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Zaslišanje : My Ugly Clementine

Zaslišanje : My Ugly Clementine

Nekaj dni pred začetkom šeste izdaje festivala MENT smo se imeli priložnost pogovarjati z Miro Lu Kovacs iz avstrijske indie-pop skupine My Ugly Clementine, ki je ena izmed nastopajočih v letošnjem velikem programu. 

Ta super skupina nima običajnih članov – Sophie Lindinger je namreč z že znanim elektro pop duetom Leyya združila moči z dobro znanimi osebnostmi z avstrijske glasbene scene: Miro Lu Kovacs iz zelo cenjene avantgardne pop zasedbe 5K HD, Kathrin Kolleritsch iz nemškega rap projekta Kerosin 59 in Nastasjo Ronck, ki je verjetno najbolj iskana glasbenica na Dunaju.

My Ugly Clementine bodo prevzeli oder v Orto baru drugi dan festivala MENT, ki bo potekal med 5. in 7. februarjem.

Foto: Hanna Fasching

Za začetek se vrnimo nekoliko v preteklost. Pred nastankom My Ugly Clementine ste bili (in še vedno ste) aktivni na avstrijski glasbeni sceni z ločenimi projekti, ki so precej raznoliki. Kako je prišlo do ustvarjanja te super skupine? Kakšna je bila vaša prva ideja? Se je ideja skupine morda spremenila po izdaji vaših prvih nekaj skladb in po prejemu pozitivnih odzivov?

Sophie je imela te pesmi v žepu, ki jih je napisala v preteklih letih, in je hrepenela po tem, da bi zaživela to svojo drugo glasbeno identiteto. Ona in jaz (Mira) sva se že prej pogovarjali o igranju skupaj, Kathrin in Nastasja pa se poznata že od prej iz drugih skupnih projektov. Na srečo smo se našli na majhni, a cvetoči glasbeni sceni na Dunaju! Ideja je bila predvsem to, da bi se na odru zabavali in morda tudi zamenjali instrumente in vloge, ki smo jih bili vajeni. Popolnost je velik del naše delovne etike, toda s tem bendom se lahko tudi resnično prepustimo in skačemo na odru haha. Občutek do nove skupine se v resnici ni spremenil, razen reakcij – bile so in so še vedno prevelike, tako da se zdaj preprosto nikoli več ne želimo vrniti nazaj.

Hitro ste uspeli doseči uspeh v Avstriji in tudi v drugih evropskih državah – z nekaj že objavljenimi skladbami, ki so takoj postale uspešnice, ste napovedali svoj debitantski album, ki prihaja marca letos. Kako izgledajo postopki pisanja in snemanja v zasedbi? Je kdo od vas profesionalec pisanja besedil ali to počnete vsi skupaj?

Vsi smo profesionalci. 🙂 Vsi štirje imamo izkušnje s pisanjem, izvajanjem in produciranjem. Sophie je tukaj glavni mojster. Ona ni samo napisala pesmi in besedila, ampak je tudi vse posnela in zmiksala. Na vajah se natančno uglasimo ter nato vidimo, kako lahko vsaka izmed nas prispeva svojo osebno sestavino k temu.

Teme v zvezi z vašimi besedili raziskujejo nekaj resnih vprašanj, ki so skozi skladbo izpostavljene kot neke vrste humor. V vaši glasbi se čutijo močna feministična sporočila. Kako vam uspe, da tako resne težave prepletete s plesno glasbo?

Stvar je v tem, da ne morete dovoliti, da vas te stvari potegnejo dol. S temi sporočili se trudimo dvigniti sebe in vsakega gor. Želimo povzdigniti svoj glas, pustiti, da naše kitare to kričijo in da ne sprejemamo omejitev svojega življenja in videnja. Torej je naravni instinkt, da stvari, ki se nam zgodijo, preživimo v svoji umetnosti. To je privilegij, da to počnemo na svoj način.

Mi lahko poveste malo več o avstrijski glasbeni sceni? Ali menite, da nudi vso podporo, ki je potrebna, da bi lahko tam nov bend oziroma glasbenik našel svoje mesto? Tudi mediji igrajo eno največjih vlog tukaj – ali menite, da novi ambiciozni glasbeniki dobijo prepotrebno podporo avstrijskih medijev?

