PDOA
P.D.O.A. met in collision as they started to create out of rhythm, movement, song in 2019. Their connection founded in passing instruments between friends has developed into theatrics and collaged visuals, displayed wildly at live shows and now shared with us over video-waves. The project is multi-faceted and limitless, with each artist of the four bringing their own history, tradition and energy to the layers of song and movement they create in studio and on stage.
P.D.O.A. are Public Display Of Affection, founded and based in Berlin. We met in the summer of 2020 at their Holzmarkt live show. The band have been working hard to create their upcoming EP and video projects, the first of which are released publicly today. We conducted our interview over mountains of pasta and buckets of red wine at my apartment in Neukölln, descending regularly into chaos and forgetting where we’d set the tape recorder. It feels a warm, apt and love-filled welcome to P.D.O.A. through wistful vignettes and giggles throughout our night together before slipping out onto a frozen canal.
This is the first time we have been able to do this with humans in front of me by the way which is really exciting.
We’re here this evening to introduce your new single and the video which was shot in the summer here in Berlin. This is very exciting because you are releasing your EP and the album maybe, EP/album later in the year. So let’s start at the beginning: when did you first get together and when did this idea of a multidisciplinary art project come into focus?
JESPER: The idea started when we got engaged, because Maddie and I first met over music. The idea was that Madeleine and I would start some kind of band because we had some ideas and wrote some songs.
MADELEINE ROSE: We got a gig offer at Garbicz festival with our friends from Birdmilk Collective. Anton came in immediately for our first show after three rehearsals and we went from there.
ANTON: Yeah I think that is what we mentioned earlier, you asked me about a week or two before the festival because you knew that I was going to be there anyway. Directly after the show Madeleine said “oh it’s so nice that we have a band together” and I was like “okay, what we have a band now!”
J: Yeah so basically we didn’t have a real programme, we just had a plan for a gig and Anton jumped in and saved our arses and since then we are a band.
And Lewis came from where?
J: Yeah exactly.
M: We had our second gig at Olmo’s Homieslice at Artistania in Neukölln and we invited Lewis to come and have a look at the band. We asked him if he would be interested to play in the band and he watched the show and what did you say Lewis…?
LEWIS: I said “yahhhhhhhh man I want to be involved in this!”
J: Yeah I knew Lewis for a while and had been really into his music before.
L: We first met in a friend’s studio but I actually really got to know Jesper through making his solo project for his last album in 2018. We had some pretty crazy times making those music videos. I hadn’t barely met him and then we ended up going to China together just kind of not knowing what we were doing.
The project is so interesting because you are four artists in your own right and with your own projects. So was there some new structuring going on between you all personally as well as musically when you first began to connect ?
J: I think it was about the people, at first I felt like we were coming out of a very…
A: We had also played together before, as you [Jesper] joined the collective project I had before a few times and you asked me and the former singer one time to come together in the rehearsal room. That was three or four years before this project so we definitely knew each other musically.
J: We touched base.
A: I felt like we always got along pretty well and could talk together and I think that was the reason this worked so naturally.
L: It felt like an organic thing somehow. When we got together the first time as the four of us I think it just felt like something really clicked and we had a really nice time together.
A: Sounds very cheesy you know.
M: Eva Drohner was behind the project immediately. They gave us a slot so it was just based on previous reputation and friendship that they gave us this first show at Garbicz Festival.
J: It’s a good thing to aim for as well..live gigs. It’s like a deadline or whatever...
L: It’s motivational.
And where did you come from with your creation of sound. If I think of your personal projects the sound of course is linked in some way but it’s making a new sound together…
M: Yeah it’s completely different from what Jesper and I were doing before we met. He’s coming from like a pop music background and I’m coming from a more…..
(laughter)
M: Two totally different worlds…
J: I was definitely much more in touch with the pop music industry in the beginning. I think sound -wise I often wanted to have a project kind of like this but would have never imagined it turning out this way. I think that’s kind of the fun part…trusting on a personal level and then just going with it. Then the musical references began to bleed into the personality as well, so it becomes a holistic thing and in that case it’s kind of like “woop ahhh” and then you are this new sound somehow. It feels so exciting because the direction isn’t really something you can anticipate.
L: We also come from other…slightly different-sounding projects. My other band [Plattenbau] is a bit more post-punk or alternative rock.
