{"id":13999,"date":"2014-11-26T01:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=13999"},"modified":"2014-11-20T20:39:44","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T01:39:44","slug":"content-needed-blowin-wind-with-anna-murphy-of-eluveitie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=13999","title":{"rendered":"Blowin’ Wind with Anna Murphy of Eluveitie: “As a solo artist, I\u2019d rather have people just downloading my album and listening to it than not listening to it because they can\u2019t afford to buy it.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Anna, thanks so much for taking the time out to do this interview today!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you, Don.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Before we get started, I have to say that I\u2019m a really big fan of your \u201cCellar Darling\u201d album. I hope you won\u2019t mind taking about that a bit tonight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh wow. Thank you, Don. Not at all. I\u2019d love to talk about it [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Anna, Eluveitie has been to Atlanta quite a bit. What are some of your favorite things to do when here in town?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Whole Foods [laughs]. We\u2019ve been here like five or six times and we never really knew where to go so we always went to Kroger down the street and bought stuff. We never do much walking and never really made any plans to so anything. There\u2019s not a lot around the venue here.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Well next time you\u2019re in town we\u2019ll have to go check out Little 5 Points. It\u2019s not far from here and I think you\u2019d really dig it. Lots of good food.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That sounds great!<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Speaking of food, what\u2019s your favorite food to indulge in when touring the US?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steak [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

All my European band friends love the steak!<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] That\u2019s because it\u2019s just really good here. I think to get nice quality steak here, you pay about \u00bd the price than you do where we\u2019re from. We don\u2019t really eat a lot of steak back home because it\u2019s just too expensive. Here, it\u2019s quite reasonable. You guys probably just have fatter cows here [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been intrigued by Eluveitie but I wasn\u2019t really made a fan until this recent album. Just something about this album connected with me. Being that I\u2019m a pretty new fan, where should I go from here as far as your other material?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there are quite a lot of albums but since you\u2019re open to different styles you\u2019ll probably like our acoustic album Evocation. We don\u2019t have it with us on the tour but you can download it illegally if you want [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

This style of music you play has the ability to run out of ideas yet with each passing album you continue to evolve your style.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, it just kind of happens naturally. We do have borders. We have a unique sound. There are bands with lineups of 4 or 5 people with the same instrumentation throughout every song and even though they\u2019re good bands they always sound pretty much the same due to the limitations within the band. I don\u2019t think that would suit us well. We always have new influences and different types of metal in our songs. There are even some rock influences in there. We just like to keep it really diverse and different and to grow more elaborate with the albums.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

When touring in the US, do you feel like you have to change your approach to performing live than when you\u2019re in Europe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think we pretty much come at it the same way everywhere we play. We feel kind of awkward as soon as we have to start speaking German or Swiss or even our own language because we\u2019re so used to speaking English on stage. In America, we have such great audiences here. It\u2019s much easier to have a great show because the people are really enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

With seven albums under your belts, which album do you feel best encapsulates everything that Eluveitie is all about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think our previous album Helvetius because it\u2019s kind of the new Eluveitie. We started incorporating more styles and more things that are outside of the normal band lineup like orchestrations and choirs. With Helvetius you can clearly hear the old Eluveitie but it has a lot of new stuff added to it.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that I ever really heard a hurdy gurdy before hearing you play it and I love the sound of that instrument. Are there traditional recordings of the hurdy gurdy you would recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really a traditionalist when it comes to playing the hurdy gurdy. I don\u2019t play it a traditional way. I like the traditional stuff but I really don\u2019t listen to it much. If you want to listen to really old school hurdy gurdy playing there are medieval bands such as Estampie or maybe even find a medieval sampler where there\u2019s some hurdy gurdy music on it. I\u2019m not the best person to ask that to honestly [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

You said that you don\u2019t play the hurdy gurdy in a traditional way. How does the way you play it differ from the traditional way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s more of a stylistic thing. All the medieval and folky stuff that\u2019s written for the hurdy gurdy can be very limited to just two different tunings and is pretty much the same rhythm. Here, in a melodic death metal band, all the songs are over 100bpm (beats per minute) and I\u2019m just kind of trying to do what a guitarist does or even what a violin or flute would do. I can\u2019t use all the functions of the hurdy gurdy live because I just don\u2019t have the time to tune all those strings in between songs. I often just play very limited.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Have you ever had the desire to go back and learn the more traditional way of playing or are you happy playing it in the element that you are playing in now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really want to build my technique and do different stuff as well but at the moment I just really don\u2019t have the time. Since I also didn\u2019t really take lessons, if I had the time I would really like to take some lessons to learn some more things about it. I\u2019m still not at the point where I feel like I can say that I\u2019m a true professional hurdy gurdy player. I just want to get better.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

