Today we’d like to introduce you to Black Baccara .
Hi Black Baccara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The band is made of Noël Williams, Luke Murphy, Patrick Weaver, Scott Kubicki, and Alannah Lavoie. All of us go to Belmont University, most of us being seniors. All of us came here to study something music related, Noël being a songwriting major, Luke being a guitar major, Patrick being an audio engineering major, Scott majoring in music business, and Alannah majoring in drums. Luke and Noël started the band with the song “Who Are You?” and asked Patrick to join. Scott joined shortly after. Scott and Alannah had met through a few mutual classes and later Patrick met Alannah also at a mixer and she joined the band. We have all become very close friends and bandmates ever since. Today, we are continuing to write, record, and play shows. We have been moving a lot faster since playing our schools “Battle of The Bands” and hope to have our second song “Before You Were Sorry” out soon. Our sound has evolved a bit since “Who Are You?” but that is through (over a year now!) of writing and working together.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the main struggles we have faced has been balancing school, work, and band. We are all full-time students and very busy ones. We all find a way though!
“I think something that could’ve been a struggle but turned into our greatest strength is that we’re all so different in our tastes of music. I would definitely say we keep each other on our toes in the most beneficial way possible. Our originals reflect each of our influences in our different parts and I think that’s what makes our songs stand out. Noel will come into rehearsal with lyrics, luke with a guitar riff, and Patrick with a bass line. Me and Scott take those existing parts and add our own and all of a sudden we have these songs that change so much from that first demo just by what we all come up with together.” – Alannah
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our band as a whole is a multi-genre-influenced alternative rock band. We take influence from bands such as Evanescence, Strange Boutique, Katatonia, Opeth, The Cure, and many more. We like to combine a lot of different aspects and be experimental, for example, some of our new sogs feature screaming which is something that we never would have done when we first started. Here are all of the band members individual answers:
“I often compose music and create the demos that are sent to the rest of the band. I also play lead guitar for the band and put in creative input for all other aspects. I do my best to make sure our live shows are as engaging as possible.”-Luke
“For myself, I produce the band’s singles as well as lay the foundation on the bass. Typically I take the demos sent over from Luke and Noel, making notes on how to preserve their creative vision, then I go about to recreate the song with the rest of the band. I recently, however, started songwriting myself with one of our songs, Sacrifice, being from my own demos. My favorite part of the production process is how each band member takes the part that they’re given and adds a unique flare to their part, defining the performance as their own. Being a producer within the band allows us to make music that we have faith in, and because of this I can involve everyone in the production process to make sure the whole band’s satisfied with the results. I also take these ideas and bring them into our live shows through instrumentation beyond what we have physically and implement them into our live tracks, making our performances sound more full and colorful underneath our music.”-Patrick
“ I think we each bring our own creativity to the band. Our songs don’t try to fit any typical formula you see a lot and the instruments speak as loud as the vocals and lyrics do. We make sure to showcase all five of our styles and musicianship in every original that’s why grooves change up so often. I personally write all the drum parts with the rest of my bandmates input. This creative freedom and trust we have in each other to bring out the best of what’s in that original demo really inspires me and makes this process extra special and fun for all of us.”-Alannah
“I attend Belmont university as a music business major and a minor in classical guitar. While I express my classical side, I’ve been playing electric guitar for longer and have always loved being in bands/ensembles. I mainly play the rhythm guitar in our band and like to create unique rhythms whether they be laid back or heavy and grungy while catering to the rest of bands sound.”-Scott
“I am a songwriting major here at Belmont and I love to showcase that through our music! What I am most proud of personally is how we love to not limit ourselves to how a song ‘should’ and experiment with how it could sound. This is greatly attributed to everyone in the band having different influences, and keeping parts from all of those influences. I do a lot of the lyric writing/songwriting, starting songs with Luke. I love to write poems and then pull the lyrics from the poems I’ve written and at some point would love to publish the full poems that the lyrics came from. I also handle the content creation, social media, and other creative digital aspects for the band! I am a strong believer of artists social media being part of their branding and want to show that through out band.”- Noël
How do you define success?
“I define success as being able to inspire and be able to create music that people enjoy and to listen to.” – Luke
“In the context of the band, success is defined by progress. If we come out of a gig with growing numbers and ideas learned from the show, I find that successful. Not all bands blow up overnight, and many require a slow, gradual process. While we may be in the ladder category, why not learn new things throughout each milestone our band hits. I consider each new show an achievement because we learn something new that we can use to make the next show even better. Not every show can be successful, but even those that aren’t can teach us how we can do better for the next one. As long as we continue learning we’re continuing to grow and find new things to learn about. Only when we shut ourselves off from the opportunity to learn from each gig would we stop achieving success, but this band has hope, and it’s that hope that drives us to be a better band every single day. Eventually, if we continue our desire to learn and grow with each other, we’ll be going beyond Nashville, continuing to grow and discover with every single step we take.” -Patrick
“I define success as being able to inspire others. A big part for me about becoming a drummer is inspiring other girls in the rock/metal field because there are not nearly enough. I remember as a little girl constantly being upset when I saw pictures of the bands I was listening to like Green Day where I find out they’re all men. I strive to be that girl drummer that can inspire other girls who feel like I did.” – Alannah
“Success is the joy you create and share, bringing happiness not just to yourself but to those around you. Music is a perfect example, a bridge that connects people in unique ways. Surrounding yourself with people people alike is also apart of success.” -Scott
“I would say success looks like growth, learning, and fullfullment. Being able to put lyrics out in the world that were once feelings I would never dream about talking about makes me proud. I would say also the fact that we have all become so close and have such good chemistry with each other is success to me too. Everytime we play we improve, and I would say every song written is an improvement too! All the little steps are success.” -Noël
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/black_baccara_band/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Black-Baccara/61552415296884/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@blackbaccaraband
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3VdLx9AGfWOyWwvvNz5hCn
