The Portuguese Duo, FINGERTIPS Discuss The Ins and Outs of Their Growing Music Career!

Fingertips is a duo from Portugal consisting of members Joana Gomes (Lead Vocals) and Rui Saraiva (Lead Guitar/Bassist). They are musically inspired by David Bowie, U2, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, Ray Charles, Muse, Lorde and Arctic Monkeys

• “Out Of Control” is the brand new song from Fingertips. With an indie-rock melody, the track was composed by Rui and written by Joana. The single was produced by Mark Needham (The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees). They have been lucky enough to perform alongside bands like Queen, The Cure, Nelly Furtado, George Michael and The Corrs. 

Learn more about Fingertips in the following All Access interview with the two of them:

Thanks for your time today! So, how’s 2016 been treating you so far?

Very good, thanks! Despite of all the rain, of course! But we’ve released our new single, “Out of Control,” two months ago and we are now receiving very positive feedback from different parts of the world. There’s no better way to start the year!!

Can you tell us how Fingertips first formed? Where exactly does your name come from? What other names were you considering?

Joana: The Fingertips have a very peculiar story. The band was formed in 2003 by a group of friends who loved music who wanted to create their own sound. By that time I was just a fan, trying to have good grades at high school and following every band’s step! Then, in 2010 they started looking for a new vocalist through a contest around our country, and I grabbed my chance! It doesn’t happen very often, becoming your favourite band’s lead vocalist. But it happened to me! Magic…Couldn’t be happier!!!

Rui: I am one of the founding members of the band and my memory can’t help me that much remembering those other names that were on the table to the band. But I do remember that we are the Fingertips because we always wanted to touch people’s hearts with our songs the same way we touch everything in the world, our instruments included, with our fingertips!

Do you share the responsibility of writing all your songs? Or does one of you write the lyrics and the other write the music?

Yeah, it’s quite like that! Rui is the one who composes the songs. Of course there is a moment when we join the process together, but the one who starts playing the guitar with some chord-sequence ideas, it’s him. Then, I get focused on the lyrics, usually after finding that melody that makes us have some chills!!

How do you think being from Portugal has influenced your sound and really you two as musicians in general?

Looking back to when we were kids, we now understand easily this passion for music: our families were very involved in music. Through choirs, traditional groups and bands. It is a very common thing here in Portugal. Especially when you were born in a little village where everyone knows each other, and you get very into the community scene and you go and sing in the mass along with your parents and grandparents, you know? Without knowing, they sew this thing called music inside us.

And then Portugal is an open-minded country, that absorbs easily what happens in the rest of the world. So, since kids, we started paying attention to all those big artists that were shaking the whole world up with their songs and tendencies. That’s why we started dreaming about composing our own songs, going on stage and sharing them with people.

Can you describe the music scene in Portugal today? Has it been difficult to break through?

As Portugal is not that big of a country, the great difficulty here is to maintain a good career. I’m speaking in terms of concerts. You travel around the country, for one summer, showing your brand new songs and that’s all you can do. It’s all over. People get over it in the winter and you’re done!

This is one of the reasons why we’ve decided to go abroad. The other one is because we really feel we have something to tell to the world. A message. And there’s no other way to carry it, only through our songs! But you can only do it travelling around the globe!

Can you talk about some of the groups that have continued to inspire the band’s sound? Who would you absolutely love to work with in the future?

That’s a pretty cool exercise: remembering what artists made us want to be musicians when kids!!! There are a lot, like Pink Floyd, Queen, Elvis, David Bowie, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Blondie, Joy Division, Michael Jackson, amongst others. Nowadays, we still listen to a lot of these artists and we feel very inspired by Depeche Mode, Joy Division and Muse.

It’s not that easy to mention just one artist with whom we would like to colaborate with in the future, because it depends on the mood of the song. But we love unexpected partnerships, so from Eminem to Ed Sheeran, Muse or Coldplay… It would be stunning!!

What was the inspiration for your newest single, “Out Of Control”?

In terms of sound we were listening to a lot of alternative rock bands while composing “Out of Control.” We were very fond of “Bulletproof” from La Roux at the time, and as we love Muse and Depeche Mode, things just got into the right place!

About the lyrics, I was paying attention how society goes this days. I just wanted to tell everyone that it’s ok to break the rules stablished by society about “your own path.” If it’s “your own path”, it’s “your own”, not others’ business. Just be yourself with confidence. Nothing can go wrong! Choose the job that you love, dye your hair another colour, go get the girl or boy of your life, travel the world, meet different people, try another type of sport, learn a new language. Whatever. Be you. It’s your life! Other people have their own agendas!

What was it like working with the producer, Mark Needham on “Out Of Control”?

Oh, it was just amazing!!! He is the type of producer that makes you give your best without pushing you too much. You don’t even notice you’re singing or playing as never before, cause he makes you feel really comfortable. He respects a lot your “timing” to feel things! And that’s awesome.

It was very easy to work with him. There were such a chemistry between the band and Mark! And he gave exactly the energy that we were looking for to this song! Incredible!!

Fingertips has performed alongside some incredible artists. What’s been a favorite memory playing with one?

Throughout our career we’ve shared the stage with Queen, George Michael, The Cure, The Corrs and Nelly Furtado. Our favorite memory is when Brian May joined us on our dressing-room and started chit-chatting as if we were friends for years. That’s when you learn that the bigger you are the humbler you can get. It was an unforgettable experience! We still can feel the chills!!!! Amazing!

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourselves or your music?

Yeah, sure…we would like to mention our plans for 2016 to everyone who’s reading this interview.

This year we will be playing in Los Angeles, in April, at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood and MUSEXPO. We are working on an European tour, too. We are thinking about it in two times: one in the summer and another one in the winter. And we are also projecting a huge concert here in Portugal, to our fans who always supported us!! It would be in the summer, when releasing our E.P.

So follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get the updates of our work!

• thefingertips.com    facebook.com/fingertips    twitter.com/fingertipsworld  https://soundcloud.com/fingertips/outofcontrol