The Controversy Q&A

Your names: 

Laura Vall and Thomas Hjorth.

Where are you from? 

I'm from Barcelona, Spain, Thomas is from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Name of band: 

The Controversy.

Who else is in your band?

Thomas and I are the founders and the ones who write and produce the songs but we also have a live band beside us formed by Amy White (synths and backup vocals) and Kris Persson (drums).

How would you describe yourselves and your music?

 We like to call it Electronic Art Pop Psychedelia.

Who are your main influences musically?

Massive Attack, Portishead, Radiohead, Beck, St Vincent, Fiona Apple, Bjork, Air, Miike Snow.. among many others. 

What do you hope to achieve in music? 

A long and successful career in music.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 

We won Artist of the Year 2012 at Artists In Music Awards, Best Song Alternative Song of the Year 2012 at Hollywood Music In Media Awards, and Best Music Video of 2013 for "Real" at Artists In Music Awards, and all those awards gave us validity and strength to keep on pushing forward. With that said, it means the world for us very time we get a good review or a nice comment from a fan, that's always the highlight of our day.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 

We are lucky to not have had any of those moments with this band so far, everyone has always been really great and we've always felt the love.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why? 

Our music is really eclectic and every song is our baby to us so it's very hard to choose only one. "Queen of Chinatown" is our latest single, so I'm gonna go with that one. 

Where can we listen to it? 

https://thecontroversyband.bandcamp.com/album/dont-count-on-me

Where can we find out more about your music?

Official Site - http://www.TheControversyBand.com

Facebook - http://www.Facebook.com/TheControversyBand

Twitter - http://www.Twitter.com/TControversy (Twitter handle - TControversy) 

SoundCloud - http://www.SoundCloud.com/TheControversy

Instagram - http://www.Instagram.com/TheControversyMusic

Bandcamp - http://www.TheControversyBand.Bandcamp.com

iTunes - http://hyperurl.co/15iedv

Lancaster unveil As Wild As Tigers video

ALT-rock five-piece Lancaster have unveiled the video for their single As Wild As Tigers.

The track is taken from the Spaniards' debut album Journey, which is due out on November 17th.

The band have cemented a good reputation in their homeland and are now beginning to spread the word across Europe and into the UK.

You can watch the video for As Wild As Tigers blow and for more information visit facebook.com/lancasterbcn

The Magic Room Band Q&A

Your name: 
Andrés (singer).

Where are you from?
I am from Barcelona (Spain) but I've been in Manchester for most of my adulthood.

Name of band: 
The Magic Room Band.

Who else is in your band?
Jesse (bass guitar), Dan (lead guitar) and Javi (drums).

How would you describe yourselves?
We are a blues-rock band with 60s surf vibes. Our music sounds like rock'n'roll played with modern beats and melodies; very dancy indeed. However, it was conceived to listen to it on long car or train journeys (that's my favourite time to listen to music!)

Who are your main influences musically?The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, The Strokes, White Stripes...

What do you hope to achieve in music?We'd love to be someone's favorite band, in the way that our music brings positive energy to the listener. Our lyrics try to express our views about the world in the purest way we can, but always with a positive outlook.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?Our highlight must have been our EP launch party at Big Hands (Manchester). It's a pretty narrow pub, so from stage we could only see a big crowd of people smiling and having a great time. The response from the crowd was amazing.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?Probably when we were dressing up as animals in a gig. We've never been so hot in our entire life!

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?Hurry Down. I wrote that song without even thinking. I don't think I blinked for the whole time I was writing it. It came out straight from the most hidden layers of my soul.

Where can we listen to it?You can listen to it in youtube. It also has a pretty good video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMEv9ZUB2JE

Where can we find out more about your music?We are pretty active on Facebook and Twitter, so you can give us a like/follow if you'd like to be updated with our latest thing
facebook.com/themagicroomband
Twitter: @magicroomband
But we keep all our things together in our website
www.themagicroomband.com

Anything else you’d like to say that I forgot to ask?

If you're about in Manchester, we'll be playing at Mono on the 19th of September. It will be a great party!

The Suburb's one-a-week challenge

INDIE band The Suburb has been taking part in the One Year One Song A Week challenge - getting musicians to great a song every seven days, filming the process and releasing a video.

Barcelona's Raul Bonilla - the man behind The Suburb - is already more than halfway along with 31 songs in 31 weeks without interruption and as an acoustic duo has played 30 gigs in three months.

He told RealSoundsOK: "After more than 30 weeks in a row uploading a video song to YouTube every Friday , it's time to have a look at the result and analyze the trajectory, an exercise in objectification of what is coming out of the OYOSAW challenge.

