After successful appearances at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX, Venezuelan band, Famasloop, headed to Los Angeles where they performed a couple of shows at Los Globos in Silver Lake and the Fuego Lounge in Downtown L.A.
We met up with the band prior to their performance at Los Globos where they shared the stage with Independent Mexican legend, La Barranca, and had the opportunity to speak with Alain and Luis Daniel who shared their thoughts about the band and their music with us and here is an excerpt of our conversation:
Al Borde (AB) Tell us about your experience at SXSW?
Famasloop – It was spectacular and it was and a fantastic experience for us a group and individually. we had a great crowd of people who were looking for new sounds and when someone is looking for new sounds, we think our sound fits into that category and since we have self described our music as “cucu-pop” which means “too weird to be pop and to pop to be weird”, the people at the festival understood that because they also follow the same line in their “keep Austin weird” slogan and we want to keep our “cucu-pop” weird, so to us, “weird” is a compliment and the reception was so great that we have already been invited back for next year.
What do you think about festivals like SXSW?
Famasloop – We love that there are festivals like SXSW where you can run into 2,000 of your colleagues, where you can learn from them and you can listen to new things. We come from a country that is going through a dark period, and music is light, so for us the whole experienced has illuminated us and it gives us back our hope in humanity and on what we are doing. Just walking around in the streets of Austin we could feel the good vibes and the tolerance between different types of people, languages, genres, musicians, culture, art and different ways of thinking and it recharges your spirit.
AB – Can you tell us more about “cucu-pop”?
Famasloop – “Cucu-pop” gives us the freedom to experiment through salsa, merengue, electronic music, rock, pop, and some hip-hop, without having to categorize or enclosing ourselves into any one style of music and the fact that we are 5 different individuals, we all have our favorite influences, but once we bring all that in to the band, it all falls into one line which results in a coherent sound that is Famasloop.
AB – With so many different sounds in your music, are there any specific influences?
Famasloop- Probably electronic music is the major constant in our music, and then we pick up what is going around us in Caracas, where because of its geographical position, its cultural environment and lately because of the political context, there’s a mixture of musical ideas and influences everywhere and we also try to get to know people who think different than us so we can learn from all the different ideas.
AB- Since you mention the political environment in Venezuela, you have been known for speaking your mind about what is going in your country, can you tell us more about that?
Famasloop – Our music comes from our environment, if we didn’t pick up on that, then we wouldn’t be genuine or sincere to ourselves or the music and we play what we see around us. When the oppressing power tries to convert you into one single public thought then our music reflects how Venezuelans really are and not how the government wants us to be.
A couple of hours after our conversation, Famasloop took the stage and within seconds, the crowd could feel the energy of the band and halfway through the first song, everyone was dancing and jumping around. Most people at Los Globos had never seen the band live, but you would have thought they were playing in Caracas as the L.A. crowd really took to the band, their message and their music.
