How did you come about As Ondas?
We all knew each other through DIY music going on and were pals already but formed As Ondas in the run up to a festival in London called First Timers – the aim of which was to get new and under-represented people to form bands and be more centred in the DIY and punk community – but we weren’t ready in time! Still we liked what we were doing so we decided to carry on as a band regardless.
Where do the title of your album Marés and the name As Ondas come from?
As Ondas means “The Waves” in Portuguese. The band is tri-lingual so we wanted to call ourselves something not in English – I guess because it helps cement our immigrant identity to anyone listening, and visibility is important… and also English is boring for a band based in the UK. We decided on As Ondas because initially we were writing songs that were quite garage/surf, so referencing waves seemed appropriate 🙂 . Marés is an extension of this and we thought it looked cool on a record cover.
You are a tri-lingual band; how do your three languages coexist and relate to each other?
Visibilty is important – I love that we are shifting song to song language to language on the record. We haven’t spoken about the need for an even representation, but I think we strove to have the mix be as equal as we could and I think it comes across harmoniously. I would say the changing languages benefits us as a band and the songs we write, not only do we all have shifting perspectives based on experiences through gender/sexuality/ race/ culture but we can also play on a really basic level with the sounds and rhythms of vocals in our songs. So our song writing process I find really exciting and fun partly due to this relationship with language.
What are your songs about?
I sing about boys.
I sing about girls.
How would you describe Marés in one word (in any language/s)?
Beautiful… if I’m allowed to call our own album that. I think it is anyway.
Chulo. Lo escucho de vez en cuando pretendiendo que no conozco a la gente que toca y me parece chulo.
As Ondas are Moema, Ochi and Andrew, and are based in London.
