Meet Carrie Caruso of Gilbert

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie Caruso.

Hi Carrie , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started playing violin through my public school program in Walled Lake, Michigan. Later, moved to Arizona and studied violin with the late Dr. Frank Spinosa at Arizona State University in Tempe. For fun I would arrange classic rock and pop tunes for string quartet. I had a wedding client who requested all classical rock songs for their wedding. I hired friends/colleagues to read through my arrangements and perform them for the wedding. Before the ceremony began the audience was standing in applause. I thought to myself, “hmmm, there might be something to this…” That was just the beginning of my electric string quartet, Urban Quartet, and later renamed Urban Electra. I had always admired crossover artists like Vanessa Mae and Bond, however, they were still just playing classical repertoire. I liked the idea of the violin taking the lead, like electric guitar, in rock bands and while the classical string quartet certainly adds class to an event, most people are intimidated by classical repertoire because of their lack of familiarity. However having string quartets play Led Zeppelin, that now creates a connection with the audience that is unexpected because it combines the class and sophistication of the quartet while still being able to please the familiar ear with the content. It is the best feeling when someone comes up to me and says, “Wow! I love Radiohead and never imagined hearing “Creep” played like that!” Urban Quartet started playing corporate events throughout the Phoenix area and shortly discovered that we needed to be amplified to compete with the noise of a party in a ballroom. We initially started with a condenser microphone which then proved to have many complications like feedback, or not enough cello, etc. That is when we decided to plug in!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The first year playing electric instruments was close to comical. We rented a PA from Milano Music and lugged that thing to several resorts, trekking through lobbies and ballrooms carrying equipment in and out of parties, to then have to play sound engineer with a diagram literally starting with, “plug into outlet in wall…. to turn on power. There was a serious learning-curve for us! We then hired Jim May Productions to do our sound and booking. That was a game changer. As a result of these changes we were well on our way and as a result we then had many traveling performances from Playa del Carmen, Germany to a ten day cruise in the Caribbean.

The struggle was real! The beginning of my classical-crossover adventure was tough juggling the hat of being a student, a mother of two young children and my music. At the time, I also had a full time private violin studio.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am mostly known for pioneering the electric violin performing in the Phoenix area. I had always loved rock and pop… but at that time, there wasn’t anything out there locally that was doing what I was doing. I started arranging rock and pop songs for string quartet mostly as a hobby until one day in 2007, I had a wedding client as for literally all classic rock songs. That was my opportunity to play my arrangements. So I hired freelance musicians that I frequently played with for the job, and as we are playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen the guests waiting for the ceremony to begin, literally were standing and singing along. I thought to myself, “hmmm there’s something to this.” I asked the musicians I had hired if they would be willing to have a reading party and go through more of my material and they agreed. That was the beginning of Urban Electra. To this day, we are sisters. We are family. All of the weddings, divorces, babies, graduations, etc. Why audiences are drawn to electric violins, cellos etc. I believe is that the people love the sound of strings. However, many are intimidated by the lack of knowing classical repertoire. But when an audience hears the music they grew up listening to, that’s another story. Classical rock songs tend to translate very well for acoustic string quartet. An electric string quartet, we’ve just added a whole other element like shredding Jimmy Page riffs, etc.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Don’t overthink, do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carrie-caruso.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrie.caruso_violin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarrieCarusoViolinst/
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/urban_electra/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bowshred
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Dy20YxSurxiTj33m837xw
• Yelp: www.urbanelectra.com
• SoundCloud: https://www.facebook.com/UrbanElectra/

Image Credits
Marille Kris Melissa Shumway Preston Yarger Harley Bonham Ken Brown