FAYUCA INTERVIEW
By Pilipo
(All live photos by IrieAZ Photo - MySpace)
Fayuca are reggae punk outlaws, an amazingly talented three-piece with a strong passion for music and women. After seven years of developing an unmatchable and in-tuned musical force between the three, the band has recently released its most accomplished effort to date - The Assassination. Vocalist/guitarist Gabe shoots straight in the band’s first Pier interview.
The Pier: So tell us how did Fayuca originally get together?
Gabe: We started off as high school friends. We were all musicians doing our own little thing and eventually we met in a Mariachi class. We all showed interest in the same music and so we starting jamming in our drummer’s (Rafael) backyard. People liked us and this was back when we were only sixteen in high school. Now we are adults, getting out there and playing shows on the road.
For me personally, I was always in some group and had that musical interest. All of us in the band has a strong history with music. It’s been seven years now we have been together. Once we realized we were not fit for 9 to 5 jobs, we decided we would never throw in the towel. We don’t know any life other than music. We have had plenty of times though where we were tired and thought screw this (haha).
The Pier: Musically, what is some of the band's inspirations?
Gabe: Our drummer is really into the rockabilly scene like Tiger Army and 22 Jacks. Our bassist (Cisco) is into soulful music that makes you want to bob your head, bands like Slightly Stoopid, The Expendables and all the reggae legends. Me personally, I am into the dub and the sound effects, plus progressive rock like the Mars Volta; where the music is very complex. Every week there is a different band one of us is really into. All together these influences revolve around feel good music and we put it into our sound.
The Pier: Your new album The Assassination is musically all over the place; with ska, punk and dub just to name a few of the styles featured. What mindset did you go into the studio for it?
Gabe: On The Assassination we didn’t go in with a mission that the album needed to sound a certain way, we thought let’s just play our music and put it out there. With our first and second album’s we were very nervous and very stiff. This one was more comfortable. It was more, "Fuck it, let’s just play."
The Pier: The Assassination has some pretty deep relationship topics, like on Altro Argumento and Handful of Regrets. Are these all based on real experiences?
Gabe: Yeah they are. I think a lot of musicians think the same. The end of us - what is going to kill us is women. I have a problem with girls and so does our bass player and so does our drummer. I don’t know what it is about girls, but we always get stuck in complicated situations - it’s our weakness. I went through a tough relationship, which is reflected in Dirty Girl, Altro Argumento and Handful of Regrets. Then there is songs that you don’t think have anything to do with girls, but they do, like Salte Demonio. Most of our songs have at least little references to bad relationships because most people have gone through bad relationships. Every time I sing a song, especially when I am playing acoustically somewhere, I always have someone come up to me and say, "I totally hear you, I know exactly what you mean." We have all gone through a messed up relationship and recently it was my turn and a lot of the songs were referencing that.
You know Josh Fischel? A lot of his songs are talking about some girl that broke his heart. Before I never really liked his music, but recently after what I went through - I am in love with this guy’s music now and can’t his CDs out of my car.
The Pier: How was the recording process for the album? Do you enjoy working in the studio and the creative process?
Gabe: Yeah it helps band’s grow together. This last album, we had an engineer that had been doing sound for us for years so he was familiar with what we sounded like live. That made it fun to go in and be creative with someone who understood us and our sound. A lot of our songs just start out as ideas. Even though we hadn’t put out an album since 2004, we also never really sat down just to write some music. We were always on the road or playing shows. As we played shows we came up with stuff from freestyles and improvisations. When we got into the studio, we had to figure out how to make these ideas into songs.
The Pier: The Arizona reggae rock scene has some of my favorite bands in it. Must be cool to have that network?
Gabe: Yeah, its great. We are good friends with RAC, Underwater and Another Day. The scene here lately is kind of twindling down a little bit. A few years ago, all us bands would play together on the same bill and now it seems everyone is going their own way. In the end, we are all friends. You can get a lot of ideas from other bands and you share the same fans so it’s one big party when we have shows.
The Pier: I remember asking RAC this question too, but why do you think Arizona inspires these bands that play reggae and punk music?
Gabe: Us in Arizona are heavily influenced by California and it being by the beach. We don’t have beaches here, so when I think of California I think of paradise. I am originally from Puerto Rico, so for me now stuck in the desert I need to think of California and embrace it with open arms. I think a lot of bands think the same way. So bands from California definitely influence our music and our style of what we play. With the Arizona bands though you can tell we are not from California in our sound. I think we gather the influence from California, but you can hear our state’s cultural differences coming out in our music. We are more street punk and rock n roll I think.
The Pier: You have done some heavy touring in the past. Any interesting stories you can share?
Gabe: We had been on and off the road for a while, but the last two years we did hit it pretty solid. Living with the same guys in a van, living off the same money has been great. So has been meeting different people all over the nation and seeing the diversity.
One particular amazing story that we tell everyone. We played in Pueblo at Smitty’s Green Light Tavern and we showed up with our guitars and drums to start setting up. We open the door to the venue and there is these two female pornstars banging each other. You don’t really expect that. A big porno party. Wish we had videotaped it.
The Pier: Nice. What are your touring plans for the rest of the year?
Gabe: We are going to do some dates with the Warsaw Poland Bros and are in talks to do some shows with Ballyhoo! What our goal is to tour as much as we can, and hopefully by the end of the year we will have a good enough following and network where us Arizona bands can go out and tour together; so you could see Fayuca and Another Day headlining somewhere like Kansas. We want to bring our friends with us. We don’t have a job, don’t have a girlfriend, don’t have a house - we have nothing else to do but to get in the van and play in a different city every different day.
The Pier: Fun last question. Tell us something about someone in the band, we wouldn’t know?
Gabe: Our drummer Rafael has three testicles. I don’t know if that is something you want to share? Nobody knows that but us. He is also a big Insane Clown Posse fan. He has their posters all over his room. He sings any songs from any CD from beginning to end - non-stop. You don’t expect that from a little kid in a reggae band.
Big thanks to Gabe for dropping By The Pier and sharing those intimate details about his band-mates. To find out more about Fayuca check out the below link:
You can also purchase The Assassination online RIGHT HERE