Interview with Lecarla

Lecarla are a fairly young group but a listen to the bands debut EP ‘Uncovered’ and you’ll hear songs that certainly sound like they have come from a much more experienced band. The tracks are well written passionate rock songs, just check out ‘Where Do We Go?’ on the bands myspace for a good example of this. They’re playing a mini tour of Wales and to celebrate this, we spoke to the band… Now, let me introduce you to Lecarla….

1. Who are you and what do you do?
We are Lecarla, an alternative rock band, female fronted and from Milton Keynes.

2. How did you get started?
We formed about February time last year. A couple of us used to be in another local band, however when that came to an end, we all teamed up together to create Lecarla. A couple of months writing new material, then it was out on the road!. We have been gigging up and down the UK now for about 8 months! So far so good!

3. What have you got going on at the moment?
At the moment, we are just busy writing some new material and practicing as much as possible to prepare for a load of gigs we have coming up! We have a mini tour over here in Wales coming up from 20th-24th Jan, then after that a tour of the UK in Feb/March. Our plan is to gig as much as possible this year!

4. Favourite music and why?
Anything with a good catchy tune and some sweet riffs. Stuff like Fightstar, Paramore, Killswitch Engage. Joe likes a bit of Dub-step, Drum ‘n’ Bass… rave stuff really, but then also a bit of Snow Patrol, Coldplay and all that. We as a band try to combine all elements of different musical genres in order to form a new type of alternative music differing from the generic Emo/Scene/Pop sound.

5. Favourite book and why?
Joe: Hmm, not sure. I read a lot of Andy McNab and Chris Ryan books which are really good. But starting to get into some Stephen King stuff at the moment. But my all favourite is probably a dinosaur book i read when i was younger. Seriously cool!

6. Favourite film and why?
Joe: Pursuit of Happiness, watched it the other day and it’s so good, sorta shows how you really have to work for stuff but it’s rewarding! A must see!
Lizzy: Moulin Rouge, classic, loving the intense love songs!
Hannah: Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock is my favourite actress and kicks ass in this film!
Nikki: Mean girls! Sad i know but it is hilarious!
Steve: John Carpenters Halloween, my all-time favourite horror movie. The story is so well written and it scared the hell out of me when I first saw it!

7. Best experience in the business?
As we haven’t been around that long i think we would all agree that our best experience so far was last year at a festival called Butserfest. We got to play alongside The Blackout, We are the Ocean, Go:Audio, Attack! Attack! and many more. It was absolutely awesome. Best day of our band life so far!

8. Why should Soundscape readers care?
If you guys want some new, fresh unsigned UK talent, that give it all at every performance (a few bicycle kicks here and there, soon to incorporate guitar swings!), then thats why you should care! We always try our best to treat our fans like we would our friends. We’ve met a number of bands that don’t do this and seem “up themselves” which we definitely don’t want to end up like. It’s essentially the fans that get you to where you want to be, so showing them how much we appreciate them is the least we can do!

9. Tell our readers an interesting fact about your band?
Not the most interesting, but a facts none the less! , We all eat cupcakes at band practice because Hannah’s mum makes them and they are lush! We all have a lot of love for comedian Michael McIntyre!

10. Best thing about playing in Wales?
We haven’t played yet, but we have heard you guys know how to have a good party! We are ready …. are you ready for us?!

11. Who are your role models/idols?
Joe: A big one for the girls is the amazing Hayley Williams from Paramore.
Lizzy: Not only have Paramore worked really hard to get where they are, Hayley has one heck of a voice on her! I think any female singer would appreciate how talented she is.
Joe: I wouldn’t really say i have a role model because i don’t really like to copy or be like someone in particular. But just seeing bands up on huge stages inspires me to get there myself and eventually hear fans singing your lyrics back to you. That’s amazing!
Steve: Like Joe, I don’t try to be like any particular musician however one of my biggest idols when I first started drumming was Joey Jordison from Slipknot. The guy has an amazing technique and he’s so cool to watch when he’s playing.

12. Hardest thing about the current business?
The music industry has changed so much with the decrease of CD sales and the vast availability of illegal downloading, it is so hard to keep afloat in such a competitive business. So all the support we can get from fans, promoters and magazines such as Soundscape all helps us rise above the competition and be heard. There are so many awesome unsigned bands out there at the moment, we just have to keep on our toes and keep bringing something fresh to the industry which we hope we are doing!

The band are playing the Barfly in Cardiff on Jan 20th, The Loft in Swansea on the 21st and Le Pub in Newport on the 22nd and you really should try to make it to at least one of the shows because this band are certainly destined to be huge. Go to www.myspace.com/lecarla to check out the band, listen to the songs and tell them you saw them on Soundscape. Many thanks to Lizzie for helping us out with this.

Words: Paul Esp