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MySpace
can be a veritable playground for music lovers with so many different
bands putting forward their music from around the world to a whole new
audience. At times this music is good, others it's pretty dire,
but every now and again you come across a band who are totally unknown
to you who really blow your mind. Joana and the Wolf are one such
band. As soon as I heard their debut single 'Purple Nights' I knew
I just had to find out more. And so ladies and gentlemen, it is
our pleasure to introduce you to none other than Joana, lead singer with
'Joana and the Wolf'.
MM - Hi Joana, would you
like to start by giving us a brief history on your musical background,
where you call home and what made you decide to move to England?
Joana - I think
in my life I went through the same stages as music history did.
From the age 6 I played and sung Lithuanian folk music. Then I
heard my first classical record of J.S.Bach, music played on church
organs. I liked the huge emotional heaviness of it, the way it
would force me to sit and listen to it in total self oblivion. I
enrolled in the church choir and was preparing myself to be a classical
singer.
Later on came my teenage rebellion and a slogan - I wanna be a pop star.
After being sick with silly pop music I tried jazz. But for me it
was too cool. Too cold. I preferred simple, emotional blues.
In my first band I sung old-fashioned blues. Then I heard Bjork
and electronic music looked to me as a future. I wanted to taste
it fully, but in the end I got tired of breathless loops. It
annoyed me, I couldn’t say to machines - play it more sensitively
please. When I came to London after few solo electronic gigs I
thought this is it, I want to have an explosive music, real one,
bleeding one. In other words I wanted live instruments. Wild
instruments. What’s more wild than guitar or drums? I
think I made a right choice.
Coming
to London was part of my master plan since I was a kid. I think I
always had this desire to be able to communicate my whole inner world to
thousands, or even millions of people, and I never changed my mind since
then. After 4 years living here I call myself a Londoner.
Though I can’t call it my home yet.
My home is probably some non-existing place. It is something that
exists only in my head as a strange hybrid of past and present cultures
that affected me. I was born in Lithuania, but at that time it was
part of Russia. I went to Russian school. Now I live in
London. So yeah where’s my home?
MM
- Once you’d made the move to England, how hard was it to find
like-minded souls to create the type of songs you’d longed to make for
so long?
Joana - Since I
knew what I wanted it wasn’t probably very hard. I think it all
happened pretty fast. I think there are a lot of people hungry for
something new, different. Though often it
means taking a bigger risk, being on unsafe side when you cannot hide
beneath trendy or conventional things. For me it’s easier
because being a foreigner already means being strange.
Whatever I do is more likely to be unconventional or unusual. So
my band can hide safely behind my strangeness J. I sometimes joke
that if they all could pretend being foreigners they’d gain even
bigger freedom of self expression. But in reality it makes me very
proud that all 3 of them Ali, Katie, Louis are British. I thought
if I can find musicians from UK it means I will find audience here too.
MM
- As you know I absolutely adore your songs and find them a breath of
fresh air in our current musical climate. Where can our readers
find out more about the band and perhaps listen to a few of your songs?
Joana - Do you?
it inspires me. Come to our gigs. We play usually about 9
songs and the very new ones too, and even those songs you might know
from our myspace they all have special magic when played live. But
MySpace is a great fun too. We try to update it with all sort of
news and stay in touch with our fans.
MM - What sort of response have you received from the media so far with
regards to the band and your new single ‘Purple Nights’?
Joana - We were lucky it was all very
positive. It is very encouraging thing since ‘Purple Nights’
was our first single. I’m sure we would go on even if it was
negative. But being as young band as we are we’d rather be loved
and believed in :) For me personally it’s big fun reading our
first reviews. I always have a feeling that people writing about
us search for new words and metaphors and I love what they find in our
music. Sometimes what they hear surprises me. Like several
times my voice has been described as something highly erotic. I
was laughing hysterically when I first read it. But when someone
wrote it again I tried to hear it myself in Purple Nights. Well,
if it’s true everyone is in danger of being trapped by our music,
because apart from other things it will speak to most initial instinct
in you.
