Ahead of their gig in June, Georgia Germein answers a few questions for us.
Having last played Inverness as support for Little Mix in 2018, Germein return to headline their own show at the Ironworks.The Australian sisters of Georgia, Ella and Clara have evolved their sound over the year with their roots in their parent’s love of blues with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. They also quote a bundle of influences such as Fleetwood Mac, Queen and Florence and the Machine whilst not being scared to reference the likes of the Spice Girls, Beyoncé and Little Mix. When offered the opportunity to ask the band a few questions we couldn’t say no;
What are the challenges and benefits of playing in a band with such close family connections?
Music has always been something fun that we’ve shared together, and we’ve been playing with each other for so long that it almost feels unnatural when we play music on our own. It was a little challenging in the beginning when we transitioned from just playing music for fun, to actually touring and working together, but over time we learned more about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and what buttons not push haha.
Like all siblings we still fight but we are lucky that we get along pretty well and are able to get over our disagreements pretty quick. Traveling as a family also means we don’t get as home sick which is nice, and at the end of the day we’re family and we know we’ve always got each other’s backs.
What are the three songs that are must plays at your gigs and what is the reasons behind your choices?
Talking – Talking is the first single we released as Germein. We can all relate to the lyrics, and it’s so much fun to play live with the high energy rock vibes. It’s one of those songs you can let loose and sing it at the top of your lungs which always makes for a feel-good vibe.
Little Part of Me – Little Part of Me is our latest single, and it’s about those broken relationships where you feel like everything’s just working against you, and when the relationship does fall apart, you’re kind of left wondering ‘what if’. It’s for ‘the one that got away’. It’s quite a vulnerable song to sing, but we seem to get a lot of positive feedback from fans who connect with it.
Knocking At My Door – we released this song when we were touring with Little Mix on their Stadium tour last year, and it’s just a great song to sing along and have a dance to. We released a music video for this tune featuring some of our favourite moments from the tour which brings back so many fun memories!
You have played with Little Mix quite a few times now, how has the relationship with the band developed and what have your learnt from them?
We had the best time opening for Little Mix on their 15 date Stadium Tour across the UK in 2018 as well as a couple of their shows in 2017. They are such brilliant performers and put on a super memorable show for their fans every night which was always so much fun for us to watch. As well as being incredibly talented singers and dancers, they were also really down to earth and friendly to us on tour, and made us feel so welcome. The girl power in their live show is so evident too and really inspired us with what we’re doing.
Some of your tunes such as ‘Talking’ have an almost therapeutic value to them, what are the important elements to your songs that you choose to develop?
I use songwriting as a way of expressing my emotions, by getting the feelings I have out of me and onto paper and into music. It’s always been a very freeing and therapeutic experience. I find music and lyrics are both really important, but at the end of the day I can usually tell when I’ve written a good song because I’ll want to listen to it over and over again. If I can write songs that make me feel something, then hopefully our fans will feel something and connect with the song too.
Given recent debates about the music business and the ongoing male bias on festival line-ups, what is your message to females wanting to move forward with a career in music?
We are so grateful to be living in a time where there seems to be a real strong movement of females smashing it in the music industry. When we were starting out as a band, sometimes there would be that assumption when we’d arrive at our shows that because we were girls, we didn’t know what we were doing before we’d even set up our gear. Then by the end of the night the usual feedback from people like our sound engineers would be – “oh you girls are actually really good”.
We always strived to not just be ‘good for a girl’ but to be ‘good’ full stop, and these days it really feels like those assumptions are slowly disappearing in the industry. It’s so encouraging to know that there are already so many talented women out there doing music, and I believe if we continue to support each other in our careers then things can only get better for all of us.
What is the draw to playing the UK and how does the audience and response differ from your home country?
The UK audiences are nothing quite like we’ve experienced before. There seems to be such a culture to get out and experience it live whether that’s at one of your massive festivals, or countless iconic music venues. It feels like everyone over here just genuinely loves good music and wants to support it. We’ve been so grateful with how well our music has been accepted in the UK, which is why we keep coming back, and will hopefully continue to do for a long time!
Looking at your influences you quote such an array (from Queen to Little Mix via The Wombats) if as band you could take one song from history as your own what would it be?
At the moment I really love Queen’s song Somebody To Love. The combination of such honest lyrics, simple yet strong chord structures, punchy production and gorgeous harmonies is just perfect. As a band it’s always gonna be so hard to find just one answer for this question, because we all have different favourites which are ever changing, but I can safely say Queen is certainly up there for all of us!
Are you going to have any time to spend in the area when you gig, if so what the things you want to see and do?
We came to Inverness when we opened for Little Mix in 2018, and are so excited to be coming back and hopefully spend a few days exploring the city this time. We’d love to visit places like the Isle of Skye and Lochness, as well as check out some of your historic buildings like the Inverness Castle and Falcon Square, and maybe some local markets if we have time too! Scotland is sooo different to Australia, so pretty much everything we see is exciting for us haha – but if there’s anything in particular you recommend us checking out let us know! Either way we’ll have to make sure we grab some tattie scones while we’re in town!
