Here at Loverboy HQ we have been surprised by our new-found love for Coldwave, EBM and those colder, more Industrial-type sounds. At first we put it down to the events of the last three years – pandemic, war, recession – enough to turn anyone to the dark side. But the deeper we get into this genre, the more hope and unity there is to be found.
Take Ultra Sunn for example. Hailing from Belgium, Sam & Gaelle may be serving us synths and more sinister sounds but through their lyrics and the live experience, their main themes are about coming together against adversity. ‘We are very happy to see that the message is getting through and that our audience is always very varied, inclusive and safe. Everyone will always find their place with us and we are proud of that,’ they say.
The duo are preparing for the release of their latest EP – Kill Your Idols – released on 3rd March through Zanias’ Fleisch Records. We catch up with Sam & Gaelle to discuss Coldwave and judgemental cats.
Ultra Sunn, I know you guys are often to be found working in the studio late at night. Where are you while answering our Q&A?
It’s true, we particularly like to work at night. It’s a very quiet moment and it feels like time is frozen, it’s quite magical. So yes, it’s 3am and we’re writing in the middle of our machines. We are surrounding ourselves with a lot of synths to try new things lately. It is quite dark here but we can see a Moog and a Korg MS20, a lot of cables and of course our cat, Shiva who is always watching (or judging) and is always near us.
Your new EP, Kill Your Idols, drops 3rd March. Are you still putting the finishing touches to it or is it complete and handed in? When do you know you have truly finished a song or album?
It’s done! Fortunately there is a time when the tracks go to mastering and then to the pressing plant to make the physical records! It would be terrible to be able to modify the tracks until the day of the release, it is a good thing that there is a stop in the process. We like to keep a certain sobriety in our arrangements while remaining precise in intention. We often think of the design of songs as if it were clothes (a kind of ‘sound-clothes’) we could say that when the track suits us well during the fitting, we can start production.
Topics that are close to your heart are gender equality, anti-harassment and the fight against anxiety. How have these themes manifested themselves and developed on Kill Your Idols? And are there further themes you are exploring on this EP?
These are indeed topics that are important to us and that we carry in our songs and through our shows. We are also very happy to see that the message is getting through so well and that our audience is always very varied, inclusive and safe. Everyone will always find their place with us and we are proud of that.
Kill Your Idols is an EP on which we wanted a slightly rougher sound, we were looking for the freshness of revolt. The track ‘The Great Escape’ talks about a moment in my life (Sam) when I needed to refuse to conform, to play the game in a very complex period at the end of my teenager years. It was a matter of survival. The song also talks about self improvement, believing in yourself, following your own light. Sometimes the family weight or your entourage can be very heavy. Even some react badly or kind of refuse that you evolve. Of course you must have the strength to let go of the ghosts of the past.
The themes you mention can be found more explicitly in our tracks like ‘Night Is Mine’ (about harassment) or ‘Keep Your Eyes Peeled’, ‘Out Of the Cage’ etc. In general, this energy is still present on the new record, even in the choice of the people we worked with.
You’ve worked with LGBT charity ROSA and featured LGBT people in your videos.
At the very beginning of forming our band, a little before the pandemic, we had been contacted by ROSA to participate in the Concert Against Sexism in Ghent, Belgium. We felt honoured to participate in an event whose values are particularly close to our hearts. With the pandemic, the action was canceled, still ROSA continued to protest and kept talking in the streets about violence against women, which increased significantly during the confinement. Long story short, the police intervened and fined the participants (of a calm and respectful action). We found it horrible and wanted to do something on our small scale so we designed and sold masks and donated the profits to ROSA. The association lives only by donations and we thought it was a small contribution that could be a little bit of a relief.
It’s true a lot of people around us are LGBTQ+, in fact the majority of the people we hang out with, whether it’s our friends or the people we work with. It’s not really something we’re looking for, but it happened naturally. It is an environment in which we feel good and safe and where we can be ourselves.
Tell us more about your connection with the community and why you feel aligned.
To speak for myself (Sam), I have always liked to take what I like from different genders and express myself in my own way. So the question of having a precise gender is not part of my identity. It was a little more difficult when I was younger but today it is liberating not to have to correspond to a male or female role or whatever. In fact it was just about surrounding yourself with the right people.
So naturally the people we work with, whether in front of or behind the cameras, are a reflection of all that. Nina’s performance, dancing in our ‘Silver Smile’ music video, was very inspiring and even liberating. She helped me a lot to feel better on stage, to feel more confident and to move in a better way. I can never thank her enough! In the end, we are just very proud to be able to give space and visibility to people of great talent.
I know you have said you have been harrassed on the street before. How did you handle that situation? How is Belgium regarding hate crimes against minorities?
(Gaelle) Being a woman in the public space is unfortunately complicated. In Brussels, we no longer count the number of stories of harassment that we have heard around us. We even got harassed on video spotting for our first video. At that time, Sam had not yet written the lyrics. The same evening, ‘Night Is Mine’ was born. It was a wonderful revenge for us to be able to return to this same place and take all the space with all the crew and saying how much the night belongs to all of us.
In Belgium, there is also a lot of police violence against minorities. This is something that makes us feel very helpless and angry. We must continue and keep a combative and positive spirit, it is the only way.
In terms of music, Ultra Sunn are Coldwave and EBM, plus through your music we have discovered (and are enjoying) New Beat! How did you approach Kill Your Idols from a music perspective? What did you want to explore this time?
