Who are the members of your band and what are their musical backgrounds?
Annette Berlin – Vocals, Guitar
Boris Ming – Violin / Synth / Backing Vocals
Giuseppe La Rezza – Drums
Ole Rudd – Bass
After years of battling ferocious noise, Annette Berlin (Big Joan, Male, The Final Age, Rose
Kemp) felt an uncontrollable urge to connect more intimately. She called time on existing
projects and wrote prolifically: songs of alienation, redemption, and the emptiness at the end of
the party. Bringing the songs to dramatic life are musicians whose collective CV includes Bristol greats like The Moonflowers, The Fantasy Orchestra, Patrick Duff, and Chikinki.
2. How long have you been in the music industry?
Most members of the band have been in various bands for 15 years +. Proof that we must be
insane. Boris had a proper deal going on with Chikinki being signed to a big label, and guess
what, it didn’t pay. So here we all here doing day jobs, still getting excited about every song we
write.
3. How long have you been performing under your present name? 4 years. Again, crazy. I managed
to find the most amazing people to join me though. And now we’re in the zone.
4. What Genre would you call your music?
A blend of dream pop and art garage rock… or that’s what we’ve been told.
5. Who are your major influences? Nico, Siouxsie, and the Banshees, The Velvet Underground,
Sonic Youth, Peaches. But people also hear Breeders, PJ Harvey, Sorry, and Nick Cave in our
music. We are a moody bunch sometimes.
6. How old were you when you started following a musician’s path? 19. I started playing guitar and singing in a punk band and was rubbish at it. I did grow up in a very musical family through
listening to lots of traditional jazz as my dad happens to play the trombone and cornett in a jazz
band. And I can sing jazz well, but it bores me terribly. I feel drawn to noisier and darker stuff.
And actually, I’m lying. I started playing the piano as a young teenager, but the instrument and I
didn’t gel. I guess it was a bit like Calvin and his bike (Calvin and Hobbes comics… if you’re
wondering).
7. Tell me a funny story that has happened to you as you have traveled to play.
We once played a gig in Berlin. The plan was to go straight to the venue, get on stage and play
once we’d touch down at 9 pm, but the flight was delayed. We finally got to the venue around
midnight – it was a clubhouse situated in the midst of flimsy summer chalets and allotments next to some train tracks. It was snowing as we walked along the quiet paths trying to find the venue.
When we got there, it was like entering a David Lynch film. You should have seen the absurd mix
of people. Beautiful. The gig was ace.
8. Where would you like to be in five years? Weeeeellll, become famous and finally develop those
drug habits
9. .What inspires you to write? I have music in my head lots of the time. When I hear something I
like, I try to make a mental note. Interesting stories inspire me to write lyrics. The lockdown
inspired me to write our single Stuck. It was either going doolally or writing a song about it. When writing Stuck, I was seriously worried about what condition my condition was actually in. My mind was doing a cliff hanger. I felt completely stuck, but at least I could still be creative, although I had to change my technique.
10. What is your philosophy of life and how does it affect your music? I’ve always made time for my band, for music, which means I work freelance so I can choose to come and go as I like. My work has to pay the bills, no more no less.
11. Please add the names of the places you have played and the city they are in.
Glastonbury Calling Festival, King Arthur (Glastonbury), The Louisiana (Bristol), Exchange
(Bristol), Resonance FM (London), Biddle Brothers (London), Dorfkrug (Berlin)
I wish I could list NY, Barcelona, Paris, SXSW... We’re working on it.
12. Do you have any causes that tug at your heartstrings, or that you support? Abused pets, world
peace organization, save the whales, etc… Equality for all. The 1% of the world is very rich
and the rest trying to survive is depressing. Capitalism doesn’t work. Do you have any new releases coming out? There will be a 2021 release, yes, there will. We just need to record and finish off a few tunes. We' ve finally been back in a room together, all four of us, and that helps... We' ve got ideas coming out of our
ears. Here's to creating more earworms!
13. What is your upcoming performance schedule? It’s looking rather calm… But we are booked to play 3 festivals: Somerstock 2021, The Godney Gathering 2021, and BOSfest 2021 as a direct
result of winning the Glastonbury FM songwriting competition in 2019 with our dreamy song A
Hundred Trips. Glastonbury, the town, has been great to us.
14. Please indicate that I am allowed to use your interview and music for promotional purposes and use them on the TV station. Yes, that’s fine.
Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/shounshounbristol/
https://twitter.com/ShounShounUK
https://www.instagram.com/shounshounuk/
Video for our new single Stuck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjV8vKArxnc
Purchase and streaming links
https://shounshoun.bandcamp.com/
