Stay In Nothing

0:14AxelHello, my name is Axel. My name is Dino. What do you play in guitar? I play drums and I sing. So, let's talk about the tour. How's the tour going so far? I think the tour is going good, considering that we've never ever played in Europe before. I didn't even think about that you were in Vienna. Yeah, I didn't book this necessarily because I knew you were here, but I remembered later that. I knew you were in Austria, but I realized it's in Vienna you are. And I was trying to get a grass show, right? I couldn't manage to get it. So, it's only one Vienna show, Austria show, but it's going good. Germany was so good. Like, really, really good. Germany, you mean it was how many days ago? Five. Five days. You're right now at Bonncastle, Hannover, Hamburg and Berlin. Yeah, I think Berlin was added. We found out the same night before, like, that we were going to play the day after. Oh, you didn't know. That's why I'm surprised because it was not in the... On the tour list. Yeah, yeah. Well, you knew we played Berlin. Yeah, because we didn't announce it. We announced it the same afternoon.

1:20HostAll right. Okay, okay, okay. So, it was one of the greatest shows ever. I think Berlin was cool, but the best one, in my opinion, was Hamburg.

1:26AxelIt felt great. How many people? Oh, I think there was, like, maybe 30, 40. No, it was probably, like, around 40 while we were playing. For the first time, it's good. It's to me, that's crazy because in London, there's maybe less than half than that show up, you know? And that's where we're from. That's because no one gives a shit about bands there.

1:45HostOkay, if you compare London to Hamburg or so far you're experiencing, what's the difference? People are just more excited, I think.

1:55AxelEurope. Yeah, in general, in Europe. I'm sick of the UK. And that, you know, it sounds funny because I've only done one real long tour with this band in the UK, but it's just a different vibe.

2:04HostMaybe it's because I'm not British. I don't know. I don't think it has anything to do with being British or not. It's just, there's a lot of people.

2:14AxelA lot of people. A lot of competition. A lot of, I don't know, there's always this thing with bands. The more...

2:21HostYeah, but what would you say, like, for example, for Austrian people to understand? What do you mean when you say competition?

2:29AxelSo, in my eyes, I think there's a lot of bands from, let's say, the UK that are trying to do the same thing. And they are always... I'm going to be straightforward. They're just kind of kissing each other's ass. And it's like a bunch of bands that are, how do I put it? They're doing something that's been done before. And they kind of put all these things together where it's like, we are going to do this. You know, you've got to help me out here. That's how I wrote this the wrong way. The British bands, how they do it. It's like a clique almost.

3:10HostHow do you get good spots? You need to lick somebody else.

3:13AxelYou've got to be a cool band. You've got to be cool. You've got to be in the clique. We're not in the clique. That's why we are...

3:19HostIs it the long-term slang, the clique? Do you know?

3:22AxelThe clique is like when you're cool enough to be accepted.

3:26?By the...

3:28AxelYeah. There's no clique here, that's why I like it.

3:30HostOh, yeah. It's chill. Except that we are...

3:33AxelI don't know if I'm making sense at all now, but...

3:36AxelYeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, I just think there's a certain type of... You need to fake it to make it a lot in the UK. Same as anywhere, but there's very much like that in the UK.

3:45HostDo you think there's a lot of this entrepreneurship spirit, kind of, or bullshit show business, kind of? Like, let's just, like, burn the whole place down and show them our balls and shit.

4:00AxelYeah, I think so, I think so. I didn't necessarily move there because that's what I wanted. I had no idea that it would be this much of that stuff. I just knew that London is probably the biggest or best city in Europe for music. Yeah.

4:14AxelYeah, I think so. A lot of great studios.

4:16HostYou have a lot of possibilities. I mean, on the surface, at least. But nobody tells you that it's really hard to get there.

4:22AxelYeah, yeah, yeah, it does. We have some great contacts that have been able to get us some great shows, you know. But the UK is, it's, I don't know, it's like, it's like, it reminds me of the States, but it doesn't have the, that local scene support, whereas, like, a lot of bands come from the UK or they come from the States. You won't see a band from, like, here and it's on the same, on the same thing, like, I could, I could name a handful of bands that are from the UK and I can maybe, like, one or two European bands that are involved in the same scene as they are. I don't even know what scene we're in, but people put us in the same box with a lot of other bands that we don't want to be put in. And those are usually British bands sounding usually the same. There's a, I don't even know what you would call our music, but, uh.

