Intro

The Late Nights Bites are a unique two-piece band from the heart of Cape Town, the band is made up of Fay Lamour and Ryan Stopforth.

The band haven’t been around together for very long but are already very busy with an EP/Album on the way and a Johannesburg tour starting this week (At time of print).

We chat to the band and get to know them, we also talk about new music and the upcoming tour

Enjoy The Read

Interview

Hello, welcome to Fanbase Music Magazine, Can you tell us who is in the band, and what each person does in the band?

Hey! Thank you for including us in your magazine. We are the Late Night Bites and we’re a duo from Cape Town. Our band consists of Fay Lamour who plays various keyboards, bass and is our singer/songwriter, and Ryan Stopforth, the multi-instrumentalist who produces the live tracks and fills out the sound with mainly his guitar and samples.

Where did each band member grow up and what got you into music?

Ryan: I grew up in Johannesburg and kind of just picked up some instruments while I was in school. I started with classical piano, got a bit bored, picked up rock guitar, got curious about harder styles of music and then got into Jazz. I realised that Jazz was awesome but didn’t really have the ability to connect with a lot of people so now I’ve reverted back to a weird mix of all of the above with a bonus of electronic and indie music. A bit all over the place now that I’m writing out like this but it’s been fun.

Fay: I grew up in Bloemfontein. Basically, my dad’s side of the family is very musical. There were always songs playing around the house and they always encouraged me and that’s how I started playing piano.

How long has the band been going for?

Fay wanted to go on a final tour without telling anybody, saying goodbye to her solo artist project ‘Fay Lamour’. There were many many obstacles in the way of this tour, however, and the music had evolved so much with Ryan being a part of the project that we both were kind of like “F**k it, why not start everything on a fresh slate?”. So long story short our band is technically two weeks old with a car full of gear, band stickers coming out of our ears and playing some great venues around South Africa. We’re really grateful and excited.

How would you describe your genre and sound?

Our genre is kind of all over the place, but mainly rooted in the attitude of indie rock. Our love of synthesisers, ambient music, jazz and psychedelic music occasionally makes an appearance.

Who are some of the band’s influences?

For performance and style, Fay’s number one influence will always be Lady Gaga. Music wise, bands like The Marias, Men I Trust and the swing style of 20’s jazz is where we get some influence. In terms of technical aspects with loops and such, it’s hard not to mention FKJ and the way he approaches performing even though we might not listen to him as often as other artists.

When recording or playing live, and being a duo band how do you make up for the other instruments or band members that would normally be in a full band?

We use Ableton Live to fill in all the gaps that playing as only two people sometimes leaves out. This included recording some loops, using various drum samples and being able to launch straight into different sections of songs through the software using an Ableton Push. It’s been quite a headache for Ryan at times but it’s been useful.

Can you tell us how you got your band name, and what it means to the band?

We got the name after a 15 minute brainstorming sesh with a cigarette on Ryan’s balcony. That was the day everything fell apart. Our promoters dropped us, our merch wasn’t working out, and we realised we didn’t want to go under Fay Lamour anymore. Because of this, four or five organisers were desperately messaging us trying to find out what our band name was so that they could still put things together at the last minute.

Under all this pressure, we remembered how we wanted to play a song over an instagram story with the word ‘Bite’ in it and all the options sounded horrible. That’s why we wanted to be something like ‘The Bites’, just to give some good representation to the word, I don’t know. Late night vibes kind of fit in with the mood of our music so one and one came together and we became The Late Night Bites. Fay’s attitude usually is not to overthink things too much and in this case, it worked out pretty well.

You are busy working on an EP, What is the EP going to be called?

Yes, it’s going to be called ‘Make Friends with your Problems’.

How many tracks are on the EP?

Around six or seven, depending on how much cash we have after this tour.

Where was the EP recorded and who worked on it?

After the tour it’s going to be recorded by Sonic Nursery (aka Ruan Vos) in Cape Town.

When you write music, can you explain how a song comes together, is it the lyrics or the music that comes first?

Fay: Every song differs but I’d say it’s pretty much 50/50 between the lyrics and the music. Some walk a long path with me till they find their full form and others take an hour. It’s always exciting to see how they start and where they end.

When is the EP expected to be released?

It depends on how quick the post production is but hopefully Spring this year.

You will be touring South Africa, where can we find you gigging and what can we expect at the gigs?

You can find us at:

31 • JMB = RUMOURS LOUNGE
APRIL
1 – PTA – RAILWAYS CAFE
2 – JMB – PROUD MARY
5 – Sin + Tax
7 – LADYSMITH
– LADY SMITH
9 – LADYSMITH
13 – HILLCREST – STUMP NOSE
14 – DURBAN – WESTVILLE
WAREHOUSE
15 – HOWICK – THE VERN
15 – DURBAN – SOUL SESSIONS
19 – EAST LONDON – LEGENDS
20 – PORT ALFRED –
21- KENTON – THE GOATSHED
22 – GRAHAMSTOWN – SSS TOP

Expect an intimate experience with catchy guitar riffs, dreamy synthesisers and a vibrant performance from Fay Lamour herself!

Ryan, you also part of the project band Fat Ghandi, can you tell us about that band and how long its been going for and do you have music out?

Ryan: Yes I do! Fat Ghandi’s just me locking myself in my home studio and trying to figure out how this whole electronic producing thing works. After about half a year I had a few tracks that I was kind of proud of and I just thought “why not?” you know? I shortly released it after and now my first EP ‘Only Till Dawn’ has been out since early February.

Where would you like to be in your musical career in 5 years?

The world and then maybe Mars, depends on the weather.

Can you give us your social media links?

You can find us as The Late Night Bites

Thank you for doing this interview, do you have any last messages for our readers?

Never give up! If somebody says no, you say yes. Learn everything you can on the way and do it all over again.