{"id":1775,"date":"2011-09-28T13:18:01","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T12:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1775"},"modified":"2012-04-15T23:30:38","modified_gmt":"2012-04-15T22:30:38","slug":"ronika-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/ronika-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"RONIKA INTERVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s one female solo artist we love who is long overdue her imminent success. There\u2019s no one more ready, more destined for that Notts Number One than self-confessed music nerd RONIKA<\/strong><\/a>. She\u2019s got the style, the charm, and the catchy groovy tunes that keep those gloomy Autumn clouds away. This current heatwave is no coincidence! Here she tells Mary Ann Pickford<\/strong> all about her love for music\u2026
\n
\nSo you\u2019re a Notts girl through and through right?<\/strong>
\nI am, born and bred. Notts produce!
\n
\nDo you have any favourites places in Nottingham?<\/strong>
\nI love Lee Rosy\u2019s tea shop, it\u2019s run by my brother. I love the Alley Caf\u00e9 too, they do good veggie food there.
\n
\nHow did you start up your career as a musician?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s been a gradual thing. I started by writing songs on the guitar, some soulful stuff inspired by people like Curtis Mayfield and Sly Stone, then I decided to learn how to produce my own tracks. I was really into that side of things. I loved hip hop and also quite experimental people like Squarepusher and I wanted to be able to make my own beats. So I went and studied sound engineering and music. Then I started making my own tracks \u2018cause I think for me the song and the vocals is just part of it, I like to have the vision for the whole track and the whole song.
\n
\nSo with a bit of that hip hop background how did you come into fusing pop and a bit of soul?<\/strong>
\nWell I\u2019ve kind of been into every kind of music. I\u2019m a bit of a music nerd\/fanatic and I\u2019ve had a big love for hip hop and a big love for disco, soul, funk, and pop music runs through it all for me. I always love a good tune and people like Michael Jackson and Madonna, and just loving ultimate pop music like that.
\n
\nWould you say they\u2019re your big inspirations?<\/strong>
\nYeah massively, I think Madonna\u2019s probably one of my favourite female pop artists. Early Madonna especially. I think she shows people how it\u2019s done. She just writes amazing tunes as well. She\u2019s still writing great music.
\n
\nHow do you come up with your songs then?<\/strong>
\nI think it can be from anything, like inspired from listening to music or getting an idea from lyrics or reading- I read a lot, reading books gives me ideas. Or just writing something on the guitar, or starting off a beat, it could be anything. There\u2019s always a passion there, I can\u2019t stop doing it, I just have to keep making music otherwise I feel like- I don\u2019t feel happy.
\n
\nDo you ever have times when you\u2019re struggling to get your creativity going?<\/strong>
\nYeah I find lyrics harder to write than the music. So sometimes I can get really stuck on lyrics for quite a while and I\u2019m quite picky, you may not have got that from the songs! But then I just go and look at other people\u2019s lyrics and read books but nowadays I just keep going with it. Thankfully if I get stuck on something I\u2019ll start something else, I don\u2019t let myself sit around for months with writer\u2019s block.
\n
\nIf you weren\u2019t making music then what would you be doing?<\/strong>
\nWell before I was doing my own music I was working as a sound engineer – I know that\u2019s still in music – but something perhaps more to do with sound or video. I\u2019m quite a techy person so I\u2019d probably be on the other side of things like that.
\n
\nSo when you were a child was that the kind of thing you wanted to grow up to be?<\/strong>
\nNo it was more like, I wanted to grow up to be a singer or musician, but then when I really got into music in my teens I just wanted to be involved in the whole making of the track, and that\u2019s what led me to the techy side. I\u2019m not naturally techy at all but if you want to be able to produce your own music you have to learn all the gear and everything. So now that\u2019s become very much a part of what I do. But I was never like, ‘I want to be able to use compressors’ as a ten-year-old!
\n
\nI thought you might have said something typical like a vet or something\u2026<\/strong>
\nWell, I think I\u2019ve always been a bit style obsessed. I remember at school when I was a kid we had to do a thing where people were saying \u2018what do you wanna be when you\u2019re older\u2019 and everyone would say, \u2018I wanna be a doctor!\u2019 or, \u2018I wanna be a racing car driver!\u2019. But I put \u2018I wanna be a hippie or a punk\u2019. So I think I\u2019d always been a little fashion or music conscious\u2026
\n
\nHaha, I think your style now suits you better than if you were a punk!<\/strong>
\nDefinitely always been a poser in my head that\u2019s for sure [laughs].
