Music has the power to bring people together from all over the world. If you need proof of this then look (and listen) no further than Miami-based rockers BlueAshes, comprising of Columbian born guitarist Alex Zungia & his vocalist wife Shila, who is from Denmark. April saw the release of their wonderful debut EP ‘Walking Solo’ which prompted us here at The Rockpit to play one of the tracks on The Heaven & Hell Show podcast last month. We caught up with the couple as they holidayed in Denmark to discuss the EP, the different musical cultures they grew up in and just why they are moving to Nashville.
Sean: Hey guys, great to get to speak & to see you both. You are my first ever video interview, which is pretty cool. Firstly, congratulations on your wonderful debut EP ‘Walking Solo’. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.
Shila: Hi Sean. Thank you. It’s nice to know the EP is out there in the world.
Sean: You kindly let us play one of the tracks on our ‘Heaven & Hell’ podcast last month, so thank you for that. Every track on the release has such a different feel to it.
Shila: Thank you.
Alex: Thank you very much.
Sean: I selected ‘I Don’t Care’ as the track to play and I immediately loved it because of that AC/DC-like guitar riff at the beginning.
Alex: [laughs] I said that to Shila as well. I tried to keep it very simple but it’s got a real punch and of course I love AC/DC. They have been a great band for the very beginning and have inspired so many people – if you’re a rocker then AC/DC just has to be on your playlist somewhere. So it was just a natural thing to write a riff like that.
Sean: And that’s probably why we selected that track out of the five on the EP. We like to close the ‘Heaven’ section of our podcast with some music from a new band and what better way to introduce you to our listeners & readers than with that classic sound. Does it take you long to write new material?
Shila: It depends really. The new single we will be releasing was one that we actually wrote on the way to the studio… in the car.
Alex: We were chosen to record a song in Orlando in a professional studio but because we are full-time parents as well as have jobs and with the band it was all a bit crazy, so I had to record all the parts like the rhythm which took me about an hour on the computer and the drive from Miami to Orlando is about three hours long so in that time we wrote the song. Believe me sometimes it gets tense when you write in the car [laughs]…
Shila: [laughs] Yes, it does but lucky for us it came out great and I love it. In the next few weeks we will listen to the final mix of the track. So to answer your question, when we sit down and have a glass of wine it takes us about an hour or so to write a song. Sometimes we write the first verse & chorus and then go back another day to finish it.
Alex: What takes the most time is to actually find the time to sit down and write. When we first started writing it took a long time because we had just fallen in love…
Shila: Yes the concentration was not as good as it should be [laughs]. Actually ‘Fire of Madness’ came out of that because we were so much in love, so the song is actually about that. I know you like ‘I Don’t Care’ and people think that it’s about not giving a shit about anything but we wrote it about immigration in the US…
Alex: But like with any song, you can take it a different way or have different opinions – there are people working hard in the US who want to stay – they are illegal but want to stay but there are also people legally there who maybe don’t. It’s like a couple who are in love but its maybe not too good a relationship but they want to stay together.
Shila: It has more meanings. Part of the story is also about when everybody told me to go back to Denmark. I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to stay. So it’s kind of saying I don’t care about what you think.
Sean: A different vibe to the EP is the ballad ‘Time Will Tell’, which has a bit of a country-blues feel to it.
Shila: We actually wrote it for a friend – she’s kind of lost in love right now. She’s not too good at taking advice so we wrote it for her. That one was really easy to write because it was written just for her about what is happening right now. She didn’t get mad or anything – she was super excited about it and really touched so it was all good. Most of our songs are personal. My favourite is the title track ‘Walking Solo’.
Sean: They are all great songs. I’m really interested in your story. Alex you’re from Columbia and Shila, you’re Danish… and live together in Miami but where did the name BlueAshes come from?
Shila: [laughs] oh my god it’s so lame…
Alex: [laughs] We had a few glasses of wine…
Shila: We have the true story or we have the made-up rock n roll story which sounds better…but I’ll tell you the true story. We were a little bit tipsy and I have a cat with blue eyes and he’s called Ashes. Alex was playing with the word blue as I have blue eyes as well. We were like; “blue this, blue that” and then Ashes walked in and was so annoying we were like “Ashes stop it!” Then suddenly we both said, “BlueAshes, that’s a cool name”. And that was that.
Sean: That’s not lame. Its personal to you guys too which is cool. With you both coming from such different upbringings & cultures, what were your musical backgrounds & influences growing up?
