Shortly EYE EMMA JEDI released their new single, Places, which is the first song from their upcoming debut album. Since Places is a real spring soundtrack and the Norwegian indie-rockers are currently on tour, NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION had a talk with the guys. Who is EYE EMMA JEDI, how is touring for them, what is their music about and what do hope and passion mean to them?
Who is EYE EMMA JEDI?
EYE EMMA JEDI was founded by Andrew (lead guitars) and Alex (vocals & guitar) in late 2010. The current lineup also consists of Andreas on drums, Steve on keyboards & guitar and Bruce on bass. We’re a band that love to play big, guitar-based indie with a pop mentality!
EYE EMMA JEDI‘s new single Places: The Soundtrack Of Summer 2013
With “Places” you just released the perfect soundtrack for spring. Right time, right place. You just released a road-movie-like video to the song. How is the feedback so far & what do you expect to come?
It’s been great so far! The DIY video was a way of showing people what we’re like as people, as well as giving a little look into our magical time in Monda, Spain. It was a truly amazing place to record our debut album, and we can’t wait to share the rest of the music to the world. We’re a band that don’t like to take ourselves too seriously – we always follow our gut and just want to have fun.
You’re currently on tour in Germany. How is building up the German fan base? Would you say it’s easier or harder than building up a fan base in Scandinavia? What are the main differences in your opinion?
Germany is very important for us. It’s such a huge country with great, enthusiastic music fans. We’re so glad that we’re able to come here now for the 2nd time and experience loads of new cities! It’s really great that people go out to see bands they’ve never heard of on weekdays just for the fun of it. Our gigs so far have had a really great response from the audience!
What can people expect when they are going to see you live?
It’ll be a lot of fun on stage. We always play our hearts out and want to make every show better than the last. There’s a lot of happy, playful, quick riffs, but also with the new album tracks we’ll be introducing a lot more depth and dynamics to the set. It’ll be something for everyone. But it’s definitely time to get sweaty!
When it comes to EYE EMMA JEDI‘s influences: who or what influenced you most? As musicians, as band and of course as persons?
We’re influenced by pretty much everything around us. Good times, bad times, childhood memories, vivid dreamscapes – you name it. Musically, the range is quite wide, but if we were to name a few big influences; PHOENIX, BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, TAME IMPALA, RIVALS SCHOOLS and YES…the list is too long!!
Tell us about the highs and lows of EYE EMMA JEDI. What have been the best and worst experiences so far?
The best is probably our very first gig in Norway. We played in Alex’s hometown Nordfjordeid for 2.500 people at a festival and people we’re going crazy. We couldn’t believe it was our first show. But outside of Norway, perhaps the highlight was our intimate show at A.R.M in Kassel last year. Those indie-kids went wild.
We haven’t had a worst experience so far!
What is the most important effect music has for you? Which feeling would you like to give you listeners?
The most important thing for us is that it lets us connect with people on an emotional level – no matter who you are, where you’re from or what language you speak. Music is always something you can relate to. It definitely gives us the feeling that we’re free to express ourselves in the best way possible. I guess the feeling we’d like to give the listeners is whatever they’d want it to be. These new songs have many different details and sides to them, so there’s different things to latch on to.
And what about the lyrics? How important are they for EYE EMMA JEDI?
To be honest, in our opinion we’ve never really done proper justice to our lyrics…With a quite rocky lineup in 2011 with people living all over the place – the past year we had a very hard time getting together to be productive and write music. With the debut album we really went into detail with every aspect of the production, and the lyrics are no exception. There’s a meaning behind every single word.
Last one: what do “hope” and “passion” mean to you?
It means everything. What would we do without it..?