FULVETTA On the Making Of “Lampshade”
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of "Lampshade"?
We wrote it back in the early months of the year if I remember correctly, we had written a good few slower and more dynamic songs and our list of songs at that stage was just crying out for something a bit more "in your face", something with a bit more energy and bite. So I (AJ) sat down with my guitar with that goal in mind, amp turned up pretty fucking loud, and wrote the two or three main riffs the song revolves around. It's the way a lot of our music is written, someone bringing in an idea and then the band develops it together collectively.
Can you share any interesting or unique musical elements or production techniques used in this single?
A big part of our sound is layers. Lots and lots of layers and it definitely adds to the big wall of sound we're trying to achieve. The guitars are all triple tracked, there's about 6/7 layers of synths and both sets of vocals (AJ and Grace) are double tracked too. When you've got that much going on, especially at times where theres 4 vocal tracks going on at the same time, it creates some intriguing textures. It harkens back to more classic shoegaze sounds from the likes of Slowdive. I feel that layering, which is essential to the sound, has become slightly pushed to the side in the modern heavy shoegaze scene.
How has the audience response been to this single during live shows?
We actually haven't played “Lampshade” live yet! Normally we release material we've already been playing at shows, but we thought we'd change it up a bit and have held onto playing this live until after the release. I do think it has a lot of energy, and I'm hoping it gets the crowd moving a bit, maybe start a mosh.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
We played a show in a venue called Whelans a few months ago. After the gig, I was surprised to hear from the guy running the show that we actually managed to sell out the venue. It was a pretty big moment for us, we had never sold out a venue before. Being a band that started from the bottom, truthfully playing to 7/8 people at maximum in the very beginning, it was a nice milestone for us and really allowed us to reflect on the progress we've made as a band so far.
Are there any specific venues or festivals that you dream of performing at?
We're only playing our first festival in Belfast in August, it's something we'd like to start doing and something thats very high up on our list. You've obviously got festivals here in Ireland such as Electric Picnic and the likes, it'd be a great experience. Big festivals abroad like Riot Fest in the US and Outbreak Fest in the UK would be a dream, I think stylistically our music would fit well too. Or even just playing abroad really, it sounds cool and we'd love to get to a stage where we can do it at some point.
