La Neve is the dance-punk project of Rhode Island-based musician, organizer and historian Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, longtime songwriter and guitarist with Downtown Boys.
Combining themes of power, labor, sex and possibility with elements of blistering punk, dance, and house music, the project conjures a unique space where sound and form hold equal importance.
What inspired this last release?
I wrote most of this deep in the pandemic. I was unable to do much creative work for most of 2020. Like many people, my time was spent in anxiety, mourning, or organizing in my communities. Getting back into songwriting was a slow process, but it’s something that I knew I had to do for myself. So these five recordings came out of clawing my way out of that period. It was a hard one to make and I’m very happy to finally share it with everyone.
What is something you can’t live without?
I’m going to say money because it’s really hard out here for independent artists right now.
Any funny anecdotes from the time you were recording or writing the EP?
Just finally being able to play music in a room with two of my friends felt really good. We were recording in upstate New York and perpetually excited to spot deer and other animals.
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of music?
I’m not sure it’s my “favorite” thing, but what I spend the most time doing outside of music is organizing. I’ve worked for a while now as a labor organizer, and I was involved in recently starting a new organization called the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers. Our goal is to organize music workers to fight for a more just music industry. Come join us!
What’s a record or artist that shaped your creativity?
I got really into Shostakovich over the past two years.
Who is an artist or band you look up to today?
So many, and I’m fortunate enough to be friends with many of them. For instance, I’m doing the EP release show on May 7 at Trans Pecos and put together a bill with Ratas en Zelo, Agua Viva, plus the writer Jenny Zhang DJing, and my bandmate in Downtown Boys Victoria Ruiz hosting. I look up to every one of these artists and am honored to be on a bill with them.
What excites you the most about the music you make?
On this record, I love how the percussion turned out. We were mixing Karna Ray’s live drumming with various drum machines and I think we produced a really dense, chaotic, but still danceable sound. Listen on “History Solved” and “Soft Power” in particular.
