And were back in the room! Coming in hot, two interviews in two days! Back in January/February this year I decided that I wanted to put on a music festival, and more specifically a festival that focused on the growing shoegaze scene here in Ireland. And so, GazeFest - The Fest That Celebrates Itself was born. A two day, two city shoegaze festival, happening in Dublin August 25th and Belfast August 26th. I play in a shoegaze band called Virgins, so in a way its a selfish vehicle for me to get to play with all these amazing bands from all over Ireland/Northern Ireland.
One of those bands that I selfishly wanted to play with was Fulvetta. Since booking them for the festival we've already got to play together but I'm excited to bring them to Belfast. Instagram introduced me to Fulvetta with the annoucement of their EP 'Songbird', a three song EP that from the opening notes of 'Dynasty' just blew me away. A dense sonic soup, hooky song writing and the production was on point. After listening to the EP 3 or 4 times in a row I reached out to let them know I was a fan, I flirted, they flirted. It was special. I was excited to delve deeper into the EP with them and talk about the release of their new single 'Lampshade'.
Check out the interview below and grab tickets to GazeFest at the end.
I'll be doing a run of interviews with all the bands playing GazeFest so strap in and lets get gazy!!
Can you tell me what first inspired you to make music, what made you pick up a guitar, write songs and join a band?
AJ: I was 8 when I started guitar. For a few years I was quite apathetic about it, just playing because my dad wanted me to. I think when I was 11/12, I stumbled across the music video for “When I Come Around” by Green Day and it changed my outlook on music forever. For someone that age, three guys walking around town with insanely baggy 90s clothes and Tre Cools absurd hair - it was so cool and finally music that I resonated to. My taste in music changed a lot over the years, but I’d pinpoint that as being what inspired me to start and what really made me love music. As I grew up and my tastes in music evolved, it was apparent to me that I didn’t really have anyone to play with or even talk to about my kind of music. So an old friend and I signed up to this summer music course when we were teenagers, from then on I just continued playing in different bands. I played with Grace and Dylan on separate occasions too, until after many bands and many line-up changes, we ended up with Fulvetta. I wish there was an inspiring story on how I started writing music and singing, but I was a lead guitarist until I was 17 or so, we couldn’t find a vocalist for over a year so I said “Fuck it, I’ll sing if no one else wants to”. Regardless, I’ve grown to love it over time really.
What bands posters did you have upon your bedroom wall and what was the first album you ever bought and why?
After my whole pop-punk phase, I grew up listening to metal during my teenage years and that was when I started really expressing my taste in music. If I recall correctly, I had two Metallica ones, Ride the Lightning and Kill ‘Em All, a Slipknot one, and a Deftones one. I never had a record player growing up, I was the pirated mp3 downloads kid at the start before moving onto Spotify. I only got a record player last summer. It was the first time I was working part-time over summer too, and I had some hard-earned money. So I said to myself that if I’m going to get my first record with my own money, it better be a good one. The answer to that was frankly quite easy when I walked into the record store - “Loveless” by MBV.
Songbird came out in October last year, of which I was an instant fan. Can you tell me about how the EP came together, song writing process, where it was recorded and mixed and any particular influences you might have had for the record.
The three songs on “Songbird” were written just the same as any of our other songs really, even the unreleased ones. Just three songs we had written that we felt worked well together and sounded different, yet similar enough to sound like the same band wrote all three. At the time, the process mostly consisted of: I write the guitar riffs and song structure at home, the band finishes the song during practice, I write the lyrics - song done. We’re trying to step away from that linearity as a band, both Grace and Dylan are bringing in their own ideas and lyrics, and we’re writing the structures together. Actually, “If You Loved Me” was the first time we used Dylan’s lyrics.
We recorded it and got it mixed by Dan from Darklands Audio in Dublin. Influences wise, there was nothing unconventional from what we normally look up to: Hum, Narrow Head, Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, etc.. Hemispheres stands out from the rest as I was listening to a lot of Deafheaven at that time. A lot of their songs, especially off Sunbather, are 10 minutes or so long and they’re more of a musical journey than just a regular song really. I was trying to emulate that feeling when writing Hemispheres. Deafheaven are a band extremely close to my heart and theres little odes to them throughout the song such as the tremolo picking at the end. I think Dylan’s favourite songwriter is Matt Talbott from Hum, really introspective and emotive lyrics.
