NEWS
EVENTS
Guestlist meets up with The Germein Sisters, a young, fresh trio of sisters Georgia, Ella and Clara
Indie | Friday 3rd July 2015 | Jelena
The Germein Sisters capture the spirit of Australian pop culture, singing catchy songs full of sunshine, with a lot of heart, a little bit of country and a whole lot of love.
How are you guys? Life treating you good?
Ella: Yes, it’s amazing! We are on our European tour so it’s great!
Where are you guys from?
Ella: We are from Australia, it’s a bit far from here haha. Buy yeah, we are born and bred South Australians.
How did you guys get into music?
Georgia: We are all sisters and we have been playing music since we were little kids. It was always something fun that we used to do together. We decided to take it more seriously four years ago and that’s when we started the trio. People seemed to like the music we played and here we are now four years later in London. We started out by playing in our hometown in South Australia and later on we started to branch out overseas. That’s how it all began.
Who have been your musical influences?
Clara: Our dad plays the trumpet, kind of the New Orleans old style. We grew up a lot with his influences and listening to that kind of music. Our mum plays the guitar and the piano. So they definitely influenced us and encouraged us to make music. Most parents would say "come on, get a real job" but ours were really motivating us to do music. Music wise, we like so many different types of music. We love Coldplay and U2. Music is a great way of sharing messages. Bono from U2 is one of them, we had the chance to meet him in Adelaide a few years ago. He is definitely an inspiration and an idol that we look up to!
Ella: Yeah I really like old school, like Marilyn Monroe. Her stage performance and her sense of aura. I am really into the stage show and really good entertainers. They are some really good inspirations to look at. I am really loving Ellie Goulding at the moment! She is so cool and she is from the UK!
Georgia: I have been listening to a lot of Coldplay recently and Ed Sheeren. There is so much great music around us!
How would you describe yourselves as artists?
Ella: I guess our music style is quite indie rock, pop and folk so it’s a bit of a mixed box of chocolate. We sort of promote the healthy Australian life style through our music. We have some upbeat happy songs and then some ballads. We are all pretty cool chicks, we all play instruments. We like to rock out every now and then. And I am sounding a bit silly right now, haha, so I will stop.
Clara: Yeah indie rock, folk, pop, rock is quite our style. We like to sing in harmony as well, which makes our sound special. It is very harmony dominated. And Ella plays the electric cello which we think is quite cool!
What would be your dream collaboration with any singer or producer?
Ella: We have been asked this question a few times, I suppose a male artist would be awesome! Working with females is great but I think that we have a bit too much estrogen haha. So it would be cool to even it out with some male collaborations. Pharrell Williams is doing awesome! Any rappers would be cool!
Georgia: Yeah any rapper. There are some cool rappers in Australia that we love. And Pharrell definitely!
What’s your message behind your music?
Georgia: It’s a positive Australian vibe that Ella mentioned before. We are inspired by travel, the people we meet and also living up in the Bushman Hills with lot of animals. We just like to promote positive messages through our music. And encourage people to be happy, enjoy life and do what you love! If people try to bring you down just don’t worry about those people, just be true to yourself. A track from our album called ‘Because You Breathe’ was written for my friend that went through a hard time in life. I wanted to encourage her, to remember how special she is and never to give up! That kind of inspired the whole album.
Ella: Georgia is the main songwriter, the beauty of her songs is that although they might have been inspired by something personal to her they could mean something different to me and something else to Clara. We had one lady that came up to us and told her that her son was a soldier in Afghanistan and that one of our songs really touched her. It was a song about not waiting to tell someone that you love them. That was really special to hear. The good thing about our music is that we want to appeal to everyone and connect their own stories to it. So our songs are from own experiences but we also want people to relate to them.
What has been the biggest struggle in your lives?
Georgia: The music scene in general is hard to get taken seriously in. We got some doubts in the beginning before we started some shows but by the end of it they would be like "aah ok!". Being girls, we kind of needed to prove ourselves. But we gained more respect as time went, and got recognised for our music. The music industry is always putting up setbacks, but you should always have the mindset that maybe that time was not the right time for us and just move forward. Next time might bring something even bigger and better.
Ella: You have to have acceptance that everyone is not going to like what you do, especially in the creative industry. Everyone has a different taste. You have to be ready and willing to handle rejection. It’s just their opinion, you just have to put a smile on your face and keep doing what you are doing.
