How have you found the Lockdown have you still managed to be creative?
Lockdown was kind of chaotic for me in the first instance so I had to find a way to battle myself through it.
My first step was to start yoga and meditation to try and calm my nerves with the stress of being locked in a very densely populated household. I learned some very useful routines to keep the body – and mind – fit.
The second step I made was to learn something useful for the group surrounding me and so I started cooking and baking for my family. Strawberry cheesecake is my new favourite recipe. After the lockdown was loosened and we were allowed out for exercise I began running 12 kilometres a day to my local lake. It may have been not only necessary for some time outdoors but by that point maybe even more so due to the cheesecake.
I’ll never forget how empowering it was to be close to nature again, and how it is so easy to take such beauty for granted. You don’t notice what you have until it’s gone and all that. Waking up early at 6 a.m. while the city is still sleeping, watching the sunrise and bouncing off the city skyline into the new day surrounded by the dawn chorus is simply magical. The smell of the waking forest. Incredible Creativity is instantly nourished and nurtured in these moments.
For those people that haven’t heard of SALIO could you tell us a bit about the band, about your story?
I changed my name from Salome to SALIO when I realised that the pronunciation was seemingly confusing for many outside of Spanish speaking countries and my own. I formed a band in 2011 with a few friends after crashing my school band’s live show.
Our first real performance was at Tbilisi Open Air Festival, 2011.
The organiser of the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Quint Davis, heard me sing soon after in a canteen of all places and invited me to perform at his festival in New Orleans.
The feeling in New Orleans was unforgettable. Whilst there that first time, we were travelling, jamming and dancing in the street with even the police at one point whilst meeting legends such as Earth, Wind and Fire. I even sang with the Bolton Brothers in the Gospel Tent which was just amazing. New Orleans is the land of Louis Armstrong and many of the world’s greatest musicians. You can feel the energy when you walk in the French Quarter.
Since then I have gone from country-to-country, city-to-city, studio-to-studio, stage-to-stage and back again. From London to Madrid, from Singapore to New York, to Washington D.C. and back to New Orleans again, I have searched for the most talented songwriters and interesting producers to find that I feel most comfortable on stage with the band I have worked with for almost a decade now. That makes me sound far too old but we feed off each other better than ever now. We know what we are doing together and our new show is dynamite in my opinion. We have been rehearsing daily to make this show special.
Who inspired you to get on stage and perform?
I have been listening to all kinds of music since my mum started buying a few CDs many, many years ago. Not much was available in my home country of Georgia at that time but she was a fan of The Beatles, Elton John and Ray Charles and managed to get her hands on a few discs. We didn’t have much and what we did have was good but I’ll never forget the moment my dad introduced me to Ella Fitzgerald. She blew my mind. I suddenly believed women could do anything so when I was 16 years old and saw the school band playing I decided to jump on stage and show them my songs. They invited me to the rehearsal room after that and my life completely changed forever.
Are there any particular artists or albums that have inspired your style?
Radiohead’s “Ok computer” is my current favourite album and has been for a while now. It never gets boring and I simply love the structure of the songs and their inspired production. In my opinion, the 21st century’s poetry so far belongs to Mr. Yorke.
Could you tell us a bit about the writing/recording of the ReverbNation winning track Leave Me Be?
‘Leave Me Be’ is a very beautiful song. It was recorded on very basic equipment. There were no fancy speakers, acoustically treated rooms or vintage gear. All we used was a laptop with Logic, a set of broken but duct-taped Audio Technica headphones, a cheap microphone and a Sony Home Theatre system for referencing.
The writing started with this guy I know who just loves sitting on headphones all day alone and projecting how he dreams into sound. I find him very boring in general – sorry but it’s true – but one day he asked me to listen to some harmonies he was arranging at that moment in time on his headphones. I started humming some melodies over it without realising what I was doing and he just started recording. Then some lyrics to the harmonies and the rhythm and out it came. We had the whole thing mostly recorded that day, but it took a little while longer to get the words in place with the arrangement and the harmonies placed on top. A few mixes sent back and forth and it became what it is now.
