Many of you may or may not be aware of the band Carriage as they were only together for a short period of time. However their combination of eerie metal ideas through their music and branding struck a chord with many! Mike from the band caught up thenwothm.com to give us an insight into the band as to whether the group will ever return!

THE NWOTHM: Hey there Carriage thanks for agreeing to this interview with Thenwothm.com! Can you introduce us to who was in the band and where you guys were based?

Carriage: Hello and cheers from Carriage! Thank you for reaching out to us for the interview. It is our pleasure. Carriage is from Hampton Roads, VA, which is made up of seven different cities. Portsmouth is one of those cities and is where the majority of us lived at the time we formed in 2015. Though two of us were living in Virginia Beach at the time. Carriage is made up of five members: Robbie Rainey (vocals); Myself, Mike Martin (guitars); River Ashberry (guitars); “Tombstone” Steve Ross (bass); and Randy Ashberry (drums).

THE NWOTHM: How was name Carriage chosen and can you tell us a bit more about its background?

Carriage: The name “Carriage” came about in a pretty random way. Robbie and I (Mike) were in another band at the time, an old school style thrash metal band called Possessor. We were at our drummer’s house for practice one afternoon near Halloween and he had an inflatable Halloween decoration of a horse drawn carriage, with a skeleton or something if I remember correctly. Robbie and I were talking about getting another musical project together for a little while and we hadn’t come up with a name yet. We knew we wanted it to be in the vein of Mercyful Fate, Savatage, etc. So, while we were waiting outside for our drummer to show up, we were rattling off some name ideas. I looked over and noticed the carriage decoration and thought: “What about Carriage”. Robbie loved it and it just stuck. So, I went home and drew up our logo, showed to the other guys and they loved it as well. That was that Carriage found its name. Anticlimactic, I know.

THE NWOTHM: How did you decide on the initial direction of your sound and how did you develop over the time you were together?

Carriage: Robbie and I had discussed a project in this style for a long time. We had discussed it on multiple occasions while on the road and at practice. Then when things started to slow down for Possessor, we finally pulled the trigger and started calling the people we knew had to be involved with this project.

THE NWOTHM: The band was active from October 2015 to 2018 and in that time period you released the album ‘Visions.’ Can you tell us more about the album and how the tracks came about?

Carriage: We all have a diverse taste in music and different backgrounds. All of us are from previous projects, we are all lifelong musicians and have been around the block, so we knew what we wanted in a band and an album. All of us have a strong love for traditional heavy metal. So, we just started writing and didn’t make any rules up beforehand. We have obvious influences, and that definitely comes through on the album, but we didn’t make any blueprints or molds, just started writing, jamming, and seeing what came out naturally. The result ended up being our first full length album “Visions”. 

THE NWOTHM: Do you have a favourite track from the album and why?

Carriage: I really love to play the instrumental track “The Owl” live. It’s a great one, but as far as a favourite track overall I’d have to say it’s a toss-up between “Primal Ritual” and “Medusa’s Stare”. Those two tracks always remind me of when we first started Carriage. They weren’t the first songs we wrote, but they were two songs that really made me aware of the crazy chemistry we all had together while writing. It always came so easily when we would get together. River started playing a riff he had been working on, then as soon as he stopped playing, Robbie yelled for him to keep playing it while he quickly started writing down lyrics as Randy, Steve and I joined in. Then before you know it Medusa’s Stare was framed out. It really felt natural and smooth. That’s what those songs remind me of and why they are two of my favourites.  

THE NWOTHM: You mention online that you are in the vein of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond! If you had the opportunity to step up on stage with the king Diamond and play a song which one would it be?

Carriage: It would be hard to narrow that down to just one song between all of us. Some strong contenders would be Charon, A Mansion in Darkness or The Trial.

THE NWOTHM: The artwork for the ‘Visions’ album is somewhat rather eerie which is a clear reflection of the bands music. Can you tell us more about it and who did the artwork?

Carriage:The artwork was done by the incredible Mario Lopez! We had the pleasure of working with him on a few of the Possessor album covers and other designs through the years, and he is the absolute best! I honestly can’t say enough good things about our friend and favourite artist. I highly recommend him to anyone who is looking to buy high quality custom art for their projects. The title of the album was chosen because all our songs are kind of mini stories being told, and we imagined it as individual visions from a scary old blind witch woman with a crystal ball. Which is where the album art idea came from obviously.

THE NWOTHM: You also featured on The Masters of Metal compilation! Can you tell us how that came about?

Carriage: I can’t recall the exact details of how we ended up on that compilation. I believe that the folks at Divebomb Records had heard of Possessor and saw that Robbie and I had started a new project. Then they must have approached us about it. That, or they may have heard about Carriage from another band they have worked with. Sorry – it’s been a while. It was a great compilation series, and those guys were great to work with!

THE NWOTHM: You released a single in 2018 called ‘Trick or Treat’ which was a Fastway Cover.  Can you tell us why you decided to do a cover of this song?

Carriage: Because “Trick or Treat” rules and Sammi Curr is the man! NO WIMPS. NO FALSE METAL. 

THE NWOTHM: Did you have any shows that were a particular highlight of your career?

Carriage: We had the pleasure of sharing the stage with a bunch of great bands over the few short years we were active. Anvil, Armored Saint, Flotsam and Jetsam, Helstar, Hatchet and Night Demon to name a few. All amazing, but our “Visions” album release show at the now closed “Shaka’s” in Virginia Beach was a great one! We had our full stage show and props setup and played the full album and the cover of “Trick or Treat”. Probably one of our greatest shows.    

THE NWOTHM: While together were you working on any other music that was not released post ‘Visions’?

Carriage: Maybe… There are always riffs, lyrics and song ideas left on the cutting room floor. You never know what may or may not pop up in the future.

THE NWOTHM: Since 2018 the band has been inactive! With such awesome music what led to the band stopping and will we see Carriage return?

Carriage: All of us in Carriage really love the project and we all really enjoyed making the music we released. There isn’t one specific reason why we haven’t been producing anymore music over the past few years, it’s just a bunch of different reasons really. As anyone reading this that has ever been in a band would know and have experienced, life just happens. It’s sometimes really difficult to keep five guys together and a project like Carriage moving forward constantly at certain points in life. Everyone in the band is on great terms and we are all still very close. Though I can’t say for certain,  I don’t think the world has heard the last of Carriage…

THE NWOTHM: Where can people find you online/buy your merch?

Carriage:We do not currently have any merch for sale online. However, if anyone wants to purchase a CD or Vinyl record of our album they can contact us directly on our Facebook page or go through Stormspell Record’s Big Cartel page. Both links are listed below: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarriageBand/

Stormspell Records: https://stormspell.bigcartel.com/product/carriage-visions-cd

Bandcamp: https://carriageband.bandcamp.com/album/visions

THE NWOTHM: Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

Carriage: Like most, if not all musicians, music is an integral part of all our lives. We all love the band and our chemistry while writing and playing together is unlike any project we have been a part of. I feel comfortable speaking for everyone here. Besides the birth of my beautiful daughter, October Selene, last year, Carriage is the best thing I have ever helped create. We are all very proud of the music we have made together over the years, and I want to say a sincere thank you to all of our fans, anyone reading this article, and anyone who takes some time out of their day to give us a listen.  Cheers and much love from Carriage!