Nina from Skew Siskin

Q	Hi Nina, I’d like to ask you how you got into music and who were some of your influences and how have your influences changed since your earlier days?
A	As a nine year old kid, I discovered the record collection of my dad. He threw parties on some week ends and I saw the people dancing to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, James Brown and Pink Floyd a.s.o.! One Sunday afternoon I dugged in that vinyl collection and found ATOM HEART MOTHER of Pink Floyd, sat on the bed of my dad and devoutly listened to it. I think at age nine the music just flows right into the core of the soul and I “understood” music without being able to analyse it consciously. That’s why kids learn languages fast or instruments, because they don’t keep thinking too much about anything. At age 11 I got the single “FAME” of David Bowie which led me to buy all the other albums if him and his earlier work of Ziggy Stardust. In the same year found the KISS ALIVE II to be my fave band. SEX PISTOLS followed up and I myself started to play drums in a punk band called RUBBERBEATS AND THE BABYBONES. We gave concerts and I had my first exp with other musicians. Because I was so young I was a little bit of a sensation, yet a surprise to people. It didn’t take long until I grabbed the microphone though, when the singer got sick. But just so you know…my first vocal performance was hilarious! I sang THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING of NANCY SINATRA, in a yellow 50’s dress, with Make Up of Marilyn Monroe and blonde hair, chewing gums and reading the lyrics from the sheet! I was with the punks looking like a chick from a movie…kinda trippy! Later on I was seriously looking for a band to become a real singer. To come back to the question: My music influence didn’t change at all. Still rather listen to GRAND FUNK or THE BEATLES, or NINA SIMONE and AEROSMITH… AC/DC and MOTORHEAD!
Q	Skew Siskin is a very original name. I am sure you have been asked this many times…who came up with it and what is the meaning behind it?
A	Ha, yea! I am guilty for it ;) I was looking for bird words/names and figured that almost all bird names were taken. I looked up a dictionary and looked for SISKIN, which is a small sparrow – like bird from England, and then I looked for another word for AWKWARD/CRAZY which was SKEW! It’s really simple. It’s just interesting how many people never heard these words…I mean, it’s English and it’s in the dictionarys…haha Some people thought it’s a Russian code or a German word.
Q	What is currently going on in the Skew Siskin camp?
A	Jim and me started to write songs recently and we are giving a lot of interviews to the USA and CANADA. We also have releases in Italy and still promote the album for spain. Then there will be another tour in winter probably.
Q	You and Jim have produced records. Do you find doing it all yourselves helps the creative process?
A	It does definitely. A. because we don’t have people stabbing us in the back if we aren’t in the time frame, and B. because we can try out a lot and sleep over it without discussing things with the assistant of the assistant with the manager of the assistant ect. Less people talk the issue you know.
Q	You have a huge appreciation of Lemmy and vice versa, even taking part in recording a tribute album. What were your feelings when that happened?
A	Feelings? Happiness, good times, lotsa cigarettes, Jack Daniels, good music, going with the flow. It’s a supreme pleasure to be in the studio with Lemmy! I am always feeling lucky when Lemmy saves my ass with some lyrics ;) he does understand me and what I try to say so good sometimes, that I learn more about myself through him…!
Q	Please take me through the process of the writing and recording of ‘Peace Breaker’, your latest album. Do you mainly write the lyrics and music or does everyone get their shot at writing?
A	Jim and me started to collect ideas, recorded the ideas and eventually changed some ideas again. We recorded some stuff on home pro-tools then took it to the studio in to play loud. I wrote the lyrics in my room without Jim recognizing. They all saw my lyrics shortly before I sung them last minute. Lemmy and me wrote some lyrics together over the phone. We got Randy and Henning playing their parts. We are open for ideas and songs, but they have to fit real well.
Q	Has there been any one particular experience that helped add focus to your musical career or was a good learning experience?
A	I think it’s alwas both. There’s so much to learn and to get to know. Nowadays you must know about laws of the internet and when this came up, I already was making music for 20 years. Learning will never stop. Basically, if I start thinking about this subject, it would be good to study the law of the music business, to study psychology and to learn how to speak diplomatic. But then, this all never could assure you to be successful! To write good material and be with good musicians is the best of it all when it comes down to anything in the business.
Q	Any thoughts on re-releasing your back catalogue?
A	Many times! We do want to re-release them all. There’s just one little problem: The money thing. As we are our own label now, we decided to put the focus on Peace Breaker, in order to see if we can handle a label ourselfes, then do another album and then, step by step, re-release the older material. We thought about to do another compilation too. So, we are working on it and people will get to know when this happens on our web site. It’s actually great to see that people are interested into the earlier material!
Q	Randy Black has recently left the band due to his commitments with Primal Fear – a very hard act to follow! How did you end up choosing Sansi Janiba for the job?
A	We are still buddies with Randy and it wasn’t a surprise at all that he had to quit. He’s committed to Primal Fear and you can only do as much as you can and it’s impossible to get 100% involved with two bands. We were actually surprised about the fact, that Randy played a year and a half longer with Skew Siskin than we have hoped for. He’s got great skills and is a fun person to be around. Randy would have loved to continue playing with us but you cannot be in two places in the same time. We have thrown an eye on Sansi for a while. A friend of hours gave us his phone number and we’ve started to talk with him. After we played a few songs with him and chatted a lot it became clear that he’s the man for Skew Siskin behind the drum kit.
Q	You seem to have had some really good underground press. Do you feel that the mainstream press needs to catch up?
A	It’s a lot going on in the internet these days and we have great articles and interviews. In Germany for example it’s less than ten glossy metal/rock mags. In order to get articles in the real mainstream a band needs a hit in the charts, or a major selling album to surprise people with. It would be an honor if they pick up on us indeed, but most famous bands have a whole office behind the “marketing stragedies” and this is something we don’t do. We are a well known band in the business and in the press, but the press makes money with the big acts with lotsa money behind I’d say, to make sure the mags get bought from all fans. We have never been on any cover, so, to start with good press I’d say it would be terrific to be on one one day, at least in Germany, as we have been around for so many years. The attention we receive is always good, so magazines wouldn’t lose their face, I can approve that. But as we all know, this business is all about connection and keep those working for ya, but I am not a manager and I don`t want to be one.
Q	What is the next step for Skew Siskin?
A	Recording a new album. Doing promotion for Peace Breaker in other countries. Selling more CD’s or songs online, going on tour.
Q	Just for fun, other than music, name three of your big passions in life?
A	Birds, Painting, Movies
To check out more about Nina and Skew Siskin, visit http://www.myspace.com/skewsiskin and http://www.myspace.com/ninacalice http://www.skewsiskin.net
I would like to thank Nina for taking the time out to answer these questions. Keep It Loud!