Breathe Carolina are a bit like a musical Smorgasbord: There’s something for everyone. The Fearless Records duo mix, mash and meddle with any and every genre of music they can get their hands on-from rave-style club beats to screamo-infused electronica. The brains behind Breathe Carolina-David Schmitt and Kyle Even-owe this sonic hodgepog to a vast variety of influences who played a role in the lives of the two-including everyone from Kriss Kross to No Ue For A Name.–Chris French

If you were to make a playlist of your biggest early musical influences, what would be on it?
SCHMITT: I remember one of the first albums that I bought. I was probably like nine or 10 and I bought Tupac Shakur’s Greatest Hits-on cassette. I was really into rap when I was a younger kid. I had some Notorious B.I.G. cassettes, and I had Juvenile with that “Back That Ass Up” song. [Laughs.] I bought a random Red Man tape one time and didn’t really like it, but I remember buying it. It was just a bunch of everything. Another one of my first CDs was T.L.C.’s FanMail.

EVEN: It’d probably be “Jump” by Kris Kross. [Totally Krossed Out] was the first CD I ever bought myself. [Laughs.] Then it’d probably be this song by All-4-One that I used to listen to, I think it was “I Swear.” I used to listen to that song all the time.

So what was it about some of those songs?
EVEN: I think they were just, like, influenced by other people, you know what I mean? I think that’s how music is influenced anyway–like, it’s kind of a rarity that you really find a band by yourself and listen to the band and fall in love with the band. I think it’s, like, other people showing you ’cause they found it through someone else, or they knew the merch guy, or this and that. But they just all have memories of other people, I guess. Like, I found Kris Kross out through my babysitter’s son, and, like, All-4-One and Boyz II Men was influenced by my best friend, Sam, when I was in elementary school. I could give you the greatest song in the world, I think, but if it doesn’t have a solid memory with me then it’s not the greatest song to me. It could be the worst song in the world as long as I have a solid memory–a memory I like–it could be my favorite song.

Speaking of hip-hop, I’ve heard that you all are big Lil’ Wayne fans.
SCHMITT Yeah! [Laughs.] I think he’s just, like, an icon. Just the way he puts his words together, and I guess he’s just so much different than every other rapper. Because if you listen to the radio, every rapper is seriously rapping about the same thing, and Lil’ Wayne is talking about being an alien and stuff like that. I just feel like he’s so much more out there, you know? He had a platinum CD when he was 15 years old. He’s just gained so much respect throughout the years. I think it’s now his turn to just take over.

EVEN: I actually got into Lil’ Wayne through David and these boys [the touring musicians], just, like, being around it, and then I kind of got into it. I think it’s, like, he’s not afraid to mix it up. He’s not afraid to try something new, and I like that a lot.

Was there an album or concert that directly changed your involvement with music?
SCHMITT: My first concert was Warped Tour in ’99 or 2000, and I was more into, like, Rancid and Pennywise and No Use For A Name. I remember seeing H2O and that just totally changed my world.

What else were you into during your high school years?
SCHMITT: In like eighth grade, I got a sampler with an Atreyu song on it, and I was like, “Woah, this is sick!” From that, I started listening to Alexisonfire and the Watch Out! album. That was a big part of my high school years. I also got into Bleeding Through, like, This is Love, This is Murderous. So during high school, it was all kind of heavy. [But even as] I was getting into the metal stuff I would also buy a Copeland album, or a Mae album. During my senior year, I was really into The Everglow by Mae.

EVEN: When I first started high school, I was really into Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples, Del The Funkyhomosapien and Hieroglyphics, those kind of hip-hop acts. And then halfway through, I got introduced to the Starting Line and New Found Glory. Those two bands kind of pushed me into what I’m into now. Later I got really into Emery, and I loved Underoath, Senses Fail and the Early November.

Are any of those bands still influencing you today?
EVEN: I guess if I had to say a band, I would say Underoath. I just have so many solid memories with those CDs, and I’ve kind of grown with their albums. I’ve [also] collected a bunch of their stuff: I got one of the 5,000 vinyl copies of Lost in the Sound of Separation. I don’t know, just like little dorky things like that.

David, you’ve also said you’re really into Cute is What We Aim For, right?
SCHMITT: Yeah, that was, like, right after I got out of high school. I just heard one of the songs and I was like, “Oh, this is kind of weird.” Shaant Hacikyan’s voice just hit me in a weird way. All my friends hated it. They were like, “This is crap!,” and I think that made me kind of get into it more too just because they didn’t like it. So I kind of was like, “Oh, well, dude, I’m going to listen to it and see what it’s all about.” And All Time Low definitely have more of an impact on me now than I think they did back then.

Obviously your music draws a lot of influences from electronica artists. Are there any electronica outfits you’re listening to?
SCHMITT: I’ve been listening to a lot of Crystal Castles. That influenced me a lot. I really like Lights; I listen to Lights a lot, and she’s on Warped Tour, too, so I see her a lot. She’s awesome. There are couple different DJs, too, like DJ Irene. We’re not techno, or, like, straight house, but there’s definitely influences coming from there.

EVENS::I really like Crystal Castles a lot. I think it’s kind of like what we’ve been doing, kind of like the same idea. I’m also into MSTRKRFT and Justice. And I love DJ Irene. I love her Fearless album and Phonosynthesis, I love those two albums.

Do you find that the way you each individually contribute to the band mirrors your musical influences?
SCHMITT: I think, honestly, they’re really, really similar. We’re the type of people that, like, if a song sounds good, no matter what it is–metal, pop-punk, anything–if it sounds good in my head, it’ll influence me. If I just sit here and listen to electronica all day long, how would our minds expand? So I think definitely our influences are the same because we’re so open-minded about music. We listen to and give everything a chance, for sure. And a lot of the time [some band] surprises me and influences me when I didn’t even think I would like it in the first place.

As a two-man band, are there any other musical duos you guys look up to?
EVENS: Um, I don’t know, I’m trying to think. I mean, Bert and Ernie were always pretty solid. [Laughs.]
 

BREATHE CAROLINA WOULDN’T EXIST WITHOUT:

BLINK-182: “Without them I don’t think I would be making music, and I don’t think Kyle would either, because we both grew up on that, for sure” – SCHMITT

JONEZETTA: “I heard that “Man In A 3K Suit” song and I just loved how it was put together, because it was, like, dancey but still a cool band, you know what I mean?” – SCHMITT

“I would kind of think that it would be people in my life that brought me into this, not necessarily other bands that existed. You know, other kids: I played in a band right before this called Reunion, and without those people I wouldn’t have met David. I think those are honestly bigger influences than any other band I’ve listened to.” – EVENS