\n
\nSo then what do you think of Nottingham\u2019s music scene at the moment?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s amazing, I think it\u2019s about to explode really – I mean, it already has. There\u2019s so many good people across all the genres. It\u2019s just massively exciting.
\n
\nDo you have any favourites?<\/strong>
\nI do yeah, there\u2019s so many. The people I\u2019ve worked with have been SWIMMING<\/strong><\/a>, JOE BUDDHA<\/strong>, CITIZEN<\/strong> and favourite artists from Nottingham would be people like LONE<\/strong><\/a> and LATE OF THE PIER<\/strong><\/a>. People that I love who are amazing female artists are NINA SMITH<\/strong><\/a>, HARLEIGHBLU<\/strong><\/a>, NATALIE DUNCAN<\/strong><\/a>, MARITA<\/strong> who\u2019s working with KIRK SPENCER<\/strong><\/a>, an amazing producer\u2026 I really don\u2019t want to forget anyone! There\u2019s just too many. There\u2019s PETEBOX<\/strong><\/a> and 8MM ORCHESTRA<\/strong><\/a> who are my live band. Nottingham\u2019s just got such a beautiful intimate music scene where everybody supports each other.
\n
\nIt\u2019s great isn\u2019t it! On a different note, congrats on your Only Only video premiering on NME. How\u2019s that feel?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s brilliant yeah, it\u2019s nice for it to have such a great home. It was fun to make. Me and Jon from SWIMMING<\/strong> made the video and so it was a very DIY labour of love project. I wanted to reference videos by people like Afrika Bambaata and get the sort of cutting edge 80s technology across in the video [laughs].
\n
\nAre all your videos home made?<\/strong>
\nWell Forget Yourself I made and Wiyoo as well. Yes so it\u2019s all quite DIY except for In the City. That was actually made by CITIZEN<\/strong> who\u2019s also produced the track. He\u2019s an amazing video producer.
\n
\nThat one featuring all the robotic dancing is amazing.<\/strong>
\nAw thanks! Forget Yourself is quite a feel good groove and I knew I wanted it to have some good footage in it, so I was basically trawling the internet and I came across a 1981 robotics convention full of robotics nerds, and I felt I could relate to them quite heavily\u2026! Obviously it looked amazing so I thought, \u2018yeah, I need to use it\u2019. And I think it fits the song really well. I\u2019m a big fan of robotics and body popping and all that.
\n
\nIs that what you do when you go out, bust out all your moves?<\/strong>
\nI wish I could! In fact if I could probably develop any skill I think that would be the most useful in life!
\n
\nSo what do you like to do to wind down or to chill?<\/strong>
\nWell I like to read, and watch movies and I host meditation nights with my friends, and I like to eat a lot\u2026 [laughs].
\n
\nWhat\u2019s your ultimate plan for world domination?<\/strong>
\nWell it would be great just to be able to make music that people like. My main thing is that I like to make feel good music, I want to make music that people can put on and feel good to and have a dance to, and I want to make pop songs that everyone can sing along to as well. That\u2019s the music I lean towards. I love to listen to party tunes so if I can keep making music like that that people like then I\u2019d be happy. Cool tunes that people want to put on their mix tapes\u2026
\n
\nSeems like you\u2019re already there. Thanks Ronika, we\u2019re looking forward to hearing more new tracks on the new EP!<\/strong>
\n
\nINTERVIEW ENDS.
\n
\nRONIKA<\/strong> is our artist of the month. Check out tracks from her on both our September podcasts and watch her two new videos, all our Nusic Facebook Page<\/a>.
\n
\nIf you want to see your music in the next New Music Podcast send us your demos! More info can be found on our FAQ page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s one female solo artist we love who is long overdue her imminent success. There\u2019s no one more ready, more destined for that Notts Number One than self-confessed music nerd RONIKA. She\u2019s got the style, the charm, and the catchy groovy tunes that keep those gloomy Autumn clouds away. This current heatwave is no coincidence!…<\/p>\n

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