Meet Black Baccara

We were lucky to catch up with Black Baccara recently and have shared our conversation below.

Black, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

“I often keep my creativity alive by frequently composing and keeping my skills up and creating new ideas. I always enjoy writing music for the band and making demos in Logic. When I’m not working on making band music I often like to practice composing other genres of music to keep myself interested.” – Luke

“I keep my creativity alive by experimenting a lot when writing drums on our originals. I take lots of time to make sure what I’m writing compliments the song really well. I’ll spend days trying out different grooves for each section of every song written by my bandmates. It’s really fun to explore creativity over the kit like that. I feel like it’s so different for me; I mean I’m not worried about notes, I’m worried about writing grooves that can lift up and emphasize all of the melodies going on.” – Alannah

“One way that I keep my creativity alive is by writing something everyday. I usually try to write a short poem if I’m not writing lyrics. Even just writing down ideas for a song or story or words I think are pretty does the job. It’s important to keep consistent to keep training the writing muscle. I also make sure to research and consume media that inspires me. I am very inspired by the paranormal, folklore, and cryptids in my writing and often find lyric ideas through that research. There’s a lot that you can start to understand about yourself through understanding why you are passionate about what you are passionate about, and plenty of metaphors to be found in that.” – Noël

“I keep my creativity alive in various ways. I take inspiration from a variety of sources of music, all types of genres and apply that to my creative works. I also keep an open mind, collaborating with others and getting their opinions on what can be tweaked and incorporate things I learn from others/those experiences. Another way I keep creativity is going into a writing session/jam session with a blank slated mind, with no expectation or ideas prior, leaving the atmosphere, people around me, and my current state/mood influence the initial start of music that develops into a beautiful and unique, one of a kind piece of art.” – Scott

“I keep my creativity alive by diversifying my works and creating music in a variety of different genres. When I started with Black Baccara, I drew mostly inspiration from 2000s pop punk and 1980s goth music with little to no experience working in any other genre. Since I started with them in 2023, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with many different artists each operating in their own style of music very different from one another and very unique in their character. I can approach the works of no two artists the same way and thus have learned to be far more adaptable, flexible, and creative when working with Black Baccara. I tend to draw from artists that don’t even exist within the same genre as we do to try and utilize mixing skills and ideas in a whole new and exciting way! On top of that, I tend to use the works with the other artist I work alongside to establish an identity with each of my mixes to provide a sound that is unique to Black Baccara while sharing familiarity with other musicians, uniting up and coming artists together under a common goal!” – Patrick

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

We are Black Baccara, an alternative rock band based in Nashville, TN. The band is made up of Noël Williams (Vocals), Luke Murphy (Guitar), Patrick Weaver (Bass/Cello), Alannah Lavoie (Drums), and Scott Kubicki (Guitar). We pull influence from many different bands including Bôa, Evanescence, Opeth, Strange Boutique, The Cure, Paramore, and more. We have two songs on streaming, “Who Are You?” an ethereal song about realizing your self worth, and “Before You Were Sorry” a faster paced song about forgiveness without change. The Opeth and Evanescence influence is going to shine through more in our upcoming releases.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

“Something that I wished that I had realized earlier that has helped my songwriting so much is that it’s okay to just be weird. I was really restricting myself to only writing lyrics about friendships, relationships, etc all in the same sort of straight forward + occasional metaphor style, which is totally okay, but I would want to write certain lyrics and then stop myself for them being “too weird”. Something changed while writing some of the songs on our upcoming EP, I allowed myself to bring in those folklore themes I had talked about earlier. Songwriting feels fresh and exciting now that there are no limits. My big piece of advice is just write the song, no one ever has to hear it if you’re not ready. Another quality that is really important is having thick skin and being open to criticism. It’s hard sometimes to hear something that you put your heart and soul into being criticized, but it is essential for improvement. The third quality is definitely collaboration. I love that our songs feature a touch of everyone’s personal style and create a unique blend of it all.” – Noël

“The 3 qualities/skills I think are important are cooperation, practice, and goals. Being in a band is having to cooperate and realizing not everything is about oneself and for a band to function oftentimes people have to cooperate. Practice is important because it betters your skills and understanding. Setting goals is important to keep you motivated and invested.” – Luke

