Jay-Jay Johanson em entrevista: "Sempre fui muito influenciado por autorretratos"

Em vésperas de mais uma tour em Portugal, pelas mãos do Grupo Chiado (com concertos agendados para Lisboa a 28 de setembro no LAV) e do Auditório de Espinho - cidade onde atua a 12 de outubro - Jay-Jay Johanson regressa ao país para apresentar o mais recente disco de estúdio e décimo na carreira, Kings Kross. Em mote da sua vinda aproveitámos para entrevistar este músico, de estilo inconfundível, com uma história consagrada no cenário do indie-pop/trip hop - que contempla mais de 20 anos de carreira.

Aproveitem para ler a entrevista na íntegra abaixo.


Threshold Magazine (TM) - Em 1996, no álbum Whiskey, na altura um jovem (27 anos) cantava "I'm Older Now". Em 2019, perto dos 50 anos, o que nos vai cantar? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Haha! Eu completei 50 anos no ano passado, em outubro... e essa letra encaixa-se cada vez melhor no meu reportório, à medida que vou ficando mais velho.

TM - Recentemente, com o EP Smoke, o Jay-Jay criou uma versão de um tema que se tornou atemporal: "Love Will Tear Us Apart". O que gostaríamos de saber é porquê este tema em 2019? Existe algum motivo especial para a escolha neste momento da sua carreira? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Não, não especificamente... Sentei-me ao piano, como costumo fazer, a improvisar com este arpeggio e a cantar ao mesmo tempo. 

TM - Percebemos que Portugal faz parte dos roteiros musicais das suas tours. Existe uma explicação para isso? Considerando que, recentemente, alguns VIPs também demonstraram interesse por este "jardim à beira-mar planatado", poderíamos, por exemplo, relembrar o tema "Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Paris"? Devemos esperar por "Lisboa" também? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Bem, Portugal e o povo português têm sido tão generosos comigo desde que comecei, obviamente que voltarei sempre, tentando ser o mais generoso possível em troca. E sim, porque não,  um dia poder haver uma música sobre uma cidade portuguesa ou um lugar... 



TM - Ao olhar para as capas dos seus discos notamos que são autorretratos. Alguma razão para isso? Às vezes, associamos isso à metamorfose do trabalho de David Bowie... Existe alguma afinidade ou intenção semelhante? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Sempre fui muito influenciado por autorretratos. Desde os tempos em que os velhos mestres gostavam de Van Gogh até à arte moderna com Andy Warhol. Na escola de arte fizemos muitos autorretratos e o meu diário é realmente como o meu autorretrato escrito e, a maioria das minhas letras nascem no meu diário. Tento ser o mais íntimo possível e explorar os meus sentimentos na minha música, de modo que autorretratos como imagem de capa é a maneira mais natural de mostrar o que realmente está no disco. Somente se um dia eu fizer um álbum instrumental, talvez eu tenha uma pintura abstrata ou algo diferente na capa ... 

TM - Recordando o filme francês Intouchables e sabendo que o Jay-Jay Johanson tem algum apelo pelo idioma francês, quem escolheria ou com quem gostaria de cantar em dueto? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Oh, essa pergunta apanhou-me desprevenido. Não sei bem, mas talvez com a Beth Gibbons dos Portishead, é claro! 

TM - Temos uma pergunta um pouco complicada para lhe colocar... Temos saudades (em português "saudade" é uma palavra que não tem tradução literal em nenhum outro idioma, mas é como "sentir falta" de alguém ou algo) dos seus primeiros álbuns como Whiskey, Tattoo, Poison... Consegue explicar o porquê deste sentimento?

Jay-Jay Johanson - Não, desculpem, não sei explicar, mas entendo completamente e sinto-me muito próximo desse sentimento.

