Interview with Annabel Lee's Audrey Marot

Photography by Nicolas Musty


                  Belgium's Annabel Lee is a unique and lively garage pop, post punk band fronted by songwriter Audrey Marot. Their debut album Wallflowers was released this June on Luik Records and features an array of highly addictive songs such as Best Good Friend, (the original working name of the band) and the riot grrrl reminiscent track Period Sex. Audrey talks with AHC about the origins and current configuration of the band, sibling bonds forged through a shared love of music, and using daily life as inspiration. 


​AHC: How did Annabel Lee first come about? How long have you all known each other and how did you meet? On a more singular note, what has your own creative journey been like prior to forming the band, both the highs and lows of finding your way musically?
 
Audrey: I bought my first guitar with my mom when I was 15. We went to the music store in town and bought this pack for beginners with a small amp and a guitar. I chose an electric blue Ibanez. I couldn’t play but didn’t want to start with an acoustic guitar. At that time I was listening to the Distillers and was a big fan of Brody Dalle. So I came back home, printed some tabs and this is how it all began. My best friend Mérybelle and I formed this band called “Skull n’ bones” with three guys. It was a punk/hardcore band. That’s mostly how I learned. Playing with someone else is the best way to do that.
 
8 years have come and gone. Skull n’ bones is now over. I’m doing an internship in the promotion team of Pias Belgium.  I don’t understand the success of some artists, writing really shitty songs. Ok, I might have been jealous, but that’s a good thing, it sparked another musical project. I don’t go out anymore, and play keyboards and guitar with loops alone in my basement (which actually was my bedroom at that time). I recorded four songs for this project called “Auud” and played a few gigs.
 
We are now getting closer to “Annabel Lee”. Vankou (bass player) and Charles-Antoine (drums) heard these songs and pretty much liked what I was doing so I wrote new tracks, more oriented for a band, not a solo project,  we gave it a try and it worked pretty well. It felt so good playing in a band again . At this time we were called “Best Good Friends”. We did three shows and recorded the first EP in Summer 2016.
 
Unfortunately, Charles-Antoine had to leave the band so I rebuilt a new team. Vankou is still playing bass, Xavier is now playing drums and Valérian took the solo guitarist role.

AHC: What first drew you personally to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?
 
Audrey: My dad has always been a huge fan of music. There was a radio in the living room, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the garage. I remember those week-ends when we used to go to my grandparents. I remember the car drive. I wasn’t saying a word, the head against the window, just listening. I grew up with a lot of classic rock like Johny Cash, Ac/Dc, Def Leppard, Toto and so on. I grew up listening to this belgian radio called “Classic 21”.

Mom was more into Pat Benatar, Daniel Balavoine, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Céline Dion.

I’ve been to a lot of gigs with my dad. Chronologically : Worlds Apart  and Britney Spears when I was a kid,  then  US Bombs and Misfits as a teenager. After that came Metallica, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen (about 10 times), Roger Waters and so on. So yeah, at home music was an integral part of our everyday life. 
 
A few songs I was addicted to as a kid:
 
Britney Spears – Born to make you happy
Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the dark
Natalie Cardone – Hasta Siempre
Spice Girls – Wannabe
Celine Dion –It’s all coming back to me now
Belinda Carlisle – Leave a Light on
Abba – Gimme gimme
Linkin Park – In the End
Meat Loaf – I’d do anything for love
Nirvana – all the Nervermind album
Blink 182 – all the Enema of the State album
 
 
AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? 
 
Audrey: The firsts songs I learned to play were the classic guitar beginner songs: come as you are, seven nations army, smoke on the water, smells like teen spirit.

I wrote a few songs in my first band “Skull n’ bones". The first might be “In his Cell” that we wrote together with Méry. The lyrics were pretty awful  in terms of English but the melody was not that bad! 

AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc? Are there certain seminal works you couldn't live without that have really helped set the bar for you in your own creative journey?
 
Audrey: I used to sing in my bedroom, in front of my mirror since I was a little kid . But I guess Brody Dalle, again, because she made me want to play guitar. Or maybe that guy from “High Voltage”, an AC/DC cover band. We were at this show with my dad in Verviers when I was a kid and I was literally speechless in front of the guitarist, it was amazing. You know like when you come back from the show, grab your guitar and practice. Same after watching the movie “Freaky Friday” with Lindsay Lohan. I really adored that one. I had that same feeling when I watched The Matrix for the first time and was like “I’m gonna learn karate or judo”. Anyway, I’m digressing, but you know what I mean.

