“Sorry” was completed during writing sessions in Paris and Houston and was recorded in L.A.. The song is Antisolar’s fourth single, following ”Awake", an uplifting anthem that celebrates optimism despite our world's ever-pervasive conflict and confusion, "Do We Tremble At Night?", which ponders what we'll be left with if we allow the world around us to be destroyed and “You Resurrect Me”, which captures the despondency and the sense of being directionless that can stem from broken relationships, as well as the healing and rebirth found in new ones.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Olivier: Hi, Kamil! First, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us! We love what you guys are doing at LITM! I think most of my strengths come from having had an extremely eclectic musical upbringing coupled with having started to sing very early on. While I didn’t have the loads of training, I’ve been creating melodies for as long as I can remember. That lack of formal training I think allows me to go places that are sometimes considered untraditional.
Andrew: For me, it’s a combination of many years of varied professional experience, combined with an endless curiosity about music. I started off playing in rock bands in high school, did six years of jazz school, then worked a bunch in the singer-songwriter scene in Boston before touring with artists ranging from MandoPop stars to Idina Menzel. That’s given me a very rich base of experiences to draw from, but the real joy comes in continuing to discover new artists, new techniques and new sounds; I think my openness to new things is my greatest strength.
Who inspired you to make music?
Andrew: At first, it was Poison and many other hair metal bands of the mid-80s, but my interests grew from there, and I got into bands like Rush and Yes, jazz and studio guitarists Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton, and on and on from there.
Olivier: I think music inspired me to make music! I’ve been obsessed with musical expression my entire life and creating melodies through voice always came easily to me.
Your latest track is 'Sorry'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Olivier: This track started out with a vocal melody idea I had along with the word “Sorry”. What’s kind of funny is that I had a break up in mind when thinking about this track but could never formulate it into anything of substance. We worked on the song a bit together, and ultimately Andrew picked up the ball on this one and created a beautiful song that allowed him to share a very personal experience. I don’t know how many times Andrew has been able to do that as a musician so I know this is a very special song for him.
Andrew: Yeah, it became a vehicle for me to hash through a relationship I had years ago that didn’t end well. I don’t recall anything particularly unusual happening during the song’s creation, except for the fact that rather than writing from my own perspective, I tried to see things through the eyes of the girlfriend who ended the relationship. It was both eye-opening and quite cathartic, though of course there’s no guarantee that the story of the song is truly representative of how she actually views things.
What is your creative process like?
Olivier: You’ve probably heard this answer loads but I don’t actually have a specific process. Ideas come to me in different forms and in all kinds of different situations. I’m definitely the most liberated creatively when I am not bogged down with administrative woes and responsibilities; having a restaurant in the French Alps which I purchased right before the pandemic has definitely not allowed me a lot of liberation, but I did get struck with creative lightning recently and was able to write a new batch of songs that I am very excited about.
Andrew: I agree - as a band, our creative process varies quite a bit, but very often the ideas originate with Olivier, and then we collaborate to refine the direction, the story, and ultimately the production of the song. There is ample opportunity for both of us to infuse our own experiences into the songs, so very often a song might mean different things to each of us based on the meaning attached to our individual contributions. Hopefully that means that listeners will also find their own meanings in the songs as well, since there’s not always a clear right answer in terms of what the song means to us.
What is the biggest decision you’ve had to make?
Andrew: One that’s certainly up there for me was my decision to leave Boston. I’d been out on tour as a side man for an artist on a major label, and when he was unexpectedly dropped I was torn between heading back to Boston to return to the life, the work, and music scene that I’d been enjoying there, or taking a leap of faith and trying something new. I visited both Nashville and L.A., and when arrived in L.A., as I was sitting in traffic on the 405 freeway, I just knew that was where I was going to end up. That was the first time I’ve ever moved somewhere without any real plan as to what I was going to do.
Olivier: Wow, great question, and challenging. I’d have to say that going back to bar work in 2007 and giving up acting and music was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. Leaving the bar and refocusing my life and career back to acting and music in 2012 just months before my wedding was definitely the most significant decision in terms of the direction of my life since.
What makes you different from others?
Olivier: Musically? I believe that the wide, very wide, range of influences that both Andrew and I have grown up with, but also continue to actively cultivate, nourishes our style of music today.
Andrew: Agreed. The other obvious thing we can point to is that we live on different continents, which in some cases leads us to think differently both musically and culturally. Because of that, we consistently challenge and refine each other‘s ideas.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Andrew: Since we are early on in the life of this project, the first message I would give to anyone who has enjoyed discovering us enough to consider themselves a fan is “thank you for being a pioneer”!
Olivier: I just want our music to help them find positivity and hope in their lives. These are rather trying times for us as a species and that’s certainly reflected in our songwriting, but we ultimately want our music to be a source of strength.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
Andrew: I think the Internet, combined with the advent of high-quality home recording has made music a global enterprise for everyone. Back in the day when the only option was to spend a bunch of money recording and then press a thousand CDs, your audience was really limited to people you could physically connect with; now, it’s very much the opposite. It’s easy for even a small act to quickly get listeners around the world in fact, particularly in pandemic times, it’s probably easier to get listeners on the other side of the world then in your own backyard.
What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Olivier: Wow! Where’s my phone? Did the Rockets win? Is my son awake? Am I taking him to school or is my wife? On a serious note, I think that I think about a lot of the same stuff that lads my age think about: the future on a personal level and on a humanitarian level.
Andrew: First, that I wish I had gone to bed earlier! Second, coffee - now. Third, if I haven’t already taken time to plan my day, I usually sit down and make a list of everything I’d like to do, which invariably ends up being more than can do!
What are your plans for the future?
Andrew: Well, we’ve been learning and growing a ton as we’ve gone through the process of releasing the songs in this first batch. We plan to roll out the rest from this batch, and we’re already at work on the next ones, so we’re sorting out plans to be together in the same city in the next few months, which will help firm up our recording timeline.
Olivier: Yes, a new batch of songs is definitely a priority; I’m also planning to produce and direct a documentary on Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, and there are quite a few acting projects on the horizon this year, and, of course, my restaurant! And as always, it’s exciting to meet other musicians and music fans on the journey, so that’s something we always look forward to!