CLARION – A COOL CONVERSATION WITH SAYA AND ANTHONY
Photo by Jaxon Left
By Ralph Beauchamp
Saya Oliva (Vocals/Bass) and Anthony Sanchez (Guitar) are the masterminds behind LA upstart Clarion. Alongside touring drummer Javier Flores, the band has mounted an immense sonic attack. Clarion has initiated a sound that is both frantic in nature and intimately expansive. They destroy genres with aural hurricanes while still remaining relatable and engaging. Clarion create wide immersive atmospheres that transcend the norm. Their raw grooves usher in emotional devastation.
Instead of relying totally on mayhem for impact, Clarion uses distortion and clean melodic vocals to build a unique wall of sound that truly resonates with their listeners. Songs like “Hello Juliet” feel dreamy yet still grounded. A defining singularity of Clarion is their sense of velocity. Everything is fast paced and energetic. The guitars wail with defining layers and the drums shift with electricity. Oliva’s vocals carry an innate urgency. Her voice adds an impressive cinematic quality that easily captures their fans.
Although Clarion draws inspiration from artists such as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, their sound is modern and current. Ultimately, Clarion offers a sound that feels youthful and intensely candid. Their music combines lush textures with manic orchestration which is an extraordinary place to be. A perfect example of this is their new single “Jilt”. It is full of beautiful tension and suspense. Clarion will hit new heights very soon.
Saya Oliva and Anthony Sanchez were kind enough to sit with AMP for this cool conversation.
AMP: What makes a song distinctly “Clarion” rather than fitting into an established genre?
Anthony: I’m not sure how to answer this, we just make the song sound like us, I suppose. We don’t really narrow on making it “Clarion” but more so trying to compliment the song. We are currently writing new material, and things that pop up for us are more in the realm of “can we make this heavier?” “Can this hook be stronger?” and so on. I think the tonality of “Clarion” just comes from letting the songs become what they become.
Saya: I think what makes a song distinctly Clarion is Anthony’s aggressive and blairing tone, my soft but abrasive voice paired with a very loud drummer.
AMP: How has growing up and playing in the East L.A. DIY scene shaped your musical identity?
Anthony: I’ve played and grew up around the East LA punk scene since highschool, it was a backyard venue called Bluespade Studios that I would frequent often, I don’t think it really shaped my musical identity besides just showing me that I love having fun with live music.
Saya: I agree with Anthony. I don’t think being in East LA changed anything much. If anything, I am just glad that there was an established music scene where I grew up. It allowed for my love for music and performing to really get a start where I felt safe and connected with others.
AMP: What usually comes first, a lyric, a guitar part or an atmosphere?
Anthony: I think it’s usually the atmosphere, or the guitar part. Usually we find success rehearsing our set and then immediately jamming a chord or note I end off on. We find it way better for us to be in a room together to make a song, I hate using DAWs to make songs, and I think that just helps us keep the chemistry alive since the song feels like something we’ve been creating together since the start.
Saya: It’s mainly atmosphere based off a melody I sing or a riff Anthony makes and we just start layering.
AMP: What role does studio experimentation play in your overall creative process?
Anthony: Not much in all honesty, I think the most experimentation comes from my side on listening to the stereo field and understanding how the modulation affects each other to make a chord sound even more distinct. For example, experimenting with string gauges made me realize thicker strings make chords sound different especially in the studio. This is how we achieved the tone on “Taxidermy”.
Saya: I like to play around with different singing styles and what not but I think Clarion could experiment a bit more. I definitely don’t think we’ve reached any max potential yet or even tried yet.
AMP: “Hello Juliet” connected with a huge audience online. Why do you think the song resonated so strongly?
Anthony: The song itself holds a strong meaning to me, “Hello Juliet” was still a concept of an idea, and just a jam at the time. Unfortunately, a very close friend of mine, Anna Solis passed away and through the midst of the grief we ended up writing this song. I helped write the lyrics to this song as an extension of my grief and trying to expel it somehow.
I think without the meaning being prominent, people connect with the song very closely as they can put their own meaning to it due to the lyrics. Some people have come up to me at our concerts and told me it’s helped them with grief, heartbreak, and the typical teenage angst.
Saya: The song in it of itself is a very common problem amongst our generation and many before us. It’s kind of timeless in all way in both the themes and the sound. It feels like a song that can relate to a lot of different of people.
AMP: Your new single is “Jilt”. Can you give us a little insight into the track?
Anthony: Ironically the lyrics don’t correlate to the feeling I had when I was writing the song. I wrote the song about how I felt being present in my partner’s room, and that eventually became the basis for the guitar riff and the feeling.
Saya: I wrote “Jilt” during a really weird time in my life. It was the first song where I wrote for myself rather than just about other stories or manga.
AMP: Do songs evolve after you’ve played them live for a while?
Anthony: Yes! They do as all music should, we add little flairs, intros, or nuances that only we know weren’t there at the beginning of creating the track. The biggest one is “Sunhail48”. People who have been seeing us since the start know that this song has become the powerhouse in our set over time.
Saya: Yes they evolve! They always evolve for the better and overtime we just sound tighter and tighter! One of my favorite things to do is listen back to old OG versions of our song out now. It make me a bit emotional actually because I can actually hear how far we have come together as a band.
AMP: What emotions are you trying to leave listeners with when an EP or live show ends?
Anthony: We want them to leave happy, excited, and wanting more. We love when people come to our shows to have fun! We love seeing people being sweaty, dancing, and singing along with us!
Saya: I hope when people listen to our EP they can take any meaning from it at long as it’s something that fulfills them. For our live shows I hope people for about 30-45 mins can forget about everything that’s outside that room and just dance and feel alive for a moment.
AMP: If Clarion’s music were a film, what would it look and feel like?
Anthony: I think it would look a lot like a Godzilla-esq film. A build up into destruction into the ultimate cleaning up of destruction.
Saya: A very like k-drama like movie where the guys are into racing and driving fast and it leaves you on the edge of your seat type of movie.
AMP: Where do you want the band’s sound to be three years from now?
Anthony: I don’t think we have a goal for that, we let the music evolve to where it should be naturally. We let the music be itself, without pushing anything onto it. If I did have to say something, I would want our music to continue to sound bigger and bigger.
Saya: I don’t think we as a band have really talked about this. We’ve been too focused on what’s going on now. But surely I would love to experiment and change things up over time and have fun with the music.
AMP: If a listener discovers Clarion tonight and only has time to hear one song, which song should they start with and why?
Anthony: For me I would have them start with “Taxidermy”, and “Sunhail48” both of these songs encapsulate perfectly what we are as a band.
Saya: I would say “Cover Me”. That song is so full of everything we love being which is loud, aggressive but still has a soft touch on it with that sense of yearning.
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