Κυριακή 19 Ιουνίου 2011

Arms and Sleepers @ Music Velocity


Είχα την χαρά να περάσω αρκετό χρόνο με την μπάντα στην πρόσφατη επίσκεψή τους στην Ελλάδα! Είναι πραγματικά ευχάριστο να βλέπεις δύο ανθρώπους που λατρεύουν αυτό που κάνουν να περιοδεύουν κάτω από αντίξοες συνθήκες σε όλο τον κόσμο με μοναδικό σκοπό να μοιραστούν την μουσική τους με τους ανθρώπους που την αγαπούν. Η εκτεταμένη Ευρωπαική περιοδεία των Arms and Sleepers έκανε και μια στάση στη Θεσσαλονίκη στις 25 Μαίου. Κατά την διάρκεια αυτής της στάσης είχα μια ευκαιρία να κάνω μια συνέντευξη με τον Mirza Ramic και τον Ben Shepard των Uzi & Ari, που τον ακολουθεί σε αυτήν την περιοδεία, την οποία και σας παραθέτω!

I have always been wondering how did the name Arms and Sleepers came up! Why have you chosen that name?

On our very first days we used to be in another band,a big band actually,with lots of people and we have decided to release a double album,with the first side called Arms and the other side called Sleepers but unfortunately this never happened and so Max and I (Mirza Ramic) decided to use these to names to name our band! We liked the name and we wanted to have it in order to remember the roots of our music.

What can you remember from the first days of the band?

Things were really dizzy,not normal at all! We were trying to write music,expressing our feelings for girls (lots of laughing at that part),trying to enclose to our music all the difficulties that a band has and of course all the odd places in which we had to play. We were just so passionate and enthusiastic to make music and sometimes nothing seemed to work out! Our music back then used to be much. more electronic

What inspires your music? Do you have any specific artists that affect you as a band?

Almodobar! Basically Almodobar! We really love him and his movies and he definitely is very inspirational to us. We are also inspired by lots of other directors like the Coen Brothers,Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck etc.We also like the music of independent films and get inspired by visual artists!

Is there a definition for the music of Arms and Sleepers?

It's not easy to give a definition to our music. We personally prefer lots of different styles of music and we compose songs that are not similar,so it is quite hard to give a definition. Let's say that we create music for relaxed people (laughing again). It is a music created by people who have lots of things in common and our music is given to people in order to make them feel all these great feelings from happiness to sadness. It is a music to deliberate your soul. People say to us that they match some of our songs with a specific mood or memory of theirs,which actually happens with us as well. Every song of ours is carefully composed. Altough we are jamming and then gather all these ideas we try to keep high standards to our songs in order the result to be the best possible and express what we feel in a descent way.

What's your experience from your tour so far?

(Laughing!) Let's say that it has so far really high moments and really low (low low as they said) moments,but it is a great experience so far. It is our very first time in Greece as well. We have visited so far so many new places and seeing people being so supportive to the band,especially in Eastern Europe,give to us a very positive feeling. Every place is different and unique,so we can say that everything is OK so far!

Is it difficult to reproduce your music live as a duo?Is there any space available for improvisations?

For this tour we are just the two of us,so there is a lot of pre-recorder stuff. It is easy in general because our new album is also very electronic. If we wanted to reproduce our music as a full band we would actually need 8-9 people playing with us which would never happen because of the cost. I think that it is nice the way we are because we have the chance to present something different in every show. It is like we are giving a new life to our songs every night,which is really interesting to us and gives us the opportunity to discover new elements on our music.

Is it easy to release so many album during a single year?Is it a need to share the music inside you?

I guess that this is our way of relaxing. When we came back to work or whenever something happens to us,music is our way to relax,step back and enjoy something that we really like to do. When we have time we try to spend it composing music so as a result we have made so many songs that we love to share them with other people. We are trying in general to be productive! It is just a way to stay focused in this thing that we love.

How would you describe the audience of the band?

I always have the feeling that our music appeals to different audiences! In some shows we have only young people! In others we have people that are older but they still seem to be interested for our music. It really depends on the place we have to play live and for sure it has to do with the different culture and different people that you can find in every place. You can also say that the different elements of our music appeal lots of different types of audience. Our music consists lots of ambient,trip hop,post rock parts,so people that like these kinds of music,even if they are not similar to each other,come to see us.

Do you get updated about the music releases? Is there any music that you like during this period?

I think that we both like the Caribou record that was released last year. This album is amazing! School of Seven Bells is another band that we like. Animal Collective is a great band as well. We are waiting to listen to several new releases in general. I also like (Mirza Ramic) to listen to lots of electronic bands. I like this type of music.

I think that you are from Boston. What's the music scene there?

I live in Boston and Ben lives in New York! In Boston there are a lot of good bands and we all know each other,we tour together,we play shows together but you cannot say that Boston has a music scene. You know Boston is a big university city with lots of people coming in and out,so it is really difficult to have a certain scene. People are changing,music is changing,so you can listen to electronic music during one year and during the next year you may listen to post rock,or indie music etc. There is no consistency in the audience so a certain music scene can't be built. There are some similar bands like us,Caspian and other who seem to have connection but we are only able to see each other during a tour or a live show,so we don't feel that we belong in a scene.

You can share anything you want with your fans here in Greece!

Oh well!If you haven't came to our live show you've lost (laughing). Thank you for inviting us to your beautiful country. We have spent some really nice time in Greece and we hope to come back for a live show soon!

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