INTERVIEWS

INTERVIEW: Aussie based duo GRRL PAL make bedroom pop for the soul

Jon Berrien
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Aussie based electro-pop duo GRRL PAL have been meticulously crafting upbeat, energetic  bedroom pop-toons that make you move.  Jay Lekat & Danny K are releasing one track a month for the rest of 2015 and GroundSounds recently caught up with the pair to talk about their latest endeavor, new music and more, check out the exclusive interview below. 

 

For those just discovering GRRL PAL, can you tell us about how you two met and started making music together?

We went to high school together! And once I needed Danny to help me out on a solo project and after that he asked me to sing in a project that he was starting up and GRRL PAL was born!

What made you guys decide on the moniker GRRL PAL?

Danny wanted us to be called GALPAL but that is actually the name of a dildo company, and we don’t have enough money to risk getting sued. The worst part was when you googled GALPAL dildos came up all over the place so we were evil geniuses and removed the vowels in GAL and turned it into GRRL. Also, it sounds super sassy in an American accent!

Can you tell us about the creative and writing process for “NGHT?”

 They are made a few ways! Sometimes we have some chords and we write words and melodies to that and fill in the gaps later but most of the time Danny comes up with the music and a general vibe for all of our songs. Then he comes to me and we develop it further by adding in the melodies and the lyrics together. Usually one of us has a story to sing about at that moment in time, or we’ve been inspired by some tv show or something funny and the lyrics just come together organically. That’s pretty much the process for all of our songs. Sometimes there is a random lyric or melody that sticks out and we base the story or vibe of the song on that one component to make it all fit together.

What was it about the movie “Her” that helped inspire the track “Paradise?”

 SCARLETT. Her voice is just so sxc and we are both kind of always tweeting and gramming these days, when we are working together and we have breaks we don’t even talk to each other. We are both always on our phones. It’s a sickness.

What is it about electro-pop that attracts you two to this sound?

 Its just so much fun and its so silly and we are pretty much as silly as it gets. We don’t take ourselves very seriously and most of our songs start because we are joking about something and electro-pop seems to be a genre that is pretty light hearted and fun most of the time so it suits us because that’s all we want to do. We just want to have fun playing our music and we want our listeners to have fun listening to it.

What do you guys enjoy most about Perth, Australia? What is one thing every visitor should see or do?

 Friends. And the beach. Jay likes the wine around here. Everyone that comes to Perth should take the three hour drive down south and hang out at the beaches down there. They are the best. Perth is a pretty laid back city, but no one knows how to drive. Its dangerous.

What music/tunes do you guys currently have on rotation?

 A bit of everything! Taylor Swift to Jai Paul to Theophilus London to our friends Scenic! 

How do you guys typically start creating tracks? Do you start with lyrics or a beat?

 80% the beat or an idea. We love in-your-face ideas. It has to be something thats straight away exciting or provocative or memorable!

You guys will be releasing one track per month for the rest of 2015 and we are stoked! What else can fans look forward too?! Is there an album or EP in the works?  What’s next for GRRL PAL?

We are hoping to release our first EP in March/April this year!! And then another one towards the end of the year. We have so much music to show you! Maybe make a heap of EP’s and then join them altogether into an album! Kinda like Childish Gambino’s ‘Because of the internet’! Would be great if we could release that on a world wide scale!!