9T Antiope
Where are you now?
Paris, at home.
Where would you be ?
Paris, at home.
What have you been doing lately?
Well our lives inside of the house is pretty much the same, we're normally at home working since our studio is in our living room, and this house is where we listen, produce, and write; we've been doing pretty much the same. Not being able to see our friends has been the hardest of it all.
Weirdly, now that there are less people outside on the streets, the patterns of what we do inside the house has changed as well, which is interesting. We've been listening to music quite constantly, and have been making some. With our families back in Iran (in lockdown as well) and friends spread around the world, we spend quite some time making video calls, which has always been the case but maybe a bit more now, which is great. We've just finished our album "Placebo", so we're in a way waiting for that to go through its process of release.
What are you hearing right now?
The ambulance sirens every once in a while, hum of the streets around, and some kids playing outside. Our upstairs neighbours vacuum their house a couple of times a day, happening again now (we wish they're ok).
Are you taking advantage of this containment period to make music?
Don't know if we have been taking advantage of it necessarily, we spend a lot of time at home in general; we're not pushing anything since we've just finished an album. Now that the life on the outside is on a halt we've realised how much we've always been affected by that somehow, working inside the house! That has pushed us maybe to individually take some time working on our solo projects more.
How will the world be after all this?
The obvious answer might be that no one really knows. The two of us discuss this together a lot, I think we all agree there will be a "shift" somehow, and that of a major one!
We do like the world to suddenly get filled with excitement and movement and a new lust for life, but also some other parts of our brains keep asking what if this occasion also becomes a facilitator of suppression somehow and those who were always pushing for a more constrained world find some ways to utilise this state of compliance from people and push some agendas. We think it will take a long time for everything to go back to the way they were before, and only time will tell if that has been for better or worse. We keep persisting anyway.
How can we support the music community?
One outcome of this situation has been the fact that more or less, the living situation is now pretty much the same for most of the artists—staying at home, having no shows, struggling financially (on different scales)—and this has actually helped highlight how smaller artists with smaller income have a much more difficult time passing their days. If we look at everyone as a united blob, then we still see people supporting bigger artists, and the smaller ones get smaller in comparison. There is no wholesome "music community" at this point, it's clearly made of numerous smaller communities which is actually a good thing.
The best way to support would be for small communities to help each other out, now that the hands who normally pick "highlights" have less tools of power, why not push them out further and bring in some real support inside smaller communities.
Five musical recommendations ?
Alfred Schnittke - Requiem
Siavash Amini - Serus
Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused
Sote - Hardcore Sounds From Tehran
Coil - The Ape of Naples
One book ?
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
What will you do when you're out?
Will hang out with our very much missed friends here!
Will go out for a much needed long, free walk.
Would love to travel to Tehran and find our families, friends and the city in health again.
Link:
https://9tantiope.bandcamp.com/
Photo : Ashkan Noroozkhani