To je težko reči. Mislim, da smo bili doslej vsi zelo srečni. Vsi neumorno delamo na svojih vizijah in projektih, okoli sebe smo zgradili močno mrežo in ekipo. Spomnim se, kako pred desetimi leti, ko sem bila še študentka, ni bilo vedno videti, kje iskati podporo, menagment in booking. Toda organizacije, kot je Mica, so naredile veliko dela, da bi našle in spodbujale nadarjene talente. Preko njih sem se osebno povezala z ekipami, s katerimi delam danes. Vse je v tem, da posežete in se postavite tja. Pa tudi mirni bodite in zaupajte svojim nagonom!

“Girl bands” so postali zdaj bolj pogosta stvar – če govorimo resnično, je glasbena industrija preplavljena s “boy bands”. Kakšen je vaš pogled na to? Zakaj mislite, da je situacija v vseh teh letih ostala enaka? V zadnjih nekaj letih je vključevanje žensk v glasbo postalo pomembno vprašanje, zato se v glasbenem svetu obravnava z veliko pozornosti – zakaj menite, da je tej zadevi bilo potrebno toliko časa, da se je končno lotila na pravi način in se izpostavila kot resnično vprašanje?

Najprej, nihče od nas ni več dekle, vse smo že odrasle in tudi ne spoštujemo vse zaimka ona. In spoštljivo bi rade to vprašanje posredovale našim moškim kolegom. Zelo rade bi slišale njihovo mnenje o tem. 🙂

Zadnjih nekaj mesecev ste bili zelo zasedeni – vaš nastop na Eurosonic 2020 vam je prinesel veliko medijske pozornosti: nizozemski mediji so vam potrdili, da imate “priložnost za preboj: 90 %”. Ali verjamete, da je nastop prinesel skupini kaj novega?

Seveda! Showcase festivali obstajajo za promocijo, kajne? Osebno me zelo prevzame velikost festivala. Imeli smo res dolg dan, ki je bil poln z odgovarjanjem na vprašanja in z igranjem sej. Bilo je zelo zabavno, a tudi resnično stresno. Na koncu mislim, da smo sobo res osvojili in jim pokazali, kdo smo in zakaj smo tukaj!

Debitantski album prihaja letos marca. Mi lahko poveste malo več o tem? Kaj lahko od tega pričakujejo poslušalci?

Yessss, prihaja 20. marca, imenuje se Vitamin C, da bi vas rešili iz zimske depresije, haha … Naši oboževalci se lahko veselijo, da bo leta 2020 prevzela vibe iz devetdesetih let, 10 pesmi grunge popa, ki bodo na koncu morda precej brezčasne … Poleg tega je to pravzaprav glasba, na katero osebno želim tako jokati kot plesati <3 

Prvič boste igrali v Ljubljani v sklopu festivala MENT. Kaj lahko pričakujemo od vašega debitantskega nastopa tukaj? Morda kakšne nove pesmi?

Ahh, iskreno, ne vem! Obožujem to mesto in komaj čakam, da se vrnem !! Toda najprej igrajmo MENT !!!

Najlepša hvala, da ste si vzeli čas za ta intervju in vam želim veliko sreče!

Zaslišuje: Ružica Petrova

Originial:

Just days before the start of the sixth edition of MENT festival, we had the chance to talk with Mira Lu Kovacs from the Austrian indie-pop group My Ugly Clementine, which is one of the many performers in this years big line up.

This super-group does not have ordinary members. Sophie Lindinger from the already known electro-pop duo Leyya has joined forces with well known figures from the Austrian music scene: Mira Lu Kovacs from the highly acclaimed avant-garde pop band 5K HD, Kathrin Kolleritsch from the german rap project Kerosin 59 and Nastasja Ronck, who is probably the most requested band musician in Vienna.

My Ugly Clementine will take over the stage in Orto Bar on the second day of MENT festival, which will take place between the 5th and the 7th of February.

