Spot-Festival Special: Electric Eye im Interview
Electric Eye – „Rain force people to be creative.“
Im Interview: Electric Eye aus Bergen; Credit: Erik Johan Bring svor
Das Soundkartell wird vom 01. bis 04. Mai exklusiv nach Aarhus zum Spot-Festival fahren. Dazu werden wir euch jede Menge unbekannter Musik mitbringen, aber ebenso wollen wir im Vorfeld darüber berichten. Bisher liefen Interviews in den Sendungen über My Heart The Brave und Glass. Dieses Mal haben wir mit dem Band Electric Eye aus Bergen gesprochen.Electric Eye kommen aus der wohl regenreichsten Stadt Europas, aus Bergen. Vier Musiker vereinen sich dort in der Band und sie machen eine Mischung aus Progressive-Rock und Psychedelic-Rock, der in weiten Teilen vom Blues und Jazz beeinflusst wurde. Etliche Titel der Band kommen instrumental daher. Darüber haben wir uns unter anderem mit den Norwegern auch unterhalten.
Sie sind mittlerweile für ihre spektakulären Live-Shows bekannt. Ein weiterer Grund sich auf ihre Show beim Spot-Festival zu freuen. Bei diesem Live-Gig werden sie euch bereits neue Songs von ihrem Album präsentieren, das für das Jahr 2014 geplant ist.
Im Folgenden lest ihr nun das gesamte Interview mit der Band.
Soundkartell: You are from Bergen in Norway. On facebook you said that Bergen is Norway`s musical capital. In which way Electric Eye is an important component to this scene?
Electric Eye: “Yeah. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, the underdog perhaps. The Bergen scene is really tied together. Everybody knows each other, play in bands together and help each other out. The members of Electric Eye play loads of different bands too. The Megaphonic Thrift, The Low Frequency in Stereo, Hypertext, Junip, Dig Deeper, Casiokids, Alexandria Quartet, The Sweetest Thrill etc. The list goes on. This is nothing exceptional for us. All of the Bergen musicians do the same. Some might say inbreed, for us it is more an opportunity to explore different genres and of course a lot of fun.”
Soundkartell: What three things characterize your music the most?
Electric Eye: “Groove, jamming and patience.
The groove is the base of almost all of our songs. We often start with a cool groove, and then build the rest on top of that. Especially in the more Kraut-rock parts of our music, small changes in the groove is what make the songs move forward.
Jamming, or improvisation, is an important part of our music. Psychedelic rock come from a tradition of jamming and improvisation. We try to keep things fresh and do a lot of jamming both live and in the studio. It is challenging and you really have to pay attention to the other musicians, but when you end up somewhere you did not expect, that is one of the greatest feelings I know.
Patience is really important to us. Allowing a song enough time to develop or give a certain part of a song the space it needs to build. I guess it would not be the same if we made 9 minute song Tangerine as a 3 minute pop-song. Would probably work too, but in a completely different way. For me that song needed the 9 minutes to become what it was supposed to be.”
Soundkartell: In school, when we spoke about Bergen rain was always outstanding for this city and the city is a bit of depressing. For us in Germany you have now the chance to do away with prejudices!
Electric Eye: “Well, it is true. 2/3 days in Bergen are rainy. But then when the sun pops out, people go mad, they leave whatever they are doing and run outside. It’s one of the most beautiful places when the weather is nice, and one of the worst when it’s bad. I think the rain make people stay inside and force them to be creative, so it is maybe not so bad after all.”
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Soundkartell: The sound that you make isn`t very catchy for someone who is not very “in touch” of the sound of this psychspacerock that you make. What is your hint when we are listening to songs like “Lake Geneva” or “Morning Light” for the first time?
Electric Eye: “My best tip is to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Put on some headphones, notice the details and subtle changes in the groove and let the songs take you away.”
Soundkartell: The song “6 Am” is fully instrumental. Then there are songs like “The Road” where you are working with vocals. How different is the process of songrwriting, when you are prodcing an instrumental song and a song with vocals?
Electric Eye: “We treat the tracks with vocals and the instrumental ones the same. As I see it there is no difference there. The vocal is just another instrument, and as long as the voice and the words sound cool, it is just as important as a cool synth or a guitarsolo. Whenever I listen to songs I never pay that much attention to the lyrics. I listen more to the sound of the vocal and the words. But sometimes you need some words to keep it interesting, sometimes you don’t.”
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1722739596 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small t=2]
Soundkartell: Are you explicit saying: “Now we will record an instrumental song!”?
Electric Eye: “No. If we manage to keep things interesting enough without vocals, I don’t see the point in adding any more words. Sometimes the other instruments speak enough for themselves and words are not needed.”
Soundkartell: For me as a layman, instrumental psychedelicrock resembles to jazz. In which way do you think there are similarities and distinctions?
Electric Eye: “Of course. For me, Psychedelic rock is the perfect merge of rock & roll, prog-rock, krautrock, improvisational music and Jazz. Miles Davis was a psych-rocker. It is all about pushing the boundaries both musically and personally. Experimenting with new sounds and instruments is a big part of what we do!”
Electric Eye aus Bergen; Credit: Kristoffer Øen
Soundkartell: How often did you hear people saying: “Oh Electric Eye…wasn`t that a song of Juda Priest?”
Electric Eye: “Haha. It pops out every now and then. When we decided the name for our band, I was not aware of the Judas Priest song. But as soon as we started to google the band name, we noticed. I don’t listen to the Priests that much, but from what I hear, it’s at least one of their better songs. I know there are a JP cover band called Electric Eye too, but I think people will see that it is not related in any way. It is hard finding aband name theese days, that no one else have thought of.”
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Soundkartell: The last days you were in Austin for SXSW. How was it?
Electric Eye: “SXSW was great! It is totally insane and a lot of chaos. With over 2000 bands it is hard do stick out, but we had a lot of fun, met a lot of great people, played five cool shows and ate a lot of great tex-mex. We especially enjoyed playing the Austin Psych Fest Party togheter with a bunch of cool up and coming psych bands.”
Soundkartell: What can we expect from you concert at SpotFestival?
Electric Eye: “A groovy set full of psychedelic rock and roll, combined with a backdrop of cool, spaced out visuals. We can’t wait!”
Thank`s guys for this interview!
