Album de la Semaine : Daughter - Not To Disappear

Daughter
Not To Disappear

Interview de Daughter, par Ilana Kaplan de Interview Magazine

ILANA KAPLAN: It's been three years since your debut came out. Can you tell me about what the writing and recording process was like for you this time around?

ELENA TONRA: We officially started writing it about two years ago. We had come off touring for an extensive and intense amount of time. We stopped touring as much, we rented a space, and put all of our instruments, microphones and equipment in this space and made it a writing and demo-ing situation. It was great because we could go in at any hour we liked and if we had any ideas, we could make them there. That was kind of the start of the process. Each song had a different way of coming about. In some, the music was written first while others it was the lyrics. We didn't want to overthink anything too much—we just wanted to, writing-wise, chuck out as many ideas as possible. It was really cool that we had a lot of different stuff going on in our heads. There were some tracks that were really far away from what we've done before and some that were really folky, and others that didn't make it onto the records.

IGOR HAEFELI: This time around, we got to cherry pick.

REMI AGUILELLA: We went in the studio with a pretty clear idea of what we wanted to do. There was more preparation in terms of not having to freak out in the studio as much.

KAPLAN: If You Leave, was extremely melancholy. I think anyone who has heard it probably cried at some point during it. Do you think Not To Disappear will have the same effect? Is there an upbeat side to this record?

TONRA: It's a bit different. For me, there's stuff that's sad because it's such a personal record. I'm not sure, if you're the listener, if it'll have the same effect. Our first record was maybe more emotional because it wasn't really a breakup album, but it was that weird 'pre-everything going to shit' album. I think that sentiment was beautifully recognized by people saying I feel the same way. This record is a bit more aggressive and lyrically, I think it's a bit more straightforward. I don't think there's as much poetic license or hiding places within my lyrics. It's quite direct about my feelings.

KAPLAN: Why do you think that is?

TONRA: I don't know, actually. To be fair, it really worried me initially because I was writing very stream of consciousness stuff. I just wasn't writing the same way, and I really worried that I couldn't write anymore. I worried that it was the end of the band. [laughs] I just had to embrace that what I'm thinking and feeling is more confident, in a way. It's confident in its lack of confidence.

HAEFELI: It's definitely about Elena finding strength in the lyrics on Not To Disappear. To me, the title evokes coming from a place where you've nearly faded away and trying to fight back.

TONRA: There's always fighting and bringing that person out of a miserable hole on the first album.

KAPLAN: Do you mean disappearing from depression?

TONRA: I think disappearing in different ways. You can disappear inside of yourself and become an empty shell with depression in mind. It's that feeling of being invisible. Sometimes when I wake up I don't feel like my head is attached to my body—there's nothing. On "Numbers" it's basically a repeating mantra of ‘I feel numb.' It's not disappearing in that sense, and it's not disappearing in an artistic sense—trying to make something beautiful that means something. If it's something beautiful that means something just to us, that's enough.

AGUILELLA: I think we talk a lot about reminiscing about alienation and looking through a specific person's eyes. I think it's figuratively disappearing, but not so much in your entire self.

TONRA: You can take it in all different ways.

KAPLAN: What's the most personal thing you've written about thus far?

TONRA: Everything is super personal. Basically all of the songs are 'this is my life and what I feel about it.' That's how my brain works and thinks about things. It's really strange because I never really think about what I want to write about—it sort of just comes out. I literally say whatever is in my brain. "Doing The Right Thing" is a song that was really hard because I started writing it and wasn't really thinking about it. I just started spouting out whatever I could think of and it became this song about my grandmother and my mother. It was something I didn't realize affected me as much as I thought. I find it interesting when I look back at songs and it's what I've been thinking and feeling for the past two years. There's some sexual stuff in this record and I'm sometimes like, "Is that too far?" There's a confidence in it. It's over-sharing, but in a really therapeutic way.

KAPLAN: There's obviously the sophomore slump idea that second records are often a disappointment to fans. Does that concern you guys?

