Fake A Smile are taking things back to basics. The Bournemouth trio, featuring Jamie Kravos (lead vocals), Luca Ellison (guitar) and Ryan Poole (drums), have released their debut EP Shoot Me To The Moon, produced by Mercury Award-winning producer Gianluca Buccellati. The six-track project, written in Los Angeles, is infused with nostalgic guitar riffs and themes of youthfulness, solidifying the band as one to watch. Here we caught up with the trio for a chit-chat all about their latest venture
1. We love the EP. Tell us about creating it. We know you wrote it in Los Angeles – did being there influence the sound?
Luca: “It was our first time in America, so going over there felt like a massive deal to us. I think that translated in the writing and recording. We were like, this is our big opportunity, we can’t screw it up.”
2. Which artists inspire you? Who makes up the Fake A Smile blueprint?
Jamie: “The Strokes (Julian Casablancas in general because he has a few side projects I’m quite influenced by). Obviously Led Zeppelin, The Beatles… who isn’t influenced by the Beatles? The Velvet Underground as well… and the Arctic Monkeys. But I think indie rock is in quite a bad place.
3. How so?
Jamie: “I don’t know whether it’s to do with TikTok and people are just chasing one-hit wonders – it’s hard to say. Nowadays everything feels overproduced, it doesn’t feel like people are taking risks. Everyone sounds the same.”
4. What direction does it need to go in?
Luca: “I think we want to be brave in the music we want to release – that’s why we put Don’t Stop out for a single. We thought there might be more ‘single’ appropriate songs on the project, but we wanted there to be a focus on a song like Don’t Stop, because I think sonically and lyrically it’s a bit more outside of the traditional realms of songwriting. Risk-tasking is the coolest thing a band can do.”
5. Which artist would you love to work with?
Jamie: “Kendrick Lamar. That would be sick. Someone like Matty Healy would be good.”
Luca: “It would be great to do a song with Biig Piig. Her voice is infectious. That EP she did with Gianluca is so good.”
6. Tell us about the visual world of Fake A Smile. Is fashion important to you? How do you dream up how you will visually express your sound?
Jamie: “I think we always lean toward paying homage to the older bands we love, The artists who were in their teens or twenties during the 60s and were pushing boundaries with fashion, art, music. I feel like we all naturally tend to lean toward expressive visuals. Movies as well. Luca and I have always been into the classic gangster movies like The Godfather and Goodfellas – not necessarily looking like them but just their attitude in those films. That’s why we do our photoshoots on film because we like that old school vibe.”
7. Do you each have specific influences for your respective instruments?
Jamie: “Robert Plant. Jim Morrison is my favourite vocalist. I was always quite a ‘shouty’ singer and then when I listened to Lime Cordiale, I was inspired by Louis and the way he sings. It taught me how to sing more softly.”
Luca: “John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chill Peppers is my favourite guitarist of all time. Followed closely behind, they might even be hugging – Jimmy Page. I’m really into gypsy music, gypsy jazz. We’ve been working on music for the second EP and I wrote a song I really liked and it has the type of chords that are very gypsy jazz influenced. It’s very expressive, writing solo parts, like the solo in Appetite for example – it’s a very expressive way of playing guitar. Blues guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan and artists like that have really influenced me.”
Ryan: “My inspiration is very different to the music we play in. R&B and Gospel drummers were my influences when I was younger, the church drummers. You don’t get that sound from our music but it’s in the technique. When I play live I get compliments from other drummers or musicians so maybe you’ll be able to hear it hone we play this EP live. Other than that, drummers like John Bonham, Ringo Starr.”
8. You mention you’re already working on the next EP – can you already hear how you’ve evolved?
Jamie: “Sonically I think Gianluca has really given us the confidence to not overthink and just write whatever comes to mind, regardless of whether it’ll fit into whatever we’re doing or not. Because of that we’re just finding a sweet spot…
Luca: “I think having Gianluca as a mentor enables us to have confidence in what we’re writing.”
Jamie: “I said to the boy the other day that we sound like a garage rock band but the garage is floating in space. Our main influences are those main indie raw bands but there’s also a lot pf psychedelic stuff in there as well. I think it blends together quite nicely.”
9. Where would be the best place to listen to the EP?
Luca: “In a garage in space?”
Jamie: “Luca and I have grown up at the beach and I think everything sounds good at the beach by yourself at the beach. But it could also be in a buzzing city.”
Luca: “I was listening to these songs a lot walking around London and I think a lot of the songs I write I love listening to on public transport. As nice as it would be to listen to the whole EP at the beach, I think it reflects a lot of moods and London has a lot of moods.”
Ryan: “As long as you have a good set of headphones you can take this EP wherever you want.”
10. What’s your intention with making music as Fake A Smile?
Jamie: “To give other people the confidence to not care. Whether that’s musically or just in life in general. You don’t always have to do what everyone else is doing. Do you and be brave.”
Luca: “As we grow, I want to give people hope that they can artistically do or create whatever they want to create.”
Jamie: “When we first got to LA, Gianluca said he wanted to take it back to basics where it was just straight up guitar, bass, drums, vocals. I know we have a few synths but there’s such an art in simplicity. I think nowadays there aren’t enough bands that are just straight up guitar bass drums and vocals. That’s where the magic is.”
Photography courtesy of Fake A Smile.
