Hey, look who’s back! It’s me, People Who Work Here, and this week we’ll be meeting Carly Starr. Carly started here as an intern and worked her way up to become in charge of International Marketing here at Sub Pop! Don’t get your hopes up, though, because we don’t generally hire our interns at Sub Pop; these days we just give them their very own record label. Carly enjoys shopping, candy, going to the gym, reading trashy blogs, and watching trashier TV. Carly will not do anything she does not want to do. Sometimes people confuse Carly and I for each other. I think it’s the boobs. Let’s meet Carly!

L: Your birthday is Thursday—how old will you be? Have you accomplished the things you hoped you would by this time? What is the best thing to happen to you in all your years alive so far?

C: Actually, my 28th birthday is Friday. Your friend Tammy’s birthday is Thursday. [Happy birthday, Tammy! –ed.] I’m pretty proud of what I have accomplished to date. When I was 14 I started a piggy bank called “Savings for Seattle”. I was totally obsessed with Sub Pop, Seattle, grunge, and getting out of Wisconsin – weird I just realized that I’ve spent half my life loving Sub Pop – can I get some retribution for that? [I’m not sure that’s the word you’re looking for. Well, fuck, maybe it is. –ed.] So it’s kind of effed up that all of my dreams per se have come true – and because of that I think I have accomplished a lot. I also managed to graduate college, which I’m pretty happy about. I think the best thing to happen in my life changes every day. Sometimes I think it’s Lola (my cat), sometimes Eric (my boyfriend), and sometimes ice cream. [I’d stick with ice cream—that cat is a bitch. –ed.]

L: You work in the international department here at Sub Pop which means you get to travel abroad fairly regularly. What’s your favorite European country and why? Where would you like to go that you’ve never been?

C: I’d have to say that Italy is my favorite European country. Florence, Venice, Milan, the people, food, wine, shopping [See? What did I tell you? –ed.], and the countryside are all amazing. I would like to go back to Australia because I was only there for a few days and Melbourne seemed really cool. Places that I’ve never been to and want to go to include: Brazil (duh), Greece, and Morocco. That being said, there are a lot of places in America that I’ve never been to and would like to see (like LA – not that I want to go there but I do think it’s funny that I haven’t been yet. Actually – it is now my new life goal to never go to LA). [This is totally doable—set up that piggy bank! -ed.]

L: You just bought a house not too long ago—what do you think about home ownership? Pros? Cons? Would you do it again?

C: Owning a home is really cool! [I wouldn’t know. –ed.] It happened really fast. I always wanted to own a home but I’m no saver (luckily Eric is) and I didn’t expect to be a home owner anytime soon or in Seattle. So far so good (please, knock on wood). I guess I don’t think too much about it. I do love how you can really make it yours though (we’re putting in cute floors over the holidays if you wanted to know). However, I absolutely hate yard work. HATE IT. So that’s a bummer. Oh and Lola can go outside now, which apparently was why she was such a bitch the first year of her life (I still have the scars to prove it).

L: You hang out with CSS a bunch—tell me a really good story about one of the times you guys were getting wasted and partying into the early morning.

C: I love CSS and miss them so much – no secret to my co-workers. I still put them at the top of our international notes (the album came out a year and a half ago – you’d think I’d give it up). Is it sad that I can’t remember any crazy party stories? Not that I was too wasted to remember but that there really isn’t any. They are one of the hardest working bands I know. Every time I go out with them their time is filled with interviews, photo shoots, radio sessions, and shows. It’s nonstop. I think my favorite memory is meeting them for the first time, months after their broken English drunk dialing, emailing, and texting. Lovefoxxx and Ana stayed with me for awhile two summers ago. Every morning I would wake them up (remember when they “interned” here for a week) and Lovefoxxx would sit up and say “What time it is?” – that still cracks me up. [Ha, ha! Stupid foreigners! -ed.]

L: It’s no secret that you love Eddie Vedder. Tell me about your love for Pearl Jam and how you manage to justify it in 2007.

C: This is a common misconception. I USED to love Pearl Jam (see answer to question # 1). I had a bad habit of buying Pearl Jam tickets to concerts that weren’t even in Wisconsin (Toledo, Ohio, and Missoula, Montana for example). My Dad, Phil, was awesome enough to drive me around the country to see them (thanks, Dad!). He also brought me to my first concert when I was 7 years old, Tiffany and New Kids on the Block (this was when New Kids were OPENING for Tiffany). Little did he know that he would sit through many more NKOTB concerts (thanks again, Dad!).I don’t think I’ve actually listened to a whole Pearl Jam album since 1998. That being said, they were one of my favorite bands so naturally I’m still curious about them. My sister Jessica, however, is in love with them and travels all over the country to see them. I think it’s cute and good to have a band that just totally blows you away. [Yeah, but… -ed.]

L: You are also an enormous Radiohead fan—what did you pay for their new record? What do you think about their controversial marketing scheme?

C: This is true. They’re the current Pearl Jam for me. I love every new album more than their last – which a lot of people don’t agree with – but I like all the tweakery that Johnny Greenwood does. I bought the box set thing, which ended up being over $80 since the USD is such shit. I’m annoyed by their marketing scheme only because now my mom Trudy (Hi Mom!)likes to tell me all about how the music industry is changing and that it’s all going downhill because bands don’t need record labels anymore since Radiohead just released theirs on their own and it turned out alright. Sigh. [Yes, but your mom also gives out your business card to performers at the local Quacamonoc coffee shop. I think it’s cute that she’s interested. –ed.]

L: Tell me something about Carly that most people would not know.

C: I can not roll my r’s and it makes me sad. [Me neither. –ed.]

L: If you could switch jobs with anyone here who would it be and why?

C: I don’t want to switch jobs with anyone here. I have a pretty sweet deal. [I’ll say! –ed.]

L: What is one thing you wish you knew more about and why?

C: For years I was obsessed with the Chunnel. How could people build this tunnel under the English Channel? Did the tunnel go through the water, sit on the ocean floor, or was it under that? How many people died building it? How many years did it take? After studying up a bit – I was greatly disappointed with all of my answers. Turns out the tunnel is only 30 miles long (23 of which are under the seabed), 150 feet under the seabed, and only takes 20 minutes to go through via train. [I’m impressed! –ed.] BORING. [Oh. –ed.] I’ll stick with being naïve and creating my own ideas of how the universe works.

L: Carly, you are from Wisconsin. Do you think you’d ever move back there? How do you think Wisconsin makes you who you are?

C: I love Wisconsin. Seriously. The best people from Earth come from the Midwest (it’s true). I was so anxious to move away and get to grunge town that I don’t know if I really appreciated all of its glory until I left. I would definitely move back to Milwaukee. I’m not sure what I would do there, but I’d be down to kick MKE style. Wisconsin (and the Midwest in general) breeds people to be friendly, hard working, mayo-loving, football fans who are what you see – there’s not a whole lot of B.S. I’m about to get a Wisconsin tattoo but I can’t decide what the banner under the state outline should say. Maybe you can help. Your choices are:
1. Escape to Wisconsin – this used to be old tourist catch phrase until people kept on crossing out the “to”. [Before or after the cow tipping? –ed]
2. Wisconsin
3. Forward! – the state motto and my personal favorite. [This is almost like when you are driving your gay pal around and you say ‘Do I go straight here?’ and he replies “Forward, never straight’ and then you say ‘I hear you man—I’m straight but not narrow!’. -ed.]
4. Midwest Pride

L: And finally, if you were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, what is one thing you’d want your mom to know before you left?

C: Thanks for the quilt, Mom. [This makes me sad. –ed.]