Interview with The Brittnees

Beauty - The Brittnees from The Brittnees on Vimeo.

The video for 'Beauty'

How did the Brittnees form?

Jam: The Brittnees did not actually form, they kind of evolved by the end of 2006. I've known Rott for ages, and in the first place we are lovers, music comes second. We live together, actually we are living in our music and graphic design studio, there is music and artworks everywhere, and this is how we came up with The Brittnees. I heard some rough guitar licks that Rott was practicing next door, and - although I had sworn I would never ever start a band again with him, we had several bands and music projects together, always trying to find a style, a sound that we both like and always ending in a disaster. I desperately WANTED to sing on these tunes.

Rott: Yes, and it took about three months until I agreed, because you said that you'd never ever work with me, and that really pissed me off. But I love Jam's contralto voice, the sexy aggro touch, and she obviously seems to like what I'm doing, so we did it again…

Who influences your sound, lyrics and looks?
Rott: I think there are tons of influences, mostly from rock, thrash metal, punk, post-punk but also psychedelic from my side. Also, we seem to have some Spanish or South American feel in our songs, because that's where we have most of the fans at the moment and the feedback from these countries is overwhelming. This surprises me a bit, because I was not aware of it, although I spend some time when little in South America and had my first rock bands there, but really, I wasn't aware of this.

Generally, I can't say "I'm such a big fan of Blablaba, I wanna sound like them". I don't want us to sound like anybody else - I mean what's the point of doing something that someone else has done before (and in most cases even better)? I just want a good, signature sound for The Brittnees, and songs that rock and are good to boot, one guy called it Boot Rock, we call it Disco Trash. Call it what you want, most important we try to make it sound unique.

Jam: My musical influences are punk and New York house, but also stoner rock and disco.
But when it comes developing a melody I try to avoid all these standard tunes and phrases that you've heard a zillion times before. I'm a big fan of singing 'wrong' phrases to get new ideas, experimenting with pentatonic scales, and sometimes we have loooong discussions about if my melody is in tune or not. We have very different ideas of 'wrong' and 'right' tuning; it happens often that Rott says "This sounds totally wrong", and I say "That's exactly the way I want it", and he has a hard time to convince me that a phrase really does not fit that good to a scale. Rott also pushes me to try different rhythmics with the vocals, and that also brings good results, sometimes.

And the lyrics, well, I'm always starting with scratch lyrics, singing tones and words that could sound good, using the words like an instrument. Out comes everything that comes in my mind, for example Beauty. When I wrote these lyrics, I was so fed up with all the magazines, products, diets, treatments that are offered to women only to nurture one of their biggest fears: not being beautiful, meaning not being accepted by a world that is focussed on superficial amenities, the fear of being ignored and loosing your self-esteem if you don't prep yourself according to current 'beauty standards', and at the same time denying the fact that beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, that we all get old, full of wrinkles and sometimes fat - the only way out is to die in your late 20's, but that's not really an healthy option, I think.

The looks are the fun part. The Wildest Dream design is inspired by a Betty Page picture, the Shu Shu design by a certain style of brutal punk nude photography, the We Ficken Music artwork was inspired by the self-exploitation for marketing purposes by Jeff Koons and Cicciolina, John Lenon and Yoko Ono and all the other artists that use the sex-sells-strategy.

Describe your music in 5 words.
Jam: Hot Boot Rock Disco Trash.
Rott: It makes ME feel good.

What are your live shows like?
Rott: We're not doing any live shows at the moment, but focus on the studio work. We had one gig at a private party this year that was a lot of fun and sort of insane - thanks to Anna, who is supporting us in a very special way -, but that's it for now.

Jam: We have three songs by now, and eight in production, so I think it does not make any sense to have shows at the moment, but I really love gigs and hopefully we will have a few next year.

Are there any plans for releases and tours in the UK in the near futures?

Rott: The first album release of The Brittnees is planned for the end of 2010, but probably this will take more time until spring or summer 2011. There are no tours planned yet, but if we go on tour, the UK will be definitely on the roadmap.

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