INTERVIEW // GOOD POSTURE

When did you start making music under the name Good Posture?

At the end of 2016 my housemate at the time gave me a copy of Ableton and

a small tutorial. After this I started making my first songs (I'd always been

playing music but this was my first time really recording and creating full

songs alone), but it wasn't until mid 2017 when I moved to Paris that I coined

the name Good Posture for myself and really began this whole project.

What does that name mean to you?

At the beginning I think maybe it was just this reminder to sit up straight and

not slump over my desk whilst on the computer making music. Now it's totally

evolved into this whole world, where I present most things I create. It's

become my everything over these last 2 and half years, as I've really put my

full focus into it, to where it's this thing I seem to identify with.

Will there be a music release soon?

Yes! I am finally going to be releasing an EP through the label Feeltrip Records

in Chicago. I am super happy to be putting something back out into the world.

It's been about 2 years since I last released something, but I’ve really needed

this time to home in on exactly what I wanted to do and to learn everything I

would need, to compose and produce the tracks by myself. And I’m super

excited to be working with Feeltrip, they’re really hard working. I think it's a

perfect fit, I am a huge fan of the bands they’ve put out so far, so I am looking

forward to being part of their amazing roster.

Did you have an idea of the direction you wanted to go in beforehand

or during the process for the EP?

Well in relation to the theme, I started writing the songs for the release just

after moving back to Leipzig, which incidentally timed with the end of a

relationship I was in. So it has a lot to do with how I was feeling then. So I

knew what I wanted to write about before starting. This feeling I had from

leaving a place I was trying to make my home back to a place I had lived

before which is still quite foreign to me as well.

I guess overall I kind of knew beforehand what I wanted to do as there was a

huge build up into writing these songs. I had spent a lot of time really thinking

about the direction I wanted to go in, and many songs were written before I

came to the sound I liked.

One thing for sure that I knew was I wanted to really improve the production

quality, so it’s taken time for me to learn the skills I needed for this. I like the lo-fi

sound but really only when its authentic and when I released my first songs, I

used only what I had available so it came off as quite lo-fi. Now I have more

knowledge and a little bit better equipment, I thought it's only right to make the

best sounding thing I can.

What do you find to be the most rewarding part of making music?

The process I normal go through when writing new songs is making a demo

and sharing it with my friends, and I guess my most rewarding feeling is when

they give me some nice feedback. Most of these people are also

musicians/producers so it's not all ways good feedback, that's why when they

say you've really got something here, it gets me very excited about it and I

feel really proud. I get really sucked into songs I am making so their opinions

really help.

Do you enjoy writing songs alone or with others? Why?

These days it's always alone. I've played in many bands growing up and

when it came to writing original stuff, I always struggled to do it in a group. I

guess I was just very shy. So when I am alone I have no fear any more to just

go a bit wild in an idea. I also think its a lot easier and quicker to get things

done, as the idea doesn't have to be agreed on by more people. But in

simple terms, I've never been a jammer!

Do you remember the title of the first song you wrote?

I really don't have a good answer for this, I think the very first song I wrote

was left untitled for good reasons, however the second song I ever really

made was titled Italy.

How much time do you spend thinking about titles?

Probably way longer than I should. Song titles for me always start off very

random, as I will save the songs project on my computer as the first thing that

comes to my mind, something very insane like

woahsupercoolifoundanuvaplacewithchorus.als (last file I opened), this one

later then simply became Another Place.

What’s the best part of your day?

Right now during summer, probably when I’ve finished working at home on something

and then rewarding myself with a cycle to a lake nearby and jumping in.

What song do you wish you wrote?

Probably How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths. Johnny Marr has always been

one of my favourite guitar players, and the vibrato effect on this song is

incredible. I really liked in an interview he did later about how he recorded the

intro for the song, when asked, he said “yeah it's really simple, I just recorded

the part through 2 amps on to tape and played it back through 4 twin reverbs

and me and the producer controlled the tremolo on both amps in 10 second

burst to keep it in time...” and you're just like wow, modest.

I think it also contains my favourite lyric from The Smiths 'There's a club if

you'd like to go,You could meet somebody who really loves you, So you go

and you stand on your own, And you leave on your own, And you go home

and you cry, And you want to die '

Morrissey's lyrics have always been a big inspiration for me, it's just a shame

how he is these days.

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

My girlfriend ordered a cupboard from eBay Kleinanzeigen the other day, it's

basically the German Craigslist. She received this rather cryptic message

back about the delivery of the cupboard, saying the person bringing it is very

scary and they will scare all your nosey neighbours away. So we were like

okay this is weird, and eventually when it came to them delivering it, I looked

out the window to the door, where there was this man dressed as a wizard

with a staff in his hand, and holding up half of this unbuilt cupboard in the

other. Needless to say he was very friendly, but it was very funny.

Who do you look up to in music right now?

Pretty much everyone that’s out there producing all their own music, their own artwork

and their own videos etc.... It’s such a grind. I am a big fan of the band Men I Trust in

this respect. The aesthetic they’ve created with their music and visuals all by

themselves is super inspiring.

Do you believe in aliens?

Absolutely. I think it would be quite naïve to think that there is no other life in

the Universe. I hope in my lifetime some type of discovery is made.