Sunday morning. The sun shines, the birds sing, and the breath of spring spreads in the air. The perfect day for an important occasion: it’s interview day! An “important”, indeed “demanding” interview. I put on my Sunday best, slicked hair and bow tie, because the expectation is high. Today is time to interview La Roboká.
I mull over what to ask, turning the questions around my mind over and over again, because here, in front of these two artists, the things to ask, the curiosities to be revealed, the secrets to be seized, would be so many. Maybe too many.
Time passes as I cut, move and rewrite, frantically typing on the keyboard. Suddenly the door opens. The sound of silence falls magically and two figures enter. The first is Lady K, dressed in red, who approaches hovering like an operatic prima donna, while humming an operetta air.
Behind her, towers a dark and dense shadow, from which the curls of a “leaden wig” emerge: it’s Robulus.
There’s no mistake, a truly “theatrical” entrance, which seals that conceptualization of opposites attracting each others that is part of La Roboká’s artistic definition.
That’s how, balancing between the imaginary and the real, this interview took shape. We had fun with it and got passionate about it with the precise goal of trying to catch as much as possible of the diversity, the depth and the richness with which Lady K and Robulus have enchanted us.
We have already talked about their latest releases in a couple of previous articles. In particular, we focused on the single and video of ‘Incel Boy’ and on the cover song ‘Enjoy the Silence’. And it was love at first listen! But here it is not a matter of mere personal taste or quality of production. When it comes to La Roboká, there is much more than “just music”. What Lady K and Robulus are creating, by giving life, shape and substance to La Roboká, is a real act of artistic expression. And what better way to grasp its essence and facets than by an interview?
So, keep on reading to find out more. We are sure you will not regret it …
Hi La Roboká, welcome to Nova Music blog and thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
Lady K: You’re welcome, thank you for having us!
Robulus: *nods
For those who still do not know you, can you give us a short presentation of who La Roboká are?
Lady K: We are the duo consisting of Robulus and Lady K. We are the symbiosis of a classical trained opera singer, myself, with a huge urge of theatrical expression and the dark Lord of Pop, Robulus who also has a history of rock.
Robulus: *grunts
How was La Roboká born?
Lady K: Before every birth comes passion. And there was passion for music, for doing something together with our different musical backgrounds. We knew each other from a film and theater project and wanted to do something together. It was quite difficult in the beginning. We had a little crisis because Robulus´ pop-approach and my way of thinking in terms of opera really didn’t come together. But then there was a moment where out of a musical sex La Roboká was created.
Robulus: *smiles knowingly
How did you manage to find a creative synthesis that is so rich in chemistry, even if you come from worlds that apparently are so distant?
Lady K: The little secret is that we are both interested in almost everything. We like to discover new worlds and are not afraid to make mistakes and to make fun of ourselves. With this common sense we can discover the worlds of each other and reunite them in our own sound.
Robulus: *seems to want to add something…then doesn’t
We know that you are not used to labels, but if we had to summarize La Roboká in a few words we would say that you represent a theatrically experimental avant-garde act. How comfortable are you with this?
Lady K: It sounds very nice and I am very comfortable with it, but nevertheless I really don’t like this labeling thing. While making music we don’t think of any kind of labels. We are just making songs. The audience then can decide what to make of it. We don’t pick any genres, we pick sounds and melodies that amaze us.
Robulus: *adjusts a streak of his hair
One of the forms of expression with which you have amazed us is the way in which you succeed in linking images and music with each other. How much do you feel that these two media are two sides of the same coin?
Lady K: Interesting question because for me it is not the same coin. I think film is a good way to underline the music and to express it for the audience. Also we just have so much fun when doing a video because we are full of ideas and Robulus is also a very good filmmaker.
Robulus: *seems to smile a bit
How do you develop the visual and script of your videos?
Even if we closely analyze your music separately, this conceptual-artistic link seems to still be palpable. How do you develop your creative process?
Your creations are not mere stylistic acts. Take for example your ‘Incel Boy’. Here we find not only a call to some aspects of contemporary society, but already the choice of the subject itself denotes a certain gleaning and transversality of the theme. How do you approach the world around you in choosing the topics for your music?
Lady K: There really is not a system. We both have different interests of course. We talk a lot about them and sometimes we stick to one which we find especially interesting. Robulus starts with a songtext or I give him an idea. I’m like his muse. (winks)
One topic I care about is how strong women can be. But there are songs which cover other parts of our lives, lost loves, lost friends, sometimes even disabilities, like Robulus with his Misophonia. (laughs hysterically)
Robulus: *raises two eyebrows
Lady K: We made that song because we always fought about it. I wanted to eat with passion and in peace and he always was disturbed by my eating noises, which are quite normal. I’m not eating like a pig or something. We fought over this until we decided to make a song.
And sometimes there are topics which are disturbing like the Incel-Culture. It became clear to us how unknown this still is. That’s when we decided to make it a song.
Let’s move to your latest release, Enjoy The Silence, a cover of the famous song by Depeche Mode. Covering of a song is never an easy endeavour, especially if it is a piece of such importance from one of the bands that wrote the history of contemporary music. How did you approach this?
Lady K: For me as a classical trained singer it’s really not a thing to cover a song. While singing arias of operas, I always have to forget that there were quite a lot of singers before me who interpreted them.
I’m just doing it my way. Why not do it with a pop song? Depeche Mode and of course Enjoy the Silence is so famous, it’s like a musical monstrum. But we had so much fun making our own version of it.
After an EP, 3 singles, a cover and various videos released in less than a year, we are already expecting more soon! Can you give us any anticipation on your upcoming projects?
Where can fans and people whose curiosity we just piqued get in touch with La Roboká and find out more about your music?
Lady K: On every social media there is, Insta, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and of course on Spotify, iTunes and almost every other streaming service.
Robulus: *takes a quick look at his watch
So, as they arrived, they leave. They leave us dazed, amazed and magically fascinated by their theatrical caliber.
And even without having full awareness and understanding of what Ladi K and Robulus actually gave us with this interview, we know for sure that by sharing with us a slice of their essence, they made us all a little richer inside.
Read more about La Roboká
La Roboká // Danse Macabre
Mind-blowing avant-garde alt-pop duo La Roboká mesmerizes with the single and the video for their ‘Danse Macabre’.
La Roboká // Enjoy The Silence
After the awakening and controversial Incel Boy, La Roboká returns with an incredible new video for Enjoy the Silence.
La Roboká // Incel Boy
From the Berliner duo La Roboká comes the official video for ‘Incel Boy’, a striking and stupefying release about the painful theme of Incel-Culture.