LocaL

Interview with LocaL

March 1, 2016

Describe your band, telling a little about it.  

LocaL was formed back in 2011, with founding members Kyle Ingram, Zack DeFelice, and Leigh-Anne DeFelice (formerly Yost). Kyle, the lead guitarist, is now attending college in Nashville, but Leigh-Anne (vocals, guitar, percussion) and Zack (guitar and percussion) are still playing duo acoustic shows in the area.  We play an eclectic array of music, ranging from oldies to classic rock to country to pop to hip hop. Leigh-Anne even raps!  We focus on upbeat, happy music & being pleasing to the ear.

Have members played with any other bands?  

Kyle is currently playing with a band in Nashville called Hurricane Will & Storm Damage.

Do you write your own music or perform covers?  Has it always been this way?  We recorded an EP of original music at Red Caiman Media in Downtown Pittsburgh in 2014.   We perform both at shows.

What year did the band form? 2011

Where is bands home?  

We are Pittsburgh-based.  The guys are from Peters Twp and Leigh-Anne is from 84, PA

What's your style or genre?  Everything!

What inspires your music?  Our original music has been inspired by many things - love, loss, jobs, college, sad times, fun times.

How often do you rehearse?  When Kyle was in town, we rehearsed once or twice a week, just to pick up new songs.  After playing together for 4 years, a lot of the songs we could play without even thinking about them, so it was always good to switch things up.

What gear do you guys use?  Since we're an acoustic band, we have a lot less gear than most bands, but it's still a pain to load in, set up, and tear down.  We're still waiting on our roadies to show up one day.  Our "drum kit".

Do you utilize a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that?  We do not.  Leigh-Anne books the shows.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that?  We are not.  It would be nice to have representation, but having representation or a manager or a label doesn't guarantee success.  We love playing smaller venues, meeting new people, and growing our LocaL family.

What are your songs about?  "Bill Collectors" is a song (music by Zack, lyrics by Leigh-Anne) about working two jobs and still struggling to pay the bills.  All three of us have worked multiple jobs in our lives and still do, actually.  "Castleman's Run" is a nostalgic song for Leigh-Anne, written about her days at Bethany College.  Kyle wrote the music for that one.   "Psychosomatic" is our most collaborative effort.  We all played a part in creating that song and it's really just about being lost and thinking you might have made a good decision, when really it was another bad one.  "Silly" is a song that Kyle wrote that any guy in his early 20's can relate to.  Girls, booze, and having to grow up.  We all had a hand in arranging all of the songs on our EP.

Do you compose in a certain enviroment?  Kyle and Zack are always coming up with little ditties on the guitar, whether together while hanging out or by themselves at home.  Leigh-Anne is definitely better with lyric writing when by herself.

Have you done any covers live?  Most of the songs we do live are covers.  Pittsburgh is a tough place to play all originals.  They want to hear music they know.  That way, when you do slip in an original, they just keep dancing, most of the time not even realizing it's an original song.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs?  Our largest show was just before the first Pirate's Wild Card game back in 2013 at The Beer Market on the North Shore.  It's hard to say how many people were there, but the place was at capacity and it's a big room.  Not to mention all the people walking by outside.  The least amount...well, we definitely had some shows in the beginning where there were very few people, maybe 9-10.  

But as long as one person is listening and 

enjoying, it's worth it.

What ages are most of your concert attendants?  We've had people from the age of 6 up to 80 enjoying our shows.  That's why we play a variety - so there's something for everyone.  The majority of people who come to our shows, though, are in the 21-40 range.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary?  We try to switch it up as much as possible.  Since Kyle left, Zack and Leigh-Anne had to start pretty much from scratch, so while we had 6 hours of music as a trio, we're still working to build our repertoire as a duo.

Do you have a regular place you play live often?  The majority of the places we play are ones that we play regularly - Bee'z Bistro and Pub in Bridgeville, The Kopper Kettle in Washington and the SNPJ in Strabane are the places we've played most often.

What was your first gig like?  Our first gig was at David's Music House in McMurray.  A lot of our family and friends came out, but we were so green.  We didn't have the big drum setup that we do now (Zack sat on his djembe, actually).  We used music stands.  We didn't interact with the audience.  We were so nervous!

What was your latest gig?  Our last gig as a trip was last July at the SNPJ in Strabane.  We had over 100 people come out to say good-bye to Kyle and to celebrate four amazing years together.   Zack and my last show was last week at the SNPJ - it was tons of fun, as well.

Have you had to cancel a gig?  We've not...

we've had to improvise because of people getting sick, but that's all.

Where have you played live this year?  This year, Zack and I have played at the Bridgeville Italian Club, Bee'z, The Kopper Kettle, The Presidents Pub in Washington, PA, the SNPJ, and we have lots more coming up!

Where do you plan to gig the coming year?   Kyle is coming back to play a set with us before the G. Love and Special Sauce show at Mr. Smalls on March 25th.  That will be a ton of fun.  Zack and I have gigs lined up at all of the above places, in addition to The Last Call in Canonsburg and The Pourhouse in Brookline.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale?  We have our EP that is available at our shows.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?  I think records are making a comeback, actually, but you can't beat the ease and convenience of carrying your entire record collection in your pocket or purse.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this?  I think the artists have to rely on more than just record sales to build wealth, especially when so much is leaked and available to listen to whenever you want to online.  Touring, merchandise, advertising products, having their music used in movies and commercials.  

Do you have any role models or idols?  The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, Sublime, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today?  We definitely find more inspiration from the 60's and 70's than from today.  Music today is so processed that it's hard to discern the musical instruments they're using sometimes. 

What have been your biggest obstacles?  

We've been really lucky  The three of us are best friends and we built some really great relationships with some excellent establishments. What we have is something that comes around once in a lifetime.  There are no egos, just friendship and love and music.  The way it should be! The toughest thing for us has been being without Kyle and having to start over.  We still have a dream that we'll all live near each other and start our trio back up again.  Time will tell!

What advice would you give other bands or artists?  My biggest advice would be not to get too excited or too down.  Some bars won't call you back, some will want you for every big event they have.  Just keep working hard, be kind to everyone you meet, and put on a good show.  The success will follow - sometimes, you just need to rethink your definitiion of success.

How do you get psyched for a gig?  Shot of Jack Daniels before each gig.  It's tradition!

Do you have any new material? Zack and L-A have been working on some new songs, which we'll hopefully debut this spring.

What are your web sites?  www.facebook.com/localband  reverberation.com/localband

How can people reach you? lyost98@gmail.com

Other social media addresses?

@LocaL3WeBe on both Twitter and Instagram

What are your plans for the future?  Kyle's immediate goal is to get his degree.  Zack and Leigh-Anne are going to keep playing out and write music and hopefully record another EP in 2016.

What do you think of my work?  We are so very appreciative of people who take the time to get the word out about local music.  It's because of people like you that live music is still rocking in the valley!

How do you think that this interview will help you in the local music scene and beyond? We are always hoping to reach a wider audience.  The more people you meet, the better!  We've met some of the best people at shows, who have become family.

What is one thing even your biggest fans don't know about the band?  We're pretty open about the band, really.  All there really is to know is that we met 5 years ago and became the best of friends.  There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other.  Zack and Leigh-Anne ended up getting married and Kyle was Best Man at their wedding.

Do you have something to add?  Please let me know you have any follow up questions.  If you had sent this to me last year at this time, it would have been a lot easier.  Kyle going to Nashville (Belmont University) was hard.  It's always hard when a family member leaves.   But we have video chats all the time and plan to see each other as often as possible.  Until we can play together again all the time, all three of us will continue to do what we love best - play music and entertain!