KAARST [[YUGAMBEH / GOLD COAST, QLD]] is Sam Haven; an artist + a storyteller of mixed mediums. From a slew of harrowing musical releases, a 2021 book ‘The Art Of Leaving’ – containing excerpts, inner monologues, imagery, poetry + prose – to oil painting, his dark creative endeavours are truly boundless. He also lends his skills to session work, touring managing + live mixing.
The KAARST moniker delves into their inner melancholy through the juxtaposition of infectious goth, electronica, wave, + ambient ties with visual spectacles also bringing their vision to life.
HEARTS OF DARKNESS’s own JESS KILL chats this jack-of-all-trades ahead of their Boorloo debut on the winter solstice, June 21…
KAARST is the next step from your previous project, Sanctuary. Does it represent a different creative progression from Sanctuary?
SH: “KAARST is really its own project that is a separate entity from my solo work as Sam Haven. I am constantly working on music and new art ideas. The electronic-based music of KAARST developed naturally from an evolution of concepts. Eventually, I found that it demanded its own project to live in a world of its own rather than be relative to other works I had put out.
“The live show also developed in a natural way when I was first starting to figure out how to recreate these recordings live. I initially didn’t have any intention of it becoming a live act. I asked some friends to help and bring it to life, mainly Scott (Curtis) from the band Sundr and co-label owner of our label, Crucible. He was able to figure out ways of performing parts of the songs live and we just went from there.
“We’ve started bringing in other friends to play other parts live. This has created a unique performance that brings a new dimension and life to the songs, rather than just recreating the studio tracks. We are now working on the next phase of evolving the live show by bringing in more musicians.”
What has your original single ‘The Promise’ come to mean to you now, particularly as a storyteller?
SH: “I had written those words as notes a couple of years prior when I was going through a very dark time and felt as if I was starting to lose my grip on reality. In retrospect, these lyrics echo feelings of existentialism and absurdism that I was feeling towards myself and life in general. They sort of culminate in what was almost a desperate plea to just be relieved of that depressive burden on my mind, specifically the ‘…just to feel free’ lines in the climax of the song. There wasn’t a clear intention with these lyrics at the time, so it was me trying to make sense of what I was experiencing. I tend to usually write from instinct and just let my subconscious fall onto the page. Only looking back a few years later does the intention become more clear to me.”
‘The Blinding Black’, your latest release, has a much harder tone. How does this release reflect where you are now, as a musician + artist?
SH: “As with what I mentioned with writing lyrics, the same goes for the music itself. I just write what comes naturally. This song certainly has a harder tone, and for me, it feels a little more ‘focused’. Previous songs were perhaps more of my feelings of apathy, existentialism and pessimism, but ‘The Blinding Black’ is almost me breaking out of that and wanting to push forward and grab life by the throat and regain control. The chorus lyrics ‘…I will justify turning into this knife’ are me accepting the pains that come with existence and facing them head-on.”
Thematically, you mention a “… familiar melancholy” that is involved in all your work. How do you think this has evolved over time – with new art, music, working with others, your writing…
SH: “Despite all of these mediums being quite different from each other, from different musical projects to writing to painting, they are still filtered through my mind and the results of that are the constant themes that I feel whilst navigating life. They evolve and mature over time, but I think they are still, at their core, the same feelings and ‘questions’. From when I first started creating and expressing myself, the themes were always very internal and personal. Existentialism is most likely the primary feeling I’ve been working out publicly through art for as long as I can remember. Trying to navigate feelings of ‘…why am I here?’, ‘…what’s the point of all of this?’, ‘…if anything, what could I possibly have to offer?’. The various artistic projects and mediums are navigating specific nuances and offshoots from there which is what I think creates this familiar melancholy through my body of work.”
This will be your first time playing in Boorloo as KAARST. What can we expect from this debut set?
SH: “It certainly is! We’re very excited about it, and it feels like such a perfect beginning. Strange Festival is very exciting, with so much to offer and feels congruous with our art. We are hoping to add a unique element to the set, particularly visually, and create an atmosphere that is specific to the overall theme of the festival and Heart of Darkness. We will perhaps play a cover or augment parts of the songs; not entirely sure just yet, but we will see where the ideas take us.”
CRUCIBLE ART [[LABEL; RUN BY SAM + SCOTT]]
When was CA first established?
SH: “The label co-owner Scott Curtis and I first discussed concepts for this in, I think, around 2019 when I played a solo set supporting his band Sundr. We discussed what we felt was a lack of unified community or home for us to share our art, and we weren’t very into working with the usual record labels as the artistic ideas that were exciting for us tend to not be very profitable. Instead of letting the ideas fade away and, with a willingness to drain our savings accounts, we thought that we would just make a label whose primary concern was art for art's sake and help our friends bring their ideas to life too. We feel that vinyl pressings are a great way to give a physical life to the music and tend to feel like a piece of art in themselves.”
How many artists does the label represent to date + how do you connect with them on a personal level?
SH: “We have released records for five artists now. But we don’t represent the bands in any way. We look at it more as an equal collaboration between us and the artists to create something we can all be proud of.
“There isn’t a specific criteria per se but connecting on a personal level is incredibly important. For us and the band to want to commit so much time, money and energy into releasing their art, we have to all believe in the project completely and feel comfortable with each other, otherwise I don’t see much point.”
Are you currently working with any new artists on the label that will have a release emerging soon?
SH: “Yes actually, we are in talks with a couple of bands for some new releases that are very exciting to us. The only hint I can offer right now is that they are bands from cities we haven’t worked with previously but are congruous thematically. We’ve been a bit stagnant since the start of this year, which is the nature of life//work getting in the way. But we’ve got exciting plans for Crucible for the second half of this year, which involves venturing into fields we haven’t yet explored.”
