Chloë Lewer – Vocals // Ukulele // Percussion
Elliott McKee – Vocals // Ukulele // Harmonica // Guitar // Accordion
Dave Sills – Cello
“Elizabeth”
Check out the video which was just nominated for a Berlin Music Video Award by clicking here
How did you form?
We really formed out of necessity to begin with. We had fallen in love in New Zealand and moved to Germany on a whim for some strange adventure- upon realizing that we had no way to get by (we couldn’t even speak the language) we picked up some little instruments and began to busk. We began simply, playing ukulele covers of songs we liked around the city, but as time and the summer wore on we began to tire of playing other people’s music. So we obsessively started writing our own, so we’d always have something fresh to play. We learnt the city by always finding new places to play- we’d be shooed away by the police in one spot so we’d pack up our little trailer and find another. At one point we’d have several people a day coming up to us after songs and asking what we were called. We had never thought of ourselves as a band so the notion of a band name was rather amusing. However, since we had begun, music was no longer just a way to get by, it had bewitched us, it had become our obsession. We were playing our own music everyday to new crowds and realized that this is what a band is, this is what a band does- so we decided to make it official. In the pages of our favorite children’s story ‘The Happy Prince’ by Oscar Wilde we read about a group of dreamers called the ‘Charity Children’, and it struck us that that’s kind of what we were, idealistic dreamers living off the kindness of others.
The first time we played inside was at once the most memorable yet harrowing performance for us so far. The idea of playing in front of an audience of people who had specifically come across town to see us play, as opposed to just running into us on the street, felt like an awful amount of pressure. We weren’t used to a captive audience, an audience who couldn’t just walk by and ignore us if they felt like it.
The gig started at about 8 in a small bar in Neukölln, and at about 7:45 the place was empty- we were really starting to question our decision to play the gig (and also our decision to bring 90% of our living room furniture for the stage so we’d feel more at home.) With the prospect of playing our first real gig to an empty room we went for a walk around the block with our ukulele to warm up. By the time we were back the place was full- packed with faces of people we’d met and connected with during our first 6 months busking. It wasn’t necessarily the best gig we’ve ever played, but the warmth and generosity of spirit in that room that evening is something we’ll always remember.
Why should people listen to you? What makes you different?
That’s always difficult to answer. Our generation is blessed with a multitude of beautiful musicians- but also it’s share of dross. There’s music and then there’s sound. Music involves sound, but is so much more. It’s an expression, a vulnerable unveiling of the soul, a necessity. It’s hard to articulate exactly what makes us different, but we don’t try to emulate anyone and we do like to think that we make music rather than just pretty noise. We play because we love playing- if we didn’t we’d stop.
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