"Remergence" Ok, so as many of you know I have been super excited about this band Remergence as of late. I think they are great and one of the most refreshing bands out there right now. Last week I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Karen, Remergence's front woman, on her blog Blazing Minds for the segment - "Who's The Band?". It was an awesome experience and I was lucky enough to be able to return the favor! So I sat down with Karen and got some insight into the Inside of Remergence, who they are, how they work and how they feel about some of the issues we face as artists in the new millennium. Here it goes!
- So how did you come upon the name of your band? Is it the first name you chose?I've always been a big fan of Pink Floyd and when I was originally for an artists name, I was listening to Atom Heart Mother and there is was, screaming at me saying "use me!"
- Introduce each member and instrument played or role in the band? Well first of all there is myself Karen Woodham, founding member, most of the work we do is electronic so I would have to say I play computers, keyboards and samples! Jake Jones, JJ, has mainly been the production side of the duo, but on the last album "Lux Lucis Quod Vis Somnium" he came along and did a few tracks.
- So what genre of music would you say you are in and who are your major influences? It has to be the electronica genre as our music is electronic based, I personally have always been influenced by Orbital, Sven Vath and Tangerine Dream. JJ has always had a more classical side.
- How long have you known each other? Where did you first meet up? It's been a fair few years now, I started out as a solo artist and after several albums, I met JJ one day, in a pub of all places, and we got talking about music, so then we became a duo, but decided to keep the name Remergence as it was now a registered band name and it was already firmly rooted in fans minds.
- How long has you band been performing/producing music? What inspired to produce your style of music?I started playing around with music very early on, drums and keyboards were always my forte, but the first album was released in 1997. JJ plays keyboards, bass, guitar and flute! The inspiration for the style of music came from early on when mucking about with samples on computers could produce some interesting sounds!
- Are you signed to a record label (Indie or major)? I have my own label Atom Sounds which I started to promote myself and other bands that I have got friendly with over the years, but have recently been signed to the label EML Recordings..
- Where can people find your music? Do you have an official website?Now this is a big one, you can find our music almost everywhere these days such as iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody, CDBaby, Shockhound to name but a few, you can also download tracks from ReverbNation (www.reverbnation.com/remergence), just do a search for Remergence and stacks of sites will pop up. You can find our official website at www.rembeatz.co.uk .
- Have your ever performed live? If so where and to how many?No! But you just never know, we may do one day...
- Who writes/produces the music and/or lyrics to your tracks? Both myself and JJ produce the music, we have used sample of vocals in the past, but we have also worked with EV from the group Corrientes on our last album on the track I Need You. We are looking to the new album been more "vocal" and our guest vocalists write the lyrics themselves.
- How would you describe your music-making process? It's a creative nightmare, only kidding, it's usually a case of just getting a the love for a certain sound or beat and then creating something from it, sometimes it can be a slow process, but we would like to think it's worth it in the end.. What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?I would have to say that the biggest challenge was getting started! That first attempt trying to get people to hear our music that had never heard of us before and then the struggle to try and build some online presence, so that more people would find and listen to our music, but, we did it in the end and now we have a comfortable following from around the world!
- What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune? To have fun! We've never looked at getting rich, though it would be nice, but we just love producing music and as long as we are enjoying do it and people are asking for new material then we'll keep doing it! What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands? Get yourself a website, not on free hosting, but your own domain name with your bands name, join forums, twitter, social networks and websites that allow you to promote your music for free such as ReverbNation, this will help build your fanbase. Don't rush your first album out, take your time with it and make it special.
- How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD? You can listen to a few tracks at ReverbNation (www.reverbnation.com/remergence) where we also have some fan exclusive tracks, you can also stream a good collection of albums on iTunes (www.itunes.com/remergence).
- Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support? My family have been very supportive as well as all my friends that I have met over the net in that last few years, that have given me advice, listened to our music and specially those that have given us financial support by purchasing our tracks, albums and merchandise across the net..
- Any last words? Thanks for the opportunity for the interview ;)
There you have it! Thanks so much for the interview Karen! Keep making amazing music!
