INTERVIEW WITH RICH CIANFRINI OF CARL CUNNINGHAM
by J. Tagmire

I called Rich Cianfrini to set this up while he was middle of feeding his turtles, and I don't think I've ever heard anybody so excited. From that point on I knew this was going to be a really fun interview. 

Rich is the singer/guitarist of Carl Cunningham. Since Rich plays acoustic guitar and sings, most listeners will probably assume his name is Carl Cunningham and Zack Bates, Kerry Mahoney and Brian Meitz are just his back up band. But they would be wrong. Neither Rich or Carl Cunningham is just another singer/songwriter. But I'm sure he'd go right along with it if you called him Carl.

Carl Cunningham's first CD "Life Ruiner" was a fun (not goofy fun, more like Lemonhead-y fun) record that went from soft and distant (Fake A Smile) to upbeat and poppy (Bangs 11) and back again. With their newly recorded, not yet released EP "My Brother Randall", things have taken a darker side. The seriousness that was in the background before is taking a larger role.  

How did Carl Cunningham start? 

Carl Cunningham started 2 years ago when Zack recorded the first song I had ever written on my own. Demos escalated and Brian started playing on a weathered drum set and overall we were probably the most grimy sounding band ever. At this point I was very happy with just having a bunch of fun playing songs we were making up. We started to have enough songs for an LP. We recorded it with our own money and we wanted really good quality so we drove a few miles for a few hours over to the Gradwell House with Dave Downham. He took care of us and made our record sound cool and made us sound really great on the new one. Kerry began playing bass with us shortly after the first record and continues to have the best stance while playing a bass ever. I kind of always thought that if you make a few people happy by doing this it is worth doing. I'm sure if someone really hates us they might disagree.

Who are your influences as a singer? As a guitarist? And as a songwriter? 

My influence as a singer is myself. I always just sang along to all the songs I listened to ever and thought I sounded great so I've just kind of been motivated about that. 
 
Zack, Brian, and Kerry influence me most on guitar. they are all really good. I don't think Kerry owns a bass but everytime we come up with a new song he writes really awesome parts. He also loves snow. 
 
As a songwriter I was first influenced and told I could do it by Brian Meitz. He sent me a bunch of mp3s that he had written and recorded on his computer. The songs were really catchy and sounded awesome and I wanted to make my own song. I've always wanted to but I never had the courage to buy a guitar and hearing that he made his own songs at like 2 am on week nights made me want to do something better with my 2 am weeknights when I was just sitting up. So I started writing. Thom Yorke is the best, I really think he's pretty good. I just want to write like that but my version wouldn't be good. Bob Dylan was good at writing songs and he's really old and still does it. If I am in my 60's and still kicking ass and shit I'm going to be excited. I really like Ween a lot but sometimes they can be difficult to listen to because their songs aren't weird. 

What do you think in your childhood, led you to playing in a band? 

Being around people who played in bands. Being in Throatpunch. Being abducted was pretty weird. 

Other than music, what are some of your interests and hobbies? 

I love to skateboard, I hope to do that again some day. I think I was in love once. I want to have that again before I die. I enjoy movies and photographs. Like when I took a picture of an old pier and then went to print it and it turned out to be something really nice and I was very happy and content. But maybe it should have never happened and one split second could have changed that. Like if I didn't stop at the gas station to get gasoline for my car or if I would have crashed my car that day instead of in November. 

How do you feel about your first album "Life Ruiner"? Do you ever listen to it? Is there anything you would change? 

It was exciting. I wouldn't change anything, it just kind of happened. If you look at it as kind of immature and crappy then it's pretty perfect. I'll always be critical about how my parts sound and if I made something flawed. I think My Brother Randall is neat compared to Life Ruiner. I love both names to the albums. I think they are nice. People have been misconceiving the meaning behind Life Ruiner's title. It was something a friend once said to me a long time ago and it has nothing to do with me personally and I think that is fair because we are a rock band. 

From what I've heard your newest songs sound like you guys are taking more risks. How would you describe your newer sound? 

The newer sound is pretty raw. A little bit country and a little bit rock and roll yeah. The new stuff was recorded in as few takes as possible to conserve money and time. The acoustic song was done in 1 or 2 takes and it felt pretty perfect at the time. Dave got really weird with microphones and pulled his hair behind his ears a few times. We are just 4 hilarious dudes making outrageous music. There are a few songs on there that shouldn't even be songs and I just hope people will realize that and enjoy it. Don't take yourself too seriously... laugh when someone sings the word poop. There are songs that should be songs and I hope that will hold peoples attention when they first listen to the new record. Vocals, acoustic guitar, drums, and some scratch electric guitar were all recorded live. Then multiple electric guitar tracks were added and bass was also overdubbed. 

Do you actually have a brother named Randall? Is that song based on any truth? 

I don't have a brother named Randall. It is based on a story an old man told me when I was visiting my uncles wife's cousin in Buffalo, New York. We was sitting on this bench and the old man went off about his brother Randall and his usage of horse. When he was telling the story I felt my insides being sad (mostly my heart and shit). I guess there is some truth in this song if this whole story is true. He eventually died and that's where the lines "all I wanna see is what you see when you don't see and all i wanna know is where you go when you go". That is what the old man cried to me. It's really sad because this guy was really hurt by this whole situation, I think he might have been making it up. He might have just been loony. Buffalo was cool though. I had some wings and met my hero Jim Kelly. 

Which song would you like Carl Cunningham to be remembered by? 

At this point I don't know if we'll be remembered at all by anyone but if we could have one hit I guess I would have to say A Church By The Train or I Just Want You To Shut Up.

With Zack now in Boston, where do you see Carl Cunningham in the near future? 

Hopefully we will play a show in Boston. One or two shows and put out My Brother Randall before Christmas would be perfect for me. If I get any opportunities I will try and write some songs that sound good solo and sing them somewhere. Demo some new songs and send the files to Zack so he can shred a lead to it. Or we could just break up the band.