The birthchild-band of Lianne La Havas, comes Crinkle Cut! The all-girl group comprises of 4 talented, budding music artists Melissa Wong, Grace Foo, Frances Thomas, and Ashley Choong.
We’ve had the opportunity to interview these amazing women of talent, and discussions of fries, first world problems, and fashion were made and we can’t wait for you to read it.
1. We know you probably get this a lot, but we just have to ask, where did the name ‘Crinkle Cut’ come from?
Fries! We know everybody is expecting a cooler answer, but the process was very underwhelming: We decided to play together but we didn’t have a name and at the time we had a bucket of fries in front of us and we went, “Crinkle Cut Fries will do!”. Crinkle Cut Fries was a mouthful so it got shortened to Crinkle Cut.
2. Before Crinkle Cut, was there anything each of you had planned on pursuing, initially? And do any of you have commitments outside of the band, like a full-time job or education or etc.
Four of us met at the same music degree course in UCSI University, so music has always been what we wanted to pursue. At the moment, music is our full-time job; we write it, we play it, we teach it, we sell it. If we could eat it, maybe we would.
3. When did you guys decide that Crinkle Cut was going to be something that you guys wanted to take seriously, in terms of getting your name out there in the Underground-Malaysian music scene with more gigs and whatnot?
Maybe in 2017. We have been performing together since 2011; we wrote a few songs here and there but we never took it too seriously until the last couple of years when we realised we aren’t getting younger and life’s too short to play safe, you know? It was like a YOLO moment. We got in touch with the right people and then suddenly we have multiple singles out!
4. There is no short of a love for performing and music in this soulful affair, but with 4 people, how do you guys manage to keep up and stick with a sound while incorporating your own individual styles?
The four of us definitely have our preferences when it comes to music but working together means finding and respecting that common sound between us- that common sound is sometimes a huge mess but that is the whole point- it’s nobody else’s but ours. There’s a little romance in that. We like a little romance.
Having said that, style and sound will always evolve, like fashion. For example, you start with a white t-shirt and then in a couple of weeks we grow out of it, so we add a splash of red lipstick to go with the ensemble. We are like that with music. The lipstick resonates the evolvement in our way of creating.
5. Relating to the previous question, what is your process when it comes to writing and composing? Is it an individual thing, or everyone gets together and have a sit-down and brainstorm on ideas?
A little bit of both. Sometimes we sit down and brainstorm things like chord progression or melodies. Other times, it starts of as an individual thing: Maybe the lyrics are personal and they reflect a certain moment in someone’s life. But either way, the second half of the process is always a collective effort. We jam the song out on our instruments and decide the entire vibe that should go with the tune.
6. In your latest song “Goodbye”, there was a lyric that said “Jaded heart of black and blue dreading the light of tomorrow’s noon, Who knows what happens, where she goes?” Is there a meaning behind this or a story that you’re trying to convey or bring light to?
Goodbye is a song about losing a loved one too soon. That part of the lyric speaks of the person who is left behind. The black and the blue symbolise her intense grief; there’s a void within her she can’t fill. Dreading the light of tomorrow’s noon simply means she doesn’t want to face tomorrow. Does it matter what happens, where she goes?
Picking this apart feels like English literature in high school. Love it!
7. You guys have released a lot of EPs, the only EP that has multiple tracks on your Spotify is “b_tt_rsw__t”, are you guys planning to release a multiple-track EP or maybe even an album soon?
As of now, we have decided not to because releasing singles seem to be a lot more economical and free. By free, we mean we get to design the whole idea and concept over one song, and then move on to the next project without having to be bound by the same parameters. Albums are a lot more intense. But we are not dismissing the idea at all. Who knows what happens, where she goes??? (See what we did there!)
8. All of your stage-presences are very hard to ignore, and we know that you guys take inspiration from the likes of Liane La Havas and John Mayer for your music, but where do you guys gather your stage-presence inspirations from?
That’s a very good question. If stage-presence here means the way we talk and engage, we have no idea. It’s many years of trial and error. We experimented and observe the reactions of our audience until we figured out what went well for us. If you’re referring ‘stage-presence’ in terms of our style, it’s also through trial and error. We fight a lot about what to wear. It’s a first-world problem.
9. Is there anything in the pipeline which we all can look forward to in 2019?
Yes! We are releasing our next single in May, called “Think About You”. It is a fun one. We are very much enjoying the production process at the moment.
10. Any advice to budding local singers out there?
- Hustle, because talent doesn’t beat hard work.
- Be humble, because we are all replaceable.
- And always thank the people who got you there in the first place.
On that note, we want to thank every single person who has come up to us and told us they believed in us and our music. Thank you for getting us here.
Thank you Sevenpie!
