Named one of the hottest bands at Lollapalooza by Spin, “Carney” is known for its incendiary live show with regularly sold out LA residencies at the El Rey Theater and the Troubadour. The band has also won over many crowds at Bonnaroo, San Diego Street Scene and Outside Lands Festival, with Entertainment Weekly naming Reeve Carney (lead vocals/ guitar) “one of the 10 rising stars to watch in 2010.”

In addition to band front man duties, Reeve’s extracurricular activities include playing the role of Peter Parker/Spiderman in the upcoming Julie Taymor-directed Broadway production of “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark,” featuring music written by Bono and The Edge. “An amazing voice and a truly charismatic presence,” raves Bono of Reeve.

The band’s debut album “Mr. Green Volume 1” is out on DAS Label/ Interscope.

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Joshua Watson: What would you say is the driving force behind your music and everything that you do?

Reeve Carney: It’s definitely something that comes outside of myself and is more important than just me. I try not to go into extreme detail about what exactly that is to me, just because there are so many people in different states with different opinions and beliefs. I’ve found in order to affect the most people with your music, it’s best to keep things somewhat accessible to them. There is a lot of it with a spiritual nature that you may have picked up on. I write about the things that are most important to me.

Watson: Who are some rock ‘n’ roll icons for you?

Carney: Oh man. Definitely the Beatles and Queen and Aerosmith I listen to them all so much. Actually one that isn’t as widely known by people our age is Edgar Winter’s White Trash. He’s probably one of my favorite vocalists. My mom gave me an Edgar Winter’s CD and a Jackson Browne CD when I was 12 for my birthday. I haven’t stopped listening. Jimmy Hendrix is one of my hugest inspirations; I love a lot of music. I love classical, blues and jazz. I’ve been influenced by a lot of different angles.

Watson: How exactly did “Spiderman” happen?
Carney: We were playing a gig in New York City and a director, Julie Taymor who’s directed a few major productions, she did the “Lion King” on Broadway about fifteen years ago and also did the Beatles’ film “Across the Universe.” One of my friends ended up bringing Julie to our concert in New York. She heard us and said to my friend, “Oh man, he would be perfect to play the prince in my adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest.’” So I auditioned for that and I ended up getting the part, which is crazy because I’m really just a musician. But somehow I lucked into getting a few acting jobs. So when she was casting “Spiderman” she said she wanted to look into having me sing for Bono and the Edge, who wrote the music for “Spiderman.” I was immediately in the running and they thankfully really enjoy what I do and enjoy my voice. They thought I’d be perfect for their show, so the three of them agreed. So then I had to prove myself to Marvel so I had a couple auditions to make sure everyone was OK with it. Eventually, I got the part. Pretty crazy.

Watson: Can you foresee touring during your time in NYC?

Carney: The cities we will be touring during the production will probably be Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC, things like that. We will be keeping it an East Coast thing. But the good thing is, with the “Spiderman” musical drawing so much tourism in Times Square, the likelihood of us being seen by a lot of people that we would normally have to travel to see is pretty high. It’s almost like we are going on tour. We are most likely going to be doing one show a week, like late night showings after midnight. We will be playing late night shows after “Spiderman”… We hope to have a weekly residency; that’s our plan.

Watson: After “Spiderman,” are you coming back to L.A.? Do you know when “Volume II” is coming out?

Carney: “Volume II” is going to be released while we are doing “Spiderman” production and most likely while it opens. We will probably be working on our third album during the run of “Spiderman,” so we can release our third album by the time were done with it. The whole idea was to release shorter albums more frequently. That’s why it’s called “Volume I” because “Volume II” is going to be parts of what would have been on “Volume I,” and some new stuff as well. I think it’s kind of a good idea to release more things in smaller doses because in general, most albums that we love probably don’t have more than seven or eight songs that we would consider to be great. At least that’s what I’ve noticed it to be.

Watson: Speaking about that, what are some of your favorite albums?

Carney: I love “Zeppelin I,” “Rubber Soul” is one of my favorite albums, John Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band,” Jeff Buckley’s “Grace.” I really like that new Kings of Leon album; it’s really great. I see myself going back to that one a lot on my iPod. Jellyfish’s “Spilt Milk” is a really cool album. I’ve been listening to Jeff Beck’s new album, “Emotion and Commotion.” There’s pretty beautiful guitar playing on that album. The first three Queen albums, I think “Sheer Heart Attack” may be one of my favorite Queen albums now… Sometimes, I listen to two things at once. Like one time I was listening to Ray Charles and Fiona Apple at the same time, kind of crazy. It’s pretty cool when you listen to music simultaneously like that. It kind of messes with you but it’s kind of cool. Or if you listen to music in your car and an ice cream truck drives by and somehow it makes an interesting combination.

Watson: Okay, I’ll try that sometime. Anything about this new album you would want people to know?

Carney: There’s a song on there that’s probably the most personal it’s called, “Think of You.” I used an acoustic guitar for most of the song. I recorded it six times. I’ve never been satisfied with it until this recording. [This recording] is the most honest and accurate representation of how I intended for this song to be when I wrote it. That’s kind of a good feeling. There is also a song called, “Testify,” which closes out the album. It was done in one take. At the end I say, “Yeah that’s the one guys.”