Interview: Shandy & Eva

[gallery type="slideshow" link="none" size="full" ids="130767"] What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?    Shandy: I would be a doctor or a historian, I love history! But music has been present in my life since I was a small kid. This is part of the culture and upbringing when you're growing up in the Caribbean and coming from a musical family in my case.   Eva: Coming from Poland, my musical influences and upbringing were totally different of course. But I started studying classical guitar and singing at a very young age, music was always my plan for the future. What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?   We love hanging out with friends, enjoying late night conversations about everything and nothing which can be very inspiring! We also love traveling, visiting new places, meeting new people and being in nature.   Eva: I love sports and a good workout!   Shandy: Yeah... not me! Although I did start enjoying longer walks and some workout routines thanks to Eva.   How long has music been your career?   The band was formed at the beginning of 2015 and we've been moving forward since then :)   Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?   We are currently based in Warsaw, Poland, but our duo was formed in Los Angeles and this is where we lived for most of our career. Los Angeles College of Music (where we met), California Institute of the Arts, all the amazing artists that we have come across and worked with in Los Angeles have influenced our music in many different ways. The best thing about LA is that you can experience so many different cultures, music genres, forms of arts and no matter where you're from, it broadens your horizons.   Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played.   There were some shows that we played for two or three people at most and empty chairs, these are probably the worst shows, but we still did our best! Now looking back at these experiences we realize that it doesn't really matter how big your audience is, sometimes one pair of ears is much more than a hundred people that are not really listening. Then you notice that the most prestigious venues that you play are not necessarily your best performances! But fortunately when we played at the legendary Troubadour it was very special! Other shows that we could include in our bests are the "Give It A Try" album release concerts. Yes, there were two! One in Poland in a beautiful theatre "Atelier" literally on the beach in the city of Sopot. The second one was in Los Angeles at Kulak's Woodshed. It is a tiny place, but super cosy and we filled it with people, there was hardly any room to breath!   Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?   It is hard to tell, we have some places that we always love coming back to like the venues we mentioned above, but there is a certain thrill to exploring new concert halls and events. We dream big :) Nevertheless, times are changing and nobody knows when we'll be able to play or attend bigger events and concerts. Regardless of the pandemic situation we would love to perform on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts! If you could play any show with any lineup who would be on the ticket?   We would love to collaborate with Brandi Carlile one day!   What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into music?   Be yourself, don't try to imitate anybody, find your own voice and own it!   If you could go back in time and give yourself advice, what would it be?   Believe in yourself, don't be so judgmental, let it go and everything will fall into place.   Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?    It is very difficult to choose between your own children, haha ;) They all have different meanings to us and become most important at different situations and times. And it changes! At the moment our recent single, "Tacy Sami" (which means "the same" in Polish), means to us the most because it is the first song in which we directly covered topics like intolerance, injustice, hate and we took a stand.   Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?   People always want to hear "Give It A Try"! And it is always fun for us to play. This song is catchy, easy to sing along and just joyous!

What is the creative process for you, and what inspires you to write your music?

It varies from song to song and we gather inspiration from all around, traveling, listening to music, talking to people. There are songwriting sessions and days when we sit down and don't leave the room until we write something even if it means staring at a blank page for hours and other times when the song just comes to you unexpected, usually in the most inconvenient situations when you need to find time and room to write it down or record it quickly.  

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Love, respect and accept one another.

Do you ever have disagreements when collaborating and how do you get past them?

Yes, we are both very stubborn and often have two totally different opinions, but fortunately, we are always able to reach a compromise one way or another.   What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up? We would like to start recording our second studio album this year. We want to wait until the world gets back on its feet to decide on the specific release date, but hopefully some time next year! Also, we have just started our own talk show on Instagram Live! It is called "Tiny Talks Tough Topics" and in the first season we invite women of show business to join us in discussion about certain struggles and problems that us, women, often face on our career path. There's a new episode every week, check us out on Instagram!