5:02HostIt's, it's, uh, I, musicians don't like genres. We only use, you use only genres so that you can, uh, tell it to the market people, whatever, so how to promote it or how to promote to regular people. But in your sense, a little bit of melancholy.

5:18AxelYeah, I would much rather be called that than anything else in any term of music.

5:23HostDoesn't mean it's sad, but it's just, uh, the way how you express your emotions.

5:28AxelI wish there was a genre called that.

5:29HostUh, black and white melancholic, uh, uh, uh, post-rock. Something like that.

5:36HostYeah, better than, than, than, than, than pop rock or post-pop rock or something.

5:42AxelThe genres are overrated anyway.

5:44HostI mean, we only need genres so that we can explain it to the magazines.

5:49HostTo put you in the box, that's it.

5:51AxelBut as for UK, I like it, but the more north you go, the nicer the people are.

5:55HostSerious. Scotland?

5:57HostScotland is great.

5:59AxelThey're genuine people.

6:04HostYou know, you're not leaving me, right? You're not leaving me?

6:09AxelBut I'll take this over UK any day. I'm sure Dino would too.

6:54AxelSo it's doing the magic somewhat. Someone knows someone or...

6:57HostYeah, exactly. I was about to say it. Like probably just know somebody and that's it.

7:01AxelIt doesn't matter how good you are.

7:02HostActually, it's true. It doesn't matter how good it is, the right people you know. Unfortunately, it is like that in every industry. It doesn't matter if it's music or not.

7:11AxelYeah, I think that's a hundred percent true. I'm just trying to take a step away from that and just enjoy coming to new places and seeing...

7:18HostWhat do you like about European touring so far? It's been a fifth day. What's refreshing for you after this entrepreneurial bullshit? Yeah, enough with the bullshit.

7:27?I think that not only the accommodations, but like I think the warm welcome you're getting. I think 99% of the places in Europe, it's always like a nice warm welcome. And it's very, very accommodating. You can actually afford to like do this and not like eat rice and nothing. You know what I mean?

7:48HostYou talk like an American band. People from the United States say something like that.

7:54AxelYeah. People say we sound like an American band too, but...

8:01HostYou're slowly, I mean, if they were listening to your previous stuff, maybe, right? But you're slowly getting into your own shit.

8:12HostSlowly, slowly, slowly.

8:15HostYou released one album, right? Yeah, one album. You released two singles. Two singles, yeah. Whereas... Last one, which one?

8:20AxelYeah, the last single we released is not something we really play live. We've done it, but I didn't play drums and sang. I played guitar and sang. And it's more... It still has elements of the old album on that song and we just decided not to play it. Because it's different. We like the other single more we released first and we keep playing that every night, which has a lot more of her influences on it, like melodies and...

8:49AxelI wish she was here to tell you about it.

8:51HostNo, no, no, no, it's even better.

8:54AxelBut yeah, even more so the new stuff we've got coming is definitely...

8:59HostYes, you just went recording new music in August. We're recording in August. 20th, that's what I remember. Yeah. 20th of August was the last social media post regarding new music.

9:13HostSo, what's the plan now? What do you want to say?

9:15AxelWe have... We don't even have a plan. And this Spotify playlist bullshit that every band is trying to do is kind of getting a bit uninteresting to me. So, I'm just thinking about just releasing an EP. I think we should release an EP, four songs. Because there's four songs recorded, right? Instead of throwing out a single here and there. Maybe we'll do one single and then just release four songs.

9:36HostOne single and three and a full EP. But we don't have like a rule.

9:39AxelWe don't have like a, oh, we need to do it this way. We need to do it that way. I don't give a shit because we just want to put it out and play those songs live as soon as possible. We actually even playing them already tonight, you know? So, it just makes it more interesting to not follow like those or, you know, because we've been playing unreleased music a long time, even though we have a whole 13 track debut record. Because most of those songs aren't really representing what we are now. When you first found our band, we didn't have, we didn't have, we haven't established the sound yet. We were still like, you know, doing, she wasn't as involved in the first record. And you can probably tell that by the song. Grey is a lot more inspired by, you know, her melodies and stuff. Whereas the first record kind of blends into a big chunk of power chords and riffs, you know? That's why we only play like a handful of songs from that one. But I'm much, I'm much happier where the direction is going now.

