Previous Story
Q&A with MILKY CHANCE – Coachella 2015 Edition!
Posted On 11 May 2015
Comment: 0
Tag: All Access, All Access Music, All Access Music Group, Coachella, Coachella 2015, Coachella Music Festival, Empire Polo Fields, Festival, Flash Junk Mind, German, Germany, Indio, Interview, Justified, Justin Timberlake, Kassel, Milky Chance, Music, Music Festival, music interview, Palm Springs, Pharrell Williams, Sadnecesary, Señorita, Stolen Dance
“You’re sad the other person isn’t there, but you’re also happy for the beautiful moments you’ve spent together.”
Sadnecessary, released on the musicians’ own Lichtdicht Records in Europe, became a phenomenon followed by packed shows around the continent.
In early 2014, Republic Records inked a deal with Milky Chance (Clemens Rehbein and
Philipp Dauschto) and release the record stateside, opening them up to their largest audience yet. Now, songs like “Down By The River” flow between poetic musing and delightfully danceable grooves. Their first single “Stolen Dance” was released in April 2013, peaking at No. 1 on charts in countries such as Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary.
“There is actually a personal story behind ‘Down By The River’,” he adds. “In general it’s about being in love, but there’s a lot of room for interpretation. That’s important to us.”
These songs immediately resonated too. Sadnecessary debuted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 upon release, and it eventually went gold in Canada. Boasting over 122 million-plus YouTube views, enjoying 2014’s “second longest run at #1” on Alternative and AAA, entering Shazam’s Hall of Fame as the “12th most-Shazamed song of all-time,” and racking up platinum single sales in the United States as certified by the RIAA, “Stolen Dance” literally captivated millions.
As 2015 ramped up, the second single from Sadnecessary, “Flashed Junk Mind,” went gold in Australia and started to gain immense traction at Alternative and AAA.
Ultimately, because of its emotional expanse, Sadnecessary signals even bigger things on the horizon for Milky Chance. Clemens leaves off,
“At the end of the day, we’re most happy when people discover our music for themselves and have fun at one of our concerts. It’s just great when they listen to a song and connect it to a personal experience. That’s the most amazing thing, and we’d love to encourage that.”
All Access Music writer, Nicole DeRosa got to catch up with lead singer, Clemens Rehbein post Coachella. Read more in their interview below!
Hi Clemens! Where does this interview find you? What else is on the agenda today besides our interview?
Hey there! I’m already in my bed in our nightliner. We had a day off today so besides playing basketball and having dinner there was nothing to do 🙂
You guys just played Coachella! How was that?
It was a mind-blowing huge crowd!
The first weekend was horrible for me cause I got sick the day before and had problems with my voice. I decided to do the show anyway, but then I had to break the set off quite earlier because I just couldn’t sing anymore. It was not one of the best experiences I had but the people were really appreciative and I’m really grateful for that! The second weekend was really fun then…healthy band = happy band 😉
You released your self-produced album, Sadnecessary last year. Was there an overall vibe or theme you wanted to infuse in this album? Do you both collaborate on the lyrics and instrumentation or does one person do one versus the other?
I do the lyrics and the instrumentation so there was no competition at all. I guess the overall vibe is something like, danceable melancholy, but it wasn’t like I wanted to infuse a certain kind of thing…I just had all these songs finished and we recorded them together.
Your latest single is entitled, “Flash Junk Mind” but it is your single, “Stolen Dance,” that has attracted lots of attention in the States and put you on the map here. The song became a viral hit last year abroad even before you released Sadnecesary. How did that song come about? Did the lyrics or the melody come first?
It is always the melody and the chords that come first when I write songs. The chorus existed for a long time and after a while, I just started working with it again and wrote a verse to it.
It is only a given that I must ask, how did you come up with the name Milky Chance?
I came up with that name when I was younger to save songs on my computer even before this whole thing started and there’s no meaning or story hidden behind these two words.
Did you both grow up in Kassel, Germany? How did your location influence you growing up?
I was born and raised in Kassel. Philipp moved there when he was around 9 years old. The city is not too big so you kind of learn how to get a relaxed way of living…but you can’t generalize, at least it’s different for each individual and it depends on who you get to know around the place…
I read that your song, “Stolen Dance”, took three years to write. Why so long?
That was just because I started working with the chorus a few years later. As I said before…sometimes you just have to let things grow and give them some time…
Do you remember the first album you purchased for yourself?
I guess one of the first I had was Justified by Justin Timberlake. I got it as a present from my mom back in the day.
What was your favorite song growing up and why?
My favorite song on Justin’s album Justified was “Senorita”…simply because of the production the instrumental and everything. I think it was produced by Pharrell Williams.
Actually, I didn’t have a favorite song growing up… there are so many and when you start to discover this huge world of music, you just can’t pick one favorite cause there are just too many good songs out there!
What’s on tap next for you guys?
We will just tour a lot this summer until the end of August and then we will take a break and record new stuff during winter.
To learn more about MILKY CHANCE , visit them HERE