“For me the BIGGEST thing I learned was that being a girl drummer is not a disadvantage, it’s an advantage. Growing up as a young girl drummer I faced a lot of people that underestimated me until I drummed for them. This sort of thing gets in your head, and it followed me for the rest of my life as I grew older and decided I wanted to be a gigging drummer. In Nashville I found the most wonderful community of musicians and fellow drummers who lifted me up and supported me and all the doubt I used to feel vanished. Sometimes I still feel like I need to prove myself, but now that’s what drives me in a positive way. My advice for anyone would be to always believe in yourself. There’s going to be moments when you’re not sure if you can succeed in the industry, or other bumps in the road. I would say I’ve had a few mountains in the way of my journey myself. But you have to keep going if it’s really truly what you love and what you want to do. I know I wouldn’t rather do anything other than share music with the world and represent all the girls out there behind the kit so I will climb those mountains, even when it’s hard.” – Alannah

“The first quality that has been impactful on my journey is the ability to listen and absorb new perspectives in life, specifically music and different types of music that I thought would of never existed and from all over the world. The second is curiosity and it directly relates to the first quality. Curiosity to explore, try new things, make something different and taking risks. The third quality is to be upbeat, happy, and enthusiastic about the effort you put into the works that are created. This leads to some of the best writing lyrically or instrumentally and feels authentic.” – Scott

“The three traits that most influenced me in my journey were curiosity, professionalism, and enthusiasm. I desired to learn more about the role of a producer when I started with Black Baccara, and working with them has set the foundation for the many works I have had the privilege of working on in the time since I’ve started with them. My curiosity for the lifestyle, work ethic, and business of a producer inspired me to continue working and develop my craft with each new project I come across. I treat every single gig, every single mix, and every single part of the band as if it were the first time walking into a studio, and wish to set a tone that establishes a sense of reliability, responsibility, and professionalism. I know every decision I make regarding my career will be observed and interpreted by the people around me, which is why I tend to treat every opportunity, even one’s with low budget and opportunity for growth, as if it were a televised event. I also tend to enjoy bringing a sense of professionalism to my work as it gives it more of a priority and allows myself to absorb the contents of the show with more intention. I wouldn’t be doing any of this if I didn’t enjoy this, and because of that I like to make it clear through showing a level of enthusiasm and appreciation for those around me. I find too many people treat this industry like it’s just a job and lose sight of why they do this in the first place. We make music not because we have to but because we want to, and I like to make that well known with every project I work on. Therefore, I tend to let my enthusiasm show through my work to bring back an energy otherwise lost in a world of sorrow and pessimism for those who think of this as a means to an end and fail to see the journey as a whole.” – Patrick

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

“I think I’ve seen most growth not only in myself but as a band in our music. Our songs we have written as of recently I believe have made so much progress now compared to our last few songs. Our EP that we’ve been working on, we’ve been experimenting with new sounds and I feel as if it’s our best material yet.” – Luke

“I think I can speak for my whole band when I say our live performances have been our biggest area of improvement over the past year. Last school year we played maybe 3ish shows. As we become better at playing together, become closer friends, and have more time to learn from each other our live gigs show it. We’ve also been better about getting shows. Between August and December our goal was one show a month, and we reached that goal. That was a big deal for us. I can’t wait to see where things go in the future!” – Alannah

“My biggest area of growth and improvement in the past 12 months has been my willingness to take chances, whether it’s the new and absurd music I discover or the way I approach a new scale on the guitar, creating a new way to keep creativity and interest in my music and the music that exists.” – Scott

“I would say that everything we have done has improved a lot in the last 12 months. We have become a lot more serious as a band and have created so much more. Last year we had 2 songs and we have 7 with more to come. I am really excited for these to be heard on our upcoming EP. Our live shows have also improved a lot and our creativity has grown.” – Noël

“I’ve become a lot better at listening to my peers and training my ears to be more perceptive to what people want to hear. I have a habit of being self-centered regarding what I’m listening to, and early on that sentiment was reflected in what I worked on, but through working with more people who each look for a different sound in their works, I’ve become more aware of the difference between what I like and what the client wants. Therefore, I’ve become a lot more confident in working with Black Baccara or any other band to determine what sort of sound they’re looking for in their works, trusting their ears just as much as mine instead of relying on my judgement first. While I still have a ways to go, the progress I’ve made in the last year has yielded substantial results, and I look forward to working more with the band on our upcoming projects so that the products we release truly encapsulate the vision of our whole band.” -Patrick

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Kate Kingsmill
Nathan Stafford
Chloe Marvin

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our

Productivity
Perspectives on Staying Creative

We’re beyond fortunate to have built a community of some of the most creative artists,

Confidence
Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb

This is the year to kick the pesky imposter syndrome to the curb and move