The supergroup reveals their initial reaction to selling out their first show, and why their debut album means so much to them.
In case you didn’t know, the 90s are making a comeback and supergroup My Ugly Clementine are riding the resurgence with their post-punk sound. Releasing a string of feverish rock ’n’ roll hits and an album last year, the group formed by multi-award winning artist Sophie Lindinger, have been creating their own intimate and impassioned sound over the years, injecting us with heavy dosages of high energy and emotion. The group consisting of Mira Lu, Kathrin Kolleritsch, Nastasja Ronck, and Lindinger released their debut project last year and haven’t looked back. From their dynamic opener “Playground” to the slow-burning “Try Me”, the group cover all grounds of rock and indie, tapping into just about every sub-genre.
“Every one of us brings different backgrounds and heroes into the band,” the band revealed when discussing their sound. “…It makes it very exciting to merge all this into the band – they go from Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker to Ukrainian rapper Alyona Alyona, and from Haim to Alabama Shakes. Music is just too diverse to stick with one style or genre.”
Still yet to tour the album and bring those fierce rhythms to the main stage, the group are keeping their cards close to their chest regarding new music, only teasing that there is more to come. Looking forward to the second half of the year, the group sit down with us and open up on their diverse backgrounds, blending all their inspirations and their reaction to selling out their first show in 24 hours.
Check out the interview below…
Hey guys! How’s this past year been for you! Has it affected your creativity in anyway?
Like everybody, we had our ups and downs. Releasing an album just when a global pandemic strikes is still weird if you look at it. We couldn’t tour, which was a bummer – a shock for all of us. On the same page, all of us have different projects, too – like solo stuff aside from the group. So some used the time to make progress on their individual work – Mira worked on a wonderful solo album, What Else Can Break and Kerosin95 finished work on Volume 1. Throughout that period, Vitamin C still reached new people and got so much praise and feedback.
You guys are based in Vienna, do you think living here has inspired you musically in anyway?
Vienna is certainly a great place to live and is regularly placed among the most liveable cities in the world. We sometimes wonder why, since we of course also know its downsides and make fun of how unfriendly people are and see what’s annoying about it. The music scene here developed so much over the past 10 years, so it is also an incredible environment to work and get inspired through many colleagues. We as a group that is very diverse in its backgrounds and taste in music in itself is already a great inspiration.
How did you guys come to meet and what made you choose a the name My Ugly Clementine
Sophie wrote some songs that just didn’t fit her band style and mood. She felt the urge to work with some people from the local scene she always idolised for their talent, style and craft. When trying out the first bunch of songs for the first time together it immediately went “click” as we all had much fun rocking out together. The fun is also represented in the name we chose.
Before you even released your first single, your first show was sold out in 24 hours, what was it like experiencing something like this?
Absolutely unreal! We of course were aware that some of us were kind of known in a certain music bubble. Yet no one expected that people would be freaking out the way they did when hearing we were performing together. It was pure madness – in a good way! We really enjoyed this!
Congratulations on your album, talk us through the production process and you guys mindset going into it? It symbolises empowerment which is so important right now, what made you focus on this?
Life. It’s the things that bother you day-in, day-out. One wonders why some of these things we talk about are so hard to see, to get or to understand. We felt the need to speak about it. Writing about the things that are on your mind helps. In this case, it really created a type of awareness we didn’t expect. Since its release, we constantly get lovely feedback from all over the place on how important these songs became for people to speak up or be more confident. This is really quite a compliment for a writer.
Your sound picks on quite a few genres how would you describe it?
Every one of us brings different backgrounds and heroes into the band, which makes it very exciting to merge all this into the band – they go from Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker to Ukrainian rapper Alyona Alyona, and from Haim to Alabama Shakes. Music is just too diverse to stick with one style or genre.
What’s next for you? What are you most excited for?
We are still waiting to be able to play our album release tour, which was originally scheduled for April 2020 and had to be postponed several times already. We are looking forward to going on stage and sharing these songs with an actual audience! And it’s very likely that by the time we can go on tour, we’ll have new songs in our bags.