Band­in­ter­view: Lu­cid­a­lab­rador

Interview

What about the bands name? Can you explain it to us, please…

LUCIDALABRADOR: Hey guys, thanks for having us! Little history: None of us were born in England, although we all live in the UK. The name Lucidalabrador is an Italian made-up name for ‘Lipgloss Labrador’, which suits the idea of the band trying to fit into a scene that they are not necessarily a part of.


Normally we ask this question much later in an interview, but once in a while we break our own rules ;-) Can you give us an insight into your studio equipment? With which instruments and software do you create your crispy sound?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Alex, our drummer, loves to make his own equipment. From compressors to copies of legendary mics, we always try and use these when recording. The singularity in them makes things sound a bit more personal to us. We also love recording to an 8-track tape cassette which we own, and then bounce it to the computer. We tend to work on Logic when it comes to DAW software’s, but Pro tools and Ableton are always one click away, as they can be really helpful too. In terms of instruments, we are big lovers of the fender guitar/orange amp duo. Makes some nasty (and lovely) noises.


It is not easy to gain some 'historical information' about you guys ;-) But we found some facts: Lucidalabrador has released a four track EP named I/M/M/I/G/R/A/N/T/S, and you come from Brazil, Czech Republic, Italy and Germany. But where is your base (if there is such)? Can you tell us the whole story about the foundation of Lucidalabrador?

LUCIDALABRADOR: So on the drums we have Mr. Alex Prete, originally from Italy. Playing bass is Daniel, from Czech Republic and on guitar we have Robin, from Germany. Finally, on vocals there is myself: my name is Pedro and I was born in Brazil. Although we are all from different parts of the world, we met when studying music at Goldsmiths, in South-East London. Since then we've been living in the same house in London and playing music together! We released our first EP: I/M/M/I/G/R/A/N/T/S earlier this year and have been playing around Europe since.


How do you realise your musical vision? What about rehearsals for shows and live events?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Some of us are also audio-engineers too, working in studios around London. Therefore, we always go to studios when recording. We love the environment in there, and some of us are gear freaks. I guess we are a bit old-fashioned that way. But when first composing, I like to do it all by myself in my room. I tend to construct songs starting from guitar or synth, and record a little demo for the guys. So I guess we rely in home recording too because of its practicality. Ultimately, I like to believe that we found a sweet spot between these two realms of recorded music. We always practice in our local rehearsal space, I'm not a big fan of rehearsing in my own house (although I'm not sure our neighbours would even allow that). The routine of leaving our house to go rehearse helps us focus, where as if we were home we'd probably be minding 1000 things at the same time.


How is it to live and work as 'foreigners' in London? Why London?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Well, London is so diverse, and there are a lot of cool and interesting new acts emerging every day. The coolest thing about it is that you can go to different zones and literally feel like you're in a new city. But even here, we were sometimes advised to 'hide' that we're not English. Even though it's quite obvious if you look at us, and anyway it just feels stupid to hide something like that. I guess there is still a long road to go. But most of the time people are super open to what we have to say, especially in South-East London where we live. This is definitely home for us.


Let us talk about your newest release called “Daddy”. This video has a sinister mood. What is the story of the song in which this lyrical line is repeated constantly: “Daddy, won't you take me home”? In the slow motion clip we see two men involved in a fatal struggle…

LUCIDALABRADOR: "Daddy" was a song composed whilst we were on our first tour around Europe. I was quite ill for a couple of days, and therefore in a bad place emotionally. The song explores an internal fight with yourself, and how this may lead to aggressive and temporary solutions which on a long term can be very bad for you. Sorry for the mood killer!


With whom did you realise this video?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Adam Vopicka, who is also Czech, directed this music video. It's the second one he has done for us and he is just amazing. It was shot in an old abandoned house somewhere in Czech Republic. Oh, and yes: they did actually set fire to it. He came up with the idea for the video himself, all we had to do was play him the song and talk a bit about it. The team that works with him are also brilliant, without them we wouldn't have what we consider our best music video.


"Daddy" sounds perfectly produced. How are the reactions to the song and video?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Thank you! People seem to really like the song, and it is always a blast to play it live. No wonder it's the first track on the EP! Overall, we couldn't be happier with it, and it definitely helped on getting us invited to a couple of cool events. For example, we were invited this summer to headline a big festival in Czech Republic, it was a blast!


When we listen to your songs from your first EP "I/M/M/I/G/R/A/N/T/S" we can't avoid to think about Radiohead. Maybe it is because of the voice, maybe it is because of the distorted guitar sound. Do you feel well in this 'company'? What do say other journalists and media about your sound? Which is the most interesting review you ever got?

LUCIDALABRADOR: Wow! Thank you so much, we definitely take it as a compliment when someone compares us to bands that inspired us. Radiohead are just brilliant, but I honestly don't feel we can be compared to these amazing bands. Not fishing for compliments here, I swear, it's just that we still need to improve our craft to get to that level of musicianship. All the reviews that we got were incredibly nice, but we were especially happy about one where the blogger said that we were doing a good job in pissing off some Daily Mirror readers, which is a newspaper here in the UK. Not trying to start a fight or anything, but this conservative newspaper is definitely the opposite of what we like to read.


Talking about media: in this digital times, how do you manage (in general) the media to point out your art, to find a position in this jungle of freeware, streams and downloads?

LUCIDALABRADOR: That's a hard one to answer, but interesting nonetheless. Firstly, the cool thing about the current state of music is that there is no 'right way' of doing things in order to get some recognition. Personally, we try and give more attention to the people that already like us, than to new potential listeners. I feel that a lot of bands are so focused on numbers, that they forget to build a relationship with the people that listen to there music in the first place. Although of course we also try and get new people to listen to our music! In terms of streaming services, I believe some people like to listen to music in the most convenient way, and others like physical copies and enjoy the process of listening to things in high quality. We ourselves like to do both, so it would be hypocritical of us to not allow streaming of our music.


Five albums that helped you find your way as a musician:

LUCIDALABRADOR: Oh man, that is the hardest question ever. We'll give it a try:

- Jeff Buckley - Grace: Best singer ever. No question about it. Also, the production in it is just perfect.
- Elliot Smith - Figure 8: If you can listen to "Better Be Quiet Now" without crying, you're a monster.
- Pixies - Surfer Rosa: The production in it taught us a lot about the importance of retaining the 'live element' feel when recording.
- Bjork - Medulla: If you have the balls and vision to record an entire album with only vocals in it, and make it sound like Medulla, you have to be on anyone's top 5.
- Nomeansno - Wrong: If you like our dirty bass lines, then you will definitely like this album.


So what comes next?

LUCIDALABRADOR: We are happy to announce that we have just sent our new EP for mastering. Very shortly we will be releasing it, along with a live session made in a local studio full of covers of local bands that we really like. We have been in touch with some of these amazing musicians, and they were all super hyped in letting us play one of their songs. Hopefully they won't hate us once we're done with it.


LINK: c-tube Profil von LUCIDALABRADOR