Ekkoes – 20 Questions

Ekkoes are a three-piece electro-pop outfit from London, United Kingdom. With new release ‘Heaven’ and an autumn UK tour with The Human League, Pete asked them to answer a set of 20 Questions. Here our their responses:

Rosalee O’ Connell:

  • The radio is playing…what song would you cross the room to turn UP and what song would you cross the room to turn OFF?

UP..Wanna be Startin’ Something, MJ

OFF… Lady in Red by Chris DeBurgh…

  • Suggest a song by any artist that makes you think of wintertime….please add any reasons as to why this might be…

Anything Christmassy, for obvious reasons!

  • Which song – any artist, any title – would have made a fine single release? IF it had been a SINGLE! – Why do you think this?

Feel Right – Mark Ronson ft Mystikal because it’s an absolute tune 🙂

  • A favourite track or tracks by Suzanne Vega, Kate Bush and Bjork and why chosen?

Bjork – It’s Oh so Quiet. I liked the mania of this song as a child – suited my personality

  • An acoustic gem? What song/tune and who by? What’s the appeal?

Looking Out for Love by Lindsey Buckingham. It’s just a beautiful track

  • London…in five words, please

Exciting,Busy,Beautiful,Cruel,Kind

  • Which of your own recordings show you at your most a/ aggressive b/ romantic c/ confused?

Romantic? A song I wrote called Run

Aggressive/Confused – Another I wrote called Over and Over.

There are acoustic versions of both of them somewhere on YouTube..

 

Jon Beck:

  • Suggest a great song intro (any artist or style) that we may not have heard – and why this choice?

I don’t think you can beat the opening line from Monster Magnet’s track, “Bummer”. I love the entire album that this tune features on because it’s completely mental from start to finish, but this song starts with a huge stoner rock riff intro and then immediately launches into the opening line….. (which is apropo of absolutely nothing btw)

“If you’re looking for the one who ****ed your Mum, it’s not me, it’s not me”

Amazing.

  • Gary Numan and Grace Jones record a song together – suggest a song ( by you or anyone else) that they put together AND who is in the recording band, playing what….

I’d like to see them do something gothic and ridiculous like Temple of Love by Sisters of Mercy. I’d have Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson battling it out on duel keyboard stacks, Phil Collins on drums, Buckethead on guitar, Jaco Pastorius on bass and make it the most outrageous and avante garde production ever. I’d have a 3 minute bass solo, drums all over the place, I’d have all of GWAR involved somehow. It’d be pandemonium.

  • Which artist did you go to see perform with low expectations but ended up impressed? Where and when was this?

I caught a fairly new act called Aurora recently at Hoxton Bar & Grill. I’d not heard anything about her before going along but was blown away – amazing voice and great songs. Her album is out next month – I’d urge everyone to go buy it

  • Where in the world in your opinion is live music best received? What venues appeal?

I don’t know if there’s a place that live music is appreciated more than others – we’re really looking forward to getting over to Germany again at the end of the year though. They know how to have a good time out there. I love venues with a bit of history about them and great architecture – The Troxy in Limehouse is beautiful.

Two tickets suddenly arrive for a live performance, they are for someone you have always wanted to see…….which act or artist? and which numbers will be hoping to hear?

Well I’m going to live out this dream later on this year when we go out on tour with The Human league. I’ve loved them since I was a kid but never managed to get to see them live. So the first time I’ll see them is while we’re on tour with them and I am incredibly excited. Can’t wait for Electric Dreams, Mirror Man, Fascination, Being Boiled, Tell Me When… Too many to list

  • Has a radio DJ anywhere ( and any era) ever impressed you and if so why?

I will always love Eddy Temple-Morris – he’s been a long time supporter of ours and he’s just a proper no-nonsense DJ who plays whatever he likes on his show.

  • Can you dance? Do you dance? How do your family rate your dancing?

I used to be one of the best dancers in Europe. But I have to save it just for special occasions these days because the knee injury that ended my burgeoning dancing career flares up if I throw shapes too hard and too often.

 

Dave Fawbert:

  • Are there strands / styles of music that won’t find their way into what you as a group create? Equally are there elements (rather than genres/whatever) that you always want to be present?

We’re pretty old school about melody. Melody is the hardest thing to get right but – for us – the most important. Sonically though, anything is up for grabs – we can be influenced by anything, from pop to punk to dance and everything in between – but we’re suckers for a good old bit of M83-style epic synth assault.

  • Name a recording (an album maybe) that really ‘grew’ on you and has ended up as essential listening? What is it about this recording that you value?

Perhaps not one that grew on me, but one I took far too long to discover was Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Obviously it’s on every single ‘best of’ album list ever created, but I never got round to listening to it until a couple of years ago. What an absolute revelation: incredible musicianship, incredible songwriting, incredible lyrics, incredible vocals, and a theme. What a piece of art – you can only aspire to be that good.

  • Bjork or Laurie Anderson or Suzanne Vega? Do say something about each if you wish and name any favourite recordings or any performance memories

Shamefully I’m only really familiar with the work of Bjork – and while I absolutely love the crazy experimenting she does, for me you can’t really beat Play Dead, the track with that incredible orchestration by David Arnold, who I’m not sure has ever done anything that’s not amazing.

  • Your favourite song or instrumental (any genre) with the title including the word 1/ ‘One’, 2/ ‘Five’ and ‘Ten ? explain your choices

I know everyone hates them but One by U2 is a pretty undeniably brilliant song – and I will take anyone to task who tries to deny the brilliance of Achtung Baby. Five Man Army by Massive Attack – has there ever been a song where all the members sound quite as cool as they do? What a record Blue Lines was and is. And Ten Story Love Song by the Stone Roses – pure, pure melody – what a skyscraping chorus.

  • Is there a book or novel that you would like to create songs or the score for?

I’ve just finished reading 1984 and I’m pretty sure I could do a seriously tasty score for a movie production of that. And the themes contained within – well, they’ve never been more appropriate have they? Although I guess Radiohead got there a few years ago with that sense of tension between man, machine and surveillance.

  • What have you learned NEVER to do on stage?..Any stories?

Don’t stand on monitors. Very nearly went over during one gig when one rolled on me. Obviously managed to style it out though like a pro. But too close for comfort. Also beware microphones when it’s raining. Got a serious shock from one dodgy SM58 – although dying on stage would be a pretty cool way to go.

  • Somehow I expect not….but did you enjoy school? Whether you did or not, which song reminds you of schooldays (artist / title / source album )? Happy or not …

I did actually. I was always an outsider until I discovered music, and luckily for me, a lot of awesome people turned out to be into the same artists as me. Playing football every lunchtime with your mates? What’s not to like. And remember – a learning brain is a happy brain. So many songs remind me of listening to tunes on the way to school but I’ll go with Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd – my Maths teacher was a huge fan, lent me the record and I was blown away when I listened to it. One of the most memorable, minimal guitar riffs of all time – just glorious.

Pete Sargeant

Ekkoes new single ‘You Just Walked Away’ is out now on KIDS Records. In addition, Ekkoes will be joining The Human League in November/December 2016 on their UK Tour. 

For more information on Ekkoes you can visit the following links:

Website: http://bit.ly/1QsG0fY

Facebook: http://bit.ly/248mGy5

(Thanks to Ekkoes for taking part in our ’20 Questions With’ series, Kieran White at KW Media for the feature image design work and both Sacha and Alex at Impressive PR for help with this article)