Heart to Art Volume I: Carpool Tunnel
Photo by Madi Blanchard
While sitting in the back seat of the band’s old but fairly new-to-them LAPD van, Carpool Tunnel lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Koppenjan hopped on a - very noisy and joyously chaotic - Zoom call to talk about everything from music to romance. Ben shares that, miraculously, he has met some of the closest people in his life through dating and networking apps. It goes to show that organic relationships, both romantic and creative, can grow from inorganic methods.
Fun fact: Aside from making music, we learned that Ben enjoys hiking, looking at mushrooms, and foraging them.
Before the interview officially started, Ben let us know that the band’s $400 Craigslist van is no longer the tour van *sad face* but of course, we HAD to inquire about the guys’ latest trusty steed.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Firstly, tell us about this new van…
[BEN:] So we got the new van a couple of years ago because the old van broke down and we were able to upgrade. We actually traded it to a friend of ours in the Bay Area for some t-shirts. He printed us a ton of t-shirts so we made a good merch deal between that and the van. He took the old van and we got this new one which we nicknamed ‘Darryl.’ He’s an ex-LAPD van that we found in a lot in the middle of nowhere, near Sacramento…it’s a lot to unbox.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Darryl has character, he’s a total vibe. Tell us about this tour that you’re going on, you’re driving down the I-5 now and playing in Santa Ana tomorrow, correct?
[BEN:] Correct. So we’re staying in LA tonight, playing in Orange County tomorrow, and then we play San Diego the next day. Then, we’ll go up to San Francisco to play a hometown show, and then we’re basically headed East after that. Utah, Denver, several dates in Texas.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Awesome! Is this a Bloom Tour for your 2021 album? Or is this leading up to a new project on the horizon?
[BEN:] Well, we are working on new music. That’s kind of why we’re releasing music now. We just released a single (“I'm Always Thinking About You”) and we’re about to record our second album, so that’s all in the works. As far as the tour, it’s not necessarily for Bloom because we did our first tour since the pandemic started in November, which was our first run of shows. We played a one-off show in the Bay Area before that which was our first live debut for Bloom. It felt like forever because we released that record back in February of 2021 and didn’t really get to play the new songs live until November of 2021. But it feels good to be on the road again!
[UNPUBLISHED:] What’s your favorite part of being on the road again?
[BEN:] Seeing old familiar faces. Even in places that we don’t go to very often. It’s still amazing to come back 2 years later and still see people that supported us before. It feels like our music is doing something meaningful and that it’s still in listeners’ lives. The fact that they’re willing to come to a show, even during these times, when it’s not the safest to go to shows…I’m just very thankful for that. That’s definitely one of the best parts.
[UNPUBLISHED:] That’s awesome. I’m getting family vibes. So tell us about this single, ‘I’m Always Thinking About You.’ Tell us about the songwriting process, production process, the whole shebang.
[BEN:] Yeah! So, Bloom, we actually went to a studio to record. But this is a song that Brad, our lead guitarist, and I wrote at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s just one of those songs that popped out of nowhere. We wrote it in a couple of hours and it was very effortless to write the song. It’s just one of these songs we’ve had and it’s almost 2 years later that we’ve finally released a song after writing it. It’s kind of crazy. We hadn’t even released Bloom at the time that we wrote it. It feels really good to let it out. It’s a song that I wrote about my partner Margo. It’s a good love song that I’ve been wanting to release. I’m excited that everyone gets to hear it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Circling back to what you said about how you and Brad wrote the song, we were reading that you two met on Vampr (the musician equivalent of Tinder) which really intrigued me. Tell us…was it musician love at first sight?
[BEN:] Yeah, kind of! It’s funny because I actually met my partner, Margo, on Tinder which is wild because I feel like the closest people in my life I’ve met through these internet apps. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s funny because I downloaded the app when I first moved to the Bay Area and I didn’t really know anybody. It was just kind of this Instagram ad that came up that said something along the lines of ‘hey! If you’re interested in meeting other creatives, download this app.’ So I downloaded that and met our original drummer, Danny, on there. Then I met Brad within, I want to say, 3 to 4 days of moving up to San Jose and not knowing anybody which is pretty freaking amazing! And now, we’re still in each other’s lives, playing music. A true success story! We would be on one of those eHarmony commercials.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You met on this musician app, was it mostly because of shared interests, particularly related to music? What were the big influences that drew you all together?
[BEN:] It’s definitely similar music interests. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Modern Baseball and The Front Bottoms…and that was the music that Brad and Danny were listening to. And then, eventually, we met our bassist, Spencer, on the app as well. It was funny, we had the three of us and we were clearly missing a bassist so we went back to the app and found somebody. It just kept working for us. We’ve never encountered another band that’s met on that app so it’s just funny. We actually did some ads for them at a certain point, right when we first met there.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Oh wow. A real success story then. The epitome of friendships and romance on apps…dang. You’ve mentioned previously that you have a particular love for the 60s and 70s. Do you think that you would have been able to form the same band if you went back to that era and tried to find each other? Were you ‘soul sisters’ in that sense too?
[BEN:] I think so! Yeah! I mean it’s not like we really talked that much on the app, it’s just what brought us together. If we were to be brought together naturally, I think it would’ve happened just the same.
[UNPUBLISHED:] We read that you all, at one point, loved Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles. So we were just wondering if that’s still something that’s bringing you all together and helping you be each other’s muses.
