Let Anaí & the DNA’s Take You On A Ride

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You will fall in love with the voice of Anai

Interview conduct on July 8, 2019

by Dan Locke

Anaí & the DNA’s will take you on an amazing ride. Their mixture of Rock and Pop flirting with Global Music in a sometimes spacey scenery, other times emotional or even humorous and sarcastic temper will make you trip through the most antagonic moods.

“Chilean singer Anaí’s songs are not easily categorized. Being part of a metal band in her teenage years formed her musical style as much as playing and listening to pieces of composers such as Philip Glass.

Such open-minded association with music explains the diversity in her songs which are mainly written on the piano. The distinct voice adds to the fragile melancholic feeling of her compositions, singing lyrics that are self-reflective and well-thought-out.” Joern Steiner

Band MembersDrums:

Cornelius Miller
Bass: Pablo Turati
Guitar: Felix Bodner
Trombone: Samir Khoury
Saxophone: Ibon Goitia
Piano&Vocals: Anaí

Dan Locke: You were born in Chile. How did you get to Germany?

Anai: I went to a German school in Chile (there is one in almost every big city in Chile). Also, my great-grandfather from my mother’s side went from Germany to Chile after WW1 and of course chose to stay there when he realized the second one was brewing. That is why the language was already familiar to me.
I came to Germany because I thought that the situation for working students was much more bearable and because I had a metal band in Chile for 6 years (RAID!), so I could experience how difficult it was to try and live out from it. I had the illusion that in other parts of the world it could have been easier, so I just jumped.

How did you end up with your band?

I studied music production in Berlin and met most of the band while studying. I started performing my music solo in 2011 and tried different formations and formats, till 2014, the year where the idea of having a whole band was finally solid.

You started writing music at the early age of 11 and you had your first band at 14. Do you remember your first gig?

My first gig was a piano concert at a school event at the age of 7 and it was a bit weird, because this music teacher -that wasn’t even my piano teacher-, stood on the side of the piano the whole time, doing gestures of approval or disapproval while I was playing. After a couple of other experiences like that and competitions I actually started hating playing in front of other people, and just kept it for me, till I was 14, where we started RAID! not to play the piano, but to sing only. The first gig with them was on a very old theatre in a small town. It was a hard metal fest and we were the only band with a majority of women on the stage… actually, we were the only women on stage, the whole evening. That was also an eye-opening experience. We got feedback like: “Yeah, pretty good to be a women band” or some people from the audience shouted stuff like: “shirts off!”, the classic whistling, etc. I was super angry, and at the same time, it was a huge step for us to be part of the lineup and being in a local pirate radio that transmitted the concert afterward. But it was just clear that it was going to be a battle just because of a gender issue.

What was the first time playing with DNAs like?

The first time playing with the DNA’s was ironically for my Solo EP Release. The feeling of playing with a band again was amazing. There is so much more possibilities to try out and different moods you can play with. I also felt supported and it was an affirmation that the music that I was pulling out of me made sense, not only in my isolated personal reality but in other ones too.

How did you get signed to your label?

I signed this year with Blue Cat Music, a Berlin-based label. I knew the guy in charge of the project and I was amazed by his motivation and humaneness, so now I have a good team to work within our promotion.

Tell me about your logo on your website?

Omar Carrera Knebel is a designer friend of mine living in Barcelona and we started working together for my EP and I have come back to him for new projects ever since. The one you see on the website now is the artwork theme for the album HUMANO. It was incredible how he got perfectly everything I got in mind and also filled up the gaps I couldn’t fill myself. The illustration was made by Daniela Carvalho, who’s work I also love.

What are your musical influences?

Since my parents listened to all kinds of music at home, I did too, so probably everything influenced me in any other way. There was rock, Chilean folklore, Latin, classical, noize, electronic, jazz, among others. You won’t listen to all of those genres in my music, but it definitely opened my mind.

What did you listen to growing up?

I’ll just throw up the salad: Tool, Tori Amos, Deftones, Opeth, Radiohead, Victor Jara, Violeta Parra, Portishead, Soulfly, Limp Bizkit, Inti Illimani, Mars Volta, Billie Holiday, Blonde Redhead, Björk, Death, Lamb of God, Piazzolla, Massive Attack, KoRn, Aphrodite’s Child, Shannon Wright, local nu-metal bands like Rekiem, Ribo, 2x, etc. It would be fun to go on, but I think you get the idea.

What was the first and last band you saw in concert?

The first concert I remember was with my parents and I think it was Los Jaivas, a Chilean folk-rock band. My last and most hoped one was Tool.

How did your band get its name?

I was looking for something every one of us has even if we all come from so many different places and I just went to the very basics. It’s also fun to imagine that every one of us is an important part of the chain that makes the band a whole, but most of all I just like acronyms and hate this question.

Why do you use only the name of Anaí?

I like that is short. I also feel that it represents me more… more than my family name, that it has rather an identification and bureaucratic purposes.

How do you describe yourself?

I would say I’m a person who doesn’t like to describe herself.

Describe your music. And why should people check out your band?

I think that in our music you can find rock, pop, Latin influenced rhythms, sometimes also a bit of Balkan flare, jazz and much more. When I started writing for my project, I had a singer/songwriter picture in mind, because I was alone with the piano. Now I feel free enough to play with everything it crosses my way. And the good thing is that the whole band is open to it too, so for now we are experimenting and having fun. If there are people that like surprises, ups and downs, dance and cry or cry while dancing, they would probably like it.

Any sponsorships?

Not so far.

Since you are from Chile, what is your feelings about the Human Right Issues in Chile?

Human Rights in Chile were and still are a big issue that troubles my mind. There is still not enough clearing about the fascist Military Dictatorship and all the pain it left. So many cases of missing, tortured or assassinated people are still open and for the ones that are closed, you see that the responsible are either free or in resort-like “prisons”.
There is still no real recognition or respect of the indigenous peoples. They are being progressively massacred by police special forces that are “secretly” trained in other countries, to learn how to erase lives with no mercy. This all involves corrupted ways to operate, of course.
You have peaceful teachers’ demonstrations being reduced with extreme violence, just because they are marching and holding placards as a way of fight for their rights and full armed police forces entering schools, because students strike. I can go on, but isn’t it like that everywhere right now? Fascism is being outed with no reservation and so it is rapidly getting strong again. It’s revolting.

What are you’re feeling about Brixton and the EU?

If by that you mean Brexit, I would say that it appears to me to be bullshit to go backward, but I haven’t read enough to give you a responsible answer and arguments.

What band would you like to have open for you on your first headlining tour?