TONRA: I think we try to let it not concern us. There's this weird pressure also because our first album totally exceeded everything we expected; we didn't really think people would be as beautiful and kind about it as they were. For us, that was really surprising and amazing. Now, we're going into the second album and trying not to compare it to the first album and seeing it as a completely new stage. If you have that outlet—and we shouldn't confine ourselves to music or genre—it's really great because you can literally do whatever you want. Obviously now that it's finished, we're thinking of the technical side of things.

AGUILELLA: I think you need to trust your sensibilities. We're all coming from different directions, and it just ends up being what it is. If we're happy with it, then that's a big achievement. We do it quite selfishly in a way—for our pleasure. It's amazing people relate to it. I think Elena's lyrics have a lot to do with it.

HAEFELI: We had played the songs from the first album over and over again and some of them became more aggressive on stage. I think that, in an interesting way, influenced our second album.

KAPLAN: When we spoke two years ago, Elena, you and Igor were romantically involved. Are you two still together? How has that affected the music?

HAEFELI: No. It's worked out as a record. It wasn't an easy record to make—maybe a little bit of it is how that change happened. Maybe it's what brought us together in another way, as friends. We're still very creative together.

AGUILELLA: Because you guys weren't together, space had a lot to do with the making of this record. Being further away to concentrate on something that didn't have to do with the band was good. It was a healthy way of dealing with music and life, rather than being in a tour bus all together. It was needed.

KAPLAN: It's very admirable. How did you decide on releasing "Doing The Right Thing" as the first single?

TONRA: It was quite hard for us to decide. When you're making something, you obviously like every song. It's sort of like what song represents the album or what song represents the change we made, musically. We had a couple of people who were like, 'we love this song!'

AGUILELLA: I just think it's just a nice song to start with.

Line Up :

Elena Tonra
Igor Haefeli
Remi Aguilella

Label :

4AD

Tracklist :

01 – New Ways
02 – Numbers
03 – Doing the Right Thing
04 – How
05 – Mothers
06 – Alone With You
07 – No Care
08 – To Belong
09 – Fossa
10 – Made of Stone

Album de la Semaine : Kokomo - Monochrome Noise Love

Kokomo
Monochrome Noise Love

Interview de Kokomo, par Post-Rock

P-R: How did Kokomo started as a band? Have you guys played in other bands before and if so, what genre of music was it?

Oliver: We started playing together in April 2008 after the old bands of us disbanded. At this time Rene and I were really in to instrumental music and had started to set up post-rock shows in our hometown Duisburg. Benni and Tobias joined in after their former folk band called it quits. Soon some songs evolved and we named the band Kokomo.

P-R: How did you come up with the name for the band and what does it mean?

Oliver: It is taken from a novel called “Torture The Artist” by Joey Goebel.

P-R: Do you have other projects or are you fully dedicated to Kokomo?

Rene: The are no other band projects, as I know. But we started to build up a studio in our hometown, where bands like us can get a chance to record their albums. This project is quite huge and also takes a lot time and sadly a lot money as well. But all in the band are really into that project and I hope, that it will be finished in the beginning of the next year.

P-R: At next year’s Dunk!Fest you are releasing your new album via Dunk! Records. What brings new this album compared to your last two?

Rene: This is a really good question and I think that we ourselves are the most interested in giving an answer to that question, but at least, the album is not written and recorded yet, so I really can’t say what it is going to sound like. But I think this time, we gonna try to get a bit deeper. I don’t mean the tuning, which is deeper as well. What I’m talking about is the way to write these songs and regarding all the details. Everything just needs to fit together.

P-R: I haven’t seen any official videos from Kokomo. Do you have in plan to release one with the new album or are you just not interested in having a music video?

Rene: Well, I would not say, that we are not interested in having a music video, its more the problem, that we’re already so busy with writing songs and touring around, besides our work and university, that its almost very hard to start even more projects. But if anyone would be interested in doing a video with us … By the way, I’m also very into that youtube-video, in which somebody put a song from our first album together with a clip from a Russian football match.

P-R: You have a song called Arcade Romania, can you please tell us the story behind that track? Is it related to your trip in Romania for the concert you held here almost three years ago?