ART + WRITING
With your solo exhibition earlier this year of oil works, you mentioned that the experience gave you a “… sense of imposter syndrome”. Can you break down why that was?
SH: “I had only started learning to paint throughout the lockdowns; prior to that, I was only ever a passionate admirer of fine art. My inner monologue wouldn’t let me pick up a brush and try it out. I would tell myself ‘…you’re a musician, stick to what you know’. But the feeling of exploring this medium became undeniable during lockdowns when I had nothing else to put my time into and felt uninspired with music. So, to go from never having painted to a packed-out first solo exhibition within a couple of years was a bizarre but incredible feeling, and I couldn’t shake the imposter syndrome feelings throughout it. I felt I hadn’t ‘earned it’ and that it would take years of grinding away to get there but who am I to deny the people that wanted to support me and felt a connection to my paintings?!”
How long did it take you to pull the solo exhibition together?
SH: “It was probably about six months since I first discussed the idea with Mint Art House (the studio/gallery I was painting out of). There were many (many) late and sleepless nights in the months leading up. The dread would become almost unbearable and I just wanted to throw my paintings away and cancel it. Still, the other artists at Mint were so supportive and encouraging and helped me realise that there was no ‘perfect’ version of this exhibition, more so that it’s a snapshot of who and where I was as an artist at that moment.”
After time has passed + the work has settled for you, have your feelings towards the collection changed?
SH: “I tend not to look back much at things I’ve previously created and just focus on the next thing. I am very proud that I made that collection and exhibition. Even though I can barely stand to look at some of the paintings, all I can see when I look at them are my technical shortcomings and what they could have been. I don’t waste too much energy on that.”
What has become your favourite piece in your solo exhibition + why?
SH: “Ironically, I think it is essentially a self-portrait. It started off as a rough experiment to see what would happen by trying different techniques, and I used a photo of myself as a reference because I liked the lighting. It eventually became what I felt was the centre-point piece thematically to the whole collection; a ‘distorted reflection’ of myself and what I’m exploring through my painting process.”
What is your creative process when it comes to painting + writing?
SH: “It usually begins with me ruminating on ideas for a while and visualising some aspects of whatever I’m working on. Usually, this is quite abstract and has no clear meaning or direction, but I sort of take the David Lynch approach of ‘Catching The Big Fish’ and just letting the subconscious pour out and not get in the way of it.”
We haven’t talked much about your book. Where did the idea to combine all these different writing styles into one piece?
SH: “It came from a time when I was living in Paris in my mid-twenties and going through quite a rough time. I felt I was losing all sense of identity and purpose and was making kind of abstract journal entries throughout it. The book is piecing those together and closing the door on the period. While it was dark and painful, I have grown so much as a person since then and am thankful to have gone through that time.”
TOUR MANAGING, SESSION WORK + BEYOND
You are quite a prolific tour manager. How did you end up in this field?
SH: “I’m not sure anyone ever sets out to work as a tour manager; more just end up there. I started off as a live sound engineer when I was about 18 or 19 as a way to keep working in music, so I didn’t have to get a ‘real job’. Eventually, I started touring with bands making their sound. Between sound gigs, I was offered work as a driver, just picking up and dropping off bands from the airport to the hotel/venue, which eventually progressed into tour managing bands.
"I was adamant for a long time about not getting a day job and just kept saying yes to any work involved with music. By the time I was in my mid-twenties, I felt very burned out from constantly touring in my own bands and working for other bands. I lost all sense of artistic inspiration, eventually leading to me quitting all that work and those bands and moving to Europe for a couple of years. After I came back, I felt more inspired than ever and have embraced the ride ever since.”
What has been one of your favourite tours to manage + why?
SH: “The Soundwave Festival tours were certainly some of the best and wildest with many crazy stories and times. More recently, would be working for Greg Puciato, touring his solo work. I had been a fan of his and Dillinger’s (Escape Plan) since I was about 16 or 17, so was very aware (and slightly apprehensive) about working with him when I got the call. But he and his band (all of which I was a fan of their previous bands) turned out to be incredible people and the real deal as artists. We have all maintained a friendship since then which I am so grateful for.”
You also do a fair amount of session work on top of Kaarst, most recently King Dude. How did that come about?
SH: “I am always thinking about the next thing and ruminating on ideas/concepts/themes, so I am always open to working with different people on different projects. Collaborating or doing session work can lead to incredibly fulfilling experiences and provide a new artistic challenge for me.
“Working with TJ (King Dude) isn’t a very exciting story. I have known his partner for a while, and TJ and I were sort of online friends but didn’t really speak much. I saw that he was potentially wrapping up the King Dude project, and I was listening to his music a lot around that time, so I just sent him a message basically saying ‘…hey, I have some ideas of some cool stuff we could do if you’re interested?’. I thought he would just ignore me or something, but he basically said, ‘…fuck yeah!’. We’ve played around with some ideas for some things, and we click pretty well; he’s a prolific beast and works on so much music, more than most people would know.”
What has been one of the most memorable artists or projects you have worked with + why?
SH: “My memory is pretty hazy, and it stresses me out thinking about all of the incredible memories and experiences I’ve had just becoming like tears in the rain. One that I tell most people is the time I accidentally knocked Lars Ulrich over while I was working for Gallows. He was side-stage watching them, and I had run up on stage to fix a microphone and took him out on my way up. I turned around and realised what I’d done and thought basically my career in music was over. But he got up and apologised for standing in the way; he hung out with us the rest of the night and was such a nice and respectful guy.”
Has there ever been an act where you’ve had to fulfil some outlandish requests?
SH: “So far, not really, unfortunately. Most bands are pretty straightforward most of the time. I did get fired by Beck once for taking a wrong turn on the way to a hotel.”
