Meet Novena Carmel: KCRW’S New ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ Co-Host, Former Talent Buyer & Sly Stone’s Daughter

NOVENA CARMEL: It was so exciting, so fun.  Exciting and fun are the words.

And you’re  a musician.
In one way or another ever since I was young, I’ve been playing the piano and I’ve been dabbling and making music a little bit on my own. But it was funny, I actually did my first show with my band at Temple Bar when I was working there. So we booked me.

So me booked me…
Well, I was the assistant. So it was like, “Hey, Dexter, what do you think about this? “My first show, I had like 150 people come out, which was amazing at the time. And it felt more comfortable, too, like I was at home. So it kind of happened at the same time. While I was booking, I was also going on tour. So I’d be on a tour bus, opening up my computer, and booking acts in Santa Monica.

You were in Wallpaper  and Baby Stone, what were your other groups?
Baby Stone was the one I did my first show with and that was myself and my friend Itai Shapira doing soul funk. And then, Wallpaper was the project of Ricky Reed, he just had his debut album as Ricky Reed come out. And then obviously, he produced and developed Lizzo, and worked with Leon Bridges, a ton of people. But at that time, he was doing Wallpaper. It’s kind of funny there’s a little bit of a parallel where Wallpaper was awesome and it existed in one sense, but then he had a vision for doing something different and new with it and asked if I would join in on that. Which is sort of like what Morning Becomes Eclectic is now, too. It already existed and it’s awesome. And then, I get to be added to it and take it to another place. So I toured a bunch with Wallpaper. I also did this electropop project called Zoo Wax with a couple of French musicians. And there’s an artist named Spencer Ludwig, I was touring with him recently.

Did you play Coachella?
I did. I played Coachella, I think, a total of three times. So, the first time that I ever did it was with Wallpaper. And that was a fun one, where we were on Friday at noon. So it was one of the very first acts. And we were like, “Oh, my God, is there going to be anybody here to see us?”

And it’s 120 degrees.
Yeah, exactly. But it was actually pretty packed and it was crazy and we felt really good about it. I remember that. And then we returned, I want to say the next year, as guest performers with Paul Oakenfold.

That’s bizarre.
Yeah. Ricky Reed of Wallpaper did a song with him, and I think we all performed it together. But years before that, I performed when my dad [Sly Stone] was scheduled at Coachella.

What? We’ll get back to that, but he played Coachella?
He did. But it was so weird. I can’t lie. He was scheduled, he played– it was just a strange thing, where everything was late and then they changed the stages. It wasn’t my favorite Coachella memory.

So how did being an artist and touring inform your booking talent for venues?
If you’ve been an artist, you understand booking so much better. Sometimes people are just focused on dollars and they don’t care. But for me, it’s important to respect people. I respect someone who is putting themselves out there. Even if I don’t like what they’re doing, just the fact that they have the guts to do it. I can appreciate it. What leads to success is the reputation you have with artists. A lot of times I was able to get shows maybe for less money because people knew what our effect was compared to another venue that they didn’t’ feel they had a personal connection with.

What bookings are you most proud of?
Terrace Martin. Obviously, a fixture in the thriving and developing L.A. music scene. He was doing a series of shows with us that were like Terrace Martin Presents and he would have all these surprise guests. There were a number of them, but with really cool people. I don’t want to mix them up. From what I recall, on this one night it was him, Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave on drums, and then guest performances by like Goapele and Lalah Hathaway. Don Cheadle and Wayne Brady opened up and just talked and rapped. Then, after hours and hours into performances, it’s like 1:30 a.m. or something and we have a curfew to close by like 1:45, and Dave Chappelle shows up on the stage. In a room for 150 people. It was just the most exciting thing.

Wow. And you mentioned Kamasi and Thundercat coming to the Temple Bar.
Yeah, definitely. They were there at that time, along with so many others. John Legend. Bruno Mars had some of his first shows at Temple Bar when I was working there.

Are you kidding?
And also another one, Anderson .Paak, used to perform.

I love him.
Oh, yeah. I was looking at Anderson all the time. Except at the time he was called Breezy Lovejoy.

[laughter] Are you kidding? He’s such a talent.
And he was the kindest, sweetest, hungriest dude. Sometimes when you’re building out a show, you want to have a  “Headlining act.” And then there’s one or two other acts that are complimentary to add to it. And I remember Breezy was like, if you ever asked him, like, “Do you want to come join this show?” he was down. There’d be times when there was a lot of people in the room, but even if there was 10 people, he played like it was a full house and was just happy and thankful every time. Yeah, really talented, and a hard worker too.

