MAYBE ALBUM INTERVIEW - 2006

What are your songs about ?
HH : they talk about everything life, sometimes good, like love, sometimes bad, like addiction, death or temptation.
Carl : our songs can mean different things to different people. "Gone" for instance talks about someone leaving. It may be about a love relationship breaking up, someone passing away or something else. They are all personal and come from our own experiences but everyone will find a meaning depending on their own experiences.

What are your key songs ?
Carl : I am not sure I can answer that one. our songs express various feelings and depending on the mood of the day, some appear to have more strength than others.
HH : we had chosen 'Breathe' to send out to radio stations as a promotional single because this is the one that sounded the most 'commercial' to us, but at the end of the day, the audience decides which songs are key.
Carl : 'Stay', 'Going Nowhere' and 'Wish you well' are also potential commercial songs, but as HH just said, let's hear what people think.

I see that Jean-François Maljean has performed on 'High on Love'. Can you tell us more about it ?
Carl : I have always been a fan of Jean-François, ever since he played with Rapsat. He is a talentuous pianist and he has got a great personality. When we met, I told him about our project and said there was that one song that I wanted with a strong piano performance. I asked him and he said 'ok'. So I gave him the chords and performed the song on the guitar. It was all recorded within a couple of hours.

You are self-produced. Where do you think your sound comes from ?
HH : our musical differences getting closer. This is really the intersection of two worlds. Initially, I did not quite like Carl's music. I found it too 'electronic'... we talked about the best way to find a common sound without betraying our tastes, even though they were way apart.
Carl : in the studio, we have tried different versions of various songs to see what we both liked. We also broadened our horizons. We use all sorts of guitar sounds, all sorts of synth sounds... well... we do not only try one type of instruments. Anything that makes noise and sounds good, we use it.
HH : my friends find our music quite electro and Carl's find our music quite rock-guitar led.

How was it like working in the studio ?
HH : I had never really been in a studio before and since I prefer the live side of things, it took me a while to adapt before feeling relaxed in such an environment.
Carl : the vibe has always been good, without any pressure from one or the other. We have always discussed together about instruments choices, musical arrangements and generally speaking, the direction we wanted to give to our production.

How long did it take you to record the album ?
HH : a long time because we had to find a common ground and find our sound. Having said that, we are pleased with the result, cause it sounds like us. We have polished it a bit and that time was no waste of time.
Carl : some of the songs were written long before we met but since we have been working together, we have been improving. Our next album will be quicker in the making because we know each other better and we have learned the lessons from our first production.

Can you tell us about your influences ?
HH : I don't like this word. I prefer the word 'references' because what we listen to does not necessarily influence us. For instance, I listen to Irma Thomas, but you won't find any Irma Thomas in my way of singing.
Carl : no doubt we are influenced by the music we listen to, just like everybody, but I couldn't tell you who or what gave a direction to our sound or to this or that specific Velvet Avenue song.

Then tell us about your references !
Carl : mine spread over 30 years... Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Midge Ure , Pierre Rapsat, Keane, Coldplay, Evanescence, OMD, Ultravox, U2, Simple Minds, REM, Linkin Park , and many others. They have all probably played some role in my inspirations, but who, how and when... I can't really tell!
HH : mine include the great Janis ( Joplin ), Jimi Hendrix, Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Ben Harper, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Pearl Jam, Bjork and many others…
Carl : sometimes I wonder who is the oldest of the two ...
HH : physically, it's easy to say...

Will your album be successful ?
HH : of course it is !
Carl : it's a very good album ! Our job today is to try and have people listen to it. The initial feeback we've got is very positive.