By Joe Stahl
Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford
Ellis Ludwig-Leone is the mastermind behind one of 2013’s most dynamic and accomplished acts, San Fermin. Ellis came of age in classical music growing up right outside Boston, and composing operas and film scores alongside Nico Muhly (Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens) while still attending Yale. Like so many of us right out of college, plans changed. When Ellis moved to Brooklyn after graduation, he became serious about pop music. With two powerful female lead vocalists (Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius), there’s also Allen Tate, whose deadpan baritone gives the 8-piece act an intriguing dynamic. As San Fermin’s conductor, Ellis orchestrated and wrote their self-titled debut, which features 22 musicians. And speaking on their live set, Charlene Kaye (replaced Rae Cassidy) and Allen are San Fermin’s lead vocalists. The New Yorker said they “deliver epic and emotion-laden rock, with glorious and operatic vocals, electronic break beats, horns, strings, and other flourishes.” Coming from someone who saw the band arrest a busy lobby full of people at the Ace Hotel in New York, I’d say that’s an accurate description of what you can expect when they’re in town.
In our email interview, Ellis chatted with us about his audience member from Hell, what they’ve been up to since last year’s debut, and how the new material is testing on audiences for this tour. We’re also giving away one pair of tickets to their show (with opening act, Mikhael Paskalev) at The Sinclair this Friday, November 14th at 8:00 p.m. You can enter by filling out this form by noon tomorrow. If you can’t view the form on your browser, email your name to info@allstonpudding.com with “San Fermin” in the subject line.
ALLSTON PUDDING: Hi Ellis, thank you for your time to talk with me. We’re excited to see you play The Sinclair this Friday. You must have a special connection to Massachusetts since you grew up here. Would you say that growing up in a state with a strong classical music community fostered a stronger appreciation for it?
ELLIS LUDWIG-LEONE: Maybe a little bit. Growing up near Boston, you’re always aware of Symphony Hall, and sometimes my family would go to Tanglewood in the summer. But honestly when I was in high school I was more interested in having a rock band. It wasn’t until I went to college that I really got into that world.
AP: In what town did you grow up?
EL-L: I grew up in Berkley. It’s a really small town, but it’s pretty close to Boston, Providence, and Newport, so I divided my time fairly evenly between those cities growing up.
AP: What made you want to develop your pop music career in Brooklyn after you graduated from Yale?
EL-L: It was just the natural thing to do. I was finally out of school, so there wasn’t any expectation for what I was supposed to write. So I just wrote what felt right.
AP: I read in interviews that you enjoy the intensity of solitude for creative purposes. Does performing live ever frighten you?
EL-L: Not so much. I’ve always liked performing, and being at the center of attention. It’s just a totally different experience than writing. That feels like more of a personal thing.
AP: What’s the most distracting thing someone’s done or said at one of your shows?
EL-L: There was this super drunk girl at one of our shows at South By Southwest who kept trying to climb on stage. At some point she dropped her cellphone on the stage and started to crawl up under our violinist, Rebekah, spilling wine everywhere. She kept yelling ‘Are you in the band?’ literally as we were playing.
AP: Aside from preparing your live shows for this run of dates, can you give us insight into what you have been working on in the studio?
EL-L: We’ve been mixing our second record, actually. It’s nearly done, I’m super excited about it. I’ve been writing some other music too— a piece for the Alabama Symphony and another for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
AP: How has the crowd’s response been to the new stuff you’ve been testing out?
EL-L: Really good so far. It’s always nerve-wracking to play songs that nobody’s heard yet because usually concert-goers want to hear the ones they know. But we’ve gotten a very positive response, which has helped us shape and change the recorded versions a bit.
AP: Your debut last year received a wealth of positive recognition. Rightfully deserved, I might add. Did that reaction set the bar higher for your next project?
EL-L: Well the bar couldn’t have started any lower for the first record, so naturally now that people know who we are and care about what we do next, it raises the expectations a bit. But it’s a welcome challenge… I feel like we’ve grown a lot during this past year or so and I have a lot of new things to say.
AP: In our digital age, we consume our music through shuffles and playlists. How does a classical musician grapple with the concept of a ‘single?’ Do you leave those decisions to others in the band?
EL-L: I generally try to write the songs that the record needs, and don’t worry about singles until the end. Once the record is in decent shape, that’s when I take stock of what’s missing, whether it’s another single, interlude, what have you. I love a good single, so it’s not something that’s outside of my comfort zone at all.
AP: Will there be a full orchestra with you for Friday’s show?
EL-L: No, we travel with eight musicians— two singers, trumpet, sax, violin, guitar, drums, and keys. We’ve played with orchestras before, which is fun, but rock clubs are actually more natural for us.
AP: Are you looking forward to having Mikhael Paskalev open for you on this last leg of the tour?
EL-L: Mikhael is awesome, he reminds me a bit of a Scandinavian Buddy Holly. We have the same manager, so it felt like a really natural pairing. We’re lucky to have him… his songs are always getting stuck in my head.