Where did you come up with the band name and how did you form?
We came up with the name as a reference to gaming-culture, which none of us is really a part of, but we liked the image of our songs spawning out of nowhere which they seemed to do at the time. We met each other at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, where we studied together and just finished our bachelor degrees.
How does your hometown of Copenhagen shape your sound and approach to making music?
We are part of an underground scene in Copenhagen and share aesthetics with a lot of our friends and colleagues. There seem to be a confidence in Copenhagen in not following established rules and structures in music making, which has definitely shaped us in our approach to our music.
There seems to be a lot of amazing artists coming from the RMC school, where you’re all students (Erika de Casier, Smerz, Snuggle, Molina, Astrid Sonne, ML Buch, Fine, Clarissa Connelly … the list goes on!) What’s it like studying there and how has that informed your process?
First of all, it has been a physical framework for creating the band, since we met at the school. RMC has a unique way of letting the students teach and inform each other through educated ways of talking about the process of making music, rather than the music itself. The education program encourages its students to seek awareness about the creative process, in terms of method and context. That might have informed our interest in approaching alternative ways of working with curiosity and openness. Especially in relation to each other’s sometimes cooked ideas.
What other new Copenhagen acts aren’t on that list that we should know about?
Our friend Arshia, who we went to school with definitely deserves more attention. He makes politically charged experimental RnB and has just released his debut album; New Nordic Tragedy.
How do you approach songwriting and vocal harmonies?
Writing songs has to be fun for us, so usually a song starts with a joke or a weird experience one of us have had. We write the songs together and it is usually a very fast process. The harmonies seem to come up naturally as we are writing the song - it can get a bit boring for us all to be singing the same melody, unless it is a conscious choice.
What’re your biggest influences? (musical and non-musical)
We have many different inspirations. We wrote the album within the first year of getting to know each other, and talking about music that we liked was definitely one of the things that brought us together. We have all listened to a rather diverse pool of music, mainstream pop, art-pop, R&B, soul, rock, indie, metal, folk, electronic (sort of… everything? hehe) and the merge just kinda happened within the collaboration. Metallica, Nirvana, Mew, Kate Bush, Judee Sill, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles come to mind as some of the influences. Very standard inspirations, but they slap.
Will this be your first visit to London?
No, we have all been there on vacation, but it is our first time going there to play music.
How do you approach production and collaboration?
We all take turns in producing, and like to do it without regard to technical rules or specific choices of gear. The production phase is mirroring the songwriting phase, in that it has to be fun.
What’s next for Spawner?
We are in the beginning stages of making another album and shifting up our sound a bit. Also we are looking forward to play more concerts and develop our stage presence.