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INTERVIEW: Courage My Love

We had a phenomenal time at 2000 Trees Festival this year, you can check out our full review here if you want proof! To add to the great time, we had the chance to sit down with COURAGE MY LOVE, who were fortunate enough to enjoy their first taste of British festival season this year. The Canadian trio had a lot to say as well!

How are you finding your 2000 Trees experience?

Mercedes: Unfortunately we got here whilst we’re on tour! We had a show yesterday, the show today and another tomorrow, but the festival is so sick, way cooler! We didn’t know what to expect but it’s just blown our minds!

How does it compare to other UK festivals you’ve played?

Mercedes: This is the first UK festival we’ve ever played! We’ve toured the UK a few times but never played a festival, never even played here in the summer so it’s pretty cool!

Does it still amaze you when you fly out to another country and the crowds get bigger and bigger?

Mercedes: I’m amazed that people even know any of our songs still! |

Brandon: Having the crowd singing along with us today was mad, just so awesome!

Who were the idols that made you want to pick up instruments?

Mercedes: I think the classics like Joan Jett are obvious, but also bands like BIKINI KILL were kinda game changers for me, they were just so vocal in their message, they started the whole riot girl movement. They really inspired me to think about the kind of front woman I wanted to be.

Phoenix: We’re Canadian so we can’t get away without mentioning Avril Lavigne, pre-kawaii of course.

Brandon: My dad really got me into music, so bands like ALICE IN CHAINS got me really into the grunge scene. HOLE and even back to the VELVET UNDERGROUND.

What are the sort of influences that go into the eclectic sounds of COURAGE MY LOVE?

Phoenix: On the programming side, we’re all really big fans of PURITY RING, another Canadian band, and CRYSTAL CASTLES. Ellie Goulding from the UK is great as well.

Mercedes: I’m really into RADIOHEAD, I think they’re just the most eclectic band. Every album is different, and it’s kind of unfair cause they’re just so stacked. They have amazing musicians but are also people who can write movie scores, it’s awesome!

How about on the lyrical front?

Phoenix: I think for lyrics they’re just inspired from every day things, I wouldn’t say we try to emulate other bands at all.

Mercedes: Personally for our style, we all like analogies and we all write poetry and read so we all try to do artsier stuff whilst trying to still be relatable.

When you first started COURAGE MY LOVE did you want to become role models for young fans, or is it something you’ve had to grow into?

Mercedes: When you first start you think it’s going to be so easy! You think you’re gonna blow up immediately, so I think we had, we still do have, a lot of ambition. But at the same time we were so excited like I remember googling us to see if anyone had recorded our live sets back right when we started in 2011 and there was a video with 80 views on it. I remember getting so excited that 80 people had seen us play, and it’s weird because you gain a lot of perspective when you look back. We had this aspirations and dreams to get to that level, but we’ve always been so pumped that anyone cared for our band.

Now that you’ve hit international success, has the mission statement changed at all?

Mercedes: For sure, I think it’s important and young people are very intelligent these days. I never thought of myself as a role model, but if you have people who are paying attention to you, you become a role model whether you see yourself as one or not. Lead by example, try and be positive even if you write a sad song someone will listen and feel like they’re going through it with you.

How about you Brandon, what did you wish to achieve with COURAGE MY LOVE?

Brandon: I joined a little bit after they started so I got thrown into it! It’s been awesome, I just love growing the fanbase and seeing new fans at each show. Seeing the difference between people first seeing you and saying ‘yo man that was a sick show’ to the next time you see them and they’ve got old merch on!

What about new music, when can we expect new things from COURAGE MY LOVE?

Mercedes: So we’re actually just closing off the last album cycle but we do have new music coming in August so we’re super pumped for that! Things were supposed to have come out already but we still have to shoot a music video and there’s still all this stuff that we just wanna get right, but it’s gonna come out in august and when we’re back we’ll have new stuff to play!

Does it get stressful being perfectionist when you’re sitting on music you’re so keen to get out?

Phoenix: It feels like these days the image you have and the artwork you have, the visuals are almost equally important to the music these days so we wanna do it properly.

Brandon: Just gotta make sure it’s all good to go!

Phoenix: Yes it is stressful to answer your question! But it’s really fun to do!

Is the aesthetic a combined effort from all three of you?

Mercedes: We always think about how we wanna grow, we never want to stay the same. There’s fans that love the old stuff, fans that love the new stuff, so we just try to make sure that the only thing that stays is change! We try to always grow and never get comfortable in one place.

So how have you grown and changed since the last record?

Mercedes: I think this is gonna be a super generic answer, like every band says their new material is more mature or more them, but I actually do feel that way. We ripped the bandaid off with the last album. We ventured further out into the pop world playing with new aesthetics and new sounds. With this next album its no fear, no holding back, we can go in any direction and be stoked on it. It’s different but we’re committed to this sound and committed to ourselves.

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