We all probably know Esteban, the world-famous guitarist. I’d like to introduce you to a completely different Esteban. Please welcome Esteban of Derby in England.
They call their style “desert funk.” I’m not sure if I know what desert funk is but I could get behind the idea. It’s probably better than dessert funk, which is what many of us are doing right now – eating all the sweets and being sad.
So let’s travel to the desert with Esteban and get funky or something. Before we go on an adventure in the desert, we can catch up with them in the following interview.
Interview
Where have you been staying in 2020?
As a Band we now all live across the country, Manchester, Derby, Somerset & Dorset to be exact. So we’ve all been doing our best to keep safe and well through lockdown
What have you been doing during times of quarantine?
We’ve been busy writing. We demo a lot of ideas in GarageBand and share these via WhatsApp. It’s an unconventional way of working, but I suppose one that more of us are getting used to under the current climate. It allows for constant collaboration each time an idea is shared back and forth.
Have you found or re-found any hobbies?
One thing lockdown has been great for is getting us inspired, we are all reading a lot more and playing our instruments a lot more, with all this time on our hands it’s a good chance to master our instruments
What have you been listening to lately?
There is a developing roots reggae scene coming out of Jamaica at the moment so personally this has been floating my boat lots. Artists like Chronixx, Lila Ike and Jah9 always provide good ear candy…. For something a little funkier there’s also a lot of good vibes coming out of the California scene at the moment, artists like Masego and Anderson Paak bring old school musicianship with a fresh new edge
Has your songwriting process changed this year?
It’s been tricky, not going to lie. The irony is that because we have so many new ideas and different WhatsApp groups that it has become hard to find the tracks amidst the banter! And, whilst we can’t get together as much as we would like, we have managed one jam session with all the new gear which we’ve purchased for the live show – it’s important to remain optimistic. the biggest lesson has been learning patience. Because we are all at slightly different stages in writing parts for the individual tracks, it means for some, the songs are tantalisingly close to completion and for others, they are yet to be started. With the first album Dirty Wrecked, we’d jam a song until it was 100% finished and record it – that’s why that album has so much energy. It’s different now because we’ve jammed once since February; this has given some of us headaches because we rely on vocal melodies or visual cues to add the spice and not just the shared demoed music. We’ve always gained the most amount of information from jamming, but we must continue doing it safely.
Is there any message that you would like to convey to fans or soon-to-be fans?
With all the problems covid has brought to the music industry it would be, get behind your favourite bands, ask them personally for any tit-bits, engage with them because I can assure you, we are busy here making music for you.
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3GXTHMLDq1SxKYP3h82iyt?si=jh6sgRbTR3edeh4CRMuLnw and all major digital stores.
What is something positive that has happened to you during 2020?
For me personally (Ricky, Bass) despite all the lockdown and quarantine issues I managed to get married ….. 2020 will always have a place in my heart.
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