A: I think from the sound world you’ve been the closest to what we do now. It’s of course different but you have been more in this environment. I’d say I listened to a lot of punk when I was growing up and I lost track of this and fell more into…
EVERYONE:….Radiohead….
A: …then I discovered electronic music and played in projects where we tried to involve all this electronic music which was fun but I began to feel disconnected from the original music. So, for me, this project is a bit like going back to the roots; just picking up the the instruments and making good music so I really enjoy going back to…
L: The live sound almost…
A: Yeah, it’s very jam-based. Also even now we like getting stricter with arrangements but it’s still about the vibe together….
J: Sure.
M: Whereas I’ve arrived from Australia without knowing anyone here; initially making friends from the dance floor and the club scene. When Jesper and I got together, he and his friend introduced me to Lewis and Lewis came with his partner Anna and they filmed my dance crew Dasgegenteil. This is where the link between punk/post-punk connects with dance theatre in a more underground context which led to us recording together which has now manifested in our band…making movies together and making music together.
I want to talk a bit about your live shows because the first time that I ever saw you all play was in September…
M: Yes September 11th. I remember because the twin towers were on September 11th and she decided to have her show on September the 11th so I always remember.
And that was the one at….?
M: Holzmarkt.
A: It was the only time you have seen us right?
M: Yes it was the only time we have played since COVID.
L: Yeah it’s true.
A: I think that was actually a pretty bad show, at least I felt that afterwards. The sound was such a boomy sound..
L: Yeah the sound was really shit. I thought it was a cool show and people actually danced at the end but to be honest I was like “is this okay…?”
(laughter)
….it was on the border….
…very loud….
J: I’m into this stuff but I also have very bad hearing…so for me it’s really a vibe.
L: Haha! It’s loud enough for you…fucking hell, bouncing off the wall…ouch!
No, it was so sick. It was one of the only live shows I was able to see and feel a part of in 2020 you know.
A: That might be because the amount of live shows you know, not because we played so good!
L: Cut that bit out…haha.
It’s because I was there! I was really so hyped and so was Edie [Ashley], we were instantly saying “oh my god, we need to go and talk to these people” and we wanted to book you for shit. So I’m really aware of the importance of live shows in music and as you say, it’s like this thing about it being performance art and it’s music and it’s a band and it’s a collective and all this stuff..so obviously at the moment it’s not really possible to do it.
J: Yeah it’s a strange one, especially for this project I feel like you can do a lot of shit with other projects that are a lot more tangible but for this one you’ve got to show up.
M: Which is also why we started making videos with Lewis because we had a lot more time.
L: We also took the time to regularly practice jamming and coming up with new stuff. We really wanted to keep this live vibe and spontaneity in the practice room despite the lack of gigs. It’s been great even without the live shows we’ve been getting tighter and behaving as more of a unit. I’m really excited about actually playing shows again because I think we are a lot better than we were last time.
Yeah because you have been able to connect and converse in an audience-free situation.
M: Yes, and also develop the album.
A: We didn’t have any pressure for getting a set list done for a gig. It was just about jamming together…ah let’s play an old song again..let’s play something new..
J: Which I find is a compromise in the end…when there is a deadline sometimes you just make decisions that you wouldn’t otherwise. This time around there is no excuse, if you want the live show to be a certain way you’ve had your time now…
How is your writing process..do you do this in the studio or do you set time, how does it work?
M: We do it before, in different situations we write stories and write about life and then we bring it into the rehearsal room and we start to play something and start to sing and see what lines are there on top.
A: For us [Lewis and Anton] it’s the opposite, it’s more like we come up with it in the rehearsal room and jam with it. It’s about feeling it out, trying some ideas and then letting it evolve into something concrete.
J: Sometimes Lewis comes with bass line ideas and I would say Madeleine writes a fuck load by herself so she’ll come in with pages of ideas. We all end up reacting to each other, manipulating rhythm and conversation until it feels more solidified.
M: I’m also reacting to Anton a lot when it comes to the dance. I noticed this even more when Jesper and I played a gig without the others on our holiday in France. Anton is instrumental in creating the rhythm that gives movement which I can really explore. Without that of course it’s something that’s completely different. We talk a lot when it comes to the show in a live context.
A: I think it started with some tracks that I wanted to do but I couldn’t do with my own project…two tracks there and one little riff here…so the rest happened completely organically.
