Ahead of a sold out, full‑blown spectacle at the Camden Underworld, Calva Louise’s Alizon Taho and Ben Parker chat backstage to talk full circle moments, multicultural roots, building everything DIY, and the path that’s brought them here.
Words by Felix Bartlett, photos by Sam Rockman (@rockersalmighty) | April 30, 2026
The Camden Underworld is sold out and the stage is already alive before a note has been played. Televisions flicker behind the kit, the sliding keyboard stand sits ready in the wings, and the queue stretching down Chalk Farm Road is bristling with Venezuelan flags. Tonight is the biggest headline show Calva Louise have ever played, and the trio, made up of Jess Allanic, Alizon Taho and Ben Parker, are about to turn the place inside out.
Before all that, we duck backstage with Alizon and Ben to talk about how the hell they got here. The honest answer? One small step at a time.
How does it feel to be here tonight, playing your biggest headline show in this room?
Ben: Yeah, it’s great. Honestly, it’s such an amazing feeling. I feel super honoured to have fans that have helped us sell the show out. Being here in London, and in Camden especially, is quite special for us because we practised here a lot back when we lived in London. It’s a bit of a full circle moment, which is very cool.
Alizon: I think this is the biggest headline we’ve done.
Ben: Yeah, I think so.
Alizon: So we’re super excited. A bit nervous too, but you know.
You’ve talked in the past about taking every opportunity that came your way in the early days. Looking at where the band was then and where it is now, was there a single moment when you felt the shift, when it started to feel like something bigger?
Alizon: I think each step has been such a small step at a time. It’s just a constant push and grind, so I don’t think there’s a single moment where you look back and go, “oh, this is different now.” Sometimes it takes a night like tonight to make you realise, “okay, so we can actually play that sort of venue and have a sold out show.” But on the way, we just push and push. We don’t really like to turn around.
Ben: It’s always the next thing we’re doing. We’re always looking forward, we’re never really looking back. There’s always something else to do, whether it’s recording, music videos, whatever it is. The growth is incremental, very much so. It’s never super obvious. But when you do take a step back and look at it, it’s like, oh yeah, we have grown.
Alizon: Realistically, we’re doing things that we were dreaming of two years ago. And it’s been like that the whole time, you’re always doing things you were dreaming of a few years before. So we’re super grateful to be able to have these experiences, touring abroad, touring in the UK, getting to play in front of all these people and meet them too.
A huge part of Calva Louise’s identity is the cultural mix: Venezuela, France, New Zealand. How does that melding of cultures come through in the writing and the music?
Ben: Jess writes the songs, and especially in the last couple of records she’s drawn a lot from her Latin roots and those influences. But our influences seep through too, just in the way we play our instruments. That comes from what we listened to growing up. It’s all present in the songs. It just happens.
Alizon: It’s funny, because on paper the mix doesn’t make any sense. You’re like, wait a minute, traditional Venezuelan music, with British instruments, all sorts of things. And it just works. It’s coherent. You create as a unit and it still works. We love bands like System of a Down who blend genres. Even then, I don’t think it’s purposeful. Jess doesn’t sit there thinking, “oh, I’m going to add this and mix these things.” It’s just what comes out.
Ben: It has to be.
Alizon: That’s what we love about it, how genuine what she writes is. And when it’s our turn to put our little touch on with our instruments, we can add to that too. With such a broad spectrum of influences, there’s so much space for creativity.
Ben: It’s funny with the multicultural thing as well, because people are talking about it now more than ever. For us it’s just normal. We met each other and we formed the band. We’ve grown as a band, but we haven’t taken a second look at that, that’s just who we are. It is a weird story. It’s not a normal progression.
You don’t even share a hometown.
Ben: We don’t really have a hometown, so to speak. So it is very, very odd when you make us look at ourselves like this.
Jess’s world is so distinctly visual, especially with the VFX side of things. How does it feel being brought into that cinematic world and seeing the final products come together?
Alizon: It’s really brilliant. We love watching what’s going to come out, because we all shoot everything together as a small team. We write the script and direct the videos, but I’ll hold the camera, we’ll all do things, and these are our friends. So we all have a good idea of what it’s going to be. But then Jess takes it away and edits it with VFX, and it becomes a whole new thing that’s just as exciting for us to see, to discover.
Ben: She’ll sit down on the computer and you don’t see it for a week, and then she’ll be like, “look at this.”
What’s been one of the craziest things you’ve seen come back from the edit?
Alizon: Recently, on one of the latest videos for “Tunnel Vision”. We managed to get a super nice 90s car from a friend of a friend, with Vittoria in it. The problem is, obviously, you can’t really be driving it super fast, so we had to be careful. Vittoria was playing the role of driving the car in the video, but obviously she had to drive super slow. Jess just managed to make it look like she’s flying. These little things, you might not realise when you watch the video, but we know what it was like on the day. Being able to do all those tricks and edits to give it that power, it’s really impressive.
Stepping away from the visuals for a second. Is there a song, new or old, that you resonate with the most? What’s the meaning behind it?
Ben: For me it’s probably “Con Corazón”, which translates to “with heart”. It’s about walking a path with heart, which is what we’ve done. We’ve come up against many odds along the way and we don’t have a massive team. Everything’s DIY, the videos, the music, the records, the tour. Even the lights tonight, I made them all. Just being on that path together and overcoming things is powerful. I think a lot of people resonate with that.
Alizon: I’d agree with that. It makes sense. It’s like a way to live. You’re going to get in trouble regardless, no matter what you do in life, no matter which path you take. So you might as well take the path that’s going to give you reward and get you fulfilled, doing things for the right reason and with integrity.
You’ve chased it, you’ve conquered it, you’ve carved this path. What’s next? Touring, releases, all of it?
Alizon: We’ve got a lot going on for the rest of the year. We’re doing a few festivals in Europe, a few French festivals coming up. Then in August we’re going to the US to support Bad Omens for a month.
Ben: It’s the US and Canada.
Alizon: Which we’ve never been to. So that’s super cool.
Ben: Yeah, I’ve never been to Canada.
Alizon: Very excited to go. Then a festival in Spain, and in October we’re doing our first headline tour in Spain. So we’re going to France and Spain in October, which we’re really looking forward to. Being able to play to a Spanish‑speaking audience means so much, because you can tell everyone connects to the lyrics, to the songs. So we’re very much looking forward to it.
Last one. You’ve come up under pretty unusual circumstances. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to bands starting out, or one lesson you’ve learned from your own experience?
Ben: Fail better. Don’t be afraid to get things wrong, and if you do, don’t give up. It sounds super cheesy, but just try again, get better. Always try new things.
Alizon: Keep trying things out, but actually do it. There’s only so much you can sit down and think about something without actually making it. Whether it’s writing a song, making a video, building something, you’ve just got to try and do it, and it’ll get better each time. But you have to take the first step. I’ve seen so many people get stuck behind the thinking phase, and it’s a shame, because things need to exist even if they’re not perfect.
Leave a Reply