Rene: Yes it is. When we came to Romania three years ago, we were very excited and got very childish. We were on the road with our van and Oliver was driving. There were massive holes in the road and we started to count the holes he droves through, so it becomes kind of a video game. The shows which we played in Romania were one of the most emotional ones for us, so we decided to name one of our songs after that country, which really means a lot to all of us.

P-R: Do you have in plan an East-European tour in the near future, promoting the new album?

Oliver: March or April!

P-R: Do you mind being considered an underground band, playing small venues? Or would you rather live “the rock star dream”?

Rene: I would definitely prefer the small venues and being an underground band, if you can say so. The scene and all the people, putting their passion and love in several projects, and getting in touch with these scene and even take a small part in it, is the best drive a band like us could have. I think, there is only this wish to drive in night liner to one show … A show in venue for 20 people.

P-R: What are your plans with Kokomo in the future?

Tobias: Living the rock star dream!

Line Up :

Oliver Ludley 

Rene Schwenk 

Tobias Stieler 

Benjamin Hellig 

Ansgar Koenig

Label :

Dunk Records

Tracklist :

01 – Pills And Pillows
02 – Kill The Captain, Feed The Fishes
03 – Monochrome Noise Love
04 – LichtStaub
05 – Juengling Mit Apfel
06 – Beware of Pity
07 – I Am Bill Murray
08 – I Am Not Dead
09 – Me vs. Myself
10 – Deathmaster Danger Dance

Album de la Semaine : Tindersticks - The Waiting Room

Tindersticks
The Waiting Room

Interview de Tindersticks, par Emmanuel Stradanica de Sound Of Violence

Cet album est probablement le plus expérimental que les Tindersticks aient sorti, bandes-originales de films exclues. Tu es d'accord avec ça ?

Ça me fait plaisir que tu me poses cette question. Je pense que l'écriture des trois albums précédents a constitué une véritable reconstruction pour le groupe. Lorsqu'on s'est arrêtés en 2003 et qu'on a redémarré en 2007, cela a vraiment été un redémarrage. Je pense que c'était une bonne chose car ça a permis de nous dire : On existe enfin à nouveau en tant que groupe! A partir de là, nous nous sommes donnés du temps pour expérimenter les choses, pour trouver une certaine excitation à cette création musicale et pour savoir la faire fonctionner. Ce fut un vrai challenge pour nous tous. Aucune des chansons deThe Waiting Room n'a été facile à terminer. Il a fallu tous ensemble nous donner à fond pour les achever. C'est pour cela que je suis content que tu réagisses de la sorte, et j'espère que bon nombre de personnes auront cette même réaction à l'écoute du disque. Il était temps pour nous de passer à autre chose.

Quelle fut justement la chanson de l'album la plus difficile à terminer ?

La plus difficile de toutes fut probablement Hey Lucinda, notamment à cause de la très, très longue histoire qu'il y a derrière. Mais d'une manière très différente, The Waiting Room est une chanson qui fut très difficile à terminer. Je tenais à ce qu'il y ait davantage de musique, davantage d'instruments sur cette chanson, mais celle-ci rejetait d'elle-même ce que je souhaitais lui ajouter, et restait déterminée à se montrer rigide et douloureuse, et magnifique également. Je voulais lui enlever sa peine, qu'elle soit plus douce, mais je n'ai pas réussi. Ce fut une sacrée épreuve de pouvoir la terminer.

Les parties vocales de Hey Lucinda ont été enregistrées il y a pas mal d'années déjà. Pourquoi a-t-il fallut attendre aussi longtemps pour qu'elle puisse figurer sur un album ? Elle n'aurait pas pu se trouver sur The Something Rain ?

