Friday, March 13, 2020

DJ Intrviews: The Delerium Trees

Hey there everyone Its your old friend DJ Dizzy here & I had the pleasure of interviewing a band who answer to the name The Delerium Trees who had so much to say on their success.





How'd you get started in music? 



I started in music as five year old when my father handed me a cornet, I've played brass instruments since then. From there I joined the local brass band in Turriff, Aberdeenshire. Progressing quickly I took up piano as my second instrument to gain qualifications in both to study music later in life.



Who are your inspirations or influences? 


I'm inspired by an eclectic mix, Simple Minds, Nazareth, Glasvegas, ELO, Empire of the Sun, The Avalanches, Beastie Boys, Faith No More, Manic Street Preachers, The Bathers from the more modern side of things, being classically trained I'm inspired by Debussy, Purcell, Alban Berg, Hindemith, Bantock to name a few.



What advice would offer aspiring performers? 


Being a full time musician / teacher I would obviously say practise but I would also say join choirs, brass bands, folk groups anything that can help in playing in public and assist in building a stage presence.



How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers? 


Being the songwriter / composer for The Delerium Trees means I get a free range of what we do. The first album, Paradise Will Be, showed a mainly alt rock flavour with the last song on it, Climbing Walls, showing an electronica side. Our next album, Swimming With The Ghost Angels, is much longer, 11 songs, 70 minutes in length. Six are normal Alt Rock songs whilst five are instrumentals written with a nod towards electronica and classical music.

Any new gigs or albums in the future? 

There will definitely be more albums by The Delerium Trees possibly an E.P. this summer. Also Drew Jarvie has been co writing and providing keyboards / brass for several artists who intend to release new material soon.

Special thanks to them for this interview & lots of luck in their music so until then I'll catch you on the flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

DJ Interviews: The Halflives

Hello everyone, DJ Dizzy here & I had the pleasure of sitting down with a band who call themselves The Halflives who had a lot to say regarding their musical beginnings.


How'd you get started in music?
I've been singing since I was a little girl, mostly by myself. My grandad is a musician so I guess that the "gift" comes from him. At 14 I went to a singing class and dreamt to become a professional singer one day. At the age of 15 I discovered Paramore and finally understood what I wanted to do in life: make it with my own band.

Who are your inspirations or influences?
Well, as mentioned before I'd say Paramore for sure. They've been a strong inspiration for many girls who were dreaming to sing in a band I guess. Evanescence too have been a solid pillar in my younger years.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?
Dare to suck. As much as your dream seems impossible to reach, just have the guts to put yourself out there and you will find out how good it feels to work on something you truly love.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?
There's not an easy reply to this question, but I guess that what we heard the most from our fans is that we truly care about our relationship with them. We communicate a lot on our socials and we care about making them feel special and a part of something bigger.

Any new gigs or albums in the future
Our EP "Resilience" is coming out on March 13th featuring Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens on one of the tracks.
2020 is going to be a super busy year for us, we're gonna hit the road in a week with Icon For Hire for a tour in Europe. Later this year we're coming back to the UK for a headliner run and we're also playing at 2000 Trees Festival. More coming later, stay tuned!

Special thanks to them for doing this interview & I wish them luck on their musical careers. So until then I'll catch you on the flipside. Stay awesome & rock n roll!

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

DJ Interviews Hybrid Spirits

Hey there everybody  DJ Dizzy here & I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a band that has a lot to say regarding their music. Ladies & gentlemen I give you Hybrid Spirits!




Hybrid Spirits are :

Nigel Rooke – Vocals, lyrics, keyboards and programming.

Paul Kirk – Vocals, lyrics, keyboards, guitars and programming.

Voodoo Jade – Vocals and lyrics.





How'd you get started in music?

Nigel Rooke : Nigel had his first Keyboard synthesiser at the age of 16, a Roland SH-101. He began experimenting writing songs and lyrics with a friend in his front room until he formed a band called “From The Ashes UK” with Paul Kirk (below).



Paul Kirk : Paul started playing guitar at 17. In the early 90’s he started a band with Nigel Rooke and spent the next few years gigging around Birmingham (UK) and the West Midlands in various pubs and clubs, until he moved to West Yorkshire.



