Mega Music Talent

Posts Tagged ‘interview’

The Norwegian heavy rock band Toxic recently toured the UK to promote their new album Fear. I was very pleased when bassist Rolf Lura agreed to be interviewed and following you will find the outcome:

Trish: I always wanted to play an instrument well but after a screechingly dismal attempt at violin lessons and not much more success with a piano I decided that it was best to leave music making to others like yourself whom I feel quite envious of – just how many instruments do you play and which is your favourite?

Rolf: My main instrument is the bass, that’s what I play live with my band, Toxic. On our new album “Fear”, I’ve also played some double-bass, cello and organ in the studio. I like all the instruments that I play very much. If I have to pick a favourite, it has to be the bass.

Trish: Which was the first instrument that you ever played and how old were you?

Rolf: I started to play the Tuba in my local school band at the age of 9.

Trish: Why did you choose the tuba?

Rolf: In fact it wasn’t I that choose the Tuba. It was my music teacher. I was the tallest and strongest boy in my class, so therefore he advised me to play the heavy Tuba.

Trish: Very democratic of him! Is there any instrument that you can’t play that you would like to learn?

Rolf: The Church organ it’s a majestic and powerful instrument, I would love to learn to play it.

Trish: Yes you are right there; perhaps I will invite you over to learn in the church at the bottom of my street! Now for something different.

The very first single that I ever bought was See Emily Play by Pink Floyd and I still think that track is amazing. Which was the first single that you ever bought and what do you think of it now?

Rolf: It was “I was made for loving you” by Kiss. Now I wonder “Where the hell was my brain at the age of 12?”

Trish: I think that I see what you mean after watching the video on YouTube, those outfits and the white face paint eeeewh. Do you have a record in your collection that the rest of the band would tease you about?

Rolf: Maybe “Gothic Impressions” by a Swede called Par Lind. It’s an organ-based album that I adore, but the rest of the Toxic lads probably think that I’m insane in my brain because I love that album.

Trish: Maybe they have secret likes too! Which band or artist do you currently listen to the most?

Rolf: I never stick with just one artist for a long period; I try to vary a lot, so that I don’t get tired of a good artist. The bands that I listen to for the moment is: System of a Down, Opeth, Queen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica ++++

Trish: If you had just one wish and could perform with any band or artist – alive or dead; who would that be and why?

Rolf: Queen w/Mr. Mercury or Judas Priest.

Trish: Ah!! I wrote on my blog last week that if I could go back in time the band that I would most like to see perform live would be Queen with Freddie Mercury – you have good taste.

Whenever I return home from holiday it’s a real let down having to return to work and reality. Toxic have just completed a 2 week tour of the UK, how does it feel to be back to reality?

Rolf: To be honest. This return to work and reality was the hardest ever in my life. We had two fantastic weeks and were longing to go back to England on the air trip back home.

Trish: I hope that you will be coming back soon, is there another tour planned?

Rolf: Our manager is in touch with several UK festivals, so we’re awaiting the results of his work. So the plan is to base our next UK tour around a festival next Summer, early Autumn.

Trish: That’s great, something to look forward to through the dreary winter months. This is your second tour of the UK, how did it compare to the first?

Rolf: This tour was definitely the best. Everything was well planned and prepared by our English manager, Mark. We felt so much welcome everywhere. You Englishmen are such a great people.

Trish: Er don’t forget English women! What was the highlight of the tour for you and was there any low?

Rolf: The highlights:-

Our first night in England was fantastic. We spent it at Josi’s radio studio. She works for ”Hard Rock Radio Live” We did a live radio show. Her comment after the radio session was. “You’re the craziest Vikings I’ve ever met, and this has been my funniest/best radio show ever”. Our last gig at “The Purple Turtle” in Camden/London was the best one. We had an amazing audience and a fantastic sound engineer.

The “Downside”:-

We played a gig in South London, upstairs in a pub in a crummy area. There was just a few people attending the show.

Trish: Darn it I missed the radio show it sounds great. Do you have lots of groupies flocking around you or aren’t we allowed to discuss that?

Rolf: There is only one thing to say about that. You didn’t turn up at any of our shows lol

Trish: You sweet talker! We have a saying in the UK – ‘do not judge a book by it’s cover’, but people do judge others by appearances. For instance some people see a biker and they fear them – OMG a hells angel type of reaction – when really most bikers are decent folks who love riding bikes. In the Chronos video the bikers are the good guys, was that intended as a statement or just a different twist to make the video more interesting?