"The idea was to make a videosong every week and upload it to Youtube every Friday, essentially covers of some of my favorite songs of all time and began in late October 2013 with a cover of Walk on the wild side which sadly coincided with the death Lou Reed, its author. So it meant both the presentation of the challenge and immediately posthumous tribute .

"As I uploaded the second video song , a friend wrote to me asking me to do an specific cover and it unleashed a flood of suggestions. As a result I have covered songs of all kinds and I have been able to study the compositions and resources from many different authors and different styles (watch XO – Beyoncé or Video killed the radio star – The Buggles).

"For Christmas (after two months of video songs) I got the first hints for playing live and on March 1st I performed as a three-piece band (bass, drums and electric guitar) at a private party in Riudoms (Tarragona, Spain) and the same week I started playing in acoustic duo format in various bars in Barcelona. This week I’ll give 30th concert in three months.

"The Suburb page is in three languages, gathers all video songs, live dates and a booking service for as musical performances (all kinds of band formats, electric, acoustic) and personalization of songs. Moreover, yesterday I launched the renamed blog category The ABCs of freelance musician  with a new post: experiences, tips and thoughts of a 100 per cent DIY, 100 per cent independent musician.

"There are still 20 weeks of challenge ahead, 20 videos to come and many concerts to give. Some of the new suggestions that have come to me are making a record with the best versions and videos when the challenge ends; touring all around Spain giving concerts at followers’ homes and making original songs."

You can view Raul's clip for Video Killed The Radio Star below and for the full list visit his YouTube channel.

The Suburb Q&A

Your name:
My name is The Suburb, I inherited the body of Raül Bonilla on the doctor's orders.

Where are you from?

Barcelona, Spain.

Name of band:

The Suburb.

Who else is in your band?

I play on my own and/or as a power trio with a couple of mates in live acts.

How would you describe yourselves?

I enjoy an indie rock punk folk pop fun approach to music. Recently, since I decided to make a videosong every week for one year, I've discovered how fun making videos is and I've found I love visual experimentation as much as music...

Who are your main influences musically?

I love Beck, Devendra Banhart and Micachu in their eclectic approach to music and Nirvana and Deerhunter in their blend of noise and straight forward melodies.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

I want to play around, record what I hear in my mind and share it and develope the visual side of myself I've just discovered.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

The Suburb is a new-born baby and since it is growing by the hour every day is a highlight.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Each time someone tells me how I should or shouldn't do things to succeed. 

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

By now I'm only making covers, but you could judge yourself if you check what I've done with 'Video killed the radio star' by The Buggles - I think this is my best visual work -  or 'XO' by Beyoncé, both songs suggested by friends through my website (yes, I accept suggestions thorugh my website as a part of my own personal challenge ;)...
Oh....you said just one song? sorry...I'd go for XO then...it was the most difficult to adapt to my style.

Where can we listen to it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1jlI-s3-Rs  (The Buggles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GymWgEojeYk&list=TLyge45a1bVKYdVXRiSeNXohop0oq85Q7t  (Beyoncé)

Where can we find out more about your music?

http://www.thesuburbmusic.com/ if you join the mailing list you can suggest a cover ;)
https://www.facebook.com/thesuburbmusic
https://twitter.com/thesuburbmusic
https://www.youtube.com/user/thesuburbmusic

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?

I'm making a new videosong every Friday (youtube) for one year. I'm releasing a covers album on the 23rd of April and starting a crowdfund campaign for it on the 5th of March. 

In May I'll start releasing original songs. 

Daylight Q&A

Your name: 

Wojtek Burek.

Where are you from? Barcelona, Spain 

Name of band:

Daylight.

Who else is in your band?

Olek Burek, Victor Vera and Will Colet.

How would you describe yourselves?

We're a fresh pop-punk band from Barcelona trying to make great music. 

Who are your main influences musically?

Everyone has his own influence, from classic rock to oldschool punkrock and metal.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

We want to reach the biggest audience possible, and so, the people include our music in their lives. We wanna be their life soundtrack. 

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Knowing that people all around the world is enjoying our music, and waiting us to tour their city.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Hahaha The first show :)

If you could choose just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

It would be Summer Season. Its fresh, melodic, catchy, and all the band loves it! 

Where can we listen to it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi8i3k3Vgvs

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.facebook.com/daylight
twitter.com/daylightband
youtube.com/user/daylightpunk

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask?

Dont forget to check out our music videos and like us on Facebook!

Hope to meet you soon in your city ;)