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Cui’zine: What is it like to be the second
singer for a band?
Alicia Luma: Well, technically I'm more of
the third, because a lot of people got cozy with the idea
of Tess singing for them, though she was just helping out
and never officially in the band. I've had more of a time
with that than I've ever had with the Amon factor --
showing up for shows and seeing Tess's face plastered all
over the promo flyers and reading about "Oooh, I wonder
if Tess is still singing for Velour100 and if she'll be
with them for the show at blah-blah-blah..." I mean, I've
been in the band for over 6 months now and lots of people
still have NO IDEA that Velour100 has a new singer OR
that she's me... For a while I wasn't even comfortable
with saying that I was officially the new singer because
I didn't think Trey had yet decided one way or the other
if he wanted me. But we had a talk while we were on this
last tour and things seem to be pretty squared away and
I'm in it for the long haul.
Cui’zine: Do many people
not give you a chance and decide you aren't good before
hearing you?
Alicia Luma: Yeah, people
do that all the time. I've never really had a lot of
confidence in my voice to begin with and when people tell
me how terrible I am compared to Amon and how much of a
saint she is and how I'm sort of rude or a brat, it
really gets to me.
I don't think that most people
understand that by prejudging me and not giving me a
chance, they're not doing Amon any favors and they're
only succeeding in hurting me. I get a lot of the Amon
avengers harassing me, "You'll never be as good as her!!!
You'll never replace her!!!" Well, fine, go buy her demos
and go see her shows and if you're gonna continue coming
to see Velour100, COME TO SEE VELOUR100!!!
Amon is fine, I've met her and she's
always been nice. Her voice was great for what Trey was
doing at the time, but things change. Velour100 will
always be Velour100 for as long as Trey is doing it and
it doesn't really matter who sings, but for right now it
just happens to be me...
Cui’zine:
How did Velour100 find you?
Alicia Luma: Well, Trey, in his infinite
brilliance, put up flyers at Cornerstone and after a
total slew of my friends came up and told me that I HAD
to send them a demo, I went home and recorded some stuff
and sent it off.
Trey called me up a few days later. I honestly was
expecting him to say "thanks for the package... but we
found someone who lives closer (I live in coastal
Virginia)... is older (I'm 17)... blah blah blah..." But,
he said "thanks for the package... can we fly you up to
Michigan to audition?" I was so excited, I had hardly
expected it. I flew up there and we did some shows and
stuff, hung out and practiced. We all get along really
well, I'd hang out with them even if I wasn't in a band
with them. Sometimes it still seems a little weird that
I'm where I am and doing what I'm doing, but the fact
that I feel like we're friends makes it a little less
weird.
Cui’zine: What were you doing before you
became a member of Velour100?
Alicia Luma: Not really very much. I
graduated at 16 and I hated being in college, so I quit
and was just kind of doing nothing. I didn't get a job
until after I joined the band, though I had looked.
Musically, I would occasionally play shows on my own,
just playing my songs and stuff, but on a daily basis, I
did nothing. I was really involved with my church (and
still am) but that only took up but so much of my time.
I had
considered going back to school anyway, going to Bible
school, or applying for a really intensive discipleship
program at my church or something, but none of it worked
out. I was really getting frustrated when this Velour thing
came along. But being practical, I knew that V100 toured and
I'd be back and forth to Michigan frequently so it would be
the start of me spending an awful lot of time pretty far
away from home. I had to sit my parents down and talk to
them about this very seriously. I am out of high school and
music was what I really wanted to do, so they supported me
in this, which is really cool. But they knew a lot of things
would change, it's not like they can say, "You stayed out
too late... That's it! You're NOT going on tour!!!"
Faced with it, I don't have the life
of the normal 17-year-old, but I wouldn't trade it. I
guess that God will really get us low before He drops
opportunity in our laps, just to show us that, 'Ha Ha',
He's had it under control all along and we were stupid
not to trust Him in the first place...
Cui’zine: What has God taught you while
touring?
Alicia Luma: Oh jeez... Humility! And
faith. I was so surprised at how well this last tour
worked out for us. Some of the schedule was pretty
grueling, but God totally blessed us. He never allowed us
to get to the point of utter frustration, though He did
let us get within spitting distance of it once or
twice...
Lately, God has been teaching me about
intimacy with Him and how it calls for absolute purity.
How we are called to be
people of passion and not compromise, even on the small
scale. I just hope that I can keep up that daily walk with
Him while I'm on tour this spring 'cause it's the only thing
that keeps me from losing it during the hard and lonely
times away from home.
Cui’zine: Who do you draw inspiration from?
Alicia Luma: Well, it depends. I'd like to say "Oh,
it's always God!!" but I don't know how kindly God would
react to me attributing to Him the times when I'm singing
out of an unclean and broken heart as well as those when I'm
singing out of a desire to minister and entertain. There
have been times when I sang loudly and passionately because
I was angry or sang softly and broke down in tears on stage
because I was so sad (though never missing a beat!).
Most of Trey's lyrics are pretty vague, so they're easy to
shape to fit whatever you may be feeling when you hear them.
There's a few, like "Calendar" and "Dolphin Grey" that were
really hard for me to sing on this last tour because they
related so closely to some things that I was going through
at the time.
But mostly I find the goodness of God, for seeing fit to put
me in this wonderful situation, to be inspiration enough to
sing with energy almost every time.
Cui’zine: What do you think of the music industry on
the whole?
Alicia Luma: On the whole, I try not to think of it.
With situations I've been in and people I know, I've had
more than enough exposure to know that I want as little to
do with it as possible. I have no great fire in my belly to
try and reform the industry and the whole
"secular/Christian" segregation thing astounds me. I work in
music related business in both worlds and neither is always
ugly or always pretty.
As for Tooth and Nail, I don't really have an opinion,
except for that I really like most of the people who I've
met who work there ("Mail order/world domination dept.!!!
Wayne! Zak! Woo-hoo!") and they seem to run things pretty
well.
Most of the bands who I've heard complain
about T&N also originally thought that signing to a label
would suddenly make them popular and they'd never have to
work hard again. Wrong-O. Being signed doesn't do that much
for you, you still have to work. There are no easy
beginnings in the industry and no free rides. Always eat
your vegetables and don't go outside with a wet head or
you'll catch your death of a cold... blah blah blah...
~Cui'Zine
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