ON THE RADAR: Plexiphones In London

UK produced German electro-rock-pop band the Plexiphones are heading for London!

I caught up with lead singer Wolfgang Kemmerling earlier this year to discover who exactly are "The Plexiphones", the bands big plans to break into the UK music scene, and their love affair with British music. Here's a recap of that XCLUSIVE interview!

So who exactly are the Plexiphones?

We are four members, were a band - we’ve got a guitarist called Christof, Keyboard player Michael, percussion and rhythm section. We all had careers in Germany and have been together for four years now.

How did the band first get together?

We met on a Saturday and jammed for ten hours and after that session we had the fractions of at least 5 new songs and we said lets work on that, let’s try to become famous with that!

You were signed in 2011 by the award winning producer and composer Tom E Morrison and the Big Sky Song Label – how did that come about?

I met Tom 14 years ago actually, he was also from Germany but he made it in London as a musician and as a producer and I was glad he liked our material. I met him in London and played him the stuff and he went to one of our gigs and he liked it very much and said lets work together.

How would you describe your music?

Well that’s a good question! I think musically we were born in the wrong body! It’s quite British sounding - for a German band this is not typical. It’s very danceable rock/pop music that’s got a lot of passion in it and it’s got percussion in it. During our gigs people are just dancing and having fun.

The vocals are also very expressive…

I like to sing but I also like to scream and I like to do everything that brings the passion to the song.

What inspires your music and songwriting?

Everything that comes from England. I mean bands like U2 of course, Coldplay, and I must admit we’re a bit 80’s based in the way that we write our songs. We compose our songs during jam sessions, we improvise a lot and the songs come out of it. It’s a very organic process.

The Beatles were also hugely influential for you…

Everything started with The Beatles for me. I saw this show in New York by Paul McCartney (in 2012) – and he’s still really rocking this guy. Amazing. They had a big influence on us.

You’ve digitally launched your debut EP “The London Tapes” which was a global release this November – what tracks are featured on it?  

We’ve got four tracks on that: Let it Roll - a very, very dancey song, Hideaway was actually released on a sampler by a fashion label, and also Plastic Love and Love Child.

There are a lot of different music flavours embedded in the EP in terms of genre – was that a conscious choice or is that a result of your diverse influences? 
 I would explain it exactly like that – it’s not only a feel for pop music - our guitarist comes from a rock background and this mixture altogether makes our own style.

That’s one thing that struck me from listening to your songs - the Plexiphones have a very distinctive and unique sound…

It’s also the influence of our producer Tom E Morrison, who did an excellent job. He gave the songs the final cut and it really sounds international. The EP was re-recorded in North London and that’s why it’s called The London Tapes.

You recently performed in the UK for the first time at the Music Place in Crouch End – how did you find the London crowd?

People were very open-minded they danced to it, clapped their hands – it was really amazing.

Any plans for more gigs in London?

We will, definitely! Maybe in April we’d like to do a club tour, maybe we will support another band quite famous in England called Blue Zoo. We might do one or two college gigs.

You’ve completed your first album “News From The Colonies” – any plans to release it in the UK? Maybe we do that. News From The Colonies expresses how we feel about British music and how we see ourselves in this whole thing. We’ve also got very interesting new material and we’d like to record that.

Is having an impression on the UK music scene really important to you and the band?

Yes, it is definitely. We really notice new bands from England. We’re very much influenced by English bands.

What’s coming up for the Plexiphones in 2013? Writing our new material, touring in England and then doing some film music, working with other artists, touring with other bands, meeting new people, a lot of things to do!

How can our readers find out more about The Plexiphones?

Via Facebook (www.facebook.com/Plexiphones), there’s also new information, videos and photos of the band on our Twitter page Plexiphones.com. You can listen to the songs before downloading them on ITunes and Amazon. Just find out and see if you like it.

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That’s all for now ~ Until next time… x Mwah
x Kat