One of the EP's singles, “Universal Experience,” was accompanied by a stop-motion video. What inspirations outside of music influence your work?
Yael: It's difficult to give a satisfactory answer to that question. We are pretty versatile people. We like movies, books, and fashion. We like to pretend to be stylists, directors, party planners, and anything else you can think of.
Winnie: I think there are quite a lot of TV-related things that inspire us. “Twin Peaks'' is a work that is often talked about. We all have a talent for cute things. For example, old children's TV shows from the '90s are shot entirely in stop motion. The Dutch show “de Boze Heks” (Angry Witches) is a popular show of the group. We like witches and vampires, but we like Buffy better than Twilight.
Laurie: But Team Jacob!
You just played a series of IVW shows with fellow Dutch bands Personal Trainer and Real Farmer. Tell us your best tour story!
Laurie: This isn't quite as rock'n'roll as you might expect, but we had a day holiday in Attleborough (near Norwich) and stayed with Dave, the lovelyst host. Dave heard we liked going to charity shops so he drew us a map of all the charity shops in Attleborough. It felt like I was on a treasure hunt. (Attleborough is a very small town with barely four main roads, but it has six (!) charity shops. We had a blast on holiday and got a whole new wardrobe.)
Winnie: I loved touring with so many good friends and musicians. One night at Hebden Bridge we had a meet-and-greet and our personal trainer Mert joined us on stage to give us some great saxophone playing on 'Universal Experience' and 'Traffic Light'. It was great to be able to play the songs the same way we recorded them in the studio. Later that night, I joined my personal trainer on stage to perform “The Lazer” on my guitar.
Laurie: It's a shame that we found out near the end of the tour that we could swap band members, but maybe it'll be on the next tour? I would also like to have Real Farmer as a background singer for The Crittens. I think it would be an interesting but great combination. We need to go on tour together again soon – we can share a backline and band members – book here: [email protected]!
If people could take away one thing from your music, what would it be?
Laurie: Just have fun. It's a cliché, but I never had the courage to play in a band because I always thought I wasn't a good enough “musician” to play in a band. And look where we are now! Releasing music! We have great tours! I was interviewed by a magazine I read when I was young! Wow! But seriously, I'm really happy to have met friends like this, to have turned my hobby into something I love, and to have it appreciated by listeners and fans. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn't done that very awkward first show. But we just did it. I would like to give that as a take-home message to other aspiring musicians. “Just try it!”
Yael: Liberate Palestine.
Laurie: And liberate Palestine.
Finally, DIY comes to dinner. What do you make?
Yael: Yesterday we had our weekly online band meeting, and I was staying at Maritz's house. Since she made some delicious tteokbokki, she decides to throw Marit into the kitchen and let her work her magic. Laurie has been a bartender for many years, so I'm sure she'll make some delicious cocktails. Let's light a candle and have a nice conversation.
Laurie: Winnie is also a mega master chef. For her birthday during the coronavirus pandemic, she made us a delicious Indian lunch. Everything was very, very tasty. I love chendol, so I'm going to eat liters of chendol for dessert.
“Butter” will be released tomorrow (March 8th).