From The Roller-Derby Rink to The Stage: A Conversation with Shiv and The Carvers

Interview by Imani Dominique Busby

Photography by Barrett Potts aka Fifty (@fifty.jpg)

Shiv and the Carvers bring a unique blend of punk rock energy and roller derby attitude to the Toronto music scene. In this exclusive conversation with Shiv and Nikki, the artists share their journey from the rink to the stage, discussing their influences, creative process, and the impact their community has had on their music.

Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your introduction to making music?

Shiv

I'm Shiv from “Shiv and the Carvers” and I’ve played music my whole life. My grandpa, cousins and uncles are all in an Irish Rock band so I grew up around that kind of scene. I always wanted to play music. I played music a little bit in university and then started playing roller derby. When the Pandemic happened, I needed somewhere to put all my time and energy so I started writing songs again. 

And then we made a band with these weirdos.


Nikki, you tell the story of how you started playing.

Nikki

I mean, it's similar. I grew up in Northwestern Ontario, north of Thunder Bay in a town called Sioux Lookout. My dad was always playing guitar, always playing in classic dad rock bands. I didn't really do anything until I came to Toronto in the pandemic. I was just in my room playing songs by myself, playing in the basement of Houndstooth. I kind of started my own project, but Shiv asked me to join, and I said yes.

Shiv

You kind of started your own project? She has her own project. It's called Slug, and I am their biggest, biggest fan.

Nikki

But, no, I just - it’s fun to go from one thing where you’re writing and bringing all your own ideas to being, like, “I'm gonna bring in ideas now, that I’m happy to share and get feedback on. And not have to be a control freak about it.”

You mentioned the band was forged in the roller derby scene. How did that environment influence Shiv and The Carvers' sound and music?

Nikki

I love skating. I was kind of built to skate for a long time. I like songs that just make me want to go fast and have an aggressive sound. Roller derby is a full-body contact sport and it's run by  an incredible group of people that are so accepting and radically different than any group of people. 

I joined when I was 20, maybe 19. And getting to grow up around women and people who are like, “Oh, you can hit 30, and you're not dead in the water. There's something more.”

You could start at 30, you can start at 35, you can start at 40.

Shiv

I also joined at 21 and I was like, “Whoa, this is so cool.” It's women and non-binary people running shit for themselves. We’d listen to like all kinds of different music at practice and at the after parties- there were no genres. It was more about vibes and whatever kind of serve the energy for your pump up. 

I’m definitely a better musician now than I was before I played derby because I now know how to be a better teammate. I now know how to react in a split second better to the other people on the track or the stage with me.

What can you tell us about the creative process behind the song and video for Danger Girl?

Shiv

I wrote that about my girlfriend who is our bassist. Before she was my girlfriend and before she was our bassist, I just kind of was like, “Oh, this girl's going to break my heart.”

Nikki

We were literally going to the skate park and she would be like, “Do you want to come to the skate park? I think Annie's going to be there today” or something like, “Annie said she's going to be there. I want to go talk to her."

Shiv

Then I wrote the song we played it for a little bit. Then she joined the band, which was fun because then we made her sing and play parts of the song.

Nikki

There's a really cute part at the beginning where Shiv says, “And there was one time you went hi”. To be, like, saying hi to Annie. And Annie's has a call and response where she says “Yes” to going on a date. It's just like a really sweet little part.

Shiv

Yeah. And then the video, we were trying to think of what a good theme could be. The director and I came up with a Scott Pilgrim theme because we love the Scott Pilgrim movies. I watch it when I feel nostalgic about Toronto. And then we were thinking, “Who would be a good girl that everybody loves?" And then we immediately thought of Violet, the singer for “Roach”. She’s the girl everybody in our scene loves. And we just ran around shooting from there.

What are you most excited about for the EP release show? And what can fans expect?


Nikki

New Songs! Yeah, we’ve got some new unrecorded tracks that we've been working on over the last six months. Some of them we literally finished three weeks ago.

Shiv

We also made some cool new merch that I'm excited about too. We made underwear, which is good, because everybody needs more underwear.

Nikki

You guys. Underwear is the best merch.


Shiv

I feel like socks would also be a good piece of merch.

Socks are cute.

Nikki

Oh, yeah.


Shiv

Utilitarian.


Shiv and The Carvers has built a strong presence in Toronto's punk scene. How do you feel about the local punk community and how has it helped shape your musical identity?


Shiv

I feel so lucky for the Toronto music community as a whole. We definitely know a lot of people in the punk space, but I think Toronto books a lot of different genres on the same bill. So, there's a lot of really great alternative rock bands right now, like, Slashheat and Dermabrasion. And there's more hardcore metal bands like Monstrosa, and Burner.


Nikki

Yeah. And I think one of the biggest things about this, the audience, is that so many of them are also performers themselves. So they understand that when you go to a show, it’s a give and a take. If you are gonna be there, enjoying this show makes it better for yourself and it makes it better for the band. You have to feed off that. There's some front row people that come out and they're like the best women. They come stand and they're head banging, they’re giving the energy. And that's just something that I really appreciate. Whenever I even just attending a show and they're there, I think, “This is my favorite thing about it.” Yeah, it's like giving the energy back.


That's amazing. It sounds like a beautiful community and like a beautiful relationship that you have, like with the audience, with your fans as well. So that's like, that's amazing.


Nikki

Thanks.


Do you have any last thoughts?

Shiv

We're coming to a city near you!


Nikki

We're going to be a lot of places across Canada, which is really exciting.

Shiv

And we're getting out to the west coast too! Can’t reveal details on that right now, but we're playing PouzzaFest in Montreal, which is like a huge punk festival. We're excited to just eat some poutine and like, you know, skate around Montreal and play some music.


Well, thank you so much.

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