Rolf: Chronos is the God of time. Our intention with the video was to make people wake up and see that things aren’t always what they look like. We try to put things upside down. Like you said. A biker can be good man, and a vicar can be a cruel one. We also turned Elvis into a Messiah. But, I have to admit that we like to be a bit provocative!

Trish: Provocative I like and I agree with what you are saying. I’ve been listening to your album Fear and appreciate the contrasts. Image means a lot for a band and the perceived image is not what I believe to be the true Toxic who from my limited contact are much nicer guys than the image dictates.

Trish: I’d like to thank you Rolf for your cooperation with this interview, you have given me some great answers. Hopefully we will see you in the UK again soon.

Rolf: I would like to thank you also for your questions. They were very good. Most interviewers ask the same questions over and over again, yours were something different. It was a pleasure to answer you back. If you feel that my English sucks, feel free to adjust it

Trish: I always like to be different. Your English is excellent, much better than my Norwegian, which is limited to Tusen takk (thank you very much)

Steven Hitchens is a talented young singer songwriter from the UK. Steven has just released his debut single Whoops on the Internet and is preparing his debut album. We have reviewed Whoops and below you will find an exclusive interview with Steven. You can find Steven Hitchens at: Official Website MySpace Facebook Steven Hitchens profile & Review Of Whoops

Gary: Hi Steven! It’s great to have the privilege in interviewing you and welcoming you to megamusicvideos.co.uk and megamusictalent.com as our November Headliner. So how did it all start? How did you get involved in Music? Which artistes inspire you?

Steven: I’ve always been into music from a very young age. At the age of six I started dance lessons and at eleven I was doing drama lessons, but I’ve been singing since as long as I can remember. I wrote my first song when I was ten called ‘Baby Blueday’ and my friend played the guitar. It was awful!

I am loving the music scene at the moment as there are so many fantastic artists out there. Ultimately I would like to have the longevity and massive would tours like Madonna and I am really into urban music at the moment, so I’m really like Ne-Yo and Taio Cruz and think they are both amazing artists.

Gary: Of all the bands / artists in your CD / record collection, which ones do you own the most albums by?

Steven: I would say Madonna. I’m a bit of a collector when it comes to CD’s. I find an artist I like and buy every single album and sometimes singles that they release.

Gary: What was the last song you listened to?

Steven: Lie to Me by Ne-Yo

Gary: What’s In Your Record / CD Player right now?

Steven: In my CD player I have a vocal warm CD as I am rehearsing for some gigs I have this weekend but now I have an iPod I mostly listen to that!

Gary: What song would you say sums you up?

Steven: There are so many songs that I identify with. There’s nothing like listening to your favourite song when you are feeling down. I think I’d say ‘I Can Be’ by Taio Cruz as I listen to that all the time. It psyches me up for whenever I have do a gig or something.

Gary: What was the greatest show you’ve ever been to?

Steven: I never manage to see as many show’s as I would want to. But Justin Timberlake’s Future/Sex/Love/ Sounds tour was very good. I don’t think that there’s anything that the man can’t do!

Gary: What’s the worst band you’ve ever seen in concert?

Steven: I won tickets to Liberty X in concert they weren’t that bad but they were very rude to the fans afterwards and refused to sign any autographs.

Gary: What band do you love musically but hate the members of?

Steven: I love Amy Winehouse’s music, but her private life being on show all the time takes some of her achievements away. I don’t care what she gets up to behind closed doors!

Gary: What show are you looking forward to?

Steven: I’d love to see Ne-Yo in concert.

Gary: What musician would you like to hang out for a day?

Steven: I wouldn’t mind hanging out with Pink. I think we’d get on great. We both speak our mind and stand up for what we believe in!

Gary: What in your opinion is the greatest decade for music?

Steven: 90’s definitely! You had wicked Britpop. The great bands, Blur and Oasis, the Spice Girls and it was when Madonna was at her best. Some of the tracks on my album have a slight 90’s feel.

Gary: Your debut single “Whoops” is due to be officially launched on November 3rd. Are you excited about the prospect of having your own single released?

Steven: ‘Whoops’ is the first single I ever professionally recorded, so it’s only right it’s my debut single. I can’t wait for the release and hope that everyone will love it. All the feedback I’ve had so far has been overwhelming.

Gary: Please provide some more information on how you put the single together?

