So then, what’s your name and what do you ‘do’ in the band?
Stephen Khlentzos, I’m the keyboard player.
What do you reckon people will say you sound like?
A friend described us as, “Dark, danceable, soulful, Ethiopian and jazz-inspired music.”
What do you love about making music?
The way it connects you with other people. Off stage, you meet some amazing people you otherwise never would. On stage, the feeling you get when you’re playing with an amazing musician, and you’re just totally in sync and responding to each other – I love that.
What do you hate about the music industry?
I’m not sure. Maybe how hard it is for many talented musicians I know to make a living.
If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why?
I’d like to show our music to someone for whom it’d be completely new and unknown, like French composers Claude Debussy or Erik Satie. What they’d make of it, I have no idea, but I’d love to hear whatever they had to say.
What’ve you got to sell CD-wise?
We recently released our debut EP, recorded last year in an impromptu session with Harry James Angus. It is available via our bandcamp and we are looking to release physical copies soon.
See THE LALIBELAS on Saturday June 20 at The Workers Club with Nhatty Man, Black Orchid Stringband and more.
