Die Mannequin front-woman Caroline Kawa has lived a lot of life in 26 years.
Kawa, best known as Care Failure has lead an interesting life, from the suicide of close friend at age 12, who named her in her suicide note, to running away from home at age 16 and falling into a well publicized drug habit.
“ I just did a piece on City TV which aired on Tuesday and they usually talk to people who have lived through wars and North 
Korea, and I was asking, why do you want to talk to me, I have first world problems,” said Die Mannequin lead singer Care Failure on a fading cell phone in the middle of the Canadian Shield, en route to Thunder Bay. She brings the Toronto based punk/ rock band to Average Joes, May 22. Dearly Beloved and the Phantom Creeps are also on the bill. They are touring in support of a new, soon-to be released mini-album Danceland, which will be released June 12.
“ I feel bad it has to be rehashed, but at the same time, people need to know where I’m coming from,” she said.
She was literally pulled off the street, sleeping in front of the store where she worked by a man who happened to have connections with record company EMI.
“I was working at this store where they sold rock T-shirts and things, and we got a lot of people going through,” she said adding one man who helped her had contacts with EMI.
“ I was amazed. But then this one guy came and wanted to see me play. Usually people just couldn’t give a shit about you. I was a mess. I came in there with no makeup and just staring at the floor I didn’t think EMI would touch me with a 95 foot pole,” she said adding that starting things rolling for her and her band. She was lucky to have some friends in high places. EMI, who caught wind of the buzz surrounding Care and Die Mannequin ended up literally picked her up off the street, helped her clean up and get her doing what she does best — writing songs and rocking out.
She attracted the attention of Rush guitarist Alex Leifson.
“He’s my musical sugar daddy, giving me pedal and guitars and things. I still e-mail him. But usually you find a a couple people like that,” she said.
If you haven’t seen Die Mannequin before, Kawa said to expect a crazy show.
“ It will be crazy, sweaty, intense and bloody — Iggy and the Stooges style,” she said enthusiastically describing the first show of the tour in Sault Ste- Marie.
Most recently, she starred in Bruce MacDonald’s movie “Hard Core Logo 2,” the sequel to ’90s cult classic “Hard Core Logo, ” starring the Headstones’ Hugh Dillon.
“Bruce knew us because he did the documentary attached to (2009 CD) Fino+ Bleed). it was interesting . it takes place 15 years later. And while I don’t consider myself to be an actor, it was interesting doing a film that was half scripted and half improvised,” she said adding there was some pressure stepping into a sequel to a cult Canadian classic piece of cinema.
“ And I don’t like seeing myself on screen at all,” she said.
She had to tap into a pretty dark part of her soul to play the part.
“ I had to be coming from this really bad place. I don’t want people thinking I’m this really grumpy, moody thing,” she said.
And while she knows people will be complaining about the sequel, she noted she did her best.
“I just hope I made them proud,” she said.
“I have huge admiration for actors like Bill Murray who have perfect timing. I tried to do it, but it is not easy,” she said she’d love to do more acting.
“ It’s great, especially the money,” she laughed.
She got to meet Neil Young at the 2011 Junos.
“I wish I could be a songwriter like Bob Dylan and Neil Young — a storyteller, so it doesn’t have to be real and based on my life. But I thought that was really cool. It was so freaky. I was nervous, I had an attack of the shys,” she said.
She draws a lot of material for her songs from her life.
“Sometimes I fantasize a little bit, but everything comes from a very real place,” she said.
“ ‘Suffer,’ I wrote when I was thinking about mental patients when they used to do lobotomies on them. So I fantasized about the patients rising against the doctors and performing the same operations on them badly,” she continued.
“Caroline Mescaline” is closest related to her life.
“That’s my epitaph,” she described.
They are releasing a new mini-album “Danceland,” June 12, their first release since Fino+Bleed was released in 2008.
“We didn’t want our fans to have to wait ,” she said adding they have anew record deal and are already recording a new full, length CD to be released later this year.
“ They say you shouldn’t release more than one CD a year, but I think I can break that rule. The songs on this EP are older. My writing is completely different now,” she said adding the delay was due to having issues with their manager.
“Our manager was gouging us. If I told you the number, you wouldn’t believe it, but when we thought we were struggling, I was actually a millionaire,” she said.
“ I’ve grown a lot over the years,” she continued. She said the new music is a lot darker and heavier, though she said you can still dance to it. She enjoys artists like the Kills.
“But I also really love Motown, so I put it all together and come up with something unique,” she said adding the new music from Danceland isn’t representative of where she is at now.
“ I had the need to purge it out,” she continued. She is in a much better place now than she was during her tumultuous youth.
“It’s supposed to be fun. You’re supposed to find solace in the journey. That’s my attitude now,” she said.
Tickets for Die Mannequin , The Phantom Creeps and Dearly Beloved cost $15 in advance from Charisma, Blueprint and Average Joes.
