My interview with A FRIEND IN LONDON (Part I - English)

Hey everyone. I don't usually  write in English, so this might be strange, but as you may or may not have understood from the title, this is a very special post, so I am making it in two parts. This first one is in English with the original text, and then there will be a translated version for the general public.

Olá a todos. Eu sei que normalmente não escrevo em Inglês, mas como devem ter percebido pelo título, este post é muito especial, por isso eu vou fazê-lo em duas partes. Esta é a primeira, com o texto original, e depois haverá uma versão traduzida.

So this year I have learned about some awesome acts through Eurovision, and you may have noticed one of them is A FRIEND IN LONDON from Denmark, who I have been giving regular reports on here in the blog. They have just released their second single "Calling a Friend" this week, and I was fortunate enough to get an interview with them. Hope you like it!

1. Can you tell me about yourselves? Like name, age, instrument?
- Tim Schou, 24, singer and guitarist
- Sebastian Vinther Olsen, 24, guitarist and backing vocal
- Ash Damm Bramming, 23, bassist and backing vocal
- Ben Svane, 23, drummer and backing vocal


2. Who are your favorite bands and who were your idols growing up?
- Tim: FAV: John Mayer, Justin Bieber, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright. GREW UP W: Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter
Sebastian: FAV: Radiohead, Coldplay, The Smiths, Guns & Roses. GREW UP W: Celine Dion, Aqua, Aerosmith.
Ash: FAV: The Beatles, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Björk, Nirvana, GREW UP W: Metallica, The Smurfs, Black Sabbath
Ben: FAV: The Beach Boys, Radiohead, The Beatles. GREW UP W: Spin Doctors, Green Day, Guns & Roses.


3. How would you define your musical style, and how does it relate to your influences?
A mixture between rock and boyband pop which reflects our mixed influences perfectly.


4. Have you written songs in Danish before? If so, do you prefer English to Danish and why?
Yes we have. We feel it's easier to express ourselves in English in a colorful way.


5. How did Eurovision come about? Was it your idea or did anyone suggest it?
We were offered to perform New Tomorrow at the Danish part of Eurovision and we really liked the vibe of the song and felt that it fitted our previous material very well.


6. "New Tomorrow" seems to me to be quite diferent, especially in its message from your other songs...Can you tell me more about how that song was written and why it was chosen for ESC?
The song is about changing things whether it's in on a bigger or smaller scale and not worrying about what other people think about you. The message could be compared to Michael Jackson's 'Man In The Mirror' and we see it as a 'We Are The World'-kinda song.

7. What were your favorite entries from ESC? And what did you think of Portugal's entry?
Among our favorites were The Netherlands, Ireland and Germany. Portugal's entry was rather different, a protest song as far as we're concerned. That's the funny thing about ESC that it has room for such great diversity.

8. What are your plans for the near future?
We are finishing our Danish tour right now and we also have gigs coming up in Germany. We're also looking very much forward to recording our debut album later this year, which we are looking to release around February 2012

9. What would it take for you to come grace Portugal with an appearence?
We have seen a lot of support coming our way from Portugal and currently we are corresponding with labels in Portugal as well. This process would run much faster with a lot of online support on facebook, twitter and iTunes from people in Portugal and we have also seen good results when our fans in various countries ask radio stations to play our music. We would love to play in Portugal.

And this is it! Hope you liked, and help me with the big task of getting the boys to come to Portugal (you know what to do!).

You can buy AFIL's songs, like "New Tomorrow" and "Calling a Friend" on iTunes.

And you can find AFIL @ http://www.afriendinlondon.com/, Youtube, and the social networks.

xoxo