Congratulations on the release of your new single/video for "Red Carpet"; tell us about your creative process for the song's development overall and what inspired you to write it initially.

Creatively, tapping into the sad emotion is easiest, and it can trigger me to write a beautiful tragedy. “Red Carpet” was inspired by an argument I had with someone; it sucked, I felt bullied and taken advantage of.

Somehow though, I took the high road, and managed to write a song about it. Like the chorus says, “Every time it rains it’s all the same?”

How did the trio that comprised the Casey Smith Project come together? Are your two bandmates based in Alaska as well?

The core of the band currently is Scott Joyce on bass, Derek Haukaas on drums and myself. We have been together for about a year and a half in some form or another.

We all currently reside in Alaska, however, Scott and Derek both live in Anchorage and I live in Fairbanks. I met Scott through his old band, Good Hank when he lived in Fairbanks and Derek joined the band after mixing and mastering our last album, Lose Face.

Our chemistry developed quickly performing live together as Scott and Derek have similar backgrounds in music and a love for jazz.

What about "Red Carpet" sonically made it the right choice as the lead single for your upcoming album "Red Lights and Whiskey", and to shoot a music video for?

I think “Red Carpet” has all the elements I wanted in a single; it’s not overly complicated, there are lots of studio production tricks especially on the vocals, it’s groovy, sexy and it doesn’t follow any one set of rules like verse chorus etc.

“Red Carpet” has delicate acoustic guitar, heavy synths, and pop drums. I think it covers everything that I was shooting for on the new album.

I worked with Landsick Media for the music video, and they are just so fun and easy to trust. I pretty much let them run with their vision for the video and we had a blast making it.

Speaking of the upcoming album, what can you tell us about it? How many songs will be featured, and was it all self-produced and written?

There are eight tracks on the new album, “Red Lights and Whiskey”. These songs were written and recorded over a year and a half period during the pandemic at Wattage Studios in Anchorage, Alaska.

We self-produced all of the songs, wrote and arranged them by sharing demos back and forth before going into the studio. Derek Haukaas mastered the songs at Frostline Studios.

How would you say that your surroundings in Alaska, whether it be nature or the people you interact with, inspire the music that you create?

I have always been inspired by bands from the west coast. Bands like Modest Mouse, Built to Spill and Fleet Foxes. You can hear those influences on the new album.

Music from Alaska is primarily blue grass, but there are so many great bands that we love locally like Medium Build, and Matt Hopper & the Roman Candles to name just a few.

Alaska is unbelievably beautiful and pristine. Sonically, those dark winter nights and open blue skies in the summer bring a soft ambient texture to our sound and mood.

Stream and Share “Red Carpet” on Spotify

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