Radar Men From The Moon interview

"Τo offer the music free is really just a way of us saying; 'Hey, like what you hear? Support us and buy the album. If not, no worries.'"

22/04/2013 @ 13:49
We spoke with Radar Men From The Moon, and specifically with Glenn Peeters and Tony Lathouwers, since in a few days we will have the chance to enjoy them live in our country.

Radar Men From The MoonHow do you get the name 'Radar Men From The Moon'?
Tony: Well we actually just made a list of names we thought were funny or cool. For a while we couldn’t really decide what name to choose. But then suddenly we stumbled across this old sci-fi series called “Radar men from the Moon”. And it was so cheesy we instantly fell in love with it.

Which are your influences?
Tony: We like to think we got a lot of influences. I mean, we obviously geek out on music and cool bands, just like everyone else who likes good music. But if I had to name a few; Motorpsycho, Disappears, Pink Floyd, A place to bury strangers, Sonic Youth, Can, HOLY FUCK, Maserati and Neu!

Radar Men From The MoonIs there any concept in your albums structure?
Glenn: The albums are loosely based on a concept. But it's the music that comes first. After we have the music we come up with a direction/an idea. I come up with the titles (I love putting words together) and do the artwork.

How do you entitle your sound? What is the kind of music are you playing?
Glenn: Spacerock? Dreamy artrock? Kaleidoscopic noise?
Tony: I always prefer to keep it simple; Instrumental Space rock.

Have you ever think to use lyrics and voices on your tracks?
Tony: We sometimes use samples from old sci-fi movies as “voices”. But we don’t really use vocals, though we have thought about the possibility to use vocals as an extra instrument.

Radar Men From The MoonPresent me your previous albums in a few words.
Glenn: I think on the first one; Intergalactic DaDa and space trombones we were still searching a bit for our sound. The album also sounds more lo-fi. Our second album; Echo forever sounds more cohesive and to me it has a monumental feel to it, and deals with a more darker vibe. I think all our music has a surreal twist to it.

What was the reasoning behind making your music available for free download?
Tony: This is a very interesting question. Because, I follow an entertainment industry based study at the moment. We almost instantly agreed that our music should be free for everyone to listen and stream/download on a certain site (bandcamp, soundcloud, piratebay). I strongly believe that artists should offer their music for free digitally in order to spread the music worldwide in a decent fashion. We all live in a digital age right now, CD is dead, Vinyl is kind of cool but it’s far from what it used to be. So we figured, people who would like the music would buy it anyway, either digital or physical, it doesn’t really matter. So to offer the music free is really just a way of us saying; "Hey, like what you hear? Support us and buy the album. If not, no worries".

Radar Men From The MoonDo you have any new plans?
We have a lot of plans. I can’t really elaborate on it, simply because we don’t have any deadlines yet.

Have you ever been in Athens , or any other place in Greece, before?
Tony: No! This is our first tour, and our first time in Greece! So we are really excited to get the opportunity to play and tour in Greece. Hopefully we get the chance to see the rest of Athens and Thessaloniki, but seeing we have a tight schedule, I really doubt it.

What we have to expect about you, from your live performance?
Tony: Well, it is pretty hard for me to explain our live performance to anyone. I always think reviewers can do that better than me. We don’t talk during our performance, we just play our songs straight forward without stopping, sometimes adding extensions or “jams”. Just get ready for a sonic attack!

Radar Men From The MoonWhat is the worst ever experience, you’ve got from a live performance?
Tony: Haha, playing our first gig at a wedding party for my parents in their backyard. People started fleeing the tent when Glenn hit his first note. Wrong audience I guess! Besides that we don’t really have bad experiences from live shows. We like to be on the road and have fun, If something bad or stupid happens on our own account, we just laugh about it.

Any messages for your fans?
Yes, come and dance with us! See you in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Theodosis Genitsaridis
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