ROCKHARD - ITALY MAGAZINE
1). First of all, let’s start with a brief
history of the band so far, from the very beginning (did you
play in any other bands before, why and how have you formed
BF/E etc…) to the reasons why you decided to sign with
Nilaihah Records…
Daniel: I originally started playing bass for a band called
‘Euphoric Evisceration’ a death metal band from Chicago. A
couple years later I joined another metal band where I
played guitar. Soon after that I discovered the versatility
of the keyboard which enabled me to create very interesting
melodic music. I started to write more pop oriented music,
it came out very naturally for me. Then about a year later
Charlene and I met. We started to collaborate and Blind
Faith and Envy was created mostly out of a mutual love for
electro-based pop music.
Charlene: We realized that there might be some additional
opportunities for us to grow our audience if we could get
signed to a record label. Kristy at Nilaihah Records had a
lot of faith and excitement for the few demo songs we had
sent her. She decided to sign us and help us by
manufacturing and distributing “The Charming Factor.”
2). Why have you chosen such a curious name like Blind Faith
and Envy as your band name? Because there is a big contrast
between terms like ‘blind faith’ and ‘envy’…
Charlene: A few years ago Daniel and I were messing about on
the keyboards as I started singing, part of the lyrics were
“blind faith and envy.” We really liked the sound of it so
we decided to use it. No hidden meaning, it’s just cool.
3). Your music can easily be described as synthpop, but I
think your sound is much more various and complete in
respect to the rest of synthpop bands, especially those in
the USA: what’s your point of view?
Daniel: There are a lot of great electro bands in both the
U.S.A. and in Europe. Unfortunately, I think that once a
band is labelled as synthpop often they get kinda stuck in
that underground scene. I think that some of the bands could
be and deserve to have commercial success.
Charlene: I think labeling a band into an exact category of
music can be very damaging and disillusioning to the
prospective fan. We prefer to think of our songs as great
songs and that’s what we would like to be known for.
4). What are the bands that actually influenced you as
musicians and artists, and what are in general the things
that give you the right inspiration to compose new songs?
Daniel: The bands that have influenced me to start writing
electro-based music would have to be Front Line Assembly and
Nine Inch Nails, (as well as several others). The incentive
to keep writing songs is that Charlene and I have the same
goal and that is for BF/E to be a commercial success.
Charlene: Pop music in general is such a huge influence for
me. I love a good pop song, and it doesn’t matter that the
song is from 1950 or 1990!
5). Your songs seem to be very simple and direct, and I
think this is the reason why they all work so well: what’s
your point of view? Is this actually the formula you prefer
for composing songs?
Daniel: When I compose a song there is never the intent to
make it complicated, with the listener in mind I intend to
create music that is catchy and fun to listen to.
You have great pounding songs with big impact like ‘Golden
Glass’, ‘Crowded Room’ and ‘Shout’ perfectly mixed with
sweet and delicate songs like ‘Something Different’,
‘Slightest Wave’, ‘End Result’ and ‘She’s Left In Silence’,
and I think this variety is what makes the album so
enjoyable: is this what you actually wanted to obtain?
Charlene: We wanted to make sure our songs/album held the
interest of the listener. I think this album has something
for everyone. It’s fun to hear what people’s favourite songs
are, it’s always so different!
6). I think most of the songs on the album have the
potential for being good hit-singles, as shown with ‘Crowded
Room’: are you looking for a chart breaking hit? Do you
think it is important for a band like BF/E?
Charlene: I think it’s very important to write hit sounding
songs, especially being a new band! I think we are very
close to achieving that, we have gotten some great advice
from a very smart industry person and I think we are on the
right track. Sometimes it only takes one song in the hands
of the right person for things to really take off! We are
working really hard to get there.
7). You have made a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Shout’: why DM,
and why this particular old song?
Daniel: It’s not about Depeche Mode as much as it is about
Vince Clarke. Vince wrote “Shout” when he was a teen-ager,
the song was never released on an album. We decided it would
be a great song to remake our own way.
8). You seem to be influenced by the magic pop of the 80s,
and I can perceive it especially in a song like ‘When I Know
You’re Gone’: what kind of affection do you have for that
magical musical decade?
Daniel: It was a great decade for music, although I wasn’t a
fan of a lot of 80’s music until the late 1990’s. A lot of
80’s music is pretty bad, for example, “Rico Suave” or any
“big hair” metal band song. We would like to think we are
influenced by great 80’s music, although what one considers
good or bad is a matter of personal opinion.
9). Charlene, I think your voice is one of the most
beautiful in female-fronted electro bands: you can be strong
and incisive, but also sweet and delicate, and you always
create great refrains and vocal arrangements which never
sound like ‘deja-vu’: how did you work in order to achieve
such a brilliant result, and what’s your musical background?
