Who is Hannah Sanders?
She is a girl who loves ruffle bars, polka dot knickers, high heels and Tamla Motown.
When did music started to play a role in your life, were you singing as a kid already?
I always loved singing and grew up in a musical background and Debbie Harry and The Cure were favorites of mine when other 12 year olds were into Kylie and Jason!
What was the turning point for you, the moment you decided you want to be a singer?
When I was made redundant from my job in PR I thought to myself, hmmm I’ll give rock and roll a go!
Did you also made some kind of masterplan of how to conquer the world?
If you mean to be ‘famous’ or ‘adored’ then no. I want to be loved my family and friends of course and a certain amount of acceptance and success is important to most people as it is for me but I have always loved singing and using my voice in different ways and that’s what I wanted to pursue rather than be all ‘Jazz hands’ and to be honest the idea of stage school sounds like hell to me. I was glad to go to uni and learn about literature and meet other people my age who loved the same books and authors so music was a bonus after that when I had the chance to move to London and have a go at making music. If things change for me as a performer I would want to still be involved in creative writing somehow and possibly write for other artists but we are so busy with our own stuff at the moment and important decisions like should I wear these sparkly shorts to tonights gig or that skirt that looks like a lampshade…………………..
On MySpace the music is described as “retro electropop with a fresh modern twist”? What is this modern twist in your eyes?
As well as being influenced by a lot of great bands from the ‘80s like The Human League and Depeche mode, you can definitely hear a more modern electro sound in our music, which brings it up to date. We love the electroclash movement and bands like Fischerspooner and The Knife, and there’s definitely an element of this sound in our tracks. We make pop music with an electro edge.
How do you work on music, is it a band process with rehearsals or does everybody work on themselves?
We don’t ever ‘jam’ in the traditional sense of the word but we do have writing sessions. The majority of our creative input is done digitally and trans-atlantically as we work with Cliff who lives in Florida on lyrics and beats and then email them over using the powers of the Internet.
How do these writing sessions go, you all sit together and start working on ideas while emailing with Cliff?
It has always been a case of ‘ooh I have a good idea!’ so I’d write what I could then call up the boys to see if they wanted to get involved in that particular track lyric. We would work on things as and when rather than with a certain framework. I actually came up with the melody for Go Electro in a traffic jam and recorded it on my mobile phone then worked on the lyrics which took me about 2 days to complete then James, Jon and Cliff created the music and fully produced the track. Sometimes the best tracks are the simplest to create.
What was for you the most challenging thing to do on this album (or the hardest)?
The promotion behind its release has been grueling. Making the album has been a joy. The conception of each track has been ongoing over a few years and we have taken our sweet time on it as we only really intended them to become an album this year. It’s not been stressful until deadlines for promotion came into play. That side of it is not enjoyable but of course has to be done in order for it to arrive in the hands of ‘the people’.
I guess it’s about the same for every band, when deadlines approach people start stressing, how did you deal with the stress?
Well me one treat is a bit of a luxury but completely worth it and I see a Yoga Guru once a week for one to one sessions. He is a lovely man called Ernest who lives down the road from me so I go to his place which is like a little zen oasis with candles and incense and practice yoga and meditation which for a highly strung ‘Monica’ like me is great therapy. This man is such an inspiration as he is nearly 80 and can get into the craziest positions that even I find tricky!
What part of the promotion makes you gruel the most?
I’d have to say definitely the very time consuming uploading and downloading of pictures and videos from gigs. New media is great for communicating to people and of course fans want to see live show they missed but my pesky little laptop often just freezes after a full days tapping as if to say ‘that’s enough from me I’m on strike!’
The album also has an unplugged version of “Love Addiction”. Why did you choose to have an unplugged version on an electro pop album?
As well as electro I also sing jazz music so the baritone in my voice lends itself well to a more natural acoustic sound. As much as we love the overall ‘Ultrasound’, – see what I did there – we decided it would be nice to highlight the more personal character in my voice with an unplugged version. It makes a song like Love Addiction instantly sad, which to be honest it is essentially.
Which of the songs/ lyrics is closest to your heart and why?
Depending on my mood I have been able to relate most to Zero Gravity for a while now as it’s about the numbness you feel after life-changing events which is evoked through the most beautiful metaphor of space and gravity. I sing this song with the most conviction as I went through that sense of loss last year and for a while I felt ‘lost’ and ‘not myself’ and sometimes it is like your moving in slow motion and the world around you still moves so fast, l until one day I thought fuck this lets make some music! I will always have the most respect for these insightful lyrics though but if I were going with a favorite hook……………..it’s Go Electro every time.
The album also contains a remix done by Parralox. How did you get in contact with them?
Parralox actually did another remix for us at the end of last year, for a buzz single we put out. We loved what they did with that remix and it went down really well with the fans, so we were really keen to work with them again on the album. They have a lot of similar influences to us, so our sounds merge really well together.
The Ultrasonics already did some live shows. In what way does singing a live show deviate from studio recordings for you and what do you prefer?
Always live hands down! You never know what you will end up doing in a performance when the constant reality of human error and possible failure is staring you in the face! It’s true – somehow it makes you better. Knowing you have as many chances to sing something well in a studio can make you lazy so when you have an audience waiting and wanting to be entertained by you, it makes you pretty much always pull something special out of the bag. Me saying this I realize could be the kiss of death and will probably slip on a banana skin next time I perform!
Sometimes people change when being onstage in a totally different person, is the on and offstage Hannah the same or not?
Not really – my alter-ego as it were is around a lot of the time. I’m very full of energy usually and I’ve heard my mum talk about wanting an ‘off switch’ for me which is charming of course, but I know she wouldn’t have me any other way……I hope!
What is the scariest dream you’ve ever had?
I had that generic one the other night about being at a gig naked which apparently is a metaphor for ‘failure’. I’ve had this one before so this time I was like ‘ok Han its just a dream – don’t stress and try and wake up (whilst on stage naked trying to remember song lyrics) and eventually I did but not before a painful glance out to a horrified sea of people waiting for a good show - they definitely got that!
Any last words for our readers?
I would like to shamelessly plug our new album ‘Ultrasound’ of course! Its available to download from iTunes and amazon.com, as well as limited edition CDs on www.theultrasonics.com. Our gigs are also regularly added to our Facebook fan page which we often update with videos and pictures. Finally thanks for reading about us.