Who inspired you to make music?
I really liked Sheryl Crow a lot many years ago and got inspired to take vocal lessons. Initially I took classical lessons for a couple of years which gave me the opportunity to work on a good singing technique. I considered singing somehow to be my own personal therapy, a way to stay healthy and in a positive overall condition. So over the years things developed and I started to participate in different gospel projects, local bands and finally ended up writing my own songs with Sebastian.
What is your creative process like? Do you start with lyrics? Instruments? Concept?
The creative process varies of course as writing music is not a linear process. Sometimes I have something on my mind and bits and pieces of lyrics just arise. Oftentimes Sebastian comes up with some great guitar riffs and plays it to me. Sometimes there is a melody right in my ear, sometimes not. At times the lyrics are the beginning. So it’s a mixture of it all. After we have some sort of a structure, we record it, pre-produce it and finally after that we go into the fine tuning of the song. And in the end – we get the band together to make it sound really good!
What do you feel is the best song you have written and why?
Mmh, that’s a really hard question because I have a special connection to all of our songs. Each song represents a strong message for me and touches my soul on a very deep level. I personally love “Shine On” a lot, the song is so positive and full of good energy! Whenever I hear it, I feel happy and I’m in a good mood.
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
If you love it, you can do it!
If you could be any kind of cookie, what would it be and why? (Most important question)
I’d be a shortbread 🙂 it’s plain and simple but tastes great!!!
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
It has affected the music business pretty badly. It started with the illegal downloads in the 90’s and finds it’s peak now with the streaming. On a positive note you can say that it has become easier to market yourself, get a fan base and accomplish many things without a big label signing you.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Well, after the heydays of the vinyl era including cassette releases leading into the CD boom, we got into a long period of decline when downloads, illegal downloads in the beginning, became popular. The current low-point situation is like that: physical sales have gone down dramatically, newcomer bands aren’t able to sell physical discs outside of their own website as the market is packed with new releases. Distributors can’t handle all the products that are available as costs for professional distribution won’t be covered by the sales. Digital sales or streams have overtaken already. Did you know that a musician gets less than 0,003 Cent per song per stream? That means that if a band gets 1000 streams, which is quite good, they earned 3 Euro! This is just a nightmare for us artists.
What is the most useless talent you have?
I’m a pretty good ski driver, I guess that is something you don’t really need to have 🙂
When you’re done with music, what do you want people to think when they talk about you and your work?
I am hoping to reach out to the listeners heart and soul when listening to our music. Music is the universal language and it builds bridges amongst people, cultures and all races – music spreads so much good energy and brings a strong message across – I would love the listener to sense that as well.
What is your most recent project/upcoming project?
We are currently working – like almost day and night – to promote our debut album “Six Dusty Winds” out on March 26 in the UK. As we decided not to sign to any record label, it is quite a job to do! So we are doing everything by ourselves: promotion, marketing, management, distribution, public relation etc. We got a few record deals offered, but these days it’s not worth it to give away all the artists rights for hardly any money in return. So we are shooting and editing videos these days, promoting the upcoming album and trying to get the word and music out to the world, so a lot of people discover IVY GOLD.
Find the Band at:
BTMusic Blog 