Local band Asi Fui’s frontwoman, Tatiana Velazquez, and guitarist, Miguel Vazquez, both lost their jobs due to the pandemic, forcing them to make the difficult decision to move out of their home in Long Beach to live with family.
“It was a scary first month with no income,” Velazquez said. “We feel very lucky to even have staying with family as an option, and are focusing on the light in all of this change.”
The light being that Velazquez has been able to dedicate her full attention to art, music and new skills, including how to edit videos for the band, spending more time creating under her artist moniker, Baked Papaya, and finding opportunities to generally “step it up.”
Enter “How You Be?” with Asi Fui, a series of weekday conversations broadcasted to Instagram Live, with Velazquez interviewing artists similarly coping with new circumstances under COVID throughout the entire month of May.
“I’ve always been interested in other people’s creative process, and found this to be a good opportunity to ask and share with others,” Velazquez said. “I reached out to a few at first, but then it became a full-on schedule since I couldn’t stop booking.”
Her guests, a group of artists already a part of her creative sphere in Long Beach and Los Angeles, range from musicians and DJs including Rudy De Anda, Brainstory, 2Mex, Brandon Eugene Owens to visual artists including Bodeck Hernandez and Pvnk Picasso and event organizers from her former place of work, Smorgasburg LA, as well as Beat Swap Meet.
And while “How You Be?” comes complete with promotional materials, flyers announcing the times and dates of upcoming shows and a consistent, approachable format through Instagram Live, Velazquez describes the project’s impetus quite humbly, as if not to scare herself off with the potential of just how meaningful these talks may soon become.
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“The main reason I chose the format was because I was curious how other artists were creatively adapting to the pandemic,” said Velazquez. “I didn’t think about it as much as an interview, but more like a chat or conversation.”
There is no performance by Asi Fui during any of the live conversations either, it’s solely an exchange of thoughts and ideas from the people fans would normally see performing on a stage, Velazquez said. So far, she’s “having lots of fun with it while getting to touch base and learn about some amazing artists,” albeit not without a couple hiccups.
There’s an occasional lag in connection when live streaming, and then there’s the challenge of hiding from her five-year-old nephew, who you can hear singing in the background of one of Asi Fui’s recent episodes (musical expression runs in the family).
Despite the setback of stay-at-home orders—Asi Fui went from practicing together in the studio four times a week to not being able to see each other at all over the past two months—the band, a three-person outfit comprised of singer/songwriter and bassist Velazquez, her partner and guitarist Vazquez and drummer Ryan Reiff, have kept quite busy.
They’re getting ready to release a new EP and are preparing to shoot a video with a concept allowing them to film from their homes. And while Asi Fui’s Instagram Live chats don’t involve them performing, you can catch them playing “together” on May 19 on Events in LBC’s Instagram page @eventsinlbc at 7 p.m.
“It’s hard to know when live shows will be back, so we are continuing to write and think of ways to progress our vision,” Velazquez said. “How You Be?” with Asi Fui is just one of those ways.
Watch “How You Be?” with Asi Fui on Instagram Live @asifui Monday through Friday at 12 p.m. throughout the entire month of May. Instagram Live videos are only available to watch for 24 hours after being recorded, so make sure to tune in before noon the next day.