"Use your imagination, your mind is the most powerful tool you have. Trust your impulses and listen to them." (Anna Murphy)
(Photos: Source - Cellar Darling)
Cellar Darling's debut album "This Is The Sound" was released few days ago, on the 30th of June. The album has been out for just few days now but the band is receiving a lot of beautiful reviews and comments regarding the album, not only by their fans but also by music magazines. Not so long ago, in May, we saw one of Cellar Darling's pre-shows, in Ljubljana, and did a short but sweet interview with Anna Murphy.
From that moment we've been following their work and now that the album is out, we decided to make a bigger interview with the band. Anna gave dipARTicle some amazing and honest answers regarding the debut album, the band's hard work through the whole last year, new ideas, shows, inspiration, friendship and life. She also shared some memories made during the album making. Some of them are funny, some are sad. Everything is related to the source of inspiration and pure music making. Something worth reading and something to remember.
INTERVIEW 1. There were some pictures of you travelling in peace & quiet to write lyrics and music. You put it on Facebook while working on the album. Do you think that help the process of making the new album and is that something you usually do? Yes, the right scenery and gathering of inspiration in various settings was crucial for this album and to us as artists. Stagnation is in no way inspiring, you have to get out and experience things.
2. What do you feel now when you listen to the album, after months of hard work? We're actually already working on new songs. We're extremely happy and proud of the album, but we also feel so excited about having found our sound (thus the album title) that we want to continue where we left off. It's like our debut album was the fuel for even more inspiration.
3. Be honest, how many times did you listen to the final album? Honestly not that much. That doesn't mean I don't love it, but it's because I was so closely involved into every aspect of it that when it was finally done I had to have some distance. I didn't only write music and perform my parts, but also recorded a lot of the parts and co-produced the album alongside Tommy Vetterli. I probably listened to the different mixes 30 times each before the album was mastered and that was definitely a lot and enough. Since it's been done I've been working on new ideas.
4. What message(s) is 'This Is The Sound' sending? Speak from the heart. If I would have to sum it up our message would be: "Use your imagination, your mind is the most powerful tool you have. Trust your impulses and listen to them." We want people to dream, dive into the realms of a different world when they listen to our music. We've created really organic and impulsive music. Nothing is calculated, planned or meticulously thought-through. A lot of beauty lies in impulsive creation and with that a lot of personal gain and progress can develop. Apart from this "general" message there are a lot of different and hidden ones. Every song and every story is different. And the listener can interpret the songs in whichever way he/she wants to, that's the beauty of art. You just have to let the pictures happen and let go of your barriers. 5. Do you have any plans for the band's future or you live from day to day and try to be patient and spontaneous? You can only plan to a certain extent as the exciting thing about the future is that you simply don't know what it will bring. What we're doing is working our asses off here and now, in the present. We're rehearsing a lot, connecting with people who like our music and brainstorming creative ideas. 6. What do you like the most from the album and what is the biggest memory you made while working on it? I like how everything just fell into place to create something magical in not even one year. It all just started off with three friends drinking beer and writing songs together in the rehearsal room, not knowing what to expect or where this journey was going to take us. In a way the past year has just been one big blur of creative outbursts and eclectic journeys so it's really hard to pick one memory. There's different types of memories too. Beautiful ones: our first photo shoot we did ourselves in the mountains. We went swimming in a freezing cold mountain lake. Sad ones: My dog died and as a result I wrote two tracks on the album that deal with death. Rock'n'roll ones: Tommy, Ivo and I got really wasted after one long day of recording and I ended up puking in the sink of the studio bathroom. The next day I had to wash my hair in that sink because I was living at the studio.
7. You are a 3-member band. Are you thinking about having other/new members or you want to keep it this way? Yes, we want to keep it this way. We'll have a bassist for live shows (until we can somehow genetically modify Ivo to have four arms) and session musicians whenever we feel that we want to expand our show.
8. It is known you three are very good friends, not just band colleagues. Do you think that helped making the first album sound this way, so emotional and powerful? Did you ever feel that your friendship gave the band more energy and motivation? Oh yes definitely, the band wouldn't sound like this if that was not the case. Cellar Darling is basically made up of creativity and friendship, those are our two main ingredients. 9. If you would need to describe 'Cellar Darling' in 3 words, what would they be? Impulsive, creative and loud-soft. "Loud-soft" is a word I just invented that describes our music. Because we can do both. 10. When can we expect the first big tour? We're playing six shows with Delain in October, which isn't long but still a pretty big deal for us! Apart from that we're planning more things which will be announced soon. 11. What is the source of inspiration in your life that help you make music? Basically anything that happens. But there has to be something happening, stagnation has never inspired us. Inspiration can be found in knowledge and literature, but mostly in personal experiences and feelings. Love, pain, sickness, fear... And inspiration never comes announced, it's just either there or it isn't. 12. Is there any idea (already) for some new stuff or will you now just enjoy the album for a while and work on its promotion and live concerts? Yeah we're already working on new ideas But besides that of course taking care of promotional things for "This Is The Sound" and practising our asses off for the upcoming shows. The next one is this Saturday with Evanescence in Switzerland, we can't wait.
13. Where would you really like to play if you could pick three places/festivals? Well basically we want to play anywhere because we love touring and seeing different spots of the world. But if we had to pick three places to tour that would be the USA, Japan and Taiwan. And everywhere else as well. 14. What do you think is new that you brought in the world of music? Well, I think we've managed to combine various music genres and then throw a hurdy-gurdy on top of it all, I would say that is pretty new!
This album is definitely something worth hearing, independently of the music taste and personal preferences. Cellar Darling brought something new and something fresh, full of energy and different sounds put together making a beautiful, powerful and emotional outcome. This 14 songs make a story, their story. A story about their life. Their work, their friendship, their past and their future, their emotions... their SOUND.
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