Tawnee

Hi everyone how are you?

Hello, we are doing great, thank you!

First of all who is who and who does what?

Andrea: Hi, I’m Andrea and I’m one of the lead singers and guitarist for our band.

Elias: I’m Elias and I am the other vocalist and I play guitar as well.

Valentin: I’m Valentin and I’m here to play bass, sing backing vocals and be a general pain in the neck.

Florian: I’m Flo and I bang these drums like it’s the end of the world.

How did you meet?

Elias: Andrea and I met when we played a concert with our old bands. We stayed in touch and when Andrea got the invitation to play Rock Oz’ Arènes, he asked me to join him. Later on we got Valentin, who I knew from high school to join us at the Bass. Florian and Andrea played together in Nickless’ live band for a while. We liked him and his playing, which is why we asked him to join us.

The inspiration to write the texts, who has it and where does it come from, has lived it or is it more the life of the daily?

Andrea: I still write most of the songs and lyrics. Usually it is all thoughts and experiences from our lives. During the beginning I mostly wrote romantically motivated songs, now I have moved on to lyrics that are critical of society or describe the struggle of being in a band.

Tea or coffee ?

Valentin: Although we all like both, we drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.

Flo: I like milk.

We agree that the music is in you since small or not necessarily?

Valentin: It definitely is. I’ve been playing all sorts of instruments since early on and I knew I would never stop.

Andrea: Yeah absolutely. While I started with piano at the age of seven, I always knew that I wanted to try other instruments too and that this is what I would love to do my entire life.

Imagine that I am a musician and I want to join your group. Would you accept me or not?

Elias: It depends on how we get along personally and what you could bring to the band. We’re pretty happy with our current lineup, but if we ever get big, we’ll definitely consider filling one or two spots, so we can get rid of our backing tracks!

How would you define your style of music?

Flo: It’s pretty straight forward Indie Rock, although we are currently playing around with alternative and progressive elements.

Tawnee in classical music would not have done it at all or not?

Andrea: That’s a loaded question. Our former drummer Janic left the band to pursue a career in classical music. He’s a percussionist for Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra. I played classical piano for more than ten years. Valentin has had a classical education too. We have huge respect for classical musicians, but it’s not what we would want to do right now.

Without music life would be ...

Valentin: Silent and boring.

A first part of dream would be that of ...

Elias: A tour in a nightliner

Studio or live?

Flo: Playing live gives back and is very energizing. The studio part can be fun, but is usually hard work.

Intimate concert or big festival?

Andrea: Both can be incredibly cool, but a big festival with good people is always awesome.

Why this scene name TAWNEE?

Elias: Andrea’s third name is Toni, and his friends used to tell him to publish his songs as ‘DJ Tawny’, so that’s how that fell into place.

Hold the boys I have a plane ticket for you history to disconnect total. Where are we going?

Flo: Let’s go to Nashville and record a sick Album.

You have an avowable anecdote to unveil us, with all the concerts you have done?

Valentin: After this one show we all went to grab some food and walked through the crowd. Florian is the only guy from Zurich and since the concert was in our home canton Grisons, he kind of felt it. When we had just picked up our food this dude came to us and aggressively shouted at Flo for being the only one to eat a hot dog and not a local specialty. We can still laugh about that moment hysterically.

Who are your biggest fans. I bet it's hysterical girls who shout your name 

Elias: Yes, crazy amounts of hysterical girls throwing their underwear at us. We could open an online store!

5 minutes before going on stage it is stress or it is the zen attitude ? 

Flo: If we have had enough time to prepare, it’s pretty zen. If we’re being rushed, it can be stressful. But usually, we’re well prepared.

What are your national and international influences?

Andrea: We all listened to a lot of punk rock in our teens, like Blink 182 and Sum 41. I listened to a lot of Muse and Radiohead, but I don’t know whether that manifested in our own music. Right now I’d say our biggest influences are Catfish and the Bottlemen, Biffy Clyro and bands like Phoenix.

Elias: Regarding attitude, we are very much looking up to bands like Vulfpeck who are just doing their thing.

Early bird or late diaper?

Valentin: Most of us are absolute late diapers. Andrea and Flo have to get up early for work, but even they like to sleep in a lot.

A ritual before going on stage?

Flo: We just get together in a circle and wish each other a good time. Sometimes we tell each other how much we love each other and all the sexual things we’d like to do to each other.

3 great dreams to achieve in the musical world

Valentin: I’d like to win a Grammy.

Flo: I’d love to meet the Foo Fighters.

Andrea and Elias: We absolutely want to go on a tour in our own nightliner and play as many concerts as possible. The dream is to play music and not have to do anything else.

What I can wish you today for tomorrow

Flo: For us to never run out of milk.

I was delighted to interview you I leave you the last word.

Valentin: Gez pitter.

Thank you very much and beautiful musical continuation

Crédit photo : Tawnee