"Krone" interview

Cari Cari: “Want to fill life with love”

With their third album, the duo Cari Cari are finally venturing into complete independence.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Recordjet, Andreas Jakwerth)

On their third album "One More Trip Around The Sun", Cari Cari ask themselves the big questions in life - and answer them with light-footed music that celebrates being. Alexander Köck and Stephanie Widmer spoke in the "Krone" talk about the definition of success, why money isn't everything and why more love and integrity are needed.

When the grapes are high, sometimes you just have to stretch yourself. Or you have to wait until they bend down under their own weight and literally fall into your mouth. If you follow Cari Cari's career so far, you are confronted with constant change, conscious adaptation and constant progress. "I still remember our very first support tour for Garish", recalls band half Alexander Köck in an interview with Krone, "the ppc in Graz fascinated me and I thought to myself back then how bad it must be when it gets full." Köck and Stephanie Widmer could laugh about it today if they were more arrogant. But they are not, which is why they are relaxed about their progression. For example, being handpicked by Bela B to play concerts with the Ärzte, supporting AnnenMayKantereit in the biggest venues or wowing 60,000 people at "Rock am Ring". "But everything developed quite normally. Without a rocket launch."

Slow processes
With their dry and cool sound, Cari Cari have been in their own personal sound desert for more than ten years. On their debut album "Anaana", they veered towards the blues; on their follow-up "Welcome To Kookoo Island", they took a relaxed, psychedelic approach; and on their new album "One More Trip Around The Sun", they embraced summery vibes with a life-affirming, up-tempo focus. Just like the climb up the career ladder, the songwriting process is also unconstrained. In the relatively new studio in Baden, they take their time to tweak, discard, develop and eventually finish. "Our process is a slow one. It's always been like that. Nowadays, we rush out an album so that we have content to go on tour again. That's not really our style. An album has to have a story and be a journey. It takes time to accomplish something like that."

Cari Cari have always been the somewhat different Austrian "indie band". This begins with the fact that they have never submitted to the dictates of indie labels or other platforms, continues with the demand to pay Burgenland orchestra members more fairly for public appearances, which caused Alfons Haider to gasp and shook the regional cultural scene, and ends with the fact that they immediately threw a collaboration with an American booking agency overboard because their visions diverged more than they initially thought. Where other acts might have drooled with dollar-sign-sparkling eyes towards world conquest, Widmer and Köck realized that the price for this step would have been too much uprooting from everything that is important to Cari Cari as musicians and above all as people: stability, family, friends and above all an open and honest communication culture.

Rushing around the world with fun
"For the album, we often asked ourselves what success actually means. We both recently turned 30 and we realized our own mortality for the first time. Then we realized that we were living our dream. We're making the music we want, with the people we like and for the people who appreciate us. Is there anything more awesome?" The two reflected, discussed and came to a conclusion. "What we can do is enjoy this life and share it with those we love. So we just do our rounds around the world and have fun doing it." The fact that Cari Cari are now selling out large arenas and open-air venues is nice and makes life easier, but is not synonymous with happiness. "I won a 300-euro guitar in a competition when I was 17," laughs Köck, "it was probably 'made in China', but it's still the guitar I play most often on stage."

From the very beginning of her career, Cari Cari was determined not to be sucked in by the music industry machine and spit out deranged. Hence the separation from the old label, including an enervating legal dispute. Hence the split with the American agency. "We should have fired all the people we've been working with for ten years. This turbo-capitalist corporate thinking is completely repugnant to us. We want to work with people who appreciate music and with whom we have a nice, personal relationship. Also, the analog world is totally undervalued. We have very few TikTok or Instagram followers and yet we have full concert halls. In other words, we'd rather play in front of 3,000 people than 10,000 at the cost of giving up all our integrity for the 10,000. I don't need a big car or a fat Rolex. I want to work in the studio with people who are curious and have values."

Big questions of life
Before the failed US adventure, Cari Cari worked in booking for the company that also shapes Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen. Bands that always set fair prices for concerts and are in contact with fans on an equal footing. "The boss of this company used to build drum cymbals as a fan. Then he was a driver, tour manager, at some point band manager and made this company big. They are all proper people who won't let you die if a tour goes badly. They have never lost the punk spirit of the early days and openly show that people are what counts for them." This is the link to Cari Cari's new album. It is about the basic principles of cohesion, friendliness and family on the one hand, but also resistance, self-empowerment and independence on the other. The big questions of life are asked.

"We draw our circles around the sun and want to fill this life with joy, values and integrity - but above all with love." This community is reflected in the cover artwork. The photo shows the family of the two band members, who were actually brought together for a day at the studio in Baden. And as if by magic, this day was the most beautiful and sunniest, while just before it snowed and the project threatened to fail. The end with the US booking agency also meant that Cari Cari lost a European and US tour. Within six months, in the fall of 2024, they not only finished writing and producing the album, they also pulled a new US and European tour out of thin air. There you can let yourself be carried away by the casual beauty of songs like "Nana", "Drumming Woman", "This Song Is About You" or "Goodbye, Stranger". Neither as musicians nor as lyricists are Cari Cari classically trained professionals - but the relaxed vibe that results from their self-taught approach works all the better.

Compass is aligned
"One More Trip Around The Sun" can already be described as the most laid-back and relaxed album of the year. No other band in this country comes close to capturing the mixture of enduring catchy tunes, summery lightness and wanderlust feeling on polycarbonate as well as the consistent duo with a penchant for wacky instruments and innovative ideas. "We've evolved again, tried out new things and made sure that we don't repeat ourselves. In the best case scenario, we'll still be doing what we love doing today in 30 years' time. Maybe other people won't think it's our best album, but you can't do anything about that. We've set the compass for ourselves, we're completely independent and don't need anyone to tell us what to do. That's also a definition of success."

Live tour in Austria
After a few weeks in the USA, Cari Cari will also be playing in Austria from April to present their third album "One More Trip Around The Sun". The duo can be seen on April 2 at the Orpheum in Graz, on April 3 at the Rockhouse Salzburg, on April 9 at the Music Hall in Innsbruck, on April 12 at the Conrad Sohm in Dornbirn, on May 24 at an open-air concert at the Vienna Arena and on August 29 at the Posthof in Linz. You can find all the dates and ticket information at www.caricariragazzi.com.