INTRODUCING: CARMOUFLAGE ROSE
Carmouflage Rose, ordinarily known as Larry, is a Zimbabwe-born, Brisbane-based artist I'd be surprised you hadn’t heard of – or hadn’t at least felt the infectious beat of his unique dancehall pop lingering in your head as you found your way home from a night out, head hanging out the window, vodka lime and the blissful high of the dancefloor clinging to your skin.
Renowned for his timeless debut single ‘Late Nights’ – a track which became ARIA-certified Gold in 2018 and has now streamed over 15 million times – CR continued to effortlessly dominate the industry with each new release that followed, including ‘Wildflowers’ and ‘Let Me Down’, which led up to his first EP, TASTE.
Observant, grounded, and a master of energy, CR returns now with his latest project at full throttle, which for him, probably feels more like first gear as he pursues his ever-expanding potential. A Night With No Moon features ‘Tipsy’, ‘Powerplay’, and his latest single ‘Bittersweet’ – all tracks he says set the overall tone for the EP and showcases his recent experience of mixing ‘emotional responsibility’ with the euphoric yet turbulent vibes of a night out – an intoxicating blend that most of you would know the bittersweet taste of.
Interview by BONNIE HOGAN
Photographs by MACAMI
Bonnie Hogan: ‘Tipsy’ was the first track we heard from you in two years and the first taste of your latest EP A Night With No Moon. Why did you choose to release this song first?
Carmouflage Rose: ‘Tipsy’ set the overall theme of my EP, which is basically just the emotional rollercoaster of being on the dancefloor – some people are tipsy and heartbroken, some people are tipsy and looking for love, some people are tipsy and just having fun with their friends...it was a just good way to start the whole project off.
BH: How would you compare your latest EP to your debut?
CR: When I first released ‘Late Nights’ I hadn’t been in any relationships, I was just wildin’ out, just having a good time, you know? I was literally explaining every single weekend getting wasted with my friends. There was no...there was no responsibility, that’s the best way I can explain it, when I made that track. Listening to ‘Tipsy’, you can tell...I’m going out and having fun still like I was during ‘Late Nights’...but I’ve been in and out of relationships now and got more responsibility – emotional responsibility.
BH: What’s your creative process look like? Natural? Impulsive? Strategic? Planned out?
CR: For me, I don’t actually make music in the studio. I make music every moment of my life. From listening to a conversation, to a car driving by, to noticing people having an argument and trying to decipher that – I have a bad habit of...of feeling everything when someone tells me a story...so if someone comes to me with their problems I often have to tell them, nah don’t tell me, I don't wanna hear it man, because I feel the pain for them and already have so much information I soak up everyday. So when I get to the studio, it’s all ready to make into music immediately.
I make sure that when we go in (to the studio), we have drinks beforehand and the levels and energies are up and no one has to leave to do anything else – I never go during the day, only at night. During the day people’s minds are elsewhere, they have shit to do, other things they’re thinking of, they aren’t music focused. They have a mask on, you know? You wear a mask during the day. Once night comes and we are in the studio, that mask comes off. It creates this...you know when one person opens up, everyone else is like, alright I can too?
BH: Right, kinda like creating this chain of vulnerability?
CR: Yeah! We can really create in that moment because people become more vulnerable and real.
BH: After starting out so strong, so fresh into your career – do you now feel any added pressure when you release music?
CR: I’ll tell you something...I always...Well first of all, people always thought I was this huge artist from America based off ‘Late Nights’, and when they found out I was from Brisbane, they were always like ‘Oh he’s from Brisbane’...I was like, why does the fact I’m from Brisbane change your perception of me, you know? But by that point, they had already said, ‘This guy is the theme song for my weekend, I need him to continue to be that guy for me’. And I knew I could do that for a while, but I couldn’t maintain it. During that phase of ‘Late Nights’, we had so many tours and parties, and it was…a lot. I try now to listen to my head over my heart. When I am writing that party-friendly music, I love it and I can write it, but usually when I do, I am being very egotistical, very prideful – I’m flexing you know? Like ‘Look at me, look what I got, I’m better than you’. That’s the energy that comes with that. Which is the opposite of what I really wanna do – I like bringing people together, connecting people through music. Although...I’m not no innocent guy, I have my moments, sometimes I just wanna say ‘Where’s my roses at, give me my roses!’
BH: What would you say grounds you?
CR: My mum always used to tell me, ‘Today may be for you but tomorrow may be for someone else, so just be there for everybody’. I think it’s funny that I’m the guy that took off from Brisbane, because I was spending so much time being there for everybody else before I started on my own, you know? All of this is just a byproduct of what I do. I like creating music and good vibes and if that comes with the streams and festivals and people liking my music, then thank you so much, but I would be still doing this regardless. I want to make people feel good. It’s just who I am. Before I started this path, I wanted to become a psychologist, so that was always my passion, to help people. Knowing that keeps me grounded. I got family and friends too that would never ever let me get a big head – sometimes they’d catch someone else carrying my bag or getting me food, and they’d always pull me up like ‘Carry your own bag, get your own food!’
BH: What do you think makes your sound unique, yet so popular?
