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You're Not Alone - Zillo Mag

The British formation ‘Greenhaus’ introduces already their 3rd album with ‘You’re Not Alone’ and moves towards the area of ‘Wave-Pop’, which is appropriately resonated by the fragile voice of singer Phoenix J.

INTERVIEW FOR ZILLO

Q. With which intentions did you found Greenhaus in 1999? How did you get together with Jon and the impression, that it would be fine to make music with him?

It started with a Gary Numan remix ‘I die, you die’ for beggars banquet, that I was lucky enough to have offered. The project required a name, and greenhaus was it, and that was that. Myself and Jon were in a band prior to greenhaus called ‘navaho’, in which he was the guitarist and I the drummer. We have been good friends ever since, so he was the natural choice. He adds an element to the writing that compliments the songs, but only if it requires it. I guess unlike some lead guitarists who would want to fill the songs up!!

Q. With which kind of music did you grow up and what are the most significant influences on your own music?

My Early record collection contained a lot of Talk Talk, Japan/David Sylvian, My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division/New Order. The Electronic scene in the UK was not very popular in the early 90’s, and there wasn’t much new stuff easily available. Most of us got into the indie thing in the nineties. Now I listen to a lot of Post Rock ( I think the genre is called!), anyway, the likes of Mogwai and Godspeed. I am influenced by a lot of stuff, as is Jon and PJ. For me, the ambiences of a lot music inspire and influence what we do.

Q. Is there anything special about London, what is leaving a fingerprint on your music?

We get a lot of good live music in London, probably more than most places in the world. I think seeing a good band live always motivates yourself to improve. The competition is massive here. I hope that we have improved for this reason. I think though, creatively it would be great to get out to Cornwall for a month to write some songs. Cornwall is a picturesque, quiet area in the west of the country – I always really enjoy visiting the area. The place has a very ‘Celtic’ feel and I think that this could easily rub off into any new material. PJ actually lives in Ross-on-Wye and not London, which is another picturesque town in the west of the country.

Q. In which way do you work together? How do you fit music and lyrics together?

I will write the music and pass it to PJ who will come up with some lyrical ideas, and jon for guitar ideas. It will then go back and forth between us, and undergo many re arrangements and changes until we are pleased with the end results. PJ: ‘I would play back the music repeatedly while working on other projects and hum along with it, coming up with different melody lines. I’ll only settle for lines that I remember later when I don’t hear the music as I feel that a good tune must be able to stand on its own so as to be memorable for the listener. Then I would start writing the words that sit right on the mood of the music.’

Q. Where do you take your inspirations from? Just from every day’s life, personal feelings and human relationships or also from literature, movies ...?

As far as the music is concerned, I’m inspired very much from personal feelings and relationships. I hope a feeling is in the music for PJ to then work with. PJ: ’I do start with a good old idiom or from a title that Steve has labeled his music with. But like Steve, I’m mostly inspired by personal feelings, and the mood of the music Steve has created.’

Q. I don't know your debut album, but I think, "You're Not Alone" sounds really different to "Another Life". So, how would you describe yourself the band's evolution from the starting point to the new work?

I think the new work is always where we wanted to be. I have always preferred ‘Live’ sounds over electronic ones especially where the electronic ones are imitating a ‘Live’ instrument. Electronic analogue pulses, sweeps and bleeps, and old beat boxes are fantastic, but a digital violin sample doesn’t sound much compared to the real thing. It’s a real pleasure working with live drums, flutes, violins in combination with the electronics. I think a few songs on ‘another life’ were a progression for the current album, mainly the slower ones, the ones Lahannya sang on.

Q. Your line-up is very reduced now. What did happen with the crew of the "Another Life" sessions? Did you have personal problems or just different artistic points of view?

We are actually a six piece at present. Clark has joined on bass, Susana on Keys and Warren on Drums. They are all to feature on the new material. On top of that , Achim Faerber from project pitchfork has provided the drums, Naamah Di-Richie the flutes and Jonny Hunt the violins for the current album. I think our Live show has benefited massively for being a 6 piece. As for Andy, he left to pursue other projects, both musical and otherwise, which was a great shame. Frank used to provide the Live ‘sample’ element but this was just not required any more on the introduction of a singer. We are all still very good friends.

Q. On "Another Life" you worked with different female singers., on the new album with various other singers again. How did it work out for you? Why do you like to work with different singers?

PJ has now joined as a permanent member, and features on the majority of the new album. Anthony Neale and Josie Akers have sung on 3 songs, and were both fun to work with. Working with different singers allowed a variation of sound, and allowed a wider scope for this album and the previous one. However, we feel PJ has really stamped her mark on the greenhaus sound and we are all glad of that. We are working on our next record already. PJ will be working on all the tracks this time.

Q. With which ideas did you start working on the new album? What did you like to make different/better on it?

For the first time, I started everything using a piano, and then built things up from there. We wanted to make the new album more cohesive and to have more of a live band sound. We also wanted to use more orchestral instruments than we did / have done. We have moved away from the 4/4 type dance beats that appeared on Another Life. I always felt that those songs didn’t really fit in to what we were trying to achieve, and the direction we wanted to move in.

Finding PJ was a massive plus. Her vocal style suits the sound wonderfully in our eyes and her presence on stage is invaluable. The last step was to replace sampled drums with live ones. Luckily this happened very quickly and easily. We got to know Achim on the De/Vision tour support, and he ever so kindly offered to provide drums for most of the album. For me, these really complete the album.

Q. I really like especially the vital percussion sound on "You're Not Alone". Any specific reason for emphasize this element?

A combination of Live and Electronic works pretty well. I think Live drums cant be replicated well with samples, and electronic percussion also has its place in this mix. Other shaker’s, cabasa’s, bongo’s etc were fun to add to the overall mix. I think previous greenhaus material has aired (don’t u mean “erred”?) on the ‘beats’ side, and we didn’t want to lose that feel.

Q. What about your next plans?

We release on our UK Label in January, and hope to tour / promote the album as much as possible, both in UK and Europe, especially in Germany. We are also currently working on the next album and are excited with some new and different ideas for this - which hopefully will work! I think an EP around June will be the next release. Apart from that, a holiday would be nice!!

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