There is this performative aspect that feels so much more prominent than with other bands. Is that present in the rehearsal room as well ?
A: Madeleine is full of power. It’s her nature, she can’t deny that. I mean it's much more extreme obviously, it’s amplified in the live context. She doesn’t hold back. I think we are trying to be focused on the music or however it is going to develop and Madeleine is still performing by nature and I think that’s the beauty of it, it’s not an act.
L: I feel like she comes up with the performative ideas, same with the lyrics as you have your own process in that sense. I feel like you are inspired or you see things in an abstract space which relates more to body and body work and you kind of see it like that, you don’t see it in such a musical context like us because of your background.
A: It opens up so many possibilities; especially when we started it was pretty funny how we talked about in the first bar on the second hit or something and Madeleine was like “oh when I do this move” or “when it all turns blue” or something…
M: I’m much more about explaining through visuals and colours…
L: But that’s also really cinematic as well which kind of bleeds into the videos. Quite a lot of the video concepts and realisation Mad and I have done together.
M: And that is all like a pure reaction to our environment, which is everything we are about; we are a product of our environment and so is this. It’s our way of giving back to the city. When I come into the room after something has got in the way, like another fucking lockdown, our reaction is very much linked to that. I wouldn’t say we are necessarily a political band because we are also very care free and very privileged and lucky in our positions but we are very much a response to what’s going on around us.
L: Yeah I think everything you do is political at some point anyway even if you say it isn’t.
J: You kind of forget making art and trying to be free about it is not something that is available to everyone. In a place like Russia for example we might be in prison for what we do there. That’s why it’s also important…even when it seems like it is apolitical and you are not doing anything to make obvious change it is still important to practice that and put it out there and also make it available to everyone in the world, in places where it isn’t possible.
M: Totally, one of our tracks on the EP, Struggle Street, came about because I couldn't tie up my fucking shoe laces. It emerged during a time when we were going to a lot of demonstrations, and having this feeling of being somewhat involved where we don’t necessarily know what and how to make an impact as these little guys yet we are totally immersed in this. We are also aware that we are these white faces that come to these demonstrations and say we fucking care, yet we also don’t know how best to really shift and change the laws. It feels like we have to try to be part of this by simply turning up, being there and educating ourselves.
A: It’s the minimum…
J: Mad brought some lyrics into the rehearsal room that had been lying around the house because , in the beginning, I had said “Madeleine, what do you think about writing four lines a day” and she took it so seriously. It was a thing that I had thought about for ages and she immediately did it so we had all these snippets of songs covering the house, I was so amazed.
But also in the bathroom all these songs..whenever I go and pee I’m like what am I going to read today..love it!
J: For me this is a big life hack…get a board marker and you can use on your bathroom tiles, you can wipe it off and no one is going to be angry at you. Make sure it isn’t permanent!
M: Because, when are you the most relaxed? When you are sitting on the toilet! That’s why people read magazines in the bathroom because that’s when your body is literally relieving itself so that’s a time to actually….
J: You’re in there for self care…sometimes you’re under the water and you have this crazy sound that can make you feel so calm.
M: I wrote on the wall, “I have my most sinister ideas in the bathtub.”
J: That’s the only thing that is permanent marker in the bathroom…I get the most sinister ideas when I’m in the bathroom haha…It gets personal….
Is there anyone around you that you see as belonging to this kind of…I hesitate to use the word movement because we are in this period of inertia at the moment but are there people around you that you can kind of see moving in a similar way with this apolitical political movement performance….
M: I mean, straight away, Liquid Brain Orchestra are bunch of musicians that I would relate to in the same field and we also asked one of the guys Jonathan to play with us once. I think they are in the same category movement-wise they are aware, they are young, they are up to do eight hour sessions every time we meet. They are sober in their practice as well, they are really approaching this free style from a level of real jazzmanship as well..is that even a word jazzmanship…
Jazzmanship…haha
A: Yeah I think it’s about just being authentic and just like doing things like we’ll think directly of Frank, Frank Dillane and Frank and The Imaginary Friends.
J: Olmo…and also The Cassette Head Session guys..
M: Yeah Olmo & Matilda.
J: There is a lot of common ground in Berlin. Though coming together very often is somehow not as easy as you would imagine it for live fans as this city is very driven community-wise through electronic music and club culture so the live spaces have somehow been reduced.
