German Newcomers: Sacropolis

The four-piece band consisting of two brothers - Jean and Leon - and best friends - Ben and Tom - have caused waves within the music scene with their indie pop/rock sound.

Photo from Sacropolis

With only two singles out, they are already planning a debut album and hoping to turn a "hobby into a paid job". Based in Frankfurt, with French and German roots, Sacropolis (which means "Holy City" in old Greek), have gone from performing on the streets to recording a whole range of songs in South of France.

Sacropolis dynamic, guitar-driven hybrid of Indie-Pop and Indie-Rock, influenced by the likes of Kings of Leon and Red-Hot Chilli Peppers have led the band to new and exciting territories.

Luckily Vibez Music was able to answer a couple of questions about their debut album - "Something Like Pepita" - their relationship with each other, latest single 'The Sinner' and much more.

Firstly, how have you been since your latest release 'The Sinner' and what have the fans reaction been like?

We’ve been very busy promoting our new single, but also very excited, moved and grateful about the reactions and feedback we’ve got so far. Those have been very positive, and we are really happy that the people enjoy what we’re passionate about. Also, 'The Sinner' has been compared to a few band’s songs that we never heard before and that we partially didn’t even know, which we found interesting and enriching.

What is the meaning behind your band name 'Sacropolis'?

During a night out, we randomly discovered, or should we say created the word, which, how we later understood, means “Holy City” in old Greek. We immediately liked the concept and the multitude of possible interpretations for this name.

What is your average day like for you at the moment and how would you describe your sound to someone who hasn't heard of you?

Our average day is usually highly dependent on our work and study routine, however, quarantine made it possible for us to spend way more time working on our music and our overall band project. We would typically work on our website, our press kit, our visual identity and on getting featured by the press in the morning via zoom calls for instance and practice our instruments in the afternoon. Besides, we started the project of renovating our rehearsal studio, in which we will be accompanied by a German TV channel to document the process.

Regarding the sound, we would describe it as a dynamic and guitar-driven hybrid of Indie-Pop and Indie-Rock, that is inspired by international acts such as Kings of Leon and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Being a four-piece band, have you always got on and individually what inspires you to pursue music?

Jean and his little brother Leon have a love-hate relationship, Tom is very annoyed by Jean, Ben is annoyed by everybody, but we still love each other haha. Jokes aside, knowing each other for more than 15 years and having been through everything together, we are a group of friends that enjoy making music together.

Music is truly what makes us happy and has always been a big part of our friendship. To turn a hobby into a paid job would be a dream come true, and the dream would be even better when it’s the four of us.

You released your first single only last month, what made you release music now and did you ever plan to release music beforehand?

After the release of ‘For You’, we wanted to keep the momentum alive and provide the people with another of our tunes to listen to. Also, we wanted to avoid that people get annoyed by ‘For You’, by giving them the chance to listen to something else like ‘The Sinner’, which is musically a bit different.

We always plan our releases beforehand: we develop an influencer, an ad and a marketing strategy to try to reach out to as many people as possible.

As lockdown takes a toll on all of us, has it personally affected your band?

Yes, it affected our band very much! But only positively! It gave us the time we needed to prepare our release, work on our strategy and practice our instruments for a couple of gigs that we’ll be playing in August.

I hear you have been doing a lot of recording in a barn, South of France, what has that experience been like overall?

Yes, we recorded all of our song in a barn in an isolated village in Southern France where we’ve built, hand in hand with our producer, an ephemeral studio in a cosy little house. On the property was also an old barn, in which we recorded the drums and vocals, and partially guitars and bass (which we also doubled through Kemper and DI).

The whole recording atmosphere provided a vacation-like feeling, in which we all felt relaxed enough to focus on what we had to do. Also, we stretched the whole process on 30 days, which made it possible to take as many breaks as we needed.

The main talking point at the moment is your debut album (coming out this September) - how excited are you for this release? What can fans expect and if so, what is the title of the album?

Yes, indeed, we’re cooking something up and its name will be “Something Like Pepita”. More information coming soon, we promise.

What is your most and least favourite part of being a band and do you individually have any pet peeves?

Our favourite part of being in a band is probably the creative process: being in a room together with our instruments and create something out of nothing, that has the potential to provide good feelings for other people. Also, the live-show aspect is very enjoyable, and even though it can be stressful and tiring, it is great to be on a stage with your best friends and siblings!

Our least favourite part might be all that we have to do apart from music. As an independent newcomer band, much of the promotional work has to be done by ourselves and includes many hours in front of a computer writing e-mails and communicating our releases, etc. Doing this besides our individual tasks can be very repetitive and demanding and to succeed, we have to keep up with a real discipline and work ethic.

Finally, what advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Focus primarily on your songwriting and try to find an experienced and talented producer. Once the songs are recorded, choose an appropriate release strategy and promote your music as much as you can, if you do it by yourself. In general, try to accomplish everything with passion and discipline!

Don't forget to check out Sacropolis debut album, 'Something like Pepita' this September.