INTERVIEW: FOE

 

FOE, aka 21 year old Hannah Clark, has just released her debut album “Bad Dream Hotline”. Working with Entrepeneurs, “Bad Dream Hotline” blends rock and grunge with catchy pop melodies and often dark lyrics. 

Having previously fronted alt-pop band Arthur, Hannah went on to work as a solo artist and released her first EP “Hot New Trash” back in April last year, with her debut album out this week. FOE’s live set includes a four-piece band, which Hannah describes as somewhat close and shambolic.

We caught up with Hannah to find out more about music… 

How did you choose and what’s behind the name FOE?

I kept coming up with names that had the word foe in just because I’ve basically always put all my effort into music, and always been a bit of a loner in a way - just kind of writing on my own. So it just felt quite apt really, I was thinking FOE as in nobody’s friend, and then I eventually just decided to use the name FOE and kind of get straight to the point.

Tell us about FOE, is it you as a solo artist or do you have a full band?

Well I write all the music and songs, and I guess FOE is meant to be my alter ego, a bit of a persona. I do have a four-piece live band and when we’re on tour it does feel a bit more like a band in a way, the guys are playing parts that I’ve written. I really wanted the band to be kind of not stale, I think you see a lot of soloists perform and the backing band just look really separate. I really wanted the live show to be a bit more shambolic and for us to look like a unit. So the band is kind of made up of friends and we’re quite connected on stage which is cool. 

You’ve just released your debut album “Bad Dream Hotline”, how does it feel putting it out?

It feels amazing to have the album out, it’s quite a huge personal achievement. I’ve made a decision to not read any reviews - good or bad, just because everyone has their own opinions and i don’t want it to distract me from why I write music - but I’ve had quite a few personal messages and emails that have been really lovely so I’m quite pleased.

What was the inspiration behind the album, and how does it differ/compare to your EP “Hot New Trash”? 

Well there are two songs on the album that were on the first EP just because it felt right for them to be on my proper debut. The album is kind of based on personal experiences and dreams. I’ve always had really vivid dreams and its quite a blurred line sometimes between what’s real and what’s a dream, so songwise it’s kind of a mashup of that really. The EP I released before the album is based a lot more on where I live in the suburbs, so that’s kind of its own thing compared to the album.

Who did you record the album with?

I recorded it with Entrepeneurs, who is Adam Crisp - he’s also in my live band as well. He’s got a bedroom studio and we wrote most of the record there, and then moved his set up to this recording studio in Henley - so it was literally just me and him in this little place int he middle of nowhere for a month, it was really nice.

How would you describe your sound?

I think there are definitely pop elements because I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for a tune I guess. Melody is quite important to me so I always try and get a strong melody into my songs when I’m writing. I’m also really influenced by artists and bands like Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Sonic Youth - so I kind of usually describe my sound as grunge pop. I think live it is definitely more grungey than it is on the record I think the songs can maybe be quite dark in places - which probably comes from Nick Cave being an influence.

You touched on a lot of your influences there, have you always listened to the same kind of music - who were you listening to growing up?

I was obsessed with the Spice Girls when I was about 7 as I’m sure most young girls were, and then my dad started giving me CDs and stuff and I started playing guitar when I was quite young. So it was mainly my dad’s influence as he would kind of chuck CDs at me and I’d go off and listen to them. I think I had my first Nirvana CD when I was about 12, and then he gave me a PJ Harvey album after that and I absolutely fell in love with her. I think Nirvana and PJ Harvey are the ones that I really remember growing up. Also, my dad used to play quite a lot of Neil Young and Captain Beefheart, who I’ve always been quite obsessed and intrigued by - so quite big musical characters I guess. I’m not very good at knowing whats hot now and finding things that are new!

Which artist are you listening to most at the moment?
Frank Zappa.

How did you start out making music?

To be honest, I’ve kind of been playing for as long as I can remember, I was in a band 5 years before i started doing stuff on my own - we were at college at the time so it was just a bit of fun really. I then went on to art college and ended up dropping out because i realised that I wanted to put all my effort into music, not because I wanted to make loads of money from it but I just knew that that’s what I needed and wanted to do. So the last few years have just been all about music.

What are your plans for 2012?

I’ll be playing a lot of shows hopefully, and planning my next batch of songs - hopefully ill be writing the next album. I work quite quickly as I quite like the idea of getting stuff out quickly - because i move on quite quick and if i ve written something and it doesn’t get released for a while id probably end up hating it. Ill be hopefully writing 2nd album , i want to travel around the country a bit and try and get some inspiration for lyrics, just from travelling around this country - I’m not sure which way yet but thats my vague plan.

What are your ambitions for your music?

My main ambition is that I’d love to be able to produce my own album - it’s quite a high goal but I’ve sort of started off by making the demos for the first album, so now I really want to develop that.

