Mikey Carvajal Unpacks Meaning Behind Islander’s New Album Title

A few weeks after releasing their latest album, Grammy Nominated, Islander frontman Mikey Carvajal joined Loudwire Nights to celebrate the new music, unpack the record’s title and share some thoughts on the state of music today.

“The album title came from my brother,” Carvajal told host Chuck Armstrong. Carvajal’s brother, Chris, plays bass for Islander.

“He was making the joke, we should put an old lady on the cover like a grandmother of some kid and she’s giving him an award.”

The idea behind that joke was simple: Carvajal’s family is always the most supportive of Islander’s music, even if they don’t really listen to it.

“You don’t listen to this kind of music, Grandma,” he said, laughing. “We looked up the definition of ‘grammy’ and in the dictionary, it’s someone’s grandmother.”

And yes, of course, there is also an angle to the title that is meant to take a shot at the Grammy Awards.

“It almost looks like this Satanic cult,” Carvajal said as he described the album cover.

“It’s symbolic to what we see at the Grammys. Not that it’s actually Satanic, but it isn’t fan-voted, it’s a bunch of suits that get together and they vote together and pay each other off … We’ve seen these artists accept awards for something that they didn’t do and it’s kind of heartbreaking and demeaning to the art.”

What Mikey Carvajal Thinks About the State of Rock Music

For Carvajal, there seems to be nothing more important to him as an artist than the integrity between him and his music. The fact that he writes the words and collaborates with his bandmates is something that he holds close — and something he wishes he saw more of in the music scene around him.

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“It used to just be like a pop music thing,” he said, “but there are a lot of rock bands that are having their songs written for them. I’m really grateful that we don’t do that.”

Carvajal continued reflecting on this on Loudwire Nights and admitted that he laments the lack of authenticity in rock music.

“I feel like…a lot of music is missing the genuine personality of the individual.”

What Else Did Islander’s Mikey Carvajal Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• He goes in-depth on Islander’s song, “Ritual of Death,” and how it shines a light on the West Memphis Three as well as why he wants to get justice for the murdered boys at the center of that story
• What’s on the horizon for Islander and why fans should probably get excited for some more live shows coming this year
• Why they decided to use artificial intelligence to help create the artwork for Grammy Nominated

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Mikey Carvajal joined Loudwire Nights on Monday, July 15; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.