I’ve had some of my favourite artists contact me about my blog and hat I write about them such as Summer Camp and Big Deal. A few months ago, I wrote about a band called Sensual Harassment; Todd from the band emailed me a few weeks ago thanking me for writing about his band. Normally, I’d just reply with a thank you and leave it at that. Mainly because I don’t want to seem like a massive creeper. However, I have been hugely in awe of Sensual Harassment and I didn’t want to just leave it with a thank you.

See, ideally I would’ve done this interview with the band in some underground bar in New York at 2am surrounded by hopeless drunks and unknown musicians. I guess that’s the tragic romantic in me. Instead, this was done over email which allowed the band to take their time with answering the questions. I haven’t shortened/edited any of the answers as it would just take everything away from this article, besides- the answers are brilliant and I don’t want to deny you of that.

What I love about Sensual Harassment is that they have created this wonderful, euphoric electro sound. I know, you probably are wondering how these guys are different. I mean, there are so many electro artists around; how could you possibly be able to tell the difference? Quite simply really. Their songs last over 5 minutes and it just sends you into this amazing whirlwind of a trance. If you go for a walk whilst listening to them, I can guarantee you will feel like you are elsewhere; and for the most part that is entirely needed.

One of the things I really wanted to know about the band is what they want a new fan to take from their music, and also if they were conscious about the fact that their music does give you this lucid/trippy feeling.

“The word that comes to mind is visceral.  When I listen to music, I want to be moved – both emotionally and physically.  I wouldn’t say we’re a ‘drug band’, but music should take you to different/strange places the way that drugs do – I think that’s why historically music and drugs have always seemed to go hand in hand.”

He’s totally right, music SHOULD move you in every single way. Why create something or listen to something that has no depth or substance to it? Sensual Harassment’s music does take you to a different place, a place that just completely frees you; mind, body and soul.

When you have artists that have had this hard work ethic about them, it is easy to want to aspire to be like that. To just put your all into it. For example, when I write here; I always have to put my all into it. I don’t care if I have to stay up until 3am to make a sentence flow the way I want or searching for hours for a specific word- I just have to put my all into it, if you love something that’s exactly what one should do.

“I think as an artist your goal is to make people feel something.  When you’re really being yourself as an artist and you’re challenging yourself and being revealing, you’re much more likely to win over an audience.   I think we’ve always had a philosophy that comes from the school of Bruce Springsteen or Fugazi in that you have to really throw all of yourself into your music, even bleed for it – and their lives shows make that abundantly clear.  People look to artists to be the most free and the most revealing and brave.”

Those that show this raw, revealing side are the easiest to relate to, however I can imagine if an artist does this every night on stage it must become quite draining. We all have limits.

At the moment, the guys are in the studio recording new material. As a massive Music obsessive, I always love hearing about how a band records, how they come up with ideas and what influences them; whether it be a place, book or piece of music. I just find the whole process to be entirely fascinating. There’s something truly wonderful about knowing the background to one of your favourite records and what they go through to get there. As they’re currently in the studio, I asked them how it was going and what is influencing them at present:

“Recording is going great.  It’s always a slower process than you would like it to be, but you know in the end it’s worth it to take your time and nail it.  I think on the last record we experimented a lot with distorted kicks, distorted vocals and over the top mixes.  I think we’re putting a real focus now on very ‘clean and open’ mixes with room for instruments to breathe.  I think we’re still reeling from parts of Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours record, which was just a great dance pop record that moved a lot of people.   We’ve also been really obsessed with Phil Spector’s girl groups The Ronettes and The Crystals.  Everyone talks about the vocals and reverb on those records which are fantastic, but I think a lot of people miss the amazing percussion that’s happening there too.  You wonder why those records are so infectious and when we began looking at it, to us it was very clear that the percussion was a huge driving factor in those songs.  I think you’ll hear all those influences on the new stuff.”

Knowing that Sensual Harassment are being influenced by one of the greatest (albeit mental but a genius nonetheless) producers of all time, I am seriously excited about their next release. Big percussion sounds, infectious beats- this record should quite rightfully, be huge. I’ll have to make it my mission to get the UK on board with it.

When I interviewed Warpaint, I was really interested in what process they went through whilst recording. When you watch them live or their interviews, you can see how close they are. It’s like a sisterhood. Ever since then, I’ve just been really in awe of the processes a band goes through to create music. Do they fight? Is one in more control than the other? Do ideas just happen? I love how every band has such a different approach to music, if they all approached it the same way well, it’d be dull. Trust me, Sensual Harassment are not dull. Check who they are working with too:

“Everyone comes to the table with ideas, and when you hear someone else’s idea that is inspiring, you hop on it and try and contribute.  We all do demos by ourselves and a lot of the initial process is done separately.  Sometimes it’s done all together in a band room, but a lot of the time people are coming up with songs that are 70% finished before anyone else touches it.  We actually enjoy doing it that way because the song ends up with a real focused sound because the primary spark came from one vision with small contributors.  We do a large part of our own tracking/mixing and then when we’re all done we take it to Jesse Cannon (our very good friend and brilliant engineer who’s worked with some really cool bands like The Cure, The Misfits).  Jesse gives our songs the last bit of polish that they need and is also a great unbiased voice in solving band arguments about mixes.” 