TM - Nos últimos 20 anos o Jay-Jay Johanson fez música para filmes, algumas parcerias com outros artistas, versões de músicas... Gostaria de falar sobre isso? Houve um que nos chamou a atenção, o de Robin Guthrie (dos Cocteau Twins). Podemos perguntar-lhe o que trouxe Robin Guthrie à música de JJJ? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - O Robin e eu começámos a trabalhar juntos em 1997. Quando a Liz se mudou para Bristol e começou a trabalhar com os Massive Attack no Mezzanine, o Robin ligou-me. Eu acho que o pessoal dos Cocteau Twins queria tentar trabalhar com uma voz masculina, talvez... Eu fui e fiquei em Londres bastante tempo, para gravar e escrever com eles, no September Sounds Studio em Twickenham. São, de facto, pessoas adoráveis. O Robin apareceu no meu álbum Tattoo, no Poison e, novamente, nos meus últimos três álbuns, sempre mantivemos contacto e compartilhamos ideias. Mas talvez fosse melhor perguntarem ao Robin o que é ele gosta no meu estilo, que eu não faço ideia... 



TM - O que acha desta nova geração de música digital na atualidade com o streaming e o decréscimo da venda de discos físicos?

Jay-Jay Johanson - Eu oiço mais músicas agora do que nunca, mas, claro, eu não compro tantos álbuns quanto costumava fazer, talvez uns cinco álbuns por ano. Contudo, ao estar constantemente em tour e ao tocar em festivais, acabo por assistir a muitos concertos e descobrir novas bandas.

TM - O Jay-Jay Johanson já tem uma longa carreira; o público dos seus concertos provavelmente varia de país para país - em alguns lugares uma faixa etária mais avançada e noutros um público mais jovem. Que tipo de público espera ver nesta nova passagem por Portugal? 

Jay-Jay Johanson - Bem, o público português esteve sempre lá desde o início, então eles estão entre os "mais velhos", pelo que às vezes pode ser complicado chegar a uma nova base composta por ouvintes mais jovens. Em alguns países, absolutamente funcionou, mas francamente não conheço as tendências do mercado de adolescentes em Portugal. Vamos ver o que acontece nos próximos concertos muito em breve. 

TM - Há mais alguma coisa que gostaria de nos dizer, que não lhe perguntamos?

Jay-Jay Johanson - Estou muito agradecido por me continuarem a convidar de volta para o vosso país incrível... Mal posso esperar para tomar um copo enorme desse néctar maravilhoso: o vinho verde. Cheers!

TM - Muito obrigado por esta entrevista e até breve, em Lisboa e Espinho!

Entrevista por: Armandina Heleno e Gil Simão

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Isolated Youth in interview: "The most important thing is to be a good representation of what we are"

We have seen them and we can tell you first-hand: Isolated Youth is going to be the next big new thing in the contemporary post-punk panorama over the following decade.

They are shy in concert but it's all because of their surprisingly young age that, in a way, amazes us. It happens firstly because their sonority is so mature that it immediately gives us goosebumps; secondly, because they are creating their very characteristic world - that emancipates through a wonderful celestial voice which is not so common in the scene - and thirdly because their sonority is really assimilable for all music lovers. Trust us, you don't need to be a dark soul to enjoy it. 

In this great discovery, we were really lucky because At The Rollercoaster managed to bring them to Portugal opening the performances of Actors in the past 30th and 31st of August 2019. So we went to the Lisbon concert, at RCA Club and exchanged some words with Axel (voice, guitar, synth), Andreas (drums), Egon (bass) and William (guitar) - the four lovely souls working behind Isolated Youth's identity. 

The nice thing is that you can now get to know them better by reading the interview they gave us on the last day of August, right below:

Threshold Magazine (TM) - I would like to start this interview by asking you how did you all meet. I know that you (Axel) and William are brothers but I would like to know the whole story behind.

Axel - Yes, we are. So, we invited Egon to play live with us. Egon is a childhood friend, and our mothers have also been friends for most of their lives. Andreas has been William's friend for a couple of years. So we have known each other for a long time. 

Andreas - Me and William knew each other from like when we were 18 or 19 through common friends. And then I met Axel through him and later I met Egon. I was the last one to join the band. William and Axel started out writing music together at their place and then they knew Egon since earlier and they knew he played bass. William said "come play with us" since you (William) knew that I played drums. We felt a real chemistry early on. That was in March 2017. 

TM - Did you have any written songs around that time? 

William - We had quite a few songs. It just came naturally to us to write our own music instantly, so we never played any covers. We started writing our own things right of the bat. 

