Artist Interviews

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I love doing interviews with independent artists. They are honest, they are real. You don’t get those PR friendly answers, or a list with things you’re not allowed to talk about. Yeah, I’ve done those too in my radio days.

I’ve been blessed so far with interviewing artists on my blog who kept it real! I can ask anything I want, I get honest answers back and we have a lot of fun in the process!

And even though I’ve been blessed so far, Laura of Tokyo Taboo took the whole thing a step further. Some of the answers Laura gave me had me cracking up so hard, it still hurts… God, I love interviewing independent artists, they are real to the bone!

The Dutch Guy (TDG): Can I borrow 20 bucks?

Laura of Tokyo Taboo (TT): We’d love to…but we are broke from paying for our latest music video :-(
Free copy of our EP and some merch instead?

TDG: Can you describe Tokyo Taboo in one sentence?

TT: We’re really good in bed and our tunes are pretty awesome too.

TDG: So you got no problem hitting those high notes huh?

TT: I can sing bloody high – dogs love it . Their ears prick up and everything :)

TDG: What are your roots?

TT: I’m English from all over and grew up singing along to The Sound Of Music with my Grandpa playing the organ. When I was five I got my first tape player and played Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” EP over and over to my barbie dolls. I think that’s when I knew I wanted to do music.

Mike’s polish. He moved to London six years ago and he is a musical genius – started playing the accordion when he was four or five, plays piano guitar etc.

TDG: How long have you been working on your new EP?

TT: Well it took us a few months to write, two weeks to record in LA (two weeks of sixteen hour days) and four months for Adam (our producer) to put all the parts together. Then we got it mastered in London which took a few days. A lot of work involved!

TDG: What’s involved in your songwriting process? Who does what?

TT: I write the lyrics and melody generally try to come up with an idea for the song. Mike does more of the arrangement and music writing but he’s getting more and more involved in helping with lyrics and melody, which is good as then I push myself a bit and try and think of alternative lyric/melody ideas rather than going for my first idea. We argue a lot when writing because I’m really impatient and hate being told what to do!

TDG: Which aspect do you enjoy the most while working on new material?

TT: I love recording – but get bored when it’s not vocals related (I blame a low attention span) I particuarly like it when I improvise a melody or do something that sounds great! Then I’m like “Wow I just impressed myself. I couldn’t do that a month ago…’ It makes me feel like I am progressing, learning & getting better. I also love coming up with visuals: photo shoots around the new material, music videos etc. We’re planning a new outlandish music video at the moment which will be CRAZY!

TDG: New outlandish music video? For which track? Can you tell us more about it?

TT: We were really inspired by the two latest Bowie videos – so wanna go for something surreal that gets people talking.. That’s all we can say right now! :)

TDG: How would you describe the sound of your new EP?

TT: Well, it’s hard to describe the EP as a whole as all the tracks are different. “Naked” – poppy, catchy radio friendly “hit song’ – ya know really commercial, up beat, pumping energy. “He Hit Me” is a little darker, moodier with a real industrial sound. “Then Sugar Lies” has more of a “band’ feel – more live sound, but still lots of hooks!

So very poppy, all upbeat from beginning to end – but with some interesting topics in there. We’re not a “Dancing in club/ Rubbing the girl I love’ cliche band but we are always upbeat & high energy :)

VIEW THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE >>

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