Welcome to our interview with the talented Dorothea Tachler and her band, My Favourite Things, who have just signed with Mint 400 Records. With their unique ability to guide listeners down the rabbit hole of self-discovery, My Favourite Things invites us to confront our innermost selves and recognize our shared humanity. Led by the dynamic Dorothea Tachler, this Brooklyn-based group crafts an organic, textured sound filled with unexpected twists and turns. Their music is a vibrant tapestry woven from the talents of some of New York's most promising dreamers. Join us as we dive into the creative world of My Favourite Things and explore their journey in the music scene!
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
I started the band 2009 when I released the first album called “rarara” with a Japanese label named Afterhours, that also makes an awesome magazine.
I had written and recorded the songs by myself since 2006 and then put a band together for live shows, so we can play the material from the album.
The band name “My Favourite Things” was a bit of a funny idea to use as a band name, inspired by the song (though we never played the song - so far)
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
I played in the bands Alles wie Gross, Mice Parade, The Swirlies, Igloo, immernochnie, Chottodjango, Tiki Tiki Bamboos, Schneck, Dorako, and Half Seven, (and others)
I play music since early childhood, first classical, but then also "popular music" as a teenager. So when I was around 18, I started playing in bands, first with violin, then keyboards, then started singing a few years later, and little by little started writing my own music and songs. When I moved to New York, I started to really get into recording my own songs also, playing in other people’s bands, and collaborating with people
First concert that you ever went to?
My first concert was when I was 5 years old, my mom took me to see Yehudi Menuhin, a classical violin player. At the age of 11 and 12, I saw A-ha and Duran Duran :)
What's your writing process like?
I have different approaches, also depending which project I write for (now mostly My Favourite Things and my other band Hunki Dori) - if it is a song with lyrics, sometimes the words start shaping in my head, and sometimes that turns into a melody, then I will start recording it and developing the song further that way.
Other times, I come up with an instrumental part first, and then it evolves based on sound, mood, layering instruments, colours, etc.
Usually I record it right away instead of writing it on paper.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
That’s a really tough question for me, because I listen to so many different things, and they all inspire me. But I put a list of songs together that I like at the moment, or have a while ago and still do.
Okay so the artists in the playlist I made are not necessarily reflected in my music, but some of these songs I’ve loved from the first time I heard them and listened a lot, “Killing me softly” by Roberta Flack was the first song I played on guitar, when I started teaching myself how to play guitar, with a friend’s help. Of course the Pixies song is classic and definitely pulled me into the indie world. As a little girl, I loved all the pop music, but as a teen I think I started recognising the difference about mainstream and other music! I love (almost) all the genres, and definitely jazz was a part of my training and I listen to a lot. Some jazz I get tired of, but musicians like Alice and John Coltrane, I can always appreciate
Nick Drake I listened to a lot, but he’s a so much better guitar player then I am! He’s just the perfect music when melancholy gets me, usually in the fall, just like Nico’s album Chelsea Girls, though of course it needs to be mentioned that Nico herself didn’t write most of the songs but it was produced by Tom Wilson, John Cale (amazing string arrangements!!), Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, and others. Jackson Browne wrote this song when he was 16, and he wrote the lyrics too (I love the last verse so much: "These days I'll sit on corner stones / And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend 7 Don't confront me with my failures / I had not forgotten them")
So yeah, I definitely appreciate poetic lyrics!
And I love a lot of reggae and dub, so I chose the Jimmy Cliff song, even though that one isn’t very reggae.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
I dont think the music live should sound identical to the recording, the opposite. Live, we have so much more freedom to try different things, and often a song evolves over time by playing it a lot, adding things, or just changing things and making it “better”, or keep it more fun and interesting for us to play it also
Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been?
Not really, but a little bit, I did a little tour in Europe like 7 or 8 years ago. Though there wasn’t a budget to bring the band over, so I played shows there with my old band mates from Munich, where I grew up, and some shows I played alone. Some shows had other musicians, like one time a steel pedal player joined us, another time a vibraphone player, and one show I played with an accordion player in Berlin. I like playing in the different formations and re-incarnations of the band, over the years, great musicians joined, and then left the band again, for example our last drummer Yoshio had to move back to Japan, unfortunately.
We mostly played around New York City, a lot in Williamsburg, where it all started. We had great shows at Mercury Lounge.
A long time ago, we had kind of a bad show at Public Assembly (not sure what that place is called now or if it even still exists), when we got into a fight with the bouncer before we played. We are a friendly and peace loving band, so it is quite unbelievable that this happened!
What's up next for the band?
A new album or EP should be finished soon! Furthermore, hopefully more shows, and hopefully a tour at some point! :)