Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Fortin.
Hi Jessica , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Taking you to the very beginning, I met Joe at a dingy band practice house in Biddeford Maine. I went there to audition for a band and he was the drummer for that band. I ended up joining that band briefly, Joe and I hit it off right away. We didn’t really like being in that band but desperately wanted to play in a band. Shortly after we decided let’s just start our own band and that was the birth of Wired for Sound.
We started just doing cover songs so we could play shows while writing originals. We slowly added our originals in once we wrote them until we just performed all our own songs. I felt we were missing something. Dont get me wrong we sounded pretty good as a two piece band but I really wanted a bass player to fill the hole when I did my solos. Joe didn’t think we needed one at first but ultimately we found a bass player at a show and our first bass player joined us. His name was Justin and we had so much fun for 3 years. We wrote two EP’s our first one “Neverending” you cannot find online anymore. It was not great and I forbid anyone from listening to it! Hahaha it’s bad! The second Ep was Catharsis.
Unfortunately after 3 years Justin left our band and the search for a bass player started again. Back to a two piece again we continued to play shows while writing our 3rd Ep Choke. We had some friends fill in when possible for about a year until we found Meghan. She was playing for another band but Joe really wanted to see if she would join. She was super talented, and she could sing and play keyboards. We both agreed she would be a cool addition to our band, plus two girls to front the band is really cool especially someone with so much talent.
We asked if she wanted to come jam with us to see if we all vibed. She came over and we immediately asked if she wanted to be a part of our band. She did and now she’s been rocking with us for about 3 years now. She fits in perfectly it’s awesome.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We have struggled with getting a bass player, it’s not easy to find someone to join an already formed band with 40 songs of originals to learn. It’s probably intimidating I would think. Thankfully we have finally found our person.
I mean over the years there has been plenty of rocky road. Getting our music recorded the way we wanted it to sound has definitely been a struggle. We decided after how bad our first Ep turned out and the horrible experience at the studio it was recorded at we would just record our own music. Not having to explain to someone what you want and them not understanding and pressuring you to add certain effects and auto tune was totally worth the investing in our own recording equipment. We turned our practice space into a recording studio. It was not easy and it was not overnight that’s for sure. Slowly adding certain things along the way like better mics, mixing boards and a vocal booth to get cleaner tracks. It’s been a learning process let’s say. We recorded our second and third eps ourselves. We can take as much time as many takes as we want without paying hundreds of dollars on a clock in a studio. I never want to settle on a take that doesn’t sound like we want. Once we lay the tracks we send them to get mixed and mastered. We haven’t learned that part of the process, and I’m not sure we will. It’s very time consuming and we would rather spend time playing and writing. We just don’t have time to learn that part of the process. Maybe someday who knows? For now this works for us and we don’t have to go to any studios.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I front the band playing lead guitar and lead vocals. I think I’m known for having really great amp sound. I play a Mesa dual rectifier anniversary addition and the sound is deep and beautiful. I also play a fender custom shop supernova with a Floyd rose. It’s a very unique guitar. If you know guitars you know why.
I’m most proud of our unique sound, we have a grungy 90s sound but with some double bass which throws people off on how to describe us. Nobody can put us in a particular category, we are alien. Alien grunge rock maybe? A new category hahaha
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t know if I believe luck has played any role in our band or not. I’d like to think maybe fate has brought our personalities together, has brought our opportunities. I think our hardworking and practice has played a big role in the cool things that has happened.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: wiredforsoundnh
- Facebook: @wired.fs
- Soundcloud: wiredforsoundnh