 

Jessie J celebrates her second week at the top of the charts with her latest single “Domino”, seeing Rizzle Kicks at number 2 with “Mama Do The Hump” and David Guetta ft. Sia at number 3 with “Titanium”.

This week sees a new entry from Swedish House Mafia and Knife Party with “Antidote” heading straight in at number 4.

Having sadly passed away last week, we also see a new entry from one of the greatest female vocalists Etta James with the magnificent “At Last” sitting at number 39. 

                        LISTEN TO TOP 40 SINGLES RADIO IN FULL HERE

                                  WE7 CHART RADIO STATIONS:

                                          Top 40 Albums
                                          Top 40 Indie Singles 
                                          Top 40 Dance Singles
                                          Top 40 R&B Singles
                                          Top 40 Rock Singles 


 

INTERVIEW: KARL FROM SCANDIPOP.CO.UK

LISTEN TO SCANDIPOP RADIO NOW

You may have noticed that we at WE7 love great pop music. Well, we also love finding great blogs that supply us with an endless amount of great pop music. 

If you’re like us, you’ll love scandipop.co.uk, a blog we visit on a daily basis. There must be something in the water in Scandinavia because the quality of pop music emanating from there is simply incredible. We caught up with Karl from Scandipop to try to work out why..

WE7: How did Scandipop.co.uk start out and where did the idea come from?
KB: Scandipop started out three and a half years ago. Just because I started to see a growing interest online in the music that was coming out of Scandinavia. More people were looking to that region as a place to source good pop music. So I wanted to start a website that concentrated on the best/my favourite pop coming from the Nordic countries - to highlight the magnitude of great music coming from there, and to assist people with discovering it.

WE7: Has it changed direction since it was first set up, and have your ambitions for the site changed? Where are most of your readers from?
KB: It’s changed a lot since the beginning, mainly because it’s gotten so much bigger and more popular as more people have begun to realise how much good music Scandinavia is producing. The Scandipop brand now includes more than the website - there’s the online CD store, the television show on Dance Nation TV in the UK, and of course the online radio station on We7 which has had a lot of great feedback. As for my ambitions for it, well I’d like to organise more live events in the UK like I used to, but it’s a lot more difficult now that I’m not living in London anymore and have moved to Stockholm. Most of the readers are from the UK, followed by the US, and then Sweden itself.

WE7: What were you doing before Scandipop.co.uk; has music always been at the forefront for you?
KB: Before Scandipop.co.uk, I was working with music copyright, publishing, and royalties. That’s always been my day job. And now I’m doing a lot of DJing in Stockholm, plus I write a monthly music column for a magazine back in the UK. So yes - I’ve always been working with music and hope it stays that way.

WE7: We’re huge fans of Scandinavian pop, why do you think it is so amazing at the moment?
KB: Well I only really know what I like. But I’ve asked a few artists about this over the last few years - about why Scandinavian pop is so amazing. They seem to put it down to two things. Firstly that there’s a large amount of creativity here. If you’re good at something and you really want to do it - it’s encouraged and admired. And secondly, a lot of people have pointed towards the long, cold, and dark winters out here. They say there’s not a lot else to do but be holed up indoors and honing your craft. But ultimately I think it’s because Scandinavian musicians seem to have a great ear for a pop melody. And they don’t shy away from it either.

WE7: How would you say Scandipop differs to pop in the UK?
KB: Commercial pop can be largely the same - since so much music you hear on UK radio and see on the UK charts is actually written or produced by Scandinavians. But moving away from what’s commercial, you’ve got the stark and icy electro music that Scandinavian artists do so well. I don’t think anywhere else does it as well as they do. And then there’s also another genre of music that’s popular here - called schlager music. Think Steps, but ten times cheesier. Camp dance beats, massive key changes, and ridiculously catchy melodies. That stuff would never get a proper outlet in the UK. It’s also very uncool in Sweden too of course, but it still gets more than enough exposure. There are lots of outlets for that kind of music here, and lots of artists doing it. And even the people here who say they hate it - well when it comes to 2am in the club, they’re all singing along regardless!

WE7: Who are the standout artists on the Scandipop scene for you?
KB: For pure pop there’s Le Kid. They’re incredible, and they really should be worldwide names, it’s a travesty that they aren’t. For electro music, Tove Styrke is exciting - like a young Robyn. And then Sweden also has a talent for producing young guys who do great pop music, like Eric Saade, Danny Saucedo, and Ola Svensson. Plus I’m looking forward to the new Agnes album coming later this year.

