Interview: Audrey
Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you the final chapter in our Göteborg Spotlight Series. Our guests this week: Audrey. Read on!
Did you guys grow up in/around Gbg or did you gravitate there by choice? How exactly did the band end up coming together in the first place?
We grew up in places quite close to eachother, a bit north above Gothenburg. Two of us have been friends since we were kids. And we all met through other friends and around music when we all were in the same town for high school. We formed the band in the end of our high school years. We had all played in other constellations, but when the four of us got together and the band became Audrey it felt really good. With many dreams of what could come, but at the same time only a fantastic way of being creative together. So after finishing high school we all moved to Gothenburg and we were quite focused and started to seriously rehearse and play a lot more.
How do you think your surroundings influence you? In what ways does the geography, weather and/or people of Gbg effect your art?
I most definetely think that our nature and seasons affect us a lot. Really dark and foggy can be just as cosy as the light summernights, and the harsh cold but sparkling light snow can make you full of energy, and can give you the sun in a way that the summer can't. And that they are total opposites. And how you can long for them both, in different ways during different times. Because they have positive and negative sides with them.
Being close to the sea has always been a natural beautiful thing to me (Rebecka). And my mood is really affected by the weather. Like painters want to express in a picture what they see and how they feel we have a mix of what we all four feel, think about, and what we think is beautiful and awful. I guess it's not a written recipy how you let the surroundings affect you. Just that you know that they do. And also just as important how your friends and family feels and what people around you can influence you to do something, like them or something totally different, but in your own way.
Is the so-called "postrock" scene as much of a boy's club as I think it is? Has that changed at all over the years you guys have been playing together and touring? What else could be done to make it better..?
I guess I've never felt the negative thing from the people and friends that are closest to you, about us being all female. Instead I think many of our male friends playing in "postrock" bands have encouraged us! But more often it can be that your voice is your special thing, not the instrument. And that you can feel unsure about wheter they like you just because of your music or the fact that it is more exotic with females in this genre. I always try to turn it in the positive way, and listen to the good parts. Beacuse of course there will always be things that you can take in a negative way. And that you can feel hopeless for the whole situation with it being more unusal with women making and playing good music.
But we do what we like and hope that others will feel why we do it and hopefully encourage other women and also other men.
There seems to be quite a mix of great bands in Gbg - any under-appreciated acts you think deserve more attention?
Winter Took His Life is a splendid young woman full of talent!
Hajen is another great girl with a fantastic voice that breaks hearts and her way of playing piano is very rare to!
We recently played in Gothenburg with Euphoria and the Lazy Boy and he's got a cool sound and voice, I hope to hear more from him this spring.
And of course Gothenburgs finest Once We Were, they deserve the world!
Lastly, got a track to share? Tell me about it.
Ok, I think it has to be "11 years - with the Malmö based band Fredrik, it's supernice! I like the arrangements very much and the mystery that they keep trough the song. You can see the cool video here and listen to the song below:
MP3: Fredrik - 11 years