Her debut album "St. James Ballroom" was released by Universal Music Group in the fall of 2012 and caused a big stir in the electroswing scene: well-known DJ and producer Parov Stelar created his own interpretation of her first single "Shoot Him Down" and released the remix on his own label.
Alice Francis' new album, "Electric Shock", will be released in April 2017.
How important is social media for marketing your music?
Social media is one of our main marketing tools. It allows us to reach our fans directly and personally, they can take part in our rehearsals, tours and our lives live and actively. I think that this promotes an intensive relationship between us and our fans. Not only do the fans get to see our work directly, but we also get to see the reactions of the users directly. Reactions to videos/photos - they comment and show that they like it - we often get really great private messages from fans telling us that our album has helped them through a very difficult time, for example, and that's the greatest thing! On the other hand, social media platforms only want to make money, so they are less social than the name suggests. This often puts obstacles in your way, be it a post being rejected because it has the 'wrong' word in it, or the font on the announcement is too big, or the reach is simply cut down and you are forced to spend more budget. That's quite annoying, but in general, social media platforms are a very important, powerful and useful tool for us.
How did the name "Alice Francis" come about?
This question makes me smile a little, as there is some confusion about the name. Alice Francis is my real name and initially I was the only one in the foreground, so everyone only identified me with the name. But actually we are a band consisting of Goldielocks, who is also the producer, and Chul-Min Yoo. We still work the same way, but now the guys are appearing more and more in public next to me, so people are a bit confused as to whether it's the band name or my name. It's both: it's my name and the band's name.
Your debut album "St. James Ballroom" and the original "Shoot Him Down" were released by Universal Music Group, but you have also chosen the self-publishing route for your current productions. What prompted you to do this?
We believe that the market is constantly changing. We only know the stronghold of CD sales in the 90s, for example, from stories. When we entered the business, the market was already similar to what it is now, namely few CD sales, more downloads but also a lot of streaming. In our opinion, you don't need a huge apparatus to manage all this. Streaming and downloading can be done at the touch of a button, the structures that a major provides are no longer absolutely necessary. They have the contacts and the monopoly, but there is also a thriving underground scene that organizes itself. We wanted to be part of that. It brings with it a lot of independence and adventure, you're freer to make decisions and more flexible in terms of time, everything is faster and more personal. That's why we founded our label TÄEM TÄEM Recordings.
Is it harder to be a woman in the male-dominated music industry?
I haven't necessarily had that experience. We work with a lot of women. We have a great promoter, a top agent, a great lawyer and manager. It's true that musicians are mostly male, as are the record label bosses, but I imagine that will change more and more. I really enjoy working with the ladies, but also with the men; the symbiosis of both components is the best. I wouldn't necessarily say that I have a hard time because I'm a woman, because when I set my mind to something, I'm hard to stop, no matter who tries.
Electro swing is en vogue at the moment. What is it about this revival that interests people, especially young people?
Electro swing is a movement that is constantly evolving. Even before it was hyped, there were already very successful bands like Parov Stelar or Cravan Palace, and nowadays electroswing also appears in advertisements and on the radio, sometimes more, sometimes less. I think that people are interested in good music and whether it's in vogue or not, as soon as a song appears that is well made and gets people going, they are interested in it, even if the music style isn't hip at that moment. With the vintage, retro scene I think it's different, they live a bygone era by dressing like that, going to retro events, driving vintage cars and so on. It's a lifestyle, a feeling, a way of setting yourself apart, of not wanting to let go of something beautiful from the past. I can empathize with that, the style of the 20s and 30s had more attention to detail, the houses were more beautiful, the cars more royal, the decorations more elaborate. It's a shame to give up beautiful things just because a different style prevails at the moment.
You have worked with well-known artists such as Parov Stelar, one of the protagonists of the electro swing scene, and Milk & Sugar. How did the collaboration go? Are new collaborations already planned?
We got to know Parov Stelar in 2012 and are very grateful to him for introducing us to the scene. He himself had been playing to his audience for 10 years before he made such a leap to the top; he shortened the whole thing for us and we are very grateful to him for that. He did a remix of Shoot Him Down for us, which pretty much went through the roof, and we were also allowed to accompany him on some of his tour dates as support band. It was a great time; he has a huge team of very nice and funny people. We met Milk & Sugar in Munich, also very nice people, they then contributed a remix to the Parov Stelar EP of our single and the whole thing was then released via Etage Noir, Parov's independent label. This year we are planning a collaboration with Féfé (Sían Supercrew).
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