I have been hooked on Letters To Fiesta since first hearing Mesosphere, and looping their Soundcloud tracks for the past four months. They produce a specific blend of sparkler infused intricate gloom exploring the most beautiful parts of both ’80s and ’90s indie, fronted by a female lead who chimes like a cutting edge Siouxsie Sioux. I was pleased to hear they have both a new EP on the horizon and a tour date at Manchester’s Soup Kitchen, so I got together with lead singer Anna to find out more.
Why and how did Letters to Fiesta get together as a band?
Creating music and a means of expression, making music isn’t something you always plan, rather something that can leap out at you… it’s something that we just do. Letters To Fiesta began when Tom and I, both searching to create music, met three years ago and started to write songs together, Andy and Dan joined along the journey and the sound and the band evolved to something that, it turns out, all four of us were looking for.
How has your sound developed and changed since you got together?
We’ve explored a lot of sound ideas and experimentation, the use of pedals, vocal delays and effects, drum samples, production ideas, synth ideas…. we took over a year out to try things out, eliminate and create our ideas..we are always learning and always evolving, and I don’t think we’ll ever stop doing that.
What are your main musical influences?
We all have our own individual tastes, often they cross over, but actually some of the most interesting ideas that we come up with happen when two different backgrounds cross over.. I have a strong folk music background, and that heavily influences melodies that i write, when you pair and contrast that with ideas that the guys come up with, it all works… we bounce ideas off each other and we influence each other.
And what else culturally plays a part in your music?
We live in a really culturally diverse city, with a lot going on. We all enjoy the exhibitions, plays and festivals that go on here, and we take a lot from these that work into our music, from dark elements to more visual exploration that have inspired us to create photos and projections for our show. Of course we also take inspiration from current affairs and various stories that we hear.. The world is a melting pot of ideas for us to explore.
Of course
We live in a really culturally diverse city, with a lot going on. We all enjoy the exhibitions, plays and festivals that go on here, and we take a lot from these that work into our music
Can you tell us about your current releases?
Our next release is Aphorism , a blend of musical works and songs we have arranged and put together, the ep is comprised of tears apart, swan girl, infinity call, stay young, elected and vampires. All these tracks were created from a blend of ideas and we hope to be our springboard into another release next year, we already have so many ideas
And what do you have planned for your gigs?
Visuals, projections, new sounds, vocal harmonies… A plethora of ideas that will come together to create a big sound and hopefully a magical experience for people who come to see us, working out the stage show has been really excited and I can’t wait to get up there.
Letters To Fiesta play Soup Kitchen on the 12th OCtober 2013, tickets can be bought here.
To listen to more of their tracks visit their Soundcloud and to keep up to date see their Facebook and Twitter.
Interview by Anne Louise Kershaw
Tags:
Music
