9+1 Q&A with Vei Scale

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

Ioannis: My relation with music starts at the age of six. After years of playing acoustic instruments such as violin and piano, I turn to the electric sound playing the bass in various bands and around the age of sixteen I passed to the world of electronic music and made my first track. The sound design was very appealing to me and was the springboard to record natural and urban sounds. Now, I am interested in combining different kind of sounds when I am on the making of music. In my case i can’t say that there is one specific inspiration which makes me start making music but definitely I can name the feeling of making music as an inner need to express my self and communicate with others.

Yoma: I was writing since forever for reason I have not declared yet. I am one of those interdisciplinary artists and mainly a product designer concentrating on critical design and research. We met each other for soon to be 6 years and the creative chemistry was perfect even from the fist discussion we had. One day Ioannis comes up asking if I had any lyrics to provide-I did! Right afterwards I was amazed on how he managed to turn them into music, and we started working on this project. Meanwhile, we exhibited Non Space Timeline, a time-based installation comprised of an audio and interactive performance. Experimentation, poetic sensibility and technology was totally our common ground. So, as soon as the album was completed we were both excited on how to come out.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

We mainly collect recorded and written ideas, we mix them as they are enjoying the immediate connection. We begin either from music or text to depart from, and we synchronize through groove in the meantime Each project comes with its own story to narrate. VEI SCALE debut is all about this; every single track is transposing a diary piece in the room. Our first single album LET’S coming up February 11th is an improvisational lick attempt to point out through text and groove, childhood’s transitional state to adulthood and sexualization.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Ioannis: Music influences for me have been many kinds such as electronic, rock, pop, jazz, musique concrète, avant garde, minimalism and more. Forms of art and philosophy have also been influences such as with most of their extensions. Contemporary and modern art, ancient Greek philosophy, Existentialism, Post-structuralism, Surrealism, the great directors of American Independent, European, Asian and Russian cinema, classical theatrical plays and of course many painters, poets, dancers, visual, audio and multimedia artists. The variety of influences is reflected to my recent multimedia installation works.

Yoma: Dark, synth, trip hop, ambient, noise, avant garde, feminist and contemporary poetry is the pool we clam. Our mood board contains David Lynch, Marina Tsvetaeva, Soundwalk collective, Boy Harsher, Little Simz, Kae Tempest and many more. It is crazy and very difficult to point out names as we label ourselves an audio project enterprise than a band as each venture differs from another.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

I don’t really think that it can be easily categorized in any specific genre of electronic music. This lies on the experimental character of the production techniques, the combination of a wide range of musical styles, the lyrics and the vocals. Not to limit ourselves in conventional genre boundaries was one of our intentions. Our sound is particularly sexy and dark in a cinematic way.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Ioannis:
Can – ege bamyasi, Aphex Twin – Drukqs, John Coltrane Lush Life.

Sophocles – Antigone, Albert Camus – The Stranger and a Zen master book.

Terry Gilliam – Brazil, Stanley Kubrick – Dr. Strangelove, Akira Kurosawa – Ran.

Yoma: No, sorry i can’t do that. I am a terrible chooser. But for my current mind state: Maria Callas(tribut), Druk, the Bible :))

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Ioannis: I like to do both. The studio is a safe zone where I can trip endlessly with my experiments whenever I like and that is great. Live performances is another field where we explore our possibilities. It involves exposure but also communication with the audience which is wonderful and incomparable.

Yoma: Laboring no matter how.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

On our first photo shoot we made a small video in order to keep some stills, and we realized that for more than 10 min Ioannis was at a standstill-dead standstill- while I was moving constantly to find a good-looking pose. Big laugh-great laugh I tell you. Then while watching Sleaford Mod’s Nudge we identified Ioannis as Williamson and me as Jason Fearn.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Ioannis: I’ll say Your Land due to the special sound design, the vocal interpretation and its structure in general.

Yoma: Oh you can’t say you prefer one child among the others-you know you do but you can’t say! They are all basically pieces of a journal, all pretty unique and I can’t miss pointing out Let’s as the most singable and dance able.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Sure! We are actually in the works of three different projects both music-wise and art-wise underway together. Music, installation and performance.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

What are the qualities you most like in artistic laboring?

Concentration, inspirations possess, excess

Photo Credits: Panagiota Lampropoulou

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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