Leading up to Pique on Sept 11, 2021, we are asking questions to participating artists to find out more about what they are working on for Pique and learn about their practice.
La Neve is part rave, part drag show, part moshpit. Also a member of punk band Downtown Boys, her combination of house, disco, and punk has received accolades from NPR, Paper, KEXP, Stereogum, and many more. She released one EP with Don Giovanni in 2017, her debut full LP 'The Vital Cord' was released in 2019, and her next EP is recorded and scheduled for release in early 2022. In 2019, drummer Karna Ray--also of The Kominas-- joined the band, creating an even more energetic, powerful live performance.
1. Tell us a little bit about what your video performance for Pique is going to be like?
I'm recording a live performance of a few songs live at a venue in Brooklyn. So you'll be getting something of a live set, just from a different city. We really wish we could be there with everyone in Ottawa, but we hope we can capture some portion of the energy on film. We just recorded a new EP, so we'll hopefully get some of our new songs and ideas in the performance.
2. Lots of changes have happened in the last 18 months. In terms of your artistic practice, what are you hoping to carry forward or leave behind?
It's been a really rough time for my artistic practice. I know some people who were able to use quarantine time to create albums and be creative, but I was honestly too wrecked physically, emotionally and mentally to get a whole lot done. Plus, with music income gone, I had to take a lot of other work, and there's been a lot of organizing to do in our communities. So it's been something of a difficult time artistically. However, I do feel like I've started to get back into some creation. There's a necessity to just do the thing no matter what our conditions are. There's no other option. We recorded a new 5 song EP over the summer, and are now working on music videos and art for it. It feels good to be working in music again. In some sense, it was a positive thing to take a break from the often destructive lifestyle of constantly touring, but whenever we can really play live again I will fully and truly appreciate it. One recent effort we've been honored to be a part of is the creation of the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), which formed at the beginning of the pandemic last March. It's been thrilling to work with other music workers to put together something so powerful. Go check out unionofmusicians.org to get involved!
3.In terms of music, books, movies, tv, what are you into right now?
In my other life I work as a historian, so I'm always reading a lot of history. Two excellent books I read this summer were Karl Jacoby's Shadows at Dawn and William Pettigrew's Freedom's Debt. Both heavy, intense subject matter, both illuminating and captivating. For music, as I'm writing this today Lee Scratch Perry just passed away, and so I've been revisiting a lot of his work all day. Truly inspiring and mind boggling how much the man did. More generally, as you'll hear on the new La Neve EP, I've been taking in a lot of influences from big beat, digital hardcore, and generally more intense stuff than on my past record. I think it's definitely the best recordings we've done, excited to get it out there!
4. If you could get one idea, feeling, or message across with your work, what would it be?
That's a hard question! I guess there's an insistence to keep living, fighting, surviving regardless of how many times you get punched out. We don't have another option, no matter how grim the future feels right now. This year has been so hard for me and so many others to do anything at all, let alone anything creative and beautiful, so just the fact of getting the EP done, of doing the Pique festival, of any performance of creation seems like some small triumph.
Visit thisispique.com to check out the program, buy a pay-what-you-can ticket, and learn more.
Follow La Neve on Instagram.
Check out our blog and Instagram reels for more interviews with artists participating in Pique on September 11th, 2021.