Andreas - And kind of developing as musicians through that. 

TM - Did you have a musical education? 

Andreas - I had, in the elementary school. And Egon as well but I would say… 

Egon - Not too much. 

Andreas - Yeah not too much. We've all grown as musicians through playing with each other. 

TM - So I'm really curious to get to know how and why did you choose Isolated Youth to name this project. 

William - I was in London with a friend and I was wandering home from a bar, late at night, and I was writing to the other guys trying to come up with a name and I think I had a t-shirt that said "Isolation", and then I figured "Oh well, Isolated Youth might suit us because it fits with our sound and us as a group, and where we are from". I wrote it in the group chat and everyone was like "Yeah that’s nice".

TM - You were saying that Isolated Youth started in March 2017. Before this Warfare EP, you have released a s/t cassette with three songs. Can you share the story behind that release? 

William - Basically, we figured that we didn't want to put anything out until we were ready, but we wanted to make something small for the people following us in the beginning, coming to our shows. So, we just did like three one-takes in our rehearsal space and wrapped the cassettes ourselves, and sold them at gigs or whatever. 

Axel - Only 25 cassettes were made. 

Andreas - We just wanted to release something physical without publishing anything online. And then we were properly ready to record in the studio, so It was a conscious decision to wait a while before we went to the studio to record and release the first EP. And also because we wanted to find a suitable label… 

TM -  Now that you are talking about record labels, I really would like to know how did you form a "relationship" with Fabrika Records? 

William - We put out a thing on Youtube where we were playing in our rehearsal space. We'd been a band for maybe two to three months at the time, maybe, and then a promotor saw it and asked whether we wanted to support Lebanon Hanover in a really big show in Stockholm, and then Lebanon Hanover saw us live and really liked it. So William and Larissa put us in contact with Fabrika and said "you should sign them", and they did (laughs). So that's about it. We became friends with them, they are lovely people, we really like the people working in Fabrika. It was a good fit for us as well. 

Andreas - And before we put our EP out, William Maybelline from Lebanon Hanover came to do a show in Stockholm and he was talking about that he wanted to make a remix for a song. Then we went to the studio, recorded our song "Safety" and he made a remix really fast. He came to Stockholm and we hung out with him and recorded our music video for the remix. That was the first proper release. So, the remix came first. It was nice to be involved and do something with him. 

TM - About this new Warfare EP, is there a concept behind it? 

William - The full EP is kind of supposed to be a collision between light and dark. We are striving for light in our work but there is also sinister to it. Well, Warfare is like a spiritual warfare, a call to arms. How do I put it? Wanting to protect your close ones in a quite harsh world. 

TM - And what about the song "Safety"? 

William - I was actually really ill when I wrote that thing. So, I had been at home sick for like a month, so that's where it originates from, from that feeling of being vulnerable, I suppose and from knowing that things can go either way and also the fact that you never actually know what’s going to happen. Me and Axel sat down and put the song together, but yeah, it was written in a time I was really sick. 

TM - I would like you to name three bands that you think are influential for your work as a band or as people. 

Axel - For me, it's Stina Nordenstam in Sweden, that's a very important artist for me. We like some of what The Knife has done, and... 

William - And also classical composer Arvo Pärt from Estonia. We admire him. 

Axel - Yes we love him, very much. 

Andreas - And also the early post-punk sound from the '80s. We take something from a lot of artists. Bowie of course. There's a lot of different artists. 

TM - Is there an ideal that Isolated Youth follow as a guide for your work as a band or not really? 

William - I think honesty, is important to us is in the way you play, the way you write lyrics, the performance… 

Andreas - And taking the opportunity to be better and evolve. 

TM - If I ask you "Where would you like to be in 3 to 5 years" what would be the answer? 

William - We have a creative ambition, mostly, I think. Trying to expand our music and our expression. 

Axel - Mainly a creative ambition, not too many numbers or anything. 

William - And of course always play good shows, and having a good live experience. 

Andreas - And to give our honesty to the songs. That's the most important thing, for us, to be a good representation of what we are so that the audience that sees us for the first time can get the Isolated Youth thing (laughs). 