Voodoo Jade: I started studying music at the age of 8, playing the cello, guitar and piano. She was part of an award-winning school choir, where she learnt to develop vocals and harmonies. She joined her first band aged 15 as a cellist and backing singer, and has been involved in bands and music ever since.  She had a break from music between 2012-2017 as she got Meningitis which resulted in her legs being amputated. After she recovered, she was invited to join Hybrid Spirits which was a boost and important part to her recovery process.





Who are your inspirations or influences?

Nigel Rooke : Ska, Mod, Rock, New Romantic, Goth, Industrial, Synthwave. Likes Gary Numan, Marilyn Manson, Sisters of Mercy, Rammstein, The Specials, Visage amongst others.



Paul Kirk as a varied taste in music ranging from classical to trance music to heavy rock. Favourite bands include Black Sabbath, The Prodigy, The Cult and Rammstein.



Voodoo Jade New Age, Goth, Rock, Techno and World Music. Favourite bands from Indigo Girls, Evanescence, The Waterboys, Enigma, Hawkwind, and Greta Van Fleet!



What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Follow your hearts and write the music which you enjoy writing – not what you feel you should be writing. There will always be people who support what you do and it is important to be true to yourselves, and not pretend to be something you’re not!







How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

We are a British band consisting of 3 kindred spirits whose fusion of music has created a fresh and exciting new sound. Our music is a fantastic example of what can happen when different people with different interests, ideas, tastes, experiences, backgrounds and influences work together. Our combined years of experience in writing, composing and recording music gives strength to the ground-breaking approach to music which we’ve taken. We are not afraid to write about the issues facing us (past, present and future!), and we enjoy having fun along the way. Our “style” of music can’t be pigeon-holed, and we are very proud of this, hence the very apt name ‘Hybrid Spirits’. Our individual and eclectic music tastes mean that you (or we!) never know what we’ll create next, and there is something for (almost!) everybody.



Due to location and Voodoo Jade’s disability, we don’t meet very often, but we have regular band meetings via Skype.  All music is sent to each other electronically, and it gets passed along the members like a conveyor belt so we can all add what we want to each song.  Then once everybody is happy with the finished version, it goes off for mixing!



Any new gigs or albums in the future



No gigs planned (unless someone wants to invite us to play for Glastonbury or something lol) but always open to ideas!

We are currently working on new alternative songs for another EP or album as well as a second ambient album!



We released an ambient album in December 2018 called Astral Whispers.

We released our alternative EP in October 2019 called “Fear”



More information can be found on our website : www.HybridSpirits.Co.Uk

Latest Music Release: www.hybridspirits.bandcamp.com

Twitter: @SpiritsHybrid

Instagram @Hybridspiritsband



Special thanks to them for doing this interview & I wish them luck in their musical endeavors. So until then I'll catch you on the flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: Shadows of Everest

Hey there everyone DJ Dizzy here & I had the pleasure of speaking with a metal band who call themselves Shadows Of Everest



How'd you get started in music?I don't come from a musical family. I played a little piano as a kid but my passion for rock music took off when I was 12 years old. It was a few months before Christmas and I was flipping through the Sears Wishbook and when I landed on the page with musical instruments my thought was "I absolutely MUST get a drum set!". My mom quickly squashed that dream so, at the time, I thought the next best thing was a guitar. I convinced her it would be quieter (somehow). The rest is history. Fast forward through my teens and I was hooked on 70s rock bands and learning songs by ear. I'm sure that's how it happens for a lot of guitarists out there. I think I wrote my first song when I was 16 and I liked the process so much that I just continued doing it.

Who are your inspirations or influences?
Inspiration really comes from everywhere. When I'm writing I usually get a spark from some random mundane event and then the creative dominos start to fall. My main influences however are bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Tool and Mastodon.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?
Own your performance. Get up and do your thing the way you think it's meant to be done and do it with passion.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?
We just play our riffs  man. We take a lot of pride in our originality and our live set. We're not writing to impress anyone and we never sacrifice our own musical needs because we think someone else won't like it.

Any new gigs or albums in the future
We will be at a couple of festivals in our home province this summer so keep your eyes open for those announcements. We're pretty deep into the process of our third album too. With a little luck and support we might even get to drop that in the last quarter of 2020.