Discover up & coming artists in 10 questions…
From Belgium here are up-and-coming pop daydreamers THE SPECTORS. This swirling
4-headed outfit just released their second longplayer, titled OOH AAH AAH. A sunlit record dominated by glimmering melodies, multi-layered guitar electricity and highly catchy choruses with frontwoman Marieke Hutsebaut‘s sensitive vox in the middle of the ecstasy. Their songwriting formula is simple, yet highly effective. Pop-ular music, ladies and gents, is about elevating tunes infiltrating the listeners’ hungry ears and putting a big smile on their faces. And that’s exactly what The Spectors do. Marieke will tell us a bit more about it all, but before starting the chat let’s get in the right mood with newest single off the album. Here’s radiating gem ‘Only You‘…
Hello Marieke, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…
1/ Is the band’s name in any way related to famous 60s
wall-of-sound producer Phil Spector?
“It is definitely related to Phil Spector. The band name follows
the ‘60s tradition of band names starting with ‘The’.”
A genial Spector from the past…
2/ This is the group’s second album, but with another line-up than the
debut LP. Is it a new start for you too, personally, Marieke, as an artist?
“In a way it is because I feel like I can really do my own thing with this new line-up.”
3/ The new longplayer’s title ‘OOH AAH AAH’ sounds jubilant,
even sensual. What’s the story behind it?
“It is based on the opening line of Borderline, one of the
songs on the album, which starts out with ‘OOH AAH AAH’.”
4/ Who did the front sleeve’s artwork and what
was the inspiration to do it the way it is?
“My dad came up with the idea for the album title and the artwork.
Some people will love it and some people will hate it. The motivation
for the album’s artwork was to shock people with its brutal simplicity.”
The magic of simplicity…
5/ Is ‘Borderline’, one of the album’s singles, about yourself, Marieke.
If so, can you share with us the emotions that led to this song?
“I wrote this song after going to London with my boyfriend at the time. I suffered from
a terrible food poisoning after eating some bad sushi. Because of that I was very weak
and tired and had to rest all the time. He thought I was boring, so he dumped me after London. It’s quite funny when you look back at it.”
6/ If the band was an animal, which one would it be?
“A flamingo. Probably because I’m in bed now and my sheets have
flamingos all over them it’s the first thing that popped into my head.”
Pretty in pink…
7/ Which movie would you pick to visualize the new album
on a big screen when playing a concert?
” ‘Neverending Story‘. It’s one of my favorite movies ever and
I think our dreamy pop songs would go very well with it.”
8/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door would
you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“I would probably never ask an artist for a selfie because I know they
already have to do that all day long. I think I’d just leave them alone
altogether and would only speak to them if they actually wanted to
speak to me.”
9/ The band that’s on top of your dream-list to do a world tour with?
10/ Future plans for THE SPECTORS?
“Playing a lot of shows and start recording
the next album as soon as possible.”
Thank you for the interview, Marieke.
May the road rise with THE SPECTORS!
Here’s OOH AAH AAH in full…
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Album available on iTunes
THE SPECTORS: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
