Ahead of their headline show for Indie Midlands & GRRRL GROANNN tomorrow (August 6th) at The Sunflower Lounge, Isobel sat down and had a chat with Zera Tønin from Arch Femmesis.
Arch Femmesis are a duo of Zera Tønin and Stephen, ones to be excited for, producing fast paced, electronic, punk dance tunes to take you back into a sweaty basement filled with strobes and smoke. With a discography limited by their youth as a duo, their most popular tracks ‘Sapiosexual’ and ‘Velvet Thunder’ show the promise and provide a taster of what’s to come. ‘Velvet Thunder‘ opens like a classic techno track, bringing in warped synths and stripped back drumbeats leading into a more intense beat lifted by Zera’s breathy, looping vocals.
‘Sapiosexual‘ combines menacing, poetic lyricism with psychy synth work, Zera’s voice holds the same tone as John Lydon’s verse at the beginning of Religion I by Public Image Ltd.
I was lucky to chat to Zera before the upcoming Sunflower Lounge gig, beginning the long awaited summer of dancing and live music. After a year spent inside balancing a full-time job and a cat we spoke about the effect this has upon creativity, Zera’s artistic influences both visual and musical and their origin story. The interview provides insight into the processes behind Arch Femmesis and shows what to look forward to in the future of the duo.
I: So, what have you been doing over the past few months?
ZT: Oh god, I’ve been in the real world being a normal person which has been very strange, I’ve become a teaching assistant in a primary school, but like I was performing in gay clubs gogo dancing and stuff and now I’ve become a teaching assistant and it’s been very very strange.
I: Are you enjoying it?
ZT: Yeah!! Honestly, I’m kinda glad its happened it’s a nice way to make stable income and actually get paid to be yourself. They love the crazy arty weird ones. So it’s great.
I: Oh sick! How are you feeling with things kind of opening back up like gigs and clubs and all that fun stuff?
ZT: Oh my gosh so we actually went out on Monday night, and we went to a Levels gig in Manchester, which is like the local big hip-hop grime scene and stuff, and it was very strange and very amazing. For some reason without any illegal illicit influences, we were able to dance until 4am, and I was like I don’t know where this has come from. But it’s really exciting. And obviously with performing and doing our debut in Birmingham, with headlining at Sunflower it’s super exciting for us, it’s really affirming to see that there are loads of new places that are really keen to get like completely different people involved you know, and just see like you know what all these other different underground artists are all about so it’s super exciting.
I: So you’ve got that gig in Birmingham have you got any others lined up?
ZT: So we’re actually joining Tokky Horror on part of their UK tour, so we’re going for 3 of their gigs so we’re doing Merseyside, Nottingham and Bristol. It’s with Soz Lads parties which is a new femme-centric party group.
I: How have you found that the pandemic has affected your creativity?
ZT:I guess that in a sense if you were comparing yourself to other people, then there are a lot of artists that have released like two albums over lockdown. Part of me is like fuck you how are you doing this I hate you, then the other part is like well you’re on your own journey, you’re probably having a well-deserved break to come back even stronger with a stronger sense of self, so enjoy this little vacation from it all. So I guess there are some ways it has affected my creativity and especially working like full-time I literally come home, I feed the cat and I sit on the couch for the next 2 hours watching Korean period dramas that’s literally all I do. Then I listen to some ghost stories before bed, and I don’t do anything creative other than just rest, that’s probably what is needed so. But it’s on the up! Definitely on the up School’s out and summer holiday’s are here, got all the time in the world.
I: Ah yeah of course, that’s the best thing about teaching isn’t it, the big boy summer holiday.
ZT: I can be the cool teacher!
I: You describe your music as post-punk art house, what do you think of the current post punk scene?
ZT: Ah you know what, I’m a bit of a grandma when it comes to the current music scene, I’d say there’s um, so I am a bit of a grandma, I kinda stick to stuff, I like this band called Ninth Wave, there’s a few kind of really interesting queer poppy post-punky bands I guess. But they’ve all got mullets, I’ve got a mullet not out of choice, this was done to me okay!