The lyrics are brilliant to me and describe the reality of the world from blossom sewn, long ago, casting shadows upon where we are now. It seems with each passing month the words and sentiment become even more pertinent. Some people have stated they hate it because it sounds so depressing and feel it is out of time but that isn’t the point despite the reality, the point is that if we can just find some space from all the difficulty and not have it pushed upon us all the time by others who cause it then there is hope – so leave us be. Whether you be a tribe’s person in the Amazon rainforest or a woman in Iran, people should be left alone to pursue happiness, not forced into other’s misery or have it thirst upon them.
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing music?
It’s all about mood. Beats can be found at the train station, harmonies from the neighbour’s window while they are playing an untuned piano on the street whilst I’m going to the studio. A child giggling on a street holding a balloon. The morning sun burning off the mist. The smell of the forest…..
I sing with my canary, Boris Johnson, so-called as he has a strikingly similar haircut. Inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere at anytime. It is in you, in your heart, soul, mind, being, energy. Everywhere, all the time it is on you to tap into it.
What is the most interesting place you have performed at?
The funniest place I have ever performed – which may be the most interesting for purely Georgian and humorous reasons – was on a very old stage in my hometown when I was 18 years old. I remember none of the performers could move properly because the stage was literally breaking up underneath us, so I started to sing quickly to try and finish the show without letting the audience know what stress we were under or having any of the performers injured…it started to sound a little like when you play a record at the wrong speed!
Over a decade later in 2018, I played Open Air for the second time. In my mind this was my most memorable performance, there is a video on the YouTube channel but the sound guy messed it up despite fair warning.
The huge home crowd of over 10,000 just backed into the night endlessly. Each song was magical. I was incredibly nervous before I started singing as the crowd was so vast but as soon as I heard the notes of the keyboard I instantly tapped into it and bang, we were on. And it was amazing.
Here at Artistic Echoes, we are always on the lookout for new artists do you have anyone to recommend?
I can give you an old artist in the form of Hamlet Gonashvili-Orovela. Hamlet was a Georgian legend and his voice was something remarkably unique. There was talk of his recordings being sent into space to represent humankind in the long term. He is also on the Baraka soundtrack which I believe was the movie most talked about to chronicle human existence for intelligent life to find. He represents Georgia and those old times. There is another man whom you may be interested in, I have started working more closely with him again. His name is Tete Noise. If you are looking for electronics and ambience he is a good place to discover.
I also always take these opportunities to recommend a woman called Poemme who – in the form of her stunning modern classical piece ‘Moments In Golden Light’ – has conjured many a lonesome hour and created many a wonderful moment.
It a bit difficult to make plans at the moment but do you have anything coming up that you would like to let people know about?
My new EP ‘COLORS” will be out really soon. There will be videos to support this release and the new live show is coming together really nicely. We have performed it a few times now and fine-tuning it. If you check my Facebook there is a live recording of one of the new tunes yet to be released already posted. Comments are appreciated.
There will be some more live performances aired by YouTube channel SoundMojo when they finish organising their event, which is very exciting. I think it is a kind of launch event for them. It’s global live-streaming with acts from all over the world in many different timezones. I feel honoured to be asked to be a part of it. I am also hoping to get over to the states again soon and start buzzing around New York but all plans are a little more fluid than definite in this day and age.
If possible, I will take this opportunity to say that I’m so proud of my family, friends, band and everyone who has been so hugely supportive in the long term now. And I am proud of so many people in general under difficult circumstances. Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself. Work hard and follow the flow step-by-step. Seemingly impossible steps might take a little while longer but never forget your dreams as if you keep walking toward them you may just find one day you wake up living them.
Find out more:
ReverbNation: https://www.reverbnation.com/
Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/salio_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
