Meet this week’s Her Campus Cutie, Satya Fuentes! Satya is a third-year transfer student and ethnomusicology major, who came to UCLA to pursue her love of music. Not only does Satya play three different instruments, but she is also part of an awesome alternative band, called Asleep at The Gate. Read on to learn about Satya’s journey with music and her goals for herself and her band as she pursues her degree at UCLA.
HC: Can you explain a little bit how your interest in music started?
SF: My parents had me start off playing classical piano at a young age. I did it up into high school and then I became really interested in jazz. I went to an arts high school and that’s what kind of made me take music more seriously. I also started taking voice lessons, and from there started writing songs a lot, and pursuing solo work at age 13. Those interests continued into college at UCI where I studied jazz piano.
HC: How many instruments do you play, and which is your favorite?
SF: Piano is my primary instrument but I also do vocals for Asleep at the Gate, and play some guitar as well.
HC: How did you meet the other members of your band, and how did you decide what path you would take with music collectively?
SF: I met the lead singer Adrian in high school at an open mic night in Santa Ana. We connected over an artist we both really like named Jeff Buckley, and then we realized we had a lot of mutual interests in music, and we stayed in touch. He had been playing with other people but it ended up not working out with them. Freshman year of college he reached out to me and said he was playing a show in Orange County, and I joined him for that. The bass player and drummer went to high school with me. It’s cool, because all of us kind of do our own thing. The bass player is really into electronic production, the drummer plays guitar and lots of other instruments. It’s a great environment because everyone has their own project and we come together and bring something unique to the table, and combine our music tastes to make a new sound, which is considered under the alternative soul genre.
HC: In what ways do you hope your time at UCLA will help you pursue and advance in your music career?
SF: The music program at UCLA is phenomenal. There are incredible teachers that are legends in the music world, and a lot of amazing creative types and artists to collaborate with. It’s cool being in Los Angeles which is like a center of music in the world, and just to be where everything is happening.
HC: What are your goals for yourself and Asleep at the Gate in the near future?
SF: We just recorded an album and we are working with a great producer, and he is having us meet with different labels. We’re also looking into touring. We’ve been putting a lot of time into promotional stuff, since you have to have a business side for a band. But we really hope to be touring within the next year. We have gotten to meet a lot of cool people and we really just want to expand to a wider audience.
HC: What’s your favorite band?
SF: Oh gosh, I can’t even say. I like a weird mix, I will listen to ska, folk, kinda weird stuff. It’s just too hard for me to answer, I can’t say just one.
HC: If you could perform with any artist or band, who would it be?
SF: I am really into Haitus Kaiyote right now. I saw them play live recently, and they are really cool because they do jazz but also a lot of other genres, and they just have a lot of integrity musically.
Check out Satya and her Band Asleep at The Gate on facebook.com/AsleepAtTheGate and Asleepatthegate.com.
images courtesy of Satya Fuentes.