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[interludeinterviews-blog]

Bonjr interview:

Firstly, is there a specific musical period/sound that inspires you?

I don't think there's any specific musical period. This may be partly due to the fact that my tastes are very diverse, which may also be due to the fact that I grew up in a very diverse environment. I think I have always just picked up whatever I liked and never focused too much on a particular genre or sound. I don't think I could really list it all here, which is why I have been creating this playlist that will hopefully give people a better idea of what I was listening to back in the late 2000s:

I can however say that perhaps between 2013 - 2014 is when I started to get into a lot of electronic sounds, discovering soundcloud and being introduced to a whole new world of music production. I had already been making some music before then, but listening to all these crazy new artists and sounds definitely influenced the way I approached music making. Soundcloud was a completely different beast back then (and honestly I was already very late to the party).

Bonjr's old soundcloud: 

https://soundcloud.com/aurevoirr/trackrs

When formulating a remix, what's the general mindset and thinking in terms of the spin you look to put on a song?

The direction I try to take a remix will depend on what I am feeling or inspired by at the time, as well as the original track itself. Most of the time, i'll have no idea what I am really trying to do and then suddenly something will finally click or an idea I try works really well. From there, it becomes much easier to try and be as creative as possible. This is probably another question that is much easier to show rather than try to explain through text, so for anyone interested, check out my Patreon!

You are known to have done many collaborations with other artists. Which of these particularly stand out and why?

Very hard for me to pick favorites, I think they all have individual things that make them very special to me.

But I do love the story of how my collaboration with versor and Thomas Reid came to be; the whole process was just a breath of fresh air and a recall to my early FL Studio days of making music in person with my friends at their houses or just wherever we were really. Most of the time for both my solo work and collaborations, it's just me alone in my room. But then again, technology has come a long way (and my home country has done a lot of catching up) to actually allow us to not even have to leave the house to collaborate with other artists.

What has given you the most amount of satisfaction with regard to your way of working?

I found a lot of joy and comfort in seeing my little home studio with all my favorite instruments and equipment come to life during my college years. Recently however, I have had to say goodbye to most of it as I graduated college and moved out (couldn't travel back home with most of it), so I am currently looking to find a place where I can rebuild and recover that feeling.

What are your plans moving forward and has this time in isolation aided or hindered this progression?

Music is looking more and more like something I could do full-time, so it's an option I am currently looking at very closely at. But in the meantime, I am hoping I can find degree-related work in a country that interests me. Coronavirus has definitely hindered all prospective travel plans and motivation, but it also given me a lot of time to get back into music ^^

Here's a video that goes into this whole story a bit more in-depth:

Finally, out of all the songs you've created or remixed, which is your personal favourite and why?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i think i really like this unreleased track with enesai

but once again, I don't like picking favorites ;)

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SAER INTERVIEW:

Firstly, your voice has been compared to the likes of Jeff Buckley due to its "haunting and vulnerable" nature. Is he an artist who you have been inspired by and if so what is it about his work that captured your interest?

I have always been a huge fan, my brother would often play his music and I’d constantly be stealing ‘Grace’ from his CD collection, along with Beatles, Nick Drake and Zappa. The soulfulness he has in his voice was awe inspiring and that delicate way he manipulated his tone in his falsetto was perfected. One of the greats for sure. 

Are there any other prominent figures that inspired you or your music?

My brother had such an eclectic music collection, I was incredibly lucky to have a music history DJ to hand most days. He is also a great acoustic player so hearing his playing patterns helped me when teaching myself. I had an amazing music teacher at school who really nurtured my creativity whilst being honest and constructive. Friends with a similar love for music, songwriting and playing.  

How did your time on "The Voice", under the influence of the legendary Sir Tom Jones, affect your music and your motivation towards it? 

I think it gave me a kick up the backside to play a lot more, I’d kind of slowed down how much I was doing and the fact that I was getting put up on a stage in front of a huge audience I wanted to get stuff out there. The whole process gave me a lot more confidence that I was on the right kind of tracks with what I was doing, to trust my instincts and push that little bit further to test my own boundaries (see how far I could go before it sounded like a train wreck!). 

You are known to have covered songs by some of modern pops biggest icons. When making these songs your own, what type of spin did you want to put on them to have your own unique touch incorporated?

I think the main thing with covering and releasing is about making a song your own by stripping it right back and expose it as a song. I do a fair bit of co-writing and we will often try the ‘Ballad test’ does this song stand up on its own? Its a really interesting way to look at it. When choosing a song to cover it has to be something that I can connect with and I’ll explore some ideas on piano or guitar and as the song is so strong the rest comes pretty quickly fortunately.

How are you finding this time in isolation and does it have any positives for your personal progression as a creative artist? 

It’s given us a bit of a slower pace which is positive - would much rather this in different circumstances though. In terms of creativity it seems to be a good time to get things recorded. I’ve been doing some Isolation Sessions every Saturday live on Facebook and have been blown away by the response, to the extent that I’d love to carry it on. I’ve also been putting out Demo’s from requested songs and originals each week on all platforms, given me a nice challenge each week, also its helping my on screen interaction - loosening up ever so slightly! 

Finally, out of all the songs you've written or covered, which is your personal favourite and why?

I’m about to release a song called Start A Fire, this was a really personal song that writing helped me through a stage of grief and I’m not a big talker so to be able to have an outlet such as this is pretty special and hopefully a fitting tribute.