Interview With Valeras

Valeras are a five-piece rock band from Reading made up of Max, Katie, Rose, Cat and George (left to right). Their debut EP "Knives & Flowers" is released on the 19th of May so we took the chance to speak to Rose (lead vocals and guitar) about what we can expect.

How did you all meet?

We met through the Reading Rock Academy which was a local academy that supported young people interested in partaking music. We got put together for some sort of band experience thing and decided to stay together after like 3 days.

Which artists/bands are you influenced by?

We're all influenced by different music, we all listen to different things but we also share likes such as Wolf Alice, Tame Impala, also Foals. I personally really love taking influence from R&B melodies also soul music and artists like Solange and Lianna La Havas.

We’ve seen why you guys wanted to change your name but why Valeras?

When we were brainstorming ideas for names I wanted something with a meaning & I was inspired by having something that represented the country I'm from. Valera is a city in Venezuela and a nice sounding word so I thought it'd be nice to be able to constantly say it and hear it out loud.

What can we expect from the EP?

It's like a developed Area 52 sound after all we're still somewhat influenced by what once influenced Area 52 songs, but at the same time to us it's completely different. Our sound changed and we're definitely starting to find some sort of direction we want to head in. But we're enjoying going through the process of finding it so we didn't really limit ourselves to what we wanted to do or sound like in the EP.

How is it different from the singles you'd released as Area52?

I think it's a more matured sound to anything we've ever released. One of the songs we've actually been playing for years but it sounds completely different so it's cool to be able to hear that change in our sound.

You guys have played Reading and Leeds for so many years now, do you ever get to experience any of our beloved hometown fest?

Both years that we played were a lot of fun and hell of an experience, we would go anyway to see our favourite bands so to be able to share a line up with some of them is sort of surreal and the best experiences for sure. We all love watching our favourite bands together at Reading Fest cos it's the coolest feeling ever.

What is it about Reading that makes the music scene so special?

I personally think it's the people that supports the scene by going to Reading gigs. It's kind of like a community where people meet through watching local bands. Everyone knows each other because of these gigs and they go to support bands together and also become friends with the bands it's like everyone's friends with each other I think that's what's special.

Do you think being so young as a band is a positive or negative thing? Can you play venues like Purple Turtle when half of you can't get in?

Bit of both worlds really. Mostly positive because we don't really pay attention to it. Sometimes there's a bit of a disadvantage with some venues but we work around it. I don't really think age matters when it comes to music .

What's the best gig you've played and which gig are you most looking forward to?

For me it was the last time we played Readipop sometime in October, everyone was really into it and that always makes it fun. We're all really looking forward to Are You Listening? Fest because we feel like it's been a while since our last show and we're just really excited because we also get to see great bands on the lineup this year like The Big Moon & Dream Wife and a lot of great local bands.

Huge thank you to Ryan Manning for photographs.