INTERVIEW: TREASVRE
TREASVRE
The Photo Ladies Interview - by Emily May
San-Francisco quintet TREASVRE has taken quite the journey to get to where they are today. Having all been friends since high school, it began as a side project for guitarists Jason Zaru and Julian Balestrieri. Evan Dulaney (drums/synth), Sabrina Simonton (keys/synths/vox), and Sam Pena ((bass/vox) later came on board and the band evolved to where they are today. Heavily influenced by the Bay Area scene that they all grew up in, the dedicated musicians that they saw perform night after night inspired them to develop their own musical skills. Although they all bring different influences to the band, the five members have always maintained a collaborative spirit and have decided that going forward, they will approach their songwriting process differently in order to better experiment with their sounds and better manage their time. Like with many artists, the Covid shutdowns altered the way in which the band released their music. They were in the studio just ahead of the shutdowns in early 2020 and, looking ahead to a year without events, decided to release their music a series of four 2-song EPs to give the songs the attention they deserve and have music to release throughout the year. Pairing their releases according to themes, they released "Devils/Echos" first, followed by "Too Late/One of Us", "Believe Me/Outside" and most recently "Heavy Arms/Secrets". Much of their inspiration as a band comes from the concept of the silver lining and finding that hopeful light at the end of the tunnel during challenging times. Having their four releases to focus on over the past year, as well as doing live-streaming events that helped them to reach a wider audience than they normally would have, helped them to combat the dread over thoughts of what their lives and music careers would look like on the other side of this. They have used the past year to evolve and grow both personally and musically. TREASVRE will be releasing two new singles this year, the first of which being set for release on April 30th, and are working on recording their new full-length EP. They also plan to release their new music video for "Devils" on April 2nd. A live band at heart, they are hoping to be back to playing live shows by the end of the year and then planning a tour. With plenty of new music on the horizon, TREASVRE is definitely a band to keep on your radar! You can connect with TREASVRE via the following links. Photo credit: Jeff Straw.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | SoundCloud | iTunes/Apple Music | YouTube | Bandcamp
You have all been friends since high school and all grew up in the Bay Area. You have said that the DIY hardcore and metal scene throughout Redwood City and Berkeley have always been a huge influence for you. What can you tell me about the music scene in San Francisco and The Bay Area growing up and how it influenced you? In what ways do you feel it shaped how you operate as a band?
The Bay Area music scene provided some of our first exposure to non-mainstream music and what it means to be a performing artist. Going to local shows as teenagers opened up our eyes to a world full of dedicated musicians who would stop at nothing to be able to create. We were immediately inspired by the people in our communities who got up on stage to play their hearts out for us and gave us a place to go where we felt like we could express ourselves. Sam remembers going to her first show in San Francisco where she saw The Phenomenauts perform, and what an amazing experience that was—the energy of the live performance, the excitement of the crowd, the feeling of the music pounding in her ears. Not to mention the sense of community. Those first local shows that we went to as teenagers captured our imagination, and compelled us all to spend more time developing our musical skills.
One way it’s shaped us as a band is we feel very tied to the Bay Area. We are all rooted here and spent the most formative years of our lives going to shows and experiencing the local music scene. As San Francisco grew more and more expensive in the 2010s, we saw many artists and musicians move to farther reaches of the Bay Area, southern California, and even different states. As a result, we’ve grown somewhat protective of our music community and felt like we have a personal responsibility to help it succeed. As a result, we have always been active in going to shows and supporting independent artists and venues. We know how important the local music scene was for us growing up, we want it to continue to thrive for new generations also.
Having all known each other since you were teenagers/young adults, what can you tell me about coming together to form TREASVRE and experimenting with different sounds to find your sound as a band?
TREASVRE took quite a journey to reach our current form. It all began as a side project of Jason and Julian, who were playing in a different band together at the time. Jason was the drummer for that band, but he wanted to devote more time to writing for guitar, and so the two of them started jamming out ideas in their free time.
Evan was the next logical addition to this new band. The three of them knew each other from growing up in the Bay Area and shared similar musical influences. As they fleshed out more ideas with Evan on drums and Julian and Jason on guitars, eventually they decided that a keyboard player would be a good addition to their evolving sound.
Enter Sabrina. She and Evan had been long-time acquaintances since they were 19 years old. They initially met while Sabrina was sharing an apartment in San Francisco with her childhood friend Cat Jones, who happened to be dating the bassist from Evan’s band at the time. Evan and Cat became close pals, and so he and Sabrina would see each other regularly throughout the years through their mutual friend. But it was still a bit out-of-the-blue when Sabrina got a Facebook message from Evan asking if she was down to jam. Having been primarily a solo musician up until that point, Sabrina jumped at the chance to join the band.
