Original interview online [FR]
Hello, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
We're Heligoland, a band originally from Australia, now based in Europe. There are four of us: Karen (vocals, acoustic guitar), Dave (electric guitar), Steve (bass) and Stéphane (drums).
In Europe, we tend to know mainly australian rock bands. Is there a place or a scene for quieter bands like yourself?
From the people we've met in Europe I've been surprised by some of the bands they've known from Australia. Before we left I imagined that bands like INXS and Midnight Oil would be the ones that people were most familiar with but the Go-Betweens for example, which were never really a massive band in Australia (although hugely respected) seem to be quite well-known in France.
The Australian music scene is quite varied and in Melbourne where we're from originally there are many bands playing all sorts of different styles and types of music. Maybe it's true that the most successful bands from Australia in recent years have been groups like Jet and The Vines but this is not necessarily indicative of the totality of the music scenes in Australia's major cities. There are plenty of rock bands of that ilk but Melbourne and Sydney both have for example quite healthy experimental and post-rock scenes as well as the more mainstream type of rock bands.
Why did you choose to settle in Paris?
A few reasons spring to mind. Firstly, we were never keen on the idea of moving to London as not many bands seems to have good things to say about moving to London. We were also not keen on Berlin as while it's a wonderful city it has also become a bit of a cliché in some ways for Australian bands to move there, a sort of romantic idea that dates back to the days of Nick Cave and The Birthday Party. Our music is coming from a very different place and it seemed to make sense to look to cities other than those two. Some of the more practical reasons included the centrality of Paris and France in Europe. It's quite easy to travel to anywhere in Europe from Paris which is very handy for touring. We had also had a release for our previous album through a French label so in some ways it made sense to go to where our music had already been released. Prior to arriving here none of us had ever visited Paris or France so we really had no idea what it was like and thus it was also quite an exciting idea to move to somewhere completely new and different to what we'd known before.
Was it difficult to find your place in an all-new musical scene, to in part, totally start anew?
Moving to a new city in a new country is always going to be a little bit difficult. Fortunately we knew some people already through MySpace and email so we had some people to meet up with when we arrived which was really wonderful. Once we arrived we started going out to shows which proved to be quite a good way to meet other musicians and people connected with the music scene in Paris. I'm not sure that we see ourselves as just being part of the Paris scene, we tour all over Europe and have played from Porto at one end of Europe to Riga at the other, so we don't really look at ourselves as being just part of one particular scene. We like to be open to the idea of playing anywhere. For example, in a few weeks we'll be touring again, returning to Germany and the Baltic states and making our first trip to Scandinavia. We're always excited by the possibilities and opportunities for playing in different places and we like to always try and take our music to new cities and countries.
How did you find new french musicians to join the band and in what way has it changed your sound?
We've been really lucky in this respect. During our time here most of the people we've met have been musicians of one sort or another or are connected with music in some way. Heligoland's music is very much about the connection and circulation between the people playing the songs, the band is built upon the relationships between everyone involved. So when we've been in situations where we've been looking for a new member we've always looked to people we like and our friends around us to see if there is someone who might be interested to become involved. Stéphane is a good example of this approach, I think we all first met Stéphane sometime not long after we arrived in Paris and we were often around each other, talking about music, sharing some beers and going out to see bands and concerts. So when we needed someone to join the band, to us it seemed quite natural that we should ask him if he'd like to join. It was also a similar story with France, we were introduced to her, we all went out to have some drinks and to spend some time together and once it was apparent that everyone got along well it felt quite natural that we should ask her to become part of the band.
In terms of what everyone brings to the band, it's different for each person and it's impossible to generalise. In Heligoland there is no single voice or director telling everyone what to play all the time and there isn't one person writing all the songs - everything comes from the group as a whole. So there's a lot of space for each person to bring their musical personality and ideas to the band. We've been blessed in this respect and our playing as a band is so much better from having these experiences of new people joining us. For example, with having Stéphane involved in Heligoland: we are all friends, share some common ideas about music and aesthetics and when we play together the music comes from the connection between all of us. This is the important part, the music comes from everyone playing together, listening to each other and trying always to find the common ground and ways in their playing to complement what everyone else is doing. Each person is different with a unique musical voice and personality that is all their own and this is what what they bring to the band. The reason that the sound of Heligoland has shifted this way and that over the years is because of the different people involved at various times. At any one point it's always been the sound of the people there at that particular time and their ideas and approaches to playing music together.
You make quiet and dreamy music which navigates somewhere between folk, slowcore and shoegaze. What would you say are your main influences?
It's hard to pinpoint a single influence or set of influences because everyone in the band likes and listens to different bands or artists and types of music. The idea of influences seems a bit kind of strange to us in some ways because when we get together and play and write songs we're never thinking “let's write a song like this” or anything of the sort. Without question there are some shared aesthetic ideas and approaches within the band but we can't really make a list because it wouldn't be accurate for everyone. We don't really sit around and talk about particular records or artists and try to emulate them or anything like that. We try always to find our own voice and make music that's true to the people involved.
In reviews, your music is often eclipsed by Karen's (brilliant) vocals. Isn't it sometimes a bit frustrating?
