Check the interview to see what Leo and Dallas of Okapi Sun had to say about making their debut album.
E: This is your debut album?
Leo: Yeah, this is our very first album. We just
started the band in 2013, so this has been going on for pretty much a year and
a half now so, yeah, it's the debut album of Okapi Sun. It was exciting; it was
a long process but it's cool to have all the music out there finally. It kind
of starts to free you up to write new music too because we've just been
focusing on all the songs we wrote at the beginning of the project and then you
obviously want to record the album so you're just concentrating on those songs
and it's nice to have that done so we can actually start thinking of new
songs.
E: How did you two meet? When did you decide you
wanted to form a band together?
Leo: We just met in the club in Europe and I saw
her there and then we started talking and we became friends. Then I was going
over her and I called her up and was like "I'm coming over!" and
that's pretty much how we met.
Dallas: I don't think that we ever - well, I don't
know; maybe we were like "we should start a band" - I can't remember,
but I do remember us just kind of.. I think we said "let's get together
and just kind of play some music" and that was really the situation so we
got to a room together and we brought all the instruments that either of us
knew how to play and we just kind of started experimenting and messing around.
Then, when we actually started writing songs we were like "oh, okay, this
doesn't sound too bad" so then that's kind of when we started to think
'maybe we should develop this more and turn it into a real band'. That was in
October of 2012 so from October to December we were just kind of messing around
and meeting up and playing music for fun and then, by January, we actually had
some real songs and we started playing shows and we really took it seriously.
Leo: Yeah, I think mostly we just really wanted
something as an outlet. We were working at the same job and I remember thinking
like "oh, yeah, that's something fun after work" and we would just
get together and play music.
E: How did you come up with the name 'Okapi Sun'?
Dallas: Okapi is one of my favorite animals: my
favorite animal, growing up, was the zebra and then when I saw an okapi, which
was probably in high school or something, that became my new favorite animal -
even though I still liked the zebra. So, yeah, it's an animal and, when we were
thinking of band names, I was like "oh, what do you think about
'Okapi'?" and she was like "oh, what's that?" and so I told her
it was an animal and we looked it up and she thought it looked really cool
-which it does - and so we were like 'okay, well let's think about it for a few
days' and then a couple days later she came to me and she said "well, what
do you think about 'Okapi Sun'?"
and I was like "ooh, I kind of like that" so that's pretty much how
the name came about.
Leo: Yeah, I thought that it was really cool that
it was an okapi and it's like a spiritual animal, for one: I thought that it
would really stick with who we are and what we represent, kind of like a
mixture of all different cultures, you know? 'Cause, obviously, we don't look
the same, so I thought it was really cool to have this weird animal
representing us that looks like a horse, a zebra, and a giraffe in one.
E: How would you describe your style of music to
someone who had never heard it before?
Dallas: Usually when we're talking to people and
we're like, "oh, we're in a band," and they ask us that question,
like "what does it sound like," the first thing that I usually say is
that it's kinda like electronic/pop/dance music and, every now and then, we
throw in some words like tribal/disco dance music. I mean, those are the words
that we use to describe it. Just fun; easygoing; pure; like, four to the floor
dance music, but it has a little pop flair because we try and do a lot of
melody driven songs versus just reverb, you know, straightforward electronic,
like EDM style of music. We kind of are a little different from that because we
have more actual melodies for the songs but, yeah, I mean, it's pretty much
just fun dance music... Do you want to add anything to that Leo?
Leo: You actually summed it up... It's cool; this
is only us two, but I think we bring a really full sound to the table for our
audiences. I think that it's pretty cool that we're playing all these
instruments: I mean, one person plays synthesizers, guitar, and drums and we
sing and then we have our tracks and I actually think it's really cool just to
see. So, that's my two cents.
E: What part of the album making process was your
favorite?
Dallas: I think I would say, probably for the both
of us, one of the funnest parts was being able to work with Neal Pogue. We were
able to fly out to Atlanta, Georgia which, I'd never been there, but it was
just a really exciting experience. It was just exciting for us to be able to
work with him and then when we got [to Atlanta] and we just had a lot of fun
and we got to watch his process and kind of see him take a little, you know,
put his flair on our music and so that was really a fun experience.
Leo: Yeah, I think that was definitely one of the
highlights. For me, the whole process was really exciting because, ever since
we'd started this we'd just been playing with our instruments and had like the
beginnings of the songs; we just had like these little bits and pieces and then
later we got together and we were like "oh, this sounds cool and this
sounds cool" and from there we just started layering all the instruments
and developing all of our songs and it was really exciting to see the whole
process of seeing the songs coming from like that instant idea to.. We write
something together and then, having it sort of come to life, as a full work of
art: that is just exciting to me.
E: And the most challenging part about making the
album?
