I started out singing together with my father on guitar who used to play and sing all his favorite songs from the 60s- the Beatles, Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Kinks…. I loved
“Across the Universe†and “Hey Jude†and the edgy feel of the Kinks as well.
When I went to see my first big concerts - Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Rod Stewart, George Michael, the Stones and Michael Jackson- I loved the big stadium atmosphere, the powerful sound, the crowds.
On school trips I was always the one who..d start singing along with the cassettes and if somebody had a guitar with him, even the better…
Later I had some appearances as a singer in my school band, we did a mix of pop, reggae and rock. I first did the background singing, but was “promoted†to sing Tracy Chapman..s “Talkin.. Bout a Revolution†and Melissa Etheridge..s “Like the Way I Doâ€.
After some studies in Jazz and translation, further experiences in various bands ranging from hip hop, pop-rock , soul to jazz, I met producer Florian Glaszer in 2000.
We developed a good way of working together. Most of the times, I had a hook line and
then wrote the whole story around the song, reflecting the mood of the melody and groove. We used to talk for hours and the plot of the song would slowly evolve. We did two albums this way (“I Don..t Mindâ€, Sony and “My Definitionâ€, Wild Dog Rec. – had a 18 hit in the Austrian charts with “Another Goodbyeâ€) and are now working on a third album, which will focus on the two (of many) characters in me: one – very outgoing, the other – rather vulnerable and shy, using distorted guitars for extroversion and undistorted for introversion…
When I..m singing it feels like I..M FALLIN..* into the great
WIDE OPEN. I always WANNA BE, wanna breathe like I DON..T MIND.
Sometimes I CRY at night, risking to fall INTO PIECES
but then I can still LET IT GO singing.
New stuff is that I..m TAK(E)ing IT ALL, sad and strong, and give these old demons ANOTHER GOODBYE.
(*check it out on myspace and my website: www.anik.at)