Hasselt ; a tiny Belgian town you’ve probably never heard of because of its plain and simplistic way of life that usually doesn’t break headlines or twitter feeds at any cost.. However, people begin to buzz all over because once a year this small town becomes illuminated for three passionate days as some of the most successful artists play their hearts out under a hot August sun.
Heather and Erika were waiting for me in the press area, looking sharp as always; grinning like Cheshire cats. No doubt: they’re happy to be there and they weren’t scared to show it. So with that, I swallowed my fear, and went up to them and asked them ever so nonchalantly “Are you guys Erika Foster and Heather D’Angelo?”, and as I already knew the answer, they nodded and complimented my shoes before they mechanically sat themselves down, in a very delicate manner. Long years have passed and Au Revoir Simone have now grown into a band that has reached an ultimate maturity and they can finally rest unworldly to enjoy the present like there is tomorrow.
When did you first find yourself interested in music and what motivated you in becoming a musician yourself? What is the first instrument you started with?
Erika : “I was always interested in music! I’ve always loved music so much and spent the first money that I had on CDs and so on. I never really pictured myself playing in a band, but I think I always had a secret desire to do it. I had some other friends in Brooklyn that were playing in bands so it helped make it seem more accessible, I was thinking that everyone could play music so why couldn’t I?”
Heather : “I have the exact same story! And we both started with the keyboard.”
Did you have a breakthrough at some point in the beginning that made you decide what kind of music you were going for, or was it more like a progressive process?
Erika: ” In the beginning, our main idea was just to have an all keyboard band and to use vintage instruments, especially keyboards and drum machines so our sound and our style were sort of dictated. But writing a song with somebody else is about compromising, intersection of styles… The more we played together, the more we formed our style. So I think it was something like “developed”. But mostly, I think it’s specific of the instrument(s) we chose to play with, the time we started playing together (in 2003) and our influences, like indie music… We all had some similar favorite bands, Air for example.”
And you guys wound up playing with Air, has playing with one of your favorite bands had and influence on your live shows?
Erika: “I think that every time we played with them they were really inspiring, in the same way that our producer that we had at the time was. They were like teachers for us, they made us feel like more confident and made us believe in the music we were making. Air was like a mentor to us.”
Talking about people you’re big fans of, would you collaborate with David Lynch for a movie if he asked you, knowing that he’s a big fan of your music and you guys have collaborated with him in the past?
Erika: ” Definitely! I’m sure it would be so amazing to collaborate with him.”
We talked about the style of your music, and I was wondering if you ever feel like doing something totally different than what you’ve done before?
Erika: “Yeah, definitely. Sometimes I wish we were making dance music. I love dance music, I think it would be very fun!”
Heather: ” I’ve always wanted to go back and forth from crazy dance music, maybe something like Gang Gang Dance and then go the other way around and do something more like Animal Collective, totally weird and psychedelic.”
Your discography was very constant before Night Light and Still Night, Still Light came out, do you see it more like a best of or a new album in its own right?
Erika: “Well, to be honest, they are just two remix albums. We don’t see it like a new album or anything, we feel like we only have three albums (Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation and The Bird of Music).”
But did you choose the songs?
Erika: “Yes, we were like the curators!”
How did you come up with that concept, was it your idea or someone else’s idea?
Erika: “We just had so good remixes that DJs would send us all the time, we liked them and decided to put them together in an album. It seemed like people were into it so that’s why we decided to make it.”
One last question: what’s the CD you’ve been playing the most in the tour bus?
Heather: ” We didn’t really play a CD in the tour bus, it’s like we’re all in our own world: we all have our own headphones!” (laughs)
Erika: “And our driver doesn’t really listen to music!”
Heather: “But we listen to the podcast of Radiolab together.”
Erika: “Personally, I’ve been listening to the new Arcade Fire because I just got it, I was still listening to it this morning, and I love it!”
Photo courtesy of Ahmed Klink & Noah Dodson
