„It’s not the ‘90s, fans now want a message”

Strong and powerful: this is Krewella. Interview with Yasmine and Jahan about downloading, music industry and being political or not. Balaton Sound exclusive.

 

Jahan & Yasmine /// Photos by Sinco / Ígéretes titánok / Promising Titans

 

You started 10 years ago, and we’ve seen that the whole music industry has changed, especially in the past decade. Now, everything is about streaming, downloading, torrenting, whatever. What do you think about the free download phenomena? Are you for or against it? What’s your opinion about it?

Yasmine: I have a very biased outlook on this and I’m incriminating myself by saying this but we, me and Jahan, we were raised downloading illegally on Limewire! So, I got all of my first favourite music through Limewire and through the means of illegal downloading. So I do not mind it personally if people illegally download our music or stream it, or by whatever means they can get it because when I am in the studio and we are making music, I am not thinking ‘Ah how much money we’re making!‘, but ‘How many people are going to hear this!’. That’s the most important thing to me.

 

What do you think will happen to these sorts of things in the future? People will download more through these ‘free’ channels or the subscription part will be stronger than nowadays?

Jahan: I think people always find a way. I think as an artist you can’t be hung up on the idea of depending on people to buy your music. And that’s something that we understand as indie artists as of a few months ago. When someone comes to me and shows their phone and say ‘Hey, I loved your album’ and it shows that they downloaded it for free, I wouldn’t be mad. You have to think about long-term, you can’t be short-sighted. You have to realize that that person is now a fan, maybe even a lifetime fan and from now on, they’ll probably come to the shows and just be a part of our world and then you just have to have faith that from that point on you can survive as an artist trough other means.

 

For instance, if I’m correct, you can download everything on your computer legally in Hungary. You only break the law if you want to sell it or if you want make money out of it but if you just want to enjoy it, it’s totally legal here. But I know, legal approaches are different all around the world.

Jahan: I understand the debate but I just want fans to have the music in any way they can get it. And it’s very easy to be discouraged if there is a hurdle in the way because we grew up in a generation where people want instant gratification, they want stuff quick, they want easy access to music. People don’t have time for stuff. So I just want them to have the music and then to come to the shows and sing along.

Yasmine: If a DJ sends us a track and if it’s just a download link, I’m like ‘Yeah, great!’ but if I need to like their SoundCloud and then register and then share it and then download, I just give up, I’m like ‘I just give up’. The more hurdles the less likely that I will download it. And that’s ridiculous because in our childhood we went through so much trouble to get music. We went to this little library in the suburb of Chicago, went through all of their CDs, selected the ones we want them, downloaded the music into our computers, uploaded it to iTunes, organized them. It was labour-intensive, sitting there for hours and then renaming them correctly.

 

 

I know it’s hard to compare a 20k audience in a festival to a more intimate crowd in a small club, but what do you prefer: clubbing or playing at a festival?

Yasmine: It depends on the club. We just played in this club in Munich last month, its name means New Room in English. There was no dress code, no high heels, everyone was dressed normally. Everyone was sweaty, dancing, going crazy, and I could see and touch everyone’s hand, it felt really intimate. And then there are clubs where the DJs are up here, the crowd is down there, there are like ten meters separating us from the crowd, we are basically just background music for people drinking. So it is a different vibe in different clubs. I love the really intimate clubs, where people are there for the music, and it’s all about the music and experience. And then sometimes at festivals, you are playing in front of 60,000 people and you just feel the energy, no matter how far they are, there is just an energy. And I think I can love it all, I couldn’t really pick a favourite.

 

Your family has Pakistani roots and I read that your music becomes more and more Pakistani. Would you explain musically what it means to become more Pakistani?

Jahan: So a lot of it is the percussions, mostly the water drum, a lot of the rhythms of the percussions is so different from the kind of Western music. If you listen to our new album which we released last June there is tabla, sitar in everything. We tried to include some more Pakistani stuff there, like flutes or strings, vocal chants, we also added more melodies from like Pakistani or Indian, Bollywood movies. We were growing up by watching Bollywood movies and listening to that kind of music and singing that kind of music even if we didn’t know what we’ve been singing. It was a huge part of our childhood.

 

 

When was the last time you could visit Pakistan?

Yasmine: I haven’t been to Pakistan since I’ve been 12, so that was 13 years ago, but we played in India before, three times in 3 different cities. It feels like it’s really close to home. Obviously, there’s been a history of conflict, but I can see people who look like me, who are like my father so it feels like we’re a little bit home there.

Jahan: And although we haven’t been to Pakistan in a long time, the music, food and culture is such a big part of our family life that every time we go home to family, we play Bollywood music in the background, and eat South-East-Asian cuisine. In Chicago, there was a neighbourhood, and every weekend we went there with our family to eat out and we always ate traditional cuisine.

 

There is a never-ending debate: is it okay or not being political as a musician, talking about social problems or ideological questions, beliefs. What do you think about this?

Yasmine: I personally think and I can speak for both of us that to be silent about your views, when it’s about human rights, environmental rights, in fact, anything that affects humans on the planet, not even in your country, is irresponsible to not speak about it. So we are quite outspoken about our political views. Not to the point where everyone feels like that we are enforcing something upon them but I think it is very important. I think it’s a moral thing. I think if someone in politics works against human rights, environmental rights, female rights, immigration, anything that has to do with our world, I think if you are in a position if you have a lot of followers on social media, which is the best way to get to people today, if you’re not saying anything you are missing out on actually making a positive change to happen.

 

 

Jahan: But I also think some people don’t have to have a point about everything though. Because I think that there is a pressure that artists put on themselves to be soft activists, which you can’t even compare to activists in 60s and 70s. If you don’t have a certain knowledge about a topic, I sometimes think it’s best to stay out of it. I don’t think that people ought to feel to be required to say something about everything. The other side of it is that a lot of people think that if you are a singer or entertainer, you are not allowed to talk about politics. ‘Stick to music!’ Sometimes fans say that you shouldn’t talk about stuff – ‘Just go back to be an artist, do what you’re good at.’ But we are humans, we are all affected! Essentially, you are putting them on a different level, but we should all be able to talk about politics and society. Now, more than ever, people want to be fans of real people, real artists, with real opinions. Something so much more than face value, and all that shit. Fans now want the message. It’s not the ‘90s anymore.

 

 

Edited by Károly Gergely

 

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Balogh Roland