The Carps Celebrate Failed Athletes with New Single, Prep Full-Length Debut

BY Alex HudsonPublished Feb 9, 2011

Here's a release that's sure to please music and sports fans alike. Scarborough, ON-based electro rockers the Carps have a new digital single out, which brings together two songs named after retired professional athletes "Bo Jackson" and "Kelly Gruber."

These tracks will pave the way for the Carps' full-length debut, due out later this year via Urbnet. In a press release singer/drummer Jahmal Tongue revealed that the band will be "releasing the entire album as a collection of singles. Two songs a month for six months."

The Carps have been around for several years, releasing two EPs but never dropping a full-length. Tongue explained, "It's been a long time since we released music. With [bassist/synth player] Neil [White] in Oxford doing his PhD, and me playing drums for MSTRKRFT and Thunderheist, it felt like we'd never get around to that foreboding full length."

As for what inspired the new sports-themed single, Tongue wrote, "Bo Jackson/Kelly Gruber are named as such after two amazing athletes who nearly made it. They were close to being champs before their careers ended by injury. I feel like that's what happened to the Carps. We almost made a living off music for a second. This is our swan song, our knee surgery, our post Cadillac golf club tabloid moment."

It's exciting stuff, but we're going to disagree with his assessment that Gruber "nearly made it," since the third basemen won the World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays back in 1992. Sounds like a champ to us.

The Carps are currently recording the rest of their debut LP at DFA Studios in New York. For a taste of what's in store, go to Bandcamp to hear "Bo Jackson"/"Kelly Gruber."

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