Photo by Egan Parks
Curt Kiser is a lifer—which feels funny to say about someone in his early 30s, but it fits. The Cincinnati-based singer/songwriter has been a working musician since middle school, first as a founding member of Enlou and later with the locally beloved, nationally ambitious band Pomegranates. Over a decade ago, he began writing, recording, and releasing music as Carriers, steadily building a presence both in Cincinnati and throughout the Midwest by landing opening slots for artists he admired. All the while, he kept service industry jobs—waiting tables, working at Whole Foods—to support a passion that’s famously unforgiving in its reward-to-effort ratio.
These days, when he’s not hopping in his minivan to play shows across the country while promoting his second full-length album, Every Time I Feel Afraid, Kiser can still be found delivering daily specials and refilling water glasses at a farm-to-table restaurant in a historic part of Cincinnati.
His big break came—ironically—while working at a pizza stand inside the Cincinnati Zoo, where he happened to meet The National’s drummer, Bryan Devendorf, who was there with his kids. A friendship sparked, advice was exchanged, and Devendorf soon began contributing guest appearances to Carriers songs. Kiser has told the story before, and shared a version of it again during our conversation: while on tour with The National in France, Devendorf played the band Carriers’ track “Be the One.” The band liked it enough to use it as their walk-on music shortly afterward, and that moment helped put Carriers on the radar of Brassland Records, the label run by writer Alec Hanley Bemis and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner.
In a rare reversal of my usual process, I saw Carriers live recently and met Kiser at the merch table before we had a chance to hook up for an official, on-the-record chat. Typically, interviews come first. But walking into the show with no background gave me the chance to experience the music with fresh ears—and ultimately opened up a different kind of conversation when we connected over Zoom a few weeks later. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Carriers, as I explained to Kiser at the top of our call.
The first time I saw Carriers was opening for Band of Horses at Bogarts in Cincinnati in 2023.
CURT: I played with them there last year also. The show you were at, that’s how I met them. I’ve been a fan of Band of Horses since high school and listened to so much of their music. Their drummer Creighton Barrett came up and was talking to me before the show, saying he was happy I was on the bill and he was excited to watch my set. I didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized he was in Band of Horses.
I’ve played Bogart’s a handful of times now, but at that point, I think it was my first time. Walking up from backstage to the stage, there was this rush of energy. It was truly special.
The show went really well. It was a huge crowd for Band of Horses, and our fans really showed up too because they were stoked to see us on such a big show. I got back to the green room after that, put my merch away, and everyone from Band of Horses was still there. They were like, “Dude, you were so fucking good!” They told me to sit down and were like, “You should go on the road with us sometime. You guys were super good. You do the heady shit.” They asked if I knew certain artists, and I mentioned Sam Evian. They said, “Oh, we knew you loved Sam Evian. We knew you loved Cass McCombs.” It was cool. And then Ben, the singer, told me, “If you ever need anyone to play your music with you, these guys are the best I know. They’ll play your music with you.”
Months later, I saw they were touring, so I texted the drummer, “Hey Creighton, hope you’re doing well, man. I saw you guys were going on the road. It would be amazing to be support for you anytime.” He replied, “Curt, so good to hear from you. I’m going to put the goddamn word in.” Their manager reached out a week later and offered us shows. It was so cool. We ended up doing a bunch of them. That was such a fun tour. Those guys ended up being my backing band for some of the shows on my last song, “Motion”.
You’ve played shows with Band of Horses and the Fruit Bats. Have you done any touring with other artists?
CURT: Yeah, I’ve gotten to open for a lot of artists. When Carriers first started, I sent the first album I was working on to Dan McCabe, who ran Woodward Theater and the Midpoint Music Fest in Cincinnati. He was excited to hear it. He sent it to Big Thief’s management, and they said, “Oh, we love this. We’d love to have him open.” Then I did some shows with Damien Jurado, and a couple of shows with Kyle Craft, who was on SubPop.
For years, I’ve been the person people reach out to when they come through Cincinnati or nearby. I had a lot happening right before the pandemic. I’d just done a big week-long tour with this cool band from Nashville called Sunseeker and a band called Duncan Fellows from Austin.
