22 year-old Berlin-based singer-songwriter Cloudy June was the lead singer of a death metal band before deciding to focus on her solo career. We had the opportunity to have a conversation about her new chapter as an independent indie pop artist.
As you may already know, we love discovering new artists who create the style of music we feature here on DNü. What we also love, are artists who have an interesting story to share with potential new fans and Cloudy June’s come up is very interesting. She was the lead singer of a death metal band for three years, and if you’re not familiar with death metal, check this link and find out for yourself. Okay, yes we know it’s loud and they all look scary, and all that judgemental nonsense you’re probably thinking of but do you know how skilled as a vocalist you have to be to growl without damaging your voice? It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we totally respect Cloudy June for doing that style of music and keeping her voice in tact and as captivating as ever. As a newly independent artist who now creates indie pop with sprinkles of emo here and there, she has already secured and editorial playlist on Spotify made it to the Top 30 of the HypeMachine Charts with her single “High Waist to Hell”. And she’s back with her latest offering “Goodbye to Honeymoon”— her best release thus far. The only way is up from here and we were lucky enough to have a chat with her.
Read our conversation below:
How are you doing?
Hey, thanks for having me! Doing great!
Nice! At what age were you exposed to music?
Before I was born my mother played guitar while being pregnant with me. And I think that was actually my first encounter with music. After that, I remember listening to music a lot in my childhood, especially with my dad.
That sounds so cool. So you come from a musical background?
My mother sings and plays guitar and writes songs since I can remember.
Oh yes. Who were some of the artists that inspired you growing up?
A German punk-pop band called Killerpilze. They were my idols when I was like 8 years old. Later when I was about 13 and began writing more songs, one of my biggest idols were Courtney Love and the singer-songwriter Jake Bugg.
How did you get into death metal?
I joined the band at my school after a friend pushed me to it (thank you Kerim). At that time I was already into Hard Rock and Metal Bands, like Judas Priest and AC/DC. Through our guitarist, I discovered the first real Death Metal bands who’s music I actually enjoyed. My favourite one to this day being the Swedish Prog Metal Band Opeth. I also stumbled across Arch Enemy, which was the first time that I ever heard a woman do screaming vocals. And that was the moment when I thought: Damn, I wanna do that too!
Wow, amazing stuff. How did you find the experience, you know, being the lead singer of a death metal band?
It was hella fun but it was also challenging. I had to learn a completely new vocal technique and I definitely did it wrong for the first couple of months. But as I got better and better it made me feel very powerful and it allowed me to express myself in a whole new way. Which is the part that I miss the most about it now.
What made you decide to open a new chapter?
Making music has always been my dream. And I realised that in the band we had different goals, different ambitions. I slowly started playing my first solo gigs and after thinking about it for a looong time I finally decided that it’s time to move on and focus on my solo career.
How would you describe your sound now in your own words?
Pop music, but make it a little emo.
I can definitely hear that. You’ve just released your new single “Goodbye to Honeymoon”, talk us through the creative process?
I wrote all my singles this year with my friends and producers Vincent and Valentin. We usually meet at Valentin’s place and start jamming on some ideas. Starting from a sample, a guitar lick, a chord progression. From there we work out a song, look for melodies that we enjoy and start to develop a story. With ‘Goodbye to Honeymoon’ it ended up being a pretty personal one.
What’s the message behind the song?’
‘Goodbye to Honeymoon’ deals with the feeling of fading love in a relationship. We’ve all been at this point in a relationship when the original butterflies in our stomachs and the rose-colored glasses were stripped away from us. It’s about wanting to go back to the day when it all started. And about the fear of losing your partner through a rough time in the relationship.
So relatable, I feel it. Have you set yourself any goals for this song?
My goal is that this song finds as many people as possible who are going through a similar time and experience these feelings. And I wish that it helps them to get through it.
Well, it has already touched me and I’m sure it’ll touch more people. Beautiful song. Will there be visuals for the song?
Whenever we write a song I already have a whole music video planned in my head. Unfortunately, my visions haven’t been coming alive like this lately. But I plan on doing more visual stuff in the future!
Ah, I understand. I hope it comes alive soon, I keep picturing a music video whenever I listen to it. What’s next?
New music in early 2021. We have some new songs ready for you and we always keep writing more. This next year is gonna be wild.
Stream “Goodbye to Honeymoon” below:
Connect with Cloudy June
