Since the release of Favorite Fix, Artist vs Poet has been touring non-stop and creating a loyal fanbase. We caught up with Tarcy at Warped Tour and learned a ton about life on the road, the album, and the nasty scar on his arm.
Introduce yourself and what you do in the band.
I’m Tarcy and I sing for Artist vs. Poet.
Tell a secret about yourself and everyone in the band.
It’s not really a secret, I guess just nobody really knows it; I have 7 brothers and sisters. Everybody else in the band…uh Joe Kirkland, we found him and got him to play guitar for us from a YouTube video. Jason Dean, our bass player, used to be our merch guy, Joe Westbrook smells really bad, and Craig…he has weird elbow, his elbows pop out, I don’t know it’s weird.
You released Favorite Fix in March, how has the response been?
It’s been good! In America and we actually just went to Japan so it was great over there….it was one of the best experiences of my life. We went out with Valencia, Anarbor and There for Tomorrow. We also just got back from Canada, so yeah it was great!
Besides the time it takes to record, what are the differences between recording a full length and an EP?
I guess more time consuming, and you have to be more diverse. You can’t just write the same songs, that’s what we kind of tried to do with the new record is just to try to be as diverse as possible and reach a broader audience I guess.
The producers you worked with have all worked with huge bands; did you feel pressure at all with recording with them?
Definitely. Mike Green, we did our first ever EP with him and we kind of had a relationship already but still, the guy is a genius and is amazing. Zach and Ken, they did Cartel and Mayday Parade so it was pretty intimidating. They’re all down to earth guys, they all have the same disgusting humor we have so it kinda worked out, and it was nice.
How did Fearless Records come into the picture for you guys?
On our first tour we were out in LA and they were actually there to see another band and they caught our set, brought back the owner of the label, brought us in the office and signed us three weeks later!
So you got signed after being in the band for only a year, were you expecting things to take off that quickly?
Not at all! I was in a band before that for 4 years and nothing happened and it broke up. I wasn’t expecting anything so for that to happen was awesome.
Do you have a ceiling you want to reach with your band?
Not really, I just want everybody to listen to our music. I want to reach kids with our lyrics and put a smile on kids’ faces.
You’re doing the entire Warped Tour; you’ve been on for how long?
It feels like 2 months, but I think it’s been about 2 or 3 weeks.
How has it been so far and what are your plans for afterwards?
It’s been awesome. I’ve been going to Warped Tour for like 5/6 years and I can’t believe it. We do have a US tour planned for the fall, I can’t announce it but it is with a band that’s on Warped Tour, but that’s not really going to help you at all. We’re going to be announcing it within the next week.
What happened to your arm?!
It looks disgusting, but that’s actually New Skin, the bandage stuff, so it’s not that bad. So it was bus call and my guys were not on the bus so I was running around looking for them and I was on my phone, and I slipped up on some gravel and I was trying to save my phone so I took the fall with my elbow.
Anything else you’d like to add or say to your fans?
Thank you! You guys are the reason why we’re here and you’re going to continue to be the reason why we’re here…and never feel like we’re anyone better than you, we’re the same as ya’ll, just come up and talk to us, we’d love to talk to you guys.
