MuzicNotez: First off, it’s an honor to be doing this interview with you, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us.
Introduce yourselves, what are your names and rolls in the band?
ODETTE: We are Ashlie and Keith Burgun, otherwise known as Odette and Ghost Lord. Ashlie sings and writes our lyrics and Keith composes and arranges the music.
MuzicNotez: You’re siblings, have you always been interested in making music together? How has your family influenced your musical aspirations?
ODETTE: Our parents( Mother, Father and Step-Father) were actually in a punk/new wave band in NYC in the 70’s. They also exposed us to a lot of interesting music throughout our lives, and were always pretty supportive of our creative interests in general.When we were younger we would do little sing-a-long performances for our family. Later on we were in several bands together and both of parents have come on stage and performed with us a couple times which was really cool.
MuzicNotez: How did you come up with the name Odette?
ODETTE: Odette is the name of the Princess in the 1981 Toei Animation version of Swan Lake that I (Ashlie) was obsessed with as a child.
MuzicNotez: Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the band you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create?
ODETTE: In our previous band, Honey, we started to do some covers Japanese Pop, Video Game and Anime music, mostly in the pop-punk/rock vein. We started Odette because we felt like the electronic sound lent itself better to the Dance/Pop music that we also love and wanted to make. Our biggest musical influences for this project include Yasutaka Nakata, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Yoko Kanno, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Gwen Stefani, Charli XCX and ABBA.
MuzicNotez: What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been to or performed?
ODETTE: Keith: Probably Eagles of Death Metal. That was a really, really fantastic show. Highly charming people, great performers, fun music.
Ashlie: Go!Go!7188. I am so happy that they came to play in the U.S. and I got to see them before they split up. Also pretty proud that we got to play a show at CBGB’s before it closed, even if no one was really there to see us play!
MuzicNotez: What’s the ultimate goal you want your music to achieve, or for you to achieve in your career as a musician? Any particular message you wish to send?
ODETTE: Musically, we want to remind people that melody exists. We hope that people will hear our stuff and kind of remember the 80s, or the 60s, or the 40s… times when melody was everywhere. Also, since we are spending less time and energy on live shows, we are able to focus more on our web presence, making videos and web-comics to supplement our music. Since we both have crazy schedules, the idea of being a virtual band was really appealing to us.
MuzicNotez: How did you get into the Anime genre?
ODETTE: Keith’s fandom of Anime was more recently acquired, and probably a result of his love of the music. For me, (Ashlie) I was always drawn to the style and depth of the stories in Anime, even before I realized it was a genre. In general, the creativity in the Art and Music coming out of Japan is very inspirational to both of us.
MuzicNotez: Your latest track is ‘Glow’, what was the inspiration behind this track?
ODETTE: Keith’s goal with this song was to have a very strong, iconic melodic motif. With the lyrics, my goal is usually to invoke cool imagery while still having a strong message. The message in this song is similar to that of ‘Oranges’, which is not letting the daily grind get in the way of you dreams.
MuzicNotez: What else are you working on? What can we expect to see and hear from you in the future?
ODETTE: In real life, Keith is a game developer and an author. You can check out his work at dinofarmgames.com and keithburgun.net. Ashlie is model/actress under the name Harvey Elwood. As for Odette, a video is in the works for Glow which we are really excited about. Other than that, more songs and episodes of our web-comic “The Tale of Princess Odette”!
MuzicNotez: Anything else you wish to say about yourself or your music? Any message for your fans?
ODETTE: We really enjoy interacting with our fans! We want you to come and be a part of the little virtual Odette universe we are creating!