aaamusic | On 20, Aug 2012

Katie chats with When Saints Go Machine – here’s what she discovered!

AAAmusic: Hello. I suppose the obvious question (and partly what drew me to your name on the email list of interviewees) is of course your name. Is there any particular idea or meaning behind it?

Not really. We needed a name when we were starting out and thats the name we chose, but of course you always project some sought of meaning onto a name or a title listening to the music and we think it fits our sound well.

AAAmusic: When trying to look up some background on the band, I found you seem to keep up a sort of mystique (unlike some artists who put their life stories on Facebook) – is this a conscious decision?
The music is what’s interesting, other than that we’re just four guys from Copenhagen, no need for dramatization. We don’t really find the story of us banging on pots and pans at five that exciting.

AAAmusic: Your sound is in some ways very “electro” but there’s hints of pop and even post-rock/ethereal in there too. What would you say are your influences in terms of sound?

We´re inspired by everything around us. The Machines we’re using, each other, people like Sylvia Plath, David Berman, friends and a million different sounds, but to name any sought of genre in particular would be almost impossible since we all come from very different musical backgrounds.

AAAmusic: Your sound is very diverse – a quick browse has found things ranging from poppy dancefloor stuff to some pretty intense or ghostly tracks. Would you say that you have a particular style that you’re more inclined to start with or follow, or is each track a kind of fresh start in terms of style?

We always go with whatever gives us the strongest collective feeling and I think that’s the origin of our sound. A song could start with a sentence or a sound, but it has to have personality.

AAAmusic: As someone who isn’t necessarily too familiar with what seems to me a prevalence of remixes in dance/electro music – your Soundcloud having quite a few on it – could you perhaps explain to me how the dynamic between the two parties involved works? Is it like covering a song, or more involved than that?

When we do a cover of a song or a remix we always try to make it our own, usually we start of by stripping it down and then try to get as far away from the original as possible and then work our way back  towards something different.

AAAmusic: Scandinavia seems to have a strong electro/dance scene right now, with you being one of the ‘notable’ names to outsiders. Would you feel this is accurate? What are your thoughts on this?

I think Scandinavia has a strong music scene in general right now with a lot of really talented artists and we’re grateful that we’re one of the bands that people find interesting.

 

Katie H-Halinski