interview with Of Roofs, Genes and Stolen Meanings
What´s the name of your band? Of Roofs, Genes and Stolen Meanings
How was the band formed? Five guys studying in the same city found each other in 2009 (no homo).
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Juni (guitar) and Igor (vocals) are from Tallinn, Joosep (bass) is from Tartu, Martin (drums) and Madis (guitar) are from a small town called Elva and Taavi (guitar) is from some bar.
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Have fun, bring something fresh to the local scene and not suck.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? 8-stringed violence and controlled feedback.
Where was your first gig? Tartu
Where was the latest gig? Tallinn, Rock Café w/ Enter Shikari
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Juni writes most of the music and Igor writes most of the lyrics.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? Madis’ middle testicle
What genre do you feel you are? Metal, heavy metal, hard rock, hardcore, progressive metal, metalcore
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? It’s something we feel comfortable with, love to explore and what satisfies our curiosity and unease. We mostly babble about existence.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Own material, one cover (of a local punk-rock legend) since.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
One: Life to Learn (2012)
EP Two: Place to Call Home (2014)
Do you have any clips on YouTube?
Several live videos and three official videos:
KAT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ4TsFwJZO8)
Slow Blade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng6MLJFHZ54)
The Customer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnImUIwmPns)
What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? Album presentations in Tallinn, Tartu, Riga
Where have you played from then till now? All over our homeland and a festival in Latvia.
Is it always the same songs live? No, our setlist is constantly evolving along with our songs.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? Rockstars/Tallinn Music Week, Rock Café/Enter Shikari
Have you had any
bigger tours from start to now? We’ve toured Estonia and we’ve had plans abroad that didn’t work out, but we have adjusted them. Soon.
How big crowds do you usually play for? 100-150
What are the plans for the rest of the year? Promote our fresh EP Two: Places to Call Home, establish ourselves abroad
Where do you usually play? At rehearsals.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Share some drinks and do gymnastics.
What are your goals with your music? Keep writing it and proving it’s worth a damn.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Modern bands with apparent old-school roots.
What are your sources of inspiration? Literature, sci-fi, science, everyday life, friends.
What's the first step when making a new song? Screen out a really spectacular riff.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? As long as you’re helping/promoting/spreading the band with it, we’re OK. Or better yet, download, love, buy.
What would be your dreams for the band? For it to evolve, progress, get better and widely appreciated, everything we would dream up for a really good friend.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Classical (in every sense), electronic, folk.
What would be your greatest fears for the future? That people start thinking about music (any music) like it’s something subsidiary and redundant.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Fail so hard that it destroys/breaks up the band.
Have you been part of any other projects? Several. Rock, vocal, instrumental, folk, country.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Medicine, science, technology, alcohol.
What would you do if there was no music? Probably be deaf to begin with.
How important are your fans? They are probably the second reason this band still exists.
How often do you rehearse? Usually a couple times a week.
Where do you rehearse? We have our own space.
Name two of your own songs you like at the moment? Tusk and Lonesome Road
What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Meshuggah
Do you have any webpages?
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/OfRoofsGenesAndStolenMeanings?fref=ts)
Bandcamp (https://ofroofsgenesandstolenmeanings.bandcamp.com)
Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/OfRoofs)
Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud (ofroofs)
Describe your show, visually and musically The light fluctuates between dark, dim and sensual, groovy music is playing, six guys are thrusting around like crazy, lots of screaming and sweat.
How do you view the music industry of today? Mainstream, “indie” and underground.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Lack of motivation, persistence and time, perverse human relations/egos, bigotry, money.
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Intimacy with the crowd usually outweighs the lack of air.
Whats your Pre-show ritual? We yell ass to mouth.