Alex: Being from Columbian in South America that means we grew up with dances like salsa, merengue, bachata – a lot of these dances nobody knows how to do outside our country except maybe salsa. But there is also rock n roll too. I was never into salsa or the music of the tropics. I was a late comer to rock music – I only discovered Guns n Roses after they split up. I started to play the guitar at the age of eighteen or nineteen and from then on I was always a fan of rock – Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, AC/DC, Guns n Roses, Led Zeppelin. But it is harder to find rock in Columbia but I played in a band in the city that became quite famous. I moved to the US but Miami isn’t the best place for rock. I had to start playing some Latin music with some bands but with Shila it’s our music…
Shila: My story is a little bit different. I used to be a house musician and play club music in Denmark. I had a #1 on the radio in Denmark with club music but I don’t really like that kind of music [laughs]. It was a choice of being involved in music or being a waiter – in Europe, electronic music is very popular. My voice suited that 80’s & 90’s electronic sound so it was easy for them to use me for that style of music. It was fun but I kind of lost interest in that. Originally I started out as a country musician but Denmark has such a small market for country music… well, there isn’t actually a market at all [laughs]. I kind of felt I sold out with the electronic music. When I met Alex he was like, “You should do rock”. I was like, “Rock? No way!” I didn’t even listen to rock music.
Alex: [laughs] I rescued her really.
Shila: [laughs] He did. So I thought I’d try it and that’s when we wrote ‘Fire of Madness’ – I actually came up with the riff for the chorus which I thought was so cool. So we started playing out live and people were requesting more and more songs and it grew on me so much that now I’m a rocker [laughs]. I love rock music… I feel I’ve really found myself. I haven’t got a real rock voice but I feel it gives it a new sound – with my electronic voice & Alex’s rocking guitars I think it really works.
Sean: AC/DC meets Roxette… So you touched briefly on the Miami rock scene not being as strong as it could be… what is the live scene in general like there?
Alex: There is rock music in Miami but original music is not too well received. There are a lot of tourists in Miami so the bars & clubs want music that the customers know and can dance to all night. That’s why we are going to have to move to another city – we are moving to Nashville. There are so many musicians based there and a lot of competition but at least you are in a city that breathes music no matter what the genre.
Shila: We’ve never been there either – we are just taking a chance and just going for it.
Sean: What a fantastic adventure for you both and we wish you both the best of luck with it all. I have a few general questions I love to close with so feel free to answer collectively or separately – What was the last album you guys listened to?
Shila: [laughs] I’m listening to a lot of baby music right now because our baby is so small so I need to think.
Alex: I’ve been listening to Dead Sarah lately and also Joe Bonamassa as well. But generally I’m trying to listen to bands with female vocalists so I’ve been enjoying bands like Dead Sarah & The Pretty Reckless. I don’t want to copy or do the same as they are. At the moment music on the radio is hard – it’s not the way it used to be. The one good thing about streaming is that I can find new music quickly & easily.
Sean: I know for the bigger artists streaming can be seen as a negative element to the music business but for guys like yourselves who are trying to get your music out there in the world it can only be a helpful tool. So, if you could both invite three guests to dinner from the music world, past or present who would you choose to join you?
Shila: Would you choose Nikki Sixx?
Alex: No, he would destroy the whole table even before dinner [laughs]. My first choice would be guitarist Zakk Wylde… I would also have…
Shila: …Am I allowed a guest?
Alex: You are on another table [laughs]
Shila: I would really like to meet Phil Collins so he would be there. I think he is really cool. He was here in Miami recently but the tickets were really expensive so I couldn’t go. Let’s pick someone we both like…
Alex: What about Bono from U2. He seems a really wise guy.
Sean: That question never ceases to amaze me – three new names at the table. So finally if you could both be credited with writing a song from all the songs ever written, what song would you choose?
Shila: [laughs] I’m thinking which song has collected the most royalties.
Alex: Can I have two songs? Maybe they are too commercial or soft but wherever they get played they create a reaction. The first one is ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi. It works just every time I hear it and at the time it was just so new & fresh – Sambora on the talk box and the song just has such a hook. The second song is ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ by Lenny Kravitz. It’s probably the one he’s most known for – even if he writes great songs after this, he will never do anything better than that because it is such a good song.
Shila: I have two as well. ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries and ‘Feeling Good’ by Nina Simone. I love all those amazing singers – Aretha Franklin, Etta James… incredible.
Sean: Not only did you bring three new guests to our dinner table question but they are four new songs to my playlist. It’s becoming a very diverse list.
Alex: We’ll have to check it out.
Sean: I’ll have to make it a public list on Spotify so that you can. Thank you both for your time and we wish you all the best for ‘Walking Solo’ and your exciting move to Nashville.
Alex: And thank you for talking with us – it’s been so cool.
Shila: We really appreciate it. Thank you.