L: It’s also more segregated I think, there’s not a lot of venues and the communities are kind of split I find.
J: Yeah and this thing where you have one venue where everyone meets like Internet Explorer or..where you actually get to speak to the same bands over and over again and actually have the chance to talk to the bassist where normally you would just recognise from that one gig or whatever…
L: Yeah that was a real community space it's true but that kind of ended at the end of 2019 right…I guess something is going to come after that.
Yeah that’s what I’m wondering is there going to be like a resurgence of these more experiential musical or art experiences after this?
J: I think it’s like this right now because it’s much easier for bookers to just have a guy with a laptop show up…rather than taking on an entire fucking live band with a performance and dancers and visuals etc etc.
But it depends why you are a booker. If you are a booker for the energy of the event then you are going to choose the bands but then if you are a booker for cash flow and…
J: But it’s late capitalism also in Berlin, it’s just how it is somehow. If we want to have spaces like this it’s literally the live musicians and the people around that need to make it happen.
L: Yeah I feel like with Internet Explorer is kind of like one of the few ones where you know that you can go there and it’s always the same people who go to the same gigs but apart from that there’s quite a few venues that have quite a few programmes, not done in a soulless way but there are lots of different scenes that use the same places that don’t necessarily intermingle. I feel like it’s more to do with the live music scene because I think that, club music and stuff is the epicentre of it here, those places have more of a community vibe. Who knows…maybe we can make something new. I don’t know what’s going to come when things reopen.
But it also feels like..because of the way your videos are made there is space for it to kind of blend from live music to audio visual shit into these late night…
L: Yeah for sure there is a lot of crossover.
J: Yeah I think that’s exactly where we were linking that argument. People who are now used to throwing a party and don’t need all of this live band shit became the norm somehow here. Get out these brave fucking bookers haha. Get a sound guy here! That's the thing you have to fucking deal with and then that guy needs to rent some equipment, you don’t have the same PA. It’s complications that normally get dodged but then if we can build it up I think that would be the future of all club culture.
L: Yeah I think there needs to be more crossover for sure. I’d love to see that kind of thing with even more stuff like performance and live music. I think a lot of people are craving that sort of experiential event.
A: Yeah it’s very very separated. With my old project I played a lot in Kater Blau but often we played in this little corner where it was definitely made for electronic music so the system is not created for live music but the people reacted to it just because it’s live and they are so thankful. Having seen a DJ for ten hours and then you can play what you want and they are just super thankful to just see a band there.
J: Yeah it’s up to the bookers and the venues to make these decisions.
This is why initially I was interested because the shit I was doing in London was so that, it was like these thirteen hour events so obviously you can’t take a DJ for thirteen hours in this day and age..no ones going to stick around for that shit.
L: You’d be surprised!
No I mean coming from London..this place….
(Laughter)
48 hours…..
I mean it’s like coming and looking at how the colour of your night can change, you know, in a whole day that you’re awake you’re not going to be doing and listening to the same shit, it’s going to change depending on mood and movement so finding ways to kind of experience poetry and jazz and a little bit of disco and then techno and do all of that maybe in one evening…it’s possible.
L: Yeah I love that kind of thing. I think a lot of people would be so down for that.
A: I totally think so.
L: I’ve been craving that because I funnily see that a lot in smaller towns you know. When I’ve been on tour with Plattenbau in a crazy old farmyard kind of thing with massive wood burners and stuff and there’s a crazy guy who’s built the whole PA system himself because he’s a speaker builder so the sound is incredible. They have a lot of art students and they do a lot of live bands…a lot of garage punk and stuff. Yeah they have really good DJ’s and kind of mix up the music quite a lot. It’s so unpretentious; people coming together for the sake of music really.
Let’s talk about your video for ‘Rose’ which is out today along with your single. When I see it, it’s like an homage to the past year of Covid and being able to collage our memories together which is what everyone is doing when we are hanging out. Everyone is living everything all at once because that’s what we are craving a little bit. But perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if this Covid wave hadn’t have come. Perhaps the video would have been more staged somehow.
M: Yes and no. I’ve had to keep doing everything I’m doing but just in a more online way so for me rhythms have gone more online but we still moved in a way that we would have normally but with more time because we didn’t have live shows or live commitments.
