Fauna Shade: A Force to be Reckoned With
By Marcus Shriver
Fauna Shade is one of NadaMucho.com’s “41 Seattle Artists to Watch in 2015” and a real force to be reckoned with.
The young Everett band employs powerful vocals and mature songwriting – traits that will be on display when their debut album is released on May 1 – and has been consistently delighting live audiences since they burst on to the local scene at the 2014 EMP Sound Off! competition.
I caught up with Scotty, Richie and, Derek at Treefort Music Festival in Boise, Idaho at the tail end of last month.
NadaMucho.com: How’s your first Treefort Festival going?
Scotty: It’s sick. This is our first time out of state to play and it is super exciting to be a part of something like this. We feel accomplished.
Derek: We had a beautiful ride into Boise at dusk too, after being in the middle of nowhere for a few hours.
Scotty: We had heard good things about it before we came. We were talking to Light Thieves and they had just gotten back from SXSW and they said it was very “get in, get out,” too many bands, too many festivals. We think that small festivals like Treefort, Timbrrrr and Fisherman’s Village are going to start to pull people out because they are just a little more hidden, more intimate, and get you into strange towns that no one is really familiar with. And there are fewer bros in tank tops.
NM: Are there any bands that you are super excited to see on the Treefort Music Festival Lineup?
Richie: Totally… Light Theives for one. We just played with them in Bellingham the other day. They are really good and I know they are playing here at the Neurolux. They are from Fresno.
Scotty: A lot of great bands are playing. It was cool to see Sisters. And Genders, who we might get to play with in the future.
Richie: I’m looking forward to BadBadNotGood tomorrow.
Derek: And of Montreal of course.
NM: Do you have any other favorite festivals?
Derek: Capitol Hill Block Party.
Richie: Last year was the first year of Fisherman’s Village Music Festival in Everett. Being from Everett it was really cool to see that happen. A lot of people came that weren’t from Snohomish County, and it was cool to see the different mix of people that you wouldn’t normally see walking down the streets. It was really Rock’n’Roll.
NM: What are you all listening to right now?
Scotty, Richie, and Derek: We listened to a lot of rap music on the way over. We listened to a lot of Nas, Digable Planets, Farside, Wu Tang, Ghetto Boys, some Beatle, St. Vincent, Kevin Morby, Beach Boys, Twin Peaks, and some of the stuff we were missing at Treefort on the way over like Foxygen and the Generationals. We started everything off with King Krule.
Fauna Shade @ Macefield Music Festival 2014. Photo by Jim Toohey.
NM: What are your favorite Washington venues so far?
Richie: We played at Hollow Earth Radio recently, which is a very cool, intimate place. We met a lot of musicians and people were into our music, which was nice. I like the Vermillion a lot too. They don’t do too many rock shows but they do a lot of connective pop and electronic shows.
Derek: The Tractor Tavern is always very fun. Good sound, good people that work there and the crowd is always out to have a good time.
Scotty: The Paramount is very ornate and beautiful. I saw Regina Spector there and I fell asleep. I was sitting between two couples and I woke up and both guys had their hands on the girls’ knees, and I didn’t know what was going on.
NM: Any bands that you want to play with around Seattle?
Scotty: Last night we played with Crater for the first time and they blew our mind.
Derek: Zen Mother. They are a duo from Virginia. Very ambient synthesizer kind of music. Seattle has so many good bands. It is so fun to just go play and meet people. You could almost pick anybody and we’d be happy to play with them.
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Fun interview! 🙂
I wish I knew what color that is on Scotty’s Fender Twin Reverb – such a nice green color – I’d like to paint one of my guitars that color – Try as I might, I have not been able to get through to
Scott’s camp for the color – Would love to know – Mahalo, john (Kona)
[Love their music, by the way, very innovatively different]