Los Angeles indie rock band Tunnel, fronted by Natasha Janfaza, sits down with Atwood Magazine during the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas to discuss their sound, their songs, making zines, and more!
Stream: ‘Ampersand EP’ – Tunnel
Situated about 15 minutes northeast from the bustling noise of downtown Austin sits an unassuming home in a seemingly quiet neighborhood.
Except tonight, there’s 20-somethings trading $15 for a Sharpie smiley face to the back of your hand – no ID checks or X’s on hands here. The smiley face grants access to the sounds spilling from the front door out to the merch table sitting under the defunct basketball hoop, just past the skateboard ramps on either side of the car port.
Settled into a tight corner, shoegaze soundwaves bleed out to the kitchen, bedrooms and I would assume next-door neighbors’ living rooms. Behind the LA-based post-rockers of Tunnel hangs a sheet with “ARNOLD HOUSE” DIY-ed in pink lettering with scribbled signatures of past acts filling the white space. The tightly packed Gen Z crowd headbangs with each heavy strum of electric guitar, hit of snare, wiggle of bass, and lyric that leaves frontwoman Natasha Janfaza’s mouth.
Eyes shut and locked into the room’s energy, Janfaza holds her pink, daisy shaped guitar closely while making her way up and down the frets; switching to bass a few songs later comes with a familiar ease. Her sounds feed into the room as the never-still crowd feels the vibrations from the beer cans in hand. Simply put, it’s music that’s made to be performed in an intimate setting.
Atwood Magazine sat down with the mastermind behind Tunnel, Natasha Janfaza, to discuss sonics, lyrics, and her recent release, Ampersand EP.
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:: stream/purchase Ampersand here ::
:: connect with Tunnel here ::
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A CONVERSATION WITH TUNNEL
Atwood Magazine: When did music first come into your life?
Natasha Janfaza: I started playing music in 4th grade. I started in the orchestra program at my elementary school. I played violin all throughout college and I kind of decided I wanted to do something that showed a different side of creativity for me. So I took a rock history class at Georgetown and then I started a punk band [laughs]. So it was quite the shift.
I started writing my own songs. It was the first time I’d ever done that. I really learned about the kind of music that I wanted to play by going to shows a lot in DC and by playing with other people who just had eclectic tastes, and it really shaped me.
Was it that moment in class when you realized “this is actually something that I want to pursue,” or was there a different moment when you were even younger?
Natasha: I was always really passionate about music. I was considering being a performance major for violin and I ended up just moving away from that when I developed a really bad injury. But it was really that rock history class where I was learning about PJ Harvey and Bikini Kill. We learned about My Bloody Valentine] and heard it in the auditorium. It was such a weird setting for that, but it really impacted me.
Why the name “Tunnel”?
Natasha: I just thought it sounded heavy and cool and almost adjacent to Hole. I was trying to embody that energy.
You’ve been in a few different bands, is Tunnel a project that you plan to stay with?
Natasha: Yeah, Tunnel I think of as my solo project where I write mostly a lot of indie-rock/shoegaze songs. I front this project and I’m the only writer. I had Panini Girlfriend in college and it was kind of becoming where I am now. But I just decided for a name change and I’m planning on sticking with Tunnel. I have another project based in Phoenix, Arizona named Taciturn, it’s a noise rock project. I play bass in that and I sing.
How would you describe your own sound?
Natasha: My sound hasn’t changed a whole lot from when I started writing. I’ve always really relied on my voice a lot. And then also I’ve become a better guitarist over time just by playing more and more. Sometimes the lines that I write are not always like power chords. But like you’ll still hear that. And some of the first songs I wrote, I love. It’s kind of pop-y, like a kind of an anthem.
Do you expect your sound to shift in the future?
Natasha: I am sure that it will shift because, you know, people always change what they like and what they’re listening to and their influences. So I kind of do expect this next full length that I’m working on to be a bit heavier, kind of in the vein of Ampersand EP. But in the future, I could totally see myself doing something way more stripped back and not a lot of reverb or effects or distortion. You know, being really vulnerable.
Are you more of a lyrics or a sound person?
Natasha: Definitely more sound. I think as time has gone on I’ve moved more and more towards paying attention to the lyrics that I write and really trying to sharpen that knife. ‘Cause I feel like you have people’s attention, and you might as well make their time worth it when they’re listening. And just not focus on chord progressions and melodies and texture but refine the work, it’s kind of like poetry.
Do you have a favorite lyric that you’ve written?
Natasha: Yeah! I really like the opening line of “Ampersand” because it’s so wholesome. I was trying to think of the way I could encapsulate my love for my girlfriend, like the purest way, but also not be corny. It’s “I watched you believe in who you are.” One of the sweetest things you could say to someone that you love is, “I love you just being who you are and watching you become yourself.” Yeah, it might be my favorite right now.
Sonically, do you have a favorite track that you wish would be appreciated more?
Natasha: Yeah, I feel like “MST” is one of my favorite songs because it is so rhythmic, and it has a great groove to it, and the time signatures change and it kind of takes you for a ride. It has a hook but you kind of have to stick through some of some of these weirder textures or chord progressions to get that satisfaction.
Do you have a favorite song to perform live?
Natasha: “Glide” might be my favorite because I get to explore a different way of singing. That’s a very ethereal song. I just have never done that before with Tunnel. I use a lot of guitar arpeggios and it’s just different. It’s very lush and then it gets really heavy. I think that’s something new and different for me.
Where do you pull your inspiration from?
Natasha: I feel like I channel a lot of things that are not specific to what has happened to me. But it’s more like a general feeling, an emotion that I can relate to. I think of country music, for example, like really telling a story. I definitely don’t write like that.
Are there any older demos you revisited that made it onto the Ampersand EP?
Natasha: Oh yeah, for sure. “Glide,” for example, has part of a song that I wrote in 2017. I just thought it was beautiful and I fleshed it out and worked on it with my producer.
Do you have any creative endeavors outside of music that you would like to bring into the live space?
Natasha: I make zines and that’s a really big part of what I do creatively. It’s another way for me to express my love of all things analog. For example, I have an 80-page zine about all things analog and how that relates to identity and being queer and just DIY stuff in general. And that intersects with the punk space a lot because of zines in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s a really big part of how I connect with people.
How did you get into making zines?
Natasha: I was a volunteer at the DC Punk Archive when I lived there. I was looking through really old zines and I was inspired… I loved how you could just make it yourself and distribute it so easily, you didn’t have to go through a publisher. Anyone can do it. That was how I got really passionate about playing in rock/punk bands. Because I felt like I could just pick up a guitar and not be good at it, but learn.
What’s next for you? Is there anything else you would like to share?
Natasha: We’re gonna go back and hit it hard, keep working on the full length that’s gonna come out at some point.
I really enjoyed playing with this band. The lineup always changes… there’s an East Coast version as well. We haven’t had much time to rehearse, and I feel like they just killed it… I’m so lucky to be surrounded by really talented and ambitious people – Mia Lin, bass, guitar; Michael Mastrangelo, guitar; Andrew Chanover, drums.
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:: stream/purchase Ampersand here ::
:: connect with Tunnel here ::
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Stream: “Ampersand” – Tunnel ft. Joe Lally
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