Hello Amy, Ajay! Under your new name, Data Romance, you are creating beautiful music and we are very glad to have you on Gaia this year! Could you please introduce yourself a bit and also tell us more about the name you just got?

Amy: Jay and I are from here in Vancouver. We’ve been working together for many years, and formed this project about 2 years ago. We started under the name Names, and recently changed our name to Data Romance. We felt this name better fits our ever evolving sound and image as a band.

Tell us something about what were the steps you followed in order to get where you are now.

Jay:  We met in high school through mutual friends. Amy and I always got along really well and we both playd music separately. It never occured to us to play together until I started writing on my own and felt that my stuff was too boring without vocals haha. So I asked her to help me out and it fit really well, so we went with it. We’ve gotten an amazing amount of support over the internet from around the world. It’s funny really, we’re not well known in Vancouver at all because we haven’t really played many shows, but online we’ve met a lot of amazing fans. We’re always learning from each other and right now we’re just focusing on being as good writers we can. Electronic music allows musicians a chance to really explore any soundscape that they can imagine. There’s only so much you can do if you if you just play one instrument. We always want to push ourselves and challenge where we can take our style.

Well with such a strong background and a very interesting story, I hope I’m not mistaking if I’m calling you a successful band. What influenced you in your work?

Amy:  Jay and I are influenced by all types of music, film and art. Most recently we were been inspired by a filmmaker named Marco Aslan. Jay had contacted him mentioning how we loved his work, and eventually we ended up creating a song with his films in mind. The video he created with that song is so beautiful, and we can’t wait to work with him more in the future. Personally, in terms of lyrics, I’m influenced by life and what’s happening around me. I tend to draw from what’s effecting me emotionally at the time, and have recently been experimenting with turning those emotions into fictional images in songs. As for Jay, he is always finding new bands, as well as finding new ways to create music. Because of that our sound is constantly evolving.

I have to say that the song you made for us was impressive and we loved it from second 1! The way you work is definitely appreciated by the team. What was your motivation for joining the Gaia10 project?

Jay: Well to be honest, the motivation at first was just that Archan recommended we do it, and we really trust his advice and wisdom. We read up about the project shortly afterwards and we were really excited to learn about how Gaia works.My father worked for the Canadian Government as an environmental engineer his whole life, finding ways to prevent and minimize air pollution. My sister has slightly followed in his footsteps and works with land conservation. I was kind of the blacksheep of my family in that respect, choosing to do art rather than actually be responsible and work for the betterment of the planet. I still feel a bit guilty about it sometimes, but I think through art, sometimes you get little opportunities to work towards a cause you belieive in. I’m not trying to say I’m doing as much as anyone actually working towards the cause, I have the utmost respect for them. But hopefully Amy and my part can be to just give them something nice to listen to while they’re working towards saving the planet haha.

Ha, I don’t really think you should feel guilty, Jay. The most important thing is that you’re doing something you really enjoy doing. Do you think that people could be informed through art of a social issue like the climate change is?

Jay: Yah TOTALLY. I think art can go a long way as far reaching people. Especially people that might not be as aware of the cause. I myself have been made aware of a lot issues directly through art that I otherwise would have maybe never thought about. Through artists like Rage Agaisnt the Machine, or Immortal Technique. I learned a lot of politics from them haha.

Amy: Art is a wonderful way to help raise awareness. When writing the song for Gaia, I always had the project in mind, and what it’s goals are. I wanted the song to give a sense of hope, which I think is a necessary quality when trying to achieve any goal as a community.
I’m glad you found the project motivating, Amy. What are the best ways to make people aware of climate change, in your opinion?

Amy: Honestly, I think by doing exactly what the Gaia project is doing. Helping raise awareness across the globe through all sorts of media. By having artists and musicians create pieces that people from all different countries can relate to and share, while sharing a common thread that is the climate change crisis. I think what grabs people’s attention is having something they can relate to or connect with, and because art has no language or barriers, the possibilities are endless in terms of raising awareness.

