Erika Grapes

Erika Grapes (real name Erika Conti) is a singer-songwriter born in Lovere, Italy, from a Hungarian mother and an Italian father. Her path with music starts around the age of 12, when her music teacher at school discovers by accident her clean soprano voice and starts a school chorus with Erika singing solo on the highest parts of a quite difficult version of Hava Nagila. Despite Erika's music teacher's strong suggestions to have her start an opera singing career at the Milan Conservatory, her parents decide to make her continue with her sports hobby instead. At the age of 19 yo, Erika starts singing in different rock bands in Milano, recording jingles for a local radio and the vocal parts of a house song in Spanish. After moving to London, at 23, Erika becomes the singer of a stimulating English indie rock band called Bungalow Purple. The experience lasts for a short time, due to a tragic personal event occurred to Erika before a concert at a venue in Finsbury Park. Under a severe PTDS, Erika decides to quit the band and her singing career for many years, but she can't abandon music itself. In 2007, Erika starts working in the Milano underground rock scene as a promoter and PR both for live venues, a recording company and, from 2011, her own agency. During this long period of time, she writes many poems and a short novel. In 2014, the encounter with a jazz musician, Massimo Mescia, lights back the spark of her need to express her inner landscape through singing. The idea decants for some more years, with an initial plan to find a sound designer for creating a trip hop version of some Billie Holiday songs. In 2020, Erika gets finally in touch with the artist and producer Lorenzo Montanà (also known for his artistic ties to Tying Tiffany and TTL, duo project which got one of his tracks become one of the official trailer soundtracks for the movie The Hunger Games). Erika and Lorenzo work together on a mesmerizing trip hop version of Cigarette's After Sex hit "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby", which sees the light, as Erika's debut single, in April 2021. After the release of the single, Erika gets a sound positive feedback, especially from other fellow artists around the world (India, South Africa, United States) who contact her for duets and collaborations. One of them, Andrea Castelli, (25 albums, 1500 concerts around the globe, former member of Shandon, Melloncek, Ubunto, Firewater and frontman of the Italian rock band Kosmodromo) whom she first met 9 years before when she was promoting Shandon, starts the idea of working together on a few songs. Their first song together (Andrea Castelli as composer of the music and of part of the lyrics, guitar player and producer) is the acoustic original single "Falling Inside Out", which is due out for release on September 19. Erika writes most of the lyrics for Falling Inside Out, an intimate, melancholic yet happy song about the way human beings cope with psychological suffering (escape, OCD, self harm) and how easy it is to calm down and unfold one's wings, once the right formula is found. At the same time, in Swansea, Wales, the artist Alfie Scheinman (former member of Bungalow Purple and much appreciated guitarist, singer, flutist, sculptor and painter) directs the video for "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby" (out on September, 5th). The video is shot partly at the Elysium Art Studios and partly at the Hill Church Cemetery in Swansea. Due to the fact that she is currently located in Milan, Erika is not making an appearance on her video, which, instead, features four characters: two pairs. A gothic couple meeting at a cemetery and a father and daughter dancing a highly emotional choreography. Dancer and choreographer Nick Phillips explains: "The physical motif is one reminiscent of the ‘Three Monkeys: Hear, See and Speak No Evil’. The use of this very recognisable image comes from the idea that to protect someone from hurt is to defend them from evils: What or whoever they are. I like the idea that the ages and differing abilities (one being able-bodied and one being diffabled) lends itself to who is protecting who…Is it a father protecting a daughter and or vice versa maybe... or the societal image of the able-bodied community ‘having’ to protect those less able?". Alfie Scheinman explains his idea behind the video: "Love and loss, protection spiritual connection, not just romantic love but friend love, family love". capturing the mystical and positive, yet bittersweet vibe and intention leading Erika's interpretation.