Charlene: Thanks for the compliments! When I listen to the
music that Daniel has written I really try to get the feel
for the story that the music is telling. I let the music
dictate the direction of my lyrics and melodies. After a few
listens to the music I usually start writing freely, and
then I go back and revise if a certain word or phrase
doesn’t seem to sound quite right with whatever melody I
come up with. I have no formal training in music, although I
always had the desire to write, and when I was a little girl
I would often come up with fun lyrics and melodies and sing
to myself or to my friends and family.
10). I think the melodies and the rhythms created by Daniel
are the perfect base for the voice of Charlene: you complete
each other and work perfectly together. What’s your point of
view?
Daniel: I never have to worry about vocals or vocal
arrangements when I write a song. Charlene has the ability
to bring the songs to their fullest potential. I couldn’t
imagine collaborating with anyone else.
Charlene: I feel so lucky to be able to write lyrics and
sing to Daniel’s music, we have great chemistry in the
studio. We have really learned to deal with each other’s
criticisms with out taking offense and creating conflict.
11). Your music seems to be very emotional: what kind of
feelings do you want to express with your songs?
Daniel: Creatively this album was written over the course of
two emotional years, so each song represents a different
time and emotion. The album is really a mix of feelings that
I know other people can relate to.
Charlene: It’s important to write lyrics that are honest and
true, by being honest people will be able to appreciate the
music that much more.
12). You had the chance to get some very interesting
remixes, and we’re proud to see that the coolest one comes
from Italy’s Blank! How did you get in touch with them, and
what do you think about that great remix they did for you?
Charlene: Actually, we had no plans to put remixes on the
album. Kristy really pushed for remixes and was able to get
a few known bands from the “synthpop” scene to make a
contribution. The idea of the remixes is to have fans cross
over and hopefully buy “The Charming Factor.” Blank’s remix
version of “Crowded Room” is right on! It’s so cool to have
an Italian band represented on our album.
13). What is ‘the charming factor’ in your mind? What’s the
concept behind such an interesting title?
Charlene: I am really fortunate to have realized that title.
I actually came up with it by looking at and playing with
different words… and then it just sort of happened! The word
“ charming” is an old middle English word that means
“alluring” or “pleasing” and our songs seem to possess those
characteristics!
14). What can you tell me about the artwork? Does it have
any particular meaning?
Daniel: I wanted to do the artwork as well because I wanted
our first release to be very personal and entirely our own.
I think the artwork came out really cool, people will come
to different conclusions about what the album might be like
and sound like, it’s fun to keep people guessing.
15). What can you tell me about the lyrics of the album?
They seem to talk about personal situations and feelings…
Charlene: The lyrics come straight from my heart and each
song represents a different emotion. For example:
disappointment, joy, sexual desire, fear of being left
alone, desire to succeed, etc. I like to write lyrics that
people can relate to. The ability to relate is so important
in music and in everyday life!
16). What kind of feedback have you received so far about
the album? Because I think it’s one of the most brilliant
debut ever heard in the last year…
Charlene: We have gotten such great feedback and reviews for
this album so far, it’s so exciting to know people are
really enjoying it! Several people have told us that they
consider our album to be one of the top albums released this
year. The only frustration is that because of a lack of
funds we aren’t able to promote the album as much as we
would like to. A good radio campaign can cost thousands of
dollars! So, we are relying on word-of-mouth to get people
listening!
17). Back to your music, what are the future plans for BF/E?
Are you going to play live to support the album? Any
festivals? Any side-project band? Any single releases? Any
remixes planned? Will there be the chance to see you here in
Europe? Or are you already preparing songs for a new album?
Daniel: We are always going to keep writing, that will
always be priority number one. On our website (BlindFaithandEnvy.com)
we have the free downloadable “Crowded Room” single, so
people can check out our songs and then buy the album when
they hear how great it is! I recently did a remix for
Stochastic Theory, and Charlene just wrapped up guest vocals
for the band Neuroactive. We would love to play shows in
Europe! We would like to get over there in the next year or
so.
18). Last question: leave us with a weird or funny story
that happened to BF/E that you NEVER talked about before in
any interview…
Charlene: Well, we wrote a song a few years ago, it was an
electro-based pop song with some distorted guitar. We
decided to send it to a commercial modern rock station as
they have a show for local artists. We were almost positive
they wouldn’t play it because it’s so different from the
stations format, however they played it several times! We
were shocked! Back to back with Korn and Limp Bizkit! Funny
stuff!
Interviewed by Roberto Filippozzi of Rock Hard Magazine
ITALY