What was it about that instrument that attracted you more so than say a guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw a German band called Faun and they actually do pretty traditional stuff but they combine it with some electronic elements. I saw them and I thought immediately that this was what I wanted to play.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about your solo album Cellar Darling. That is such a cool album but it\u2019s definitely a much different direction than what you do with Eluveitie. What inspired you to make this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always write songs and have been doing so for almost 10 years now. I never really wanted to write metal songs myself so I always just wrote whatever I felt like writing. I never tell myself that I\u2019m going to be a blues singer or indie rock or whatever. I just do whatever I come up with and I do that with the things that I have. I have some midi stuff, the hurdy gurdy of course; I play some bass, and piano. The album is really just mix of all the influences that I\u2019ve picked up over the years.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

You did a series of shows supporting the album as well. How was it to go from being a member of a band to pretty much being the focal point when performing your material?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning I was scared shitless [laughs]. I\u2019m not really someone who likes a lot of attention which is a pretty stupid statement if you\u2019re playing in a band [laughs]. I got into it pretty well, though. It\u2019s really different if you\u2019re up there singing your own songs and you see that people actually really like it. It really boosts your self-esteem quite a bit.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

I also saw some photos of you and Rafael\u00a0Salzmann doing some stripped down acoustic shows. I\u2019d love to hear you in that setting. Have you considered maybe even doing some recording in that kind of setup?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019ve been thinking about it actually. I\u2019m even thinking about limiting it to just hurdy gurdy and some guitar. Just keeping it at a very stripped down thing.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

How did you like performing as a duo versus playing with a full band?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I liked it a lot actually. I was also scared shitless but in the end it was much more fun. In a duo, you just depend on each other and it\u2019s more musical. You can listen to each other, play, and just improvise and do whatever. I really liked doing that and I had never done that before. We\u2019re thinking about doing more shows like that. You know, just going to bars and playing.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Eluveitie puts on such a high energy performance every night. How do you come down from putting on a show of that caliber every night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Booze [laughs]. Actually, we\u2019ve calmed down quite a lot. It was never really bad but we do have parties but they\u2019re just Swiss parties. We don\u2019t go absolutely crazy like the Finnish bands. We\u2019re just Swiss [laughs].<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Anna, what are you listening to these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of stuff. My newest discovery is Bosnian Rainbows. I watched the True Detective serious and I really liked the soundtrack and one of the songs was by them. I got their album via Spotify and right now I\u2019m listening to that one on repeat. The Mars Volta guitarist is in that band. My all-time favorite band is Manus from Norway. I also like Soft Pillow at the moment which is very experimental stuff. I\u2019m also a huge fan of Archive. They\u2019re all experimental or trip hop kind of bands.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

You mentioned Spotify earlier. A lot of bands seem to be against fans getting music through them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel perfectly ok with Spotify. Sometimes buying a CD for 20 bucks doesn\u2019t always work because it\u2019s just simply too much money especially for young people to spend. I mean, it\u2019s better than downloading stuff illegally. Me, as a solo artist, I\u2019d rather have people just downloading my album and listening to it than not listening to it because they can\u2019t afford to buy it. I\u2019m even thinking about making my own music available for free to people just because I\u2019m tired of doing contracts with people and all that bullshit that involves a lot of assholes and business that I don\u2019t want discuss. There are different ways to support an artist.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Being on the road can be tedious and you\u2019re waiting around all day just to get the chance to play. What do you do to pass the time so you don\u2019t go crazy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do a lot of music stuff on tour. I write a lot of songs and I do some programming. We went jogging today [laughs]. Especially in America, we like to check out shops. I\u2019m not much of a shopper back home but in America I go crazy [laughs]. Especially in comic shops and book shops.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re actually writing and demoing on the bus while on tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s always different. Sometimes I just have ideas and sketch them out but on tour it\u2019s not really inspiring for me to write. Instead I might do some remixing of something or programming something that doesn\u2019t really involve much.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Finally, what\u2019s in store for you and Eluveitie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be touring in Europe until the end of the year. That\u2019s all we do is tour [laughs]. It\u2019s going to be really fun though.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Are you going to have some time to concentrate on some more of your solo stuff?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s going to be difficult because right now we\u2019re still doing the Origins world tour so we\u2019ll be touring even next year for this album. I\u2019ll find some time in between to work on stuff. It took me three years to write the last album so it might be similar to the new one as well.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Anna, thanks again for doing this interview. I really enjoyed our chat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you so much, Don. It was great to see you and to talk to you again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anna, thanks so much for taking the time out to do this interview today! Thank you, Don. ========================================== Before we get started, I have to say that I\u2019m a really big fan of your \u201cCellar Darling\u201d album. I hope you won\u2019t mind taking about that a bit tonight? Oh wow. Thank you, Don. Not at all. I\u2019d love to talk about it [laughs]. ========================================== Anna, Eluveitie has been to Atlanta quite a bit. What are some of your favorite things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[1236,547],"class_list":["post-13999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-anna-murphy","tag-eluveitie"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}