TM - To finish, what was the last concert that you've seen and the last album that you've listened to? 

Axel - I listened to the first Board of Canada, Twoism. I liked it. That was the album I listened to. Last show I saw… 

William - I mean, we see shows quite often when we are involved, but maybe you want to know the concerts we went to see by ourselves… I have to think… 

Andreas - We went to see Yves Tumor in Stockholm a while ago, and that was pretty cool. And the last album I listened to was on the plane and it was Aphex Twin, …I Care Because You Do. 

Egon - I listened to I Will Say Goodbye by Bill Evans. 

William - I mean, we've been listening to music in the car, but an album, hmm… 

Axel - And I think the last show for me was a Swedish artist called Thåström. It's a very big artist in Sweden. 

William - I listened to the Suspiria soundtrack by Thom York. It's for a movie and it's really cool. I would recommend everyone to listen to it. 

TM - Thank you so much. It was lovely to meet you. I don't know if you want to add something else for the Portuguese readers… 

Andreas - We were amazed by the country and the city of Porto. We arrived a day before the show… 

Axel - Very beautiful churches in Porto!

Interview: Sónia Felizardo

Photos: Virgílio Santos

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Buzz Kull in interview: "that is my driving force to make people feel empowered"

 

Buzz Kull is getting an acclaimed position within the European underground dark scene that started with his first album, Chroma (2017, Burning Rose) and has been growing since he released his second worthy album New Kind Of Cross (2018, Burning Rose/ Avant! Records / Funeral Party).  In this growth scenario, we managed to interview Marc Dwyer (the mentor of the project) after his debut in Portugal on the 30th of June, at Stereogun, Leiria.

In this interview, we talked about the beginning of the project, the hit "Dreams", the meaning of Buzz Kull, the fact that Marc is such an ethical human being, his secrets on stage, among lots of other interesting things that you can find out below.

Threshold Magazine (TM) - You started this project in 2010, right? At the time I remember you were a duo… 

Buzz Kull – 2010 was when I first start writing and recording the first few tracks. In the beginning it was just myself recording in my bedroom and then when it gained some popularity online – I never intended on ever making it a project, it was only a personal thing, kind of like therapy – and again, when it gained the unexpected momentum, I then asked Rebecca if she would like to join to perform and write with me, sadly she had other projects and passions going at the same time and my time was flakey when it came to making time for each other and she moved to a different city. 

TM - Why did you take so long to release the first album, Chroma? 

Buzz Kull – I never knew how to work with or understand labels, in Australia it was really hard to figure that part of existing in music, every label that in Australia at the time was a big corporate label and no one really cared about what I did, I never felt disheartened about that because I understood exactly why and where I was, at the time. I was aware that I had more things going on in Europe so I still felt like I had an audience. I began talking to other labels here in Europe and not long after Fabrika contacted me about doing a 7-inch for "I Disappear". I was not really aware of Fabrika until they made contact and noticed how many bands I enjoyed were apart of the family. This was around the time I wrote the first song on the album - "Dreams". 

TM -That was exactly the song that made me explore your work! 

Buzz Kull – "Dreams" was like the first song that made me realise I needed to make an album, it was released as a digital single through Fabrika. I continued to write and record to finish the full length and went through a few ups and downs in the process that made me want to stop, give up and sometimes even turn my back on the project. An Australian label - Burning Rose, wanted to put the album out, which they did, and I thought it was going to be too much old news for people by the time it came out. I was wrong, It was the opposite and I was caught off guard by the response I received for the release. 

TM – How did you get signed with the Italian label AVANT! Records? 

Buzz Kull – Avant! were tied in with the Australian label who released my first record – Burning Rose – and the American label Funeral Party. So, Burning Rose put out my first record and then when the second record came about, we decided to take a different direction where we would do an Australian Release, an American Release, and a European release. At the time all the three labels were working with another band and they decided to do take action in a similar way. I was really happy with the release with all three labels as I appreciate all that they do and they all have a really great catalog. 

TM – What was the main inspirations behind the creation of Buzz Kull project? You said before it was a bedroom project, but what were your goals? 

