Interview- Elektronika

GC: What are your names/duties of your band members:

Dawn Wood-Vox/Lyrics/Samples/Promo/Booking

Dan Hoyer-Guitar/Bass/Keys/Beat Loops/Samples/Music Composer/Website

Jacob Anderson-Keys/Vox/Guitar

GC: How did you all meet?

Dawn and Dan played in the Northwest Top 40 Cover Music scene and were in a 80’s/90’s synth-pop/alternative dance/new wave cover band called “Rapture”. When Rapture disbanded in 1999, Jacob met Dawn and Dan in a music store and they began putting together “Elektronika”. At first were going to continue doing alternative dance remixes, but eventually decided to write/record/perform originals since we were essentially re-writing by doing dance re-mixes anyway.

GC: What are your musical influences?

Depeche Mode, Bjork, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Lords of Acid, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Sneaker Pimps, NIN

GC: What is your live show like?

We only play a few shows a year so we can concentrate on writing/recording and playing the right type of shows which feature and appreciate our music. In Seattle, most the original bands are playing punk or “Matchbox 20 rock”. We don’t have much of a synth-pop/alternative dance scene here.

GC: Tell us about your own unique style of music?

We combine electronic/dark wave/synth-pop with male and female vocals and lots of harmonies. All of our songs have lyrics which have deep meanings based on our own introspection and either our own personal or our family members/friends experiences, fears and suffering.

GC: What separates your band from all the other bands out there? Harmonies/lots of vocals/emotional lyrics. Our music is more of a throwback to the late eighties/early nineties alternative dance/dark wave.

GC: How do you go about writing songs?

-Dan from Elektronika

Generally Dan comes up with music and Dawn writes lyrics and records vocals. Jacob adds keyboard lines and records vocals and comes up with haunting harmonies.

GC: Pick one of your latest song and talk about everything from writing it, meanings, the challenges of recording it?

We are currently recording a song I wrote about plastic surgery. The double entendre of it all and the pressure of our society to all look a certain way while we all claim to embrace diversity.

GC: What is your latest news with the band?

Two of our songs used in an Independent Vampire flick called “the Sisterhood”.

Also featured on Latex record’s latest compilation entitled: “Primal River Valley”.

https://www.latexrecords.com/releases/LTX006.html

GC: Where do you hope to be in 5 years with your band?

Getting signed/writing/recording/performing/collaborating

GC: How are people currently reacting to your music?

The age gap between our fans is truly amazing and unlike other bands we know that have a certain “age target demographic”. We get fan email from all over the world from 12 year olds to 50 year olds. Our music seems to cross age barriers and country borders.

GC: What would be the top 3 reasons for listening to your music?

1.) Our music has a dark ambience to it.

2.) We write music you can dance to.

3.) You just might hear our songs at Club Havoc in Houston, Albion Batcave in NYC or on the radio!

GC: What is your best experience as a band?

Past: Standing our ground against a creep agent who tried to make our lives hell because we wouldn’t sign an exclusive agreement with him

Current: Always is recording and being in the studio. We love it!

GC: What is your worst experience as a band?

Before we became a 3 piece, we had a couple different keyboardists.

Anthony-whom we are still friends with and who has his own rock band called “Loophole”. It was tough losing him because we were like a family the four of us and we shared many great times. It was like losing an arm being without him for awhile. Then we hired another keyboardist who had some demons going on in his head. We nearly lost him to a suicide attempt in 2003. He survived but never really came back into reality. It was very emotional and difficult. Our hearts went out to him, but we could never real him back and were so emotionally drained by the end of it all, that we just had to cut our losses and set him free with hopes that he would find happiness somewhere in this life.

GC: What is most important to you in your band?

Writing/performing music that inspires us.

GC: Do you have a personal favorite song, could be your own or other, and why?

Well…..we all wish we wrote “Black Celebration” by “Depeche Mode”. What a great song! I think we each have different favorite songs of our own music. My personal favorite is “Acceptance” just because I have found in my life many people I have loved and cared about striving so hard to be something they were not just to please someone else. You can never stop being true to yourself and be happy.

GC: What was the hardest song to write and why?

We started off writing a bit more poppy than we do now. Anything too cliché/pop oriented/happy/hooky etc…. weirds me. I have the hardest time writing those songs. Dan, on the other hand, writes great pop songs.

We LOVE it! It is crystal clear that there is still a desire to hear this music. The only irritating thing is the record companies are doubtful and discouraging claiming this music won’t make a come back, but it already has!!!!!! People get tired of the same old thing the music scene hasn’t witnessed a radical music shift since grunge. It is time.

GC: What music do you currently listen to, and why?

We all still love music from our influences. We are big Depeche Mode fans. They are our inspiration and our music heroes. We also like some of the new bands like: Evanescence and My Chemical Romance. We also love the great standard singers like Sinatra and Dean Martin or the sulty vocal stylings of Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash.

(Believe it or not, we once had big hair and listened to 80’s hair bands.)

GC: How do you keep changing your music from album to album or plan to change it?

Our music gets darker as we continue to write. Jacob and I also find ourselves wanting to embrace our voices rather than trying to sing a certain way. I have always wished I had a deep raspy voice and then I went on the road for 2 years singing every night and briefly lost upper vocal range and all falsetto. It taught me to be careful what I wished for and to appreciate my own voice.

GC: What kind of recording environment do you have?

Home studio with several computers/guitars/bass/keyboards/synths/mics/drums/samplers. It is a very relaxed atmosphere. Oh yeah….and 3 studio kitties who double as studio engineers.

GC:How long did you spend on your latest effort?

In 2001/2002 we wrote and recorded a double (28 songs) CD and finished recording/mixing in early 2003 and sent it to be pressed. We had the final product by summer of 2003. That project was extensive taking 13 months to record/mix and another 2 months for artwork and pressing. We don’t expect this new album to take that long.

GC: What is the hardest thing about being in a band for this genre?

Record Companies/Club Owners thinking it is passé.

GC: Feel free to do any shameless self promotion here of you band, now is your turn to talk about anything you want about your band, ideas, or life in the band.

Check out Eelektronika on “A Different Drum Records” to purchase “Night and Day”:

Order "Night and Day"

Our website:

Band Website

Our myspace site and blog:

Elektronika on Myspace

GC: What are you looking forward to most right now as a band?

Convergence XII and finishing this album.

GC: Are you with a label working on finding one if so.. how are is it to be accepting or what was it like being accepting?

We have been sniffed around by A&R folks from a couple major labels and a few independent labels. Record companies are very cautious these days as should musicians be. We have a great attorney. Certainly, the goal is to be signed, but we won’t lose our credibility or our asses financially in order to do so.

GC: Remixes? Do you have any or working on any?

Have actually been talking to a couple local musicians about remixing us. Would like an industrial mix of one of our songs.