There are only a few people who are built to drive to a new city every day and sleep in someone’s guest bed every night. That includes creative artist Carolina Chauffe, whose musical project hemlock just wrapped up a tour spanning the entire length of the Mississippi River, before culminating at Chicago’s Logan Square Art Festival. Hemlock’s new songs “Drive & Drive” with the b-side “Hyde Park” discuss life on the road in a rocking thwomp that clocks in at just 98 seconds long.
Hemlock is a rare breed who lives the dream many young life navigators in debt wish they could. Yes, Carolina has been living the van life since November 2023. They drive to a city, play, sleep at a friend’s, pack up and do it all over again the next day. If they have their way, they’ll keep it up until at least November 2024. By then, their newly announced album 444 will be a month old. Hemlock just shared that the LP is scheduled for an October 11, 2024 release.
Hemlock recently answered an age-old question on one of their recent get-in-the-car-and-go style tour stops: How many crust punks, poets and folkheads can you stuff into a coffee shop on a Monday night? The answer is about 30, plus a couple of poets, amplifiers and one of those poets’ babies. Hemlock sits in a back corner of Minneapolis’ Milkweed Coffee before their set. Carolina is hand-stitching “hemlock” into blank baseball hats, chatting with old friends and meeting new ones. Keep reading and get to know hemlock.
Get To Know hemlock:
Beyond The Stage: How is life as an artist constantly on the road treating you?
hemlock: I’m just like a trucker who plays music sometimes, you know? I’ve definitely never done it longer than a year, so this year will be the longest amount of time I’ve stretched on the road on my own. I’ve probably cumulatively toured already for a year on my own. I’ve gotten a pretty decent rhythm down with the whole solo road time thing. I can trust myself and I trust other people.
BTS: You just released new singles and announced an album. How do you feel when you share new projects with people?
hemlock: I like sharing the energy of new projects with others. I look forward to the catharsis of having something off my chest. I get to let it go and allow it to carry on its life without me being the keeper of the album, song, visual art or whatever it is I’m releasing. I look forward to this album coming out because I think it’s the strongest work I’ve made thus far. I think that’s because I leaned into collaboration way more than I have before. I made it with my bandmates Bailey, Andy and Jack. They are such an essential part of this record. A lot of my recordings have been more solitary. This was a full collaboration and true commitment to everyone’s voices. I was crying in my car today because I was so thankful thinking about Jack, Bailey and Andy. They put so much of their hearts into this record. I think about how much of a miracle and a gift that is to me.
BTS: What are some themes listeners will hear on this record?
hemlock: All of the songs are a part of previously released “song-a-day-for-a-month-records” that I’ve done for the past five years. It’s an ongoing project that will be done in 12 years total. This will be the sixth year that I do it. The point is, over one month out of each year I’ll record a song each day on my iPhone. It’s always a song I’ve written in one day. At the end of the month, I dump them unceremoniously onto the internet. It’s a practice of keeping myself writing and being regimented. This album is 12 tracks that nod to the 12 overarching years of what will be 12 months of doing this. It’s a full calendar of songs by the time it’s done. Watch out everybody! This is like “the hymn rock album.” I let my hair down a little bit more because of having bandmates. Some songs on there are really shredding, like pretty hard.
BTS: When do you find time to write?
hemlock: I often end up being like “Oh shit!” and it’s 2 in the morning and I say “Okay, I guess I better pick up my guitar and get ready to stay up until 4 a.m.”
BTS: Do you have a sick van that would make all the road-life wannabees swoon?
hemlock: I’m in a Nissan Rogue and it’s just alright. I’m exactly the length through the back of the driver’s seat to the end of the car. If I need to sleep in it, I can make myself a little room and sleep in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Most of the time I don’t have to do that. Some strangers become friends and they have houses. That’s why I tour more than music. People prove to me time and time again that humanity is good. Generosity is still prevalent everywhere and if you ask for what you need you will get it without fail. I think that that gives me the hope to carry on existing. Surviving and music are both heavily tied to my purpose on this planet.
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