New Interview with Bel & The Loonatics
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
Sabrina: We came across your Twitter account and checked the website. It looked very interesting and helpful so we signed up straight away.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Belen: I grew up in Madrid, Spain and since I was very young, I think 3 years old, I knew I wanted to be a singer and songwriter. I never had doubts about it. I have been living of music since I was 16 years old, playing tours around Spain, etc. but a few years ago I decided to move to the UK to find some new projects that could fulfill me more, and that is when I joined forces with my bandmates Sabrina, Alba and MaW.
Sabrina: I grew up in Madrid as well and I didn’t really remember when was the first time I decided I wanted to be a musician until my brother found a school essay book from when I was 12 years old in which I wrote: “When I grow up I will be in a band and play drums.” I ended up playing bass but that’s close enough! haha
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Belen: We wanted to keep my name somehow because of my history in Spain and to keep my old fans engaged, but we needed a name for the band too.
Sabrina: It took a while to find a name we were all happy with. We all had different ideas but they were never fitting everyone’s taste. In the end we went for something simple, something that we could relate to. We are all a bit of a nutter and we liked the idea of the moon (in Spanish the word is “luna”) so Bel & The Loonatics came to our minds easily after that. We used the double O to make it more playful and because we grew up with The Looney Tunes!
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Belen: Online music sharing is how music has established itself in the 21st century. I think giving your music for free is always good but you need to trade it for things which are valuable to the band such as email addresses or localization (which helps us for newsletters and closing gigs, etc.). There has to be an exchange between the listener and the musician. It is also important to add some value to your music so sometimes selling an EP in concerts is another nice way to approach the audience. Some people still like to buy albums and have their CDs or vinyl collections.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Belen: It really is all about being a hard worker and networking a lot. You need to go to gigs and speak to promoters, send links, videos or any material you have of your music and performance, even if it is playing at home with your guitar and your voice. You need to be out there and get people talking about you.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Sabrina: We all make mistakes, even the big stars do, but it is part of the job. You just have to deal with it and use your tricks to get back on track. Most of the times nobody notices, not even your own bandmates! But I must admit that it also depends on the mood you are in. Some gigs go wrong from the very first note and it can turn into a bad chain reaction, which isn’t ideal, but we always manage to get out of the mess somehow. I guess we just have to!
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Belen: I have done big tours in Spain as solo artist. It was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to do it with The Loonatics. But I had a quite funny experience here in London. A really big fan from Spain came to see me and brought with her a cured ham leg and olive oil. I couldn’t believe it! And yes, it was delicious!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Belen: Since I moved to London I have been writing a lot. I guess being far away from the life I used to have, my friends, my routines, makes me have a necessity of expressing my feelings with songs even more than I did before, so anything inspires me. I have been inspired a lot by London, by how tough this city is and how it changes you as a person. It makes you feel, breath and love in a different way.
Usually, when I have an urge to write I sit down and either I write some lyrics and then I create a melody for them, or all comes together.
As a band, the process is different every time. Sometimes I have a melody and we sit down and develop the song, or someone else brings a riff and we work from there. Sometimes we jam and something comes out of it and we suddenly have a new song. Lyrics come last in these cases.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Sabrina: Yes, it’s www.belandtheloonatics.com We are using all sorts of platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, Bandcamp… It is very important for us to be accessible and available online in as many ways as possible.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Belen: Hahaha Great question… I think all songs have their moments even if they are not your “usual” style. I guess the funniest one is Steel Panther. We have a laugh listening to their lyrics. They are awesome musicians!
Sabrina: Well, I am not embarrassed at all about listening to Steel Panther! I love them! I even have an awesome story involving one of their gigs which I guess I’ll tell some other day… I actually don’t think I am embarrassed about anything that I listen to. As Bel said, every song has its moment and its meaning to oneself and I personally get influences from everything that I listen to in one way or another. But if I had to mention one…I’d say Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen (I still think it’s a great song though hahaha)
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Belen: I think we would all definitely invest it in recording an amazing album. We would retire for a month to a studio and develop ideas and then record them. Then we would hire the best promotional team and we would self-release our album… we live for music!
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Sabrina: We recorded our first EP at the beginning of this year. We locked ourselves for 5 days in the middle of the countryside in Cambridgeshire and it was such a rewarding experience that we cannot wait to do it again. We have recorded 5 songs and they are sounding beautifully. We also managed to record the lyrics both in English and Spanish and our first single ‘You Say’ is out now for everyone to enjoy it (available on belandtheloonatics.bandcamp.com)!
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Belen: Online promotion is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way nowadays. Facebook and Twitter always work for us but we are trying new platforms at the moment. There is so much out there that you really need to research and check what works for you. We are also trying to build up a fan base through the mailing list. We get loads of people that have been referred by other people who have already been to our gigs which is great, but for that to happen often you need to network and connect with your fans and the potential fans at your gigs.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Belen: I would love to perform in Las Ventas, which used to be a bullfighting arena in my city, Madrid, and where all the big gigs happen. Even the Beatles played there when they came to Madrid in the 60’s! I would also like to perform in KOKO, as it was one of the first venues I went to see a gig when I came to London. Also the Madison Square Garden in New York as it is a venue with so much music history. I was there in 2006 for the Latin Grammy awards and it really impressed me, it had a lot of magic. I would have loved to perform with Janis Joplin or Jimmy Hendrix. As for artists that are still alive, I would love to perform with Alanis Morrissette, Jack White, Pharrel Williams or the band Zoe from Mexico.
Sabrina: I’ve been telling all my friends as a joke (or maybe not) that I will perform at the O2 Arena one day, so I guess that would be my venue. As for artists…I have a big list but the first one that comes to my head right now is John Mayer. I think I would have so much fun playing with him and his always stunning band that it seems like a good choice.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Belen: Yes! We have been shooting our first official music video in the past two weekends and it is being edited now. We can’t wait to show it to everyone! Also, we are presenting our EP in Spain next October, so we are quite excited about that. If you happen to be in Madrid on the 24th of October, pass by Sala Caracol to have some fun with us!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Belen: Music, of course.
Sabrina: Something creative in any way. Probably photography.
