Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Ciao Lucifer

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

W: Ramming my little fists on the ground

M: Drumming on pots and pans in a big concrete tube outside our house, amazing sound!

How did your passion for creating music begin?

W: All that energy had to go somewhere

M: Honestly, I think it was boredom, I get understimulated quite easily and to me creating music is endlessly stimulating.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

W: We started a version of this duo when we were still in high school. We’re in our 30’s but never stopped playing.

M: We could be called: bromance, the band.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

W: It’s indie-pop for dancing.

M: agreed

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

W: It doesn’t matter which notes you play, as long as it’s groovy.

M: That’s easy for Willem to say, he plays the drums. But I agree.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

W: Lots of club mate

M: And time.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

W: Dominus Vobiscum by an artist called iji

M: The albums Getting Killed by Geese and Eye to the Ear by Cosmo Sheldrake are amazing.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

W: Currently I’m pretty preoccupied with the AI revolution. Our new music is pretty much an answer to that: it’s recorded in a single take. Extra human with feelings on top.

M: It’s integral to it. I feel like writing songs is a bit like dreaming in that it helps me process events and emotions on a very subconscious level. Often, I’ll hear myself singing words while writing and I don’t know where they come from but when I try to make sense of the gibberish there’s a clear connection to something that happened to me.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

W: The thing people tell us the most is that our music makes them happy. Which makes me happy.

M: I hope that they feel the freedom to be a bit wacky and quirky and to dance like no one’s watching.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

W: That I’m not such a weirdo and can actually make meaningful connections with other people

M: That inspiration is endless.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

W: I would love to do a show in the little village we once came from, in one of those cute little pubs, while an old high school crush gets married and some of the town bullies get into a fist fight. Now THAT would be a night.

M: I would love to perform at Festival au Désert in Mali, I’ve always wanted to go as a spectator but have never been able to because of the war. It’s such an amazing thing about music that it lets you connect with people in a different country, with a different culture that speak a different language and somehow those things don’t matter if you can feel the music.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

W: M.I.A., Hobo Johnson, Paul McCartney

M: Fela Kuti because I feel like I could learn a lot about rhythmic patterns and hypnotic structures. Delia Derbyshire because she had a unique approach to electronic music. John Lennon because he’s my favourite Beatle and his songwriting is so special.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)

W: follow us on insta @ciaolucifer, or send a message to +31 6 82 11 13 13 to join our secret society on the Ciao Luciphone. You’ll get extra stuff, special shows and such. It’s a great community.

M: The best support is always to come to a show, that’s the essence of this band!

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

W: Always the next show, the next song, the next note.

M: I hope we keep getting weirder and more unique.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

W: No hopes. It’s all in the music.

M: That we’re very serious about what we do but that we’re also just messing around, which is part of the fun.

If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