Exclusive Interview with ELECTRIC FUCHSIA

Electric Fuchsia, an indie pop rock band, was born out of an impromptu songwriting collaboration between Joe Kopecky and Socrates Kaitson in the dark days of the Covid lockdown in 2020. Longtime collaborators, the team quickly established a weekly writing schedule and amassed a number of songs. As their songs developed, they quickly recruited lead guitarist and former bandmate Keith Banaszak to finish the songs and complete the trio. the difficulty? Joe is in Dublin, Ireland, while Socrates and Keith are in Milwaukee and Chicago, separated by an ocean. The trio, who are originally from Chicago’s suburbs, rose to local fame with the college rock group Crete, which they formed and played numerous festivals and bars in Chicago and its environs. The trio continued to write and obtain original music licensing while pursuing their individual professional careers. At their respective home studios in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Dublin, the trio records separately. They have used their songwriting instincts and musical landscapes to produce a truly original and inspired sound, despite never being in the same room while recording. Check out their song ‘Grand Theft Heartache’ and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA: We all met in high school and were originally in a band together called “Crete.” We played together through college and composed a few albums of original music and played hundreds of live shows. After college, we all went our separate ways but our love for music never left us. When the pandemic hit and we found ourselves quarantined at home, we started having zoom song writing sessions weekly. Before long we had written an entire album of some of the finest material we’d ever written.

Interestingly, the band now spans between continents as Socrates and Keith live in America while Joe resides in Ireland. Although they maybe separated by an ocean, the musical connection and cohesiveness between the band mates has never been stronger.

2. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘ELECTRIC FUCHSIA’?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA: We have fairly eclectic taste, with lots of classic rock influences across the board with each band member having a somewhat diverse set of interests when it comes to modern music. Socrates is especially taken by the song writing of the Beatles. Every album they made was unique and the way they constantly innovated and changed their sound and style was truly remarkable. Keith is particularly a fan of 1950’s rock and roll and emulates the style of the guitar players from the era. Joe is captured by the synth soundscapes found in modern acts like Cold Play and the Head and the Heart. Because of our broad musical tastes and interests, our songs tend to have a wide range of influences and sounds.

The name Electric Fuchsia was inspired when Joe was reading about the color schemes used in the famous “Vice” NBA uniforms for the Miami Heat (the colors were blue gale and laser fuchsia). The colors themselves evoked something both retro and modern and we felt reflected our music, which tries to bring in modern touches while having strong roots in the classics.

3. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA: Music, like any art, is inexorably linked to the environment in which it is created, and we don’t see our songs as any different. That said we are not setting out to make any explicit political or social messages with our music, but rather write songs that will connect people. In many ways music is a great way to bring people together who might not agree on topics of politics or religion, but can find some common ground in the type of basic human stories that we hope to capture when putting our music out there. There’s even a fair spectrum of differences across these kind of dimensions within the band itself that don’t really come into play when we’re writing and playing our music.

4. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

Absolutely. The process itself is fulfilling and gives a sense of satisfaction that is hard to find elsewhere. Seeing a song develop from nothing more than a kernel of an idea into a full production, and the process of constantly learning along the way is reward in itself! Socrates and Joe have been writing together for more than fifteen years and part of the reason they’ve kept at it for so long is the fulfillment they get from the work itself.

That said we are trying harder to get out music out there. We’d love to be able to share our work with more people and there is a special kind of excitement of knowing that other people are responding positively to what you’re doing.

We are really proud of “Grand Theft Heartache,” our first single, which was released in September and we’re really looking forward to releasing our next single: “Havin’ Fun” on December 30th.

5. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

Every song is slightly different, but there’s usually one small aspect that we start with and build out from there. It might be a vaguely defined melody or hook, or a chord progression. Sometimes the whole thing will be written in a single session, and sometimes an idea will be shelved for years because we can’t quite figure it out. Sometimes we write a whole backstory for the subjects of the song to try to figure out their motivations and other times the lyrics come to us more or less fully formed.

I think we do our best work when we allow ourselves to be a bit spontaneous and go a bit by feel. You can gum up the creative juices by trying to be a bit too formal about the process.

6. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

We’ve been extremely lucky in many ways and are thankful for that. I’m not sure of a single instance to point to, but when things have been hard, either because of difficulties in our personal lives or challenges with graduate school grinds, music has always been one of the best reliefs.

7. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

As alluded to above, both Joe, Keith and Socrates have their own separate careers. Keith recently went back to school and is now a fully certified Social Worker for children. Both Joe and Socrate have gone through doctoral graduate programs (Socrates in medicine and Joe in Economics). Being able to accomplish those achievements while also keeping our passions for music and personal lives has been a huge achievement and required an incredible amount of work and dedication.

8. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

Joe: More and more I’m finding myself running out of patience for people like that. When I was younger I’d have been more self-conscious and struggled with critiques, but you learn to not let it get to you. If people want to hate that’s more a reflection of themselves than it is on any of us so I try not to give it any attention. Feedback is great, especially when you can tell the other person cares and I think an important thing I’ve learned over time is to learn who tune out.

9. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA: Electric Fuchsia has been an almost completely remote project, with only a handful of face-to-face interactions with even the band members, so we of course love the creative process in a home environment, but interaction with a live audience is something that excites us greatly and hopefully will be something we can get back to at some stage. They’re two very different sides to the process and are rewarding in their own ways.

10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

ELECTRIC FUCHSIA:

Once you put something out into the world you lose the ability to control it. Our songs likely will mean different things to different people. I’d guess that even among those of us who wrote them we might have slightly different interpretations. In some sense I don’t think there can be any real meaning behind any art as what matters is an individual’s own reaction to it. I’m happy for people to find any meaning in our music and wouldn’t dream of telling them that their interpretation isn’t “right”.