Making of Weary
What are some of your favorite memories from recording?
That’s me with the gun. Probably because it’s, well, in one way because we did it ourselves without our producer. He was absent at the time. Another nice memory from the recording process was when we had to record Weary. Originally that was meant to be our full-scale rock song with all the guys participating. We just had breakfast in the studio and weren’t supposed to start recording but me and Max, the piano player, were ready before the others. So, we just decided to play it through once just to see what would happen, and he played and I sang, and something happened as we did that. Mick, our video producer, said, “What the hell are you doing?” We said, “We don’t know. We’re just playing.” And he said “That was the best I heard so far and I actually rolled tape on it so, I say we keep it,” and that’s what we did so it was just a one-run tape.
Making the Band
How did you form Ella Rouge?
We are different. One of the guitarists, Johan, and I have known each other all our lives. I recorded a solo album a couple years back and when we were going on tour with that. I needed a band, so I called Johan - who I knew was one of the best guitarist around - and he said “yeah I’d love to,” and he brought along a drummer and the base player. Max and Matt, who are the keyboardist and other guitarist, I’ve known for a couple of years because we shared the same recording studio. We basically just tried and rehearsed once. After ten minutes, it was obvious this was something out of the ordinary because we all had been playing for long and usually when you meet people and play, it usually sounds ok. But there was that extra nerve that we had when we tried the first time that I don’t think any of us had experienced before. So after only a few months with this solo project, it was quite clear that we were not only a band, but also actually a unit. So, we decided to let go of my solo thing and start our own band and Ella Rouge was created.
Naming the Band
How did you come up with the name, Ella Rouge?
That is the most common question that I get and sadly I feel like I have never come up with a satisfying answer. It was simply a case of us needing a good name a couple of years back. Being six guys who played in different bands since they were kids, it used to be easier coming up with a good name for a rock and roll band. You could call yourself “Priest Killer” and that was fine. But when you’re passing 25 or 30, it’s becoming more and more almost embarrassing. Nobody was really interested in coming up with any suggestions, so eventually we had to sit down for 6 hours saying, “OK. We have to decide now.” I put together a list of all the names we had come up with over the past months then we had a really complicated voting system going on for 6 hours. Somehow we just ended up with Ella Rouge. Ella being a rewrite of my initials, LA and rouge is obviously the French word for red, which best describes our music. Ella Rouge it was.
The Band and Family
What are the up and down sides to being in a band instead of being a solo artist?
There are only up sides actually. I think being a solo artist, you are all alone all the time and even if now I am the lead singer of the band, I usually do most of the interviews and reviews and stuff like that. But still, we are a unit and we can experience things together. More than just me doing the fun stuff and they coming along for the ride, this is actually something we have created and are working on all together. It’s always more fun to be six guys than only one in every aspect.
Your family connection is obviously very strong. Does is have up sides or down? Does your father have interest in what you are doing?
Oh yes it does, definitely. Yeah, he criticized but he has always been very supportive. In a way, supportive from afar, he has never interfered with what I’m doing. He has never said, “No, you should do this; You should do that.” He, of course, understands that I am almost 40 years younger than him and I probably know what’s best for me right now. But of course I ask him from time to time about songwriting or about the production part of the music or the other stuff like the business and contracts. We discuss songwriting in more of a philosophical way: how you come up with a song and where it’s coming from and why it’s even possible to write a song. Because that’s really hard for a songwriter to touch, to grasp, what it is you are actually doing. For me, it’s kind of a weird thing. But we have a very great relationship both on a personal and professional level.
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