What do you hope listeners will get from your music?
I'm really big on telling stories, whether it's with poetry, or my body language, or just the inflections of the voice. The music we make is hard to define genre-wise, since it's such a mesh of stuff, and that's mostly because I write based what I feel reflects the mood of the song. Sometimes I'm inspired by cabaret-like drama, or a funky groove, or bluesy hook. To me, the most important thing is for someone to feel like they can dig into the song. I try to get personal when I'm writing. I want it to cut deep.
What’s the best gig you ever played?
I remember perfectly. ::clears throat:: The band entered our first Battle of the Bands competition in early 2011, and it required us to travel all the way to Boston to play a show. Unfortunately our drummer couldn't travel, so we had to find someone last minute in Boston and rehearse him for a couple of hours for the show. We get there, full of nerves, and the venue is packed with strangers. I think it must have been the first show we ever played where we didn't have a bunch of friends there to cheer us on. I was so nervous; I knew our sound was nothing like any of the other acts performing that night. Well...it's time to get on stage and there's this strange vibe. We can all tell the crowd is very curious about us misfit New Yorkers. I dunno, man. We all just flipped a switch. We just went on "warrior mode". People just got so into it - they were dancing, screaming - we finish our last song and there's this huge roar of applause and cheering that seemed to last forever. I turn to Chris (guitar) and he's looking back at me with this huge grin on his face, all sweaty...We were all spent. It was amazing. We felt we achieved something that night. We felt we proved we had something big to share. It set the mood for the entire year.
What’s your prediction for the next big advancement in how we find/listen to/share music?
The social media has been an indisputable weapon for indie artists. People don't just want the music [anymore]. They want to see you, talk to you, watch you pick your nose. Fans want ownership; they want to feel like a VIP. They want to feel like they knew you before you hit it big - it gives them bragging rights for the rest of their lives. But they love seeing us as gods on stage and as human beings off of it - I think it's empowering to see that all us music-makers are just humans with big dreams of traveling the world and connecting with as much of the world as possible. I think whatever path the social media continues to take; it's going to be about getting fans even deeper into the world of their favorite bands and artists.
What’s your favorite way/tool/site for you to interact with your fans in the digital age? Do you recommend anything to other artists?
I love Bandcamp. It's so easy and user friendly - no fluff. It's been a big help for promoting new singles, since they have download and coupon codes you can download and print out for fans. YouTube, too. When I'm looking up a new band, I go straight to the Tube to watch them kill it live. We put up a music video last fall and it went viral - it was a great tool for promoting to a larger audience.
What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?
We have two amazing shows back-to-back, the first being a primetime slot at The Studio @ Webster Hall in New York City, this coming Thursday, March 15th at 9pm. Then immediately after the show we're booking it to New Hampshire to play Lift Festival (liftfest.net) on Friday March 16th. It's our first legit festival, so we're pretty stoked.
Check out more on Sylvana Joyce + The Moment here.
