These Your Children

Rebeka and Joe from These Your Children chat to LeftLion

How long have you been making music as a duo?
Rebeka: We've been together as a duo for about three and a half years now, but have been friends since birth.

When did you realise you had such a dreamy lyrical compatibility?
Joe: We started doing some online covers which we got some good feedback from, so started writing together.

Can you tell us a bit about your creative process when it comes to songwriting?
Rebeka: Our writing usually stems from an initial concept...
Joe: A feeling or emotion...
Rebeka: We love storytelling with our music, so often the songs are a lyrical expression of something we've experienced. One of us will come with a melody or lyrics and then we thrash it through together, or we tell each other we hate it and it gets awkward…

What do you learn from each other’s differences?
Rebeka: We are both very similar in lots of ways, we look the same and are both high energy, pretty whacky people, but we also have big differences. When it comes to writing I'll take a more poetic, long winded way to pose something where Joe may be more straight to the point, but in life I'd say I'm a bit more say it as it is. Being two minds that have the capacity to work as one is such a gift. One brings clarity where the other may be scatty, one brings a musical concept when the other has no words. It’s great!
Joe: Every person has a perspective, individualism and something to say. When being in the creative process together, it's important to respect each other's ideas, even if you think it's crap.

You’ve described your style as ‘storytelling music’. Are there particular messages you like to put across in these stories?
Joe: Each song has its own story and emotion, we probably couldn't nail down one message to put across a group of songs, but hope each song has its own message.
Rebeka: I think throughout our music there isn't one specific message, but through each song we like to thread the topic of that song clearly. The song David from the EP tells a story of a boy we came across who had been beaten by his dad, but the overriding message through the song is that we can all see the surface of an act like that but the context of someone’s life is also powerful in explaining why they are the way they are; there is always something deeper going on than what we see.

How did you both get into music? Are there any artists or bands that have played a big part in influencing you?
Rebeka: Music was a huge part of my upbringing. There was always lots of music in the house. I grew up on Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Sounds of Blackness, and then had my first introduction to pop through the Spice Girls! I think both of our musical upbringings play a big part in our music now. We both had jazz as a part of our early years and although you wouldn't hear it directly in our music, it’s in 'our ears' when we're writing. More currently, we're both fans of Matt Corby and Joy Mumford.
Joe: I got into music at an early age by going to church. When I moved to South Africa I loved listening to African jazz music and a healthy dose of Earth Wind and Fire, and Christina Aguilera, which led to me coming back to the UK to study jazz at university.

I saw you play at The Royal Concert Hall a while back under the name Noah. How did the name change come about?
Joe: We took on new management a while back and the word Noah is very overused on the interweb. So before we released our EP, we decided to change our name to something that was more expressive of who we are and what our music is like. We like to think the name is all about capturing the essence of being young and free. We love this quote: “We think we understand the rules when we grow up, but what we actually experience is a narrowing of the imagination.”

How does it feel now you have officially released your first EP?
Rebeka: It feels epic! It is something we've been building and conceiving and thinking about for so long so to finally have a sound to the theory is so freeing. We both felt like it was our birthday.

If you could play a gig anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Joe: Red Rocks Amphitheatre 100%. That would be mental.
Rebeka: Somewhere breathtaking, like a Canadian valley, because the nature would enhance the musical experience. Or in the interval of The Lion King on Broadway....

Where would you like to see yourselves in five years?
Rebeka: If not as Nala and Simba in The Lion King then it would be amazing to be touring with an album, playing incredible live venues, our songs to be known, more topics breeched with our music and to round it off, a show with Stevie Wonder.
Joe: Hopefully we’ll have a bigger fan base, a world tour, and a No 1 album wouldn’t be too bad…

Are you looking forward to your upcoming gigs in Nottingham and London? Can you tell our readers a little about the show and why they should go?
Rebeka: We are so excited for our shows. The rehearsals have been great because we're finally going to perform the songs as we wrote them to sound, with a band bringing the energy the songs need. People can expect some intimate vocals, awkward chatter, but high energy, freedom feeling songs.
Joe: Come and hear the EP the way we intended it to be heard: with intense eye gazing, dancing, and thinking.

How are you going to round off this year?
Rebeka: Have an epic time at both shows, keep promoting the EP, get working on new material, and enjoy some mulled wine!
Joe: We also have a few sessions booked in for some more recording...

Do you have anything you’d like to say to our readers?
Rebeka: Brings your flasks of tea, your nan, your dog and come along to our gigs.

Fires, the debut EP from These Your Children is out now via Homemade Recordings. Listen on Soundcloud.

These Your Children perform at The Bodega on Wednesday 18 November 2015. Facebook event.

These Your Children on Facebook
These Your Children on Soundcloud