Can you tell us lyrically what your approach is, where do you take inspiration from or how do you approach lyrics for the tracks.
Dylan and I both split the lyrics, however I write the vocal melodies and Grace is in charge of all backing vocals. We probably work backwards compared to most other bands. Once the instrumental is finished, I create vocal melodies and either write lyrics around those or fix up Dylan’s lyrics and get them to fit.
Stylistically, we’re both a bit different too in terms of lyrics. All my lyrics are based on my own personal thoughts and feelings, what I say in a song is real. Everyday life is relatable. Dylan’s in the same boat, but hes a bit more direct than I am. I don’t like being upfront about it, I like to mask it in a metaphor, be ambiguous about it, or look at the story being told from the other perspective, often the cynical side. I also like looser song structures, whereas Dylan’s are a bit more upfront. In terms of inspiration, Chino Moreno of Deftones is my favourite songwriter, hands down. If you sit down and try interpret a Deftones song, 9 times out of 10 its actually about something completely different and I just find that to be extremely impressive. George Clarke from Deafheaven too, look beyond the screaming and what you can quickly see is his genius. His use of imagery is impeccable, you could read a Deafheaven lyric sheet as if it were a poetry book. Matt Talbott from Hum is Dylan’s favourite, his work is very emotive and introspective.
Your excellent new single 'Lampshade' just came out a few weeks ago. It sounds much more in your face than the EP while still retaining some of the gazier elements. Is this indicative of a grungier new approach to the Fulvetta sound akin to Narrowhead or Nothing? Can you tell us about the production and subject matter of the single?
The core sound of our band has always been the grungy, heavy shoegaze sound thats been so big in the States, so it’s not necesarilly a new approach per se. I’d say it's more of a case of us refining our sound and improving as songwriters and musicians, and also the fact that our discography was just crying for something with a bit of energy! We’re definitely diving deeper into the genre and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. The way I see it is, you can still be different from other bands while also being in a “scene”, music is a community at the end of the day.
It’s not just a simple copy and paste formula though, we have our own quirks and I think we draw a lot more from classic shoegaze bands compared to a lot of the bands in this genre. The singing is shared between Grace and I a lot more in “Lampshade” and our newer stuff, the male/female duet is something you’d hear in Loveless or Souvlaki but its been lost lately. Layering too, theres multiple layers of the same vocal and the same guitar track to create a more classic wall of sound.
Lampshade delves into the topic of pushing people away from you to protect them. You fear that whatever turmoil happening inside of you is going to sicken them too. However, at what point do you accept that this is the true you? That no matter what you do, and how far you push people away, it doesn’t get any better. Acceptance that nothing can be done, so everyone else may as well too.
The scene both north and south seems to be stronger than ever, is there anyone you’d want to shout out to?
It’s only recently that we’ve had the privilege to play with some great bands in the shoegaze genre! We opened for Wynona Bleach and Virgins a few months ago when they came down from Belfast, incredible musicians and also incredibly lovely people. Down here in Dublin, we’ve done a few gigs with Blue Slate now as the genres overlap, I’m a massive fan of their music and they’re a great bunch too. And lastly, they arent shoegaze or similar but Tonality and Insubs as they’re two bands we’re very close friends with, they’re good!
Whats next for Fulvetta, is there more music on the way, when and where are you playing next?
I can’t say too much but we’ve got some more stuff in the locker, ready to be out sooner than you think! Beyond that, we’re not too sure. We might record another EP or an album if we’re feeling ambitious next year, but we definitely want to do another substantial piece of work soon. We’ve got a few more gigs this summer, Fibbers on the 7th of August, opening for a fairly big math rock band Chinese Football on the 21st in the Grand Social, and of course the inaugural Gazefest in Belfast on the 26th. We’ve got some great gigs left and we’re thrilled. Beyond that, we’ll go back to gigging once or twice a month.
And finally in the vein of Rob Gordon. What are your Top 5 favourite records.
Quite literally the most difficult question you could ask a musician out of all the questions!!!
Narrow Head - Satisfaction
Hum - You’d Prefer An Astronaut
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Dinosaur Jr. - You’re Living All Over Me
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
Fulvetta on Instagram
Fulvetta on YouTube
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