Q&A – 2000 Trees 2019 Artists: Soeur – August 2019

Hello! You played in The Cave earlier. How did that go?

Tina: We absolutely loved it.

Anya: It was so early that I don’t think we were sure how many people would be there; but it just kept filling up. It was lovely.

Tina: By the end of the set, it was excellent.

Jim: Yeah, there were lots of people singing along.

Tina: We’re always overwhelmed by how well attended our sets are at Trees.

You’ve got a second set later in the weekend on the main stage. Are you excited about that or a bit nervous?

Tina: I don’t know how it happened! I think it’s probably good that we played the set earlier today, because that was a step up too from the Neu Stage last year. It’s good that we played this earlier one to calm the nerves and have a practice run.

Jim: It’s like a spring board to the main stage; hopefully that’s knocked any nerves out of us, then on Saturday we can just go on and do our thing.

Tina: Yes, it’s good knowing that we just did that and it went well.

Jim: I feel like we’re in the swing of things now.

You have played 2000 Trees before. What is it about the festival that draws you back each year?

Jim: It’s the best festival.

Tina: They always book really good bands, so I’m always excited for the lineup. i just look at it and I’m like ‘I want to see them and them, and them, and them.’

Anya: We would probably come along anyway, even if we didn’t get booked. I started coming here about four or five years ago and I’ve always enjoyed it, and got to know a lot of people here. The organisers just smash it, I think.

Jim: It is kind of like a home. We’ve played here quite a few times, and I’ve played here several times before that with my old band Maybeshewill. I did see an old banner somewhere and we were on that, which was nice to see. I need to work out how many times I’ve played; because it’s been a lot. For me it feels like coming back to my festival home; so that’s really nice.

Are there any other artists that you want to see this weekend?

Tina: Yes, there’s so many!

Anya: So we saw De Staat here a few years ago, and we had never heard of them before that.

Tina: We were just chilling, weren’t we?

Anya: Yeah. I was a bit of a mess, lying in the grass hungover. They just started playing and we were both like ‘What is this?!’ and they just blew me away.

Tina: You disliked them during the first song.

Anya: Yeah; I hated it at first, but then after a while I was like ‘Woah!’ this is good.

Jim: They are one of my new favourite bands, so I’m definitely going to see their set today.

Tina: There’s loads of good artists playing, like Yonaka too.

Jim: Also, our friends in No Violet. The list goes on.

You released your second EP Fight late last year. How do you feel that the general reaction has been to that EP and the new music?

Tina: It’s been great. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we sold loads of them.

Jim: I think when Fight was released musically, it made everyone aware that we were a bit more of an established band. This next EP is kind of a different twist; it’s more polished with the sound. I don’t think that the songs vary much in terms of how we write them; it’s just a different set of songs. It is difficult to work out how to release music nowadays. People ask us ‘When are you going to do an album?’, but we want to get to the point where we feel that we are ready and there’s a captive audience wanting it.

Tina: When we do an album, we want it to be like a piece of work in itself; not just a collection of songs that we’ve written and bung together.

Jim: It’s on the cards, but we want to get this next EP out first and then see where we stand. It’s in our minds, but we’ll see.

While we’re on the subject of the new EP; you’re releasing No Show later this year. What can fans expect from that?

Tina: It’s pretty much more of the same; jagged and dual harmonies. I don’t think there’s particularly any easy listens on there.

Jim: We recorded the new EP last November, so I don’t really feel like they’re new songs. They are new to the audience, but they’re not to us. We haven’t really thought about the difference between the two EPs.

Anya: It is a bit more polished. The Fight EP, in terms of the way we recorded it, was really raw, basic and stripped down. I think with this one, we’ve gone a little bit further and thrown in a few little production things in here and there. It’s definitely a little bit more polished in terms of production. In terms of the songs themselves, they’re all as different as each other, depending on where we were at the time.

You recently released Do What I Want. Can you tell me a bit about that song and the crazy video?

Anya: With the video, we just wanted something silly. Fight was such a serious video, so we just wanted to have fun with it. There’s no big meaning in it, or anything like that.

Jim: I guess in some ways it’s just doing what we wanted to do at the time. I think after the Fight video came out, we didn’t want to be seen as this dark and heavy band, that are too serious. With Do What I Want, there’s lots of pop elements in the music; so it’s nice to have a video that can reflect that. Lots of colour and lots of fun.

Tina: Hopefully it accentuates the song. The video points out what we are trying to do in the song. I personally think that our songs are not easy listeners, but I appreciate that some people may not think that. The video shows what it is that we’re doing.

Jim: It’s almost like trying to do a pop music video, and it sort of worked. It was fun.

Originally you’re all from the Midlands, but have now moved to Bristol. How does the music scenes differ between the two areas?

Anya: It’s hard to explain. It’s different, as the music scene in general has changed so much over the last few years. From where me and Tina used to live in Worcester, it’s different. I worked at the Marrs Bar and there’s a really nice little community there and it’s a great little music scene. I don’t know what it’s like now; it’s maybe shifting a little bit. We just wanted to be in a place where there’s more going on, and there’s more opportunity and more people. There’s some great venues in Bristol and pretty much every night of the week you can go and see something. I think Big Jeff actually does that!

Jim: The contrast is, because Bristol’s so saturated, as a smaller band it can take a little longer to try and get those initial foundations. There’s that much going on that you can get lost, and you need to spark things up a little more in some way. But the music scene is definitely strong in Bristol.

If you could choose any artists to headline your own festival, who would you choose?

Jim: Daft Punk.

Anya: Yeah, they would be really good!

Jim: They must be such an amazing headline act for a festival.

Anya: I would choose Bjork. I’ve never seen her play, but I’ve heard crazy things, and she’s mental. I think she would be amazing.

Tina: I’d choose Beyonce, because she can do everything! What you’re watching is a show; she’s got dancing, she’s got all live music, and that voice. It’s pure theatre!

You have several more festivals coming up over the summer months including Nozstock, Farmfest, Boomtown and ATG. What’s in the pipeline for you for the rest of the year?

Tina: We’ve got a few gigs pencilled in. We’re going on tour in October with a band called Saint Agnes.

Jim: There’s also a few more all-dayer type things dotted around. We want to get on to more support tours, so that we can just get out there and be put in front of a crowd of people. We’re trying really hard to get on that. We’re also doing a bit of a headline tour towards late November, early December, to support the EP release.

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