Interview with The Dø from ChrisOnline.biz

Music Interview: The Dø

The Dø have conquered their native France, with debut record, ‘A Mouthful’ topping its charts in its first week. Combining a mix of folk with that indie charm, they continue to entertain and innovate audiences. I caught up with them for a brief chat.

CM: How would you categorize your

Hometowns - Helsinki and Paris

Style - Indie/folk rock

Label - Cinq 7

The Dø’s MySpace

sound to someone?

TD: I'd rather leave it somewhere floating in between categories...I'll let you find the right drawer!

CM: Who would you say are your main influences as artists?

Olivia: Ella Fitzgerald, Björk, Queen, Pj Harvey, Wu tang clan, Oscar Wilde, Marimekko, The Moomins, Japanese prints, Picasso

Dan: Thelonious Monk, Frank Zappa, Bela Bartok, The Beatles, William Eggleston, Henri Michaux, Picasso

CM: What are your favourite tracks off of the album and why?

TD: "Playground hustle", because it encapsulates what we wanted on the album. It has no common structure and

goes where it wants to go...it is very free and playful. "On my shoulders" is not necessarily our favourite one, but it is our lucky one!

CM: So I’ve read that you guys meet while composing the soundtrack to ‘Empire of the Wolves’ – why did you decide to form a band – what happened between you?

TD: The idea of becoming a band appeared quite late, maybe a year and a half after we'd started working together.

We worked on many different projects before The Dø. After a while we had so many songs that we had to put up a project of our own, and so the only way was to find a band name, and become a band.

CM: You don’t sing in French, is there a reason for this?

TD: I like English for music, Finnish for secrets and French for theory.

CM: This doesn’t seem to affect your success there as your album topped the French charts though.

TD: I would have never changed my way of writing music to please the prehistoric rules of the French music business. And the audience chose to listen to us through to the internet. That was our first fanbase.

CM: So 2008 was a big year for you with your album release, so what do you want to achieve this year?

TD: We keep on touring until August in the UK & the rest of Europe, and finish recording our second album.

CM: What do you write songs about/what’s your inspiration?

TD: I write a song like I would write a tale. Sometimes it is about new love, or lost love, or dreams, or jokes!

CM: What do you have planned in the upcoming months, apart from all mentioned earlier?

TD: Recording some jazz standards too, Dan playing the piano & me singing. Spending time with family & friends.

CM: Anything else you’d like to add?

TD: We hope to meet you at one of our gigs in the UK!

CM: Cheers guys.