Natascha Sohl is surely going to be a name to look out for in the very near future, with her forthcoming album ‘Dirty Little Word’ due for release in early 2008 and with the big news that her song 'Naked' was used on the top MTV series 'The Hills' this UK based rock chick certainly has a lot to be excited about. Although already aired in the US, episode 10 (What Goes Around) is still yet to air here in the UK, keep checking Natascha's myspace (link at the bottom) for a definate date on the UK showing.

I asked Natascha to describe herself in six words, happy, loyal and funny, feisty, driven and creative and after listening to her album I found these apparent in her music and her lyrics. Natascha comes across as very smart and intelligent and someone who knows what she wants and has the determination to get it and I for one hopes she does.

Where were you born, and do you still live there?

I love it when people ask me where I was born!! It’s pretty cool to be able to say you were born in Paris! My family moved back to the UK when I was about 9 months old though so I didn’t really get a proper taste of what ‘Gaye Paris’ is all about! I should go and check it out really!

Are you an only child?

I’m the middle child of 3 kids – well sort of!! I have a twin sister but I was the first one out and we have an older brother, so I guess officially that makes me the middle one!!

How did you get into music, was it from an early age? and do you have any musical training?  I always remember loving music from a very young age and singing whenever I thought no one was listening. I remember being about 8 years old and trying to write my first song! I don’t remember what it was about now but I’m sure it was rubbish!! Hey at least I was trying!! I got into my first band when I was 18 and decided I wanted to take music seriously. I went to a music college for a year to study vocals which was fun and I met some great people who I’m still friends with now.

Can you play any instruments and if so which ones, and do you have a favourite?

I don’t think I can really claim to be able to play any instruments properly!! I can play a few chords on the guitar but I’m not great!! I’d really like to feel comfortable enough to play on stage. I’ll get there. I think the guitar is a really cool instrument and you can take it anywhere. I’d love to be able to play the piano too, but I’d want to be amazing at it!!! I really wish I’d learnt as a kid so I’d be awesome now!! I think it would be really hard for me to be as good as the people I admire, so maybe I should stick to singing, writing and learning the guitar!!

Who are your musical influences?

When I was growing up my parents used to listen to a lot of Queen, the Police, Supertramp and Dire Straits, so I was listening to great music to start off my musical interest!! As I got older I listened to a lot of Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow, Matchbox 20, No Doubt, Lenny Kravitz and Incubus, so I’ve always been into rock really! I still love all that stuff but I really try to be open minded about music so a lot of things can inspire me. Ben Folds, John Mayer, Gavin DeGraw, Mooney Suzuki, Butch Walker and the Foo Fighters are some of the people I think are amazingly talented. Anyone who has a real talent and passion for what they do in their playing, performance or writing influences me, and these guys have definitely influenced me in my writing and performing as I’ve grown. I don’t know what influences people hear in my music but generally I try to not sound too much like anyone else, but if comparisons are made with any of these guys then I can’t really complain!!

How do you write your songs? Do you start with the music or the lyrics?

When I write, I can have absolutely no idea as to what to write about, so I’ll sit and think about it for a while or have a chat with whoever I’m writing with until we come up something that seems like a good idea to write about! It’s always different really, I might have an idea and some lyrics written before the music comes about, but other times my guitarist or producer will play a cool riff that evokes certain emotions so I go with that and write about what ever it makes me think about… I often write about my own life experiences and sometimes I’ll embellish to make the story more exciting!! I like completely making up stories too, almost creating a character and putting myself in someone else’s shoes… that can be quite a challenging and fun way to write.

If you could duet with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

There are many great musicians that I would love the chance to duet with. Freddie Mercury would have been an amazing person to work with. He was such a great frontman and singer, with such a great voice. I think since he was such a perfectionist it would’ve been fun to record a song with him – he would definitely have been one of those people who make you raise your game!! Guys that are still around that I’d practically kill to work with would be Dave Grohl (need I explain why…? The man rocks!!), and Butch Walker - who’s pretty well known in the US - he’s an amazing musician, writer, producer and performer and definitely someone I look up to so he’d be supercool to duet with, he has amazing presence.

Which of your songs are you most proud of?

It’s hard to say which song I’ve written that I’m most proud of. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I’ll keep working on a song until I’m really happy that it’s saying what I want it to say. I think maybe the song I’m most proud of though is ‘Fade’. I wrote it when a really good friend of mine was killed. It’s about the day I found out, and is pretty much exactly how I felt and what I did that day so it’s a really personal song to me. I usually can’t write about something that has really affected me until quite a while after the event, but I wrote it about 2 weeks after it happened. I was still feeling pretty numb. It’s not the sort of thing you normally have to deal - you can’t really hide the way you’re feeling or sweep it under the carpet and just carry on like nothing’s happened.

You appear to have travelled to the US a number of times because of your music, is there anywhere in the world you want to visit someday?

There are a lot of places in the world that I’d still love to visit!! I’ve seen quite a bit of the US already which is amazing but I’d love to get the chance to tour around Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand as well as throughout Europe... Spain, Italy Germany, France any of those places would be awesome to play. Infact, sign me up for that world tour!!!

Where would you like to see yourself in five years time?  

In five years time I’d love to be a known throughout the world, having sold a bunch of records and played a whole load of sell out shows!! I’d like to be on World tour number 2!!! I want to be in the position where as many people as possible can hear my music and connect with it, and am more than happy to work hard for it! I'm in it for the long haul - music is what I want to do with my life!!

Do you have any plans for a tour, when your album is released?

I’m hoping to be playing shows as much as possible to help promote the record early in 2008 when my album is released. Most likely in the UK and North America to start off with, and hopefully Japan too!

  ..............................................................

Photography Credits: Ewan Hignett-Pic1, Mark Weiss-Pics 6-10

Dirty Little Word

 1 Naked

 2 Dirty Little Word

 3 Habit

 4 Beauty In The Silence

 5 Nothing Else Matters

 6 If I Was A Boy

 7 I'm Not Listening

 8 Fade

 9 Yesterday's Rain

10 Body Beautiful

11 I'm So Happy

12 Hands Off My Past

13 Afterglow

I chose this track as it's sort of the 'anti' love song!! It's cant live with it, cant live without it sort of thing!! I can be quite feisty with my lyrics and this is one of them! I wanted to write a song that focussed on how rubbish love can make you feel instead of how amazing - it's the other side of love!! It's also the title track of my forthcoming album and will definately be one of the singles.....Natascha Sohl

video

Featured Track - Dirty Little Word

gigs

No Upcoming shows at present

Artist

NOW PLAYING - CHART SHOW 05.10.08

Advertise on LoneBoyStore