Today, we sat down with the band Alterpodes to talk inspiration, advice, and more in music today! Be sure to check out their music below after the interview!
Here is the interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your surroundings?
RM: My inspiration usually stems from something I feel strongly about. Usually it’s just a reaction to everything going on at the time but I find comfort in composing and that is sort of an escape from all the tension and confusion that these times bring.
HA: It could be anything – a news story, a tv series, another piece of music. Anything with an emotional resonance. My songwriting tends to be about an emotional journey, either mine or someone else’s. I’ll keep it vague so it can be relatable to different situations and not too literal. Most recently about confronting inner demons; being ostracised by a community and then finding your feet again; dealing with lockdown etc. Generally positive messages but sometimes I feel angry about something in the world and want people to see things differently so I try and frame that in a song. So they occasionally can be a bit political – those are tough to get right without coming across as preachy!
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
RM: When I was a young child I use to listen to whatever my grandma and my uncle would play which was a lot of latin romantic songs and disco and Sandro etc… but then as a teen I listened to a lot of post-punk british bands, metal, techno and grunge 90s bands.
HA: 60s music mainly as a kid – the Beatles mainly, almost exclusively – like a kid that will only eat one meal. I branched out finally when brit pop came along so Oasis, Blur, Ash, Kula Shaker, The Verve and a whole lot more 60s guitar bands – I dabbled in grunge a bit after the fact but never really quite got it at the time (though I do now) and then things really took off when Indie came around.
Is there someone you looked up as a hero?
RM: David Bowie, Graham Coxon from Blur, the Reid Brothers from JMC and Brian Molko amongst many others.
HA: I really admired Chuck Berry and the Beatles as musicians. I admired Pele – I had a vhs about him and his career. How he scored in the world cup final aged 17. Then got kicked out of the world cup in 66 only to come back stronger in 1970. Also scoring his 1000th goal when the mic was held out for him as he was paraded around the stadium he called out for the protection of children and the helpless. So I thought that was pretty great! Him or Luke Skywalker. I mean anyone who can take down a Death Star gets my vote.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing today?
RM: Traveling around the world. Last year right at the start of the pandemic we did a half-way around the world trip and all my mates and family where saying that we are crazy to go travel in the midst of a pandemic but you know what in Hong Kong everyone was wearing masks since day one and in New Zealand there was not that many cases then so I felt much safer there than in London for sure and we had an amazing time that I haven’t been able to do since because of traveling restrictions and lockdowns etc…
HA: Maybe writing screenplays or studying exoplanets. I studied Astronomy at Uni and the question of how to go about looking for signs of life elsewhere in the Universe is pretty fascinating to me. I also always enjoyed creative writing and coming up with different characters and stories for them.
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create music?
RM: Just do it since with the technology these days no one even needs to know how to play anything you just gotta have the will and the vision. Just look at “Reggaeton” from my hometown in Puerto Rico, yeah I hate it but you have to give it to them that they made music without having any talent whatsoever and then got to share that all over the world and that’s what matters I think, just be able to share with others what you have experienced be it through music, writing, film, etc…
HA: Don’t be afraid of what other people think. Find a way to express yourself and go with it! Learn piano – it’s really versatile as a music production tool and I think it’s easier to get to grips with music theory on it.
Listen here:
