Jess Allanic on Dedication, Perseverance, and Calva Louise’s Latest Album
Jess Allanic is the visionary force behind Calva Louise, the boundary-pushing international trio redefining what it means to be a rock band in a render-filled digital age.
Born in Venezuela and raised between France and the UK, Jess serves as Calva Louise’s firebrand lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist, and conceptual architect, animating the band’s entire visual universe with self-taught 3D animation, video editing, and a sharp sci-fi imagination. Together with bassist Alizon Taho (France) and drummer Ben Parker (New Zealand), the London-based group fuses blistering alt-metal riffs, punk ferocity, Latin-American influences, and high-gloss electronica into a genre-fluid storm that’s as cerebral as it is cathartic.
From their debut album Rhinoceros to the immersive worlds of Euphoric and Over The Threshold, Calva Louise has built a discography that plays like an unfolding multiverse — one where bilingual lyrics, doppelgängers, and dystopian themes collide in technicolor.
With Jess’s signature fusion of sound and captivating storytelling, their latest album, the Gareth McGrillen co-produced Edge of the Abyss, pushes the band’s vision even further into the cinematic unknown.
Fiercely DIY, defiantly international, and sonically unclassifiable, Calva Louise is less a static band and more a living, evolving world — one that Jess Allanic continues to shape, score, and set ablaze with unbound imagination.
KP: I’m so drawn to your background, which is incredibly fascinating, but I want to start with your upbringing. You grew up in Venezuela during a time of great unrest, both socially and economically. What was it like during your earliest years, and do you feel that the turbulent environment shaped you personally or creatively in any way?
JA: Until I was 11 years old, everything seemed good to me, but when I started looking for a way to express myself through rock, I began to realize that all of the efforts my parents made reflected more of the existing difficulties than the progress that we expected. Although we went to many concerts of many national and international bands, at the age of 14 I realized that the music scene did not offer the necessary structure to develop a career in the field of rock. That was when I began to take care of learning English and looking — together with my parents — for some way for me to fulfill my dream of going to England.
KP: Right! You dreamt of living in the UK, so at the age of 15 you moved to France to be a little closer. You ended up living in a convent, where nuns “chastised” you for playing System of a Down on the guitar in your bedroom. That brought a smile to my face as someone who played guitar and also attended Catholic school her entire life up until college! I had many run-ins with more than a few nuns over the years. [Laughs].
What originally brought you to the convent, and what eventually led you to the UK?
JA: It was the only place available for me to stay at the time, as my dad was in another city looking for jobs, and my mother was still in Venezuela. It was a small convent for young women — a place to live and study, and I was the youngest there. It was an alright place — apart from being told not to play my guitar too loud — and it was a good place for me to stay during my first winter. Moving to France and adapting at first was harder than I had expected, and I, as well as my parents, needed to settle more before I could make the leap to the UK since we didn’t have the means to plan further than that.
KP: Once you got there, you “stayed in garages, on sofas, and with ‘friends of friends…’ Robbed, scammed, and taken advantage of.” Similarly, you said, “Our album is called Edge of the Abyss because that’s how we live… One misstep and everything could fall apart.”
It takes such dedication and passion to live that way, essentially giving up all senses of comfort and predictability for your creativity and survival.
What do you think drives this fervent passion for music? And what did living in such in a high-stakes manner for an extended period of time teach you about life? About yourself?
JA: It’s hard to understand where the drive comes from, but it’s extremely hard to ignore. I always felt that this drive was a directional guide of where I’m supposed to be — to find my spot wherever I go. I have an intuitive sense of urgency whenever I feel that I’m supposed to make something happen in my life — it flows through music most of the time, as if something is telling me that it’s either time to wait or time to keep going.
To be honest, most of the time I feel lost and have a great lack of confidence, but that drive doesn’t let me rest until I do something about it — I can’t waste too much time in self-pity. The adventures — or sometimes misadventures — that come from those situations you mentioned are challenges that we have to accept as part of the journey — we didn’t swim an ocean to stop at the shore. So, we have to take things for what they are: challenges and lessons, but at the same time we can't fully submit to them. Like ants, we keep on doing our job, careful that nobody’s foot accidentally or purposely steps on us.
KP: That’s a great way of looking at it. I think that a lot of women struggle with the idea of taking a huge chance or risk for their dream careers — or their creativity at large. What advice would you lend to people who are afraid to take that big step that could ultimately lead them to a lifetime of fulfillment and happiness?