Steven: I actually started writing ‘Whoops’ in my Kitchen while doing the washing up! I’ll be in the strangest of places and I’ll have the lyrics and melody forming in my head. Then I use the voice recorder on my phone and forward to my producer who then creates the music for the track based on the styles and brief I give him. I recorded this song late last year in a recording studio in South London. I was thrilled when it was completed. I didn’t expect it to sound so good!

Gary: Listening to your tracks available from your myspace at myspace.com/stevenhitchens you showcase a wide variety of catchy pop songs, along with powerful ballads such as passionate which is sung as the title explains. Does the song Passionate have any personal reflections from your life?

Steven: Thank you. I’m not in a relationship at the moment but I do dedicate ‘Passionate’ to my future lover! It’s a pretty romantic song and I guess it can be quite romantic. It was one of the easiest songs to record because it is quite simple and so heartfelt.

Gary: Do you prefer singing the ballads or pop related songs?

Steven: Both are just as good, there’s nothing like pop songs to get a party started and it’s also good to have a slow dance at the end of the set. There’s nothing like helping people get together.

Gary: Have you any up and coming gigs coming soon?

Steven: Yes I have 3 gigs at the end of this week at venues in South London in aid of a breast cancer charity. They should be brilliant nights with lots of other singers performing. So hopefully we’ll make a lot of money for a very worthy cause.

Gary: Do you enjoy the audience atmosphere?

Steven: The audience are the best thing about performing live. There is nothing better than recording an album, rehearsing it and then getting to perform it. Doing gigs is also the best way of getting people’s reactions from yours songs.

Gary: What’s your favourite type of audience? (i.e. pub, club, mini arena, etc)

Steven: I’ve only done intimate gigs so far and I love them because you get to really make a connection with the audience but I would love to do an arena tour with backing dancers and a live band.

Gary: Every artist whether signed or unsigned have had unexpected encounters on the stage. Can you recall an unexpected encounter on stage that wasn’t suppose to happen?

Steven: I recently did a gig at my sister’s wedding and the wrong backing track came on. I thought I could carry on and sing on backing tracks I haven’t practiced for months or I could stop, get the right CD with the right backing tracks. Luckily the wedding was in a big manor house in the country and we were staying in rooms upstairs, so I legged it up to my room, got the CD and carried on with the show. No one seemed to mind and the set went on without any further hitch!

Gary: Next year you are due to officially release your debut album. Are you excited about this?

Steven: I spent about a year making this album and because I have no financial backing at the moment, it has all come out of my own pocket. So it is very special to me. I always wanted to record an album but it was one of those things I never thought I’d do.

Gary: I know the launch of your new album is “hush hush”, but can you give us a preview in telling us what this album means to you?

Steven: This album means everything to me. In some places it is quite autobiographical. There are songs that are about my demons and flaws. But it’s not all about me. I also like writing songs about other people. There is a song on the album about my best friend from college who had a hard childhood and came out on top and got a great job. I love writing songs about other people and life situations.

Gary: What is your favourite song on this new album?

Steven: I gotta say ‘Whoops
’ as it’s my baby but they’re so many other great tunes on there.

Gary: What is the launch date of your debut album?

Steven: I haven’t got an exact date at the moment but it will be late spring next year.

Gary: Although you are not world class recognised. Myself, and I’m sure all your fans would agree that your music is world class, especially the professionalism of the songs showcased on myspace and I’m sure your future album. Would you like to be recognised as a world class performer and artist?

Steven: That would be great! I love touching people with my songs as they come from my heart. I’m not really materialistic or bothered by fame or celebrity, but honestly… who would say no?! If I can inspire others with my music and I am successful in what I do then that is all that matters.

Gary: Have you ever considered auditioning for reality programs for shows like X Factor?

Steven: You can see some great artists from shows like the X Factor, but then there are also the 5 minute wonders too. I’d rather do some gigs and put my album out there and see what happens.

Gary: Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

Steven: As long as I am happy and successful I don’t really mind. It would be great to do a world tour with the album, so I’ll see how things go.

Gary: Do you have any future plans once you have launched your debut album?

Steven: I am going to be promoting my album all year and hopefully I’ll be doing more gigs as well and I’m am returning back into the studio at the end of the month to start on my second album but I’m really going to take my time with this one. I’m working with new producers so maybe you’ll be hearing a different sound from me in a year or so.

Gary: Thank you Steven, it has been a pleasure talking to you and I wish you all the success with the launch of your debut single and shall look forward equally to hearing the completed version of your album.

The single “Whoops” is a catchy pop song written and performed by Steven and is available for MP3 download now. Check out the review.