LA based grunge/punk rockers Tarah Who? have just dropped their latest album Supposedly, A Man. Punktuation’s Tracey Moyle has a natter with the girls!
French natives Tarah Carpenter and Coralie Herve are Tarah Who? They embrace influences that span punk, grunge and rock. These women are not afraid of their vulnerability and will never back down from calling out toxic behaviour.
As we all know, many bands took a kicking thanks to the pandemic, but Tarah Who’s new album shows that Carpenter and Herve are back up on their feet and they are firing up and once again fighting back.
Their excellent new LP, ‘Supposedly, A Man,’ gathers together a barrage of singles with frontwoman/guitarist/songwriter Carpenter covering crucial topics. The songs expose her vulnerable side and see her standing up for a new way of thinking. Initially titled, ”ExposeD”, the album’s name change was, according to Tarah, a last-minute decision.
“We kept the original title”ExposeD” on the album cover because every song has a little bit of us exposing an event or a situation or just opening up about something that happened. It’s revealing all those feelings, basically.”
The name change came about in the most unexpected way, as many things in life do.
“I was cooking,” says Tarah, “and I realised that every time I asked Alexa (Android personal assistant) to play a single which was part of an album it would play another song. I was like, ‘Alexa; you’re stupid,’. Then I realised, wait a minute, this is on purpose.”
The realisation of how many artists album names had a title track made Carpenter reconsider their album’s name choice. “I was just curious whether this was something that bands and labels do. I wanted to try it. So when people say, ‘Play Supposedly, A Man,’ it (the streaming service) thinks it’s the album, and then it plays something else (from the same album).”
Tarah Who’s new single and title track, Supposedly, A Man, is the latest lyrical calling, asking us to question the damaging behaviours of a superiority complex. Tarah explains.
“You know the saying, boys will be boys? It’s a phrase that’s used to explain some men’s bad behaviour. ‘It’s ok,’ people say, ‘they’re just ‘being boys’. But really, no. If you educate your children, you don’t have to deal with things like that. The song is about that behaviour.”
Read more about the latest track HERE.
‘Supposedly, a Man‘ comes with a powerful film clip that Carpenter talks about further. “When I was recording the song, I had this vision of an army of women dancing. It was like; this would be so cool. I have a friend, Ayaka Hinokida who happens to be a choreographer. I called her and asked, ‘do you think we can make this happen?’ Because of Covid, we couldn’t have like a tonne of women. So we just called some friends who could sort of dance, and we made that happen.”
The new LP has six of the band’s previously released 2021 singles on the tracklist – each song with its own powerful message. The tracks include Bad Time, which embraces the harrowing topic of the fear of coming forward about sexual harassment. “Something I have never dared to talk about in the past. Something that happened when I was a kid.” says Tarah. Also on the album, Manners, a vulnerable look at Tarah’s relationship with her mother, and Swallow That Pill, which covers harassment in the workplace.
Amongst the tracks, Carpenter has also added an extended version of one of the band’s older songs, Little Pieces, which was originally released on the EP Half Middle Child Syndrome. Tarah explains why they decided to include a previously released song.
“I wroteLittle Pieces to be cheesy pop-rock. Within one year, I experienced a series of events that I was like, ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ My house got robbed twice, and I got roofied. I was like, ‘what else?’, you know?
“So, the song is kind of like my little black book. A few other things happened during Covid, so we added those into the song too and suddenly we had an extended version of ‘Little Piece”. When you listen to the song, you’ll see.”
The band’s 2020 punk firecracker of a track, Pantomath, has also been added to the album. The track is very much the bridge between the previous EP 64 Women and this new release.
Tarah Who? have created a batch of songs that all bring up topics we should be discussing, and with parts of the world opening up, the girls are looking forward to touring the album.
“We already have a few dates—one for LA in December and we have just been offered to open for the Stray Cats on October 2nd. We also have dates for the East Coast in April. If nothing closes back up,” Carpenter adds.
You can listen to Supposedly, A Man now on all streaming services.
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Everyone should have a soundtrack playing loudly in the background of their life. I was born moshing to my own beat and have never swayed from my love of music. Spreading my passion through the written word is my soul’s purpose. My punk heart beats loudly with the rhythm of my rock soul. I plan to continue to mosh like no one gives a shit.
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