How have your booking experiences informed your DJing?
As a booker, I think about what I like as an audience person. And that’s what I do with a live performance at a venue. On KCRW, it’s a little different because you don’t see the people in front of you, so the feedback comes later. But it is curating an experience for the audience. And it’s curating one that is fulfilling for yourself and basically leaves them wanting to come back for more. My analogy is it’s a great restaurant, but every day the menu’s different. But it’s OK because you know the food is going to be bomb.

How are you putting a three-hour-a-day show together?
We’ve created a loose structure just to start, but it may change. For the first weeks, we did sort of 20 minutes each. Which makes it a little easier just to have some kind of structure. But then it may be something like one of us could interject and be like, “Ooh, the song you’re playing, really reminds me of this. Can I play it right now?” or something, which could happen. We get together every day, at least an hour before and  map out how the day’s going to go. Along with the music we’re playing, whatever sort of special presentations we have, playing the David Lynch weather report, today’s top tunes.  There’s a lot of communication with each other during the show, too. A lot of it is improv. We’ll be like, okay, this is about to come up, I’m going to ask you what you think about this and then you’ll say this. Luckily, because we’re creative and we’ve worked together a lot, that’s been happening.

Are you doing digital or vinyl?
In the studio we have lots of options. We have vinyl, CDJs, you could just plug in your laptop. Because it’s COVID, Anthony and I are in two separate rooms divided by a glass wall so we can still see each other. My room is what used to be where you would interview guests and I brought a DJ controller in there and play from that.

I saw on the KCRW website Anthony said, “She’s my best friend.” Are you guys really best friends?
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. It’s not a lie. I mean, I’ve known Anthony for 10 years. Met him also officially at Temple Bar when I was working there, and he was a DJ. And we’ve always had immediate connection and just a fun time hanging out and creating together. We did a podcast together in the past. We created a pilot of a daily show for this Korean app and the app just didn’t work out. It was funny when the Morning Becomes Eclectic host position opened up, we both were like, “It would be so cool if we co-hosted it.” But we didn’t think that would actually happen.

How did it happen?
So when they first said that they were going to be looking for a new host, I had only been there for a handful of months. And before that I hadn’t been on radio at all. I was just getting my bearings being a late-night weekly host. And I didn’t even think that I should really apply at first; but a couple of people encouraged me to. And then I was like, “Well, even if I don’t get it, it’ll be cool just to see what happens and to let them know how much I love the station anyways,” right? Everybody had to do the same process, whether they were in the studio or outside of it, which was making a demo, submitting a resume with a cover letter, the whole shebang

(Ani Yapundzhyan/Courtesy Novena Carmel) –
Novena Carmel (right), her father Sly Stone (right) with George Clinton from a show performed in downtown Los Angeles

With Anthony Valadez or separately?
No, it was all separately because they were never saying like, “Oh, we’re also considering co-host.” Never, ever, ever, ever. The only thing was in interviews, both he and I said that it would be cool to have cohosts, which I thought even if it wasn’t me, it would be cool to have cohosts. It’s fun. It brings a different energy. I was just thinking that it felt like a good idea. So we all did three interviews. And then the music director, Anne Litt…

Who was the hosting the show?
Yes. So after the third interview, they said, “Okay, we’re going to think about it and let everybody know after Thanksgiving.” So then, right before Thanksgiving, the Monday before or the Tuesday before, Anne emailed me and was like, “Oh, I need to ask you about your ideas for something really quick. Can you hop on the phone?” And I’m like, “Yeah, sure.” So I’m at the grocery store thinking it’s this really casual phone call she wants to have. And then she texted me.

Wait, you were at Trader Joe’s?
I was at Sprouts.

Even better.
I was at Sprouts. And she said to me, “Can you hop on Zoom? I want to show you something really fast.” And I’m like, “Zoom? I’m at the grocery store.” (laughter) And I was like, “Am I even going to be able to see it on my phone?” And I told her, and she said, “It’s okay. Just hop on your phone.” So I leave my cart in the store because I didn’t want to be that person, especially during COVID that was like on a Zoom call in the middle of the grocery store blocking the aisle or whatever. So I left my cart and I hopped in my car and then I opened up Zoom and it’s the president of the station, Jennifer Ferro, and Paul (Bennun) and they’re all there and I’m like, “Wow, this is like a really big idea and Anne must have to have me on this call.” [laughter] And she goes, “I just wanted to  kind of surprise you and offer you the co-host position of Morning Becomes Eclectic.” And that was the first time that I knew there would be a co-host was when they offered me the co-host position,

What was your reaction?
It was just  like, What is this a dream? What are you saying to me? Who’s the co-host?

