Sofia

Sofia are an alternative rock band from Santiago, Chile.  Having previously attained financing on Slicethepie, the band has been in the process of recording their new album.  Anxious to find out more, we caught up with the bands drummer Rodrigo for an update…..

Piewatch – Greetings Rodrigo, thank you for talking to Piewatch. It has been a while since your successful Slicethepie showcase. What has been happening in the world of Sofia since then?

Rodrigo – Hi Piewatch, and thanks!  Naturally, we are always happy to talk to you and our investors.  If it wasn’t for our investors we probably wouldn’t be recording our album.  The recording process has been really slow, but the album should be ready by the end of October or the first half of November. In the meantime we are working in preparation for the album coming out.  We are aiming for the larger Mexican and North American Markets to start with and are working with one of the best Managers (http://www.artistasyespectaculos.cl/) over here. They’re the guys who got Los Bunkers (Chilean band) into Mexico. Hopefully the first single should be on the radio by December and we should be touring next year.

Piewatch – Sounds exciting! What is the Chilean music scene like?

Rodrigo – The Chilean music market is pretty small with most bands singing in Spanish.   As you know we sing in English.   There are many talented musicians and bands here, but sadly, few people who support them, so the STP prize was a blessing for us.

Piewatch – From what we have heard, your English is excellent.  Much better than our Spanish!! On the subject of language…. Sofia? It’s the German spelling of the name Sophia, which in turn has a Greek origin, meaning ‘Wisdom’….

Rodrigo - With regards to the “Sophia” name, you’re right! We chose that name because it means “wisdom”, and it has always been our policy that if someday we find ourselves in a position in which we can send a message to people, we’re not going to waste that opportunity. Of course, we are not great philosophers, but we do intend to send meaningful messages regarding different and relevant issues of our generation. Another reason is that we were looking for a universal name.  It just didn’t feel right to have either an English or Spanish name considering our context.

Piewatch - You’ve had some good exposure on TV! Did that help at all?

Rodrigo – Well, we had lots of new visits on our Myspace and people from other places in the country started to contact us but we really need to have our new material available to capitalise on future publicity.

Piewatch – Have you got plans to do a music video?

Rodrigo – We have been working on that while the album is delayed. Any help distributing it via Forums and social networking sites would be great…

Piewatch – We are always happy to spread the word.  Be sure to send anything through to Piewatch and Slicethepie.

Rodrigo - Definitely, but it is better to start the big promotion with the new songs, image, video, etc. Our Agency (A&E) is going to be in charge of all the promoting.  You have probably never heard of their artists, they’re the big thing here especially Babasonicos from Argentina.  Everyone knows them in South America.

Piewatch – Will we be seeing ‘Monster’ and the other tracks that got you to this stage on the new album?

Rodrigo – Yes! We recorded those same 3 songs again.  They are sounding much better!

Piewatch – If your new material is even better then we really can’t wait!

Rodrigo – It’s definitely better, especially the sound quality!  Additionally, some of the new songs are very different to what you heard on our EP, lots of crazy arrangements!

Piewatch - Have you given any thought to the album cover art?

Rodrigo – The album cover is currently being designed by a very talented artist called Chris Leskovsek

Piewatch – What else have you been doing to get yourselves known?

Rodrigo – We are now on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and have recently added some songs to ourstage.com to broaden our fan base and if we win any prizes we will put the money towards our video production.

Piewatch – How did you hear about Slicethepie?

Rodrigo - I’ll let Alan answer this one.

Alan – Well.. to cut a long story short, a famous ballet dancer named Tuco was drinking coffee in Starbucks when three little purple ninjas appeared from thin air. As you know, we live in Chile and purple ninjas are very rare. I assume they are as rare here as golden Ninjas (with red dots) are in London.

Piewatch – Indeed ^^

Alan – Anyway, one of the little ninjas says to him: “Excuse me, can you help us? do you know where we can we find a better and more fruity wine than the one we have here?”. Since Tuco used to be a fruit in his previous life and so knew a lot about that kind of stuff, he said “Yes my fellow ninjas!, I can help you! Just log onto the marvelous web page www.SliceTheWine.com and you’ll find what you need”.

Piewatch - Is it us or is it getting smokey? lol (A strange haze fills the air)

Alan – So the ninjas went to a Cyber Cafe and searched the web. A few minutes later, we arrived at the Cyber Cafe to search the web for a place to eat some delicious apple pie. By some divine coincidence we ended up using the exact same computer as the ninjas did. When we saw the www.SliceTheWine.com page open we thought, well! lets try with www.SliceThePie.com. And the rest is history

Piewatch – So…… no apple pie, but a fully funded album in the end! Rock on! Dare we ask you to describe Sofia’s music in 5 words?

*Andres joins the interview*

Andres - Weird, Awesome, Space, Sane, Elbow

Piewatch – Any message you would like to give to your supporters?

Alan - We used that same insanity to make the 12 tracks in this album, but it has been done with the best of our capacity, dedication, effort and passion. Prepare yourselves for the best album you have ever been part off. And thanks for your trust!  You will be proud of this.

Piewatch - And finally, in true Piewatch tradition, we have to ask…..Mcdonalds or Burger King?

Rodrigo – Burger King Piewatch - Good choice!

Piewatch – Thank you for your time and answers, please remember to keep us informed of any developments.  We are all looking forward to hearing the completed album!!

Love Sofia as much as we do? Check them out on the following sites!