aaamusic | On 29, May 2012

AAAmusic talk to Charlotte Brandi of Me and my Drummer about influences and the lyrics to their music.

AAAmusic: When did you start making music individually, and when together?

Charlotte: Matze started playing the drums at the age of 9 and had his first band when he was 10 years old. I started playing the piano and singing at the age of 5, more or less self-taught. We met three years ago in Tübingen at the local theatre when we both were hired as stage musicians for three productions.

AAAmusic: What were your main music interests growing up?

Charlotte: Matze listened a lot to singer / songwriters like Elliott Smith, jazz musicians like Bill Evans and his first band covered The Blues Brothers. Matze is very much influenced by melodies and interesting song structures and enjoys being part of this element.I grew up with lots of folklore stuff and my parents both played in rock bands when I was little, so I pretty much listened to lots of Blues, Rock, Folk and World music. My Mother gave me two tapes for children about the history of Mozart, Händel, Vivaldi and Beethoven, including sound examples which she heard on heavy rotation.

AAAmusic: Would you cite any act as a direct influence on your album, ‘The Hawk, The Beak, The Prey’ ?

Charlotte: Our producer Tobias Siebert introduced us to acts like The Cure and Kate Bush during the time in the studio, so the sound relates a bit to the 80s and a certain hypnotic and dramatic musical style.

AAAmusic: Would you say that there are any recurring themes, or preoccupations, in your lyrics?

Charlotte: The biggest influence during the writing process was maybe our first winter in Berlin. It was tough, man. For some reason, Berlin has quite a merciless climate in winter. A very ugly face of a city, that feels like a oversized playground in the summertime! And when the world around you is so inhospitable, you tend to write about things like darkness and abyss…

AAAmusic: Do you have a particular creative process?

Charlotte: Funny question… Either we improvise and pick the moments or I sit at home and write songs – it depends on how easy it feels to get to the source of inspiration. We take every freedom that we have.

AAAmusic: You have just played two dates here in London; how did you find it? How, if at all, was the response you got here different to that you receive in your home country, Germany?

Charlotte: It was great! The people were sweet and we received lots of great feedback after the shows. Visiting London was an intense and very cool experience!

AAAmusic: What are your touring plans for this summer?

Charlotte: We will play at many festivals and book gigs as much as we can!

 

Chiara Amoretto