For starters, let’s get a bit back in time. Before the creation of My Ugly Clementine, all of you were (and still are) active in the Austrian music scene with separate projects which are quite diverse. How did it come to creating this supergroup? What was your first idea behind it? Did the idea of the band maybe change after the release of your first few songs and after receiving positive feedback?

Sophie had these songs in her pocket, she had written over the past years and craved to live out this other musical identity of hers. She and I (Mira) had talked about playing together already before, Kathrin and Nastasja know each other from way back and other joined projects. Luckily, we found each other in Vienna’s tiny but blooming music scene! The idea was to primarily have fun on stage and maybe also play a different instrument and role as what you we were used to. Perfection is a big part of our work ethics, but with this band we can also really let go and rock off on stage haha.The feeling for this new band hasn’t really changed, other than the reactions – they were and still are overwhelming and now we just never want to go back <3 

You managed to gain quick success in Austria and in other European countries as well – with a few already released songs, which immediately became hits, you announced your debut album coming in March this year. How does the writing and recording processes look like in the band? Is there someone who is a professional in the lyrics-writing part or do you all do it together?

We are all professionals 🙂 All 4 of us have tons of experience in writing, performing and producing. Sophie is the master mind here. She not only wrote the songs, and lyrics, but also recorded and mixed everything! In rehearsals we do the fine tuning and see how every single one of us can contribute their own personal ingredient to it.

The topics regarding your lyrics explore some serious issues, which through song are exposed as a kind of humor. Strong feministic messages are felt throughout your music. How do you manage to mix such serious issues with dancy music?

The thing is, you can not let these things pull you down. We are trying to lift ourselves and each up with these messages. We want to raise our voices, let our guitars scream it and not except limitations to our lives and visions. So it’s a natural instinct to put the things that happen to us, that we live through into our art. It’s such a privilege to do this our way.

Can you tell me a bit more about the Austrian music scene? Do you think that it provides all the support needed for a new band/musician to find its place there? The media plays one of the biggest roles here as well – do you think that new aspiring musicians get the much needed support from the Austrian media?

That’s hard to say. I think we all have been really lucky so far. We all work tirelessly on our visions and projects and we built a strong network and team around us. I remember that, 10 years ago, when I was still a student, it wasn’t always visible where to look for support, management and booking  -wise. But organisations like Mica have done a lot of work to find and promote aspiring talents. Through them, I personally, connected with the teams I work today. It’s all about reaching out and putting yourself out there. But also keep calm and trust your guts!

“Girl bands” have become a more common thing now – if we’re talking real, the music industry is swamped with “boy bands”. What’s your view on this? Why do you think the situation has stayed the same for all these years? Women’s involvement in music has become an important issue in the past few years and it is being treated with a lot of attention in the music world now – why do you think this topic needed so much time to finally get addressed the right way and exposed as a real issue?

First of all, none of us are girls anymore, we are all grown up by now and also, not all of us go by the pronoun she/her. And respectfully, we would like to forward this question to our male colleagues. I would love to hear their take on this 🙂

You’ve been very busy the last few months – your performance at Eurosonic 2020 brought you a lot of media attention: the dutch media attested you “Breakthrough chance: 90 percent“. Do you believe that performance brought something new for the band? 

Sure! Showcase festivals exist to promote you, don’t they? Personally, I’m very overwhelmed by the size of this festival. We had a really long day answering questions and playing sessions. It was a lot of fun, but also really stressful. In the end I think we really did win the room and showed them who we are and why we are here!

The debut album is coming this March. Can you tell me a bit more about it? What can the listeners expect from it?

Yessss, it’s coming out on march 20th, it’s called Vitamin C to get you out of your winter depression, haha… Our fans can look forward to a 2020 take on a 1990s vibe, 10 songs of grunge pop that, in the end might be rather timeless … Plus, this is actually the music I personally wanna cry-dance to <3

You’re playing in Ljubljana for the first time as part of MENT festival. What can we expect from your debut performance here? Some new songs maybe?

Aaah, Idk to be honest! I love this city and can’t wait to be back!! But first, let’s play MENT !!!

Thank you for taking some time to do this interview and I wish you the best of luck!

Zaslišuje: Ružica Petrova