WE7: Are there any buzz producers that people should know about?
KB: Jonas von der Burg is my absolute favourite. He’s the guy behind September’s ‘Cry For You’ which was a big hit in the UK a few years back. He’s just started his own record label too and so is going to be churning out more hits for more artists soon - which I can’t wait to hear. Anders Hansson is also fantastic. He’s behind ‘Release Me’ by Agnes. And he works a lot with Felix and Märta from Le Kid too, for other artists. They’ve just done lots of tracks for a new UK act which is gonna launch this year, The Face.

WE7: We’ve seen a whole bunch of Scandipop artists that have started to show up in the UK like Icona Pop, Sound Of Arrows etc do you think Scandipop is going to have an even bigger presence in the UK this year?
KB: It’s hard to tell with the UK, since it’s so difficult for non British or American pop artists to break through. I have no doubt that there’s going to be more and more Scandinavian music worthy of a presence in the UK this year. But who knows if it’ll transpire into actual success. I’d love to see Le Kid break through, for Agnes to have another hit, and for one of the aforementioned pop boys to have a bit of a presence too. Medina is currently making her second English language album too. The first one didn’t really happen for her in the UK, but hopefully this new one will. 

WE7: Are there any Scandipop artists that you are excited about for 2012? Any that we should be looking out for?
KB: I’m excited about Love Generation. They’re a Swedish girlband put together and produced by RedOne. And they’ve promised more hits in 2012. Margaret Berger and Bertine Zetlitz are two Norwegian electro sirens that have been away for a while, but who both have new albums coming out this year. Darin and Ola are a couple of Swedish guys who have been tweeting a lot about being in the studio recently, so I’m looking forward to hearing what they both come out with. And I’m also expecting a new album from Danish duo Electric Lady Lab. I loved their first.

Scandipop.co.uk / Scandipop Radio
Check back later this week for Karl’s ‘Introduction to Scandipop’ station.

INTERVIEW: PIXIE LOTT

Hailing from Essex, singer-songwriter Pixie Lott is one of the UK’s latest pop sensations. At just nineteen years old, Pixie already has two number one singles under her belt, including debut single “Mama Do”, as well as gaining chart success for much of the past year with her debut album “Turn It Up”.

Taking some time out from her musical endeavours, Pixie has just returned from America where she featured in her first film role for “Fred The Movie”, as well as releasing her single “Boys And Girls” to coincide with the film.

With “Fred The Movie” out in cinemas on 17th December, we caught up with Pixie to find out more about her big screen debut.

WE7: You make your big acting debut in “Fred The Movie”, how did it all come about?

PL: I was in LA doing showcases and one of them got cancelled so the audition popped up, my manager told me about it so I went on the internet checked out Fred and was like wow he looks crazy, but he looked fun so I wanted to get involved and went to the audition. When I got on the flight home I got a call saying they wanted me to part of the film, so we had to re-jig the schedule and we filmed it just before Christmas.

Did you enjoy making the movie?

Yeah it was fun, it’s got such a funny script and it was really light-hearted and for a younger audience so there wasn’t too much pressure, I just had a really good time and I’ve got a lot of good memories.

WE7: Were you familiar with Fred before you started working on the movie?

No I didn’t have a clue at all, until I found out about the audition then I looked him up on the internet - he’s so crazy.

WE7: Is acting something you’ve always been interested in?

Yeah I started acting when I was about 5 and I got really into it, I did loads of TV shows and plays. I then became really focused on my music, but I always wanted to get back into acting again and I’d love to do more films and get more involved.

WE7: You released your single “Boys and Girls” in America this year, what has the reaction to your music been like?

I released “Boys and Girls” because it featured in “Fred The Movie”, but I haven’t released anything else properly in America as yet, so in February I’m going to go back and start promotion and start releasing singles.

WE7: Your headline tour kicks off in November, are you looking forward to it?

Yes I can’t wait; it’s been two years so it’s been a long time coming. I’ve been the support act a couple of times so I’m excited to have my own show now.

WE7: Has there been a lot of preparation involved?

We actually start rehearsing tomorrow so we haven’t started yet - we rehearse for ten days and then kick off the tour.

WE7: Who’s going to be supporting you on the tour?

It’s a girl band called Soundgirl. They’re three young girls and they’re really talented so I’m excited about that.

WE7: Do you have any plans after the tour, or are you going to take some much needed time out?

I finish on 18th December so it’ll be Christmas – I’m going to spend some time with my friends and family and I’m hoping to go on a ski holiday so that’ll be good fun!

LISTEN TO PIXIE LOTT RADIO ON WE7.COM NOW

INTERVIEW: WESTLIFE

For boy band read man band - having released their first album back in 1999, Westlife are all set to release their 11th album “Gravity” later this month. The group have spent the best part of this year on their “Where We Are” tour, as well as working on their latest album with legendary producer John Shanks (Take That, Kelly Clarkson).

To date the band have achieved 14 number one singles in the UK, and are just about to release their first single from their upcoming album “Safe”. The single is out on 14th November, followed by the release of “Gravity” on 22nd November.

