Dutch four-piece Canshaker Pi are delighted to unveil their entrancing sound to a UK wide audience through the release of What You’re Trying To Say, out now via Excelsior Recordings.
In this interview feature, we speak with the band about influences, the newest project, streaming music services and more.
Full Q&A along with links and streams can be found below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
From the start we’ve always played what we felt like playing, but it probably has a lot to do with the artists we listen to and the way we interact with each other musically.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
We’ve been playing live for about three years now and we released our first EP Boomslang about a year ago.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
We like all kinds of artists; dEUS, Death Grips, Parquet Courts, Sonic Youth to name a few. Listening to records, as well as visiting live shows inspires us. Everything that makes us feel good in some sort of way leaves an impression on us which we, whether we like it or not, translate into the way we approach making music.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
A record is always a snapshot of how a band approaches and views their songs at a certain moment. Some of the songs have already changed again since time went by. We were trying to make the songs that we had sound as good as possible by trying to translate the live sound and approach we had at that time to a record.
What was the last song you listened to?
Gangland by Ray Fuego.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I own some of my favorite records on vinyl, some on CD and some on MP3. Its three different ways of having a record and one isn’t necessarily better than the other. Although I like to have records on vinyl if I really dig the album art.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I personally use Spotify, and it works fine! In Holland it’s the streaming service everyone uses, so I guess that’s way I use it. And no complaints so far.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
Trying to find the right platform and momentum to release and promote your music, because there are so many great artists making great records that you easily get lost in a sea of cool other stuff.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
We gig a lot, we really like playing live. We have never live streamed a show, but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future! And there’s a lot of live material out there on Youtube. We almost finished our dutch tour promoting the record and we’re planning on coming over to the UK real soon!
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
All our music is on Spotify and Deezer and all that. We’re also pretty active on Facebook and Instagram, where we post our gig dates and new music! We do play a lot of new songs live though, so if you can’t wait for the second record, you know what to do!
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Shout out to you guys for interviewing us and to Ed Stafford for inspiring us. Ed, if you read this, please reach out to us! We really want to meet you! <3
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