Milke

Milke Interview

Milke is a London based electro-indie duo comprising Ra Khahn and Andrew "Friendly" Kornweibel who originally came from Australia in search of wider music opportunities. They are known for incorporating a strong 80s bands, 90s raves and 00s production influence into their music style, inspired by a variety of acts, such as Eurythmics, The Cure, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk, Stuart Price et al. On top of all those inspirations, their totally opposite, but at the same time similar personalities, backgrounds and specialties (Ra's distinctive vocals and Andrew's electronic hooks) that attract each other come together and create the depth of their music. I found that mixed various different elements, some sort of ambivalence within the pair is what Milke is about, which I can just imagine will be well received by the Japanese audience especially young ones who are open to new things in Tokyo.

So, hopefully it won’t be long until we see them play in Japan! New Milke single due in October.

- Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves, Milke? And how you perceive your partner?

Andrew: I was doing some club music and wanted to do music with vocals when I heard Ra’s music on a recording. So I googled him and found his name, I then sent him email straightaway. We started sending each other music and collaborating together. In some ways it’s interesting because we come from very different backgrounds. I come from club, and Ra is more like a singer songwriter, but in other ways we actually are very similar, such as our upbringing, kind of schools we went... both of our parents have similar philosophy of life. It’s interesting because we were in 2 different worlds but somehow already connected.

Ra: Andrew does more of the production side though we both do writing together.

Andrew: That’s not really how you perceive me, we need depth ha ha. OK, I can tell you how I perceive Ra. Ra is very introvert, not very outgoing. He doesn’t have many friends but the friends he does have are always very close to him. He is very loyal. He spends a lot of time thinking about how he should relate to other people, how people react to him… and sometimes he doesn’t say anything and sometimes he’s scared of expressing himself.

Ra: Wow. You do pay attention! (laugh)

Andrew: But he’s a lot more open to me. I think we have like a special relationship because he doesn’t have this relationship with other people.

Ra: Andrew is opposite in a lot of ways, very outgoing and spends a lot of time out, and has a lot of friends (laugh). He’s very busy always doing a lot of work hours of day and hours of night. Also very efficient because part of his business is spending a lot of time listening to what’s really going on.

- What did you add ‘e’ at the end of the name, ‘Milke’?

Ra: It signifies something ‘electronic’, so we like ‘milk’ which is kind of organic and ‘e’ is obviously not...

Andrew: It’s a mixture of organic and electronic because that’s what our music is like. Our music is like two worlds coming together; me and Ra, electronic and organic in a sort of dance music in part. So it’s like mixing elements. It is actually a surname, if you google the name you’ll see...

- What brought you to London? Was it for your music career?

Ra: We both came over for music really. There’re a lot of good things about Australia but the music scene, for me any way was not really the kind of music I really wanted to do. None of that was really happening in Australia, though things may be changing a little bit now. So I travelled around the world and ended up in London where I really like to be staying.

Andrew: When I left Australia, I had already signed to a very big label over there, but I left and moved here. Back then, it was really hard to get music out of the scenes. That’s one of the main reasons why I left. But now, so much Australian music coming over here. I think the door is a lot more open, you know Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy etc… but London definitely still is almost like the international hub for music because from England in general, it’s exported to Europe, America, Australia, Japan and everywhere. So I think it’s important.

- I can actually hear a great mixture of various styles in your music. What about your roots and influences?

Ra: We are varied, I think, even within us individually they are very varied. Prince is probably the artist that got me into music, but then I listen to lots of other pop acts actually. Eurythmics...

Andrew: Talking Heads? David Bowie?
Ra: Yeah.

Andrew: I think the bands we agree on, that we both really really love are Daft Punk, and Stevie Wonder (laugh).

- That’s a great combo!

Ra: That’s the two, yeah.
Andrew: I think Milke really is marrying Daft Punk and Stevie Wonder.

- Your music sounds lyrics-orientated. Can you talk about the process of making music? How do you initiate and finalize songs?

