Vinyl Floor are one of the smorgasbord of great Scandinavian bands (how do they do that? Is it the exorbitant price of alcohol and the darkness??) with an authentic feel for some deeper level of the Americana vibe. We listened to them and loved what we heard so we decided to ask them some questions…
indieRepublik: How did you come up with the name Vinyl Floor?
Thomas Charlie Pedersen: My brother lives in an apartment on the 1’st floor. He has a lot of vinyl records and I think one day I just jokingly referred to his floor as being ‘the vinyl floor’. Simple as that. It doesn’t really mean anything.
indieRepublik: How does the songwriting process work for you?
Thomas: We both usually bring in more or less finished songs. Occasionally, we add pieces to each otherś’ songs such as a coda, etc. But mostly we write on our own. Then comes a longer period of time during which we create demos. Here, we tinker with song arrangements, different tempos, song keys and stuff like that. We take our time regarding the structures but it usually pays off in the end.
indieRepublik: What was the last concert you went to?
Thomas: Jimmy Webb at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art here in Denmark. Only around 100 people there. Intimate show. I really dig his song ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’.
indieRepublik: What was the nicest compliment you’ve ever been given?
Thomas: Somebody who once told me that one of my songs helped a lot during a rough time. I was very moved. I’m not sure it gets any better than that.
indieRepublik: How do you feel about covering a song?
Thomas: There are quite a few songs I’d like to record but I never really get around to doing it. Either because I find it more satisfying to start writing something of my own instead or because these songs were perfect in the first place and I would have no idea how to better them. We do play a cover live every now and then, though.
indieRepublik: Do you see your songs in colour or in black and white?
Thomas: This is an interesting question since I’ m fascinated with people actually claiming they can see different colors in songkeys or whatever. But I don’ t see anything, really, I only hear it. Mostly it’s about finding the key that best suits my voice and I definitely hear different moods and possibilities in each key but colors? No, not really. I do see color in my lyrics though.
indieRepublik: How do you think covid – and the lockdown – influenced music and the music scene – both recording and live? Whether negative or positive, or both?
Thomas: Well, it was sad that so many people couldn’ t perform live. I think the culture suffered. And speaking of post-covid I think it has made people long for big events even more which has resulted in big names getting even bigger but the smaller bands suffer. I think there’s some cleaning up to do. But personally, for me, it was a creative time. It did something good for my writing. I wrote a lot of music during that period of time.
indieRepublik: a. What is your preference and b. Where do you think the music industry is headed: NFTs, mp3s, more streaming, less streaming, CDs, vinyl, cassettes, something else entirely?
Thomas: We are both primarily vinyl kind of guys. I listen CD’s as well. We accept that the business is based on streaming now but we personally believe in the album format and the physical formats. We don’t think the physical formats will ever go entirely out of style and I personally think that the streaming culture with its stream counts, etc creates some kind of inappropriate competition among musicians which must be unhealthy for the artists in the long run.
COMPULSORY – indieRepublik: How would you define indie? What do you personally think it means?
Thomas: To us, it means doing everything yourself. Doing all the hard work yourself. We don’ t really see it as any given musical genre. More as a choice of lifestyle, really.
COMPULSORY – indieRepublik: What do you like most about indieRepublik?
Thomas: Oh, I love the fact that you guys shine a light on the smaller acts. Lots of talent out there.
AND ALSO COMPULSORY, BUT JUST FOR INTERNAL PURPOSES (WON’T BE INCLUDED IN THE PUBLISHED INTERVIEW:) How did you find us?
Groover (: However, I have visited your page before I’m sure. Your name is well known.
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