Buzz Kull – I had depression at the time from a lot of things that were going on in my life. I was in a music project at the time but the band was slowly falling apart in its own way, I was very inexperienced and my ability to record was really bad, so I never really saw myself being in the position that I am now, but I just wanted to do it, to make myself move forward from the past. I was really surprised and shocked with what I was capable of creating, ejecting it from my mind and bringing it to the surface and making myself cry in the process, like an experience of mixing pleasure with pain, in the end they did make me feel a lot more confident within myself because I was basically able to expel the negative energy and feeling within me. 

TM – What's the story behind the name Buzz Kull? 

Buzz Kull – At the time, I wasn’t really sure about what was going on my head. The only reason I put those songs online was to be a form of storage to save the songs because the computer that I was using to record at the time was crashing and I was losing a lot of projects that I was working on, I was aware of the struggle if I were to lose the songs, I would have felt miserable. Once I felt they were complete, I would put them on Soundcloud. I always liked the way Buzz looked within a title and I also love the film - Kull the Conqueror. I formed the two together which to me, looked aesthetically pleasing. 

TM – That’s interesting. But there is a more interesting thing I want to know. I think it was last year, a time in your life where you were offering free tickets for your shows to the people experiencing financial problems. That was so humane and ethical and I really wanted to know the reason why you did it. 

Buzz Kull – Everyone deserves to see a live performance and If I have the control of a few names to offer on the guest list, I am more than willing to give those spots to people who are experiencing the financial hardship. 

TM – About today’s show. You went even more brutal on stage than in the studio! 

Buzz Kull – I like the diversity between making your live show more intense than what's on record, that's the difference between seeing a live show to listening to a record, you get to hear what it was like making it vs what it's like performing, the energy and the power behind playing it live is a lot stronger because its there, right in front of your face. It's like a formula where you are making it fit and suit the surroundings you are in at the time. You can make it sound safe, like the record, I wouldn’t go to a show and expect to hear it exactly like the record, I prefer the power over familiarity, it has a much greater impact and I hope people feel the same way when I do this. 

TM – Do you feel like your music is in a way political or social, that it reflects some problems in this scope? 

Buzz Kull – In a way yes, everyone has their woes on political movements and I am yet to hear of anywhere that exists in perfection, I hone in on the negatives and that is my driving force to make people feel empowered and overcome the toxicity people are surrounded by every day. 

TM – How would you describe the Australian music scene? Where do you think Buzz Kull fit into it? 

Buzz Kull – It's very underground. Australia is like a very large machine where the only bands that really do well are the ones that are safe and follow the lead of current trends. If one project does well - let's say it's a psych-rock band or a garage rock band – there will be another 10 or 20 or more a month or later. Buzz Kull has changed since I first start writing, I never changed it to impress anyone. I only changed it to because I felt my writing process matured and my inspiration has come from different formats. Every time I leave after touring, I get so inspired by new music that people introduce to me or bands that I see perform. That is what makes me grow and evolve as an artist. The "get quick fame" situation that exists in Australia, I don't believe in it at all. I still don't have much traction there and I'm ok with that because I can go home, I can record, have minimal distractions, do my personal things, work a normal job and not feel the pressure. 

TM – To finish, what was the last show you've seen and the last record you’ve listened to? 

Buzz Kull – The last concert I saw was Zanias (laughs!). Wait, I went to see Second Still before the tour started, they just released a new album through Fabrika Records which is really good. And the last record I've listened to was Ministry - Twitch. Oh, and I've been listening to a lot of High Functioning Flesh and the recent EP from Multiple Man - High on the Hog. They are part of the three records I've been listening to most recently. 

TM – I don’t know if you want to add something else, for instance, how was the “debut” in Leiria… 

Buzz Kull – It was great! I was not sure what to expect especially for an early show, but I really appreciate the fact that people were willing to come out on a Sunday. Most people prefer to stay indoors and have a day of nothing before starting the blue Monday. I was really glad that there were more than 10 people on the show (laughs). 

TM – Thank you so much, it was lovely meeting you!