L: Also, I knew the Munks [Jesper and Madeleine] were going to get into some crazy shit so I gave them a camera and told them to “just make sure you record.”
M: Yeah Lewis just gave me a camera. He gave me a handheld Panasonic and I took it everywhere I went in summer. Sometimes it was more organised where we had a space set up with friends that have a gallery called Polyphony. We did some more intentional shoots also.
L: We did that kind of later on, we had most of the footage before that.
M: Yeah and then the rest was situations with friends on the canal and in Tempelhof. In already such limited circumstance, being able to film friends and ensuring that we'd see each other enough and we’re healthy and that we have our own circle and crew and we see the same people regularly. What was the question…hahah.
J: Maybe cut that bit out.
You think…?
J: Well it’s one of these things where you’re like have we…maybe don’t cut it out. Maybe don’t cut out the bit where I say cut it out.
I mean I probably…I usually don’t, I quite like the fuck that moment…
M: Gossip! Yeah I mean we have been Covid friendly. We are not people who have said yes to doing shows on the spree. They were all anti the invitations that came down to Covid concerts so I have to say we really said no but individually we still partake within our small circles of friendships to keep us sane in Covid times and that is that footage just with these few friends within these circles.
Yeah in the summer it was much more free flowing…
M: Yeah in the summer you could have more than ten people in a park..and all the footage is outside as you know because it was Covid times so the footage was not within bars or inside it was all open air.
J: Yeah when you said my rhythm has not changed so much…
M: It’s just changed online…
J: I was just thinking my life has actually completely changed because I’ve never had this much time to think about what music inspiration I’m craving which has been extremely healthy but also debilitating in a different kind of way. I’m also realising how much I miss playing live or when you’re used to playing live on a regular basis you realise how much it can take away being a musician or however you look at being a musician..yeah I guess I kind of broke that perception down and needed to build it up again and I think the big thing was PDOA and being interested in bit more of a supportive role.
I know that also you made a video for ‘Spring’ which is super different from this video and I wonder if you are going to create videos for every track, I mean if it’s an EP or an album or have you not decided yet?
M: The plan is to make a video for every track on the EP, there’s definitely a treatment and a concept for each track now we got some funding from Berlin music board to make the first one and we stretched it and made two. Now we are going to continue with the following two tracks as they each have really phenomenal and fun ideas for films but they don’t have funding yet for those so we are going to have to make those with what we can.
Maybe kind of do this slow release like almost have this short film per track kind of vibe.
L: Yeah, if possible. Because they’re all quite different sounding songs and we came up with concepts for all of them.
M: The last track on the four track we want to film in a bus, in Garbicz. For Struggle Street we want to do a revolving floor with Dhanesh [Jayaselan, from Cassette Heads].
J: Aesthetically like the early birthday party…
M: Yeah make it have a birthday party feel. For this one now we are doing more with 3D animation which we have never tried before but Lewis is down for the challenge.
L: I didn’t promise anything yet! It goes for a bit more of a glossy vibe.
J: Lewis says he’s going to nail the 3D. I don’t know about the puppet either, the snake element is to be confirmed. But it’s definitely more glossy than the Rose video, that’s more of a low fi vibe…this is more staged.
M: The aesthetics are more staged. It’s more glamorous for sure.
L: Yeah we got to use an amazing burlesque bar in West Berlin somewhere…
M: Yeah in Charlottenburg.
L: That place looks so amazing you don’t have to do anything with it, it has this beautiful ceiling and beautiful stage and this cabaret bar.
J: What’s the name?
L: It’s called Kleine Nachtrevue.
J: Kleine Nachtrevue!
M: Yeah this is much more production value than Rose which is much more DIY home video flavour.
Yeah it’s kind of nice to have your intro for yourselves as this more personal and slightly voyeuristic angle…
M: Yeah and flip it up completely but still be glamorous and exciting..
A: But we are also super fun and exciting…
Haha, it’s true that some people come in with these vids that they bang like ten thousand euros behind it and you are not able to connect so well with the artist because you have no concept of them at all.
M: PDOA…when we play live, it is all about inclusivity and about me saying to the person in the front row “you’re not here to drink a beer at the bar or go on your phone but you’re here to engage with us…”
You know you tripped me out at Holzmarkt [PDOA gig in the summer of 2020] You were yelling “where’s my mouse…?”
