Krave (Alt Metal)
Interview conducted on April 1, 2021
By Dan Locke
Hailing from Brisbane, KRAVE is a dynamically expressive Alternative Metal Trio sure to leave you in a state of bone buzzing adrenaline with driving riffs, exceptional vocal power, and energetic stage presence. Set to release their debut EP “Self-Exposure” KRAVE has already treated us to their tasteful & dynamic cross-section of modern rock & alternative metal with singles such as ‘Alchemy’, ‘Outta Control’ & ‘Running’ incorporating influences such as CKY, Tool & Pantera.
Siana Davis – Vocals & Bass, Ryan White – Guitar, Sam Bertolone – Drums
What is your upbringing?
Siana Davis: My upbringing was very lucky. Being an only child, both my parents were very supportive of my creativity and spirit. I was brought up at a Steiner school in Noosa and then I got accepted for years 11 & 12 at Music Industry College in Brisbane where my music journey blossomed.
How did you discover music?
I discovered most of my music from listening to what CD my parents played in the car as we travelled to see family on most weekends. Lots of my early music influences were opera and musical theatre since that was what my mum played to me in the car. And then my dad introduced me to rock and roll when we went on road trips together.
How did you start to write music?
My family says I have been always writing little tunes and improving songs before I could even speak. I seriously started writing music around age 13. It began from feeling teenage angst and I decided to channel my feelings of frustration and confusion into heavy/angry riffs I wrote on bass and lots of rock and roll singing in the shower. I have always been writing poetry and journaling at a young age so lyrics came very naturally to me since they felt like poems.
Describe your music.
If you are craving explosive energy, heavy riffs, catchy hooks, captivating lyrics, powerhouse female vocals, and a whole lotta passion then that is what Krave is all about. We have a strong rhythmical sound with heavy guitars and dynamic female vocals soaring over the top of it all. Our music is fierce and also communicates through lyrics the hardships and mental health that lots of people may be dealing with which is a good thing to get out in the open. Krave covers a lot of ground developing our own sound from genres of alt-metal, hard rock, and even a little prog and grunge. Fans that enjoy a bit of Halestorm, Bring Me The Horizon, CKY and Pantera would most likely enjoy Krave.
What makes a good songwriter?
Definitely being true to your creative channeling and writing from the heart makes someone an excellent songwriter. Songwriting needs to be honest, and it should come from a place of truth and what feels right. Listening to new music, feeling inspired by life and practicing your craft will only get you better at songwriting.
What is the process of writing your music?
When the band first formed almost every song was prewritten by myself without the band. I would present Krave what I finished writing and direct the structure of the song and its vibe. Then in 2020 when Krave’s lineup had a shift, our songwriting process developed from jamming and forming a three-way collaboration. Any one of the Krave members will bring in a slither for a new song idea and we will jam and work it.
How did your band form?
Krave formed in early 2019 founded by Ryan White and myself. We both wanted to create an original band and start experiencing that world rather than the cover bands anymore. I sourced our rhythm guitarist on Bandmix and our drummer at the time went to school with me at Music Industry College. I had already written 45 mins worth of original music so it was a matter of regular rehearsal and getting gigs.
How did you get your band’s name?
It took a while for me to figure out a band name that kicked and wasn’t already taken as an existing name. I wanted this band to have a strong name like Kiss or Korn that was short, sweet, and memorable. I began to think about music and that it can feel like a craving because we all crave music. And then I thought of Crave. But then to be edgy like my other favorite bands, I spelled it Krave.
What was your first performance as a band like?
Our first debut as Krave was a great success. We practiced really hard leading up to our first show so our set was remarked as super tight, professional and established. We supported a local called The Blockades for their All-Ages EP launch, which was a sold-out show with 200 people. Krave was off to a great start and attracted many new fans that day.
Do you belong to any songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Yes, Krave are registered with APRA AMCOS who have been a great support for our songwriting royalties and backing our releases. We are also involved with Qmusic association who have provided many opportunities for Krave musically with releases and live shows as well as funding for our recorded music.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
The first serious original song I wrote was called ‘Puppet’ when I was 12 years old and luckily enough, I did manage to record it with Krave’s new lineup because our new drummer loved ‘Puppet’ so much we decided to resurface it. This song will be on our next EP.
Tell me about your 6 track EP Purgatory coming out soon?
When writing our EP ‘Self Exposure’, each member put a lot of thought and emotion into crafting their parts. As I wrote the lyrics for this EP, I reflected on different parts of my own trauma and channeled out some powerful experiences about personal struggles and the people that I knew who were fighting a similar fight. I encrypted the lyrics with symbolism and literalism to create a poetic way of touching on themes of mental health, anger, loneliness, addiction and self-infliction. Every song was layered rhythmically and melodically, becoming the bone structure to every songs’ unique way of being. We worked and reworked songs until we all ended up with goosebumps, that’s when you know as a team you have done a great job.