MM - I believe Serge from Kasabian is also a huge fan of the band and
has described you as … ‘a female Iggy Pop’ … how does that make
you feel to be compared to such a rock icon and who would you describe
yourself as similar to?
Joana - I think his description is quite original and sincere.
I like it. Because usually I am compared to PJ Harvey and Kate
Bush. And as long as I’m being compared to strong influential
artists I don’t mind. People need to define, name thing to avoid
chaos. Even when someone asks me what kind of music we play I find
it very hard to describe it without going to comparisons. But I
think as every artist I want to be free from any comparisons.
I’m sure my own name is something I have to deserve yet. Maybe
I’ll achieve that after 2-3 albums.
MM - How do you feel the bands sound has developed since it originally
started, how would you describe your music and who do you see it most
appealing to?
Joana - We certainly are constantly
growing. When we first started playing it wasn’t a chaotic
searching because me and Ali already had a certain vision of the band
and what we need musically to compliment songs. But it seams like
now we feel even more distinctively what the sound of ‘Joana And
The Wolf’ is and so we try to stay faithful to it but at the same time
not be afraid of mature changes.
As I said it’s a damn hard thing to describe this music we are doing.
It’s raw. It’s emotional. At times liberating
hysterical. It probably appeals to people who have this secret
longing to open up, to break all conventional rules within themselves.
Whatever these rules are I know our explosive music has potential to
break them. It’s a mature explosion. I’m not 17.
It’s not my hormones who are screaming. It’s my heart. My
un-suppressed self. As far as I know teens love our music, gays
are among our faithful fans, people working at offices or banks have us
on their ipods … there’s no classified type of people who will love
us.
MM - Where does the bands name come from and what does it represent to
you?
Joana -
The wolf used to be a symbol of loneliness to me. I felt very
lonely when I came to London. And my imaginary wolf would be my
comfort and inspiration to survive.
But it also means something wild, instinctive. I think to certain
extent everyone’s heart is a howling wolf which has to be released.
Besides in many myths and legends a symbol of wolf comes with a promise
of new kingdom. I thought this idea would suit our band. In
the end I wrote my own story about our wolf which you can read on
MySpace. That’s how our biography starts there.
MM - How does the song writing process work within the band? Is it
down to one particular person or do you all get involved?
Joana - Every song has its own history.
I write all melodies and lyrics. But Ali is my master mind
especially when it comes to writing chords and riffs. Sometimes
songs come when I play keyboards at home (Pablo is an example). Then I
show it to Ali and he helps me with translating the song into guitar
piece. On keyboards they always sound much softer and are not
enough rough for me.
Other times songs invade my head in the middle of nowhere (Witch–hunt
came like this). I’m lucky if I have a voice recorder on me
then.
But also it happens that Ali plays some riff, Katie and Louis would
start playing around it and I’d come up with some prophetic shamanic
howls on the top. Entertainer was born more or less like that.
Though writing like that is the hardest thing for me and is not
always working. Because then I am limited by music structure.
Also in the process of writing I feel emotionally completely naked
that’s why I’d rather shut the doors and do it all alone in the
room.
MM - Which
Joana And The Wolf song is your personal favourite and why?
Joana - I cannot
imagine our gig without Witch-hunt which we always play as the last song
in the set. It’s magic, sensitive and at the same time wild.
In this song we come together as a band in total unity. I have
shivers in my back each time I scream in the end – burn me, burn me!!
MM - How do the
audiences react to your live performances and on-stage persona?
Joana - Well, I heard
I scare them a bit. During a gig they usually are quite astonished
and enchanted. I say it’s a good sign. What scares them I
don’t know. Because really I don’t do any scary make up or
anything. I even wear pretty little dresses sometimes. Maybe
they can sense I’m not faking it - I’m a real witch :)
MM - What kind
of emotions and ideas do you want to create to the listener through your
music?