Leo: Pretty much, just putting what you have in
your head out there and trying to get as close as it gets because, obviously,
we both have a vision of how it's supposed to sound and then, actually, in the
end, having it sound how we really meant it. It's always hard trying to talk
when you're working with other people because we don't have the technical
aspects of it so we had to compromise, but I think it came really close to how
we had it in our head and I think that we did a really good job of bringing
what we thought it should sound like to life, but that was definitely a
challenge. What do you think Dallas?
Dallas: I agree; I totally agree with that.
E: How did the album writing process work? Did you
collaborate on everything, or write on your own before coming together?
Dallas: Oh, no, we collaborate on everything we do
so, pretty much, the writing process is just: we'll just go into our practice
space and sit down and go through the beats that we have in our system or we'll
search for new ones online or if we can't find anything that fits our mood at
the moment then we'll just write something that we like. Then, after we have a
beat that kind of inspires us a little, we'll turn the lights off and start
jamming to it and there's really no rules to it. If both of us start playing
the synthesizer, we both start playing the synthesizer; if somebody stops and
decides to pick up the guitar then they pick up the guitar; if we both start
singing.. We just kind of let whatever comes out come out and then as, I mean,
a song is like three or four minutes, but usually we'll jam on it for ten or
fifteen minutes; you just kind of play and sometimes you might hear a melody
that works that might be played on guitar but then you might start singing it;
you might be singing it and someone might start playing it on something else.
We just kinda keep messing around with it until we start hearing something that
we like and then we might stop and talk about it like "oh, that was cool;
let's try it again". Then we'll mess around with it again and it starts
taking an actual shape; we'll start seeing parts that we like for verses and
hearing parts that we like for choruses or whatever and then we'll usually spin
off one more time and kind of verbally say "well, let's play that part
here and let's play that part there" and then we'll turn on the recorder
and just play through it once or twice, kind of letting it come out however it
comes out with the little structure we've put on it. Then we let it go and
we'll move on to the next thing and do that maybe five or six times in a
sitting, just that whole process, and then we'll listen back to the recording
over the next couple of days. Obviously, some songs we'll be like "okay,
that one was weird; drop it" but then other songs you're like "oh
yeah, that kind of sounds cool" and then you kind of start messing around
with it from there and actually shaping it to a real song: forming the choruses
and adding words and adding layers and adding instruments; developing a song.
Leo: That was really good. I think that's it is
really cool when two people actually get together like that and really are in
that moment and whatever comes out, comes out. It's a really cool feeling
because you're creating something from however you feel in that moment and
that's kind of a nice part of making music, in general, because that's like the
joy of creating music, for me. You know, some people have that idea of how it
should sound on paper and that's pretty much how it's supposed to sound but,
however it comes out, we'll take it and we'll mold it into a song later and that's
kind of the Okapi sound.
E: Is there a track you really love performing
live?
Dallas: That's a hard question; I like all of
them. Really, there's not like a song that we play that is like "oh my
gosh, okay, let's try and get through it to get to the next one". They're
all fun and they're all different, in and of themselves, so it's just like, you
know, some songs have drums and you get excited to perform that because you get
to jump on drums and other songs, like, I might sing a lead in one song, she
might sing the lead in another song and there's a lot of stuff going on so I
don't think any one song ever gets boring and, you know, not exciting. It's
just like one long..
Leo: Dance party.
Dallas: Yeah, one long dance party.
Leo: Yeah, I think it's fun because every song has
different aspects and, in the end, we wanted to create something that we would
want to listen to, if we had gone to a show; like, "oh, you know, this
must be cool to watch, so I would want to see that song and dance". It's
kind of fun; we always play a lot of instruments in the songs so it's like I'll
be looking forward to the next song because there's drums and then the next
song comes up and you're on guitar so it never gets boring with that.
E: What song can you not stop listening to right
now?
Dallas: Ooh, Fame Riot. The Fame Riot and Ishi. Those
are two bands that we play with; we played with Ishi before and we just played
a show with The Fame Riot this past weekend in Seattle and we're going to play
with them again down here in San Diego but those are two CDs that we always
have in the car and we can't get the songs out of our head once we listen to
them.
Leo: Yeah, [The Fame Riot] is from Seattle and
Ishi is from Dallas, Texas.
E: Anything you want to add that I haven't
covered?
Leo: We're excited to go on our first national
tour coming up in a couple weeks so we're pretty much packing right now and
getting that ready.
E: Is there anything you want to say to your fans?
Leo: We just want them to have a good time.
Dallas: Yeah!
Leo: We want it to be like a big dance party and
everybody can just come and have some fun and there's no, like, you don't have
to be cool or dress cool or whatever, it's just like, everybody comes together
and has a good time and parties and that's pretty much what we're trying to do
through music: bring everybody together and celebrate life.
- E