I: Bleach?
ZT: Hahah yeah so I do not associate with them. Nah I’m joking, but again I’m more into techno, hardcore-y, and classical music or hip hop so I’m not really clued in with that kind of stuff, but I say post-punk is still alright like we’re supporting Libra Libra who I guess are like post punk and that frantic art pop kinda stuff, they’ve got obviously an Alphabet Mafia presence there as well who are LGBTQ+ so we are super excited to be working with them but I probably need to educate myself on it bit more tbh.
I: You’ve got that Rezzonator remix of your track ‘Sapiosexual’ which has pretty hardcore synths, is EDM the sort of direction you’d want to go down?
ZT: I guess so, I would class ourselves as like rave in the sense, even though its not obviously directly that, but it is a part of that same energy and that kind of primal animalistic soul of music. Like in the crowd people are moshing, but I do love that more old school acid-y rave kind of scene. I was born in 95 so I was an embryo when it was all happening, and I had that kind of overlap in my toddler years of you know free parties and that whole culture. You know like all the 90s early 2000s music is making a comeback, I wouldn’t be surprised if S Club 7 made it back into the charts, I’m just making some predictions.
I: Definitely, especially with tiktok I’m just waiting for it.
ZT: But yeah, rave music, 80s, 90s, day club is all about that acid-y freedom of summer of love.
I: What sort of visual art are you inspired by, like 2D art, cinema? I saw you went to art school, so I was wondering if that had any influence on the music you make today?
ZT: I did indeed go to art school, I’m one of those bitches. I did performance art so I’m actually really inspired by a performance artist called Valie Export, who was a very aggressive feminist performance artist in Vienna, and she literally wore crotchless leather trousers with a big muff coming out and walked into a porn theatre with a semi-automatic rifle saying ‘who wants it then who wants the real thing?’. I just love that really aggressive before its time energy. Actually Yoko Ono as well she’s really blended into music and done The Ono Band and she did that song called ‘The Sun is Down’ and she’s quite experimental. Ah who else, like Yayoi Kusama she does those immersive installations and it’s all tied into her mental health, and like the hypnotic processes of art. Like performance for me is that same meditative process of being completely in the moment. And in that moment, all my troubles, my anxieties are just non-existent because I’m 100% mentally dedicated to that moment in time.
I: You’ve touched on it, but alongside that what music inspires you as well?
ZT: That’s a hard question because I’m inspired by so much, I grew up around classical music and I’m classically trained, and I really love operas and stuff, just the DRAMA of it all, *in the best theatre voice* ‘ohhh I’m engaged to a man, but my father disapproves, I’m gonna kill myself!’.
I: Ah yeah like the intense theatricality of it all.
ZT: It’s just one punch after another, and obviously crazy costumes. I’m also inspired what I’d say as old school 80s/90s hip hop, I really like the kind of groove and message behind that era of hip hop. Obviously all the gay disco stuff, I’m heavily inspired by Divine who was a drag queen and the muse of John Waters in a lot of his films…
I: Is that Pink Flamingo?
ZT: Yes! Divine is the main character in Pink Flamingo. And of course our lord and savoir, Grace Jones. Bjork, Peaches, all of those queer women with a bit of gutsy I don’t give a fuck attitude, the Avant-garde and inspire me in their own unique way. And they are just artists through and through.
I: I can’t believe *that* Peaches album was made in the early noughties I thought it was from like 2015. It’s so crazy how ahead of its time it was.
ZT: I know, it just still sounds so fresh which must be the sign of a good record, and the success any music can have when it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. It’s just incredible what she does, it’s kind of ridiculous.
I: What plans have you got for your music coming up?