What is your definition of success?
Clara: We have our ultimate goals such as places we want to go, performances we want to do etc. It’s all about the little things that do go right, even embracing failure and learning from it. That in itself is success because that makes you grow as a person. If you do not fail in life you will stay in the same place and not develop.
Ella: Even touching people with your music. I know this sounds bad, but when people cry you know that you succeeded with your message behind your music. It’s really impacting on them. Just knowing that your music is doing well. Looking back four years ago from where we started, we see how far we have come and can just imagine what the next four years has to bring.
What song of yours captures the true essence of The Germein Sisters?
Georgia: We have a single at the moment called ‘Da Da Doo’, we basically go surfing in the video. It is just a happy and fun tune that seems to make our listeners happy. It has a cool message, that you should forget your troubles and do what you want to do, hang out with your friends and enjoy the sunshine.
Which ingredient do you think is most essential in making your sound and style the way it is?
Ella: I think the harmony is in sync. It is an essential factor for our style and being sisters. Also being good musicians and keep on bettering our skills, having a good attitude and just keep on developing as artists. Holding on to the willingness to entertain and enjoy being on stage.
Do you have any specific rituals that you do before going on stage?
Georgia: We usually start by warming up our voices. So we have come up with a fun way of doing it. We come up with a question quickly like "what is your favourite song on the radio right now?" and we start to sing it. It's good fun and we play around with it.
What aspect of the music making process excites you guys the most?
Georgia: Ah that’s a good question because it’s all really exciting! For me songwriting is always awesome! I love creating new things. Recording, I have to say is probably my favourite because you actually get to put your ideas down and make it sound amazing, and come out with a great product by the end of it. Touring is so much fun because you get to play the songs live to the fans and see how they respond to it. And you get to travel and see the world and meet new people. When you put your heart and soul into something it is nice to share it with people.
How important do you think video is to your music, and how do you produce your videos?
Ella: Well we have a guy in Sydney that we went to high school with who now owns a video production company and he is really creative and has awesome ideas. We come to him with an idea that we have in mind, and he will tell us how we can make it happen. So it is more of a joint collaboration. It is always so exciting to create music videos. For our latest single ‘Golden’ we went to our uncle’s farm, which was so much fun with the sheep and outdoor theme. And we had this huge rain scene where we are playing our instruments in the rain, which in the real case was a huge sprinkler and the water was freezing! But it was so much fun! It was probably one of the coolest things. I personally love the video making process, a three minute video takes almost three days to make but it is wicked fun.
Your house is burning down, what item would you bring with you?
Ella: If my dog was in the house I would pick my dog! Cause I love him.
Georgia: Yeah I would say pets haha.
Ella: I have some valuable stuff on my hard drive but I hate to pick something that is technology based. But I have a teddy bear that I have had since I was a baby so I would maybe take that.
Clara: Yeah I would say the same. It sounds funny but probably a teddy bear. That’s kind of our thing we all got one. Or our pets!
Ella: We actually live in a very risky fire danger area, so it is actually something that could happen haha.
Georgia: So we have to be prepared haha. But that area is actually risky so I was thinking "omg she knows!" I have pet kangaroos so if I could bring all of them I would. I made these big bags so that I can quickly pick them up if something like that would happen. I have my drum kit but that would be quit of an effort to bring out. And you can always buy a new one.
A private jet is waiting outside, where would your destination be?
Clara: We only have two more weeks of the tour so our flights home are already booked. Otherwise I would have said I want to go home. So probably to a warm place!
Ella: Yeah somewhere in the Mediterranean! We heard about all the places that you guys go on holidays here and they sound amazing.
Georgia: Somewhere warm on the beach. Like Barcelona in Spain.
What can people expect from your upcoming E.P. Because You Breathe?
Georgia: It is songs that have been inspired by all different sort of things, but basically chilled out happy songs about encouraging people to do their best and enjoy life! And enjoy every moment they get.
Ella: The E.P has a big mix of different styles, ballads and pop rock songs.
What does the future hold for The Germein Sisters?
Ella: At the moment we just want to keep on doing what we do and live each day as it comes. Having goals of where we want to be.
Georgia: Just enjoying the moment and making the most of where we are now. We are really looking forward of having our new album coming out, hopefully later this year or early next year. But at least put out a single later this year. It will be really exciting to have some new music coming out! As well as keep on touring and keep on playing.
