Felix Bechtolsheimer (Curse of Lono) discusses self-titled EP

Curse Of Lono was formed in London in 2015 by singer-songwriter Felix Bechtolsheimer following the breakup of British roots pioneers Hey Negrita. The collection of songs that emerged formed a stunningly cinematic record that combines spaced out, harmony-laden indie-roots with driving, gothic alt-rock.
In the summer of 2015 Curse Of Lono added ex-Hey Negrita drummer Neil Findlay, lead guitarist Joe Hazell, bassist Charis Anderson and keyboardist Dani Ruiz Hernandez to the lineup.
In Ocotober, Curse Of Lono released their debut EP, consisting of four songs that form the soundtrack for a short film of inter-connected videos directed by Alex Walker and shot by Bart Sienkiewicz. The film, which stars Grant Masters and Marta Hermida, was released alongside the EP.
To expand on the visual theme, they spent a day filming at their London studio with live music video producers ONT’ SOFA, recording ten live performances which they are releasing monthly on YouTube as ‘The Doghouse Sessions’.
Their four-track debut EP was released on 12-inch vinyl and download by Submarine Cat Records on October 14. The full album will follow early next year.
Ghettoblaster recently caught up with Bechtolsheimer to discuss the EP.
When did you first begin writing the material for this new EP?  
The songs on this EP span almost 16 years of my life. The oldest is “Saturday Night,” a song I wrote for a beautiful waitress I met while I was living in a sober house in Delray Beach, trying to kick a five-year addiction to heroin. The girl in question died of an overdose less than a year later and the song was never right for any of my previous records so it spent over a decade sitting on the shelf gathering dust.
When I started recording demos for the Curse Of Lono project I had a lot of new material but I was also going through a phase of rummaging around the treasure chest, digging out old songs and seeing if they had any juice left in them. When I stumbled across “Saturday Night,” I had a big smile on my face. Lyrically, it’s a lighthearted take on addiction with a lot of sexual innuendo but under the surface it sums up the sense of weariness and nihilism that surrounded my friends and me as twenty-year-old junkies. Other songs like “Five Miles” and “He Takes My Place” are very recent and are musically much more representative of where I’m at now although lyrically they are still looking back.
We’re told this EP is a pre-cursor to a full-length. When can we expect to see that?
The full album is finished and ready to go and should be coming late March 2017 although we’re still waiting for an exact release date.
Are these a collection of songs? Or is their a running thread throughout the EP? 
A filmmaker friend of ours wanted to make a short film based on some of our music so we decided to put out an EP alongside the film. The selection of songs was definitely influenced by what we thought would work visually. The film, which is a series of four inter-related music videos, starring Grant Masters and Marta Hermida, was directed by Alex Walker. We’re going to release it in 4 segments alongside the EP before entering it into film festivals. Our big hope is to premiere the full film at SXSW next year.
We hear some Mojave 3 or maybe even Sparklehorse in your music. Are they influences of yours? Who are your main influences?
I take that as a big compliment. We love Mojave 3 and Sparklehorse. Our other influences are fairly wide reaching. The Doors, Nick Cave, The Band, The Velvet Underground, Wilco. The list goes on…
Do you have any plans for a U.S. tour?
There are no dates confirmed as of yet but we’re hoping to do a decent U.S. stint in March. Come and say hi and we’ll have a beer.
(Visit Curse Of Lono here:
http://curseoflonoband.com
http://facebook.com/curseoflonoband
http://twitter.com/curseoflonoband
See them live here: 11.02 • The Maze (Nottingham, UK)
11.03 • Islington Academy 2 (London, UK)
11.04 • The Prince Albert (Brighton, UK)
11.05 • Union Music Store (2 PM) (Lewes, UK)
11.06 • The Hug And Pint (Glasgow, Scotland)
11.07 • The Musician (Leicester, UK)
11.24 • The Bassment (Chelmsford, UK))