ZT: Well me and Stephen, we kinda double helix each other when it comes to motivation and availability so it’s been kinda hard to sync up, you know, so we’ve been in the process of doing a music video so I’m based in Manchester and he’s been based in Brighton quite a lot because he’s been doing some recording synths down there. So we planned to release another couple of tracks or do an EP and we’re doing a music video at the moment for our song ‘Medusa’ with a local videographer here, which is quite grungey kinda eastern European, like aesthetics. It’s a very slow process but we’re just gradually accumulating little things together to hopefully drop something a bit bigger, so things in the pipeline but just a long-distance relationship right now.
I: Yeah, I bet, how did you and Stephen meet?
ZT: Oh my god, I do love telling this story, hahah it makes us sound like a couple now. FYI I did used to absolutely hate his guts before but now I love him like a brother so it just shows the growth. It has been a crazy ride. Our mutual friend Amelia, puts on these community arts nights and I was asked to do some spoken word and he was the headline act. He had these little circuit synth things and he was doing these little kind of poppy little ballads, with spoken word and footage of Alexander McQueens runways in the back. And so I was like ‘oooh I dig this, I like this’. So I did some of my sassy spoken word poetry and then we just kind of started talking, it was cool, and then we met up for drink because he had an idea for a music video for his own music. And I was like “oh how about you know we become a duo”, and he was like “oh no I just want this to be just talking about my music video right now”… Then an hour later he says the exact same thing as me, and he’s like ‘oh maybe we should just be a super duo’. I was seething! We ended up creatively hooking up and jamming, and we came up with songs in 1 day. We were butting heads a lot because we have 2 very different styles. He loves his 80s and synths (he’s from a certain generation) and I’m more like rah rah scream down the mic, so it was a battle of egos. A few fashion battles as well really… But we eventually just gelled together, and we’ve taken each other through some shit and stuck by each other. I’m very grateful to be working with a creative like him.
I: How long have you been together?
ZT: I’d say the end of 2018, so we did two rehearsals and jams together, and then we did our first non-official gig just before Christmas and that was the start of it all. It’s been a slow and steady and wild ride, navigating the world as independents.
I: Would you want to stay independent?
ZT: That’s a hard question, because I do think the face of what is deemed as professional and successful in music is changing. I think distribution deals are probably the future, just hiring your own tour manager, like a friend, I think that DIY thing is becoming more popular because everyone has seen that the music industry still takes the piss. It takes advantage and don’t get me wrong there are definitely some great companies out there, like my friend has just started after 20 yrs, Minatore, they’re a two piece punk thrash, and they’ve just signed and they seem to have a label that really cares for them, so good for them. So I guess if the right people came along then we’d be up for it, but we are more than happy trying to do as much as we can on our own, but you know at the end of the day we all need a bit of money don’t we, and we all need a bit of TLC, we need someone else to take the reigns so hit me up if you’re interested hahah!
I: In dream world scenario, who would you like to play with or support?
ZT: Shit that is a hard one, I’d say probably like a couple of Russian bands who I really like, so there’s ic3peak who are like a Russian electro duo, who are just amazing. And Shortparis who I saw at The Chameleon, and he has that very classical Russian dramatic theatrical voice, but there is an air of Prodigy and hardcore indie boy band. Really cool. Need to think of more female artists. Of course, Peaches would be fucking amazing, I’d love to support Peaches. Or also there is a band in America called Deli Girls, they’re incredible, they’re just so aggressive and shouty and queer of course. I guess I’m probably a bit too soft for them. A girl can dream! There are probably loads of artists I literally can’t think of on the spot but loads of more local or independent people!!
I: Thank you so much, can’t wait to catch your gig in Bristol!
Make sure to grab tickets to one of Arch Femmesis’ upcoming gigs, they’ll be wild and the perfect opportunity to get in the dance. To get into the mood before the gig, watch their newly released Soundsphere session on YouTube that includes tracks not available on spotify to get a taste of how cool they will be live.
6th August- Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham – Tickets
Also the Nottingham, Merseyside and Bristol gigs with Tokky Horror
Nottingham – Tickets
Merseyside – Tickets
Bristol – Tickets
Head over to their Instagram @archfemmesis and check out their linktree in the bio to get tickets for all their other tour dates across the country.