Frustrating? Not at all. Karen's vocals are a big part of the band's sound, it would perhaps be a bit strange if they weren't mentioned. It's maybe true to some extent that often in music journalism writers tend to focus on the voice and lyrics. But that's perhaps also a reflection of how a lot of people listen to music. So it's not a negative thing at all if people talk about Karen's voice, it's quite natural.
Karen's voice has often been compared to Liz Fraser or Hope Sandoval. I personally think it's much warmer than that with lot of soul in it. Who are Karen's favourite female vocalists?
K.D. Lang and Natalie Merchant... and also PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Beth Gibbons and Tracey Thorn.
You've recorded your third album with Robin Guthrie. How did it happen and how did it work?
During the writing for the new album we were always thinking we'd like to work with a producer again as we had done for our previous album “A Street Between Us”. When we were thinking about producers although we'd never met Robin we knew he lived in France and we'd always liked his music and his productions so we thought we'd ask him and see if he might be interested. We had a few meetings where we played him the demos for the album and talked a bit about the songs and our ideas and how it might all work. From the first time we met we all got along really well and it was really positive.
It was wonderful to be able to work with a producer who has so many ideas and so much experience from years of recording and producing bands. It was clear to us from the very start that Robin understood how our music worked and where we were coming from in terms of the kind of record we wanted to make. So it always seemed like we were all working together to make the album. The recording process itself was thoroughly enjoyable and although recording can in itself be a bit of a stressful process at times because you're always pushing yourself to try and capture the best performances that you're capable of, the atmosphere in the studio was always very positive and relaxed. In terms of “how it worked”, we recorded the basic tracks in Paris and then recorded all the vocals and guitar overdubs at Robin's home studio where he also mixed the record. We were working across a number of months because periodically either Robin or ourselves were away on tour so the whole process was spread out a little bit. This didn't prove to be a problem at all, every time we met up to continue recording we just picked up the threads and kept on working from where we left off. We're really, really happy with the finished record. It was an absolute joy to make and we're really thankful for Robin's enthusiasm and energy for the project and for all his hard work overseeing the sessions, recording all the overdubs and a really beautiful job mixing the finished tracks.
Having seen you a few times live, I've found your sound to become heavier, with more changes of pace and guitar parts. Is it an indication of what the new album will sound like or just a coincidence?
I'm not sure if I'd say “heavier” - more “expansive” maybe, but yes - definitely louder. We've evolved as a band through our experiences overseas and because we have different people involved in the band now to those who were involved when we were in Australia we write different kinds of songs. It's still Heligoland, we'll always sound like us to some extent, but it has definitely changed a fair bit over the years. As a band we've always tried to have a lot of dynamics in our songs when we play live and perhaps the dynamic range has expanded to encompass more louder moments as well as the quieter and often reflective passages we tended to do a lot more of in the past. The songs when played in concert are not note-for-note exactly the same as the recorded versions, but not completely different either. They are true to the new record in most respects. The new album is a much more varied and at times more expansive sounding record than the albums we've made in the past. When we play live we're not attempting to replicate every last detail of the recordings, but at the same time we always try and be true to the songs. So to answer your question: yes.
As you're playing two gigs in Paris in the next week, one electric and one acoustic, before touring Europe, I have two final questions: how are audiences different around Europe and what does it bring to the band to alternate different kinds of gigs (acoustic and electric)?
Since we've been touring Europe we've had the opportunity to play to audiences in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg and Czech. Thinking back to some of these shows it's hard to say what the specific difference is between for example an audience in Latvia and an audience in Spain. The atmosphere at a concert or the energy in the room can be created by the convergence of so many different factors: the number of people at the show, the size and shape of the room, what the sound is like, how well we're playing, the other bands on the bill, the weather that day, the time of year, whether it's a weeknight or the weekend, if it's a big city or small town, whether the drinks are expensive and no-one's drinking or if everyone wants to dance - there's just so many things that can affect the feeling or vibe at a concert. When you think about this, it seems a really strange idea to say that the difference between the feeling at a concert in Berlin and a concert in Luxembourg is just down to the difference in nationality. That's not to say that everyone is the same which obviously not true, just that comparing audiences in different countries is a bit difficult.
Playing acoustic concerts is a recent development for Heligoland. Last year we were invited to play a show as part of the concert series at 7éme ciel. This was the first time in the band's history that we'd played an acoustic concert. Prior to the show Karen, Dave and Stéphane spent several weeks working on a set of songs from the band's current setlist and back catalogue, adapting and re-arranging them to suit an acoustic format without bass, drums and effects pedals. Although the songs are all written with electric guitars, bass and drums it was a pleasant surprise how well they worked in a sparse acoustic format. After the show at 7éme ciel a few more opportunities arose to play acoustic concerts and it's something we'll be doing more of in the future. It's developed a life of it's own now and has become a sort of counterpoint to our normal, full-band concerts. There are some obvious differences, Dave and Stéphane play acoustic guitars, Karen just sings and doesn't play guitar, but beyond that the acoustic concerts offer an opportunity to play a different selection of songs and present the material in a different light which is something we particularly enjoy.