Interview by: Sónia Felizardo

Photos by: Virgílio Santos

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Structures in interview: "we called ourselves a rough wave band"

Structures are growing faster and it’s not about the hype anymore, they do really have some kind of rough blood running into their veins and an easy-going energetic aura that surrounds their sonority, as seen on stage. Their attitude is, in a way, punk-influenced, but what they do is a rough wave thing. 

In order to get to know what that means - as in, between all the process involved in the project and nowadays - last 25th of May we managed to catch these promising French Structures before their show at MONITOR, in Leiria, to talk about their journey. You can now read in detail all the things discussed that afternoon through our interview, transcribed down below.

Threshold Magazine (TM) - Last year I got to know your band through a friend that showed me your first tracks, published on Soundcloud and no longer available. Were these the demos of this new Long Life EP? 

Pierre - It wasn't a proper release, it was just some demos and then we moved it from Soundcloud to the promotion and to the final product. 

TM - Do you have a concept as a band? 

Oscar - There's no concept (laughs). We just compose together and there are no rules. 

Pierre - Actually there is some kind of a concept because we called ourselves a rough wave band, that's a term we invented because we didn't want to be called a post-punk or coldwave or punk band. It is also like a way of living that we are into, and we compose and we write songs about what is deep inside of us, like problems, mental issues and… 

Marvin - Anxiety... Depression… 

Oscar - Deep stuff too… 

Pierre - And that is a form of therapy for us. 

TM - How did you all meet? 

Pierre - In college or high school. Maybe 10 - 15 years ago. 

Oscar - We all born in the same city, in Amiens. 

Marvin - It's in the North of France, but now we are all living in Paris.

TM - Do you feel that there has been any change from this moving process between Paris and Amiens? 

Oscar - Amiens is a kind of depressive city. 

Marvin - And also Paris. 

Pierre - When you are born in a city and you grow up in that city, especially when you do music, in some kind of way you want to move, to travel and to see other cities… 

Oscar - And there wasn't much structure in Amiens, so we were bored. Paris is the opposite because there is many… 

Marvin - so many gigs! And many places to play. 

Pierre - And more professionals in the music industry, more labels, journalists…

TM - Why did you choose the name Structures? 

Pierre - In fact we were looking for a band name which really had something concrete, German stuff like architecture so, Structures was very strict, something hard. And it is also the name of one part of the first minimal exhibition that ever happened in minimal art, it's called Primary Structures, from 1966. 

TM - You were saying that your music is somehow influenced by feelings such as anxiety and depression. Do you feel these feelings are necessary to compose your music? 

Pierre - Well, that was the start. 

Oscar - But we don't search to be depressive. 

Pierre - We are not looking for depression, but somehow is a more inspiring way to create songs, for us. 

Oscar - We have love songs. 

Pierre - Yeah, we have love songs, depressive songs. 

Marvin - It's a lifestyle to be sad. 

Oscar - We are not happy to be sad. We are sadder to be happy (laughs). 

Pierre - We need Structures because it is our home therapy and that's also a way we have to find people who can join our therapy. If you are feeling lonely, depressed, lost, shy, maybe angry, you can join too! 

TM - What do you mean by "I Live a Long Life"? That song is about what in specific? 

Pierre - Long Life is about when you are tired of everything. Really tired, and you know and see everything happening in the world or in your own life every time, and you always accepted it and went further but, at some point, you just say "Fuck it! I live a long life!". And the body too. It’s like physical and mental, like when you are really tired. In some kind of way, it's our way to say "Fuck it". 

TM - You released Long Life EP and then suddenly you are getting a lot of attention in the current underground panorama. How do you feel about this? 

Oscar - We don't feel that dimension. We get lost some times so we don't know exactly where we are. We feel it, but not really. 

Pierre - Hopefully we will. That gives me fear, in some way angst and stress, because you don't know what is happening properly and you feel it, but not really. You see professionals gathering around the band saying "I want to work with you and blah blah blah", you begin to be scheduled at festivals and then labels listen to your work and everything… 

Oscar - It's hard to have the control over everything and you just have to live it like that. It’s something general like… 

Adrien - For example, we signed with a booking agency and they work in the gigs we make and we don't have control over that. 

