Late Nite Cable are a relatively young synthpop duo, with their self-titled debut EP out now, but Peter Roessler and Severine Casati have both been passionate about music for years. It was their love of music and their desire to pursue a new project that drew them together, too. With their EP out now and a music video for their track, “Late Nite Girl” coming soon, Late Nite Cable are a duo to keep an eye on.
Interview by Shannon Shumaker
Can you tell us a little bit about Late Nite Cable for anyone who may not be familiar?
Pete Roessler: Late Nite Cable is a synthpop duo that was created in November of 2014, at which time I came to the conclusion that I really needed to finally launch my music career in order to be truly happy in life. At the time, I had a day job, and although I did enjoy it at times, I wasn’t playing any music which has always been my true passion. One day in September of 2014, I decided to buy a download of Ableton Live 9 on a kind of whim and later that night started writing and producing my first song using YouTube videos to help me learn how to use the software.
From that point on, there really was no stopping my will to write music again. By the second week, I had already composed and produced five or six songs and by the next month, I was already poking around for another singer with whom I could start a serious music project.
I remember meeting Severine about 3 years ago at a holiday party and recall her telling me that she was a singer. Even though we had not been in touch for 3 years, I Facebook-messaged her to ask her if she was interested in starting a band… and luckily she was. I showed her some of the things that I had been working on in November and by the New Year, we were already knee-deep in the demo- producing process to find our sound which ended up being kind of a clash between of singer/songwriter and pop music with electronic music… which, I guess, very naturally emitted a rather synth pop quality.
You’re getting ready to release your self-titled debut EP soon! What has the musical journey been like up until this point?
To put it bluntly, the process has been insane but in a great way. Even though I have been a musician since I was a toddler, I really had no idea how much goes into the process of starting a serious band, recording solid demos, studio work, PR, social media, etc. so it has been a learning process for sure.
From the start, we spent a ton of time crafting quality demos, which, at first, were not terribly “quality.” It took us from November through February and through our first actual recording experience in the studio with our producer, Anthony “Rocky” Gallo, to truly understand what kind of shape a demo needs to be in order to be able to work well with it in a professional studio. When we finally gathered the courage to go into the studio to record, our demos were not as pretty as we thought they were; however, by the end of our first big studio push, we had a great understanding of how we needed to produce our demos in the future. We recorded 4 songs during that initial push and then continued to write and produce more and more demos leading up until the summer. By the time we went into the studio again in July, we were basically in and out.
However, I feel like the real work began after we were essentially finished with the album, almost 5 months ago, when we started PR and Artist Development work with a NYC-based PR firm. At that point, we had to do a photo shoot, build a website and create a solid brand identity, among many other things. We are actually still deep in this process though we are mere weeks before the album release and our first show.
Was there anything you really wanted to be able to accomplish with the EP?
The first thing that I wanted to accomplish was to follow my lifelong dream of having a music career that I could be proud of. My lifelong goal was always to come out with an album of original music. I have been writing original music since I was ten so I felt like this album was extremely overdue and by the time I started writing again, I felt like I was about to burst if I didn’t at least give it a fair chance. The second thing I wanted to do was be able to put some of my experiences down on paper with the hopes that people might be able to relate to them. I guess sometimes you just want to know that you aren’t alone with your problems. Lastly, I also wanted to try my luck at music in a more organized fashion. In the past, I really had no idea what I was doing with regard to gaining exposure with my music. I felt like I had never really given my music a fair chance because I was so clueless with regard to giving it the actual spot in the market that I had always dreamed of. While I am still at the beginning of this process and have no idea how it will pan out, I feel a bit more mature, wiser and organized with regard to the process. And, while I am not perfect and I am still going through the natural growing pains of learning how the market works, I feel like I learn something new every day so hopefully I will just get better and better at showing my music to the world. With that said, this EP marks the start of a new more organized era of efforts to put lifelong dream into a reality.
You recently released “Hideaway” from the EP, which I feel is really soft and dreamy sounding. What makes this song special to you guys?
“Hideaway” was actually written about my experience quitting my job and moving out of the city to seek refuge in CT in pursuit of writing music. It became, moreover, kind of the cornerstone to my reasons for pursing this project in the first place. In December of 2014, I knew that I had to write about the vocational transition that I was making, so I ended up writing “Hideaway” with that in mind; in short, it is a song that was very sentimental for me. The song is also meaningful to us because it is the first real song where both Severine and I sing together almost as a duet. There really isn’t a single lead voice, which makes the song a bit more dynamic vocally than some of our other tracks. We were able to do a lot with harmonies and vocal counterpoint which made it even more exciting.
And you also recently filmed a video for your song, “All Nite Girl.” How was the filming process? Can you tell us a little bit about the song and video?
The filming process was a lot of fun. We ended up doing the video with Malka Media Group and they were really great at putting the entire production together and bringing the “All Nite Girl” story to life. From start to finish, they were incredibly organized which made things go quite smoothly.
To start off, the song is about meeting someone with whom you are hitting it off while partying like a crazy person, so we decided to try to recreate this kind of night in a crazy warehouse party. But, I don’t want to give TOO much away!
Regarding the actual process, Malka and LNC started out going back and forth on conference calls to try to break down the storyline until we all had a good idea of the basic elements and outline of the treatment. After they wrote a rough treatment based upon the story, we went back and forth with edits until we were all happy. Luckily, we were able to shoot all of it in one day even though it was intense and exhausting. What made things even a bit more chaotic was that we actually decided to make the shoot into a real party. We bought a keg of beer, had music playing and we were all actually getting a bit tipsy while shooting, at least during the nighttime party scenes. It was definitely a lot of fun and we look forward to working with Malka for more video content.
When can fans expect to see it?
We are reaching the final stages of the editing process right now, but I believe we will be releasing it in mid-November to help promote the album and our first live shows.
I know that your love of music brought the two of you together, so what in turn, would you like for your music to be able to do for your listeners?
I am just hoping that the music makes our listeners feel good in general. With music, the only thing that I’ve ever looked for is for it to make me feel good. I have never been the type of person to listen to certain kinds of music because it happens to be “in” at the time. I have always listened to music that actually makes me feel good even if it is being played by a controversial or overplayed popstar. I know some people listen to certain kinds of music because it is the “in” fad at the time and I can only hope that our music becomes more to our listeners than just a fad. I am hoping that people actually enjoy listening to our music and the messages that we are conveying with our lyrics.
How do you feel that each of your musical backgrounds have shaped Late Nite Cable?
Interesting question, especially because we both come from very different musical backgrounds than the specific music that we are playing currently. Although I grew up listening to pretty much everything, I played a great deal of folk, jam rock, acoustic rock and even bluegrass during high school and college; however, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I really caught the electronic and synthpop music bug pretty intensely. I also went from writing songs on the guitar in high school and college to writing the majority of my songs on the piano and keyboard which gave me a ton of versatility with MIDI. Combining elements of singer/songwriter-type songwriting styles with my recent synth-based obsessions just happened to create an interesting outcome. Severine also grew up playing a ton of very soulful music along with some classic rock, folk and contemporary rock and jazz so she also brought a great deal of vocal elements from those genres as well. I think our abundance of clashing styles set the precedent for a really unique and creative sound.
What are your plans for the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 once the EP drops?
After the EP drops, we plan to release the music video and maybe a couple of singles during the Christmas season. However, we will be making a big push to play live starting in November and throughout the winter and spring leading up to the summer.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I think we covered a ton here! It was our pleasure!!
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