I love any opportunity to go on the road when it makes sense. I have a whole list of all the artists I’ve played with, like Heartless Bastards. I love Erika Wennerstrom; she’s great. She invited me to play a couple of shows. I have a couple of dates coming up with artists I really love. We just announced a couple of dates with Phosphorescent. We’re doing Columbus and Indy. It could have potentially been more, but they were all long bus drives. I have my Honda Odyssey. Do I drive to Denver after Indy? I don’t know.
When I saw you live last month, you talked about how you wait tables and how you’ve been doing that for 18 years. You also talked about working at Whole Foods. I appreciate the honesty. I often wonder how bands like yours can make ends meet. It’s like, “Do I give up working a day job for a few weeks to go out on tour and potentially lose money?”
CURT: Yeah, I mean, I’m down to do it, but it’s hard to get a band to do it. I’m actually going to try to pay the band extra, hopefully from merch sales. I know I’ve never really made much money, but I have to kind of pay for it all. I do everything. I write all the music, and it’s my thing. So I don’t expect them to pay for the practice space or something. I pay for all the gas, I drive my vehicle. I try to get meals covered and find us a place to stay. It was easier in our twenties. I’m like, “Shit, I’m doing the same stuff years later.”
When I toured with Band of Horses, I opened some of those shows solo, and some with a band. In Toronto, Fort Wayne, and Fargo, I was solo other than when their guitarist, Brett Nash, would join me on some songs. In Toronto, on my second song, I was up there and said, “It’s really great to be here. If I was in Cincinnati, I’d be serving tables right now. ‘My name is Curt, I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get for you?’” At a show like that, I just felt like I was waiting on a big ass table.
Were the audiences good to you on those shows?
CURT: Oh my God, yeah. We sold tons of merch each night and made a bunch of fans. I was an idiot; I should have had an email list out. Honestly, for those shows, I was focused on making sure the Band of Horses guys had the songs down that they were going to join me on stage and play..
I saw them on that tour at The Bluestone in Columbus, and Ally Evenson opened. I can’t think of a time I’ve been more embarrassed about an audience than at that show. I was feet away from her and could barely hear her. The place was packed, and nobody was paying attention. Everyone was talking.
CURT: I’m really grateful. People have always said they feel like I’m the same person as I am on stage. I have years and years of experience talking to a room. I don’t necessarily have great banter or anything; I’m just real. I feel like I can command attention just by my songs, they kind of capture people’s attention right away.
But I definitely also have experiences. I played a show with my buddy, Michael Marcagi, who blew up – he’s a big deal, out with The Lumineers now.It was a Bogart’s show and I was opening solo. People were into it, but that’s a TikTok crowd, you know what I mean? They’re so loud.
I went to go see my buddy Dave from The War on Drugs, who played on my new record. He got me into his show in Chicago at the Aragon Theater. It was The War on Drugs, and then The Building, which is Anthony, The War on Drugs guitarist’s beautiful project. My friends, Alex and Ashley, and I went to that show, and people were so loud during Anthony’s set. I was like, “You’re being so loud,” maybe they were even booing, or just Budweiser bros being loud. I’m like, “You came to this. You guys are being assholes. He’s pouring his heart out.” It sucks when people are loud during a show.
I’ve seen people handle it differently. I remember one time, at that show we played with Adrienne from Big Thief, she addressed the crowd. They were playing as three piece. Buck had to leave for some reason, maybe a family emergency or something. She was like, “We’re trying to play a bunch of new songs tonight.” It was their U.F.O.F. album. She was like, “There are so many places in this city right now where music is not happening, and you can go to any of those places and talk.” I think the people who were being loud were in a local band. They were stoked, but they were in the front row and being stupid loud. I was like, “Y’all, she’s right. Stop talking. Go to the back or step outside or something.” It’s a weird thing.
I read an interview you did where you talked about running into the bathroom while at work to check a text you had gotten from someone from The National. Doing the service jobs you’ve done, do the people you work generally know you’re a musician?