We are very happy that you folks discovered New Beat! It is one of our greatest pride in Belgium and it is our roots in electronic music that inspire us in what we create today. To compose and record Kill Your Idols, we were inspired by the energy of the very beginning of punk for example, we wanted a protesting and powerful tone, a disc which wants to make a clean sweep of the past and which invites anyone to follow us in a quest for renewal. Kill Your Idols is all about killing the old ghosts, burning everything down and then coming back to life (can you believe it?) to freely create our future.
Kill Your Idols is being released on Zanias’ Fleisch Records. Where did you first meet Zanias and did she have any advice when approaching this EP?
We first met Alison when we opened for Zanias in Ilmenau, Germany. She then invited us to open for Linea Aspera a few days later. We talked a lot backstage, there was no question for us of making a new EP at that time.
We really liked her mindset, her approach to the industry and her experience. She’s smart and fair and with a sensitivity that spoke to us. When we decided to launch our 3rd EP, we very naturally turned to Fleisch, with the idea that our EP would find it just right. We didn’t any specific instructions in the creative process, things happened spontaneously and easily. We can’t wait for the record to be there!
The artwork of your first EP, Night Is Mine, was inspired by a 17th century painting.
The artwork of Kill Your Idols is a picture of our friend Kris Parenti who photographs us and follows us since the very beginning of the band. He is a long-time friend who understands our universe exactly. The makeup is done by our friend Sandra Marinelli and we loved wearing her work. We wanted this image to be strong and delicate at the same time. It’s intimate and powerful. It reflects our closeness and our work together.
Tell us what inspired the artwork for Kill Your Idols. And in fact what about the title?
Kill Your Idols is the title of a track from the disc. We wrote it in a period when words were freed up, which is a good thing, but which also highlights that people we loved, who were important to us in our adolescence, were in fact responsible for abuse and/or unacceptable behaviour. Obviously we believe the victims and we can only imagine a small part of their suffering. What we were left with was a feeling of betrayal and deep disappointment from these people who were indeed our idols. It’s time to move on and believe in ourselves. The perspective must no longer be blocked by these old chimeras, let’s burn them all!
By extension, it works with all the old convictions, beliefs, the weight of the family, teachers etc. We were also very impressed by these groups of people who were knocking down statues in the public space. It is a strong and symbolic gesture that says no to the constant reminder of an unfair and oppressive old world that can only bring division and hate.
So here it is, it’s a strong reaction to all of this, especially in an idea of rebuilding our time, listen to
the others and writing our history all together on new and healthy bases.
When you are not in the mood for EBM or Coldwave what can we find you listening to?
It’s funny you ask, as we write, we just got back from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos played by an ensemble called Ausonia. We listen to a lot of things, we love French songs like Charles Aznavour, Juliette Greco, Mylène Farmer or Christophe, but also classical music like Chopin, Mozart, Handel or Marin Marais. When we composed our last EP, we listened to a lot by Iggy Pop and the Stooges records, some by David Bowie, also from the garage scene like Jay Reatard, these are energies that have greatly nourished our work. Besides all that, we are always ready to cry with Lana Del Rey or dance to Beyonce.
Sam, you studied archeology. What is your favourite museum to go to and why?
I did! I studied music in ancient Greece. It was a way to combine my two passions of music and greek archeology. I love the Acropolis Museum in Athens, which is a magnificent setting for one of the richest
collections in the world and which I hope will be gathered there very soon. Perhaps visiting Florence, Italy has been the biggest emotional shock for me in recent years. I admit to having a real weakness for small museums lost on small greek islands, they do not have huge collections but have real treasures and the atmosphere is very special. I had the chance to do a good part of my studies within the Royal Museum of Art and History of
Brussels, which is not very well maintained due to lack of budget, a little forgotten but which houses things quite astonishing as in particular one of the most beautiful and complete collections of Greek ceramics (outside Greece). I spent a lot of time wandering around the empty museum and getting lost in beauty. Gaelle is also very sensitive to all these things and we visit a lot even when we are on tour, it’s probably at the museum that you would find us on a day off.
Gaelle, you are a fashion designer. Which collection have you enjoyed over the last 12 months? Whose show would you like to DJ for?
When Sam and I met, it was an instant match. We had so many many common interests, including fashion. We are always waiting for the new shows to watch them together. The collections that I have liked the most lately are the latest Saint Laurent winter 2023 men’s collection by Vaccarello. Each designs are so elegant and pure. For me, it’s really French know-how and the spirit of Yves Saint Laurent, also the music of SebastiAn and Charlotte Gainsbourg, perfect.
I also loved the Balenciaga fall-winter 22-23 collection which took place in a huge snowstorm paying tribute to the heroism of the Ukrainian people. The collection by Demna was very emotionally charged. I remember the beautiful designs and the superb music by BFRND, it was really intense.
It’s hard to choose between all of these, I would also love to DJ for Rick Owens whose fall-winter 22 men’s collection was very inspiring.
Finally we are named after the biggest-selling single of 2001 so we always ask what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
This is the best question ever! Obviously, we are going to answer ‘Emotions’ with these whistled notes that Sam tries tirelessly to reach with more or less accuracy (Just make sure not to be around when he does.)
Ultra Sunn’s Kill Your Idols EP is out 3rd March via Fleisch Records.
