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ANEIKI are pleased to meet you!
Forget the cheesy pop acts of late! Meet the newest and most exciting band to emerge onto the Australian music scene this year. Aneiki (ann-ee-kee) are Jennifer Waite and Grant Wallis, the dynamic duo who came together with the help of Savage Garden's Daniel Jones. Their brilliant debut single has raced up the charts, leaving fans wanting more! Aneiki's debut album "Words In Place of Objects", is set for release in the New Year. GIRL had the pleasure of catching up with both Jennifer and Grant in this candid interview.
GIRL: Congratulations on your first single "Pleased To Meet You". Was this song always going to be released as the first single?
Jen: No we weren't sure at first, there were about six songs from the album that we thought could be singles. But "Pleased To Meet You" did stand out as an obvious choice as it has a very catchy chorus.
GIRL: Is the rest of your album necessarily going to feature pop tracks?
Jen: The rest of the album is not all like "Pleased To Meet You", it is very eclectic really. Grant comes from a completely non-pop background and this is the first pop track he has ever done. A lot of the album tracks are a bit heavier and more electronic based than the first single.
GIRL: "Pleased To Meet You" is still racing up the music charts. Are you surprised at all with how well the single is going?
Grant: Yeah I suppose we are surprised, it's always hard to know what to expect, we weren't sure whether people were going to like it or not. We wanted to do something a little different from what everyone else is doing at the moment. To do well on the charts has been really good.
GIRL: Your forthcoming album is titled "Words In Place of Objects". Who thought of the album title and is it significant in any way?
Jen: It's something I came up with, I have this book of lyrics that I scribble in all the time. Some pages have complete sentences and others have a whole song written down. We were looking for album titles and there was one phrase that stood on a page by itself and I don't know when I wrote it or where it came from, but it was in my writing. I found it and thought that it would make a really good album title. I believe that people should place more value on writing and being able to say things to each other rather than material possessions.
GIRL: What is your favourite song off the album?
Jen: Oh that's a tough one, it changes daily for me...
Grant: My favourite would be a song called "Wicked World"...
Jen: Yeah that's probably my favourite as well. It's really tough, it depends on my mood too, if I'm into the ballads I prefer "Wicked World" or "She Says", if I want something rock, there's a song called "Erase" which I love.
GIRL: Obviously your first goal is to release the single and subsequent album in Australia, when do you plan to release the album overseas?
Grant: We don't actually know at the moment, we're just taking our time, we want to do really well here first. The overseas interest is already there but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We're from Australia, so we want to do very well in our own backyard first.
GIRL: Your album took awhile to make, was there ever a time during this process that you became a little frustrated or perhaps anxious to get your music out to the public?
Jen: Yes and yes! (laughs) During the recording of the album there were a few conflicts with producers, but that was all part of the process. Daniel Jones, who formed our record label, warned us before going in to record the album to expect a little conflict. We were like yeah, yeah, we love these guys, everything's going to be fine and sure enough, there were a few moments where we had completely different ideas about where we were going. But it came back full circle and if we had not of had that, it wouldn't have worked out. Waiting for the album to come out has been an anxious time; it's been recorded for nearly a year. But it is worth the wait and things happen when they're supposed to.
GIRL: How did the partnership between yourselves and Daniel Jones of Savage Garden come about?
Grant: Daniel was looking for members for his touring band when Savage Garden went on tour last. Daniel came and had a look at the bass player we were playing with at the time and while there, he saw Jen and I as well and asked us both if we wanted to join. Jen took him up on the offer and I, to my parent's dismay, declined.
GIRL: (laughing) Really?
Grant: Yes, and I was filled with a lot of ridicule until quite a few years after it. After the tour, Jen became good friends with Daniel and told him that she had bigger plans for herself. Jen and I had been working together for awhile by then too, so when it came to doing some work on the songs, they gave me a call. I weaseled my way in! (laughs)
GIRL: Well aren't you lucky Daniel Jones asked you twice?
Grant: (laughs) Yeah I was!
GIRL: Jen prior to forming Aneiki, you were concentrating on writing for a solo album. Is this how you initially saw yourself, as a solo artist?
Jen: Actually I was hoping not to be. After leaving Savage Garden I wanted to be doing something creatively and songwriting of my own, it wasn't necessarily to be the next 'Britney Spears'. I guess it was all part of the evolution.
GIRL: On your album, you collaborated with some talented producers and songwriters, was this a bit daunting and overwhelming for you at first, to be in the company of such experienced people?
Jen: The day before the first trip we made to Stockholm in May 2000, I was sick with nerves. But from the moment we arrived, we met the guys and they were just great. They are some of our best friends now, we keep in regular contact and we just love them.
GIRL: What is the music scene like in Stockholm? Did you get to check it out much?
Grant: Yeah we did. They don't have a huge alternate scene, they love pop music and that's what the whole country revolves around. We tried to get out and see some of the non-mainstream bands over there, like Granada; we really liked them, and also Teddybears Stockholm.
GIRL: How hard was it being away from family and friends in Australia?
Jen: It was OK, we were there for three months. Grant and I are best mates so it would have been worse if only one of us was over there at the time.
GIRL: When you get a spare second away from the studios, what do you enjoy doing the most?
Jen: I spend a lot of time working on our website Aneiki.com, which is run by myself and my brother. That takes up a lot of my spare time, when I'm not shopping of course! (laughs)
GIRL: A noticeable difference between your website and other celebrity sites is that it is very personalised. Is it important for you to keep in close contact with all your fans?
Jen: Yeah absolutely, one part that we were really keen to keep control of was the internet and running of the website. There are a lot of girls on there who are really good friends of ours now. We're online every day, so it's great.
GIRL: Who are your musical influences?
Jen: I'm into stuff like Garbage, which is probably my favourite band. I also like Alannis Morrisette and Bjork.
Grant: I went and saw Tool recently, I'm not really a pop guy, I like different styles of music.
GIRL: Obviously it is very important in the Music Industry to make a film clip which is as good as the song it's representing. Was the "Please To Meet You" video the first one you have made? And did you enjoy the process of making it?
Jen: It was the first clip we've made. We had some great directors and producers working on our first one and we're going to use them on our second video. It took us 22 hours to make the "Pleased To Meet You" film clip.
Grant: Yeah, we were warned before we went in to film so it wasn't like we could complain either! (laughs)
GIRL: So where can fans catch you next?
Jen: We're just doing the promo thing at the moment so we're really all over the place doing TV, radio and those sorts of things. There will be no live, full band performances until the album is released.
- Annemarie Failla (annemarie@girl.com.au)
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