Party Nails (née Elana Belle Carroll)
Interview conducted on June 4, 2020
By Dan Locke
Party Nails joined choir at 8, picked up the viola at 10, and the guitar at 11. By 12 she was playing original songs at open mics around her hometown of Chatham, New York, and at 17 picked up production
How did you discover music?
I think I always love it. I used to sing “Over The Rainbow” with my mom when I was really little. I loved musicals. I loved any type of music performance. I always wanted to do that somehow.
How did you start to write music?
My dad started taking guitar lessons and taught me a couple chords. We saw Ani DiFranco together for my 12th birthday, and the next day I wrote a song and that was that.
Do you remember how you got your first guitar?
My first guitar of my own was an Aria red sunburst electric guitar. I believe I got it for Christmas. I ended up trading it in for a Squier telecaster, and after that got my G & L telecaster that I have now.
And do you still have it?
My dad still has one of the first guitars we ever had in our house. He’s a visual artist, so he’s drawn and painted all over it.
Do you still play the viola?
Badly! I have my viola from high school and college still. She’s massive. I played her on my song “Dream Closely” but not very well. More like dreamy, atmospheric sounds drenched in reverb. I still have all the sheet music I ever played, and every now and then think I’ll attempt to practice, but I don’t. My understanding of keys and accidentals is based on my viola fingerboard and strings.
What was your first performance at 12 like?
I was shaking. My friend and guitar teacher Rob Caldwell hosted a community open mic night at the rec center. It was in the gym, he brought the PA. He really encouraged me to perform even though I was terrified. I played three songs, two Jewel covers and one old tune called “Believe” that I played lead on and another kid from school played bass on, and my dad videotaped it. My brother taped over the performance a few weeks later when he and his best friend were filming their back-yard dinosaur bone excavation.
You have toured with the likes of PVRIS and Lights. What did they teach you about the music industry?
Everything begins and ends with you: your ideas, your labor, your ability to show up, your health, your sense of balance in your life.
Tell me about your new album “You Don’t Have to Go Home, But You Can’t Stay Here”?
This is my second album. It’s raw, fun, vulnerable and dreamy. It’s about night time, dancing, drinking, denial, truth, admission, guilt, love, seeking happiness and strength.
How did you come up with that title? Was it The Oak Ridge Boys (You Don’t Have to Go Home (But You Can’t Stay Here)) or Semisonic (Closing Time)?
A friend of mine and I were brainstorming names while listening to early mixes of the album. He helped me name my first album too (Past Lives and Paychecks). We were spit balling things that you hear a lot when you’re drinking a lot. We landed on the thing a lot of bartenders or party hosts will say when they are closing up: “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!” It felt totally right.
What is your favorite track on the album?
I don’t have a favorite, they all mean something really special to me!
Digital vs. vinyl?
Both for sure. Digitally, Bandcamp, Apple and Tidal over Spotify because they stream hi-fi lossless files and not mp3s.
How do you feel about how the Me-Too Movement has helped female performers?
The Me-Too movement has made it possible for sexual abuse and harassment survivors to speak up and not be completely invisible or silenced. That said, there is still a ton of bad behavior and it’s everyone’s responsibility—not just survivors’—to call it out and remedy the situation. Abuse and harassment are blatant compared to the sort of behaviors that are precursors to that, such as coercion, gaslighting and lying. Those behaviors are also not okay and require confrontation.
On International Women’s Day you posted a video by Delia Derbyshire, why?
Because she’s awesome!! Womxn have been at the forefront of computers and electronic music since their beginnings, but the histories have been co-opted by white men who realized the value of these disciplines. It’s just sort of how things have gone this era. So, to remind anyone that people like Delia existed is to remind people that not everything is as it seems, and sometimes you have to do your own historical research to understand the whole picture.
You were on tour with Donny Benet at the time the virus hit the world. Tell me what that time was like for you?
It was surreal, didn’t seem to be real, and was really only ramping up as we were beginning to wrap up. So, it didn’t affect that tour specifically. However, Donny had to cancel his next tour (Europe, in support of his album that had just come out), and my friends Bad Bad Hats were in the middle of a US tour when things got bad in the US, and they had to cut it short and go home. They said that was scary.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
A lot of cooking, working on music and visual stuff, and writing.
How do you see yourself in the next five years?
I’d like to be the mother to a very cute dog or two. I’d like to make a few albums in that time, and hopefully tours will be able to happen. If not, I’ll find a way to reach the people who need the music.
Anything you would like to say in closing?
God is love, Black Lives Matter, spread love!
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