Stolen Dance
The month of March is quite the intense stretch for us music bloggers. Yes, it’s an incredible time, what with Ultra and SXSW landing in the same timeframe. Not to mention that Coachella, Bonnaroo, EDC and more are just around the corner. Sometimes though, with that insane vortex of information swirling around us, content slips through the cracks. Today is a perfect example of that, as we bring you our SXSW interview with German sensation Milky Chance.
We won’t take up any more time with how this amazing interview should have come out a long time ago. Instead, we ask that you please sit back, relax, and enjoy the read.
TMN: So first off, let’s talk about SXSW. How’s it going so far?
Philipp: We had our first show yesterday.It was really good. It was pretty late at 12, and we’re still kind of like adjusting to the time shift, so it was really late for us, but it was a cool show. And yeah, it seems to be like, I mean it’s a huge festival. I just looked in the thing like where all the artists are named, and it’s crazy.
Clemens: The sad thing about when you come here and see all the artists that you want to see but you don’t have time because you’re so busy, and you’ve got like 5 gigs in 3 days, and doing interviews, and on and on. So, that’s kind of the bad side of a showcase festival.
TMN: We feel your pain. (Laughs) Yeah, our schedule is just back-to-back all the way down, trying to run across the city. So, I saw on Facebook you guys are doing its #AroundTheUSIn80Days, is that the hashtag you guys are using? Talk to us about that a little bit.
Philipp: Umm yeah, I mean it was pretty funny. We were sitting here on the way to America, and we were just talking like how could we name the hashtag?
Together: 25,000 miles
Philipp: And, so that’s one time around the earth, so we were like yeah let’s name it like in one day uh around the world, and then it was like we are also 80 days in America, so we just kind of like, you know the movie?
Clemens: Around The World In 80 Days, so we just named it like this. It fits perfectly. It was really funny.
TMN: How has the reception been for you guys in the States? We have to imagine that like in Germany, you guys kind of have your home crowd and stuff like that, but when you first came over here and started doing shows before this stint
Clemens: Spark in the air
Philipp: So, yeah maybe probably a little more crazy? But in a good way. Besides that, I don’t know, I don’t think there’s a big difference.
TMN: Have you had any cities in the U.S. stand out in particular?
Philipp: San Francisco was awesome.
Clemens: I liked New York as well. We played in the Bowery Ballroom.
TMN: So I’m going to throw a number out here. I was looking at this before I came down. 174 million streams on Spotify. What does that mean to you guys?
Philipp: Wow, I didn’t know that. (Whistles) Well, on the one side, it’s something great happening. It makes a lot of opening chances for us, but on the other side, we are not very much touched by clicks, because it ‘s hard to get anything emotional out of something like that.
Clemens: In the end, it’s just a number.
Philipp: We get more touched when we do concerts and people are there and they give something back…
TMN:The human interaction…
Clemens: It’s more real. A number’s just a number on a screen and you just, you know?
Philipp: Though it’s cool to say!
TMN: It’s a holy shit moment, right? That’s a whole lot of plays. Since that came out, you guys just kind of hit this crazy stride. You have to had a couple of “holy shit” moments, where something just blew your mind. Can you talk to us about one of them?
Clemens: Shuffle dance. It was a huge crowd. It was like 40,000.
Philipp: Eventually, everybody, like all 40,000 people were doing the dance. They picked it up, and they were all doing it in the same like time. So, it was like this huge ocean of people moving like…
Clemens: Like a wave. And I just stopped playing guitar
Philipp: We couldn’t even play anymore. We were just like “Oh you’re totally crazy! What are you doing?” (Laughs)
Clemens: That was mind blowing. We will never forget that.
TMN: (Laughs) That’s awesome. Talk to us about your background a little bit. How did you two meet up? You guys kind of have a fusion of a little bit of electronic, a little bit of folk, a little bit of reggae. How did that all come together?
Clemens: Well, we both met in high school. We had a band for three years in high school and actually we played a lot of jazz, reggae, blues, folk – all those styles which are in now in the music that we do now.
Philipp: It was the most intensive time we had like as friends and musicians together. We were a five-piece and were all good friends. So, I think this was like the journey where it starts. But, it’s not like it was a consciousness thing to say “let’s put folk and like instrumental music together with electronic beats.” It was more just like happening.
TMN: One thing that we’re always curious about – it’s just so interesting to see how much releasing music has changed over the past 10 years. What is your impression of the blogosphere, HypeMachine, stuff like that? Do you guys pay any attention to it, or do you leave that up to publicists, managers, etc?
Philipp: I mean, I didn’t know HypeMachine before we were on HypeMachine (laughs). So, I would say we are not too much into it. You definitely can say it seems to be very important nowadays.
TMN: Other than the tour, what’s on deck for you guys? Do you have any future plans you can share with us?
Philipp: Well, we have a lot of touring going on this year. We’ve got a tour like until the end of August. So, we’re gonna come back here again. We’re going to go in Europe to a lot of places, a lot of festivals. Then, we’re going to take a break, take a little rest, and take a chill.
So, at the end of the interviews we always like to ask some random questions, just change it up so it’s not all music business. So, I’m just going to kind of rapid fire, you say the first thing that comes to mind. What was your very first job?
Clemens: Job?
TMN: Like at 15, 16 years old
Philipp: My first was job in the kitchen. I was cutting like onions and stuff.
Clemens: (Laughs) Umm, my first job was..oh man I have to think about it. I guess it would be giving guitar lessons to children. Yeah, I mean the first like small jobs were that we played with our band like on weddings and stuff like this and earning some money. So, actually as a small musician? (Laughs)
TMN: What are three things that are always in your fridge no matter what? Even if you’re completely out of groceries, these three things will always be there.
Clemens: I don’t think that I have three things constantly in my fridge. (Laughs)
Philipp: I’m trying to think about it.
Clemens: There’s always some stuff missing.
Philipp: I just come for like two days and I just put lemonade and an apple or something, and that’s it.
Clemens: Yeah actually, for me it’s the same. Like, you’re always on tour, when you come home like, I live together with four other people, so there’s always some food.
Philipp: But before that, there was always cream cheese. When I lived at my mom’s, I always had cream cheese.
Clemens: And lemonade, the San Pellegrino lemonade?
TMN: Cream cheese. A lot of bagels then?
Philipp: Yeah, I love bagels.
Clemens: We don’t have bagels in Germany.
Philipp: I mean you can buy them at Starbucks or something, but you don’t get them regularly at a grocery store.
TMN: If you guys could play with one act, dead or alive, who would you play with?
Clemens: It depends on what you do, like playing guitar or singing or playing the drums?
TMN: Oh no, like you’re playing and they’re playing the show also. So like, you’re both on the bill.
Philipp: I would love to play with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Clemens: Yeah, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
TMN: The last one we always ask everybody. It’s a little bit bizarre, but we always get fun answers. If your music were an animal, what would it be?
Clemens: Hmmm.
Philipp: What is uh very small which gets pretty old? Turtle?
Clemens: Turtle. Maybe it’s a turtle? Because it’ll stay for 200 years and longer. (Laughs)
