Invisible Joe and the Mushroom Gorilla – Interview with Aline Steinbach and ‘No Title’ EP Review

Invisible Joe & the Mushroom Gorilla is a German Alternative Rock band with a nice sound, new EP, and a very long band name. Who is Joe? Why is he invisible? And what the hell is a “mushroom gorilla”? We did not ask Aline Steinbach any of these questions. But we did ask her about her life in the Rock band, her band’s music and other things.

Click here to jump to Aline’s interview.

We also had the pleasure of listening to their EP entitled ‘No Title’ (LOL) and writing a review.

Review

The half an hour EP extends over 6 track ranging between 4 and 7 minutes in length, making them longer in reference to modern Rock songs. Here are three things we loved about ‘No Title’ EP.

The classic taste

The EP has a taste of classic Rock fused with elements from Alternative Rock. It would be hard to tell the EP is from 2019 from just listening to it. The golden era can be tasted all through it in the melodies, song structures, and vocal arrangements. Wooden Fences and Surreal would be good examples of what we’re talking about. This classic Rock N’ Roll scent is always refreshing and pleasing to sniff in new releases.

The ever going guitars

The music on the record is quite impressive, especially the guitar riffs and their variety throughout the record. The EP offered both quality and quantity in this aspect. Songs like My Past and Living in Another World impressed us most in this regard.

The lyrics

Living in Another World is not only great for its music, but also for its great lyrics. It is one of the songs that had me repeating parts of to hear the lyrics again and focus on parts of them. Identity is another example of the much deep and impressive lyrics on the EP.

What we would have loved to see more of on the EP is some songs that stand out and make a slight change in tone. All songs are of a very good quality, none of them had the role of filling time. However, at some point at the end of the EP we felt a bit of monotony.

This EP is a great example of how things should be done when booting up a band. We recommend it for all Alternative Rock fans, especially ones with passion for classic Rock fusions.

Ratings

Here are the average of the ratings that were placed by the FemMetal Team.

Interview

Mirk: Hello Aline. It’s wonderful to talk with you. How are you?

Aline: Hi, I´m fine. Thank´s for your interest, it´s very exiting.

Mirk: Can you tell us a bit about your band, Invisible Joe & The Mushroom Gorilla?

Aline: We are an alternative Rock Band from Marburg near Frankfurt, Germany. We came together in 2018 in this formation to share our taste in music and throwing together our different musical backgrounds to create our own special groove. The Band consists of Mike (guitar), Hussein (drums), Ben (bass guitar) and me, Aline (vocals). After a small period of rehearsal we entered the local stages and wrote new songs, which were soon presented to different audiences in other regional locations. This led us to the point of wanting to capture the status by recording an EP. At the moment we are focusing more on writing songs and finding new tunes again.

Mirk: You recently released an EP that has ‘No Title’ is its title. How was the process of making it and are you happy with the results?

Aline: We recorded the EP in April 2019 with the idea of a live concept, since we found this to be the most fitting sound for our kind of music. With Henning Strandt from the Watt Matters Studio in Bielefeld we found the perfect companion to put this into practice. The recording process was a lot of fun in a charming atmosphere and we are absolutely happy with the results.

Mirk: I sensed a lot of work on your sound while listening to your EP. It’s definitely full of classic and modern Rock integrations. How would you describe Invisible Joe’s sound?

Aline: As mentioned, we all came from different musical backgrounds like Hussein for example has strong influences in metal and me having trained classical and musical singing for example. We found our common ground in a riff based stoner or classic alternative rock music with strong rhythmic elements, combined with a more traditional style of singing on top. Our songs want to please a listener’s ear by the first time hearing but also leave enough elements to discover for the second time.

Mirk: What bands and artists have you grown up listening to? And which of these influenced you most?

Aline: That depends much on which band member you ask. Mike would probably name led zeppelin where else I would give No Doubt as an example. But there are definitely bands that had an influence on our sound as a band, like the red hot chilli peppers or Audioslave to name just two of them. For the preparation of our EP ‘No title’ we listened to PJ Harvey and liked the raw and direct sound of her records, which led us to the idea of a live concept for the recording.

Mirk: In the EP we heard some amazing songs, and they all had the same musical nature. Some faster than others and of course they’re all a lot different, but at the same time all were similar in terms of style. Will you stick to this formula or will you include different styles in the future works, like accoustics and ballads?

Aline: I wouldn´t say it´s completely open, like you´ll probably never hear a cajon in one of our songs, but we are open minded people, who love different styles of music so I think a lot can happen in the future. Hopefully we will get further to the point, where we can basically include any kind of inspiration and transform it to our own unique signature sound. As a vocalist I´m craving a ballad too so this will definitely come.

Mirk: Do you remember the first time you perfomed live to an audience? How was it? How many were there?

Aline: The first time performing live with Invisible Joe & the mushroom Gorilla was in March 2018 on a local festival in Marburg, called MaNo festival. We were very fresh as a band and missed signing up for the festival bya the right time, so we were on a list for reserve. Thanks to the flu, we were informed that we could play there only one day before the gig. It was very exciting and we played in a small bar in Marburg in front of about 40-50 people. The atmosphere on this festival is always great and we had fun but me personally, I was scared to death to forget the lyrics (luckily didn’t).

Mirk: What is your favourite and least favourite part of being in a Rock band?

Aline: I enjoy playing live a lot and making good music with three cool guys, who love their instruments is a lot of fun. To recognize that your music touches other people too and that they relate to your songs is one of the greatest experiences a musician can have. Sitting together after a gig, having some beers and good conversation with my band mates or whoever likes to join us is one of my favourite parts of being in a Rock band. Cleaning our rehearsal room would be the worst part but fortunately I was never forced to, until now.

Mirk: What causes and humanitarian issues are you passionate about and would you use your ability to reach more people through music to promote?

Aline: We don´t see ourselves as a political band but I think my band mates would agree, if I say: More love and understanding in the world, please! Music has the great ability to bring together people of all kind, connected in love for the same thing. In my perception too many people focus on fear and mistrust these days, which leads to hate and exclusion. I may sound like Yoda but that´s my message because hate has never brought anything good to the world.

Mirk: Do you have any upcoming projects in the future you’d like to tell us about?

Aline: As mentioned, we focus on creativity at the moment but we are also looking forward to the festival season next year, where we hopefully enter some more stages. We are also open for collaboration with other bands, like common projects or gigs and maybe we get the chance to play in other countries too, which would be great.

Mirk: Thank you for the interview Aline! Good luck for you and our band-mates!

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