For those readers who haven’t heard of ‘The SoapGirls’ could you tell us a bit about yourselves, your story?
We started out as street performers whilst aged 8/9yrs old selling handmade soaps to raise monies for various charities notably to buy incubators for public hospitals hence the name The SoapGirls so named by the public. When we were 12 we started recording professionally and by the time we were 15 yrs old we were signed to Universal Music South Africa where we had some chart-topping hits but we weren’t feeling the music nor the artistic direction we were being pushed into as it lacked originality nor represented who we were as individuals and artists so we broke away in 2013 and have been DIY since.
Who inspired you to get on stage and perform?
Since the earliest age even of 4 yrs old we were often to be found on a makeshift stage of any sort and happily entertained whoever was willing to listen Getting onstage and performing has always seemed as natural as breathing air although we definitely loved watching artists like George Michael, Steven Tyler, Madonna, Boney M, Billy Idol laughing there are so many we loved and used to think “Now that’s what we going to be doing”
What is the most interesting venue that you have performed at?
Percy’s in Whitchurch one of our favourite venues, run by an incredible couple who have an absolute love of all things music and creative and are super edgy hence their venue will always remain a top favourite.
What do you think makes a good live performance?
Passion, energy and strong crowd engagement we love including the audience in our shows as they are just as much a part of each show.
We wrote Johnny Rotten a few hours after the shocking news broke of a wealthy 19-year-old who axed his entire family to death it was after Oscar Pistorius the most horrific murder story and his sister was the only survivor although she lay in hospital for months after being axed in the jugular and so we wrote the song from her perspective.
The recording process for us is always simple we compose, arrange and then go in just to track and produce ourselves in a studio do a rough mix and then send it to a producer who hires a drummer then mixes and masters it for us on Johnny Rotten we were really fortunate to have the drummer from one of our favourite UK bands, Skindred Arya Goggin drum the track.
You recently released a brand new video for the track, could you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the song?
Sometimes it can get tricky to try to capture the essence of a song so with Johnny Rotten we had our brother Redd Valentino Debray play the role of the tormented teenager and try capture as much of the story behind the song whilst Mie literally was the spirit or angel of mercy who ensured there would be a survivor and Mille was the storyteller. All our outfits and storyboard we create always ourselves with our manager but unlike all our other videos this one we got a professional cameraman to shoot it for us.
Recently you have encountered a lot of problems with censorship and hate towards your appearance what do you think is the best way to combat this?
No matter who you are or where you are at there are always going to be those who won’t understand nor accept your choice. We think it’s great to have as many haters as there are those who are die-hard fans because this means we are actually getting not just our message across but managing to grow and challenge peoples mindsets. There is always going to be a space for controversy when you are original and have a different outlook against the norm.
Censorship is actually we feel at a point of ridicule especially pertaining to social media where one without looking will find from porn to suicides, killing and animal abuse and bullies yet none of this seems to raise an eyebrow yet if a bit of skin is shown then suddenly when a female decides to embrace her own self-expression and freedom in a non sexual context then there is the issue.
Of censorship, on a serious note it’s very important especially now for not just artists, musicians but for woman, in general, to start standing up against all forms of censorship with regard to an individual right of self-expression. Its not ludicrous to intimate that the so-called censorships and political correctness being foisted upon general society has a big stink of political control, in fact, we are far less free than they were if one goes back to look at movies, music of the 70’s, 80’s , 90’s which beggars a lot of questions.
What do you think is missing from the music industry today?
Definitely, artistic integrity at the end of the day we are living in an industry where it seems people have forgotten what the meaning and value of raw and original is this ongoing quest for a wall of noise and perfection has disengaged people from just writing and feeling what they are doing.
Many bands try to write and stick to a formula that they think might get them airplay and or signed to a label and many no longer have a message for which they are prepared to stand up for and so it feels like the edge and madness, authenticity of real rock’n’roll is disappearing fast as you need to be fearless and prepared to be hated on in order to be and most couldn’t handle that. Good examples: Marilyn Manson’ Madonna, Joan Jett, Lemmy of Motorhead.
Here at Artistic Echoes, we are always on the lookout for new artists to check out do you have anyone that you’d recommend?
Lol, we going to give 3 we have so many!!! Turbulent Hearts, Pretty Addicted and Desensitised
Find out more:
Website: http://thesoapgirls.band/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesoapgirls/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSoapGirlsOfficial
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/soapgirls
Instagram: @thesoapgirls
Twitter: @the_soapgirls
