2023-11-02 10:29:06
They are not just blonde and from Vienna – they portray the musical diversity of a city that is otherwise known for its unfriendliness: In cooperation with the original Viennese salon ensemble, WIENER BLOND, consisting of Verena Doublier and Sebastian Radon, are already presenting their new joint album proving for the second time how good the combination of modern pop and old Viennese salon music can sound. On the studio album “Symphonies in the Souterrain” (release: November 10, 2023), the duo sings about their self-proclaimed “living room joys,” which range from pandemic moments to coffee enjoyment. Katharina Reiffenstuhl met WIENER BLOND at Café Schopenhauer and asked how life is going after more than a decade of making music together.
You met during your studies, now you are a duo. How quickly did you realize that you harmonized musically?
Verena Doublier: Fast. We started rehearsing the first songs and then didn’t stop. That was twelve years ago.
Sebastian Radon: It was actually a totally memorable moment. Maybe it needs to be made into a film. It didn’t feel that special back then because we just met and jammed for a bit. But we immediately noticed that it worked well.
Do you have a fixed division of labor or is every step done together?
Verena Doublier: When it comes to creativity, we don’t have a fixed division of labor because everyone simply contributes something. But we’re a bit of a company now, we don’t have a label, we don’t have a management. We only have one booking agency, we do the rest ourselves. That’s a huge amount of work now – and there’s a clear division of labor.
You sing a lot about coffee houses.
Verena Doublier: Because we are addicts.
The Bräunerhof even got its own song. Your favorite cafe?
Sebastian Radon: This is an older story. When I started studying, I often ended up there. In this respect, this song is a bit of a reminiscence of that time, of my 20-year-old self.
Verena Doublier: And I was there for the first time three weeks ago. [lacht]
And how did you like it?
Verena Doublier: It’s exactly as you imagine.
Sebastian Radon: It hasn’t changed since then, probably not since the 70s.
Verena Doublier: There are delicious cakes and unfriendly waiters. Vienna is simply wonderful.
“VIENNA IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOME, BUT IT CAN ALSO BE EXTREMELY ANNOYING”
What is Vienna for you?
Sebastian Radon: Vienna is the most beautiful home, but it can also be extremely annoying. It’s this love-hate relationship that we feel. When you’re away for a long time, you realize you want to go home anyway.
Verena Doublier: For me, Vienna was not only a home, but also a place of longing, because my parents “moved” me to Germany when I was a child. I spent a few years there and Vienna was somewhere like a lost home for me. In the past it wasn’t that relevant to me, but today I think that my relationship with Vienna is very much influenced by it. In the last ten years, however, this has become fairly normalized. Now for me it’s just a nice place because it’s so relaxed and a terrible place because it’s so relaxed.
Does the album reflect a very special relationship with Viennese coffee houses?
Verena Doublier: The idea of the album is a bit of a retreat into something – whatever that something is. Many songs were created during the pandemic, when people had to inevitably withdraw. A song refers directly to this, the distance waltz. We always say we sing about living room joys. And the coffee house is a kind of second living room for Viennese people, so it fits well into this image of retreat.
What is the living room joy behind Spanish radishes?
Verena Doublier: It’s a topic that you have to deal with when shopping. The idea behind the song was simply to address a current social issue. We looked into the question of what constitutes a climate sin in the modern world. Because such banal things are no longer so banal in a world that has changed very quickly.
Sebastian Radon: It also has a lot to do with shopping shame, as well as flying shame. The question is how much responsibility we have for the climate crisis. Of course we can all make a difference, but how much difference do we really make if we buy Austrian radishes instead of Spanish ones?
You both have interesting backgrounds and experiences when it comes to music – Verena with her own acappella group, Sebastian with, among others Gumpoldskirchner sparrows. How much have these things influenced you?
Verena Doublier: I think what was very important for my musical development was that I spent a lot of time in the hip hop and beatbox scene. In reality, this acappella band wasn’t the classic acappella, but rather very modern with techno, hip hop and reggaeton. This influence of working with acappella and loops dates back to the early years of WIENER BLOND also included.
Sebastian Radon: For me, this time in the children’s choir was incredibly formative. When I was ten years old, I stood on the biggest stages in front of big audiences. It was so surreal that I was only able to check it out and process it afterwards. But what really fascinated me there was this illusory world in the State Opera. That you can suddenly immerse yourself in a world on stage in order to enchant the audience. I think this fascination remains – regardless of whether you play in front of 50 or 1000 people.
The collaboration with the Original Wiener Salonensemble has been around for a few years, now your second album together is coming out. How did you find each other?
Sebastian Radon: We both know Anna Statzinger from before through different channels. Anna and her partner Lukas Rath once invited us to an appointment and had the idea of arranging our music for their ensemble. We went into the meeting quite naively and things clicked very quickly. We have been working together since 2016.
“MUSICALLY IT’S A BIG BREAKING THAT WE HAVE TO DO”
Are you staying on this classic path now or will there be songs in the old style again in the future?
Verena Doublier: This is a very special project for us. It’s its own thing, it’s its own style. Of course our songwriting has changed too, we really tried to write for them. The last album was a live album and those were our songs, accompanied by strings. Now we were in the studio and recorded the songs before performing them. I really composed in such a way that it can have a nice symbiosis. There are two musical worlds, the musical world of that Salonensemble is very far removed from what we usually do. We are at home in this groove, in two-part harmony. The Salonensemble plays salon music from 150 years ago. Musically it’s a big balancing act that we have to do.
Sebastian Radon: I think that the cooperation will continue. As you say, we have a few bands now, the band with that Original Wiener Salonensemble, but there are also four of us as a band, and of course we still exist as a duo. The nice thing is that we can pursue all of these things. The combination does it.
Verena Doublier: Absolutely. And that’s the important thing, we’ve been doing this for so long now that you can keep yourself fresh. Sometimes there are people you haven’t done anything with in a while, then you meet them again and you’re back in that bubble.
And you never have enough of each other?
Verena Doublier: Certainly sometimes. But luckily we have different living rooms. [lacht]
Your music videos are extremely creative, just a quick compliment. Would acting be something for you too?
Verena Doublier: I’ll pass the question on to my colleague here, who is an actor.
Sebastian Radon: I have had numerous acting projects in the past. Now things are no longer going well. I’m not a professional actor, I have no training for it. But this is definitely a passion of mine.
One more very important question at the end: Would you rather spend Christmas in Vienna or in the village?
Sebastian Radon: Oh, very nice question.
Verena Doublier: Preferably not at all. [lacht]
Sebastian Radon: That’s actually the story behind it. Verena isn’t much of a Christmas fan – and then she showed up with the most beautiful Christmas song of the century and said “Well, write a verse about it too.” I thought so, “If it fits, Christmas in Vienna, I’ll write a verse for it too.” Then I realized that I had never spent Christmas in Vienna. But this year, for the first time: Christmas in Vienna.
Verena Doublier: I imagine my best Christmas being somewhere where no one knows what Christmas is. And then I drink Turkish coffee or something there. That is the plan.
I hope this comes true. I say thank you!
Katharina Reiffenstuhl
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Album presentation:
December 11 & 12, 2023, Stadtsaal Vienna
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Links:
Wiener Blond
Viennese Blonde (Facebook)
1699034022
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