Pierre - For me, the main stress issue is that it is happening really fast. The band will be two years old in August, so in two years it's like we were there and now we are - we don't know exactly where we are - but… 

Oscar - And we want to go further, but we don’t know if it would be possible.

Pierre - And that's scary when you grow really fast. 

Adrien - For me, the problem is within the music industry. For example, about two years ago everybody was talking about The Blaze, and then in two, three months everyone was listening to The Blaze and now no one listens to The Blaze. 

Pierre - Is not because we don’t hear about something that it is finished. Some bands have their own fanbase… 

Adrien - Ok, maybe The Blaze is not the best example. It's more like young people who start projects and then they became stars within months. 

TM - How would you describe the French independent music scene and how do you think that Structures is integrating into it (if you consider it that way)? 

Marvin - We just try to make our music without thoughts. And the French rock-wave is really growing, currently. There are many bands that are getting attention, especially in the independent circles, like Rendez-Vous, The Psychotic Monks, Bryan's Magic Tears, and many others. And that's kind of cool. 

TM - To finish, what was the last album that you listened to? And what was the last concert you've been at? 

Marvin - Rendez-Vous, in the suburbs of Paris, in the last week. 

Pierre - The last concert I've seen was H-Burns, who is a French singer. It's pop, psych-rock. And the last record I've listened to it was Dogrel from Fountains D.C. 

Oscar - The last record I've listened to was Bryan's Magic Tears' 4 AM.

Check all the photos from Structures' performance at MONITOR, here.

Interview by: Sónia Felizardo

Photos by: Miguel Silva

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Talk To Her in interview "our goal is to say something through the music we play"

On May 25th, we got to know a little bit more about Talk To Her, the band that is starting to shake Italy's underground music scene and just booked their first show ever outside of their hometown. We managed to have a little chat in their very first "live" interview in English to talk about the beginning, the concept behind the band, their future objectives, the story of HOME, among other things. 

It was really warmful to meet these Italian darlings before their blasting show at MONITOR 2019, in Leiria. If you got mesmerized with their sonority you should learn more about Talk To Her through our interview down below.

Threshold Magazine (TM) – I would like to know how did you start this project and what is the main concept involved if there is one? 

Talk To Her (TTH) – The project started more or less 4 years ago. We started playing together as friends just to create a feeling, a mesh and to understand what we would like to play, because everyone was listening to the same music and the same bands (like Interpol and Foals). So we started just to play music, to stay together and understand what we liked to do, in essence to create our concept. 

Some of us already had a band before this one. Talk To Her was a new project build from zero and it was really important for us. After one year, we started to create our music and we decided to create the band, with a name and some original songs. "Forest" is one of the very first songs we made, and it's cool because we decided to use it in our first EP (HOME). It was like a starting point to create our sound and what we wanted to do with music. We think that our goal is to say something through the music we play. Our name, Talk To Her, could have a different meaning: often it's difficult to say something to someone and so we try to say it through the music we play, the lyrics we write and the atmosphere we create on the stage. This is our purpose.

We followed a concept for making the EP, HOME, and it was a really structured path that closed itself. Now we are recording our debut LP that will be probably out at the end of this year and it keeps following a concept, more or less. We already know that in the future we have to change because what we wanted to say was done with the EP and now with the LP. 

TM - What's the story behind the name Talk To Her? 

TTH – It is a funny story: the starting point of the name was due to different girls. Everyone was in the same sentimental situation, everyone has the same problems. We think this was the beginning of Talk To Her: to create music for someone in particular. Then our feelings have evolved over the years and now it's not someone in particular, but everyone. Because everyone can use our music to say something. We think music is the way which we can put the best of us into one single element – a sound, a track - and it’s also a chance we have to be friends together. 

TM - Have you known each other for a long time? 

TTH – Riccardo and Stefano met first in this project, but we already have known each other because we played together when we were younger, in different projects or cover bands. Cover bands are a good way to start and understand music, but if you want to be someone, you have to create your own music. Every one of us puts something in the music we are doing, and our process of creation of music is easy: we go to our rehearsal room and we start to play. There isn’t any type of writing before. 

