Interview with Germany’s Milky Chance at Sasquatch

On Sunday at Sasquatch around noon before the 3rd day of the festival had begun, I had the chance to sit down with Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch aka Milky Chance. It was early and they had driven in from Vancouver BC after playing two shows at the Commodore.The band experienced huge success after the release of ‘Sadnecessary’ in late 2013 with singles “Stolen Dance” and “Down By the River” burning up the charts. They seemed to be completely relaxed with it all as the German folk duo that mixes in some reggae and electronic influences prepared to take on the main stage later. I noticed Philipp was barefoot and I teased him about losing his shoes, while he kindly smiled back.

NWMS: Do you perform barefoot as well?

Philipp: Sometimes I do, I play basketball like that and have no problem.

NWMS: So, first time at the Gorge are you ready for the main stage?

Clemens: It’s a really beautiful place and we can’t wait to be a part of it.

NWMS: You’ve been on tour for more than a month at this point, have you been back home at all?

P: Nope, but we’re not as tired as we thought we were going to be and we’re going back in a couple of days.

C: It’s hard to be away from home mostly our girlfriends.

NWMS: How is touring for you and are you writing anything new?

C: I’ve been writing a lot of new songs that just need more time to work on.

NWMS: What is the writing process for you?

C: I write the songs and then we work together on developing.

NWMS: Rumor has it that you wrote your album in a weekend, is that true?

C: That’s not true, most of the songs were written in six months except one which took two and a half years.

NWMS: Which one?

C: Stolen Dance actually, I had the chorus and then went back and finished it.

NWMS: Speaking of writing, what language do you use since you’re native is German?

C: I write in English

NWMS: I can’t even tell you have accents really.

P: That’s great! We started really young and we try to speak and learn.

NWMS: Being on tour for the last three months what has been a highlight?

C: The whole experience has been great, I would say playing Coachella was huge for us

P: We got to tour all around the country and got to know all different parts of the US.

NWMS: Are you staying for the next two days?

C: We’re leaving in the morning so we’re excited to see some acts tonight.

NWMS: Name one thing you need to have on tour.

C: My special shoes (I took a look at them), I only wear these on stage and I’ve had them this whole time.

NWMS: What is the most difficult thing about being on tour?

C: Being away from home and spending a lot of time with many people in a small space.

P: It’s not only yourself, you have to think about your family and relationships that you leave back home. They have to adjust with your new life as well.

NWMS: Must be exciting to get back home then after so long?

C: Yes, we have a few days then we play weekend festivals so it’s not bad.

P: It’s going to be nice to get recharged again and relax.

NWMS: I’m sure it’s hard to be on stage every night because no matter what you have to be present.

C: It’s hard but you just have to concentrate the same as if you were doing any job

As our time finished they were more than happy to have a couple of snaps taken and hold a piece of paper up that my friend had written for them. We were all in need of coffee after but once on stage the guys were electrifying. They had an amazing turnout and everyone was discussing them afterwards as one of their festival favorites.