CURT: A lot of them do. That job at Pleasantry that I was working at when I had to run to the bathroom, that was when Bryan Devendorf from The National texted me saying, “I think you should work with [record label] Brassland. They really want to work with you.” Dan, the owner of Pleasantry, when I went in for my interview, I thought it was going to be too bougie of a spot because I didn’t really know the wine world well. I’ve worked at plenty of restaurants, but this seemed a little upscale—wine and farm-to-table stuff. But he was like, after the interview, “I’ve seen you on stage a lot through the years, and I would love to have you work here. You can go on tour when you need to.” Before I popped in for the interview, he was playing my music, showing everyone in the restaurant who I was.
So there are a lot of situations like that. One of the jobs I have right now, the chef is a big fan, and the manager’s a fan. So it’s nice. I’m sure whenever I have to tell them, “Hey, I have a show in two weeks I just got added to. Sorry,” they’re excited, but they’re also like, “Damn, we’ve got to figure something out. We’ve got to find someone else to work that shift.” But I think overall, because I’ve been doing it so long, I have a reputation in the city for music and for waiting on people.
The first time I got a text that I was added to this Damien Jurado show, I was helping someone find hot sauce at Whole Foods. I saw the email from Dan McCabe. I was like, “Oh, shit! Yes!” Then I was like, “Oh, sorry. Yeah, the hot sauce is right over here.” I kind of live on my phone so much because every single Carriers opportunity is kind of right here. A lot of times I’ll get on a tour because I saw the opportunity pop up on the ‘Gram and either I’ll do it or I’ll get my manager, or my label, or my agent to hit those people up in a DM or something. That stuff happens so quickly and a lot of people think, “I’ll just wait to do it later.” If you wait until later, the opportunity may be gone.
It’s annoying and stupid that I have to be on my phone so much for social media and shit in general. It’s such a frustrating necessity. Making a post takes so much time sometimes because you have to figure out “What photos am I going to share? What am I going to say? Who do I need to tag in this? Oh, wait! If I do this, I have to announce this thing as well.” Then I do it, and my phone glitches, and I lose it unless I put it into Notes. Then I have the caption ready, and then I have a draft ready. But say you try to post the draft, and then all of a sudden it fails. And then that draft disappears, and then I’m like, “Okay, I’m just not going to do it,” or “I’ll do it later on break.” Or, if I’m at work, I’ll run to the bathroom and try to do it quickly. It’s so stupid.
Are the drums on the first couple of songs on the album, like “In My Head” and “Motion,” real drums?
CURT: No, most of the drums on “In My Head” aren’t real. That’s the thing about this record in general. These were just my demos that I would make with a Logic beat and then play guitar, bass, and sing. I had no intention to put these out until Brassland was like, “We want to put your versions out.” There is a kick and a snare on “In My Head” that’s real, and that was from Chad, my buddy, who mixed the record. I brought him in on The National record that I worked on. When we were tracking drums for The National record, we had just a loose kick and snare from Bryan, and we put that into the chorus of “In My Head” to kind of give it this lift.
“Motion” is a mixture. There is a drum machine that you heard when you saw us live but it’s Devendorf playing real drums on that on the record. “Sometimes” has real drums. “Every Time I Feel Afraid” has a drum machine beat.
The start of “In My Head” made me think of Steely Dan. And the beginning of “Motion” reminded me of the Weeknd song “Blinded By the Light” that, to me, sounds like Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks.” And it even reminded me of a-Ha’s “Take On Me.” I’m glad you let Brassland release songs that you only thought of as demos.
CURT: They were just my personal recordings. I loved them, and I’ve listened to them a lot, and have spent a very emotional journey with a lot of them. But “In My Head,” I recorded that really late one night after getting home from a bar. My partner and I were trying to figure out if we were going to be in this relationship together. We are two and a half years later, but that song was written during the early stage. That was a song I sent her that I wrote on bass and sang. I did it all in a few hours and never touched it again. Years later, as the journey with Brassland started, they were like, “We love this. Can we put this out?” I was like, “Should I do anything to it?” They said, “Maybe we’ll just have a little bit of clarity added to the mix.” My buddy, Chad Walbrink, he’s worked on a lot of great records, and he lives here in town, we would just work on those mixes together at his house. I loved how he was able to take my pre-mix and make it sound even more pro. I’m really happy with how the whole album turned out.
