Terry vs. Tori

"If Juventud Juché are fluent in rage, then Seville’s Terry vs. Tori (actually a three-piece without a Terry or a Tori among their ranks) haven’t even picked up the phrase book. Nor should they. Their “dreamy juke-pop,” they explain, “arose from their first rehearsal” and, after time spent in the studio “without [the] members knowing each other very well”, they emerged with their first EP which they put out in mid-June. A tropical chill emanates from the self-titled offering, as reflected in its artwork’s juxtaposition of snow-capped mountains with palm trees and a blazing sun. Erica Pender’s ethereal vocals glide through just over 11 minutes of unbridled hooky delight that’ll have you dancing in your daydreams." - DIY Magazine

"We have been wanting a Spanish representative of the summer dream-pop made famous by the label Captured Tracks for several years and Terry vs. Tori have achieved that with their debut EP, a breeze of fresh air around here though nothing new to the genre. The band from Seville only needs four songs of not-even-three minutes to convince with their beautiful and catching melodies, that are fused with a good production of languid and reverbrized guitars à la Wild Nothing and the charm of Erica's vocals, somewhat Blouse at moments. " -Translated from Spanish - Stage by Sony

Q. When did Terry vs. Tori start? Tell us about the history...
Erica and I always wanted to make something different of what we are used to in our city. We've known each other for some years, playing a bit of noise rock but nothing serious at all. She had some songs written by the name of "lesserevil" but nothing much came off that. Then I picked up the guitar like one or two years ago and it was a really slow proccess, at the end the result of practicing a lot it's those four songs you can listen to.

When I partially wrote them between December and March I contacted Erica and she didn't doubt it, then I thought about Jose who I know since we were kids (this is our first musical experience together though) and said he would play bass. Finally we met Rosa who would play drums and she was like the perfect piece to complete the puzzle.

Q: Who are your influences?
The main genre that influences us when writing songs is dream pop and kinda twee pop. Artists like Beach Fossils, Juan Wauters, Beat Happening, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Pale Saints...

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Tough one, but in no particular order.
The Wedding Present - Seamonsters (The best songs about love ever written in my opinion)
Donnie and Joe Emerson - Dreamin' Wild (Yes, that name, big influence)
Gang of Four - Entertainment! (What to say... The catchiest punk songs ever)
Shellac - 1000 Hurts (Always to listen when you want everything to go fuck itself)
The Smiths - The Smiths (This will never ever ever ever get old)

Q. How do you feel playing live?
That's an interesting topic. Neither Erica nor me have actually played guitar live, she always used to play drums and I did play bass in other bands. Jose is a guitarist and never played bass before. Rosa is the only person in the band who has always played the same instrument. We are all very comfortable in our roles though and we're sure we'll be fine.




Q. How do you describe Terry vs. Tori sounds?
Twee, jangly, dreamy... All those adjectives are fine but we also love to make noise.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
It was tough. It was only Erica, Jose and me at the beginning and neither of us had much experience recording our own music (with other person). We contacted our friend Rafa Pachon from the band Generica but he only got to record us. Then we thought about Cris Romero, from The Royal Landscaping Society, who we knew was a lot into dream pop, indie pop and all in all had a great deal of music culture and indeed it was no mistake at all. We had in our minds the sound we wanted and he made it just perfect.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
From our hometown, The Royal Landscaping Society and Devil Town. Also Vera Fauna, like an hybrid between Pata Negra and Tame Impala", Leicomers, garage and fun and Generica.
Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Maybe we would need some synths, but I think it would be cool to cover Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We are writing more songs and looking forward to play a lot of shows.

Q: Any parting words?
Nothing too original, thanks for the interview and we hope you like our music!
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Thanks - The Blog That Celebrates Itslef

Terry vs. Tori are a band from Seville who make a decidedly summery brand of jangly pop music. Vocal duties ate shared between guitarist Manuel Jiminez and drummer Erica Lender, while Jose Prieto plays bass. Their self-titled EP is made up of four sleek and jangly pop songs that evoke warm and fuzzy twilight, the onset of dark soothing your sun-addled, summer holidaying brain. The band describe their sound as a “soft mix of beach oneiric sounds with garage drums and adult contemporary bass-lines.”

Your dancing shoes might come in useful during ‘Dream Wild’, its surfy guitars sounding pastel pink and aquamarine as they jangle along merrily, while ‘Cool It!’ is equally pepped-up, even the slight sadness in Pender’s vocals not dampening spirits. ‘Like Always’ is a wonderfully melodic and catchy, Lender singing “I don’t think I wanna hear that / please don’t tell me how I look”, before ‘Hit and Miss’ closes the EP with a final slice of lean and energetic jangle pop, the vocals giving things a dreamy romantic vibe. - Wake The Deaf

Terry vs Tori, en principio el dúo formado por Manuel en voz y guitarra y Erica en voz y batería, al que luego se sumarían José y finalmente Rosa a la batería, presentan este fin de semana en directo el EP que este verano subían a Bandcamp, llamando la atención de Capitán Demo en Radio 3 pero también de medios internacionales como DIY Mag, que los incluía en un especial de música underground española en el que hablaban de grupos ya bastante conocidos por aquí como Mourn, Juventud Juché, Aries, The Zephyr Bones, Los Nastys y The Parrots. Todo ello sin haber actuado nunca en vivo.

El grupo, que cita entre sus influencias a gente como Beat Happening, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Pale Saints, The Wedding Present, Shellac, los Smiths o Gang of Four, suena bien cargado de reverb y totalmente en la tradición shoegazer en ‘Dream Wild’, con guitarras ciertamente muy Johnny Marr; y en ‘Cool It!’, cuyo final podría pertenecer a los primeros The Drums. El EP se cierra con ‘Like Always’, que arranca con la poética imagen “You smelled like flowers in a rainy day / Why can’t everything be like that?” y la notable ‘Hit and Miss’, de ambiente onírico y guitarras juguetonas definitivamente señalando a gente como Orange Juice o, en los punteos, a The Cure. Terry vs Tori actúan este sábado 24 de septiembre en la Sala X de Sevilla acompañados de Vera Fauna, Leicomers y Ohmycat. - Jenesaispop

... ¡especial! Por eso arrancamos el programa de esta semana con tres bandas de la nueva escena sevillana: Terry vs. Tori, Vera Fauna y Leicomers. - Capitán Demo (RN3 España)

Despedimos el año con las canciones a cargo de bandas emergentes nacionales que más nos han gustado en 2016.

Playlist:
LOS NASTYS - NEVER DIGAS NEVER
OLA LA META - GENERACION Y
TERRY VS TORY - DREAM WILD
LEICOMERS - BUDDY
COMO VIVIR EN EL CAMPO - CRIQUET O CROCKET
HINDS - EASY
BAYWAVES - MARSUPILAMI
BRIAN HUNT - LOVE SONG
EL LADO OSCURO DE LA BROCA - FRENETICA
KOKOSHCA - CORAZON CALIENTE
BIFANNAH - SKELETOR
RAINWOOD - SYNESTHESIA
NURIA GRAHAM - I'LL BE THERE
THE ZEPHYR BONES - BLACK LIPS
EL PALACIO DE LINARES - ATAQUE DE AMOR (FLIPANTE)
PAPA TOPO - OPALO NEGRO - Capitán Demo (RN3 España)

‘Wapebearer’, [...] has good doses of reverb, guitar pickings from the school of The Smiths and a certain post-punk vibe in the style of The Cure, with a melancholic melody which seems to evoke those British days of "rain between the flowers" that Erica, Manuel, José and Rosa seem to have made their trademark. - Jenesaispop