Quand j'ai chanté cette chanson avec Lhasa De Sela, elle était heureuse. Et pour moi cela ne collait pas avec la chanson. Je n'arrivais pas à la comprendre. Puis Lhasa est tombée malade peu de temps après, et elle nous a quittés. Il m'était alors devenu impossible de la réécouter. J'ai eu besoin de l'éloigner de moi à cause du mal qu'elle me faisait. L'année dernière, j'ai commencé à y repenser. J'ai enfin réussi à la réécouter. Dans ma tête, je l'ai comprise d'une manière tout à fait différente. Hey Lucinda est maintenant très différente de la version enregistrée avec Lhasa. Nous avons retiré la musique de la version originale et nous avons reconstruit l'environnement musical autour des voix. C'est comme si la chanson vivait à nouveau. Musicalement, même au moment de The Something Rain, il n'aurait pas été possible de la récréer de la sorte. Il nous a fallu cette compréhension musicale pour pouvoir la terminer et enfin aboutir au résultat qui figure sur The Waiting Room. Tour le travail que nous avons abattu ces dernières années sur les bandes originales de films ou la musique composée pour le musée a constitué de toutes nouvelles expériences pour nous. Nous avons rejoué en acoustique, ce qui ne nous était plus arrivé depuis des années. Tout cela a permis d'arriver à Hey Lucinda.

The Waiting Room débute avec Follow Me, un petit instrumental, semblable à un réveil matinal. Cela sonne un peu comme une suite à toutes les bandes originales que vous avez composées. Pourquoi avoir choisi de commencer l'album ainsi ?

L'album aurait dû commencer avec Second Chance Man, Follow Me en est d'ailleurs une partie. Nous avons dû les dissocier afin de leur donner respectivement plus d'espace. La mélodie provient de la bande originale du film Les Révoltés du Bounty deMarlon Brando. C'est une mélodie qui nous a accompagnés depuis huit ans déjà. Parfois je la chantais en marchant dans la rue. C'était en moi depuis si longtemps, aussi nous avons décidé qu'était venu le moment de la sortir. Nous avons travaillé dessus et tout est venu très rapidement. Ce fut la dernière chanson que nous enregistré pour l'album.

Au fond de moi, il y a un très grand souhait de réaliser un album instrumental.

C'est le disque sur lequel tu chantes le moins. Il y a trois instrumentaux dessus. Pourrais-tu un jour sérieusement considérer d'arrêter de chanter ? (rires)

Non. Mais au fond de moi, il y a un très grand souhait de réaliser un album instrumental. Le groupe aimerait cela également. Lorsque j'ai commencé à faire de la musique, j'ai acheté un lecteur cassette, puis un autre, ainsi qu'un microphone, et j'ai commencé à chanter. Je pense que j'ai toujours voulu atteindre la place musicale que j'occupe. Je joue de la guitare et je chante. Cela fait partie de moi. Certaines personnes m'ont donné l'envie de chanter. Ian Curtis par exemple, ou Nick Cave. Ce sont des chanteurs qui n'auraient jamais dû chanter qui m'ont donnée cette envie. Certes Nick Cave est un grand chanteur, mais il n'était pas né pour devenir chanteur. Ils avaient tous tellement de désir en eux de devenir chanteurs, d'être connectés avec les gens, qu'ils le sont devenus. C'est ce qui a ouvert le monde à moi. C'est un peu comme rendre quelque chose magnifique sans qu'elle ait quoi que ce soit de beau (rires). Tant de personnes au début des années 80 se sont libérées en montrant combien ils avaient de l'imagination, sans savoir bien jouer ou savoir chanter. Cela a constitué un véritable point de départ pour moi. Je suis heureux d'exister dans le monde de la musique. Mais ça n'a jamais été mon intention première.

Je pensais que la bande originale du film Les Salauds et son côté électronique vous auraient davantage influencé pour la suite...

On avait vraiment pris beaucoup de plaisir à composer cette bande originale, et quand l'occasion se présentera à nouveau, ce sera avec un immense plaisir. Mais les chansons de The Waiting Room proviennent d'un autre endroit. Quand nous préparons un album, le but n'est pas juste de satisfaire le moment présent. Nous sommes une formation unie, et notre but est d'harmoniser nos compositions tous ensemble. Pour moi, il est très important qu'il y ait une réelle cohésion entre nous tous, qu'on se comprenne et qu'on aille dans la même direction. Nous ne voulions pas sortir ce qui pourrait s'apparenter à quelque chose d'abstrait musicalement, comme la bande originale pour Les Salauds.The Waiting Room est vraiment le travail commun de cinq artistes. 

