I met Keane Li when I interviewed him for a job. Impressed as much by his resume as his artistic vision, I hired him with the added benefit of getting to watch as his band Festizio refined its sound….post office-sharing, I’m still watching as Festizio has produced two CDs, including the new Hot City, to be released Sunday at Cafe Du Nord.
Keane spoke for the band about Festizio’s inspiration and its latest CD.
We recorded at Tiny Telephone this time, rather than Hyde Street Studio C. We recorded onto tape and transferred it for mixing in ProTools HD. Last time we went straight into ProTools. We used tape in the mastering process as well, something we didn’t do last time, so the overall sound is a lot more robust and warm. On the previous album, we were more traditional alt-rock (two guitars, a bassist, and a drummer). On our new album, our lead guitarist performs on keyboards, synth, and Rhodes, so the overall sound is more ambient and open. We aimed to be a bit more atmospheric and cinematic with our songs.
Q: Festizio–how did you name it? How long have you guys been playing together?
Hot City is the name of the first song, about spending a night out. The overall album starts from aggressive and dance to something darker and then finally something more bright and uplifting (sort of like the course of a night). We’ve been playing about four years. Our bassist recently left so there are just three of us now. We’re starting to move into a more electronic, orchestrated sound.
I write all the songs and we come together and arrange it. In the future, since we will be doing more sampling and using electronic sounds, we may change our songwriting process a bit, in that our synth player might bring in a groove and we’ll arrange with something that inspires.
We’ve always been big Radiohead fans. We’re also influenced by Muse and 90s alt-rock like the Smashing Pumpkins. We’re also heavily influenced by non-rock genres like hip hop, jazz, and classical music.
We hope to share our new album with as many people as possible, which is why we’re giving it away for free. We’ll keep touring in support of it while writing some exciting, new songs.
Festizio releases its new album, Hot City, at Café Du Nord on Sunday, 10/17. Also performing are Johnny Hi-Fi and Lion Riding Horses. The concert is a benefit for Recovering Irma, a documentary film about domestic violence.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
