Post by richnorri on May 16, 2007 7:14:05 GMT
Hello everybody! 
Here is a long interview from I Like Music.
Richard
Here is a long interview from I Like Music.
All Angels chat to I Like Music
United by their enjoyment of music, Charlotte, Melanie, Laura, and Daisy [pictured left to right] combine to form a unique vocal quartet for the 21st century. All aged 16 and 17, All Angels bring a fresh new sound - and a bright new look - to classical crossover music, with a repertoire spanning classical, choral, opera and pop.
All Angels performed on the Classical Brits, which was aired on May 13th on ITV1, and they were also nominated for album of the year! To celebrate, a new version of the album is being released featuring three new tracks and is available for digital download now.
I Like Music caught up with the delightful All Angels girls to talk about their music, Arctic Monkeys and flying planes.
"I Like Music because… it can express every possible emotion." MELANIE, ALL ANGELS
"I Like Music because… it saves people." DAISY, ALL ANGELS
ILM: This special re-release of All Angels has 3 new tracks - Nimrod, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace and Pie Jesu. Which track did you have the most fun laying down in the studio?
Charlotte: Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace meant the most to us, just because we sang it at the Royal Albert Hall in November and the idea of doing it again in February was just brilliant, it was so nice to rerecord that and relive all the memories was really nice. And it's a light-hearted peaceful song, so I think that's why we liked it so much.
ILM: Wow, the Royal Albert Hall … that must have been amazing?
Charlotte: Yeah, I thought I'd just drop that in [laughs]
Laura: There's something when we perform that just clicks and we can perform all kinds of different harmonies which can be quite challenging, but it's really fun.
ILM: You each sing in a slightly different register. How do you look after your voices?
Charlotte: Before singing we'll all sip water for about three hours before (but only little sips because apparently gulping it down isn't very good for you). And we have warming up sessions where we do scales, breathing and physical exercises as well.
ILM: Now, Charlotte, you played a Hogwarts pupil in the last Harry Potter film. How was that whole experience?
Charlotte: It was amazing. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. After refusing to read any of the books, I then became a huge fan reading the third book and then read all of them twice, and I was so excited when I had the opportunity to be in the film, because I just love acting and films and things. So to be involved on a real film set was very exciting.
ILM: What are your ambitions in life and musically?
Charlotte: When I was younger, I never thought I'd be a singer, but I took singing lessons because I loved it, but when I got a bit better at it and started to take it a bit more seriously, it was such a nice surprise to be able to be classed as kind of good enough to be in a group like this. I've always loved acting as well and perhaps I'll go back to that when I'm much older. But, at the moment, I'm just looking forward to doing our next album and seeing what happens with that. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, because I'm still young, so just to do lots more things really.
Daisy: I definitely want to do music for the rest of my life, whether it's performing or composing. It's such an important part of my life and I just couldn't imagine not being involved in it. First and foremost I want to be be a singer I like jazz music as well as classical and musical theatre. I'd like to be able to just sing to the best of my ability and hopefully inspire others to sing, and maybe to revolutionise the music industry.
ILM: Daisy, you actually released your own solo jazz album when you were just 15. How did that compare as an experience with releasing your All Angels album?
Daisy: It was very different in that it's a different genre, so you sing with different technique and different knowledge about the style. And also I wasn't use to having to blend with other voices. It's quite difficult in itself to sing in unison with other people, because there's differences in tone and pitch and so on. So there were lots of things I hadn't considered before that I suddenly had to, so it was a really good learning experience.
And the great thing about it was enjoying these new experiences with people who'd started with you, so you were growing together. It was nice to have that support from other people.
ILM: I hear you were all protesting about the removal of Elgar from a bank note, especially seeing as it's the 150th anniversary of the birth of Elgar. Explain.
Laura: Well, we're performing at the Classical Brits and we're performing Nimrod by Elgar and so that linked in with it. And also with it being the anniversary of his birth, we stood outside the Bank of England and sang part of Nimrod and it attracted some attention. So it was quite good just raising general awareness that he is being taken off the bank note, and we felt strongly that it shouldn't be this year, if it had to be a year at all to be removed.
ILM: Your repertoire spans classical, choral, opera and pop. What kind of music do you listen to for pleasure?
Charlotte: We all listen to a big eclectic mix of music, but recent bands… Jamie T, who's out at the moment, I like him, I think he's brilliant. And a band called the Maccabees, I really like. And I like Jeff Buckley, he's one of my favourites.
