Exclusive Interview with 'LEWIS PE'

Lewis Pe, a musician from many diverse bands like “Lewis and the Strange Magics” and “Asforteri,” was born in Barcelona in 1994. His first solo double single, featuring two songs from his upcoming debut album, was released in 2020. His musical influences range widely, including Mediterranean music as well as Pop, Psychedelia, Folk, and Progressive Rock.
His first song in Spanish, Amigos de Pega, is a translation of one of the songs from his debut album, F.W.F. This time, Juan Feduchi, a producer, produced it instead of him, giving the track a chill, synth-driven feel. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:

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

LEWIS PE: I’m from Barcelona and I started playing music in bands/projects at high school, but it wasn’t until university when I started to play on more serious projects, when I signed with Soulseller Records with my Psychedelic band Lewis and the Strange Magics.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

LEWIS PE: I studied guitar and music theory during my teenage years, but I’m a very bad student in general, so I never continued doing a kind of music degree. I was more focused on composing and recording music at my bedroom, and of course listening to a lot of albums, which is very important for music composition.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘LEWIS PE’?

LEWIS PE: I think that The Beatles are my strongest influence in general, they have been in my life since I’m a kid and they inspire me in every project I’m involved in, even in a not direct way. But everything that I enjoy listening inspires me on making music. I’m like a sponge.

And I sign as Lewis Pe because I don’t like to use my Spanish name when I’m in projects where I sing in English. Lewis means Luis, which is my Spanish name, and ‘Pe’ is the first letter of my surname (Pomés). Nothing special on that, I think ‘Lewis Pe’ sounded cooler.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

LEWIS PE: When people tell me that they like my music, they highlight that the album is very compact, and that’s my intention in general, to do songs to be listened as a whole album, with a kind of sonic connecting thread.

When I signed with my label, Nuevos Medios, they also highlighted this as a positive thing, so I think I achieved my first goal when I recorded the album.

And I don’t have any word to describe my sound. When I compose the song, I always have in mind many musical references, sometimes very different between them. So maybe I can call my sound as “eclectic”.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?
**LEWIS PE**:
I remember when I started to compose for my first band, which was a Hard Rock band, and how difficult it was. I felt like it was impossible to do a good melody and I was very focused on Guitar riffs. It was not until some years later that I realized I could imagine melodies in my head, with no need of a guitar or a piano, and that this was the best way of doing songs. Normally I recorded those melodies with my voice in my phone and when I had free time, I recorded it in my computer, adding all the instruments. I have not made a transition from Hard Rock to Indie, I think it’s more correct to say that I opened my mind to other styles apart from Rock music. Nowadays I compose from Pop to Metal, and the great improvement is that I can focus on the melody first. I think this is the best way of doing a good song.

6. 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?

LEWIS PE:

I don’t have any specific personal view on that. I think everyone can use music as their own vehicle to express what they need to. In my case I think it’s a necessity. I make songs because I spend the day thinking about new melodies, and thinking how they will sound fine with a backing track, and thinking in what of my musical projects will they fit, etc.

Apart from that, in recent years I realized that music has also helped me to express myself about mental health. Since I have something to talk about, I’ve started to write better lyrics that I did before, when I was writing songs about movies that inspired me or the typical Hard Rock sexual themed song, which was very cringe.

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

LEWIS PE:

When I see that there are millions of artists doing the same as me at the same time, and that it’s very hard to make people listen to your tracks, sometimes I feel a bit sad, or a bit deceived, like: “I spend almost my whole time doing this and nobody really cares”. But at the end of the day, I’m very motivated on working on new tunes, because as I said before making music is a necessity for me, so I release music because otherwise I would compose music that would stay in a drawer forever.

So, I’m very happy anyways, and the feeling of making your ideas a real thing is very comforting.

8. Do you collaborate with others in your creative process?

LEWIS PE:

I use to make music at my own, but I’ve been on different projects with different people, and sometimes I met people with great ideas, and we’ve done songs together. But if I have to be honest, I enjoy more the process of doing a song when it’s alone.

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

LEWIS PE: Maybe when I signed with Soulseller Records with Lewis and the Strange Magics, we were very motivated, because it was an international label, and I personally was thinking: “wow, they will spend a lot of money in vinyl and cd copies from our music, and in promo, etc.”. And it was like an euphoric moment, and I thought we would start to have success in the Psychedelic scene, with our own audience or fans. But then I realized that signing with a record label was not a synonym of success, because the album, although we sold many copies, had no repercussion in the scene, and that we had a lot of work to do. Now that this was almost 10 years ago, I would have acted different in many ways, starting in the music. It was not a good album, and if I recorded it now and releasing it with the same label, I’m sure it would have a more positive impact. But that’s not possible right now, and it’s a bit frustrating.

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

LEWIS PE: When I got a call from Nuevos Medios telling me that they were interested in my debut solo album. In Spain they are a very important label. Maybe they don’t have any success right now, because music industry has changed a lot, but in the 80s they made famous some then unknown artists like Golpes Bajos or Ketama. And receiving this very good feedback for my music from them has been a really personal successful thing for me.

And they don’t care a lot about the masses and all that, they release music that they really enjoy. So I rather have this kind of experience than being a product like many artists.