Walking into Factory 251 – one of Manchester’s most iconic nightclubs – I was greeted by an array of people wearing black denim, flashing wristbands, and lugging expensive music equipment back and forth. Guitars, drums, and keyboards emerged from cases and the room buzzed with excited energy from the crew and various band members.

I was led through a door at the back of the stage and up to the second floor – another club space, which had been designated as the green room. Not long after, I was greeted by Jess (vocalist) and Alizon (guitarist) of the experimental, alternative rock band Calva Louise. We were soon joined by Ben (drummer) and, after the band jumped into their stage outfits, Jess offered me and Courtney a beer, and we sat down to chat.

Calva Louise identifies as a British band. They met and formed in the UK in 2016, but Jess (Venezuela), Alizon (France), and Ben (New Zealand) are from all over the world, and their experiences of traveling and settling have widely influenced their music.

After releasing two albums and a host of singles, Calva Louise have created a noticeable presence in the UK alternative scene through nothing less than blood, sweat and tears. Their latest tracks – namely ‘Opportunista’ and ‘Third Class Citizen’ – have been praised for their fast guitar riffs, driving rhythms, and Jess’s heavy vocals. This is a new sound for them, and so I wanted to learn about why they took a heavier direction.

The new style: Angry and heavy

Calva Louise has always had an experimental style, between electronic and guitar-based sounds. What has inspired you to take things down a heavier route?
Jess: I’d say our life situations – our personal experiences as a band. In the past we were always trying to see the bright side of everything, like “Oh, no, we’re exaggerating, let’s calm down.” I think that’s reflected in the music – trying to be the bigger person. For example, I never thought I was going to scream – it’s about the suffering, the therapy of screaming. But we as a band have gone through so many things – people being condescending or sometimes acting with bad intentions, trying to persuade us to quit, trying to punch us down. That’s where ‘Third Class Citizen’ comes from – it’s just anger, pure anger. And it’s also good not to hold it inside.

When I started writing, I showed Alizon and Ben, that I had this [anger] inside [that I needed to get out. And it made me feel way happier. I don’t know how you guys feel? [Jess turns to Alizon and Ben].

Alizon: Stop me if I’m wrong, but I feel like the intention was always there, but there was a lot of external forces suppressing it, saying “No, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t get too heavy, don’t get too loud, don’t scream. That’s not the way to do it.

Ben: Yeah, and people love it. People – the crowd – love the heavier stuff. People come to gigs to mosh, to jump around, and to have that same catharsis.

Jess: But that doesn’t mean the rest wasn’t real or authentic – it was, but we were stifled a little bit. We had to fight [for it] so much. Why can I not scream in this song? And they’re like, “No, we need to cut [the screams].” It was a lot of that – we had to be indie [to fit in].

Were that labels telling you how to fit in?
Jess: Amongst other things.

Alizon: Different people.

Jess: It wasn’t just one person in particular. When Alizon and me arrived in England, we were told so many things, like, “Shut the fuck up and do what you’re told.” Even in our living situations, we used to clean peoples’ bathrooms – we thought that was English, that it was normal. Until somebody in a band said “Jess, no, it’s not normal, and you’ve been taken advantage of.

And so it came to a point – it went too far. It was like the explosion of that, like, “Everybody shut the fuck up!” [Jess laughs] We’re going to do what we want, proudly and independently, and nobody’s going to tell us what to do anymore. We always wanted to go to the heavier side, since the start. But we were told, “No, you cannot do that, it’s not good for you. And if we’re going to help you, you’re going to do what we tell you. And we said, “Okay, fair.”

Alizon: So, [the anger] has always been there, now it’s just expressed itself.

Jess: We said, “Fuck off”. You know, like … “Fuck off!” [we all laugh]. At some point, it boils up so much that you cannot repress it.

Tell me about ‘Third Class Citizen’. That was the first song I heard from you that was really heavy, and you can really hear the vocals in your anger. Was that inspired by a specific event?
Jess: No, it wasn’t inspired by a specific event [they all laugh, knowingly]. There may have been a catalyst, though. I remember I said to my boyfriend, “And they think I’m a, what? A third-class fucking citizen!” And he said, “That- that could be a song!” And you know the screams that you hear in the song? That’s the demo [recording]. That was me getting it out.

I think there are so many singers that scream artistically beautifully, like opera singers. But I’m not that. I’m trying to learn the technique more, but it was literally the therapy of screaming. Crying doesn’t do it for me. Being angry doesn’t do it for me. After that [screaming], you’re not angry anymore. And people enjoy it, so it’s a win-win. So, ‘Third Class Citizen’ was one particular event, I was like, “That’s it. That’s fucking it. It- it’s- oh my god!”