Working with Jesse Cannon?! It cannot get any better than that dear reader.

Aside from how bands create their music, I am also interested in where they are from and if the place they reside in have any kind of effect on their music. Does place drive them to have a certain sound? Does a specific building leave them in awe and move them, causing them to be influenced in such a grand way?

The band is currently based in New York, but that isn’t where they were formed:

“We are all from North Carolina originally and moved up to NYC to take our music to the next level…  We lived in a small enough town (Wilmington, NC) where everyone pretty much knows who all the musicians are, so in the end, if you’re looking for people to play in your band, you have a handful of the usual suspects to choose from.  We also gravitated to each other because we were the most Stalinist about being organized and getting things done musically.  There’s no shortage of good musicians out there, just a shortage of people who will put in the lifelong dedication to it.”

I was only ever aware of one artist from North Carolina and that’s Petey Pablo. That beat to Raise Up is insane. As the State has given us a band as stunning as Sensual Harassment, I feel inclined to check out more bands from the area; and so should you!

New York, New York- so much to answer for you rascal of a city. You’ve given us Punk, a genre that owns my heart. You’ve given us The Strokes, a band whose debut album title is tattooed upon me. Now? Now you’ve got hold of Sensual Harassment. When a band moves from one place to settle in another, can the city they settle in give them a whole new sound? Can it provide a love/hate relationship? Has the move changed Sensual Harassment in any way at all?:

“When I moved to the city, I had a painter friend already here and told me: “The city changes you man.  It changes who you are and it changes your art”.  I wanted to believe he was wrong, but he was 100% correct.  I think our core hasn’t changed, but New York in particular forces you to grow and forces you into strange experiences.  Lyrically, the city and my experiences in it are all over our music – no doubt that NYC life has played a huge influence on that.  I don’t know if the city forces a sound on you.  I feel like more than anything it challenges you to be MORE of yourself because you’ve got some great bands around you bringing it every single night and becoming hugely successful.  It’s certainly a temptation to drift towards a ‘NY Sound’ or current trend but that never made any sense for us.  We’re usually much more concerned about discovering strange and interesting music no matter its origin.”

I’ve heard people say that about London, when you move there it just changes everything about your art and who you are. Sometimes this change can be awful, sometimes (and in this case no doubt) it works extremely well; it allows the artist to grow and evolve in their sound.

However, when moving to a city such as New York, the home of the greats such as New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground; is there any pressure for the band to change or to go along with certain trends? Let’s be honest here, you do get tired of seeing an artist stand on the stage with just an acoustic guitar with a “woe is me” all over their face or meaningless pop music that holds no value. Yes electro is a popular sound, and everything seems to have a synth smothered all over, but a lot of amazing electro bands are well and truly overlooked. Music critics tell you about what they want you to listen to, they don’t give you the bands that could probably change your life and record collection. This is why I found Sensual Harassment at 3am and was utterly grateful for having an atrocious sleep pattern.

So, with all this, do they feel they have something to live up to that has been forced down their necks by ego-ridden critics? :

“I think being from NYC helps and hurts.  On one hand bloggers and critics will occasionally listen to you because you’re from an area (Williamsburg Brooklyn) where there is a huge scene.  On the other hand, there are haters and huge expectations for New Yorkers.  We usually just ignore it all.  It’s funny because our sound is not really common in New York and we initially had a tough time winning over New York audiences – or at least tougher than elsewhere.  New York people are often on the cutting edge of what some people term ‘the scene’ but people here can also be quite self-conscious.  Sometimes it takes them longer to stand up and say ‘hey, I don’t care what you think, this music is great’.  So it’s taken a few brave people to say ‘hey, this band doesn’t sound like indie rock, or whatever is the trend right now, but they’re doing something different and that’s cool’.”

This is why I adore Sensual Harassment, they are different, but you can tell it isn’t forced. This is a natural sound they posses; they don’t do this to impress anyone or to be one some redundant “cool” list. So all you lazy hipsters out there who listen to certain bands to just be cool- you’re wrong. Open your ears, and stop thinking its vintage because there are a few holes in it. You’re missing out and depriving yourself of something mind-blowing and ethereal.

I’m going to wrap it up here. In over 2000 words I hope I have managed to make you want to check out Sensual Harassment’s music. A lot of bands call themselves “artists” but have nothing to back it up, Sensual Harassment see right through:

“If you’re going to call yourself something somewhat pretentious like ‘an artist’, you damn well better be pushing your own boundaries and not just posturing.  Music is a craft most anyone can learn.  There’s a general structure you can follow and sounds you can quickly dial up and create a ‘song’.  But we want to find the spaces in-between.  We want to put the intangibles in there and really make people feel that we’ve put our own unique DNA into these songs.”

Sensual Harassment well and truly pushes boundaries- their own and the “ideals” that are foolishly set by those who claim to be experts. Go against what is expected of you, always. It’s a sure fire way to create something honest, beautiful and your own.