today we feature our first artist coming from hungary. evil men have no songs is a one man project making awesome shoegazy pop with 50's and 60's inspiration.
music for days when there's no clouds in the sky. the sun seems to be closer to earth and its light keeps constantly blinding you. but you still go out.
it's the kind of music that through mysterious ways (or maybe through awesome guitars riffs) gives you energy and you feel like jumping around or dance without paying much attention to your body directions.
we talked about a bit of everything: beginning, influences, independent music scene in hungary and future projects. after the interview, you'll find a link to download a single released on beko and a link to bandcamp where you can download his first ep. be sure to get both!
01. when and how did you started making music?
i started playing guitar when i was 7. my dad was in a band and he thought i might be interested in playing music as well so he bought me a guitar for my birthday and showed me a few chords. being a kid, i was a bit intimidated to play in front of him so i locked myself in my room and learnt to play it on my own. i started writing songs during my grammar school years. i remember coming up with a great riff once and writing my first song, but a few hours later i was shattered because i realized it was a rip-off of a nirvana song ('on a plain').
02. where does the name 'evil men have no songs' come from? could it be a reference to nietzsche?
yes, evil men have no songs is a part of a nietzsche quote. it sounds a bit naive, and i really liked it.
03. what are your influences?
it's really hard to tell. i've been consuming music since i was around 4 years old, as our house was always full of music, my mom and dad were huge record collectors. everything was played from the Beatles to the mamas and the papas, beach boys, the animals, early bee gees, illés (a hungarian band), blondie, kraftwerk, lots of 80's pop, easy listening, etc. coming from a background like this it's obvious that i've become a big music lover as well, but as far as my project evil men have no songs is concerned i would narrow down the influences to the following bands: suicide, the jesus and mary chain, the radio dept, broadcast, cocteau twins and lots of 1960's girl band-melodies.
04. i was quite surprised when i found out that you're from hungary. not that i think that hungary can't make good music, but because is very hard to find hungarian artists on the web. could you make us less ignorant on the independent scene there talking a bit about it?
it's really hard to talk about music in general in hungary. the majority of the people have horrible musical taste here clinging to old schemes which is really sad. there has never been a musical revolution here like punk in england in the 1970's (the whole diy thing, etc.), people are not really switched to progressive way of thinking in terms of music, they just go with the flow and listen to what's being played, it's a kind of a background-thing to them. it's really hard to make music in an environment like this, there's so much public indifference towards the new things. i'm always joking with my friends that most of the recognition i receive for the songs with evil men have no songs comes from abroad (mainly usa, south america, scandinavia) and if i started showing my music to average music lovers here in hungary they would definitely laugh their heads off and think the whole thing is rubbish and badly recorded (terms like "shoegaze" are not really familiar here). on the other hand, the independent scene is not bad, there's been a progression in the past few years, the main problem is that it's still small and is based only in the capital (budapest). there are some groups (e.g. gumipop, lamantin, etc.) who organize parties and invite bands to play, for example in the past few weeks there were some really good bands here like deerhoof, a sunny day in glasgow, wolf parade, etc.
05. how's your creative and recording process? do you consider yourself a bedroom artist?
yes i do actually. i'm in the process of getting a band together around me at the moment to be able to perform the songs live, but i'm not too keen on playing or performing, i'm not the most exhibitionist person in the world. as far the the writing and recording process is concerned, i keep writing songs in my head all the time (sometimes i carry a dictaphone with me) and whenever i have enough ideas i go to my friend's studio and record some stuff. i don't really do recording at home, i just use a guitar, think of a melody or a chord structure, then come up with ideas for all the other instruments and keep them in my head until i go to the studio and spill the whole thing out.
well, i think this is the logical step i had to take, the aim is to reach as many people as possible. it would be great to be on an independent label though, a lot more things could be easier and the distribution/advertising would go smoother, but i understand it doesn't really pay for the labels anymore.
07. your songs are very straightforward, melodically and lirically speaking. to me they have this feeling of a melancholic sunny day. what are your inspirations when it comes to make music?
melancholic sunny day, exactly. i can't really tell what my inspirations are. everyday life is full of melodies and i just try to catch them like butterflies, however stupid it may sound.
08. what's next? are you working on new songs? anything you can say about future releases?
yes, i have a few new songs i want to record in the upcoming weeks/months and then i'll have enough songs for an album. would be great to find an independent label but i won't be too sad if no one's interested.
09. do you get to live of music or have another job?
yes, i have a job, it would be impossible to live of music here.
10. what's a perfect pop song for you?
every song that has a chorus is a perfect pop song.
11. any song(s) you'd like to cover?
haven't really thought about it yet, but probably will.
12. name the perfect place and time to hear your music.
hiding razor blades in kids' ice creams in a park on a sunny day wile thin candy floss clouds block the sunbeams.
just kidding.
13. recommend something you've been listening lately.
the new mgmt album, scott walker's scott 4, a band called zaza (they have a great ep out called cameo), twin sister, plone's second album, rosemary's baby's soundtrack, the new caribou album, basil kirchin's abstractions of the industrial north, the new radio dept album, early clientele, serena maneesh, the older bradford cox, mixtapes on the deerhunter blog, etc.
here (below) you can download two songs released on beko.
01. home tonight
02.superstill
go to evil men have no songs bandcamp and download his first ep. 'no you no me' is a must listen! (click on the image below)
myspace
cool stuff, you gotta love this guy
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