Interviews: SHAPE OF WATER

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Rock band, SHAPE OF WATER from the USA. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. What is your name and what do you do in the band?

Hi everyone, my name is Rox and I’m the lead singer, bassist, and keyboard player of the band.

2. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or come out just like that?

It took several months before we actually picked the name Shape Of Water. Luca and I were already in a band called The Lotus and a few months before starting Shape Of Water we decided to end that project and start again. So, picking the name was the most important and difficult thing we faced at that time. We needed a name that was both meaningful and easy to remember and we did have a long list of names before choosing this one. Luca came up with the idea, which despite what a lot of people are thinking, is not related to the film. It was released a few months earlier so, it definitely influenced our decision but the reason for us picking that name is because as water has no shape, we don’t want to be put in a specific genre. I’d say we are ‘genre-fluid’.

3. Why did you want to play this genre?

The reason why we don’t want to play any specific genre is that we love every kind of music and we think that, at least our music must reflect what we experience in life. What every individual experience in life is not always the same. There is love, there is hate, sadness, happiness, and anger: we want to translate these feelings into music with what we believe is the right texture. We want to start a revolution, a thought revolution. There must be no boundaries in music as there shouldn’t be in life. Our lives must not be dictated by someone else’s belief and most certainly we must not be put in small little boxes that divide us instead of uniting us. 

4. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

We’ve been knowing each other for almost 20 years! We met first in our hometown in Italy, called San Benedetto del Tronto, in 2004 and from then we’ve always played together in the same band. It was The Lotus before, it is Shape Of Water now. 

5. Each band member's favorite band?

I believe we share most of our favorite bands to be honest, which are Queen, Pink Floyd, Muse, Radiohead, and Depeche Mode. 

6. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Life. Our own life experiences. And we try to translate these feelings into music giving them a broader meaning. Existential. With our lyrics, we want to push our listeners to think and analyze and find the meaning behind every sentence, every little word. To search is to be free. Art is freedom. Music-wise, we are truly influenced by what we’ve been listening to our whole life and that obviously includes the bands we mentioned earlier but also classical music and music from films which is also a big influence for us (we did release an EP last year called ‘Lockdown On Mars’ in which we revisited some of our songs and made them ‘cinematic’). 

7. Where was your last gig?

We’ve been playing a few festivals this summer and they’ve been astonishing! We’ve played at Call Of The Wild 2022, Wildfire Festival 2022, SavFest 2022, and Giff Fest 2022. All of them have been fantastic experiences for us and we hope we’ll be playing there again in the next years. 

8. Where would you like to act?

I think this is obvious and probably the dream of every artist: Glastonbury! Well, I think we’d love to play at Download Festival as well, Leeds and Reading festivals, Kendal Calling and Lollapalooza. 

9. Whom would you like to feature with?

I personally would love to have Ozzy singing in one of our songs but there are a lot of interesting artists out there that we would be excited to make a record with, that it’s impossible to mention them all!

10. Whom not?

We wouldn’t want to collaborate with someone that makes music just to produce ‘content’. Which is something very common these days. Art is not content, art is art.

11. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

We still do to be fair! Obviously now just lasts a few minutes before the show but it still is there. It is absolutely normal and, at least in our own experience, it’s just a matter of time and practicing, and playing live. Probably the best tip I would give to beginners is just trying to stick to one setlist, or show for a bit. Try every bit of your show in a rehearsal room and make sure that nothing can go wrong. And if something goes wrong, don’t panic. People will still love your show if you believe in what you’re doing.

12. What bands have inspired you the most?

Exactly the same bands we mentioned before. However, if you did have to compare us to one specific band, I’d say Muse.

13. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Signing a homemade spacesuit based on the video of our song Mars-X, on his bum! We love this guy!

14. What do you think of your fans?

You see, before our first album ‘Great Illusions’ was released in June 2020 (during COVID), we didn’t have a big fanbase. To be honest we didn’t have a fanbase at all. But then, we were lucky enough to be included in this beautiful community called New Wave Of Classic Rock and we’ve been growing our fanbase since then! So, we truly love our fans and we owe them everything.

15. What do you think of our site?

It’s a great website, we’ve been following you guys for a few years now. I believe we’ve been interviewed by you when we were The Lotus so, thanks for keeping on checking on our music.

16. Something to add?

Yes! Our new album Amor Fati will be out on the 28th of October 2022 and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done so far so you must check it out. Meanwhile, you can listen to and watch the video of the first single taken from the album, called The Snoot. See you soon!