M: I don’t know where my fucking mouse is but you look for it anyway because you know you have to look because that’s why you’re there…
I was genuinely looking for it in my pockets…
A: I definitely think this band is much more performance-based and the live shows are much more important than all the other projects I have had before. The recordings and all the things are a nice part but it’s really about performing those things live and in the moment…
M: At the end of the day without an audience what are you doing this for? We are there to engage with the audience and that is why we perform live…without the audience we wouldn’t exist in the same way.
J: Yeah this band was such a no brainer in the beginning for me. Immediately in a live context it worked for me and it was always playing towards a live concept so I think it’s kind of for the band it might be the perfect thing to concentrate on everything but the strength of the band or the obvious strength of the band.
At this point in our evening, we have all become very overexcited and drunk gallons of red wine. At least two members of the group have taken to communicating only in song and one is lost in the bathroom. We have slightly forgotten we are at an interview and are now swapping stories over our favourite David Byrne performances with tips on how not to freak out while driving around Texas. Someone has forgotten to bring enough beer and we have all realised that the spätis have closed on this freezing night…
I just have my two final questions that I always ask to everyone. One of them is who would you like to play with or be on the bill with; it’s boundless?
A: I mean Radiohead doesn’t fit so much so…
Aim high!
A: I would think of Nick Cave directly, the first big guy who comes to the head. Timber Timbre’s a bit too soft for us, even though I still feel the same energy.
J: Would be a vibe.
A: But Nick Cave would be the dream.
M: I know it’s cliché but it would be fun with Pete Doherty. These guys also would be pretty fun, the same kind of messiness.
The last time I saw The Libertines was about twelve years ago and Amy Winehouse was there and that was like the final moment of chaos…but that was sick.
J: Tom Waits would also be alright..no problem there.
A: I was also hoping for Iggy Pop…hahahaha.
M: Yeah when it comes to relatable bands it’s not something we are jumping for…I also thought about that when it comes to application for funding..who would we want to play with right now, who is set up in a way that is moving in a way that we enjoy as well..
L: La Femme..
I saw La Femme live in Brixton and I actually I had gone up onto…I don’t know if you ever went to Brixton Academy..they have this old concert hall and this second theatre level and if you have bought your twenty pound ticket you are able to go up into this carpeted concert hall because it is also this bullshit place and so me and my friend ran up to almost the top of the rafters and watched from the top and saw this sea of people…it was incredible.
M: But if we got a stage and were allowed five bands I’d be like Spaghetti, Olmo & Matilda…I’d pull my friends in just because they are so talented and just as inspirational.
J: These musicians are so inspiring and also so real. We are also the same age, same situation like really just give a fuck. Olmo and Matilda, Spaghetti [Berlin- and Cape Town-based musician, Gourmet]. Frank and The Imaginary Friends. They would be my choices.
Sick.
A: Going back to other people maybe also…
Radiohead!!!!
M: Maybe Bjork, if Bjork wanted to chill on a Thursday then I’d be down.
A: Like Dean Blunt or King Krule or people like this..
J: I would probably try to kiss King Krule.
M: And Karen Dalton…wow.
Wow.
M: The Pixies just jump in there, still alive and kicking and doing their shit. Patti Smith…if she wants to hang out then I’m totally down.
Then finally if you can play anywhere for your first resurgence where would you play?
M: Glastonbury!
L: Really ?
A: Berghain!
J: I would love to play in Berghain.
L: That would be sick.
A: In Panorama Bar.
J: No in the big room, the main room.
In the big one.
M: No if you are going to play a rock concert you’re going to play canteen so I would say a festival is more like it.
J: Coco played there..
A: Radiohead too!
Hahahahah.
M: Nick Cave Radiohead, Nick Cave Radiohead, okay got it.
J: Lido would be great!
M: Lido…
L: I played there supporting Idols and that was sick with Plattenbau.
J: How is the stage there?
L: Really good.
J: Is it blasting?
L: Yeah it’s really fucking loud!
Did you hear this Jonny Greenwood album, did I talk to you about it…
A: Which one?
The one with….did you see it?
A: I haven’t seen it but I have it on vinyl.
Junun, it’s so sick.