Waiting For The Moon, The Waiting Room, il y a une notion de temps chez les Tindersticks ?(Rires)

Je n'avais pas pensé à cela (rires). La partie que j'aime dans The Waiting Room est celle qui est la plus sombrement orchestrée. C'est très accompli. Quand tu penses à un album, tu penses à la vibration qu'il procure. Cette vibration n'était pas très bonne lorsque nous avons réalisé Waiting For The Moon. Mais en même temps, il y a vraiment de très belles chansons dessus. Mais non, vraiment, je n'avais pas du tout pensé à cette notion de temps lorsque nous avons enregistré The Waiting Room.

Il y avait déjà un âne sur la pochette de Can Our Love... et c'est à nouveau le cas sur The Waiting Room. Vous avez un rapport particulier avec cet animal ? (rires)

Je ne sais pas. Il y a toujours eu quelque chose avec les ânes pour les Tindersticks. Cette tête d'âne, je l'ai achetée il y a quelques années de cela, et c'est un peu mon alter-ego. Ma femme trouve que je suis une personne plus sympa lorsque je porte cette tête d'âne (rires). Nous avons une relation avec Richard Dumas depuis vingt ans. Il y a une énorme confiance entre nous, pas seulement personnellement mais également en termes de créativité. J'ai présenté ce caractère, cet âne, à Richard et tout a changé à ce moment-là. L'album devait initialement s'appeler We Are Dreamers, et avoir une pochette très spécifique, mais lorsque j'ai vu les photos de cette session de Richard, tout est devenu évident. C'est irrésistible. L'album s'appelle The Waiting Room et la connexion la plus complète avec cette pochette, cette image, ce style, cela constitue une étape supplémentaire dans la connexion avec la musique. Il y a tant de choses derrière cette photo. Elle est ridicule, triste mais aussi en même temps pleine d'espoir.

Planting Holes aurait pu conclure l'album comme celui-ci avait commencé, avec un instrumental. Mais finalement, il y a deux autres chansons ensuite. Est-ce que l'ordre des morceaux a été compliqué à établir ?

C'est toujours difficile de donner un ordre spécifique aux chansons. Mais je crois que redémarrer après cet instrumental constitue quelque chose d'audacieux. The Waiting Room est une chanson tellement intense, tellement douloureuse et je pense qu'elle n'a pas la même puissance que We Are Dreamers. Elle avait besoin d'entrer dans un espace plus ouvert tel que Planting Holes et permet ainsi à We Are Dreamers d'obtenir l'impact qu'elle mérite en se situant en avant dernière chanson de l'album. Cela nous permet aussi de rebondir une fois encore avec une chanson plus douce pour cette fois mettre un terme à The Waiting Room. On s'est longtemps demandé s'il était possible de rester aussi minimal sur le disque, parce que pendant pas sept minutes,(du début de The Waiting Room à la fin de Planting Holes) il ne se passe relativement rien (rires).

Je pense que les cordes sont très importantes pour certaines de nos chansons.

Avez-vous abandonné les cordes ?

Il y a davantage de cordes que sur The Something Rain. Je ne sais même plus s'il y a vraiment des cordes sur The Something Rain. Ah oui je me souviens. J'étais très content de réaliser un album sans section de cordes. Je pense que les cordes sont très importantes pour certaines de nos chansons comme How He Entered car rien d'autre ne pourrait les remplacer. Nous avons cherché une section de cordes très spécifique pour que des chansons compliquées puissent fonctionner, puis nous l'avons laissée de côté, avant d'y revenir, notamment pour la bande son du musée. Nous sommes très exigeants en ce sens. C'est pour cela que parfois nous devons nous en passer.

A la Philharmonie de Paris, vous aviez repris Into The Night et dernièrement vous avez contribué à l'hommage à David Lynch, une fois encore à la Philharmonie. Quand vous aviez fait cette première reprise de Julee Cruise, saviez-vous déjà qu'il y aurait ce projet musical autour de David Lynch ?