As a four-piece, Jason, Julian, Evan, and Sabrina began writing songs together and exploring different sounds. After some experimentation with synth bass and bass backing tracks, they finally came to the conclusion that a bass player was needed to complete the band. That’s when Sam came into the picture. Actually, Sam had kind of always been in the picture—she and Evan were dating and living together, and she and Julian were good friends since high school too. After a little convincing, she agreed to become our bass player and join Sabrina on vocals. And that’s when TREASVRE really started to become who we are today.
You have talked about how your songwriting as a band is a very collaborative process. What kinds of challenges have you faced in blending your different songwriting styles together or has it been a smooth process? What can you tell me about your desire to change your songwriting process with your upcoming music?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth process. We regularly have debates over which sound/vibe/direction we want to take a song, and it can be difficult to try to come to a consensus among all five of us. Our individual musical aesthetics actually blend together nicely. Even though we represent a variety of music tastes, there are several common threads tying them together: heavy guitars, lots of atmospheres, heartfelt lyrics, and rich synth textures, to offer up some examples. But having so many opinions at play during our songwriting sessions can get complicated, so we’ve decided to try a different approach. Instead of working on new music with every band member in the room, we are collaborating together in pairs and then recording ideas that we trade back and forth. So far, it’s going well, enabling us to be more thorough in our experimentation and more effective with our time.
You hit the recording studio last year right before the shutdowns. What can you tell me about getting creative with your release schedule and releasing the music you had recorded as a set of 4 separate short EPs, as well as the themes that surrounded each release? How did you decide the order in which to release each EP?
We literally wrote down all the songs we had recorded on a whiteboard and tried organizing them in various ways until it made sense. It was the beginning of the pandemic, and we were looking ahead at a year without events and wondering how we were going to promote all our new music. It made sense to space out short releases in order to give our songs the attention we thought they deserved, as well as get more mileage out of them during a time when we couldn’t perform live. We ended up pairing up our songs according to their themes: “Devils / Echoes” is about isolation and escapism; “Too Late / One Of Us” explores trust and betrayal; “Believe Me/Outside” tells two different stories about control and surrender; lastly, “Heavy Arms / Secrets” looks at two different approaches to letting go. We decided to kick off our release series with “Devils / Echoes” because we wanted to put our best foot forward, and we felt that those two songs really exemplified our music and aesthetic.
You recently released "Heavy Arms" / "Secrets", the 4th and final release in the series. What can you tell me about the songs? I read that "Heavy Arms" still represents the original message of the song when you first wrote it, but that "Secrets" went through many iterations before achieving its final form as a song. Why do you feel the two processes for the songs were so different?
“Heavy Arms” is the odd song out in our release series because it’s the only song with lyrics written by someone other than Sam or Sabrina. Our guitarist Julian is the primary lyricist on this track, and we all liked his original concept so much that we never really felt the need to stray from the song’s original version. Sure, we’ve tweaked certain parts over time, but we’ve never felt the need to rework it or make any major changes beyond the initial songwriting process.
“Secrets” was very different because the original concept for the song didn’t stand the test of time. Julian plays a role here too because he was the least satisfied out of all of us with its first iteration. After recording a demo and stewing on it for a while, Julian suggested we take a fresh approach at writing the vocals and offered up some rough ideas for a melody. Sabrina took his ideas and ran with them, and together they were able to finally craft the song into its current form. This was happening at a time in Sabrina’s life when she was going through some positive changes; she had plenty of inspiration, and a triumphant-sounding song like “Secrets” was the perfect venue for her to convey her journey through lyrics. Once we had the force of intention behind the songwriting, we finally got to a version we all felt good about.
Evan- You have a love for graphic design. What can you tell me about the artwork you have done for several of the releases and what inspired your designs? How would you describe your aesthetic?
Evan: While I did the final production of the album art, the concepts were definitely a collaborative effort. We knew that we wanted a common theme throughout the album covers, and we knew we wanted a surreal treatment that reflected the themes of each song, so eventually, we landed on the concept of closeups of the human form. First, we tinkered with taking photos, but those didn’t have the desired effect, so I jumped in and made them in 3D. Each cover features a 3D scan I was able to get using my smartphone using Sam as a model, and flowers that I designed myself. My aesthetic kind of bounces around depending on what I’m working on, but for this release series I’d say I was going for a surreal, tense, and dramatic feel for the cover art.