Jay: I think Gaia is important.I think it’s a perfect way to get the word out and I do think that the best way is similar to what you are doing. I believe it’s influencing small changes by advertising or inserting messages into places and activities in life that catch you off guard and make you think ie. adds on MTV to turn your light switches off when you’re not in the room. Little things like that can go a long way.  I think policy is very important too though.
People will whine and complain about inconveniences that the government implements, like less garbage cans in public and more recycling options, or taxes on car emissions. But would you rather have some short sighted people complain? Or have the planet get unnecessarily hurt.
Very interesting points, Jay. Gaia10 is a project that is trying to promote being a community. How well do you think people actually do that within the day-by-day life? Generally speaking.

Jay: It really depends on the size of your respective community. Vancouver is a big city, but it’s split up into a lot of smaller communities. I believe the smaller the community you have, the easier it is to influence change to better the environment, because results are more tangible, and there’s a greater sense of responsibity to one another. I see a lot of really amazing projects started: ie. Greener homes with solar panneling, or community composting projects. But in bigger city centers, people are usually just too busy getting from one place to another to really keep the environment in the forefront of theirs heads. that’s when government’s intervention is required. providing cleaner public transport and better disposal policies. Even having rules to mandate designing buildings with smarter airflow and venting to avoid heavy air conditioning.

Amy: I think we all need to work on changing our lifestyles, as opposed to just focussing on the small things. Those small things do make a difference, but they can be easily forgotten in day to day life because of lack of convenience, time, etc. And that goes along with what Jay said about having the government intervene, and help create more solutions which would make that change in lifestyle attainable for everyone.
Great thoughts! Are there any specific cultural aspects that shape your identity? How about your work?

Amy:  Jay and I are both from Canada, and his family comes from India. We were both also raised on Vancouver Island (which is an hour and half ferry ride from Vancouver), so nature has always been a big part of our lives. The island is a beautiful place, with rich forests, spectacfular beaches, and nature has always been a big part of my life. Jay always makes fun of me for needing to be near the ocean, but that’s a big part of who I am, as well as what helps fuel my creative side. I think that definitely comes from the fact that I was raised on an Island here in Canada.

Jay:  Canada is a strange place culturally. I think that it’s such a young country, it doesn’t have the cultural history to draw from, so it seems like it borrows from other places. This is probably due to us having so much immigration too. So musically that leaves you in a weird place. No ancient canadian traditional music. I think this shows in my influence personally. I’m forced to look to other places for influences. And thank god the internet’s around because it’s all out there right infront of you if you look for it. So things like using Tablas (from India) on La da da is a perfect example of this.
I see! One last question, since I’ve already kept you too much: What are your goals for the future?

Amy:  Personally my goal is and has always been having a career in music, as well as spending days (and some very late nights) creating. As a band, we’re so excited for the future, and what it has to offer. We’ve already been so fortunate to work with artists across the world, and hope to continue to build more relationships like this. The friends we’ve made, and the things we’ve learned have inspired me creatively as well as personally. The future is looking very bright these days.

Jay:  Yah on a more practical note, we’re planning on recording our first full length album this fall I’m really excited to try and create a cohesive collection of songs since every song we’ve written so far has kind of lived on it’s own so far. And as Amy said we always love collaborating with visual or video artists to create new works. We really love the idea using new media that can include our music, or new ways to create content for fans. We’re musician’s primarily, but we’re huge fans of a lot of other art and we really really like being able to be part of other mediums and projects. Gaia is definitely an example of that so again, we’re so honored to be a part of it.
Also, you’re great people! Amy, Jay, thank you very much for accepting our interview and for staying up this late in order to do it. We’re really looking forward into your new release, please let us know when it’s available! We wish you all the best and hope to be in touch for our next year’s project!

Thank you so much Andrei! please let us know when this interview is release, we’d love to see it. Take Care!