En fait, c'est parce qu'on a fait cette reprise de Into The Night que je me suis replongé dans l'album de Julee Cruise (Floating Into The Night), qui est un disque absolument exceptionnel. Il sonne toujours aussi unique et fantastique comme au moment de la première fois que tu l'écoutes. Nous avons donné quatre concerts au moment de la Philharmonie et j'ai beaucoup répété cette chanson à ce moment-là. Ce fut si facile à reprendre, je n'en reviens toujours pas. C'est vraiment génial d'avoir une telle chanson dans notre répertoire live. C'est sans pression aucune.

Vous la conserverez dans la setlist de vos prochains concerts?

Je pense que oui. J'aimerai aussi rejouer Falling car j'ai pris énormément de plaisir à la jouer lors de l'hommage à David Lynch. Pour moi, chanter une chanson de Julee Cruise c'est quelque chose de très naturel, même si nous avons des voix complétement différentes. (rires)

As-tu prévu de sortir un nouvel album solo ?

Lorsque j'ai composé mes albums solos, c'était un moment très excitant mais c'était également très compliqué avec les Tindersticks. J'avais besoin de sortir ces disques en solo pour réaliser qui j'étais sans eux, et de pouvoir faire des choix. Si tout s'était toujours bien passé entre nous, il n'y aurait jamais eu d'albums solo. Mais en ce moment, il y a un excellent rapport sur tous les plans entre nous. Aussi il n'y pas aucune raison pour que je m'échappe une fois encore en solo. Je me sens très bien entouré de ce groupe.

Line Up :

Stuart Staples
David Boulter
Neil Fraser
Dan McKinna
Earl Harvin

Label :

Lucky Dog/City Slang

Tracklist :

01 – Follow Me
02 – Second Chance Man
03 – Were We Once Lovers
04 – Help Youself
05 – Hey Lucinda
06 – This Fear of Emptiness
07 – How He Entered
08 – The Waiting Room
09 – Planting Holes
10 – We Are Dreamers!
11 – Like Only Lovers Can

Album de la Semaine : Dewolff - Roux-Ga-Roux

Dewolff
Roux-Ga-Roux

Interview de Dewolff, par Michael Limnios de Blues GR

What do you learn about yourself from the acid rock & blues culture and what does the blues mean to you?

Acid Rock isn’t really that big of an influence for us. Blues rock is; I think all the music we listen to could be described as blues rock. There’s all these guys in the 60’s that listened to old blues records and did something completely new with it. And these ain’t no baby steps; these are huge leaps! Music changed radically. I don’t think music has ever evolved so fast as in the period between 1965 and 1975 and even today that is very inspiring. What we learned from that is that an individual’s approach to music makes it unique. Eric Clapton might wanted to sound like BB King but he didn’t: he sounded like Eric Clapton. That’s because he approached this music in his very own way, he made it heavier and just followed his gut feel and it turned out to be great. We don’t care if music is “hip” or not, we just follow our hearts. We are influenced by a lot of bands from the 60’s and 70’s but we don’t try to copy their sound or anything. The music we play comes out naturally.

How do you describe DeWolff sound and songbook? What characterize band’s philosophy?

Our sound and songs have changed a lot over the years. We started out just jamming. We’d have a riff and we’d play it until we were bored and then we decided there should be some lyrics and than back to the riff. At one point we really felt a strong urge to write actual “songs”, you know; ones with a verse, chorus, bridge, etc. We tried that, in our own way, and we really like the albums that these songs are on. But when we wanted to play them live it just didn’t feel right. Then we got a big new inspiration; Southern Rock. We started listening to Leon Russell, Little Feat, Allman Brothers and after a while these influences could be heard in our playing. We had grown as instrumentalists and songwriters and then Grand Southern Electric was written; it’s the perfect balance between riffs, songwriting and lyrics. It’s Southern Rock meets Psychedelic Rock, or whatever you wanna call it. And now we’ve recorded a new album; ROUX-GA-ROUX and this we consider our ultimate work to date! We recorded it in our own studio on analog tape and it’s filled with electrifying riffs, nasty grooves and psychedelic sound effects!