Melanie: I have to say I do really like the new Arctic Monkeys album. I was slightly hesitant about buying it, but I read a great review of it, and I think it's as good and maybe even better than the first album. I like Ray La Montagne as well. He's got an amazing voice, and I quite like Mika
Daisy: Jazz has always been a big one for me. It's the kind of music I first started listening to with my parents and, since then, I've always gone back to it. Whenever I have the choice of radio stations on my little DAB radio I always go for Jazz, it's just something that really excites me.
ILM: Your debut album was one of the biggest selling Classical albums of 2006, and you've been nominated for album of the year! you're performing on the Classical Brits, to be aired on May 13th on ITV1, it must be exciting for you right now are you enjoying the journey?
Melanie: Ooh definitely, we're all enjoying every minute of it, because we've been meeting so many amazing people along the way and this whole experience could open so many doors for us, so who knows what might happen in the future. But I think we're definitely taking time to enjoy the whole experience. When we've been on radio tours, we've been able to visit different cities up and down the country, and I'd been thinking of going to Bristol university, and we did a radio interview in Bristol, and we got to have a quick look around the city, which was nice, and I'm glad we did.
ILM: So, Melanie, I hear you're training for your pilot's licence. How come? What's it like?
Melanie: Firstly it's fantastic and I'd recommend it to everyone. It all happened through my school actually, as they offered a sixth form flying scholarship. And I was first introduced to flying through my dad because he glides in Shropshire where I live. So I did a test flight and then went on a week long course and then this scholarship came up at school where you could learn how to fly a power plane, which also interested me, so I applied for it and I was lucky enough to get it. And I've gone solo since I first received the scholarship so now I'm just working towards my licence. And then, hopefully, I'll be able to get the licence and fly the other girls around, you know, when we go on tour to the Bahamas… [laughs]
ILM: Yeah, get your private jet and you'll be off!
Melanie: Exactly.
ILM: And it's nice you've all got outside interests as well.
Melanie: Yeah, I think it's nice that we can all bring something extra to the group, apart from just the music and singing, it's great.
ILM: Laura you're reigning BBC Radio 2 Chorister of the Year. How was that winning that title?
Laura: Well, unfortunately it's finished now because I did my last performance a couple of weeks ago (I had the title for 2005-2006 but it's really lucky that it's carried on into this year). And at the final at Westminster Abbey, me and the other girls got to sing there whilst passing over to the new winners and wishing them the best of luck. I've had such a great year and it's opened up so many doors and given me so many opportunities, it's been really enjoyable and helped me so much with stage presence, interviews and everything. And the people involved are so lovely, so it was really good.
ILM: And I hear you're a bit of a sports prodigy as well. What sports are you into?
Laura: I adore sports and live for sport really. I like watching sport and being involved in it. At school in the winter term I play hockey, in the autumn term, netball and the spring and summer term its tennis, so I'm doing quite a bit of tennis at the moment. My favourite is probably hockey though, and they also have athletics, so it's a big mix really. I enjoy team sports and a lot of my friends are quite sporty as well.
ILM: Any tips or advice for budding artists and producers starting out?
Melanie: You've got to have a lot of patience, because … I think we've all been very lucky, in a very lucky situation, to have been found through these auditions, but it doesn't always happen like that, and I think sometimes you've just got to persevere and you've got to have a certain level of determination. Believe in yourself and hopefully you will have the opportunity and, if you do, have fun and enjoy yourself and take in every minute.
Daisy: A good tip would be to spend a lot of time thinking about the music and what it is they want to do or to change. It helps knowing what your purpose is. It focuses you a bit more. You have to remember it's a business as well.
ILM: What influenced you to get into music in the first place and did you do music at school?
Laura: I was about 13 when I first got in to music and I was in the last year at my prep school, the junior school of where I am now. And I started singing lessons because my friends were doing it and it seemed like good fun and it meant that you could sing in groups and do duets and it's gone from there. It's been such a roller coaster for all of us, so I'm really lucky with the opportunity that I've had, along with the other girls.
"I Like Music because… it can bring joy to myself and my family when I'm feeling down, it has the ability to lift my mood. And it's a global thing as well, everyone can listen to music." LAURA, ALL ANGELS
"I Like Music because… it's the feeling that you listen to a song it's the idea that someone you've never met before has written down what they think in a song, and you feel the same way. I find that really odd, a feeling you think is personal to you but someone else feels it as well, so you listen to lyrics and they describe it and put there finger on something you couldn't. It makes you realise that there's so much of human nature that we all share." CHARLOTTE, ALL ANGELS
United by their enjoyment of music, Charlotte, Melanie, Laura, and Daisy [pictured left to right] combine to form a unique vocal quartet for the 21st century. All aged 16 and 17, All Angels bring a fresh new sound - and a bright new look - to classical crossover music, with a repertoire spanning classical, choral, opera and pop.