10:30HostWhere are you mentally when you compose the music? It can be many places, I know, but do you have an example when like, for example, the latest thing, well, maybe not the latest single, but something. That's a good question. You know, because I remember when I interviewed one of the bands like Groom, right? They play really melancholic music, right? Now, I didn't know anything how they sound, how they behave in real life. And I was expecting some really goth people, you know? In reality, they're freaking like funny, nice people, you know? Of course, nice, but like really funny, you know? Completely opposite to the music they play, you know? So for me now, I'm always prepared to hear that like pop stars are the most depressed peoples and people who are playing like melancholic music are happiest. How, how, what about you? No. How, how do you feel? Okay. Is it just music that you play, something that you get your emotions out?

11:31?I don't, I get a block, I can't really write lyrics and put it down on paper. The same way she can, she just throws out, she, she's great at that stuff.

11:37AxelAnd I'm just more focusing on the instrumentals, like the riffs and stuff. Because I find it the easiest to sit down and just try things out. For example, if I pick an acoustic guitar up and I, I think about if this would sound good on this thing, I would probably sound good on an electric guitar, you know? I don't know. Uh, what inspires that idea? I don't know where it comes from. I feel like I'm just too all over the place to, I always, I always have ideas. They just come from, from not doing it enough, I think. I think, I think breaks from playing and recording and then it just comes into a big, long month of just writing stuff. Like, now I'm in a month that I'm not doing anything musically. I feel like it's, it's like an almost like a release, wanting to do a lot of things, but I've just been preoccupied doing other stuff.

12:21HostWell, you need to sometimes to, um, breathe in before you breathe out. Yeah. So, break in is the same thing, you know? Just to have a break before you can create something, that's it.

12:32AxelI need, I need something with melodies to make a song and usually that's just gonna naturally end up being a guitar, you know? Even though I'm a drummer originally, like, that's what I've been doing. I still prefer writing on guitars. Yeah, I think a lot of things, a lot of things inspire me, but really hard to pinpoint exactly one thing. It's obviously music, a lot of, a lot of other artists.

12:51HostIs it a combination of, of, of K's music, uh, lyrics and music? Or how is it, how does it work? It goes together or something goes first and something goes out?

13:01AxelOr the way we write it? I mean, it, it'll rarely be a case of her having lyrics pre-written, you know? It's almost always the case where I give her, almost sometimes I give her like a finished chorus or a song like put together and she'll just write onto that. If she, if she, if she excites her, you know, if she doesn't, if she likes that thing, she's gonna write something over to, you know?

13:20HostOkay, so she's reacting to your music, kind of. All right. Yeah. And you react from your lyrics? Absolutely. Uh-huh. Yeah, absolutely.

13:28?Okay.

13:29AxelHer melodies also, like it can, yeah, me bringing her some music that'll make her feel, oh, we could have done this different, like try this. And then she opens up a whole different word, but I'm like, oh, I should have just, you know, some, some other list she'll, she'll put in songs will make me more inspired rather than me just using my go-to, oh, like riffs that I put together. It's, it's a lot of different things, I think. Really hard to pinpoint.

13:56HostNo, you should even pinpoint. It's just, sometimes, you know, like there's situations that, uh, triggered a music or something like this, but sometimes it's just, it's not. I mean, most of the time it's not, it's just the way, it's a process.

14:08AxelNot listening to music that is similar to what we play, inspires me personally. Like what?

14:16AxelI listen to, I listen to a lot of extreme, extreme music. Really? Yeah. And I listen to also a lot of softer stuff. That's not necessarily like...

14:28?That's my favorite song.

14:29HostBut you know what I'm talking about.

14:33HostYeah, Smooth Operator, you know? I wouldn't know.

14:36?I wouldn't know.

14:39AxelI should probably listen to it, but yeah.

14:43AxelI think listening to different styles of music over and over, not just listening to one style.

14:48HostYeah, of course, of course. You should completely like listen to freaking... I recommend to listen to the traditional songs of pygmies in... I think pygmies are in Africa or the islands, somewhere in the islands. Pygmies, pygmies, pygmies. Pygmies, pygmies, pygmies. Best, best. It's like opens your mind.

15:11?Yeah?

15:11HostYeah, yeah, yeah. It was in some movie. I forgot which movie. I have no idea.

15:19HostThere's a movie called Outroad States, the main guy in that movie, and that guy is in another movie.

15:30?But pygmies, pygmies, you can find it on YouTube, because I found it.