"I’d go to Los Angeles on a Friday somewhere in 1970, to London somewhere in 1967 or to Muscle Shoals, Alabama on a Tuesday in 1968… Hmm, I don’t know yet. I’d definitely stay the whole day, maybe even a week, baby!" (Photo by Melanie Marsman)

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

Oh man, there’s so many of ‘em! Somebody should have filmed it all; it would be a 5-hour long comedy movie! Like this time we played in a church and then suddenly the stage was full of piglets, then we heard the voice of God say something in French and all the piglets turned into pickles. The funny thing is that if you lick them, they turn into T-Shirts. So we licked all of the pickles (except for one) and sold these T-Shirts at our merchandise stand.  The remaining pickle we sent to a museum and we got a lot of money for it. Then some guy from Argentina stole it and invested in a company called Rubber Yacht. It wasn’t a success and all the money disappeared. It was hilarious!

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

What I miss very much is bands with musicians that have a unique sound, technique or some other unique quality. Musicianship is a craft and I can get great pleasure out of listening to a “musical craftsman”. Someone like Peter Green for example; you hear him and you instantly hear it’s Peter Green because he has this amazing tone, phrasing, technique, everything. Nowadays a lot of musicians (definitely not all of them) seem to master their instrument for only 50%: the other 50% relies on effects, digital editing, metronomes, backing tracks, samples… Take all of that away and there’s not much left! What I miss is a couple of guys picking up an instrument and playing their hearts out and just making great music together! My fear is that this will become a rarity and all music will be made by computers. If that happens I’ll fucking move to Mars.

Make an account of the case of blues rock in Netherlands. Which is the most interesting period in local scene?

A couple of years ago things in The Netherlands really didn’t look that well, band-wise. Now there are actually a lot of cool bands around in the Netherlands! De Staat, Maison Du Malheur, Breaking Levees, Joe Madman & The Sidewalkers, Jett Rebel, Birth of Joy, Texas Radio, they are all very different bands but they’re all very cool and they all understand the power and soul of music.

"We don’t care if music is “hip” or not, we just follow our hearts. We are influenced by a lot of bands from the 60’s and 70’s but we don’t try to copy their sound or anything. The music we play comes out naturally."

What are the lines that connect the legacy of Blues with Acid Rock and continue to Southern Boogie and beyond?

Disco, baby! Oh wait… I don’t think musicians really care if they’re making Acid Rock or Southern Boogie or Acid Disco Minimal Doom Psych Kraut Fusion Blues Core; it’s labels that are being put on them so that people in a record store or online have some kind of idea of what the music is about. And it’s cool because it’s handy, but I don’t think there are very strong boundaries between all the music I love. I mean, there obviously is a big difference between The Band and Led Zeppelin, for example, but even these two bands come from the same thing; blues. And blues for me is not thinking about clever marketing, money, being rich and famous, but just grabbing a guitar and play the motherfucker.

What is the impact of psychedelic rock & blues music and culture to the racial and socio-cultural implications?

Back in the day I think it really connected people from all kinds of different backgrounds; white people, black people, everyone. But in the end it failed because everything, also music, was separated again. You know; rock music for white people and Hip Hop music for black people. It’s a pity because we could all learn so much from each other, and again all of this music has one origin: the blues.

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

I’d go to Los Angeles on a Friday somewhere in 1970, to London somewhere in 1967 or to Muscle Shoals, Alabama on a Tuesday in 1968… Hmm, I don’t know yet. I’d definitely stay the whole day, maybe even a week, baby!

Line Up :

Pablo van de Poel

Luka van de Poel

Robin Piso

Label :

Electrosaurus Records

Tracklist :

01 – Roux-Ga-Roux
02 – Black Cat Woman
03 – Sugar Moon
04 – Baby’s Got a Temper
05 – What’s the Measure of a Man
06 – Easy Money
07 – Lucid
08 – Stick It to the Man
09 – Tired of Loving You
10 – Love Dimension
11 – Toux-Da-Loux