But at the same time, it fits with the story. I feel like, what we go through is the same story repeating itself over again. We always end up back at square one, but at a different level, and redo the thing [telling their story and changing their sound], over and over. And I think First Class Citizen is the best way of continuing the story, as we had in Euphoric and Rhinoceros, but at a different level. It’s like Chapter One again.

Is this the direction that Calva Louise wants to take going forward, then?
Jess: It’s not a conscious decision. But it is what works the most for us. Even when we play it, I feel like it’s easy for us, it feels good to play it. Until it doesn’t, that’s what we’re going to do.

And I am assuming it is as cathartic for you guys, Ben and Alizon, playing the instruments?
Ben: Yeah, I think the higher energy performances are. [Ben looks at Alizon] I mean, you scream a little bit on some of the songs.

Alizon: Yeah, feels good [we all laugh].

Ben: For me, I get to beat the shit out of things.

Ingenuity and DIY

The music video for Calva Louise’s ‘Opportunista’ was made entirely by the band. The most impressive aspect of this is the fact that, beyond the band members’ acting, all of the visuals of the video were created and animated digitally by Jess. The video has been described as being like something from a Marvel film.

You guys are very self-driven in everything that you do – the music videos and the VFX that you’ve been doing recently. I read somewhere that you said you like to embrace challenges, and I can see that in all the different things that you have been through to get to this point, but the animation – that’s next level! That’s not just embracing a challenge, is it? How long did it take you to learn those skills?
Jess: Well, I’ve been learning Blender since the pandemic, but I knew I needed to get into Unreal Engine, and I realised the internet was the best way to do it.

At this point, one of the other bands interrupted us to ask if they could grab some of the water bottles from a multipack next to us. They apologised once they realised that we were recording an interview, but Jess told them not to worry, and said they could take anything they liked from the rider, which consisted of various drinks of Coke, Brooklyn Pilsner and Tesco water. One of the other band members joked about being “in our way as much as possible,” and we all laughed. Everyone was in great spirits, and Calva Louise’s positivity shined through yet again.

Jess: I started [learning Unreal Engine] last year – August 2022, and I knew we needed to do the most amazing video for ‘Third Class Citizen’. I remember one guy doing VFX for one of our videos [in the past], and we didn’t pay for it, but it was so expensive. And I figured that I could do that.

Alizon: It really wasn’t up to standard, either.

Jess: And I thought, we need to learn to do that ourselves because nobody is going to do it the way we like it.

The keyboard stand – I can’t not talk about the keyboard stand [they laugh].
The band saw a big reaction on social media when they debuted their equipment setup in a behind-the-scenes video. The attention was drawn by a keyboard stand that Jess used, which she could slide in front of her, and push away, with ease. You can watch the video here.

Alizon: I can’t believe how… [he laughs]. It blows my mind that that has become the subject of…

Ben: You should apply for a patent on it!

Jess: Man, you cannot patent that.

Ben: I think you can. The sliding keyboard.

Although it sounds silly, I think it is a great way of almost summing you guys up in quite a simple way, in the sense that it shows how creative and interesting you are, and how you approach these challenges. Where does your inspiration come from to solve challenges in this way?
Alizon: I think it’s just about not putting yourself in boundaries. We had just started writing in keys in the songs, and you said you wanted to play that [he turns to Jess].

Jess: I said I wanted to play those parts, but the thing is – first, I’m not very coordinated with my feet. Like, I can’t really dance, I can’t do anything.

Alizon: Playing keys live brings a lot of problems: [the keyboard is] big, it’s on a stand, and it doesn’t move. And then you’re stuck behind the keyboard when you’re playing.

Jess: Yeah, you’re stuck behind the keyboard, you’ve got that barrier between you and the audience that we didn’t want. And we didn’t want a second mic. They’re a lot of things that people don’t really think about too much. “You can have a second mic if you want it,” yeah, but we don’t want it.

Alizon: No, you can’t [just have a second mic]. It’s so problematic because – you see how much feedback and noise there is from one mic already, if you add a second one, the sound’s going to be horrible. It’s more problem-solving – what do you want to do? Then you try to find a way around it.

Jess: We had the same idea at the same time. “It would be so good if it was like a gaming keyboard.” You know like how gamers have so many gadgets and stuff?

Alizon: I got inspired by the stuff I built for Bobby.

Jess: For Strange Bones, yeah.

Alizon: All the trays, and sliding trays in and out. I was like, “Yeah, it’s got a slide!