Joana - Ah, this is a whole world
of images and emotions. In my lyrics I use a lot of symbols like
wolves, witches etc but I hope our fans will discover their own meanings
behind them. Even for me those meanings change. Yesterday my
wolf was a symbol of loneliness today it is a symbol of independence and
listening to my own instincts. I want to be alive. To feel
things. If it’s pain, it’s pain. If it’s anger, it’s
anger.
I fit very badly into social or civil codes because I’m very intuitive
person and I find it very hard to hide my feelings. I think we all
have to let ourselves be a bit more barbarians, wild people. Then
perhaps less people will have to take antidepressants. It’s self
repression that damages us and I’ve noticed that most of us have this
desire to break through it, to go our own way. I hope my songs
will speak to this human desire. I really do.
MM - Over the years there have been many great bands who
have influenced the generations to follow. Which bands or artists
have influenced you the most personally and how have they helped shape
the music you create today?
Joana - I’ve
mentioned her before. For me it was Bjork. She was crucial.
She made me understand that if I don’t find my own voice I’d rather
go and bury myself alive. She took me on a long self-discovery
journey. My voice became to me like an instrument strongly
attached to my emotions. No vocal teacher can teach you how to
howl. It’s when my inside started howling my voice learnt how to
do it too. And then slowly I have learnt to express with it a
whole palette of emotions. It made me free. The funny thing
is now I am compared to PJ Harvey though I discovered for her only quite
recently. So she really didn’t have that big influence on me.
If there is to be another person to influence me it was probably Patti
Smith. I listened to her when I came to London and she really
inspired me to jump on the rock’n’roll stage. God bless her :),
she is a real she-wolf.
MM - The band are still in their early stages and are
just starting to burst into the limelight, but if given the opportunity,
which current artist or band would you like to perform alongside on
tour?
Joana - The
hardest question of all. One thing is to love or even adore some
band and the other to get on the same stage. Especially if it’s
not one off show. But today I wouldn’t mind singing one mad song
with Nick Cave. I’m really digging his stuff now and I thought
we’d make a pretty duo :)
MM - You're
still young and you have a lot of time ahead of you to keep doing what
you're doing. What are your long term goals for both the band and also
as perhaps a solo artist?
Joana - It’s funny
I’m really looking forward the day we’ll put out our 5th
album. I think that’s when we’ll have our special place in the
music world. Right now we haven’t released even our first album.
As for the solo artist something must go really wrong in the band to
push me towards that. I formed this band in order to give life to
my ideas. Though you never know, perhaps my band will fire me for being
constantly late to rehearsals.
MM - Has the internet influenced the way
the band project their songs and their image?
Joana - I don’t think so. It just
helps to spread good news about us.
MM - Staying with the subject of the internet, do you feel
downloading is actually harming the scene or helping to keep it alive?
Joana - Personally I have never downloaded a thing. I prefer
to go to the shop and get a cd. So that later I can touch it with
my greasy fingers, lose it under my bed and rejoice after finding it.
I also think artwork and lyrics are very important. Especially
lyrics. They should be respected not less than the music itself
and have a proper place on the cd’s sleeve. But of course
downloading has some good things about it. It’s just me being so
stubborn and old-fashioned…
MM - Tell me one thing about yourself that most people don’t know,
never have known, and probably never would know about me if they don't
read this?
Joana - I write poems in Russian and
hide them.
MM - What one
ingredient is the most important and vital of them all when making good
music, according to you?
Joana - Clear instincts.
MM - Are
there any other upcoming bands that you'd suggest people keep an ear out
for?
Joana
- I’m always the last to
learn about some great new band. Really. Half of the world would talk
about them and then I go - what’s the name of that band?
MM
- Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers about the band
or yourself that we haven’t already covered in this interview?
Joana - Did
I say already how proud am I of the band? I am I am I am.
MM - Any
final words for all your fans out there?
Joana - We
need to know you are there. Please don’t hide.
MM - If
you'd like to find out more about Joana and the Wolf you can find sound
clips on their MySpace website at - www.myspace.com/joanaandthewolf
, well worth checking out. |