In this interview spotlight, we chat with Less Than A Billion People about their latest project, influences, surviving the digital music era as an indie musician and more.
Full Q&A along with links and the video for You Better b Okay below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We´re quite a rare band. We are just two, and, although we both are from Madrid, Spain, one of us lives today in Bogotá (Colombia), and the other one lives in Madrid. In spite of the distance, we are able to compose, play and arrange our music using different ways of communication. There is actually no need nowadays to be physically near in order to compose and perform music.
Our last work is a four song EP, and we are very happy with it. As usual we move between rock, pop and indie, adding some orchestra flavours in some songs. We think we have been able to develop a singular sound, and although we play many styles, all our songs have common roots.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
Both of us have been all our life connected to rock, pop or indie music, participating in different groups or by ourselves. But when we met, we realized that the sum of us was much more than just two people. We are very complementary, as one of us composes also music for films and TV series, and has a great musical palette; and the other one has a great talent writing histories and lyrics, and has a very strong rythm creativity, both with bass guitar and drums.
Our creations are very different, but if you listen to our music you will realize that of the combination of our styles gives birth to a very original and unique sound. We like to play very different styles with our point of view, from country to grunge flavoured songs, going through soft pop, hard rock, and even songwriter schemes. And we have always been surprised with the results.
That is our main motivation, of course we both love music, but we feel our union in this group has still a lot of honest and good music to generate in the future.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
Our new release is shorter than previous albums, it has got only four songs, but we think we have been able to make a delicate selection of material to have in just those four songs the world of a complete LP, to condense all the creativity of a big album in a short one. This album is as well more rock oriented than the previous ones.
In this album we hired Filip Pietrzykowski from Red Mastering Studio in London for mixing and mastering, and we were able to get a great sound quality, no less than the one you could expect in a professional album.
Do you face challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? How has technology helped you (assuming it helps)?
In our case, that´s THE QUESTION! We are probably one of the groups in the world that most needs technology. We are constantly connected with each other, via phone, chats, mails, online conversations… Our songs usually begin with an SMS containing just a draft idea recorded with one mobile phone… And then we go to our home studios and begin to brush it until they turn into tracks with several guitars, piano, vocaland bass. Once recorded, we also send online our materials to the mixing and mastering process.
It´s incredible the way internet and technology has changed our lives, we feel no obstacle between us in this creation process. Of course we can´t play together live, but, the way technology runs… who knows! 🙂
Where can we connect with you online and discover more music?
First of all you may visit our brand new webpage at www.lessthanabillionpeople.com. Our music is available online in the usual music platforms (iTunes, spotify, bandcamp…).
This time we came up with video in YouTube, also directed by professionals, which we are sure you will like! It´s called “You better b okay”
Anything else before we sign off?
We thank MTM very much for featuring us, and we hope that all people interested in indie pop rock music will have a good time listening to our new work and watching our new video. Don’t miss it!!
