Talking To: Fez — The Everyday

Formed in January 2019, London-based FEZ are a blend of psychedelia and progressive rock that doesn't simply embrace nostalgia for a bygone era of music but reinterprets their essence in a post-rock world. With an equal emphasis on songwriting, sonics and improvisation, every member is at the forefront of the band's music.

After spending the first half of 2019 extensively recording material while locked away in an isolated cabin in the Lake District, followed by studio sessions in Bristol and Devon, FEZ’s debut release Repetition is now available on all major platforms.

Tell us about yourselves. Who’s in the band? What do you all play, and how did the band form?

We’re a group of mates that play psychedelic rock with some ‘progressive’ elements to it. There is Rollo Ellison on vocals and rhythm guitar, Lewis Rennie-Campbell on lead guitar, myself (Mischa Dhar) on bass, Zak de la Bedoyere behind the kit and Ed Wing - who you might be lucky enough to see on stage from behind his mountain of keyboards.

Zak, Rollo and I met at Bristol whilst studying and played in a different group for a couple of years where we built up our sound. At the start of 2019, we came up with the collective decision to quit our jobs and use our savings to work full-time on making the best album we had in us. It was a big moment and really showed us how important the band was for each of us and how much we believed in the music. While recording, we also built up the rest of the band. We spent endless evenings in the smoking areas outside gigs chatting to different musicians before being lucky enough to find Lewis and Ed and bring them into the fold.

You’ve just released your single Repetition, what’s the story behind the song? Where did you record it?

We wrote Repetition a few years ago now. In essence, the lyrics focus on the concept of nihilism, the idea of accepting the insignificance of our stressed lives. Which gives us some comfort from the many external pressures telling us that we can only gain self-worth from out-achieving others in status and wealth. Hopefully, by taking that step back and acknowledging that the majority of our actions won't really have any significance in the scale of human history can help alleviate this stress.

Musically speaking, the song is really influenced by the ‘Big Band’ genre and Buddy Rich. Often these songs are made up of a few verses followed by repeating solos. We’ve got some seriously talented players in the band, so we wanted to use this style for the song to give everyone the limelight and show the listener what we’re capable of.

We recorded it over a few months together with a load of other songs. We laid down the live tracking at Invada Studios in Bristol with the brilliant Joe Jones at the controls. Then we finished the rest of the track by ourselves, between Devon and Bristol at a couple of different studios before finishing off the vocals at Rockfield Studios in Wales (again with Joe).

The video is amazing. Who did you make it with? What’s the concept behind it and how did you come up with it?

Cheers! We got in contact with Ed Miles, who had directed a few music videos for some bands that we grew up listening to. He clearly enjoyed the track enough to listen to it repeatedly during the two days of shooting. Both himself and the cameraman Nitch Kehller were amazing to work with!

Rollo came up with the idea to shoot the video with the ‘one-take’ feel. The constant flow reflects the songs’ energy while it allows us to use each room to reflect the different feelings of each part of the track. 1917 with less bullets and more leather.

Can we expect more new music from you soon?

We’ve got a lot more in the pipeline. When we quit our jobs, at the beginning of last year, the first thing we did was going to the Lake District, setting up our own home studio and demo a bunch of material. From that, we've recorded 11 other tracks that will (with Repetition) make up our debut LP and EP. Keep on eye on our socials for when the next single is coming out.

Coronavirus permitting, you’re playing a lot of shows in London. Do you have plans to play in different places around the UK this year?

At the moment, we’re focusing on building a solid following in London. We’re definitely open to things further afield, but right now as we’ve just moved we still want to really cement ourselves into the scene here.