When Brassland said they wanted to put out your stuff, were you like, “I have all these songs that I have been storing away over the years in a drawer,” or did you have a batch of songs that were recorded around the same time that you weren’t sure what to do with? Did you send Brassland a whole bunch of songs and they picked the ones that would be on the album?
CURT: The National used the song “Be the One” as walk-on music in France. That was a situation where I got in trouble at work for being on my phone. Bryan was asking if he could show the band that morning in France the song “Be the One.” I was like, “Of course.” My boss said, “We saw you on your phone.” That’s the song that really started the whole Brassland thing. Once Brassland heard that, they were like, “Do you have more songs? Would you want to put out an EP with us?” I said, “Oh yeah, I’ve got a lot.” Then Bryan called me when I was at Pleasantry, my other job, working later that week at night. He was like, “Hey, they really want to work with you. I told them you’ve got demos for days. This is a killer opportunity. You should do it.”
They asked if I had songs in the vein of “Be the One,” and I was like, “I write all kinds of songs.” I sent them eight songs, I think. They were like, “These are great!”
It was going to be an EP. When I told Dave from The War on Drugs that I was about to send the songs off to Brassland, he said, “Don’t call it an EP. Call it an album.” He said The War on Drugs had put out his favorite record, The Future Weather, which was album length but they called it an EP because it had a shorter amount of songs. Then he played on a Sharon Van Etten record around the same time and hers was shorter than theirs but she called it an album. She got all sorts of attention for the album while The War on Drugs got none for their EP. So, Dave said, “Make sure you call it an album.” I thought an eight-song album felt weird but I understood. And then my partner was like, “Ask Brassland if you can add more songs.” That’s when we added “Sometimes,” the Sharon Van Etten cover (“Every Time the Sun Comes Up”), and “Mixed Emotions.”
“In My Head,” “Share Some Wine,” and “Be the One” were all recorded in my little bedroom, with a single mic, a little MIDI keyboard, and a Logic beat, basically. Then “Motion” and “Blurry Eyes” were recorded during the pandemic. That’s when Dave reached out to me and asked if I had any songs for him to play on. I sent him some songs and told them they were just demos, not knowing that Brassland would want to use the demos for the album.
“Mixed Emotion” was about the crazy week that you’ve probably read about (Kiser and his partner were in the van Carriers uses to tour when they were hit by a drunk driver who wound up assaulting them. A few days later, Carriers rented a van to go to Chicago to play a show. While at dinner in Chicago, their van was broken into and their gear was stolen.) It was about that experience of all that.“Every Time I Feel Afraid” was from that time as well.
These songs were written over a few years. I actually had a whole other album I was going to release.
Oh, really?
CURT: That’s going to be the third album now. I’ve had several “album threes” that I end up not putting out. The Brassland thing definitely put a lot on hold. But, I’m glad these songs are out, and I’m glad that people are connecting with them, because to me, I’m like, “These are still just demos.” I don’t really have much of my music out. I’ve written so many songs, but I’ve only put a few out. I could just upload them all and put all my demos out. There’s something about I love the recording process, and I love sharing something I’m really happy about. There’s something to stewarding the process in that way, because once it’s out, it’s out there forever, and that’s cool. I love that.
I have the next few albums kind of mapped out, ready to go. The next one’s going to be more of a rock album. These songs are some of the ones that you saw me play, like “Laurel Park.” There’s just higher energy tunes. The album after that’s going to be a chill folk-rock record.
I don’t think of “Mixed Emotions” as a radio hit, but that’s one of my favorites. It’s like listening to Tom Petty cover Mazzy Star while sitting on the back porch as the sun dips below the horizon in the early evening hours.
CURT: I love that song. Brassland was like, “The problem is almost every song could be a single.” Brassland’s whole thing was that they wanted to introduce me to their audience, and get the songs heard in a bigger way than they’ve been heard before. And I would say it paid off. Those songs have been played on the radio. KCRW’s played them, KXP’s played them, XPN has played them. “Sometimes” was added to World Cafe right away. CBC’s played “Blurry Eyes.” I was really surprised, honestly. And then almost all of the songs got playlisted.
With my next album, I only want to put out a few singles rather than try to get as many songs from the album heard as possible. And maybe I’ll do an album where I don’t put out any singles.