You have said that much of your inspiration comes from the silver lining-the hopeful light at the end of the tunnel during challenging times. Do you ever struggle to see that light? In what ways do the pain and beauty in life inspire you?
We do struggle sometimes, as all people do, to find the good in certain situations. Especially this last year, as we watched our city shut down and our favorite venues shutter their doors, it was difficult at times to imagine what our lives would be like on the other side. We were definitely fortunate to have our release series to focus on—having an ongoing project really helped us stay positive and motivated despite everything going on in the world. We’ve been touched by how our music has been received and inspired by our online community who came together and innovated new ways of experiencing music online. Through playing shows via online streaming, we’ve actually been able to make connections we never would have made before, with people from all walks of life and from all over the world! The point being, you can’t find the good if you don’t look for it. We really believe that perspective can make all the difference, even in life’s most challenging situations.
You have referred to 2020 as a big year of transitions for each of you and have said you shouldn't let the past hold you back from evolving as a person. How do you feel you have grown and evolved over the past year, personally and artistically?
We’ve made some adjustments to how we songwrite over the past year. Evan has transitioned from writing on guitar to using synthesizers instead, and Sam has also been experimenting with different writing styles outside of her comfort zone. Julian and Jason have both been putting a lot more time and thought into music, and working on being more intentional with their efforts. Sabrina has been taking vocal lessons and learning more about using her voice as an instrument, which has given her more confidence to try new things. We’ve become closer as a band in the past year as well, by being forced to really think about who we are and what our goals are.
On a personal level, the past year was a big wake-up call about what’s important in life and what we need to thrive as individuals. Not being able to socialize or do other activities freed up a lot of mental bandwidth for introspection, and we definitely found ourselves asking a lot of big picture questions. Another point of personal growth has been learning to adjust our expectations. 2020 didn’t turn out like any of us planned, and we had to let go of what we had envisioned the year to look like.
As tough as the past year has been for so many people, what does self-care look like for you? What do you enjoy doing outside of music?
Getting outdoors is definitely a big one for us. Whether it be hiking, bicycling, motorcycling, or playing catch in the park, just being outside really helps us feel better. We also love to explore by taking aimless walks, trying new restaurants, or trekking extra far just for a cup of coffee. The Bay Area is a truly breathtaking place and there is so much natural beauty where we live. We are truly lucky that we can go to the beach at a moment’s notice, or climb any of the 49 hills in San Francisco to experience an awe-inspiring view. We try to take advantage of it as much as we can!
What can you tell me about the two new singles you'll be releasing in the coming months, as well as the full EP you are hoping to release by the end of this year?
Release day is coming up quickly! The first single will be coming out on April 30th, more details on that to come. Our full EP is currently in the works and we are excited to watch it slowly come together. We wanted to be more intentional with this longer release, and really craft a story and a vibe that will be impactful to the listener. So, we are spending more time trying new things, fleshing out ideas, and thinking about what it is we’re trying to convey. Ultimately, we want to create a collection of songs that’s moving and memorable.
As a band that was very focused on live shows prior to the pandemic, what has it been like for you to not be able to perform for a live audience? What do you look forward to the most when live shows resume?
Performing in front of a live audience is one of the best things about being a musician, and there really is no substitute. We’ve sorely missed the feeling of the energy in the room when we play for a crowd, and the sense of community we got from being an active part of our Bay Area music scene. But the absence of shows has also had a strange upside, in that it forced us into the world of streaming and opened up so many opportunities for us that we probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. By playing online shows, we were able to meet people from all over the world and reach audiences we never would’ve reached before! It’s also helped us build our social media presence as that has been our primary tool for getting our music out there.
What we’re looking forward to most about the return of live music is the reopening of venues. Small independent stages are crucial to any local music scene and we can’t wait to be able to support them again! We’ll be busy going to plenty of shows as soon as they are up and running again.
What's next for you?
We’re releasing a music video for our single “Devils” on April 2nd! This film was an incredible undertaking involving a team of talented people lead by Bay Area independent filmmaker Michael Beltran. We are thrilled with how it turned out! After that, we will be releasing our next two singles, and we are planning to return to the recording studio over the summer to track our full-length EP. In the coming months, we’ll be busy writing new music for that release, and by the end of the year, we hope to be back to playing live shows. Once that happens, we’ll start setting our sights on going on tour!