Project Description
INTERVIEW
WITH
SOUTHERN AVENUE
Interviewer: Jemma Bird
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Recently signed to the famed STAX records, their success has been mind-boggling.. The band has achieved #1 on the US iTunes Blues chart, #6 on the US Billboard Blues chart, and sat in the Top 40 on Americana Radio for over three months. They were also nominated for a prestigious 2018 Blues Music Award in the “Best Emerging Artist Album” category.
The band has toured extensively throughout 2017, appearing at more than 11 festivals in the US and internationally, including Electric Forest, Summerfest, Waterfront Blues, Big Blues Bender (Las Vegas), Winthrop R&B, Moulin Blues (Netherlands) and many more! This year they will be expanding their touring across the world, appearing in the UK, France, Denmark, Norway, and of course the famed Blues on Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.
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Hi Ori, how are you?
Hi, I’m good I’m good.
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That’s good, where abouts are you at the moment?
I’m in Memphis just sitting down chatting to you.
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Oh lovely. Before I get into your upcoming tour, tell me a little bit about how Southern Avenue came about?
We started when I moved to Memphis from Israel in 2013 and toured for 2 years with my other band and decided I wanted a new lead singer, so I hired Tiernii and she told me about her sister TK on the drums and I hired her aswell. After about a month or two we realised we wanted to do something bigger on our own. So we retired my other band and started Southern Avenue.
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I know music has always been in Tierinii and TK’s life growing up, with her parents playing for their church. Was this the same for you and Jeremy, has music always been around?
Yeah. I started playing when I was 5. I just played and listened to music, I grew up on Stax, Memphis and American music. Jeremy grew up with the Stax Academy and has played instruments all his life.
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You have previously described your sound as blues influenced by funk, soul and rock ‘n’ roll. What are some of the artists that have influenced this sound?
It’s funny because we all have such different influences. I don’t really know. I don’t really want to be the one to categorise everyone but I think that Memphis music has been a meeting point for a lot of genres like soul, funk, gospel, blues and rock n roll. What we are doing is original new, Memphis music that is influenced by all of that.
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So your music is more influenced by your location rather than specific artists?
Yeah!
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For anyone who has yet to listen to Southern Avenue. What song would you recommend they start with?
I think ‘Don’t Give Up’ or ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’. Because that’s kind of our lives right now – If you don’t give up everything will be ok.
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You released your self titles album just over a year ago and has incredible success. Ranking #1 on the US itunes chart, #6 on the US billboard chart and you also remains in the top 40 on Americana radio for over 3 months. How did that feel for you guys?
Well it felt great. It felt amazing but that’s not really what matters. It doesn’t matter if we get a #1 or win a Grammy – what really matters is that our music gets to make people happy and change people’s lives, even if it is just for a little bit. That’s what matters the most to us.
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Does that make you guys feel pressured moving forward and writing the next album?
No, not really. The only pressure we have is from us.
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Any plans of a second album? Are you writing at the moment?
Yeah we are writing all the time and have a lot of songs. When you are signed to a major label, a lot goes on and the wheels move and once the label] are ready for us – we will be ready.
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Do you take into consideration that these songs will have to be played live when you’re writing them?
Everything we do is for the live show. There are things like horns and strings that we can’t always take on stage with us so we take that into consideration, but we write the music for our live show.
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You guys are playing Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival on the Goldcoast in Australia. Is this your first time here?
Yes it is.
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Are you planning on doing any headline shows while you’re here?
No we don’t! We had to change some shows and make time in our schedule so that we could come down and play Blues on Broadbeach. We are just happy to come to Australia and hopefully after Blues on Broadbeach people will want us to come back and play headline shows.
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Do you have much time off while you’re here? Is there any touristy things you are looking forward to while you’re in Australia?
We have a few days off. Being from Israel, I want to go to the beach – every beach! We don’t even know how to comprehend that we are coming to Australia, so we are happy to come down and say ‘what’s up?’ and go from there.
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You guys have toured quite a bit over the last year. What has been your favourite place to play?
It’s not really about what’s outside of the room, it’s about what’s inside of the room and how people react to us. So for us we love to play Colorado, Florida and Memphis. We’ve played in Memphis maybe 3 times a year and to come and do a show and have so many people come down and see us makes us really excited. So I guess, I would probably have to say Memphis.
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Lastly just for fun – do you remember your first or most embarrassing email address?
Oh that’s a good question. I’ve never been asked that question. Let me think. Ah, none of mine are embarrassing at all. Let me ask Tierinii. Hers was: [email protected]. Oh god haha.
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Oh that’s a good one! Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
No thank-you so much! We are so excited to come to Australia and see everyone there.
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