We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Louey Peraza a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Louey, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I think the most meaningful project I have worked on has been the EP we are finishing up right now. Recording all these songs at home this time has been a great challenge and has proved to be really rewarding. There have definitely been hiccups along the way, but I have had a lot of fun learning how to get good recordings at home and I also feel like the songs I’ve contributed are some of my best so far. It feels like this batch of songs really does a great job of showing off the work we have put into the band over the last year and a half, as well our growth as a band and as individuals, especially considering how much the COVID pandemic changed things.

It’s a great feeling to bring a song idea to the band and then start jamming on it. They bring so much to the songs and always seem to know exactly what to play to make them better. This whole process has meant a lot to me and I have had so much fun writing and recording these songs. To have the end result that we do makes me immensely proud, as well as excited to keep writing and refining our recording process.

Louey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Louey, I play guitar and sing in FETCHER, a four piece alternative rock band from the suburbs of Baltimore. In the summer of 2017 the band I was in at the time Bad Seed Rising had gotten off tour and decided disband so I found myself at home without a band at the same time my childhood best friend Jason Jones was getting out of the band he was in at the time so it seemed like a good time to start jamming. We started writing some of the songs that would become our first EP and set out to start playing shows. We completed the line up with Anthony Alletag on Bass and Jake Beyer on Drums and have been gigging regularly since. Besides our songs our live show has become something we are really proud of. We rarely play without getting at least a couple people moving and will at the very least turn some heads with the passion we have for the music and the energy we put off when playing. We are often compared to bands from the 90’s or early 2000’s crossed with the Beatles. I think our music takes influence from a lot of music from those eras but filters it through a more modern lens giving it an air of nostalgia mixed with a fresh new take on rock music.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

To be honest I don’t really know too much about them so I don’t know if they are a valuable tool for artists to use or if they are just a trendy thing. Either way I think adding another thing to an already shrinking plate forces musicians to spend less time on making quality music and more time worrying about branding/ marketing. Musicians have been relying on merch sales, touring and things like Patreon more than music sales for a while now so I feel like anything that further commodifies music and makes bands into generic branded products probably isn’t great. The more that bands focus on making themselves marketable products the further we get away from authentic artistic expression. I don’t necessarily detest the idea of NFTs or anything but I do wish that bands didn’t have to resort to things beside the music to get peoples attention or support. Though I’m sure people were saying all the same things about music videos when they first became popular so who knows!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think just actually showing up for people is the biggest thing anyone can do to help an artist or creative. Don’t passively support by just giving a like and a follow online but actively support creatives by buying things they make, going to their art shows or concerts, buying merch, commenting on and sharing their posts. Things like that are going to make the biggest difference to artists trying to make a name for themselves and its cool to know you invested in a friend before they were big.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fetcherband/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Fetcherband/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3mHJYafQOBU9W2FWT8SQCA
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@fetcherband https://linktr.ee/FETCHERband https://open.spotify.com/artist/1XidANWpU9Hcs47DwDIGKU?si=Vd9UYC_8RIyNvLB_z_A7bA

Image Credits
Image 1 : www.oxleypics.com Image 2-7 : @empty.exe.koi