Continuing our series of written interviews with unsigned and independent acts, we had the opportunity to submit questions to band Elliot Falla and The Blue Valentines.
1) How did the band form?
Elliot Falla and The Blue Valentines consists of myself (Elliot Falla) on Acoustic guitar and vocals, Andrew Stevens on Guitar, Rob Whale on bass and Jake Lillywhite on drum kit. We all met at university in Brighton. Andrew and were living together in first year and used to jam a lot, writing some of our own tunes as well, since then we have always known we wanted to work on a project like this together. We met Jake when we begged him to step in and help us with an audition we needed to do, he is an incredible drummer and we got on really well. I met Rob at a few of my solo gigs when I first moved over, he was very supportive of my music and being the musical genius he is, it wasn’t long before we got him on board. Our first few outings as a band were in December 2017 just performing under my name. As we looked to recording our singles and being more serious about the project we became ‘Elliot Falla and The Blue Valentines’.
2) How would you describe your music?
I often struggle answering this question as I can’t really pin it to a particular genre. I would say there are blues, alternative, folk and indie influences in the music we play. When writing, I don’t often find myself sticking to a genre so it varies but I write with a lot of influence from artists such as Nick Cave and Tom Waits
3) You have a new single coming out, why did you choose that track?
Yes we do, it will be out on the 7th of September so probably when this is published. There were a few tracks that we had been playing live a lot and we had people coming to us at the end and saying ‘you need to record this song’. We went into the studio and recorded two tracks, the one we knew we just had to get out was ‘I’m In Love Again’ which we released in May, it is a moody and energetic song. We also decided to record this track ‘Cheapside’ alongside it, I think it gives good contrast to the first single and will show people that it isn’t just about big bluesy numbers with massive guitar solos for us. I am very happy with the lyrics and storyline to Cheapside. It’ll be available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music from 7th of September.
4) Talk us through the production of the track
For both the singles we recorded, we recorded live in the studio, then going back and doing a few overdubs. It was important to us to be able to record live as I believe people can connect with the music best in a live environment. Being able to recreate that experience in the studio was something we really wanted to capture and Simon Janes at Homesick recording studios did a beautiful job aiding us in doing so.
5) Are there any plans for an album?
I love the idea of an album and being able to take people on a journey through a series of songs. However, due to money and timescale of things, I think we will continue to just keep churning out as many singles as we can over the next year and see where we are after that.
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