All Angels performed on the Classical Brits, which was aired on May 13th on ITV1, and they were also nominated for album of the year! To celebrate, a new version of the album is being released featuring three new tracks and is available for digital download now.
I Like Music caught up with the delightful All Angels girls to talk about their music, Arctic Monkeys and flying planes.
"I Like Music because… it can express every possible emotion." MELANIE, ALL ANGELS
"I Like Music because… it saves people." DAISY, ALL ANGELS
ILM: This special re-release of All Angels has 3 new tracks - Nimrod, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace and Pie Jesu. Which track did you have the most fun laying down in the studio?
Charlotte: Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace meant the most to us, just because we sang it at the Royal Albert Hall in November and the idea of doing it again in February was just brilliant, it was so nice to rerecord that and relive all the memories was really nice. And it's a light-hearted peaceful song, so I think that's why we liked it so much.
ILM: Wow, the Royal Albert Hall … that must have been amazing?
Charlotte: Yeah, I thought I'd just drop that in [laughs]
Laura: There's something when we perform that just clicks and we can perform all kinds of different harmonies which can be quite challenging, but it's really fun.
ILM: You each sing in a slightly different register. How do you look after your voices?
Charlotte: Before singing we'll all sip water for about three hours before (but only little sips because apparently gulping it down isn't very good for you). And we have warming up sessions where we do scales, breathing and physical exercises as well.
ILM: Now, Charlotte, you played a Hogwarts pupil in the last Harry Potter film. How was that whole experience?
Charlotte: It was amazing. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. After refusing to read any of the books, I then became a huge fan reading the third book and then read all of them twice, and I was so excited when I had the opportunity to be in the film, because I just love acting and films and things. So to be involved on a real film set was very exciting.
ILM: What are your ambitions in life and musically?
Charlotte: When I was younger, I never thought I'd be a singer, but I took singing lessons because I loved it, but when I got a bit better at it and started to take it a bit more seriously, it was such a nice surprise to be able to be classed as kind of good enough to be in a group like this. I've always loved acting as well and perhaps I'll go back to that when I'm much older. But, at the moment, I'm just looking forward to doing our next album and seeing what happens with that. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, because I'm still young, so just to do lots more things really.
Daisy: I definitely want to do music for the rest of my life, whether it's performing or composing. It's such an important part of my life and I just couldn't imagine not being involved in it. First and foremost I want to be be a singer I like jazz music as well as classical and musical theatre. I'd like to be able to just sing to the best of my ability and hopefully inspire others to sing, and maybe to revolutionise the music industry.
ILM: Daisy, you actually released your own solo jazz album when you were just 15. How did that compare as an experience with releasing your All Angels album?
Daisy: It was very different in that it's a different genre, so you sing with different technique and different knowledge about the style. And also I wasn't use to having to blend with other voices. It's quite difficult in itself to sing in unison with other people, because there's differences in tone and pitch and so on. So there were lots of things I hadn't considered before that I suddenly had to, so it was a really good learning experience.
And the great thing about it was enjoying these new experiences with people who'd started with you, so you were growing together. It was nice to have that support from other people.
ILM: I hear you were all protesting about the removal of Elgar from a bank note, especially seeing as it's the 150th anniversary of the birth of Elgar. Explain.
Laura: Well, we're performing at the Classical Brits and we're performing Nimrod by Elgar and so that linked in with it. And also with it being the anniversary of his birth, we stood outside the Bank of England and sang part of Nimrod and it attracted some attention. So it was quite good just raising general awareness that he is being taken off the bank note, and we felt strongly that it shouldn't be this year, if it had to be a year at all to be removed.
ILM: Your repertoire spans classical, choral, opera and pop. What kind of music do you listen to for pleasure?
Charlotte: We all listen to a big eclectic mix of music, but recent bands… Jamie T, who's out at the moment, I like him, I think he's brilliant. And a band called the Maccabees, I really like. And I like Jeff Buckley, he's one of my favourites.
