Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest (Photo by Anna Webber)
Will Toledo is hesitant to talk about "13 Reasons Why" — and the recent Twitter spat between him and Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles. Toledo and his band, Car Seat Headrest, contributed to the soundtrack of the cult-followed, Selena Gomez-produced Netflix series, based on Jay Asher’s 2007 book series. Their song “Oh! Starving” plays in the second to last episode of the first season of the series, and Toledo later criticized the show and its depiction of suicide. I caught up with Toledo to talk about how CSH’s song came to be on the soundtrack, how they went from living room to living large, depression, suicide, Coachella and bringing it back to Virginia. Car Seat is scheduled to play Friday Cheers this Friday, June 30, with Gold Connections.
Richmond magazine: You are in the studio? How’s the weather there?
Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest: I am in the studio mixing — working mostly out of the Chicago studio. Just happened to be where we made connections and found a good studio. We have been in Atlanta for [the] Shaky Knees [Music Festival].
It is pretty cold, actually. It's been a long winter/spring here. We keep going off and doing these tours. We have been getting short bursts of summer; we’ve been on tour in Australia. Every time we come back here, it is still cold and rainy. [A piano note sounds, and he laughs.]
RM: Shaky Knees and Coachella, both this spring; that is a lot of exposure in a short period of time. Is that surreal?
Toledo: Yeah, but, I mean, at the same time, we have been touring since the end of 2015, so we have a fair amount of experience under our belt. [And] we did a good amount of festivals last year. Coachella is definitely a step up. A lot of times at festivals everything is chaotic. Coachella is very streamlined.
RM: Tell me about your family. Were they where you got started in music?
Toledo: My dad played piano when we were growing up and taught all of us [Toledo has two sisters] how to play. There was always music playing in the house and the car. But I took it from there and it became private and then an isolated situation.
RM: Why the stage name "Toledo?"
Toledo: It’s my mom’s maiden name. When I started out, there was another Will Barnes, and Toledo sounded better. So that’s what I went with.
RM: You are a prolific writer; 12 albums, self-produced, "Teens of Style" and "Teens of Denial" both on Matador. Where does all of the writing come from? Is it based on your life?
Toledo: It’s just a mixture of experiences, thoughts and feelings that come out of nowhere, really. I don't lead a particularly interesting life; I definitely didn't back when I was writing previous records. It's definitely more interesting now. The lyrics are the bits of my life where something emotionally happens and it seems like it could make good art.
RM: This new record is centered around depression and angst, or it seems that way to me. Is that an experience of yours or someone you know?
Toledo: It was definitely [written] during a depressed phase of my life. At the time, I didn’t really want to call it depression, because it seemed sort of specific to the time and place. I was in the last year of college and didn’t really know what was going to happen after that. A lot of my friends had left, and I was in a waiting period. More than depression, it seemed like a feeling of frustration, of impotence and all that. It is kinda an angry record because of that. It came very slowly, in fits and starts. It wasn’t a happy place. I wanted something that was a complete thought. There is another record, “How to Leave Town,” that is outtakes of this one, pieces that didn’t fit.
RM: Are you the “indie rock savior” everyone is calling you? How do you feel about indie rock?
Toledo: Time will tell. [Indie rock] is a carpet that you walk on. The idea that rock music in general needs to be saved or maintained is an alien idea to me. I grew up listening to records that are 50 years old. It wasn’t something that I felt that needed to be preserved; it's retained its energy. And that’s my goal, is to make records that retain. As far as what genre that is, that concerns me less.
RM: You got into a tussle on the Twitters about "13 Reasons Why." How did your song make it onto the soundtrack, and tell me about the post.
Toledo: They just sent along the request and a brief description of the show, and I just signed off on it. As far as my post was concerned, I watched the entire series and ended up feeling like it didn’t approach the subject material responsibly.
RM: Have you read the book?
Toledo: I didn’t, no. But as far as I understand, what I dislike about the series is a new addition, as far as it combines a new narrative: a narrative of the boy seeking justice against the people who have wronged [the girl] and [her] narrative. It seems like it was in poor taste to make her suicide justified. ... I was very specific to whom I addressed my comments to. I said to writers, 'Don’t do that.' And I said to the people who are vulnerable to that, who are the target audience, 'This isn’t something that needs to define you.' There is other art that approaches this in a better light and takes more care in subverting these tropes.
RM: Your “Teens of Denial” could be thought of in the same vein as “13 Reasons Why.” It has some intertwined feelings that could be thought of similarly. Was that intentional?
Toledo: I can see that. Some people thought my commenting on it at all was hypocritical because I was writing about the same subject. I think it [made] perfect sense to me. I have some sense of responsibility that comes with ... writing on subject [matter] like that.
“Drunk Drivers” was trying to approach a sensitive topic without glorifying it or [making] it feel like it was promoting it. I received some feedback about not censoring art. I think there is a big difference between censoring art and criticizing art that is not responsible in its subject matter.
RM: On a lighter note, are you looking forward to being back in Virginia?
Toledo: Absolutely. I love the drive from Leesburg to Richmond; I am hoping to be able to do it. I’ve never been to Friday Cheers, so it will be a new experience for me.