M: Yeah where we really want to go is Australia at some point. If we can play In Australia at a huge festival that would be the dream for a lot of us because we want to get out of Berlin. Naturally like any artist in Berlin we are a bit limited and we get stuck here so if we could play somewhere really cool it would be in Australia at a big festival or in a small Jazz bar with people who give a shit. I have a friend who owns a bar in Sydney called Camelot and everything is camel, he is crazy about camels. They play with amazing musicians and we could do a show at Camelot in Marrickville in Sydney.
J: If we are talking about any place in the world that we don’t really know about like a big dream would be to do North and West Africa for me..that would be the end of the line if you can kind of manage to somehow to really truly connect to the community there. Music does that right, that’s the beauty of doing music you kind of show up and you immediately have one or two open doors into something that would normally take ages to come across because people are happy that you are there and they are grateful that you shared something and they are up for sharing their best thing immediately and not only the second best thing, they care about what you think because you gave them something and I mean if that effect is similar in North or West Africa then for me and my interests that would be…
A: Or Japan…
M: Or what about Montreal Jazz Festival, that would be a highlight.
L: I’d fucking love to be at Montreal Jazz Festival, a bunch of bands I love are from there. Tops are one of my favourite bands from the last few years.
A: I mean of course it’s also a mainstream answer but to play in New York would be awesome.
J: I did it only once and already it was like a movie experience. Even in the midst of my super insecure young anxiety. I feel like New York is that one city and you arrive and it can’t be different from the movies.
A: I mean I actually played in New York before and our show was really shitty and it was with this other high school band and not many people there…It was somewhere in Brooklyn and it was alright but it could have been any other city..it had nothing New York about it.
L: I’ve played there a couple of times. Yeah three or four years ago, one was this place in Manhattan and the other one..Silent Vine in Brooklyn but that also closed down since..I think a lot of the venues there seem to last only a few years..having been gentrified.
M: But some of them are great. I saw great shows at Webster Hall or obviously like Radio City music hall is massive. But Webster Hall I saw these three sisters [Haim], it’s a great example where it would be so cool to play but we don’t look at America because the politics of America is so toxic that there is not this huge desire of like as this unknown Berlin band to want to go to the States and throw our money at something..it’s such a gamble that we might get fucked up there but whereas looking as other European countries or Asian countries…
J: I saw them [Haim] at Primavera and they were a little bit for me live..they were so on point it was kind of boring to watch because of perfect harmony, perfect set….that whole spiel.
M: I thought that was great!
I saw Radiohead at Glastonbury and it was like listening to an album. At Glastonbury it’s different also because some bands like get..I saw The Cure and it was like, I was expecting so much and I wanted a really extended play of A Forest and I didn’t get it…
L: That’s the thing I think the best gigs ever are always the ones where you have zero expectations and you play some sweaty basement show or something and you’re not thinking that this…sometimes you have expectations of certain towns or something and you go to somewhere where you don’t know anything about and you have no expectations. You could be feeling like shit that day and you rock up and there’s such a vibe with the people you meet and the audience and everyone is into it. I feel like those are the best shows, where you don’t expect anything. I feel like that’s like with a lot of things where you don’t have expectations.
J: Connected to that, I can’t remember who said “once you take a picture of a moment the moment dies.” We had this discussion in the studio. So with music in the moment when you look at a thing…in quantum physics there’s also this phenomena once you look at a particle it changes its behaviour or it’s be proven that this can be the case that it alters it’s state somehow and alters its end location which is also crazy.
L: So a no photo policy is also a good thing.
J: I mean you feel this in music that the less you observe, the more you are able to compartmentalise. I feel like you will never get that one fucking take that happens when ten fucking people are listening. It’s the path of least resistance that comes back in as well because the expectation of the amount of plus the amount of people that come to the gig..I believe that has the most resistance. Somehow when thirteen thousand people go to a fucking concert in a stadium and you have to deal with it in the most sensitive way.
A: If you’re playing it perfectly but you’re not authentic then you are just replicating something, that’s also what I admire in so many different bands..
M: Such as…ahahah.
A: Like no matter what they play like if they play the shaker or the guitar they feel it the same way , they believe in themselves or in the shaker you know, they do it because the song needs it now.
It’s like the guy in The Brian Jonestown Massacre…what’s his name? The guy who plays the…
J: The tambourine man!
Anton is the main guy. Something like Joel. He’s the one..he’s like the main feature of the documentary gig..
J: Visually he’s the front man.
Maybe he is called Joel. We are going to wrap it up.
interview SISI SAVIDGE
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