After their recent blistering performance at the Chameleon, we sat down with Francesca (vocals) and Caroline (drums) from Fuzzhoneys to chat about their tour, their forthcoming album and the music scene in Malta.
Gav: How's the tour been going?
Francesca: Good.
Caroline: Yeah, really good.
Francesca: Yeah, England is super welcoming and the people are really nice
Caroline: We made a lot of friends, it's been a journey of friends to be honest
Francesca: And self-discovery.
Caroline: It's true when you think about it, it's not just playing in front of people, you're travelling and the things that come with travel, like getting used to the other person, spending a lot of time not alone. You're always with someone but that isn't so bad you know?
Francesca: You get used to each other. Obviously, when you play, you become tighter and you become more comfortable and whatever happens, happens. You just have fun at the end of the day and each day is like an adventure - you don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, it's been cool.
Caroline: It's been very haphazard, you don't know what's going to happen but it's really exciting once you accept that. You can't tour if you're really scared, I love planning things but you can't really plan so much on a tour. So many things happen and if you feel bad because something went wrong, it won't work.
Francesca: It's a risk/expectation thing.
Caroline: You just let whatever happens, happen and that's what makes it more fun.
Francesca: Yeah, so, basically we're mega inspired to tour in the UK and next time is going to be longer, for sure.
Caroline: This was our second tour here, we came last March and played Nottingham, where we played Southbank and JT Soar. We also played a gig in Sheffield. This time, we did Sheffield again, The Washington, then we played in Leeds. It's been a really good tour.
Francesca: The thing is, the culture here, apart from the fact that we're saying that it's a journey of friends, we're Maltese, it's not like we're some sort of European foreigner, everyone has been really welcoming, it's like we're a family. It's been really nice, especially with the pubs and the English culture, we have some English culture at home. When we came here in March, we were in tune with Nottingham, this time, we've been travelling more but the venues here are really beautiful and the audience! It's an honour to play the same gigs as the bands that we've heard. They're really good, you have really good music - I get a free gig and I'm inspired and I get to share the stage with these bands.
Caroline: What's nice is that they thank us for coming and it's just like, "wow!" you let me in your venue, I should be thanking you.
Gav: You've been to Nottingham before, what do you make of it?
Francesca: Yes, we came here in March, on our Femtastic tour and that was before we released the Femtastic 'zine, which is our current EP, it's like the new chapter after the last CD that we had. Before, it was a bit more bluesy, a bit more soul - we were really inspired by The White Stripes, that sort of call-and-response. With this we went a little more, I'm not going to say glam but there is a bit more '60s and we're not feminists but it's more femtastic. We're finding our way how to put our beliefs on gender and when we came to Nottingham we were seeing how that was going to work out and it was really positive. The places that we played here were really humble and mostly I just love the response of English people. In the indie scene especially, it sounds like there are certain influences and I love English music, like stuff from the '70s, the Sex Pistols, there are so many, I don't know where to start with English bands.
Caroline: Blur.
Gav: I can definitely hear The White Stripes in your music, who are your other influences?
Francesca: We have quite a mix.
Caroline: Very big mix but when it comes down to it, it's White Stripes and Black Keys but then we opened up. We both have our different influences - Franchesca listens more to the blues and I listen to heavier things.
Francesca: The thing is that we vary. Me and Caroline met through the music, we became friends as a band, we just started playing music. We found out that we both liked The White Stripes and the Black Keys and then we found out that we had a lot of other bands in common, like the Doors and The Beatles and Blur and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We have a lot of influences that enabled us to write more with those influences, like every musician. It's fun with Caroline because we're not just listening to the music that we're playing, it's not like that.
Caroline: We don't listen to this kind of stuff so much.
Francesca: Yeah, we're mostly listening to stuff like The Beatles, the Doors and Donna Summer! We're always listening to vinyls and having disco parties.
Caroline: Yeah, we have disco parties! We love disco, honestly.
Francesca: It's funny, we have this mix of everything. The 'zine contains Glitter, which has that kind of groove, that disco feel but it's not something that we plan, it just kind of happens.
Gav: How long have you been together as a band?
Francesca: We started at the end of 2011 but we started gigging in 2014, which was when we released our first EP, which contained five tracks and then we released the 'zine in December.
Gav: What's the garage rock scene like in Malta?
Francesca: In Malta, even though we’re such a small country, we have a huge diversity of music.
Caroline: What would garage be?
Gav: Like The White Stripes, Black Keys and those 60's bands like The Sonics.
Caroline: We don't have much of that really.
Francesca: There isn't much rock or blues.
Caroline: There is a lot of metal, there's indie and then there's punk but garage would just fall under alternative.
Francesca: There is this weird mix, it started out of alternative at home.
Caroline: Crocus!
Francesca: Ah Crocus! Oh man, that guy, he's a Maltese musician and he had an audition with AC/DC to be their next singer.
Caroline: And you can get his CD in all the record shops in Malta.
Francesca: He lives in Australia now, he's great. But garage…
Caroline: There's a venue in Malta called The Garage but it’s mostly metal and hard rock that play there.
Francesca: It's a real mix in Malta.
Caroline: You should come and visit.
Francesca: For example, there's a really good band called Krishna.
Caroline: They’re a two-piece as well.
Francesca: They’re brothers. Then there's stuff that's a bit more instrumental and then there's stuff that is more Maltese.
Caroline: Yeah, at the moment there is this group of Maltese bands that actually sing in Maltese and use Maltese influences.
Francesca: There are some really good bands man and there was a boom around six years ago. It used to be that you were like this or like that, there was the nu-metal scene but now there is a bunch of genres and sub-cultures. It's one whole family, everyone supporting each other.
Caroline: And everyone is accepting, trans, gay, whatever, it's really good. Everyone is inter-connected, social media has helped so much.
Gav: Finally, when can we expect the new album?
Francesca: We're planning on next year because we're planning a long tour so we'll probably come back to Nottingham again.
Caroline: For longer because these were just four dates. It's very hard with my work to get days off - if it was possible, I'd be touring for two weeks straight. Even though it’s tiring, you appreciate it because it’s an experience, it's not only about the music but at the same time, it's like, "wow, the music!" It's a real nice experience.
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