”I would like to do some kind of droning with violin or cello” – An Interview with Tunnel
Tunnel is the solo project of classically trained musician Natasha Janfaza and she recently released a new 3-track EP titled Ampersand produced by Owen Wuerker. With a shoegazey/grungey blend, the EP gives a feel of the direction that a future full length record will be headed. Of Ampersand, Natasha recently said “It’s an exploration of dynamics—unabashed confidence, tender love, and the unraveling of apathy. I felt freer making this than ever before.”
Armed with these fresh tunes and a new touring band, Tunnel had played some shows in Arizona and Texas before their showcases at SXSW. We caught up with Natasha after they had played a couple of shows to talk about the new EP and to try and figure out if the East or West is the best.
IDOV – Thanks for making the time to chat with us. I love Ampersand, your new EP that just came out. When did you write and record it?
Tunnel – Actually, we were writing a full length and I just decided I wanted to put something out for South By, and instead of just putting out a 12 song album, I was like, “let’s just do a little something and kind of see how people react to it”. So over the last couple months my producer (Owen Wuerker) and I polished it up and just was like, “let’s pick these three. They’re the most done out of the album.”
IDOV – You said you wanted to see how it went. How has the reaction been?
Tunnel – Yeah, it’s been good. I mean, it’s a bit heavier than the first album. And I think I like lean into more of a shoegaze direction and just have some different influences.
IDOV – I love the title track and we featured it on our playlist a few weeks ago. It has a real My Bloody Valentine feel to it.
Tunnel – Huge influence! But also there’s so many bands now that I love and we draw a lot from them; there’s definitely a line between just kind of ripping them off and making it your own. So I really hope that I did that and I feel like I did because, you know, we all have influences.
IDOV – On the song “Ampersand” you have Joe (Lally) from Fugazi involved. How did that collaboration come about?
Tunnel – I lived in DC for a while and then I started playing in punk bands there. I actually met Brendan (Canton) through a rock history class in Georgetown, very unconventional setting to meet the Fugazi drummer, right? But we just started collabing after a couple years, he saw me play live and then he asked me to join his bill as a solo artist and I just kept in touch over the years. Then on the first album, Brendan recorded drums on it and we even did an East Coast tour together.
We did kind of the same thing this time where I just sent him tracks and some very rough instrumentation. He recorded over it at our friend’s studio in DC. I actually took bass lessons from Joe during the pandemic and I just thought, why not hit him up? They’re all so friendly and nice and just so easy to talk to and be around. So he came into the studio for a day and took some first stabs at stuff. We really liked his baseline that he did like there and it just helped shape the development of the song.
IDOV – Which classic album cover art is your current mood?
Tunnel – Um, okay, that’s interesting. Never really thought about that but I think MBV’s 2013 album, I really liked like that kind of like purple part, almost like hard to decipher what’s going on. I think it like kind of represents the sound of the music as well. Um,
IDOV – You said this is your first time at South By Southwest. How’s it been going?
Tunnel – Well! We’ve done two shows. We don’t know whether we will have more. Hopefully some things pop up, but we had our official showcase yesterday and that was just freaking awesome. Just so fun to play in this area where there’s bands everywhere. You just go from bar to bar and a lot of the streets are closed and I’ve never been at a festival like this. Usually you’re locked in one fairground or something and you have to pay like $30 for a beer and you can’t leave. It’s been awesome. I’d love to come back and just play a ton more shows.
I didn’t know what to expect. I’m so grateful that we were accepted and then just playing more shows, like house shows. It’s fucking awesome.
IDOV – Second question we ask everybody, if you could only listen to one record, what would it be?
Tunnel – Well, I’ll go with a record that I have listened to a ton and I never get tired of it. Knifeplay’s Animal Drowning album. I almost hesitate to say that because it’s got some really heavy things but it is so rich in instrumentation and they have a lot of shoegaze influences, but also it ounds a little bit like Alex G to me. And I love their lyrics, their lyrics inspired me so much for this album.
IDOV – You released an eight track EP in 2022 (Vanilla). How do you feel you’ve changed as a musician in the three years to putting out Ampersand?