[BEN:] Yeah, absolutely! I think a huge thing that we bond over is listening to records together, especially sitting down and listening to vinyl records. About a year or so after we met, we all moved in together into a house in San Francisco. And of course, we all combined our record collection so we would sit around and listen to the vinyl records. I think this is super important for a band because you find your sound through listening to music together and bonding over your shared interests.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some of your favorite records?
[BEN:] Personally, I like ‘Twin Fantasy’ (Car Seat Headrest) and ‘One of These Nights’ (The Eagles). Of course, I like ‘Rivers’ because it’s one of the first vinyl records that I actually had, growing up and in high school that I listened to a lot. Lots of Billy Joel, ‘The Stranger.’ I’m into a lot of modern artists like Alice Phoebe Lou. Stuff like that. I’m always trying to listen to new artists. There’s a new artist called Black Country, New Road that came out with an album called ‘Ants from Up There’ which is so, so good.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Earlier you said that you didn’t really talk much on Vampr with your band members. Instead, you just used it to connect. Would you say that translates to Tinder, with your beau there? What is your advice to give to someone who is trying to find a significant other or some band members on an app such as the ones we’ve mentioned?
[BEN:] Hm, I don’t even really know how to answer that. I feel like a lot of people ask my partner Margo and me a lot about this. We’ve been together for almost 4 years now and it’s not really something that’s connected with us. It’s not like we hold a stigma around the fact that we met on Tinder. But I think you know that someone is for you when you have an instant connection that doesn’t even require talking for too long. It happened with Margo and it’s kind of what happened with my bandmates. It’s tough to say because my meeting with my partner Margo was just meant to be.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So it’s more of a purely vibe-based thing, kind of like, if you know, you know.
[BEN:] Yeah. I mean, I had an instant feeling with Margo which I didn’t have with other people before. I had the same feeling with the band too. Even after one rehearsal, it really worked and we wanted to get the band together.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you think the same ‘if you know, you know’ mentality applies to the rest of your bandmates in their love lives?
[BEN:] I would say so. We’ve all been in pretty good relationships recently. It feels really good and it’s something that we often talk about. We have very open communication about it. Especially with us being on tour. Being stuck in the van, we make sure that everyone’s feelings are heard. Especially about getting time with their significant others.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What kind of advice would you give to young creatives who are in that stage of blossoming, finding themselves, and taking life?
[BEN:] I think the biggest thing that helped me was surrounding myself with people who had similar dreams and goals as me. I think one of the most important things that made our band successful was sharing a similar vision and dream of where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do. I think we all had the drive to get there. Being a young person, growing up, and pursuing your passion can be accomplished by surrounding yourself with like-minded people and by giving it your all. We tried as hard as we could, played as many shows as we could, took as many opportunities as we could have, as a band to showcase what we wanted to do. It proved to be very successful for us. I’m just thankful for all of the success that we had as a band. Having everybody buy tickets to our shows, buying our merch, it all means so much. I think you can get to that as long as you follow your heart, know what you want to do, and find other people. For us, going out to big music scenes like San Francisco allowed us to build a platform of like-minded people who were open to helping us out.
[UNPUBLISHED:] On the sillier side of things, have you ever listened to your own music on a date or ever included your music on any sort of dating app or profile?
[BEN:] Definitely not on a dating profile. Maybe on a date? You know…the funny thing is even on the first date with Margo, I don’t even think I showed my music. Maybe before we met I showed her the band as a way of showing her what I do but I think we were listening to Car Seat Headrest and stuff like that, other music.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is that what your date cruising soundtrack is? Car Seat Headrest? That Midwest emo-type vibe?
[BEN:] Car Seat Headrest would be pretty emotional for a first date, I must say. I would say Alice Phoebe Lou would probably fit more of that vibe. Maybe some Arlo Parks.
[UNPUBLISHED:] We’d love to ask a juicier question. Back to “I’m Always Thinking About You.” It makes us think that your love languages are acts of service or quality time, but we don’t want to assume anything. So we would love to ask, what are your love languages?
[BEN:] You know…I would say that my main love language is pretty verbal. That’s just how I am as a person. I like to say a lot of things, verbalize that I love someone, and tell them how great they are. Of course, I like to hear that back. Acts of service are definitely in there. I’m definitely the type of person who would wash my girlfriend’s car or help them wash the dishes because I want to help them clean the house. We’re always doing stuff for each other. For my other band members, I would say that they are fairly similar. Very verbal which goes back to what I said about being on tour and having an open line of communication and sharing our feelings to each other.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some ways that you have shown your SO that you are thinking about them? Aside from verbally expressing your emotions or calling them
[BEN:] Making their favorite cup of coffee. Making breakfast in the morning. My girlfriend has a horse. So you can definitely catch me at the barn, taking care of the horse for her.
[UNPUBLISHED:] One last question. If you could make a three-song love playlist, right now, that would make any person in the world fall in love with the band (but they can’t be your songs), which three would you choose?
[BEN:]
“The Sweetest Thing This Side of Heaven” - Papa Bear & His Cubs
It’s kind of a deep dive but it’s a lovely song. It’s definitely number 1.
“Dusk” - Alice Phoebe Lou
“Nobody Sees Me Like You Do” (Yoko Ono cover) - Japanese Breakfast
I think that’s a beautiful song and the cover is beautiful. It perfectly fits with the other two songs.
We just wanted to thank the band (especially Ben) one more time for taking the time to be interviewed by us. Despite being on the road and getting ready for the tour, Ben cheerfully and eagerly answered all of our questions in the van while the rest of the band quietly listened.