10 September 2009

FUSE are virtuoso musicians Linzi Stoppard and Ben Lee who, on their self-titled debut album, harness their bespoke signature Bridge electric violins and take Rock tracks that people love and radically but lovingly reinterpret them. As Linzi says, “It’s completely fresh, no one thought that what we do was even possible. Someone recently said, ‘The album is great but I can’t hear as much of the violins as I’d like’. Everything you hear is violins! The style that we use when we play is more akin to that of a guitar player, with more soul and electricity – literally! We chose work from artists that are huge stadium acts, and that’s where we want to be. It is that big and that powerful - get some ear plugs! We specialise in blowing away people’s preconceptions.”

What FUSE do is unique but they feel that the tracks that they reinvent are not untouchable. “We’re unafraid to cover classic rock tracks,” says Ben. “Don’t forget that all “classical” music today is cover versions of music by pop stars from the last 300 years! What we do can have a truly global appeal; there are no language barriers. Whilst we’re a string band, people can sing along to the choruses that we all know”.

The sound that FUSE generate takes serious know-how and technical skill. Linzi explains, “We play five string and four string instruments; this gives us more range than a normal violin. We play Bridge violins with Kevlar carbon fibre composite bodies. They could take a bullet for us!” Ben continues, “The violins are sprayed with a finish containing gold particles. We have particular tonal requirements – of course we keep our secrets to ourselves! - but I will say that we use guitar amps, combinations of valve heads and transistor heads and speaker cabinets. Other people playing electric violins just plug into a mixing desk whereas we use a series of effects pedals.” FUSE have had to invent new ways to render melodies that were vocal on the original tracks. FUSE aim to prove that the electric violin can be as versatile as the electric guitar. There’s no cutting down or simplification involved.

There is unquestionably a FUSE ‘sound’. The band performed at a Status Quo event and, as Linzi says, “Everyone just got it. Francis Rossi said, ‘I love what you’ve done, how did you get that sound?’ He ended up performing on our recording of ‘Down Down’. Nick Mason from Pink Floyd was at a gig and offered to drum for us and Roger Daltrey asked us to support him!” Ben continues, “One of our producers played on new material for Michael Jackson and sent our version of ‘Beat it’ to the project team. They thought it was unbelievable and asked who the guitarist was! They were going to play it for Jackson himself but of course we don’t know if that happened.”

Linzi and Ben took differing routes into FUSE, though their backgrounds have much in common. Both learned violin using the Suzuki method which Ben describes as, “A rock n roll way of learning because it trains the ear rather than focusing on theory or reading music.” Both performed many of their first public shows busking. Ben remembers, “I put on my baggiest jeans and a baseball cap so as to not get recognised. I earned fifteen quid in coppers in about fifteen minutes and remember cycling home on my BMX thinking, ‘This is it, you can make money from music!’ Cycling has not always been such a positive experience for Ben who recently got hit by a lorry on his way to rehearsals; “I was listening to one of the rough mixes for the album and lost concentration. My elbow was very badly damaged but luckily my playing is now fine again.”

Whilst Ben went on to study at the Royal College of Music, Linzi was diverted from that path just before taking the entrance exam as she was spotted by a producer whilst playing a session in a London studio. Chart success followed, “I played in America and Japan and found myself hanging out with people like The Cult and Killing Joke. That’s when I thought, ‘This is what I want to do’. International record deals with Never Records (USA), EMI and Avex brought great early success but I felt unfulfilled and it was then that I started out on the route of more rocky, edgy violin. My mother had been a frustrated violinist and Dad was into rock n roll so I’ve ended up in the right place!” Linzi is also a model [signed to the Models 1 agency] and has just been asked to be a Prince’s Trust Ambassador. She is the daughter-in-law of playwright Tom Stoppard who is a big fan of FUSE and played the album whilst completing his latest project - ‘Fix You’ in particular.

Ben meanwhile had strayed away from the RCM orchestra - and indeed some of the lessons - and embroiled himself with recording sessions and backing artists who were performing on TV. “Gareth Gates was my first break but I have worked with White Lies, Arctic Monkeys, Goldfrapp, Razorlight, Mark Ronson, Gorillaz, Amy Winehouse, Tinchy Strider, McFly. I did Comic Relief live. I toured with McFly, we had a male electric string quartet which went down so well that the band asked us to open for them at Wembley. I also did some TV extra work and had a walk on in Eastenders and - worse than that - can be seen moshing in a hoodie in a McFly video! It was not all glamour though, Ben also worked with Damon Albarn on the initial workshops for the ‘Monkey’ opera. “Unfortunately on my first day I had really bad wind and kept walking out into the street to relieve the pressure. At the end of the day my continued absences were remarked upon, with the conclusion drawn that I was not interested in the project and I was told not to return the following day!”

Linzi had an enviable reputation as a solo electric violinist performing at prestigious events globally but was looking for a musical director to help take her ambitions to the next level. She and Ben first met when she borrowed his purple Yamaha violin for a photoshoot – “They gave me a fifty quid deposit for a violin worth a grand and drove off! I was a little naïve but it all worked out.” For a couple of years Ben worked in the studio with Linzi until the idea of forming a duo clicked. “Whilst I’d been using electric violins for ten years and knew all about effects, Linzi brought her own tastes and unique vision to bear – FUSE is my palette and her brush!”`

Choosing the tracks for the album was not easy, but the duo picked personal favourites and tracks that they knew that most people love. Linzi says, “With the track ‘Glorious’ we needed to turn the vocal into a string line and it just worked, it’s a great song, one that you just hear people whistling.” More inventively Ben relates, “We combined the mediaeval ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana with ‘Kashmir’ by Led Zeppelin, ‘Carmina’ felt a bit empty just on strings and amazingly we realised that the tracks had the same musical form. It works so well!”

The duo want to do things their own way. Linzi comments, “We have been told in the past that it would be ‘very much in our interest’ to apply for certain reality shows but we wanted to go through the traditional live shows and record company route that our heroes took.” FUSE have enjoyed some great live shows, including Glastonbury 2008. Ben says, “We were late, didn’t have the right passes and were about to miss the slot. We ended up flagging down an ice cream van – we got in with all the equipment and got there just in time.” At another show all the equipment got lost en route - all the wiring and sound processors FUSE need - and was couriered to the show, arriving in the nick of time. Without this gear the violins are silent, the one disadvantage of electric instruments!

With the release of ‘FUSE’ scheduled for 17 May 2010, the band look set to achieve many of their goals. Linzi says, “We want the album to be a success and then to tour. Live is where we’re exceptional – we’d love to take FUSE to America. They would love our music I think. Maybe one day we’ll do an album featuring some of our heroes. That would be amazing.”

For more info please contact Chris Hewlett PR on chris@chrishewlett.com or 0208 348 6767