How'd you get started in music?Personally, I have been involved with music from a very young age. My mom has enrolled me into a music school when I was eight years old, because she thought that it was important for a child's intellectual development to be exposed to classical music. I have studied there for eight years, but I was never as interested in practicing a musical instrument or just reproducing music, as I was in using instruments to create music myself. My two Intoits, Marko and Slaven, have also studied music from a very young age and have been involved with various bands or music projects in Croatia over the years. They are both very talented multi-instrumentalists and Marko is making a name for himself in Croatia as a producer, as well.
Who are your inspirations or influences?I listen to a very diverse range of artists, especially today when the whole world's repertoire is just a few clicks away. The first music I was really exposed to were the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, courtesy of my parents and their vinyls. I think this is where my love for great melodies and vocal harmonies comes from. From there, I moved on to the Seattle scene - Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, and for years I wouldn't allow myself to listen to anything too remote from the alt-rock genre. Nowadays, I tend to listen to everything that has a great melody and that is guitar driven, especially if it is innovative in some way. Marko is very much into reggae, while Slaven listens to and is involved in all sorts of music genres, even though in Croatia he is primarily known for his involvement in Croatian traditional male singing groups called "klapa".
As for the inspiration to make music, I have to say that I am not a very fertile author, probably because I don't usually make a point of sitting down and writing songs, I do it when I feel like it. I write maybe 4 or 5 songs a year, usually when some life situation or experience hits me hard.
What advice would you offer to aspiring performers?
I am not sure I am really qualified to give any advice! Nevertheless, I would like to inspire anyone who has a desire to make music to simply do it, regardless of what anyone else says about their talents or regardless of any critics. Music is one of the most beautiful ways of expressing emotions or opinions and anyone should try to use it as such. Nowadays, a lot of people think that the singing has to be perfect or that the instrumental performance has to be perfect in order for the music to be good, but that is completely wrong, in my opinion. The best music is imperfect! Unfortunately, people are keen to criticize really emotional pieces of music, just because they don't sound like what they are used to hearing on the radio. And they are used to hearing songs that are artificially polished to the extent they sound robotic.
How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?Our music has been called "avant-garde", "experimental" and "unique" by most critics who have reviewed our debut album "The Girl from Cherry Valley" so far, so I guess that there is something different about it, but frankly, I have no idea what it is. My voice has also been called "unconventional", and I personally think this is so only because people are not used to hearing a contralto voice as the lead in a band. The most important thing for me, and I think I can also speak for Marko and Slaven, is that the music we make is exactly what we would listen to ourselves. It has to be truly genuine and from the heart and we try not to compromise on that.
Any new gigs or albums in the future?I must say that, at this moment, we are more of a music project than a band, because we have never played in front of an audience together and our songs are too elaborate in arrangements for the three of us to be able to play them live alone, without the help of additional musicians. We have only worked together in the studio. However, we would definitely like to play gigs sometime in the future, but I am not too pressured about it. As they say, all in good time.
As for new music, Marko and I have recorded some demos for a couple of new songs. One of these songs will be released soon as a single only, because it is quite different from our other songs, so it just wouldn't fit with the others. The other songs are probably going to be released as an EP or album sometime next year.
Special thanks to her for this interview & I wish her nothing but luck in her career. So until then I'll catch you on the flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!
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