JA: I like the comparison of someone who paraglides when it comes to taking risks. To paraglide or wingsuit fly, there are a lot of things to consider — a lot of awareness that you need to have in your environment — I’m not sure you would jump off of a mountain if there’s a storm happening, for example. Taking risks is about awareness more than anything, I think. To be able to have enough energy to observe beyond what you physically see, you have to actually “see” what it is that you’re supposed to do. When there’s no other clue than actually having this deep conviction, you feel obligated to follow it through.
Whenever I have had a strong conviction to do something, I have never started and not finished, no matter what people have said. I think that this helps with taking risks, because even if you don’t know — if you are aware — the answer always becomes clear. What is it that I want? A part of the answer appears clearer the more energy that you accumulate, and that is through doing what you love more than anything — the thing that makes you get up in the morning. But without discipline, maybe the purpose is not clear enough.
“Always finish what you’ve started, even if you’ve been told that it’s not worth it. If your heart tells you it is, then it is.”
KP: Discipline is definitely the most key.
Your latest record, Edge of the Abyss, just dropped — congratulations! What can you tell us about its writing and development?
JA: Thank you! It’s been a wild ride, and there have been many moments that taught us so much. We recorded it DIY where we live, but we also had the chance to work with three amazing people: Gareth McGrillen, Mazare, and Dean McCarthy, who allowed us to evolve as much and as quickly as we could in the production, mixing, and mastering with the means that we had. We felt very honored and grateful to work with such a great team. We had some time restrictions, and I particularly wish I could redo many things, but it’s the best that we could do with the best people. Those things that I wanted to work on more have now become motivation for what comes next!
KP: That’s a great way of looking at it. Perfection is the enemy of progress, right?
Do you have a favorite track off the album? If so, which is it? Why?
JA: I think for now my favorite is “Hate in Me.” I love playing it and singing it live. I also think that many people can relate to the lyrics.
KP: I read that you’ve forgone traditional label support — both creatively and financially — and have recorded in your own bedrooms, built your own equipment, and filmed your own music videos. To be so independent today in an industry where labels try to control every aspect of an artist’s vision is remarkable, but it also takes a great deal of confidence.
How do you remain so self-assured in both yourself and your work? I really love the ethics behind everything that you guys are doing.
JA: This means the world to us, thank you! It was all through necessity, but also that discipline and drive have become very handy — the more that we do, the more we can handle, and the more we enjoy it. We try to see the fun in trying to figure out how to do things with no budget and how to develop necessary skills to meet the industry standard. That being said, we are ready to find more means and grow a bigger team for what comes next!
KP: Your work is also very tied to sci-fi, which I find so so interesting. What is it that initially drew you to the genre, and what do you feel its inclusion in your work has added to your imagery and discography?
JA: I love how sci-fi can show metaphors of this existing reality with a visionary outlook — how technology and imagination go hand in hand… Dreaming of magical realities with struggles that reflect — and sometimes might even predict — our human experience.
For us, the most important thing is telling a story, both ours and the characters that reflect our struggles in a wider imagined realm. It’s intrinsically linked in our music and videos — each album, to me, represents a newer and more skilled draft of this story that we’ve been trying to convey for so long. Each time we try, we add a layer of experience.
KP: And it looks amazing!
You’ve spoken about the world of heavier music needing to “change more rapidly to become more sincerely inclusive.” What has your experience been like as a woman in the industry, and how have you been able to push past any negative misconceptions about you that come with the territory?
JA: I personally try to avoid anything that can derail my train of thought so I can produce everything that I want to do, because I feel there’s so much I want to accomplish. That said, I choose to avoid throwing myself into negative commentary that many times has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the person using me as a cathartic punching bag. It’s hard for artists because most of us feel everything so much, but we have to realize that these people that we don’t know only delay the work that we want to fulfill.
KP: I think that’s the best perspective to have.
What advice would you lend women who want to get involved in music?
JA: To listen to advice when it actually makes sense to you, but also to be aware that you might not see the full picture yet.
KP: Similarly, what advice would you lend women about life in general?
JA: Always finish what you’ve started, even if you’ve been told that it’s not worth it. If your heart tells you it is, then it is.
KP: What do you feel makes a provocative woman?
JA: A woman that does whatever she considers is the right step to take. Listen to be informed, but never blindly obey.
Photography: Henry Calvert
