Fiancé is a five-piece band from Newark, Delaware, and consists of members Andrew Fusca, Jeff Marvel, Tyler Yoder, Brian Bruce, and Sam Nobles. Their first EP EP1 (SQE Records, 2014) and LP (self-titled, 2016) received international attention from sites such as Stereogum, Noisey, and NME.
The original members of the group, Andrew, Jeff, and Tyler have been making music together since high school. The groups first EP was released under record label, SQE. They’ve all been involved in various projects: Andrew (singer/producer) currently has two solo projects called Rew and Ja_n_et, and he does a lot of production work. Brian (drummer) also plays in bands, Gozer and Robert. Sam (synth) is involved with projects Tip Toes and Mean Lady, and composes for television and film.
In this interview, we chat with the band about influences, the new project, and more.
Full Q&A, links, and streams below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
Jeff: Though it may not be the best for marketing ourselves, we’ve never been exactly that great at pinpointing our genre or style… but this is something we would prefer because we aren’t trying to aim for any specific sound. It sounds like us and we are into it. But without being too vague, we have begun to gravitate towards how others have described the music which includes elements of shoegaze and experimental pop. I believe that this style comes naturally to us, both by the process and limitations of self-recording/producing, as well as feeling a connection to bands that obviously put a lot of emotion into their music.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with people?
Tyler: Andrew, Jeff and I have been recording music together in various projects since late middle school. But as for finding the direction of Fiancé, it wasn’t until Sam and Brian helped to top stuff off within recent years. Even back when we first started, Andrew was helping to record and add production elements to the music. A funny memory is skipping class in 8th grade and going to record an angsty song on a free version of audacity, in which the tune opened with a killer harmonica solo by Andrew. In the mixing process, he had the idea of putting delay on the harmonica, which fucking ruled. After we uploaded it to myspace, we were getting positive feedback by full grown adults about how mind blowing the harmonica sounded. I knew from the point forward, we’d be makin hits.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
Brian: I think our biggest influence is the local Delaware scene that we are proudly a part of. Just about every weekend there is a show with good friends of ours that are making incredible tunes – Maiden Names, Grace Vonderkuhn, Worth, Tracy Chapstick, Gozer, Sarah Koon, Robert, and Carrier to name a few. We are always pushing ourselves further too and being encouraging to each other on any independent musical ventures outside of the group. One of the biggest motivating factors to keep going is realizing that we could record the roughest demo on a phone… but being so content because we are still creating music that each of us wants to put on repeat and nonstop in headphones and be so damn happy with it.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Andrew: As we have moved on, we feel like we are constantly honing in on our own sound as our relationship and influences develop as well. By releasing singles, instead of a full album that consists of years of emotions, you’ll get an up to date idea of where we are and what we are feeling. It’s much more of a fluid creative process.
What was the last song you listened to?
Tyler: Last song I listened to was “I’ll Come Running” by Brian Eno… Honestly I’d love for Eno to come running to tie my shoes, but hey that’s just me.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Sam: Brian and Andrew work for a rad local shop called Jupiter Records and are pretty hip to vinyl, so let’s go with vinyl.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Jeff: A little of all of them… Spotify to find some new tunes, Apple Music to keep up with Beyonce and Kanye, and Bandcamp to give out our music to the peoples.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
Tyler: Probably one of the biggest challenges is being able to accurately describe our music in order for people to have the subtlest idea of what and who we even are. Whether it’s genre, influences, or the constant need to put meaning to everything, we are always in fear that we will subconsciously try to appeal to the categories we are compartmentalizing ourselves in. It’s easy to get stuck in the idea of a sound and it’s very easy to overthink what you are writing and it just screws up the entire process.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
Sam: Another reason we are releasing our music single by single is because we are all pretty busy outside of the band. Most of us are in serious relationships, working multiple jobs and pretty swamped with the day by day. Sharing our music this way gives us to move forward without having to dedicate weeks or months to touring. After our next EP or LP, we will most likely tour for it, but for the time being we will be playing shows here and there around Delaware and Philadelphia and we would love for all to come out to show! On September 17th, we’re playing a big event in Wilmington, DE, put on by Dogfish Head Beer, called Analog-a-Go-Go. The event takes place at Bellevue State Park, and features Built to Spill, Talib Kweli, and more.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Brian: You can stay up to date with us through SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, Facebook and Twitter.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Andrew: Here’s a shoutout to anyone that’s kept up with our music: we luv luv luv you.
Last thoughts, can anyone develop us merch made out of pizza? Hit us up.
Words of wisdom… it’d be wise of you to develop a method to make pizza merch (we aren’t being biased at all, I promise)