We caught up with Mark, Kian, Nicky and Shane to find out about their latest release and what the future holds for Westlife…

WE7: You’ve just spent the summer touring, how did it all go?

Mark: It went fantastic, our two favourite things are recording and touring, then there’s promotion and loads of other things in between, but making the album and then performing it are the two main backbones of our life.

Kian: I think it’s always difficult because we came off the back of a big tour the last time and it was really successful and got great reviews, so you sit down and think where do we even start - you always want to beat the last one. We were delighted with the show and we did think it beat the last one and hopefully with our next tour we’ll do the same. It’s weird because you almost forget what it’s like to have that buzz of seeing so many people in front of you.

WE7: What was the show like how did it differ from previous tours?

Shane: The whole concept for the show was destruction and the end of the world - we wanted to come up with something instead of it being just a show of Westlife songs. The set was fantastic and it was a very visual show, there were a lot more screens and a lot more visuals going on behind us. For us we felt it was our best show so far and the reviews have been fantastic.

WE7: Who was your support on the tour?

Mark: We had a band from America called WOW, but our main support was a band called Wonderland who are a new girl band. Kian is actually co-managing them with our manager Louis, so it was very close knit vibe which was really nice; Jodie, Kian’s wife, is in the band so we already knew her very well, she’s like family. They’re just about to launch, they’re genuinely really good singers and they’re all beautiful; I’ll be very confused if they don’t become huge.

Shane: Jedward and JLS supported us when we played Croke Park and it was a great support to have. Jedward are loved in Ireland - they’re icons at this stage, even in the year or two that they’ve had, they went down a storm and they’re really good guys.

WE7: Are you surprised at how well you sell out tours considering how far down the line in your career you are?

Mark: You might get used to certain things but we’re just about to release a new album, we’ve spent months making it, and we have no idea how well it’s going to do. We never assume that it’s going to be massive or it’s going to flop. So, right now we’re nervous, we’re excited, and there’s no kind of monotony to it. This is our eleventh album, we’ve been together twelve years and we’re still just as excited as ever.

WE7: You’re obviously good at keeping that fanbase, how do you maintain that over the years?

Shane: I think we don’t change too much what we are as a band. We are what we are, some people love us some people hate us, that’s like every other band but for us we have a fan base that likes the type of music we do and we enjoy the type of music we do so we don’t try to change it too much.

WE7: You like to interact with fans; I noticed some of you are on Twitter…

Mark: Myself, Nicky and Kian are on Twitter - Nicky’s actually got the most followers out of us all…

Nicky: Twitter’s good because it’s instant, and I think we’ve learned that recently it’s quicker than releasing a statement to the press or quicker than doing a print interview. You say something on Twitter and you forget that all the media outlets are following you, and that sarcasm doesn’t really transpire that well. Recently I said “Great to see my Auntie do so well, come on Mary”, about Mary Byrne on X-Factor purely because she has the same surname as me and all of a sudden everyone was saying “Mary’s Nicky’s Auntie”!

Mark: Back in the day we used to do Smash Hits magazine and pop magazines, and we’d say something and somehow they’d slightly change what you’d say or how say it. So the good thing about Twitter is it’s nice to be able to sit down and letter for letter, space for space, slang word for slang word, say exactly what you want to say.

WE7: What were you up to on your year out?

Mark: It probably meant slightly different things to everyone. On a group level it meant stepping away from things - after releasing nine albums in a row we have had time off here and there, but it’s a very intense lifestyle that we have as we’re always on stage, or on a photo shoot or travelling. By the end of it we’d remembered why we wanted to do it in the first place, so we came back more eager than ever.

WE7: You’ve got the album coming out next month, what kind of direction does it take?

Shane: “Gravity” comes out on 22nd November and it’s a progression from our last album. It’s the first time we’ve worked with one producer on a full album. We worked with John Shanks who is an amazing producer and somebody we wanted to work with for a long time. He’s a genius in the studio and he’s someone who’s very passionate about music. We wanted to bring our voices to someone like that, he’s found a sound for Westlife and I think that’s something we needed to find. It’s still very Westlife, we’re not going to change too much who we are musically but it’s just more interesting. It’s a great start for where we want to go for the next few years, and we’re very proud of the album.

Nicky: John was really great to work with, because he gave us encouragement with all aspects of the album - some of us wanted to song write and nurture that talent a bit more. When you’re in a pop band or boy band you’re not really encouraged to do that, so it makes a big difference when you have a world class producer who wants to encourage you to write, it really felt like we were creating something.

Mark: He’s enjoyed massive success and money, but he’s not driven by that, he’s driven by doing something he believes in, and we’ve got a side like that too so working with John really brought that out of us. He’s a great person to be around, he’s motivated by the right things in life.

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