12 Aug Interview: Jess Fuller
Interviewed By Tasnim Samiha Hossain
Jess Fuller is a singer-songwriter and keyboardist based in Los Angeles, California. The Jess Fuller trio comes to life with the addition of their drummer and bass player and the trio has played at venues all throughout LA. I had the incredible opportunity to interview the trio’s lead singer Jess Fuller to get an insight into her music career.
Jess grew up in a musical household as her uncles and grandfather were all jazz musicians and producers. Jess was only seven years old when she was given her first piano. She was exposed to music from a very young age so it only made sense for her to pursue an artistic career.
“Right now I just play the piano and I sing but I really want to learn how to play bass and drums because in my opinion there aren’t enough female bassists and drummers out there. The band Pixies has a girl bassist and she’s really cool. I’ve always loved her style.”
She talks about what kind of music she creates and where she gets her inspiration from-
“I usually describe the music we make as alternative jazz. We are all very jazz influenced but we try to put our own spin on it. I really love artists such as Hiatus Kaiyote, Radiohead, and Stevie Wonder. I also admire old soul artists like Aretha Franklin so that’s where I get inspiration from when I make my own music.” – Jess Fuller, for FanFlex.
For Jess, writing songs is something that comes to her very naturally. Growing up, she turned music into a safe haven and her goal is to make music so her audience can experience the same feeling.
“I didn’t really know until I started writing music that this was something I could do for the rest of my life. Once I started writing my own songs, it became my favorite thing to do. I’m not really good at anything else. To be honest, I’m not very athletic and I’m not very good academically either. I connected the most to music and that’s what kept me going.” – Jess Fuller, for FanFlex.
Jess then went on to talk about her creative process and what she does for overcoming creative blocks.
“Sometimes if it gets too overwhelming and I’m not feeling inspired I like to step away from the music. Other times, when I really want to write, I listen to a lot of music to stimulate my brain so I can start writing again.” – Jess Fuller, for FanFlex.
Jess Fuller has a very unique style of music so I was curious to see if there were any other artists she would like to collaborate with in the future.
“I’ve performed with Anokhi at shows before and we’re actually really good friends but we’ve never written a song together so I’m very interested in doing something with her. A bigger artist I would love to collaborate with would be Yebba. She blew up recently but she has some pretty great songs and I would love to write for her as well.” – Jess Fuller, for FanFlex.
Jess has been writing music for almost a decade now and she’s been on stage since she was 16 years old in high school. Jess booked her first show with FanFlex in the summer of 2021 and she has booked many shows with FanFlex since then. She really admired what the team was doing to help jump-start the careers of independent musicians.
“I found out about FanFlex through one of my friends who was interning for the company. I worked with them once and I really loved the experience. I love what FanFlex does. It’s pretty rare to see people support young, emerging artists rather than taking advantage of them. When most indie artists book with a venue, they take a big cut of their ticket sales but FanFlex lets the artist keep all of their sales. I was really surprised when I discovered them. My favorite venues to perform at were probably El Cid on Sunset and Mint.” – Jess Fuller, for FanFlex.
Jess Fuller’s latest EP “Alchemical” is set to be released in the next few months so keep an eye for their new music. Jess Fuller also has an upcoming solo show on September 4, 2022 at TRiP in Santa Monica, California. So if you’re in town be sure to check her out!
Follow Jess Fuller on Instagram and Spotify to stay up to date on their new releases!