15:34HostThe pygmies, traditional singing and children singing on YouTube, this is legitly, I'm recommending, this is the most important thing in your life. Tonight, you need to listen. Julian, you need to listen. Yeah, but something like that, you know, you should open your mind to everything.

15:51AxelYeah, absolutely, absolutely. I explore a lot of new stuff, just like every...

15:57HostSo for the new EP, was there something specific, or it's just like a natural continuation?

16:04AxelHonestly, I think it's hearing that our band is changing the sound a little bit, and listening back to it, that's inspiring me more to explore more of that. I don't even know necessarily where that comes from.

16:13HostYou just want... You don't want to sound like old you, right?

16:19AxelI think if there is one thing, I think it's maybe a little bit of... I don't know if that's the right word, but I guess you could say like post-punk with 80s influence has had some... planted some seed in my riff, the way I write riffs, maybe. I don't know, maybe, but also a lot of other stuff too. Karen has a lot of other artists she's into. We have very different backgrounds in music, you know, like what stuff we listen to. And it just blends into one thing, I think.

16:49HostAll right, so what's the plan now, you're going to be touring? Because this episode will come out within this week, so... Oh, it's that fast? Yeah, oh yes. If I want to, I can do it tomorrow if we want to. We'll see how it goes. But Friday, Saturday, realistically, yes. So, what's the plan? You're going to be touring in Europe, right? Everybody should check out your own social media at Stay in Nothing, right?

17:16AxelStay in Nothing, all one word. I don't know how many times I've said that to people in venues. Yeah, tell him what I do. The trick, how I got this tour, how I harass people.

17:43HostThis is a classical London, England, because people right here would say it is rude. It's rude, yeah.

17:54?To compliment somebody's shirt? Huh?

17:57AxelPromoting your band based on like seeing you're interested in someone else's shirt they're wearing. Like, oh, nice shirt. And then slowly leading the conversation.

18:20AxelThey're really aggressive, but I should. Yeah, I mean, sometimes I have no limit. I can speak to a lot of people than when I can really go up to a lot of people. That's because I know the only way for me to get someone to check this out.

18:32HostYeah, this is a classic London competition.

18:38HostYou're ready to do the thing, the hard work.

18:55HostSome musicians are shy and say like, okay, people will discover my music by naturally, organically.

19:05AxelYou know, so I think, I think it leaves a personal impression when they meet.

19:10HostWell, of course, if somebody comes to me and say, check out my band,

19:14Axelyou're not going to be interested if someone sends you a DM like, hey, check this out.

19:24?That's really important. Like this personal connection, like how you do it online. Like we did it online, right?

19:30HostLike we get to know that, but finally we're like, see yourself. But in reality, in person is the best thing.

19:39AxelI haven't had a chance to try it in like, not so much in Europe. I've tried it maybe in, maybe I was in Munich one time, had a show. It didn't really, I don't think the vibe was there. People didn't really seem to, I don't think they were offended or annoyed or thought I was rude. I just think they didn't really expect to have strangers talking to them at a show. Whereas in London, you can go up to someone. They're actually pretty open to, you know, engage conversation with me.

20:11AxelIt might work here. I might go after the show where I'm like, hey, you know.

20:14HostOh, definitely it will work, it will work.

20:23HostSo, let's bring us to the end. So the fans, the tour is going in?

20:28AxelWe are going to one more show in Eastern Europe tomorrow. And after Slovakia. After that we go to Munich. And then we go to the first Italy show Sunday, the 8th, in Verona.

20:42HostIt's early and after that, which countries?

20:44AxelAfter that we have a day to chill out, not do anything.

20:47HostNo, but just in general in Spain.

20:50HostJust countries without any specific thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

20:52AxelI'm not going to read the whole tour poster for you. We have Spain, we have France, Belgium, Holland, or Netherlands as people say. I don't know which one I should stick to.

21:02HostI just wanted to show people that you are like serious.

21:06AxelYeah, yeah, yeah.

21:08AxelYeah, I mean we're pretty serious. We take music seriously. I take this seriously. We don't take ourselves very seriously.

21:14HostAll right, and do we know when the new music is coming out?

21:17AxelWe don't, but we know it's coming this year. Absolutely. Really? Oh, absolutely. It's just four songs. We're going to play them tonight.

21:26HostOkay, which song should I put in the end of the interview? A good introduction to your events. Great.