Interview With Shana Falana

Recently I discovered a musician that fascinates me a lot: Shana Falana. In the music list for December, I presented her Shoegazer project to you. Now I have arranged an interview.

Shana is originally from San Francisco (not Brooklyn!). Meanwhile, she has settled in the New York district of Kingston. On October 25th she released her third studio album "Darkest Light" on Arrowhawk Records.

Her new piece lives from its contrasts - hymnal pop music meets sludge. Falana herself describes her sound as "Druggy music by sober people". The musician has created her own dark niche in a neighbourhood of psych-rock, shoegaze and ethereal punk.

New York and San Francisco

She herself has experienced a lot, she writes on the Shana Falana website.

"I was an addict and worked for two years on the fringe of the New York sex industry. During this dark period, I learned that even in the darkest phases of life, everyone still has their light somewhere."

Shana Falana. Bild / picture: Monik Giesel

That's what she refers to in the new album title. For her, "Darkest Light" is an album of mantras. In the 1990s, the artist already had success in the experimental pop scene of San Francisco. Sonic Youth, for example, had a recognizable influence on her, which Shana also confirms. She created the current work together with drummer Mike Amari and producer D. James Goodwin.

Anne: Hello Shana! Thanks for taking the time for the interview. What an honour! How are you doing? Is the new album doing well?

Shana: Hi Anne! Thanks so much for this, this album is doing really well so far, yes!

Anne: Which song do you personally like best?

" I'm a fan of two-piece projects"

Shana: Wow, singing songs live, my favourite is "Everyone is Gonna Be Okay" and on the album, I'd have to say "Darkest Light".

Anne: With the current project you have been making music since 2012. What have you done before and what has your journey finally led in this direction?

Shana: I've been a fan of two-piece projects most of my life, I had a duo back in Brooklyn in 2005-2008 before this called Skirt. It was my friend Nicole and I. She played the organ and I played the guitar. That was when I started experimenting with reverb to make the music sound more churchy! We wrote some incredible songs together, some of which I've released! I have played these songs with various musicians over the years, depending on the group they've been more heavy metal or more electronic! I think they can be interpreted in many ways, which is so fun.

Shana Falana - "Darkes Light"

Anne: On your website you mention Sonic Youth as a role model. I think, we have a lot in common - Kim Gordon - what a woman! At the end of the title "Everyone Is Gonna Be OK" you can also hear a pretty good "Bull In The Heather" quote. What fascinates you most about this band?

Shana: Sonic Youth's guitar work has always been a mystery to me, I still can't wrap my head around what they do sonically. And Kim Gordon has always been an inspiration. She started playing bass at 29 (so late in life) and she posts intimate pictures of herself online, not disguising her age, and if you haven't, check out her band Free Kitten - they're incredible, too. Really showcasing her singing style, which is perfectly out of tune and angular. So yea, I ripped off "Bull in the Heather", but I didn't disguise it at all, even nodded to it on the last lyric in the song. By the way her new album "No Home" is also out.

"I love audiobooks"

Anne: "No Home" is actually running up and down for me right now. It's really a great album - so varied and multi-layered! Speaking about Kim Gordon. She wrote a great book about how really life is as a woman in a band. Did you read it? Can you confirm what she says? Did you consciously choose a solo project where you have the reins in your hand?

Shana: I believe you're referring to her book "A Girl in a Band, Memoir". We listened to that the year it came out while we were on tour, I love audiobooks. Sometimes I like listening to books better than reading them. I loved hearing her unpack her early life, her relationship with her brother, art career, music career. They've always been so private, so finally getting to peek behind the curtain felt really rewarding.

Anne: From your experience: What advice would you give women in bands?

Shana Falana. Bild / picture: Monik Giesel

Shana: Today when I hear the word "women" just to be clear, I think of anyone that identifies as a woman. I think maybe you're asking because there is still inequality of artists that are fem-gendered in the music industry. For the most part, it's mostly "white dudes", that are dominating the music industry - indie and beyond. I mean, I come from a DIY community background. What that means is, that we were always portrayed as freaks, playing with gender, making fun of race, putting on costumes and seeing how crazy you could get on stage to entertain your all-ages audience.

More than ever we need to support our artist friends, whatever gender, and hold up the ones that are really pushing some boundaries. I'm really bored with white guys on stage singing in rock bands. I don't have any advice for women, but more the artists, get more honest and weird, we're hungry for you to make us feel, take us out of ourselves while you're on stage. Help us to understand something intimate about you and make us dance. We come to shows, to lose ourselves for a while, we need you to help us do that!

"I grew up in the San Francisco music scene of the 1990's"

Anne: Do you have any other role models that have influenced you and your art as much as Kim?

Shana: PJ Harvey, Ram Dass, and the music scene I grew up in - in the 1990s in San Francisco.

Anne: New York is a melting pot of cultures and styles. Did you consciously choose this location? What other magic emanates from it and what distinguishes it from the rest of America?

Shana: I absolutely chose it! My music community in San Francisco died in 2000. Everyone left, because of the dot com crash that happened. Everyone left except a few of us. I stayed in San Francisco and started drumming for my then-boyfriend Kelley Stoltz. When he and I went to Brooklyn for my birthday in 2003, I saw how vibrant their music scene was and had to go there immediately. So when I came home, I packed everything up and drove out to Williamsburg, to start my new life.

"I did not want to be my boyfriend's drummer"

I also knew that I didn't want to be my boyfriends' drummer, I wanted to pursue my own music career and there was no better place to do it at the time. Williamsburg was bursting with art. If you lived there, it was like enrolling in the greatest creative college and the tuition was your cost of living. I even joked that the trash in the street was colourful, and it was.

Shana Falana. Bild / picture: Monik Giesel

Slowly we started getting priced out, many folks moved upstate to the Hudson Valley (where I live now) and some managed to stay. I still go to Brooklyn to play shows and see friends, it's still incredible, and kinder. Since people from all over the world have moved there it's gotten friendlier and more welcoming.

Anne: You've been in business a while. How would you describe today's music scene and what's the difference between ten or 15 years ago?

Shana: Right now I'm seeing that you can't just hire a publicist and rise to the top. Unfortunately (for my friends, that are publicists), they are really struggling to get any press on us smaller bands. The environment is oversaturated, there are a lot of outdated models in place for music, like even venues that book live music every night, there aren't enough people to support that much music.

I've only ever been in the indie scene, so this isn't referring to anything mainstream, but one thing I will say is, that if you keep your costs of living small you can tour and have a life on the road while paying your bills. Also, with licensing, there are more possibilities for placements because of the popularity of edgy music in commercials and even internet channels. We used to make fun of "selling out" to corporations. I was offered a Nike commercial back in the '90s and I said no because they are a well-known sweatshop company. Nowadays it's hard to turn down these offers because many artists feel desperate to get some financial recoup.

Anne: Do you prefer to spend your time in the studio or on stage?

"We want to go on tour!"

Shana: On stage!

Anne: What are your next plans? Are you already thinking about the festival season 2020? Are you planning on visiting Europe, too? There are some really cool Post-Rock and Shoegaze Festivals over here. You'd perfectly fit in the line-up.

Shana: Hook us up! OMG, we would love to come back. We'd love to open tours for bigger artists on long tours.

Anne: Thank you very much for the very interesting interview! I am very pleased about getting to know you! I wish you much success with the new album and all the best for the future!

Shana: I can't tell how you how honoured I am, to be asked these questions. I get to reflect and share, it's my greatest honour!

Shana Falana Homepage Pictures: Monik Giesel