How do you stay healthy while performing?
I make sure to always warm up my vocals before a show and drink lots of water to keep hydrated on stage. The others usually do a similar thing like hand stretches and also drink plenty of water and have water bottles on stage.
What are your feelings about streaming music?
I think streaming music has its pros and cons. It’s great to be able to listen to a large catalog on a streaming service like Spotify because there are millions of artists and songs at your reach as a listener and the new algorithms are always recommending new music that I probably would not have found if it weren’t for recommendations. The cons to me are that local artists that have so much talent are not being prompted as much by Spotify if they don’t have that industry level of sound production and if their song is too long etc. Streaming services can be very rigged and other genres like metal for example don’t get as much exposure as pop music which is annoying. And also, lots of the income for artists in the early stages of their career can come from selling a $10 CD to someone rather than getting 0.006 of a cent for something on Spotify which is sad.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, [ or (in North American usage) pound sign. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag. Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
Hashtags are awesome to use at the bottom of your posts on social media because that way your business is also appearing on other people’s news feeds that are following for example #music or #band. It has actually been a huge count for our followers because I get messages from random people saying ‘hey I love your music and I found you on #hardrock and you are all awesome’. I highly recommend using hashtags to expose your business to so many other new feeds it’s so worth it.
Digital vs. vinyl?
This is a tough one because they are both awesome. At the moment, streaming is easier to use and new technology is built to host streaming rather than vinyl. Though I am a sucker for vinyl because it is so much more nostalgic and records are actually reviving themselves. I work in the music and dvd section of JBHIFI and there has been a massive import of vinyl and I see so many people buying vinyl now. They say people are collecting vinyl these days because of the pretty cover art and cool ‘exclusive booklets’ slipped inside that you can’t get from digital streaming. I also think it is nice to ‘own’ something and not having to constantly be subscribed to digital. Having a hard copy of something is pleasing to actually physically hold and it is ‘yours forever’ which is something you can do with vinyl not digital.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
For some reason I have ‘Close To You’ by The Carpenters in my head right now. I used to listen to this song in the car with my mum since I was a baby. I remember when I was about 5 years old and my mum would put in The Carpenters CD and skip to ‘Close To You’ and she would be singing in the car and I would start singing it too. Usually, we were driving from the Southern Highlands up to Sydney to go and see my family every weekend, and that car trip was an hour and 30 minutes to get there. Sometimes we would go ‘the scenic’ root with lots of forestry and it was usually raining which felt relaxing. This song reminds me of my mum and how much she means to me and it reminds me of her love. I miss those simple times and just being a kid without a care in the world.
You played your last show at the beginning of late March, 2020. And the world was put on hold. Then you started to perform again in front of a crowd in August 2020. How was it to play in front of an audience again and what per-cautions were you taking?
It felt like such a long time, we were gigging almost every week before Covid hit Australia. Then for 5 months everything just stopped and we were all so devastated. But then finally in August venues started opening back up because the covid cases in my state QLD at the time were manageable. When I booked Krave’s first gig in months, we were all nervous to play because it has been so long and so much has changed. The turnouts to shows were small because people were still at home mostly, however it was really fun performing again. Everyone was 1.5m away from each other and people were seated and not allowed to stand which was bizarre to play to but we were happy to play regardless.
Both (Pfizer and BioNTech) and Moderna have concluded Phase 3 Study of the Coronavirus vaccine. With both vaccines, it takes two shots. How many people do you think will take it and how many will forget to take the second shot?
I’m honestly not too sure what will happen. I know the vaccines will become compulsory to travel overseas and potentially for many other things. Australians usually do the right thing and if they had to be vaccinated, they would. However, Australians can be very stubborn if they aren’t happy, and so far, a lot of the community are unhappy at the moment about the covid vaccines and are demanding more testing because it has been making people really sick and old people have died from these vaccines so there has been an uproar. I think once we know the vaccine is safe and will stop making people really sick or die that we would be happy to comply.
How long before the whole world will be vaccinated against the virus. You have to remember there only has to be a 70% for Herd immunity (Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.)
I think it will happen very quickly once the vaccine is proven safe, so many people are scared of covid and will want to take it asap. It depends how long it takes to distribute too.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music?
Covid has put a halt on live music across the world but I don’t believe anything could kill live music. Musicians adapted and began ‘livestream shows. Even though you couldn’t really see your favorite band ‘live in person’, there was an aspect of live music and community from live streamed shows and people still got their satisfaction. In-person live music has had a massive bounce back once restrictions were lifted in QLD.
Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
I honestly feel that people will want to cherish live music and other industries while they have the chance to go out and support. People need entertainment in their lives so I think there will be a swell in the music industry and it will be revived to the way it was or even better.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
I have still been productive mostly. I have been doing my degree in music online during each week and continuing to write more songs. I have also had the pleasure of spending more time with my partner and just hanging out.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
I actually started to practice more spirituality during quarantine and began collecting more crystals as well as doing oracle and tarot cards readings for fun.
95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and use their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel?
That’s true. I’m a big fan of Netflix and Stan, though I have been rewatching all the South Park Seasons on Amazon. I watch all of them haha.
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Facebook is cracking down on live streamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses.
The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only. How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?
It’s brutal that Facebook is cracking down on live streaming services. I think lots of artists have been able to prove that their livestream services are dedicated to their friends and family purpose of entertainment as well as their fans. Krave has done a few live shows on Facebook Live and Instagram Live and there have been no issues or Facebook attempting to take it down which is lucky.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?
My suggestion is for bands to post regular engagement on Facebook and Instagram and use their stories to keep fans interested. Lots of BTS footage is great to release also. During covid, Krave released our single ‘Alchemy’ and played an exclusive livestream show as well as making an ‘in home’ music video which we released 2 weeks later. That kept our fans very engaged.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means things like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
Bands should be paid to play so we can keep supporting this industry, I think exposure is important too but I think it is courteous of venues and agents to pay their bands they want playing or supporting shows so they can make a living.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
That would be pretty sweet to watch a holographic concert in the living room just to see what it would look like. However, I think people will still want to see the ‘live in person’ version over the holograms.
Governments around the world are hearing the call of thousands of music creators and included protections for the music community in the omnibus bill. In addition to extended and improved unemployment benefits and small business loans for freelance creators, the package includes several bills which the Recording Academy, its members, and the larger music community advocated for. From the Save Our Stages Act, provided a lifeline to performance venues and promoters, to the CASE Act, which creates an avenue for smaller creators to defend their copyrighted works, Congress has ensured that both music creators and those who act behind the scenes to bring music to life are given the support they need during this difficult time.” Less than a week ago, a letter went out to the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) with over 3500 industry names who signed an open letter asking for urgent support with lockdowns, border closures and audience restrictions continuing to devastate the live music industry. Is the Australian government listening?
I do believe the Australian Government is making sure they help financially support the music industry. I believe they should be doing more to open music venues up by putting regulations in place for larger concerts sooner rather than focusing on football… however they are still helping keep musicians afloat with their grant offers. Krave actually got a $3000 grant from Qmusic and the Queensland Government to help aid the cost support of finishing our EP
Did you know that the Grammys MusicCares can help artists? The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief has helped thousands of music industry artists and professionals during these difficult days. This is the most recipients helped, for any single event, in MusiCares’ history. The need remains great, and these unique times remain critical for music people. It has taken a community uplifting one another to get through this pandemic, and MusiCares has pulled together a list of additional organizations and resources to further support you. https://www.grammy.com/musicares/get-help/relief-resources. Have you looked into this yet?
No, I actually haven’t looked into this yet but I will make sure to definitely check it out now I am aware of it.
In the past if a musician stops doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?
I have always wanted to do counseling as a career so that would be what I’d be doing if I wasn’t pursuing a career in music. I am however studying my master’s to be a music therapist next year which I am very excited about so it’s kind of blending music and counseling together.
What is your happy place?
My happy place is in nature. I love the beach or a nice forest walk. Somewhere far away.
I do also love performing on stage, that is a happy place for me as well.
Spotify just deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists. Was your saved?
Yes, thankfully Krave’s songs are all saved and nothing was taken down.
Sony Music in November and Warner Music Group in December, The ByteDance-owned video app revealed on (February 8) that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
I’m considering using TikTok because that is where the market is moving towards now so I just might have to. Don’t get me wrong, TikTok is an awesome platform. For me personally, I get way too much spam.
Danny Wimmer Presents just announced their 2021 Festival Calendar: Which includes the following live shows: DWP Partners with Incarceration Music & Tattoo Festival for July 23-25 Event in Mansfield, OH. Louder Than Life Set for September 23-26 With Newly Added Thursday Night Celebration in Louisville, KY. Welcome to Rockville Expands To 4 Days and Shifts from Spring to November 11-14 In Daytona Beach, FL. Aftershock Set for October 7-10 In Sacramento, CA, Almost Sold Out. Would you be willing to play these shows and what precautions would you like to have in place?
Krave would love to play all of those shows! They all sound amazing and they are international which is where Krave’s goals are aiming towards. I think that festivals are already taking the necessary precautions to protect the community from covid by giving ‘audience festival groups’ some distance between one another and setting it up that way. It’s a bit of a bummer it has to be like that but I’m honestly not sure how else you would manage keeping people 1.5m away without getting shut down which would be hard.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Thank you so much for your time and conducting this interview with Krave! I am blessed to be representing the band for this interview and I do hope to do another interview with you again sometime soon for our next releases