Tunnel – You know what’s interesting is some of these songs from this EP were kind of written during the same time, but maybe they didn’t get fleshed out or something. I think what changed was these songs could have just as well been on Vanilla, but I feel like the instrumentation changed where they were heavier and shoegazey and sometimes the vocals were a little bit more ethereal. I think I’ve changed because the way I sing is a little bit different. I’ve kind of leaned into this lower register on songs like “MST”. I don’t know.
I also feel like I have cared less about what people think too. Like, I’m not making an album that I think people want to hear. I’m more like, “okay, accept this isn’t for everyone”. Whereas with Vanilla, I was, “I’m sure there’s a song on here for everyone”. But now that’s not what I’m doing this for. It’s so cool to hear when people really like it because it’s affirming, It does resonate with some people and that’s cool.
IDOV – I read that you’re a classically trained violinist. Do you ever feel like bringing some of that into the new music?
Tunnel – Actually, yes. For a while I was like, absolutely not! Like, this is not my vibe, but I feel like there’s a song on the full length that I’m working on right now, it’s a little bit more of an interlude track where the vocal tone is at the forefront, but I would like to do some kind of droning with violin or cello. I’ve been messing around with it, but I think I might bring it in.
IDOV – You’’ve lived in DC and you now you live in LA?
Tunnel – Right. I was born and raised in LA, went to DC for school, played in bands, came back.
IDOV – Do you prefer the East Coast or West Coast?
Tunnel – Oh my God. I mean, I would love to live on the East Coast but, then when it comes to shoveling snow, I don’t think I would wanna do that. I think I would just stay in my house and order groceries if that’s a thing, you know? But, I have family in LA and I do like the music scene there, but I feel like I could be just as happy in New York, Philadelphia, maybe Rhode Island or something because there’s like great music communities there.
IDOV – What’s your favorite venue in LA and what’s your favorite venue in DC?
Tunnel – My favorite venue in LA is The Lodge Room. I played there twice. It used to be a Masonic lodge and it has all this history. It’s a beautiful building and it sounds great. I used to work there, actually, I was security so I saw all these bands come through and that was kind of how I got into asking to open for some local and some touring bands.
My favorite venue in DC is Comet Ping Pong. Unfortunately it was the subject of Pizzagate if you remember that. It’s a sensitive topic there but I fucking love that place. The back room is great, they give you pizza buffet if you’re touring. I started going to shows at Comet when I was in college and in punk bands. I saw bands like PC Worship and Naomi Punk and then Big Hush and the guy from that now produces my stuff. So it was pretty seminal for me, figuring out what kind of Sonic Youth adjacent music I liked.
Andrew Chanover, Natasha Janfaza, Mia Lin,
Michael Mastrangelo
Kate Atkinson Photos
IDOV – Having just mentioned Pizzagate, what would go on your signature pizza and what would it be called?
Tunnel – Well, I actually did make a lot of pizza during the pandemic, and my favorite combo was sopressata salami with calabrian chili oil and I would just drizzle it on. It’s really hot but it’s a little bit fruity. Then I would put a couple whole Greek olives on there from Costco, doesn’t have to be super fancy. And then, if I was really feeling it, I would slice up some onion and drizzle with olive oil. I’d call it “Untitled”
IDOV – Final question. What else do you have planned for 2025? It sounds like there’s a full length album somewhere there or maybe some festivals?
Tunnel – There is a full length album in the works. I haven’t told anyone this, so ears open, but it is kind of about the death of my dog and grief and being vulnerable. It’s a metaphor, I guess, for lots of kinds of relationships but it’s just something that is really meaningful to me. My dog was my best friend and now I have a really insane puppy. I feel like he’s a little bit one dimensional but I love him so much.
Hopefully going to do more touring as well and maybe go up north. I would love to go with this lineup to Sacramento and San Francisco again. I’ve always booked these tours myself, but at some point, if someone wants to help, it would be great! How much can a girl do? I’ve got a show in LA on March 19th to finish off this tour so it’s not technically over yet.
I’d really like to thank my band. Half of this was a new lineup because we’ve obviously played with Brendan Canty and all those people before. But in LA I found such a great group of people to play with. I feel so grateful that they were willing to actually do this South By thing on short notice, new drummer (Andrew) and Mia is on guitar and bass. They all have their own projects and they’re just so talented. So shout out to them!
Visit Tunnel’s Bandcamp page to grab some music and merch and follow their Instagram account to get all the latest news on new releases and upcoming concerts.