Ra: I do spend a lot of time on lyrics, as it’s very important for me to have lyrics. I don’t know if it always means something, but they have to inspire what I thought in my head. Most of the lyrics I write are based on Andrew’s life. Due to my personality, I’m quite isolated, but Andrew is not, so I kind of live in a way, through his life and I express myself... It’s like a mixture of his life and my feelings I guess, interpreted by me, like a medium.

Andrew: It’s like, I’m an astronaut, and report back to the control tower. He interprets into lyrics and then sends back to me. Sometimes I send beats and musical ideas to him. We go backwards and forwards and sometimes in the studio together. I don’t think we ever disagree when the songs finished.

Ra: No.
Andrew: We don’t have arguments.

- Choose one word best describes your sound.

Ra: ‘eclectic’ is the best word to me.
Andrew: ‘Noir’ which is a French word for ‘Black’.

Ra: ‘Noir’ is good.

- You also run a record label, GULP Communications. How do you keep balance between making music and looking after your label?

Andrew: I think running a record label is often keeping 1000 things in your mind, sending emails etc, so that’s very different from making music. If I had time for example, when I wake up in the morning. The first thing I’d do is answer all emails until midday or early afternoon when I get everything done, then if I feel creative mood, I’d just do music.

I can’t separate my mind between the two tasks. As a result, it’s much easier... because if I was just creative for the whole day, I’d probably get exhausted. They are kind of different mental exercises.

- How do you find and sign artists?

Andrew: As it’s definitely an artist-based label, I don’t put artists for one release etc. So, I really listen to music a lot, contact people and ask if they’d be interested in working with me, and they always say ‘yes’ (laugh). So I’m happy!

- Joe and Will Ask? is also on our label? I did an interview with them last year.

Andrew: I met them very earlier on when they had 1 speaker, and all of heir music was mono. I’m really happy with their progress, as their music is great. When I first discovered them on Myspace, I listened to it all day because I could hear a very good sense of music and understanding of structure.

- You look well-dressed on stage. What are your views on presenting yourselves? Is it equally important as your music?

Andrew: I wouldn’t say it’s equally important, but you need to create an environment, mood to go with your music. I do like a little bit of a theatre involved. I think that on stage needs to be separate from the audience. They need a sense of projection. You need to feel it’s an event, not just like 4 or 5 people on stage.

Ra: Yeah, it helps us, if we are dressed in a similar way that makes us feel we are actually playing and being creative in that moment. It’s important.

Andrew: I also sometimes see the person on stage is not 100% of me. It’s like a projection of me, so sometimes it’s good to have just a little bit of me. It’s like a costume.

- Do you talk about what to wear on stage or just have the same taste?

Ra: We talk about it.

Andrew: That’s because we think it’s important that we look like we play together although we are 4 different people in a band.

- What’s your favourite item of clothing?

Andrew: Hmm... (laugh) I do like my blue marching boy jacket that I wear sometimes. It’s pretty good.

Ra: I like the tails I wear sometime, coat tails.

- Any future projects?

Andrew: We are in the studio recording another single, which should be out in October. We have a few gigs before then, in Barcelona, London etc. We have a few things going on, including doing remixes, also talking with a French label.

We’ve got an album pretty much ready to go, but just need to finish the pre-production, so hopefully early next year, we have an album ready for people.

- As I write for an English / Japanese bilingual magazine, I’d like to find out your views on Japan?

Andrew: I have been to Tokyo to play a few times. I love Tokyo, which was amazing! I feel people very liberated in Tokyo. They are very open to new things. Everybody was so polite that I felt relaxed and I love sushi. I’d just go anywhere and could have amazing food, which is very important for me.

Ra: We’d love to go there to play.

Andrew: I found the Japanese... it’s quite strange because there’s a link between Japan and Germany in a sort of mentality… also to a degree France.

Our music is quite popular in France and Germany, so maybe Japanese people understand it... understand where we come from. I think Japanese people are very open to mixing different styles together, which is probably what we do.

Ra: I have studied Japanese for 6 years, but I can’t remember how to write my name in Japanese.

Andrew: I have studied Japanese for 2 years.
Ra: I can’t remember anything. I used to, I can’t believe I’ve forgotten how to write it.

Website : www.milke.co.uk

myspace : milketheband

Written by Chika Aoki

Interview Photos by Toshimi Takaishi