Helium Robots

INTERVIEW WITH HELIUM ROBOTS
By Betty Davenport

Ewan made his debut in the guise of Helium Robots in 2007 on the unique Dissident imprint with the tracks ‘Metallic Dawn’ and ‘Long Lost’. Since then Lydia M Jones has joined the fray and Helium Robots are now a fully-fledged musical duo. Together they create hauntingly melodic slightly wonky electronia habouring the sounds of the heavenly apocalypse. Their album Voltopia is out now on the This Is Music label.

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Betty: Tell us a little about your background and early experiences in music?

Lydia: I cut my musical teeth playing in a Japanese influenced noise band. It was really very noisy. Having recovered from tinnitus, I decided to put my classical training to good use and find my voice.

Betty: Are you originally from London?

Lydia: I’ve adopted London, Earth having spent the last 6,000 years here. The Romans were a bit much to handle but if you keep your head down time passes quickly. I’m originally from South London in the system H314. There are thousands of Londons all over the stars but this one is my favorite.

Betty: Has electronic music always been your favorite style?

Lydia: I don’t care about genres of music, I just like good noise that moves me.

Betty: Who are your biggest influences?

Lydia: Jeff Buckley. Listen to Live at Sin-é if you haven’t already. His style is very self-indulgent; his range is insane, he gets so into the music that he’s inside it.

Betty: How did you and Ewan first meet to form Helium Robots?

Lydia: Ewan stalked me on the internet for months. I tried to ignore him but he was very persistent. Now it’s me hounding him to write more songs together.

Betty: Tell us about the name “Helium Robots” and how your robot personas evolved?

Lydia: Our home planetary system is mostly made of Helium so no carbon based life forms can live there. We’ve evolved from circuitry to be sentient beings made of metal.

Betty: The video Lacrimosa is very intriguing. What is the story behind the two faceless robots in the video?

They’re in love but they don’t know how to express it.

Betty: Any other videos in the works?

Lydia: We’ve just finished recording a live acoustic version of Lacrimosa. It’s quite unrecognizable from the original uncovering the swing behind the electronics. [here’s the link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcsxqj1yqaY]. The video for Silver is more ethereal recorded in the mud in a forest in a real expensive white dress. That’s out shortly.

Betty: What future projects are you currently working on?

Lydia: We’re writing more material for the second album. We both have jobs so it’ll be a slow process but the more we play together the more we inspire each other.

Betty: Any plans on a US tour?

Lydia: We’d love to once the second album is done.

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