Band Interview: The Lotus
Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are very pleased to bring you an interview with psychedelic, groovy and aggressive alternative band, The Lotus.
1. How did you get started as a band?
Hello everyone and thanks for inviting us to GBHBL. The band formed in 2004 and we started as any normal band does. We didn’t know each other, or at least not personally, even though some of us knew some other’s fame. We didn’t spend much time doing covers and we got straight to the point. We wanted to play our own music and we knew that was the future we were aiming for. Since 2004, we’ve been through a lot of things, good and bad, but we know still, that this is our life.
2. How would you describe your sound?
We struggled a lot (and still struggling, tbh) to find a definition of our sound. Not because we needed to clarify that to ourselves, but just because the people need it. Everyone needs you to be classified in a specific area even though you don’t recognise it as yours. So, having said that, we’d say our music is a kind of Alternative Rock with a lot of influences from Metal, Electronic and Classic music. Some people compared us to Muse, Faith No More, Dream Theater and Placebo.
3. What bands/artists would you say have influenced your style of music?
As a band we have matured a unique sound throughout the years. This happened thanks to our very different tastes in music: we love Queen and Muse, as you might have already understood :), but also Pink Floyd, Metallica, System Of A Down, U2, Depeche Mode, or even some heavier stuff like Slipknot. This colourful set of sounds reflects what we write.
4. Has the rise of YouTube & music streaming helped or hindered you as a band?
This is very interesting as we are actually living this right now. We think that’s both a good and bad thing for every new band out there, including us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5IJzNw-76s
The internet really does give anyone the opportunity to get out from the anonymity and be the star you always wanted to be, and that’s true, it is!
The problem starts when music is not enough anymore: well, it’s always been like this but now it’s different. You really need to let everyone come in. Everyone must know who you are, what you are doing, when you are doing it. Even all the pretty small things you want to keep secret, just let them go and share them with everyone. We find this a bit scary but that’s what it is now, so you have to get use to it.
5. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not making music?
We are all musicians but some of us though have also ‘different’ careers: I (Rox) am building my own music producer career and playing with other great bands in the UK and Italy (InnerShine, Prospekt and Sukh). Luca is an amazing photographer and video maker. We are actually working together on our own music video company called Barn Owl Productions (which is the one that produced our first three video singles).
Kristal Cross is also a Sound Engineer and a YouTuber (he has 5 YouTube channels!). Marco is the busiest one as he’s working with a lot of bands and touring all over the world (he’s playing with Italian metal bands Elvenking and Hell In The Club). Our latest addition to the band, Luke (he replaces Marco on drums when he can’t make it but he’s also a great guitarist and singer!), is working in the music business, specifically in live concerts production.
6. What are your future plans musically? Tours?
2018 will be a fantastic year. We will go back to the studio to finish recording our album that should be released by the end of the year.
We are also planning to start touring the UK very soon and EU as well.
If you want to be updated on what we’re doing (and what we’ve done so far), you can check our Facebook Page here or our website here.
We’d like to thank The Lotus for taking the time to speak with us & Stencil PR for arranging it. As well as the above links you can also check them out on Twitter, SoundCloud, Google Play, Amazon, YouTube and via Apple Music below.