CR: I grew up most of my life not listening to English/American music. Before I moved to Australia at 18, I’d never listened to those artists like Dua Lipa or Kanye West. When I came to Australia and heard them, I was like ‘This is crazy’, you know, I really liked them. So now when I make music, I fuse those two sounds together, using the melodies and loops that both would appreciate. I bring that authentic dancehall energy to the pop world if that makes sense, the best of both worlds.
BH: Who are your biggest influences/fave artists?
CR: Sade! I love Sade man, she’s awesome – her music, I don't think there's anybody else in the world that’s ever made a soundtrack to heartbreak like that, you just feel what she’s going through, and it’s stuff that I really connect with.
I like Kayne West...I think beyond his personality and the stuff that he does, the things he creates are just next level, he’s so creative. And I think I’m also attached to the fact that he has the financial ability to bring his ideas to life, you know some creatives will have these beautiful ideas but don’t have the money to do them. So I like that Kanye can do that. I like...hmm...I like Wayne Wonder, I like Shaun Paul, I like a lot of Jamaican artists, I like The Weeknd as well, the Weeknd is great. I’m thinkin about it right now, the music I like is very...you know I like the real party, ‘I don’t give a shit’, just have a fuckin’ awesome time music, and then the other side of me loves that real deep stuff like Sade. A lot of artists though, I will like their music, but won’t follow them or get to know more about them. I just enjoy their music.
BH: Yeah, sometimes it can be disappointing if you decide to find out more about the artist as a person, especially on social media, and they aren’t who you thought they were. It can almost ruin the music for you.
CR: Yeah, and that’s like, with social media, I’m not really on it, I don’t play that game, because it’s a game to me you know? I love having a good time, not thinking about capturing it. But then I’m grateful for my manager and those around me that do capture it, especially this whole music journey, cause sometimes I don’t remember any of it!
BH: Where did the name Carmouflage Rose come from?
CR: When I first started, I didn’t want my face to be connected to the name, I didn’t want to be known. The idea behind it was that you can smell a rose without seeing it, and still appreciate its beauty, you know? It makes you feel good, and I wanted to make people feel good with my music, without the visual aspect. I didn’t want my face all over everything, but these days as an artist you gotta be present, you gotta have Instagram and let people see you. And people were gassin’ me up, like ‘Oh you’re so handsome’ and I was like, oh maybe I will! But in general, that was my original idea.
BH: What are you most proud of in your career so far?
CR: Oh man. I’ve got a platinum record, I’ve got a gold record, I’ve played Groovin’ at the Moo festival, so many festivals, but what I’m most proud of is how people relate to my music. I get so many DM’s from people asking me what certain songs are about, telling me their stories about their relationships or moments in their life that my songs have just matched perfectly...they really make me feel like I'm making an impact.
BH: What was it like moving to Australia?
CR: I moved when I was just 18 with my mum, I’d never made music before and found it difficult to make new friends. You know, at 18, take anybody out of their country at 18 and put them into a whole new country...people have already developed themselves, who they wanna be, their friendships, so that transition was really hard. But that’s how I started making music. I don’t know when I first opened Garage Band on my laptop, but I did and here I am talking to you now.
BH: That’s awesome you were able to create such a positive outcome in a situation that would be scary for anybody – that takes a lot of strength.
CR: Yeah...and finding friends in the environment you want to find them in is difficult, because sometimes you...and this is not a knock against my friends, but those people I’ve met out and those I’ve met in the gym, and those I’ve met making music, they are all in different categories. My friends I’ve met out I see maybe once in a while, and the friends I make music with and go to the gym with I see everyday because they are pushing me forward and we are working on ourselves. It’s putting yourself in the right environment to make long-term friends. And listen there’s nothing wrong with getting fucked up, I love getting fucked up, but not all the time. And it’s the same with dating – the beginning of my last two heartbreaks for me...I look at their foundation, similar to where a lot of my friendships started, and I just think...Sorry I’m getting too deep, but I just think about how I need to make that foundation stronger so I don’t end up in places my heart is no longer in.
BH: Don’t be sorry – it’s natural to want to be somewhere where your heart will continue to flourish. It’s good that you have these places with your music and gym where you can. On that note, with live music hopefully making a return soon, do you have any upcoming shows in the works?
CR: Oh yeah, I really wanna do some live shows. I just need to figure out how I want to present this music. There’s a lot of vulnerability in there and I want to figure that out first. I open up on this EP to a point where I feel as if I need to heal before I go on stage if that makes sense. I don’t want to be on stage doing that. In my head as well, I feel like the live shows as we know them are over now, and it’s going into more of a museum feel, more artistic, and I want to see how I can make my show into more of an experience instead of just alcohol and people dancing.
BH: Thank you so much for chatting with me Larry, congrats on the new EP, I hope to see it in action soon!
CR: Thanks so much, I just wanna say as well, with A Night With No Moon out now, I hope everyone listens to it and checks it out, but make sure you change your environment when you listen to it. Listen from beginning to end, don’t skip through it, the ending of each song leads into the next. Those transition sounds and ideas took weeks to put together so I want people to be aware of that when they listen to it. Grab a glass of wine, light a candle, lay down in your bed, put your headphones in and just listen to the vibes, it’s all good vibes!
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CREATIVE TEAM
Interview by @bonnieelouise
Photographs by @macami__
HMUA / Grooming by @saintessbeauty
Fashion Styling by @jessegale_ / @brandon.joseph__ / @capri_4k
Set Assistant @kane_hira