EMQ’s with BARBE-Q-BARBIES
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Helsinki based Rock band Barbe-Q-Barbies. Huge thanks to vocalist Niki for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
My Name is Niki and I am the singer in Barbe-Q-Barbies.
I joined the band in 2006 after Niina the drummer asked me to join.
How did you come up with your band name?
One of the founders of the band is Niina who plays the drums! She made up the name after watching Soundgarden’s music video ‘Black Hole Sun’ where they are grilling Barbie dolls!
What country are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
We are all from Finland and we live in Helsinki. The Rock/Metal scene is very popular around here as you can tell because most bands from Finland that made it big are either rock or metal!
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single or Video)
We released our 4th album called “Borrowed Time in 2019, with one single/music video ‘Dis-funk-tional’.
Who have been your greatest influences?
This is always a hard question as through the years I’ve listened to so much music, different artists and different genres like Pop, R´n´B, Hip-Hop and, of course, Rock music. But to name a few I listened to when growing up I would say Queen, Guns ‘n Roses, Metallica, Skunk Anansie, Soundgarden, Nirvana etc…the list goes on!
What first got you into music?
I used to love to dance so I listened to lots of music and of course sang along all the time, MTV back in the days when they still played music videos was really inspiring. Also my brother used to listen really loud to Alice Cooper everyday so I guess that might have inspired me to!
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I would love to work with Dave Grohl, I met him once and he was so down to earth and I love the Foo Fighters.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Download Festival would be cool but let’s say any festival in the world because we love to play at festivals, like all bands do!
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Probably old, used men’s underwear!!
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
A Big Thank You and lots of love and hope to see you at the shows!
If you could bring one Metal/Rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Tough one! I would say Freddie Mercury because he would have written so many more killer songs! But…I was really upset hearing about Chris Cornell’s death as well because he was such a brilliant artist, singer and songwriter and he left way too early!
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love writing music and preforming! There’s nothing really I hate about it, maybe lack of sleep when touring because I’m always scared to lose my voice!
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Probably to make a law against using autotune!
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Audioslave – “Audioslave”.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
I should probably say vinyl but I don’t have a vinyl player at the moment. I do have between 500-1000 CD’s but usually I listen to iTunes or Spotify on my phone because that’s the easiest 😄!
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Last summer we played many festivals but my favourite was probably Provinssi/Finland.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a firefighter but that wouldn’t have worked cause I’m too short! I guess I would’ve become a dancer because I used to dance a lot when I was younger.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Well that’s a tricky question, should it be people I know or wish I knew lol! Me and my Fiance love throwing dinner parties at our house and we made our basement into a band rehearsal place so we usually have dinner and then go downstairs jamming.
So a good group that have already been at our parties would be Andy & Angela Mccoy, Esa Holopainen (Amorphis) Niclas Etelävuori (Flat Earth) and our former Guitar player from BQB Kaisa Karjalainen (Fox Confession)! She is a dear friend and she could play the electric violin with my fiance on the drums then we would have lots of fun and an interesting jam night lol!
What’s next for the band?
We just signed a management deal so let’s see what that will bring us in the near future!
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Mostly Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!
www.instagram.com/barbeqbarbies/
www.facebook.com/barbeqbarbies/
www.twitter.com/BarbeQBarbies
Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?
A biscuit cake lol!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Happy 2020 everyone!
Hope you enjoy our music and hope to see you at the shows!
Niki
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