M: I'm here in Brighton today with Annelies Van De Velde, lead singer of Brighton-based group Kovak. I must say it's a pleasure to meet you Annelies!
A: Thank you, thank you! And you as well!
M: For all the people who have never heard of Kovak, how would you best describe the band's music?
A: I'd say it's electro, dance, pop, disco, all rolled into one, with a bit of balls!
M: Sounds good to me! What would you say is your role in the band? Because i've heard your nicknamed sometimes 'Mummalies' is it?
A: Yes, that's right! The guys call me 'Mumma', because i'm the mother of the band, but i'm the singer. And I pose a lot as well. Obviously, when we're writing, we all write together, so i'm a songwriter as well.
M: I noticed that you've been compared a lot to Blondie's Debbie Harry. Would you say she's one of your main influences as a singer?
A: Personally, she hasn't influenced me that much. The band, yes. So Karl and Darren and Martin I think have listened to her more than me. It's quite interesting that when I died my hair blonde everyone likened me to Blondie. (Laughs) It seems quite obvious but that's whats happened.
M: What sort of things can a fan expect to experience at a Kovak concert?
A: I think a lot of energy on stage. That's one thing we keep getting back from people that see us "Oh you look like your having so much fun, there's so much energy!" And we do move around on stage and people do dance. Expect to dance!
M: What would you say is the best concert you have performed at?
A: I would say it was probably Windfest. We did a gig with Animal, they do a big event in Poole. It was about, I don't know, probably a thousand plus people going completely mental all dressed in neon colours. It was a big stage, and I think me and Karl fell down after the gig because we were so tired! (Laughs) That was probably the really good one so far.
M: I know you've recently returned to the UK after a great outing in Canada. What were the highlights out there?
A: The gig itself was amazing! We had a lot of fun doing that. We met some really interesting people, so it was really interesting in that aspect, being surrounded by a lot of musicians and people in the industry. And also at one point, I sat on a Hells Angels bike! So that was good! (Laughs)
M: Nice one! (Laughs) Also I think I read somewhere that you had a live interview on one of Canada's top news stations? I mean what was that like?
A: Actually that was one of the highlights! That was amazing. We've not done live telly before but thank god we did Naked News in the morning, which basically involved being interviewed by a girl with her boobs out (Laughs). That kind of got us into the mood. Then we were live on telly and were a lot more relaxed by then. It was brilliant, was really fun!
M: I know you've been having a lot of success lately but where would you like to see the band in the future, I don't know, about 5 years time?
A: I would like to be touring around. Also making some money out of our music (Laughs) because that's kind of what hasn't happened to date. There comes a point where you want to earn a living doing what you love. And you know, maybe play on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury! (Laughs)
M: That would be great! Do you have a message for a Kovak fan?
A: Dance!... And be colourful!
M: Thanks very much Annelies!
It became obvious that the interview was a lot of fun and Annelies had a great big smile on her face the whole time. I was really excited beforehand to meet Annelies as it's not every day a college student gets to meet the singer from a great band!
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