1/19/2005

MP3 Download: Golden Cherry Tree

The Fallen Angels are a Dutch pop noir band that craft beautiful and ageless melodies that float along the world, waiting for their song to be heard. Although they have yet to make any kind of an impact outside of the Netherlands they are already a force of talent ready to consume the world. I was lucky enough to catch a couple of the members and ask them about their music and future.

Allalom Productions: Welcome to America!

Fallen Angels: Thank you for showing interest in us, we're very excited about this interview.

AP: Have you been interviewed by any American press yet?

FA: No, unfortunately not, trying to build a fan-base and get people to know our name in the Netherlands is something we're trying to do right now. We don't really think about the countries outside of the Netherlands but we are fully aware that people from France, Australia and the U.S. are downloading and hearing our music and we think it's great! When we get feedback from people we don't personally know it's really exciting for us, but when people from outside of the Netherlands show interest we just go out of our minds!

AP: Lets run through, who is in Fallen Angels and what does each one of you do?

FA: Fallen Angels is composed out of five band-members, each one of us plays one or more instruments. I'll introduce you to every one of us: Our lead singer is Lia, she does lead vocals in every one of our songs, she occasionally does some percussion too. She can also play the piano and thin whistle. Lia also lends a hand programming the band's intro's. Lotte is one of the founders of the band, and she plays piano, violin and does backing vocals. She also is responsible for most of the song writing and arrangements. Other instruments Lotte plays are guitar, bass and clarinet. Emy is the other founder of the band and she plays the guitar. She also can play the piano. Rosanna plays the drums and does backing vocals together with Lotte. And she can also play piano. Koes am the only boy in the band and he plays bass. In the past he used to play guitars too and do effects, but now also programs stuff together with Lia.

AP: How many albums have you released?

FA: We did some home-recording two and a half years ago, just in the bedroom with guitars, violin, keyboards and vocals. But that recording has become pretty rare. After that we recorded a live show and sold that CD for a little while. But our only real 'studio' recording dates 1,5 years ago. We recorded 4 songs ("Golden Cherry Tree", "Stranger", "Suicide Poem", "Drowned") in the studio, that record is still being sold here in the Netherlands. This month (January) we will be in the studio again to record and mix new songs. That recording will be named "Apathy for Breakfast".

AP: Are any of them available in the USA?

FA: No, we haven't released anything in the USA yet.

AP: How long have you been together?

FA: We have been playing together since 2000. In the beginning it was more hanging out and doing some cover songs we liked, I think we have been playing seriously for 3 years now.

AP: The style of music you perform is akin to that of The Gathering, whom I hear you guys have a special relationship with?

FA: Yeah, The Gathering are a great inspiration to us. For me (Koes), their style has always been appealing. I love the way they blend different elements but hold on to a certain gloominess. Over the years I have become friends with Anneke van Giersbergen, the lead singer of The Gathering, and she helps us with advice. The whole band really likes The Gathering. Emy even did a short movie for them end of 2004 for their anniversary tour.

AP: There is a song called “Golden Cherry Tree” that you have on your latest release, what is the story behind it?

FA: "Golden Cherry Tree" is a song about obsession. The lyrics are telling the story of an overly obsessed girl. All our lyrics are little stories, not really personal things but fairytales everyone can relate to. The golden cherry tree represents that fairy element as Lia sings "I'm more than what you see, a Golden Cherry Tree".

AP: What is the music scene like in Europe?

FA: Being part of the music scene in Europe means you have to perform a lot. The more the best. Also it's a matter of not becoming 'one of the bands', unlike most bands we spend a lot of time on concept. We talk about clothes, we have a stage setting, we are nice to look at. When you do all this stuff, people will see you take yourself seriously and that you thought about every aspect of your performance. It also helps a lot to set a certain 'ambiance' when playing. But all with all everyone is really friendly towards one another; you have special bonds with bands and help each other out if you can. For example, we played a small festival in 2004 and one of the bands (Tenk) I really admire played there too, after we played their cellist came over and offered his services if we ever needed to record something with a cellist.

AP: You are still without a label, correct?

FA: Yes we are. With this new EP we have in February we will shop around a little to see if we can get a label to support us.

AP: If you could be signed to any record label, do you have a preference?

FA: We haven't really talked about that as a group but I kind of think that we would love to get signed to The Gathering's label, Psychonaut Records. Not only because they are our inspiration and friends but also because they respect the freedom of the artist.

AP: Do you guys plan on touring America any time soon?

FA: We would love to but haven't made plans to come over any time soon.

AP: Are there any bands or musicians that you look up to?

FA: Yeah, we have a lot of people and bands we really admire and all listen to. We all have a few bands we often listen to like Tori Amos and The Gathering. We do not only look up to them because they just make great music but also try to learn from them as artists, the way they play live and think about the artwork for CD’s etc. etc. Next to that we all have our own musical influences, we all listen to different bands and musicians, and that’s really a good thing for us cause it means we can experiment a lot.

AP: If Fallen Angels could play one music festival, in any decade and any location, which one would it be?

FA: We would love to play some European Summer Festivals such as the Dutch Lowlands festival or Roskilde in Denmark. And we would like to play at present time cause I think it’s great how these festivals now bring not only rock music but also alternative electronic music and forms of art like theatre and poetry-readings.

AP: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us, is there anything else that you guys would like to tell America?

FA: First of all thanks for interviewing us and expressing interest in our band, it’s great to see people from outside the Netherlands wanting to know about us. Secondly we really wanted to say to America that we hope to come visit soon!


For more information on Fallen Angels, and to hear more of their wonderful music please visit them at www.fallenangelsmusic.nl

Photos copyrighted to Max and Fallen Angels ©2005, ‘Golden Cherry Tree’ written, performed and recorded by Fallen Angels ©2003 Taken from the album ‘Superstitious Flowers’ released in 2003 by Fallen Angels.