San Fermin Composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone on Their New Album and Why They’re Not Baroque Pop

Stephanie Hernandez

Brooklyn based genre-bending rock band San Fermin have been making waves since their debut self-titled album was released back in 2013. Brainchild of Yale music graduate, pianist and composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, who started the band as a solo composition project and that has now evolved into an eight-piece touring group. The result is a smart mix of classical influences, relatable lyrics, opera tinged vocals and visceral emotion that anyone can appreciate. With the recent release of San Fermin’s sophomore record, “Jackrabbit” composer and all around musical genius Ellis took the time to sit down with Entertainment Voice to talk about his writing process, the group’s journey and what fans can expect from their live performances.

Your first record featured 22 musicians, was that difficult to orchestrate? What were the challenges and the payoffs of working with so many people?

Well you know, when I was writing it I wasn’t thinking about performing it live at all. I was just writing songs and whenever I felt like it needed something, I would add it. So I didn’t really think about the repercussions of adding a harmonium, or adding a glockenspiel or whatever. That was actually, it allowed me to find a scale of music, a very large kind of sound that I think was a benefit of that record. People really responded to how big the songs could get. Basically, it was a good thing, but it was a challenge when we started playing live because I had to re-orchestrate everything for just an eight-person band.

Exactly, now San Fermin is an eight piece touring group, how did you narrow down the arrangements to just eight?

We had a survivor style competition, I got them all in a room, and it was like the Hunger Games (laughs). No really, as I was pairing it down it came down to what were the things that really needed to be there. It came down to what was being featured the most, for example, there are a lot of trumpets in many of those songs, there’s a lot of saxophone etc… And at that point I had a very specific idea of the people I wanted to have in the band, and that’s how that happened I guess!

So basically people in a room beating each other with violins?

All the strings players beat each other up until only one remained.

What was the writing process like for the first album vs. the process on your most recent album, Jackrabbit? What was the inspiration behind the record?

The first record I wrote by myself, I was in the woods, no internet, no cellphone service either really, it was a very isolated experience. On this second record, the first half of I kind of wrote like that too, but then I started really touring a lot with the band and I ended up finishing the record in the back of the tour bus. So it ended being a totally different situation, where this time I was writing for the band, for people I had grown really close with over the course of a year and a half. It was a different and much more personal experience; it was more of a shared work. You’re writing a vocal line you know who’s singing it, you write a sax line you know who’s playing it, a guitar line etc….It was written with the band in mind, which was the  main difference.

A lot of fans heard your music while you were opening for The Arctic Monkeys, The National, St. Vincent etc. Who has been your favorite touring partner? Is there anyone you’d like to play alongside with in the future?

Mmmm, I think it’s hard to pick a favorite touring partner, there have been so many at this point, especially if you add in festivals and the people we have played with there. I would hesitate to say any one of those guys was the best, they were all really fun. For the most part, because we have eight people in our band, someone is going to get along with someone else you know? We’ve had a really nice time on the social aspect of things.  But in an ideal world, who do you tour with? I don’t know! I have always loved Paul Simon; I think it would be super cool to open for one of his massive shows that would be awesome in a sort of childhood dream kind of way.

Many of the members in the group belong to other bands or have solo projects, is it hard to coordinate times to get together to work?

The good news is that we keep people pretty busy once we’re on album cycle. Basically starting this week, the calendar is booked solid for a large chunk of time, and everyone knows ahead of time when that’s going to be, and we schedule around that. But it has been interesting and difficult as the band has become more and more of a band and each person is basically irreplaceable in their own way. It has been hard, every now and then we’ve had to have someone sub and it’s gotten more and more difficult to do that. So it is something that we’ve been aware of in planning tours, I always tell Tom our manager, make sure this whole chunk of time is booked solid! So that people don’t have to think about it, “Hey, okay, all of May we are going to be on tour,” and I think it’s worked pretty well. When we go off cycle and have breaks, people can schedule other tours. We were just at SXSW and our saxophone player was playing with us and another band, I think he ended up playing over 25 shows over the course of the week, so there is a lot of that, a sort of Herculean effort.

With so many elements going on in your music, the arrangements being so lush and rich, it gets hard to put any sort of label on the group. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before?

It’s tough. I think the recording is harder to categorize, I think live, for me it feels like indie rock with slightly more instruments. Our live show is definitely a rock show and we really tailored it to be that way over the course of the tour. The recording moves from here or there, that’s kind of the point of it, it’s always changing, even from track to track. Call it what you want just don’t call it “Baroque Pop!”

(Laughs) yeah, the Wikipedia page description on you guys makes the group sound a little bourgeoisie and unattainable, “Baroque Pop” doesn’t really seem to fit so well.

I know! (Laughs) it’s terrible, we are very aware of that. Even the whole “Chamber Pop” thing, it’s very delicate in a way that I don’t like.

San Fermin seems so much more accessible than that title, and really, anyone can enjoy your music.

Yeah! That was one of the things we’ve found, gearing up for this record is I feel like on our last record, one of the things people kept writing about, was the whole composer, classical music angle to describe us. It weirdly puts the music in this category that I don’t think it really works. It is lush and the arrangements are an important part of it, but they’re just songs! There’s verses, there’s choruses, the lyrics are relatable, and I think that part was undersold on that first record.

You’ve been on tour, performed at some major festivals, and garnered lots of critical acclaim, what has been the group’s most memorable or proud moment thus far?

Let’s see. For me it sort of goes in waves, like every three months I’ll be really proud of something, and then I’ll basically fall into despair for the rest of the time.

Classic composer type!

Yeah (laughs), but you know the most recent time that I was really proud of us was we played a show at Lincoln Center about two months ago. It was this really complicated thing where we had this string and brass ensemble on stage with us, it was just us, and the tickets were some ungodly amount of money because it’s Lincoln Center. The whole thing just felt really complicated, foreign and a little weird for us; but we got up there and I think we played really really well, we sold out the show, and it just felt like an arrival moment. It’s a place you always hear about growing up in New York, and it felt like we had really evolved from the place that we started from.

What can fans who have not gotten a chance to see you yet expect from your live performances?

I think our live performances have a lot of energy! It’s a really complicated show, in a good way; there’s always something happening on stage.  There’s eight people up there and they all have their moments, it’s a higher energy and more intense kind of performance than maybe you would get from hearing our records. Which are more, as you say, lusher and have interludes? Live, it’s basically a big rock show with a whole lot of brass and two singers. It’s a fun time and it’s evolved a lot. Our first show we were playing off of sheet music, and it was the most miserable experience ever, it’s a whole different thing at this point (laughs)!

San Fermin sophomore album “Jackrabbit” will be avaialble on April 21, 2015. Catch San Fermin live at The Troubadour May 19. Tickets available here.