Interview With BARBE-Q-BARBIES
-First and fore most who came up with the name?
Niina: I came up with the name from Soundgarden’s ”Black Hole Sun” music video. There’s a little girl grilling a Barbie doll.
-How would you describe your music?
Heidi: It’s pretty much classic rock with various ”spices” on it. New album is filled with fresh ideas that we hadn’t have chance to carry out on previous albums. Tight rock attitude with a good old punch in the face. This time we are also providing some sentimental wild west guitars and lil’ groovy funk elements as well.
Niina: It definitely got some new elements comparing the previous ones, but at the same time it still sounds like B-Q-B.
-Take us through the writing process. Does everyone contribute?
Heidi: Usually Niki brings a singing melody idea and we start to work on that. With new album we cooperated with the whole band in most of the songs.
Niki:I usually sit at home working on writing melodies and then I ́ll bring my ideas to the band practise and then we start working on building up the songs all together, but sometimes we might just jam at rehearsal and then a song gets born that way.
Niina: In addition to this, we also had few outsiders to help us through this album process. As writers and arrangement side too.
-Something in your personal music collections that fans might not expect?
Heidi: Heidi: Adele, Regina Spector, powerful female singers.
Niki: Ed Sheeran.
Niina: I’m a fan of Motown singing groups such as The Ronettes, The Supremes, and The Temptations just to mention few. My oldest and the ”cheeriest” favorite is also The Beach Boys. Been listening to them since I was 3-4 years old to date. I could call it real love.
-What has been the most challenging aspect of being a musician?
Heidi: The trick is to combine timetables in music career and normal life. Being confident and believing on your own skills is the hardest part of it.
Niki: The feeling of just standing in one place and not going anywhere, its been a struggle for many years to keep the band still standing. It’s requires lots of hard work and patience.
Niina: The fact that you put so much time and effort to your music career and still not able to survive financially without having a Day job.
-What makes a perfect song for you? What are the elements for your ears?
Heidi: good song is a good song, genre doesn’t matter. The lyrics of the song and a story behind it has a big impact on me. A great song strikes deeply and gives you shivers. The singer’s interpretation is very important.
Niki: For me it’s when a song gets under your skin and touches your heart either you get goosebumps or you wanna shed a tear.
Good example is Queen’s ”Who wants to live forever”.
Niina: It’s a perfect combination with great melody and good interpretation. A really great song stays in your heart forever and gives you strength to carry on through hard times.
-Favorite local club to perform in?
Niki: In Helsinki it must be On The Rocks, its a small intimate place with limited capacity of audience, but the spirit there is great when you perform.
Niina: For me definitely Tavastia. The most legendary rock club in Helsinki. I’ve seen so many Idols of mine on that stage. Still hope to play my 4th show there with full crowd. That would be great. That’s something to aim for.
-Name one band that you would love to tour with?
Niki: The list is huge; Rolling Stones, Queens of the stone age, AC/DC, L7, The Hellacopters just to name
few ..can you hook us up? ;D
Niina: Rival Sons would be awesome!
-Strangest thing that ever happened at a gig?
Niki: Getting a men’s underwear thrown in my face while preforming ;D
Niina: Getting top of my the head burned by a strong spotlight on top of me. It was a pure torture.
-Is social media a positive or negative impact on your music?
Niki: Definitely positive
-Any subject matter you will not write about?
Niki: Something that would offend someone. For example, we wouldn’t make hate songs of known people etc...
If I’m angry in my lyrics, it’s always something to do with my personal experiences.
I also try to avoid political subjects.
Niina: I like to think that we stand for equality and charity in every way. Hate is hate, but in our case hate comes in a form of love. We’ve all had our rocks on the road, but we wouldn’t throw them too hard on passers-by.
-Anything you would like to say to your fans?
Niki: Thank you for your support and welcome new listeners! We really hope we get to see you at our shows in the future.
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