Jess: It’s got a slide! [we laugh]

Alizon: And then it’s just a matter of engineering it, in a way. I have no engineering skills, though.

Jess: It’s like when your mum makes a costume on top of you – not like a professional costume, but like you’re there, and it can be fitted. Tailored to you. We were rehearsing and trying prototypes, and I said to Alizon, “Oh, it would be good if it could do this, this way, or that way.” And that’s how he made it to my specific needs. And it works – it works really good. I didn’t think people were going to think it was…

Alizon: Yeah!

I think it is something everyone latched onto.
Jess: Yeah, it’s [just] practical! It’s super practical!

Alizon: It was very interesting to see peoples’ reactions. I wasn’t expecting that.

Jess: And those that don’t like it – they just don’t like fun. In life [we all laugh].

How can you not like it?
Jess: Yeah, how can you not like it? People get so mad.

Alizon: Some people have said, “Oh, it’s useless.”

Jess: You’re useless!” [Jess says to those people, and we laugh]

Alizon: Again, you only play keys in some parts, and you don’t want to have these massive things in front of you for the whole show. We’re playing small stages as well – it’s not like you can play that and then take ten steps away from the keys. It’s got to be open so we can communicate.

Label experiences

Are you still with Johnny Stevens’ (Highly Suspect) label?
Jess: No. They helped us a lot…

Alizon: We did one album. The album came out and the contract finished.

Ben: We fulfilled our side of it.

Do you find that, without being under a label, you have more freedom in terms of genre and style?
Jess: No, well – the amazing thing, I think, is that it was an imprint – a rock imprint, and we had a lot of help. We didn’t really have too much guidance – we could do what we wanted. There were no people sitting with us, listening to the songs. It was more of, “Yep, that sounds good to me!”

We worked really, really, really hard for it, and a lot of the people there were helping us so much, giving us money and approving a lot of things. They could see how hard we worked. But then that label got bought by a bigger label – and you know how it is when things get bought and consumed. It’s complicated when it goes into huge amounts of people buying property.

But it was amazing, it was really good. We could do anything – experiment. The first album we did, we had almost no control, and here we had too much! But it helped us learn how to do things by ourselves. And also, it was during the pandemic. He [I’m not sure who] mixed two albums at the same time. He’d never mixed an album before and then he did two at the same time.

Alizon: What’s great is, instead of using the budget for a music video just to pay someone and hire equipment, we were able to get a little bit of equipment and do stuff ourselves. We’ve been able to keep going, even after that deal ended, with what we’ve learned from that experience.

Jess: Same with the computer, as well. We did a whole budget – like a breakdown of how we really needed a good computer with a good graphics card to do Blender, and to do the Euphoric film. We bought all the parts and Alizon built it, and instead of paying somebody to do it, the label gave us the tools for us to learn how to do it. I don’t think the quality was there yet, but we needed to start somewhere.

Alizon: Well, without that, you wouldn’t be able to produce.

Jess: Yeah! Without that, we wouldn’t have a clue how to do the rest. It’s about the progress. I feel like all of our progress as a band is watchable.

Alizon: We grew up [as a band] in the public eye.

Jess: Like, the iceberg is all visible. There’s nothing under the water. Some people say they don’t like it. But all the bands you like started somewhere, with years and years and years of trying. Some people erase all their old posts on Instagram, or erase all their old songs from Spotify. Not us.

You can track the journey you have been on.
Jess: You can track our journey, from our first post on Instagram, it’s all there. People need to understand that you don’t just come out of nowhere. Your favourite artists don’t just come out of nowhere. There’s a huge history, and erasing that makes people think, “I’d never be able to do something like that. You’ve got to be so extremely amazing.” People weren’t just born amazing – well, maybe some people – but not us! [we laugh]

I feel like society has changed – people value the story. And sometimes people have stories manufactured because they need it. I see so many bands who have so much history but they don’t want to share it. Maybe they think it’s cringe. But fuck it, that’s the most important – the most beautiful part of it.

Any nerves or preconceptions I may have had about the band being stoic professionals were shut down very quickly by Jess’s enthusiasm toward my questions and her obvious care toward those around her. Alizon and Ben were polite and cool throughout the entire process, and seeing their faces light up, along with Jess’s euphoric grin between the heavy sections of their songs, proved everything I had heard from them during our interview right. Calva Louise might be one of the most exciting names in the UK’s alternative scene, and they lead by example with their DIY attitude and unrelenting positivity.

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Photos: Courtney Turner
Photo gallery

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Calva Louise pages

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