I wrote some songs after watching a few movies.  For instance in my first band we had this song called “In his cell” inspired by “The green mile”. Or a song called Llewyn Davis, inspired by the movie “Inside llewyn davis” by Joel and Ethan Coen. More recently, Forrest Gump inspired some lyrics of “Best Good Friend”.  Some lyrics from “Period Sex” were inspired by the book “l’égoïste romantique” from Frédéric Beigbeder. But honestly, I think that everyone I meet, everything I see inspires me. I mean, for instance, there was that guy on the bus a few days ago, we did not talk, but I wrote a song about him. What inspires me the most is just my daily life.
 
AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? 
 
Audrey: I think a good song comes sponteanously. You find the words, a chorus, a verse in a few minutes. And then, if you do something else but still got the melody stuck in your head, that means you got something. I guess. You can't just sit down with your guitar thinking “I’m gonna write a new song today”. It doesn’t work that easily. A melody can come when you’re doing anything (and not able to play or to write at that time cause you’re at work or in the bus or something). That’s why I always record everything on my phone once I get something stuck in my head.  I got plenty of these crumbs of songs.

AHC: I wanted to ask you about the music video for Period Sex, which is a brilliant collage of what appears to be those old 1960's sex education reels shown in school, who found that footage and came up with the genus of the idea for that video? Are you planning to shoot more videos for any of the other songs off Wallflowers?

Audrey: I wanted to do a video for Period Sex but had no budget for it. I had already seen a lot of videos made that way, just with free archives. I came across this video and it looked perfect to me. At the beginning I didn’t especially want kids to be part of it but that’s the best I found. Those colors, those drawings, the old school clichés, that was amazing. So I just asked a friend to put it all together. Cheapest video ever! Maybe we’re gonna do another video for the song “Louisa and Louise”, I would really love to but there is nothing planed at the moment.

AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?
 
Audrey: I remember that time when I was about 10, we did a performance with my school in the church of the village. And we were playing with big drumsticks on metal barrels. It’s a bit hard to picture. But it was resonating in the whole church, I was like possessed, it was really orgasmic. That might have been my first live experience. It was really intense.  Or when I was at Botanique in the Rotonde with my friend Céline. We went there to see I don’t know which artist anymore. Rebekka Karijord was playing first. We didn’t know her. And I cried so much. It was really really beautiful. There was this song “Oh Brother”. I will remember it forever. Almost the same with An Pierlé in Izel. I was just in front of her and her grand piano and feeling all the vibrations. And I cried, again.  Or when I danced with my dad on”The River” at Bruce Springsteen’s show in Werchter. Or when I went to see System Of A Down with my little brother. He wanted to be in the pit but there was no space anymore so we were forced to go on the terraces. Once the light switched off, he took my hand, we jumped across the barriers and ran to the front. It was really special because my brother doesn’t show me a lot of affection. So the fact that he took my hand at that moment was really meaningful to me.
 
AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?
 
Audrey: I’m not here to talk about politics, terrorism or injustice, I leave it to other artists. I want to write simple and naïve songs, little stories of daily life. Maybe one day it will change but that’s my mood at the moment. Also, in this first EP, “Wallflowers” I needed to talk about my childhood and my teenage years. Maybe I wanted to talk about it and write it down so that now I’m able to move on and start my grown-up life.

AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process?
 
Audrey: Well, I’m no one to give advice since my band is still really young, but I think the basis is :
 
Record a proper demo, it is a plus if you make a video, write a biography, make nice pictures, build yourself a “promo file”. It takes money and time but is necessary if you want people to take your project seriously. Go to concerts, record stores, meet people, share your music with them. Nothing is a godsend. You can be lucky but you gotta work for it. But also, believe in yourself and in what you do.  Of course there are ups and downs, nice and bad reviews, that’s part of it and you need to get used to it and to move on anyway.

AHC: Wallflowers, Annabel Lee's debut EP comes out on June 2nd, are you guys gearing up for a big tour this summer and where can people find out where you'll be playing if they want to come to a show or keep with you guys? (*Editor's note: you can include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the band here. I'll also include a link to the Bandcamp page)
 
Audrey: We have a few gigs this summer (you can find the events on our Facebook page) but no tour for the moment. (But I can’t wait !)

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Wallflowers available at annabelleeband.bandcamp.com/