Because of “the algorithm,” lots of bands may put out 75% of the songs from their album before it’s released just to get on as many playlists as possible and get exposure. I was talking with Elijah Johnston recently and he said it’s like watching a movie trailer that gives away all of the movie to the point where he doesn’t need to see the whole thing.
CURT: Exactly. I really wanted “Mixed Emotions” to be the single. Brassland was like, “It’s kind of a long song.” KCRW asked for a radio edit to make it shorter so we ended up doing that. It’s annoying I have to do that because I want “Mixed Emotions” to be heard but because of Spotify and DSPs, you have one chance for those songs to get on a “new music” playlist. It’s sad that because of that you have to make a lot of decisions about what songs are put out.
I’m grateful for a lot, but a lot of it’s also really annoying. I make music. I want people to hear the songs. I’m not gonna do any pay-to-play shit. I’ve had a lot of people reach out and say, “I really love this song,” and then say, “I can do this plan to get you streams on Spotify.” Even if I do that, it doesn’t even matter. It’s optics. It’s all stupid that that’s remotely even a thing that people look at, like, “How many streams do they have?” Artists might have a hundred monthly listeners or they might have thousands of monthly listeners but that doesn’t mean anyone’s going to their shows. And for someone that’s been playing shows for half my life, it’s a strange thing to compete with. I think there’s a hundred thousand songs a day being put out. It was like thirty thousand songs a day being put out years ago. Now it’s a hundred thousand. So the fact that any of it cuts through means a lot. I’m really grateful for that. I’m grateful for my distro that’s working stuff and getting on some playlists. I just want the music to be heard. I don’t really care how it’s heard. I just want people to hear it. I’d rather have active listeners than passive listeners. I think one of the stats that I actually appreciate is Shazam. That’s how you can tell—because people are hearing it on those passive playlists and they’re like, “What’s this?” I’ve had a lot of Shazams from this album.
In the pre-Shazam days, I’d have to hope to catch a lyric or chorus, write it down, and then Google it when I had the chance. That’s actually how I discovered Phosphorescent. Whatever song it was that I heard, it sounded familiar. I was guessing it was by Pearl Jam or Bruce Springsteen or U2.
CURT: I am so excited for this Phosphorescent tour because I got the Pride CD from the library, and then I bought a copy, and it lived in my car for so long. It’s a really beautiful album. The song “Wolves” is so good. His new album Revelator is so good too. There’s artists like that and Cass McCombs that, while they’re not massive, they have careers. They record, they tour when they want to, they probably don’t have to work day jobs and it’s a sustainable thing. That’s why I love playing with artists like that. It’s like, “Oh, you’re a lifer.”
A lot of my songs, I can imagine playing them in huge places. But I also love really intimate shows. I just want my career to be sustainable. That’s the biggest thing for me.
I heard Paul Simon say that the bands that you listened to when you were young, like in your pre-teens or maybe into your teen years, are the ones that will stick with you for the rest of your life. You will find other favorite bands as you grow older but there will be certain feelings attached to those bands you listened to in your formative years. What bands are those for you?
CURT: That’s a cool question, because sometimes when people ask me “What are your influences?” I’ll say, “God, there’s so many. There’s so many records.” Sometimes I don’t listen to a lot of music. Sometimes I listen to a ton. The two I think of to answer your question are Snow Patrol and Arcade Fire’s Funeral. When I was a kid, after soccer practice one day there was this cool kid that was smoking cigarettes in his car. He was like, “You play music. Come here and check this out.” He played me Funeral and I was like, “Whoa!”
There are bands like Sigur Rós that were really amazing to me when I was a teenager.I probably heard Flaming Lips around that time. Also heard The Smiths and Brand New. I was into pop-punk kind of stuff. If I’m being honest, in middle school it was Snow Patrol and Coldplay. My sister had their CDs. Those are the ones I remember listening to. Also Peter, Bjorn and John, when I was a little older. I still remember driving to get that CD at Best Buy with my buddy after school. I actually told Peter from Peter Bjorn and John that story because I was potentially going to go on tour with them and I’ve kind of built up a relationship with him. We talk a lot online now. And he digs my music too. Band of Horses is a similar thing. I liked them during my formative years and it still hits.
