Interviews

Senser Kerstin Haigh Interview

• 17th Jun 2010

They just played this year's Download and this weekend sees them hitting the Islington Academy, Senser's album “How To Do Battle came out in the fall of last year and has made quite the impression. Vocalist Kerstin Haigh took a few questions from us.

Hello, and how are you today, are you busy?
Always busy, but today I had the rare pleasure of taking my sons class on a school trip, 6 year olds can be quite funny on mass.

So the album has been out for a while now – Are you happy with the response it has received?
My expectations are open, the people who have it like it.

Was there any level of nervous anticipation from the band as you geared up to release it, or were you all very confident about the albums material?
I fluctuate with every album I do, sometimes I think the songs are really cool, sometimes I’ve heard them too much and sometimes the band don’t agree on all elements and there has to be compromise. Overall I was feeling pretty confident about this album.

What if anything are you particularly happy about the album?
The wired vocal in ‘smoking paranoia’, the programming in ‘resistance now’, the power in ‘clear’. ‘So refined’ is a unique song, a new sound Im pretty proud of. By the way Prodigy sampled this tune for ‘run with the wolves’, with Dave Grohl on drums, that makes me pretty happy.

This is also your first album out on your new label. Is it a world of difference this time round?
Not a world of difference, it’s still rock music, we haven’t become a barbershop quartet.

You have also been doing quite a few live dates – has it been good getting out there connecting with the fans?
Yes, the gigs are pretty energized at the moment. There is a buzz in the air.

You guys are also played Download this year – Were you excited about that?
We did Download, it was very cool and the crowd was on full throttle

What ideally is the best kind of live show for you to play in, Do you prefer low key and personal, large venues or even a festival stage?
Festivals are always the most fun, everybody is in good spirits and with a bit of sunshine it’s about as good as a thing can be. I don’t know about too low key but a packed personal gig can be furious and very direct.

Some of the band have other projects they work on – do you find this keeps you all sane?
Yes, and life with kids, or maybe that’s just a happy insane.

How does it feel knowing that Stacked Up is still a regularly played album?
Do you have fond memories of that album?
It’s great it still has a place in peoples collections. Yeah I have many memories from that time.

And looking to the future – Are you happy you came together to make “How To Do Battle” at the time you did?
‘How to do battle’ is a cool album and I’m happy we did it.

It may be too soon to ask – but do you think Senser will be back with another album in the near future.
That would be telling.

www.senser.co.uk