
Do you have a vision for how things can be better for artists? Realistic—and if you had a magic wand!
For a realistic take—and it’s probably not the best answer—not really. I don’t see things getting better for artists and people who want to make cool things and not struggle to balance that with regular day-people lives. We’re in the late stages of cultural collapse, just like all the other collapses happening. Minneapolis-St.Paul is a truly incredible place to consume things, especially music—just look at the summer calendar from small bar and club shows to the stadium shows and in-between, it’s amazing. The flip side is that, and again I think this is the consensus from my experience and frequent conversations, that none of that is being translated to artists producing work here. If you’re looking to be supported outside of personal connections in particular small scenes, and especially get money for it, you’ll need to find new cities. It’s a pretty consistent story here, go somewhere else to blow up and then get the broader public and institutional support if/when you come back.
For a magic wand, Minneapolis-St.Paul would have to have a wholesale change in its culture that fully transformed the people, venues, and especially media. The shortchanging of musicians is just a symptom of the top-down Minnesotan culture. My monkey paw wish would be to have residents get more leisure time and use it to integrate the local arts into their lives and therefore spending, to have connections to current artists, and provide for them. We wouldn’t have everything so confined, we’d have third spaces regrow and people fill them up regularly, we’d have recognition of artists that live here (Venus DeMars deserves murals and got a tax audit), we’d have what residents of countries known for culture bring to their day-to-day activities and civic pride, a widespread version of the commitment that young people still bring to Minneapolis-St.Paul house shows. Imagine being in a fancy coffee shop or skyway and people being able to name their three favorite Minneapolis-St.Paul bands or painters or comedians or filmmakers. That actually happens in some other places, they don’t just say we’re the home of some all-time greats.
What can art and music appreciators do to support the artists and performers?
It’s a song as old as rhyme: Buy their merch, showcase their merch, get your friends on board with them. Also if you like their work, just tell them! Also get your corporate jobs to book them, lol.
PARISHES is mostly you and I love that but I also love that you call in some friends to make it even better and want to give you a chance to shout them out.
I’ll skip this answer because I mention them earlier here and I’ve already been long-winded!
Mostly Minnesota 