Another one from that time is Keane. “Somewhere Only We Know.” My partner and I were re-watching Grey’s Anatomy. I get kind of tired of it but she really enjoys watching it after work. We’re re-watching the whole thing. The music they had in that was pretty amazing. The episode we watched last night had a National song and a Bon Iver song. They’ve also had Snow Patrol and Feist and Regina Spektor.
I listened to a lot of CDs that my sisters had. Dave Matthews. I think the first song I learned on guitar was a Staind song. “It’s Been a While.” But then I grew up—my dad always had classic rock on, he loved Boston, and he loved Chicago, all the city names and Eagles, and Tom Petty. I think he likes some Springsteen for sure. And yeah, Peter Frampton, you know.
Were you born and raised in Cincinnati?
CURT: My parents were born and raised here. My whole family grew up here right down the street from where I’m at right now in Northside. My sisters grew up here, but my parents moved when they had me. They moved to Lebanon which is 30 minutes north, and so I grew up there. The day I graduated high school I moved back to Cincinnati in 2009.
I think Cincinnati is underrated. There are some great music venues, cool record stores, great bands past and present. There used to be some music and arts publications back in the ‘90s. Are there any now?
CURT: City Beat. Maybe there were some zines back in the day but City Beat was the biggest one. And I was just on the cover of City Beat which is cool. For me, that meant a lot. A band I used to be in, the Pomegranates, were on the cover. Being on the cover as Carriers was a milestone for me, especially now that City Beat is owned by some Cleveland company. There’s a lot fewer pages now but that’s where you went to find out all the information about local shows and other cool shows coming through.
It is really special to have Shake It Records here. It’s next to Blue Jay Diner. I have so many memories of taking a band, the next day after a show, to Blue Jay in the morning and then taking them to Shake It Records and then I’d take them to Mike’s Music. It’s pretty special to have a local record shop that sticks around and can make it and still do well. People like going there. And we have Everybody’s Records, too, which is on the other side of town, but very similar. You know, it’s your classic record store where the only reason people work there is because they love music. They love records. They love sharing a record with someone. And I think it’ll be a sad day when record stores are not around. But hopefully they continue to be around, because there’s nothing quite like it. We obviously can all have too many records or fill up a lot of space. But it’s really special for me. The records that I end up buying and the ones that I’ve listened to so many times, that I’ve streamed so many times. You know, it lived with me on so many drives in my car, and I need to buy this on vinyl. These are records from another formative time, and each season of life has the music that encompasses that whole life experience.
I’m sure you can think of a record that takes you back to what was going on in your life at the time that you first heard it, and the beauty and the tragedy happening around you. I want people to have my music as a thing to go to when they need that kind of comfort, you know. It’s like, “This is safe music to turn on when I need a deep, spiritual healing or just something that feels good that I really enjoy listening to.” There’s nothing extreme about my music, I’m just a songwriter. All my songs have their own vibes and are approachable. I would love my record that, years later, someone picks up off the record shelf and is like, “This is the one I want to listen to.”
A good segue into my last question. Is there a song or album that takes you back to a specific time and place in your life?
CURT: I think it would have to be a high school record. It’s tough, especially now, because you sometimes have to separate the artist from the art. One that comes up a lot for me is Funeral by Arcade Fire. I lived with that record in my car. I think about driving in high school, going to someone’s bonfire, smoking weed for the first time, being with friends, playing music. I was worried, paranoid, and also sort of awakening to life. That record just encapsulated everything I was feeling—it defined that moment for me.
A few years later, The Suburbs was huge for me too. And Neon Bible. There’s just something about those albums—I spent so much time with them. Then there’s Boxer by The National. I think about driving on the highway, really fast, with my buddy Drew. I was terrified, but he knew what he was doing—how to handle rush hour, how to get to Cincinnati. We’d just blast Boxer. Same with Alligator, especially “All the Wine.”
There are a lot of records like that. But those—Arcade Fire and The National—those songs take me right back. If I hear “Laika,” I’m there again. If I hear “Squalor Victoria” or “All the Wine,” same thing. Or something from The Suburbs, “Neighborhood #1,” for example. It all brings me back.
