The Convenience tell us how Iggy Pop, Miles Davis, coffee & more influenced new LP ‘Like Cartoon Vampires’

New Orleans based musical collaborators and production duo Nick Corson and Duncan Troast play in Video Age and have worked with artists like Rui Gabriel and Drugdealer — groups who fall on the mellower side of the indie rock spectrum — but as The Convenience they make angular guitar pop that sounds straight out of 1979. “Pop” is the key word here; on their new album Like Cartoon Vampires, their instruments slash with wiry leads, but the bones of “I Got Exactly What I Wanted,” “Dub Vultures,” and “Waiting for a Train” are built on tight songwriting and solid hooks. Listen to the album below.

For more on the album, Nick and Duncan made us a list of 10 things that served as inspiration, including music (Miles Davis, Iggy, Faust), but also the films of Kelly Reichardt, coffee, and more. Read their list below.

Like Cartoon Vampires by The Convenience

The Convenience – 10 Influences behind Like Cartoon Vampires

Coffee
Can’t think of anything I enjoy more on this earth. Need it. Want it. Thought provoking aroma. Instant mood improvement. Making neurological leaps you never thought possible. The album could not exist without gallons of this stuff. Tubs. Forever and ever.
-nick

“Rated X” – Miles Davis
So punk. I think this was the last record Miles made before taking a quick hiatus in the late 70s. Sounded like he wanted to push everything to its extreme. The organ is just screaming on top of everything. The drums seem to be treated like a dub mix or something, coming in and out sporadically, sounding more like a This Heat experiment than a jazz fusion tune. Miles is on some self sabotage here and I can’t get enough.
-duncan

The films of Kelly Reichardt
I became aware of her movies when I went to see Showing Up in theaters, and I was so completely bowled over by that experience that I had to go back and watch everything that she’s done. Her films are so beautiful and full of wonderful little nuggets of humanity. Showing Up really gave me the strength to finish the record when I was at a burnout stage, and it also made me very nostalgic for the East Bay I knew growing up.
-nick

Sean Nicholas Savage
Me and Nick also play in the band Video Age and we had the privilege of doing a tour up the east coast with Sean. I had seen the end of his set one night in Seattle when he was opening for TOPS, but it wasn’t until our tour with him that I got to witness his brilliance. Sean is totally fearless, in his songwriting and stage presence. He’s both powerful and fragile up there, working to make you feel what he’s feeling, and physically pushing himself to do so. I’m getting misty eyed just thinking about it.
-duncan

Faust
The wonder boys at Wümme. Faust are endlessly fascinating to me. Their first four albums are some of the most consistently listened to music in my life and yet they still surprise me when I throw them on. The noise collages, the beautiful pastoral melodies, the weird German humour that I don’t really understand, it all adds up to represent an ideal life in music to me. Experimenting, having fun, and leaving behind some earth shattering art in the process. Now that’s rock and roll. If you are not yet initiated, start with Faust IV and work backwards.
-nick

Georges Simenon crime novels
I had picked up a few of his Maigret novels at a bookstore in Portland on a whim and was convinced to read them after listening to an interview with Lucy Sante (who’s book Low Life I love as well). They have become my go to tour or bus reads. Great low effort but high quality entertainment. I think they had a pretty big effect on my writing as well, influencing some of the more noir-laced tracks like “Rats.”
-nick

New Values by Iggy Pop
I feel like this record really evokes the physicality of Iggy on stage. Everything is lean and mean and still sounds fresh. I can’t help but get up and dance when I hear “I’m Bored” or “Tell Me a Story.” The drums are dry and punchy, the guitars are kinda clean and cut right to the gut. A record that makes you feel like anything is possible.
-duncan

Maria Lassnig paintings
When we were making Like Cartoon Vampires, Duncan and I would discuss how we could make these songs as human as possible, whether that meant leaving in mistakes or just playing in a more physical way. An artist that I kept coming back to and thinking about is Maria Lassnig, whose paintings resonate with me on a bodily level. Figures twist into impossible shapes, are they in joy or pain? Maybe both? Her palate feels so contemporary as well, all putrid greens and cotton candy blues. Her self portrait with the guns (You or Me from 2005) is just so cool and confrontational. I would love to play guitar how she paints.
-nick

James Blood Ulmer
My friend Zack played me the song “Are You Glad to Be in America?” while driving around New Orleans. Everything about that song just rocked my world. So funky it makes me want to mosh or something. I got kind of obsessed with his guitar sound and found a video on YouTube where talks about having a dream where all of the strings on his guitar were tuned to the same note. He then developed a couple open tunings adapting the concept of Harmolodics, a musical philosophy developed by Ornette Coleman. We used them on the record. EEEBEB is one and the other is AAEAEA I believe. The unison strings get kinda nasty and out of tune; it’s beautiful.
-duncan

Wearing suits
I recently heard Nick Cave on Bella Freud’s podcast talking about how wearing a suit, making an effort to button up and present more formally as a uniform, can have a freeing effect on the mind and that is something I relate to 100%. I’ve always had some difficulty with casual clothes, and feel the most comfortable when I have a bit of armor on, and I love the fact that if I’m wearing a suit or a sport coat the most difficult decision I have to make is the color of the shirt.
-nick

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The Convenience will be on tour in June, including a NYC show at Union Pool on 6/21. All dates are here:

The Convenience – 2025 Tour Dates
May 02 New Orleans, LA – No Dice (Like Cartoon Vampires record release show)
Jun 15 Savannah, GA – Dog Days Fest
Jun 18 Richmond, VA – Gallery 5
Jun 19 Washington, DC – Quarry House Tavern
Jun 21 New York, NY – Union Pool
Jun 22 Boston, MA – Lilypad
Jun 24 Cleveland, OH – Brother’s Lounge
Jun 25 Detroit, MI – Outer Limits Lounge
Jun 26 Chicago, IL – Cole’s Bar
Jun 27 St Louis, MO – The Sinkhole
Jun 28 Nashville, TN – The End