Melanie: I have to say I do really like the new Arctic Monkeys album. I was slightly hesitant about buying it, but I read a great review of it, and I think it's as good and maybe even better than the first album. I like Ray La Montagne as well. He's got an amazing voice, and I quite like Mika
Daisy: Jazz has always been a big one for me. It's the kind of music I first started listening to with my parents and, since then, I've always gone back to it. Whenever I have the choice of radio stations on my little DAB radio I always go for Jazz, it's just something that really excites me.
ILM: Your debut album was one of the biggest selling Classical albums of 2006, and you've been nominated for album of the year! you're performing on the Classical Brits, to be aired on May 13th on ITV1, it must be exciting for you right now are you enjoying the journey?
Melanie: Ooh definitely, we're all enjoying every minute of it, because we've been meeting so many amazing people along the way and this whole experience could open so many doors for us, so who knows what might happen in the future. But I think we're definitely taking time to enjoy the whole experience. When we've been on radio tours, we've been able to visit different cities up and down the country, and I'd been thinking of going to Bristol university, and we did a radio interview in Bristol, and we got to have a quick look around the city, which was nice, and I'm glad we did.
ILM: So, Melanie, I hear you're training for your pilot's licence. How come? What's it like?
Melanie: Firstly it's fantastic and I'd recommend it to everyone. It all happened through my school actually, as they offered a sixth form flying scholarship. And I was first introduced to flying through my dad because he glides in Shropshire where I live. So I did a test flight and then went on a week long course and then this scholarship came up at school where you could learn how to fly a power plane, which also interested me, so I applied for it and I was lucky enough to get it. And I've gone solo since I first received the scholarship so now I'm just working towards my licence. And then, hopefully, I'll be able to get the licence and fly the other girls around, you know, when we go on tour to the Bahamas… [laughs]
ILM: Yeah, get your private jet and you'll be off!
Melanie: Exactly.
ILM: And it's nice you've all got outside interests as well.
Melanie: Yeah, I think it's nice that we can all bring something extra to the group, apart from just the music and singing, it's great.
ILM: Laura you're reigning BBC Radio 2 Chorister of the Year. How was that winning that title?
Laura: Well, unfortunately it's finished now because I did my last performance a couple of weeks ago (I had the title for 2005-2006 but it's really lucky that it's carried on into this year). And at the final at Westminster Abbey, me and the other girls got to sing there whilst passing over to the new winners and wishing them the best of luck. I've had such a great year and it's opened up so many doors and given me so many opportunities, it's been really enjoyable and helped me so much with stage presence, interviews and everything. And the people involved are so lovely, so it was really good.
ILM: And I hear you're a bit of a sports prodigy as well. What sports are you into?
Laura: I adore sports and live for sport really. I like watching sport and being involved in it. At school in the winter term I play hockey, in the autumn term, netball and the spring and summer term its tennis, so I'm doing quite a bit of tennis at the moment. My favourite is probably hockey though, and they also have athletics, so it's a big mix really. I enjoy team sports and a lot of my friends are quite sporty as well.
ILM: Any tips or advice for budding artists and producers starting out?
Melanie: You've got to have a lot of patience, because … I think we've all been very lucky, in a very lucky situation, to have been found through these auditions, but it doesn't always happen like that, and I think sometimes you've just got to persevere and you've got to have a certain level of determination. Believe in yourself and hopefully you will have the opportunity and, if you do, have fun and enjoy yourself and take in every minute.
Daisy: A good tip would be to spend a lot of time thinking about the music and what it is they want to do or to change. It helps knowing what your purpose is. It focuses you a bit more. You have to remember it's a business as well.
ILM: What influenced you to get into music in the first place and did you do music at school?
Laura: I was about 13 when I first got in to music and I was in the last year at my prep school, the junior school of where I am now. And I started singing lessons because my friends were doing it and it seemed like good fun and it meant that you could sing in groups and do duets and it's gone from there. It's been such a roller coaster for all of us, so I'm really lucky with the opportunity that I've had, along with the other girls.
"I Like Music because… it can bring joy to myself and my family when I'm feeling down, it has the ability to lift my mood. And it's a global thing as well, everyone can listen to music." LAURA, ALL ANGELS
"I Like Music because… it's the feeling that you listen to a song it's the idea that someone you've never met before has written down what they think in a song, and you feel the same way. I find that really odd, a feeling you think is personal to you but someone else feels it as well, so you listen to lyrics and they describe it and put there finger on something you couldn't. It makes you realise that there's so much of human nature that we all share." CHARLOTTE, ALL ANGELS
Richard
