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.