Did you go back into Sprouts and throw your cart on the ground?
It was incredibly hard to focus on continuing my grocery trip. I was just like at that point, just kind of throwing stuff in and, like, screaming inside. And they also were like, “You can’t tell anybody because it’s still a secret. We haven’t even told anybody else.” So I’m like, “I get it.” And then I remember thinking at that point, on top of everything and all the excitement, I was out of a job,  a full-time job. So I was really trying to be even more thoughtful than usual about how I’m spending my money. And I rolled my cart by all these sweet potato pies and I was like, “I’m going to get a pie.”

Wow, living.
Yeah. Really living.

So when you say you were out of a job, is that because you weren’t booking clubs anymore .
Yeah. So just lucky for me. In 2020, I’m a DJ, I’m a club booker. Both of my gigs are things that don’t work in pandemic times. I mean a bunch of my DJ gigs were canceled and then obviously the clubs had to shut down.

Timing is everything. So when it all comes back in spring, summer or fall are you going to inch your way back into booking or DJing outside of the radio station or touring or what do you see for yourself?
Mainly I’m really focused on making MBE awesome, to be honest. And then once restrictions are lifted a bit, that’ll give us even more possibilities with MBE for having artists or with the station in general, having events, festivals, who knows? But I imagine I may work with some of the artists that I worked with, or even the venues if they’re still open. And, of course, yes, doing the right DJ gig for myself and everything. But my main baby right now for a minute is MBE for sure.

if you were to go back to booking, do you think you would have an even more informed perspective?
Everything is constantly feeding each other. I’m now in a different way finding out about new artists at an increased pace. The more you immerse yourself in something, the more you are able to feel what the trends are and what is going to make sense for the city and the culture at the moment.

(Couresty Novena Carmel) –
Family Affair: Sly Stone and Novena Carmel

So, how’s your dad?
He’s great. He’s good.

Thank god, he’s a treasure. What’s it like having Sly Stone as a father and inspiring your music palette?
I mean, it’s amazing. It’s a hard question to answer because I don’t have a comparison. He’s just my dad and that’s just what I’m used to. I think he is such an amazing artist. I would feel that way even if I wasn’t related to him, but it’s hard for me to know for sure. But I’ll say to my boyfriend, “I could listen to Sly Stone every day. It’s not just because he’s my dad, right? He’s really dope, right?” He’s like, “I would listen to him every day.”  And then when I think, “Oh, yeah, this is your father, like your….this is going to be a lot. Fine, I’ll say it…Like you lived in his balls. You lived in this person’s balls and he’s a genius and he made this music right? That’s crazy. And then I’m like, I guess that’s in me, too, in some way, like this genius, which is just crazy but it also adds to my empowerment on my journey because it’s to just kind of allows things to unfold as they do and know the power of my being in the world.

That’s beautiful
The crazy thing is that my dad started out as a radio DJ.

What?! Really?!
In San Francisco? It was called KSOL. And it’s so weird because when I first started as a musician, I was like, “Oh, you know, it’s crazy. My dad was a musician. So am I. What does that mean?” And then when I became a DJ, I wasn’t thinking about him at all in that way, and then somehow I naturally became a radio DJ, which makes sense because I love playing music, but also entertaining people. It’s like, you just can’t get away from it, Novena.

Have you played Sly songs on your show?
Of course, I played one on my first show when I was first on KCRW in the late-night hours. I put out an EP of Baby Stone a few years ago,  he created this intro to my album that was sort of like a radio announcer. It was a thing he literally used to do on the radio that he got from this other OG guy named– I forget what his name was and he would go, “There you go you cats and kitties around the world, what I’m on about…” He used to do that on his show and then he did that to intro my album so  I played that to intro myself on my very first show from 3:00 to 6:00 AM on a Saturday night. So cool. And then for the first show on MBE, I played the song, “Remember Who You Are.”

That’s deep.
Yeah. It’s a great song. And it’s from an album called, “Back on the Right Track,” which is not one of his most popular albums. But there’s a number of songs on there where each title is very much like that. There’s another one called “The Same Thing.” It’s like “The same thing that makes you laugh, might make you cry. The same food you eat to live, could make you die. Someone else’s medicine, could be a poison to you.” It’s a great album.  “Who You Are” is a message for everybody, especially, nowadays.

Has he heard you on Morning Becomes Eclectic?
I don’t think he has. I don’t really know. He’s not like the kind of person where if you’re hanging out with him, he’s not like super on the phone or on the internet.

But he knows about you on MBE?
He knows  I’m doing this show that people love. But again he doesn’t like to listen to the radio. He’s like, “Oh, that’s great. I love this for you.” That’s what he says.

Well congratulations, first and foremost, this is so great for L.A.
Yeah, we’re really excited.