1.Growing Up
Music was a big part of our home when I was a child. My dad played guitar and always sang songs by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and those influential artists from that generation. There may not have been a lot of money to go around but there was always enough money for a big hi-fi system and LPs. I grew up watching my dad and his friends play and remember thinking that’s what I wanted to do – not just sit there and sing harmonies, which was what was encouraged for girls to do, but to actually write the songs and play the guitar – so I took his guitar at any chance and taught myself how to play.
2.Inspirations
My favourite musicians include Johnette Napolitano, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Santigold, Amanda Palmer and Leonard Cohen amongst others. I remember I was 15 when I first heard Johnette singing on her Concrete Blonde album and fell in love with her voice, honesty and her lack of giving a shit about conforming to what was expected of women in music at the time and probably to some extent now.
3.Your Band
Our band is called Love Like Hate. Sonja Ter Horst and myself are the band and we write all the music/lyrics as a collaboration. We very much differ in how and what we write, especially as neither one of us is musically trained, so it always takes that extra bit of effort to make each song work for both of us. We have worked with Lachlan Mitchell on all our releases and West West Side (New York) mastered our latest Unnoticed release.
4.The Music You Make
We coined our style as dark pop when we released our first EP in 2012, as it’s a combination between dark lyrics and upbeat music. It can be erratic and intense but we tend to think there is a romantically sadistic appeal to the sound. It’s the combination of electric guitar and piano. Live shows are exactly what we are, a combination between piano and electric guitar, keeping true to us and our sound. For some live shows we play with our resident drummer and will have Stephen Birt along for the ride for this upcoming tour.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
The music scene can be an awesome and inspiring place to be in, though sometimes it’s hard to keep your head above water. For us, the main obstacle we have to overcome is financing as independents. As independent artists that like to tour and record, we often have to work to play but it hasn’t stopped us yet.
Unnoticed is out now independently, and Love Like Hate supportNova and The Experience at the Captain Cook Hotel on Friday May 29.