We are a democratic band and we have the same state of consciousness. When we started, at the beginning, we chose the people before the musicians and this is the key for everything that goes around a part of a musical project. We do things all together, all of us has responsibilities, there is not a person who does everything. 

TM – Did you have a musical education? 

TTH – Everyone of us had a musical education before, but not a classical one. Some of us have played other instruments before this project, like Andrea: he started as a bassist and now he sings and plays the synthesizers. We are always evolving because our purpose is to make music that we love. We love to play our songs and we want to do more and more, to understand where our limit is and try to go on beyond this limit. 

TM – You were saying that "Forest" was your first single. In the HOME EP, is there an interpretation from the order of the songs? Do they communicate something from the first single to the last one? 

TTH – Yes, absolutely. It started with "Forest", but HOME is a path: it starts with the frustration in your home (that is "Zodiac") and then goes on with "Nightfall" which talks about people that follow their desires, as an illusion to escape from reality. Afterward, in "Forest" we talk about what happens when you get lost in your illusions, in your desires. The final, "Burning", is talking about the return at home. If the first track depicts a desire to escape from your home, the last one express the will to return home. As when you go to a club, to dance, for example, after the night it’s morning and you want to return home, the place that you left at the beginning but where you can escape from the outside world. In this way, HOME is a circle path: it’s what we live in our lives and that’s common. 

TM – How long did it take to find a label? How was the process evolving the HOME EP? 

TTH – For the EP it took us one year, more or less, to write, to record and then publish it. We started that process in March 2017 and then we published the album in March 2018. We got contacted by Shyrec (our label). They have seen some of our live concerts and then they invited us to play at a festival they organized. There we started to talk about our work which then we published with them. Now we are recording our first LP that we'll publish with Shyrec probably before the end of the current year. We already recorded a part of it and it will be released both in vinyl and CD. 

TM – How would you describe the Italian underground music scene and how do you think that Talk To Her is integrating into this panorama (if you consider it that way)? 

TTH – When we wrote our music we did not focus on the underground scene, we just did our music the best way as we can. Then we found a beautiful dark scene in Italy, not so large but strong and consolidated. Honestly, we don’t think that there are many projects going on that music scene, nowadays. In Italy, we are living a strange time now, in the last two years. 

TM – What do you mean by "a strange time"? 

TTH – Live music is not so common. If you want to enjoy a Friday or Saturday night with your friends, often you don’t go to see or listen to a live band, for example. It is not in the culture of young people to consume music. For adults is different. Recently there is a lack of sacrifice to reach something; there is no desire to reach something through the effort. Discover something is a sacrifice. You have to move, you have to be patient, you have to listen; but now, everyone wants to have everything immediately, without any effort. 

This feeling reflects in part also in the music that people do and listen to: currently, in Italy, the more popular musical genres are trap music and pop music; this, for us, is a reflection of the situation. Maybe because you can reach this more easily; if you have a full band that requires time, effort and money. 

Another funny thing about Italian music now is this: there is a lot of music in Italian and the projects in English are fewer than 5 years ago. When we started to play as Talk To Her many people told us "Ah, you are good! But why don’t you sing in Italian?". That is strange because every year more and more people can talk and understand English, so why is music going in the opposite direction? Probably for the same reason we mentioned before: the speed of nowadays life and the lack of efforts, because music is a consumer good. 

TM – You were saying that in the future you’ll have to change. Will that change already be reflected in this awaited debut album? What can we expect from the future of Talk To Her? 

TTH – We’ll change because we are always oriented to do something different and new. Moreover, our lives changed a lot since when we started, and are still changing now: this reflects in the music we write and play. In addition, society and our background are constantly changing, as well as the music of other bands that we listen to, and this has an important effect and influence on our music and us. 

We’ve seen it in the writing of our LP: there’s a strong change in the new album we’re recording as compared to the work done for our first EP; this was due to everything mentioned before and also to our growing experience. That is what we wanted to do and what we hope our fans and listeners will perceive. For the future it will be the same, we don’t know how, but we’ll change, because it’s a necessity to continue to write new and different music and don't get stuck.

TM - Thank you!

Check all the photos from Talk To Her performance at MONITOR, here.

Interview by: Sónia Felizardo

Photos by: Miguel Silva

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