BlueAshes a Danish Colombian duo

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If you heard BlueAshes once you would be hooked

Interview conducted on July 23, 2019

by Dan Locke

Blue Ashes is a Danish Colombian pop rock fusion duo consisting of Shila Mariposa Zuniga and Alexis Zuniga.

Dan Locke: What music influence you while you were going up?

Alexis: My music taste is kind of wide, I grew up in a tropical country (Colombia) and its music but I always was moved by rock, grunge, funk, hard rock, and some metal bands too. To name some bands: Lenny Kravitz, Bon Jovi, Metallica, STP, Ozzy Osbourne and more.
Shila: My dad was a musician in the ’60s, so that was the kind of music I grew up with. The Beatles were one of my favorites. Also, country music was a part of my childhood.

What was the first concert you saw growing up?

Alexis: No concerts growing up, maybe local shows in Cali Colombia of local bands. My first big one was Robi Draco Rosa, a Puerto Rican rocker.
Shila: I went to many, but Michael Jackson is one I remember the most.

And what was the first concert you saw together?

Alexis: Our first concert together was Green Day when they came to West Palm Beach, FL in 2017 or 2018.

How is touring in the United States different than a tour in your home countries?

Alexis: I didn’t really tour in Colombia. I had a lot of shows locally and different cities too, but not as a tour. Same for the US.
Shila: I’ve never been on a tour. I have tried to do 3 gigs in a row though.

How did you two accidentally meet on Facebook and then fell in love with each other music?

On a Saturday night, Shila was out with friends and saw a band. She connected with the female singer, a good friend with Alexis. Shila liked the style of the guitarist and she decided to start a music project with him, so looking on Facebook over the female singer’s friends, she found him and send the friend request.
But it was the wrong guitar player, it was Alexis instead.
In the other side, Alexis was performing in another bar the same Saturday night. A tall blonde came to the stage and took a picture. Alexis wanted the picture and, in the break, he looked for the blonde but she was gone. Monday, he received the friend request from a blonde he thought was the one at his show. And guess what? Wrong one. This was Shila thinking she was requesting the other guitar player. They started talking about music, but after a while, they realized they were not the person they thought they were. But as Shila said to Alexis: “Things always happen for a reason.” And BlueAshes was born!

How was actually meeting each other in person the first time?

Alexis: We had such good chemistry, we talked for hours about everything in our lives. But we didn’t fall in love right away.
Shila: I remember I thought he was short hehe… But he made me laugh a lot.

What type of bands were, you in before BlueAshes?

Alexis: Rock bands mostly, and of course living in Miami, I had to play lot of Latin music.
Shila: I was in a funk band before in Denmark. But my music scene was a little different before I met Alexis. I used to make pop/electronic music.

How did you get your name?

Alexis: We were having an acoustic jam band in Weston, Florida in a friend’s house, having wine. We were having a good time and a little tipsy. We were looking for a band’s name at the time. Then we decided to mix the Blue eyes of Shila and the blue eyes of her cat “Aske”, the Danish word for Ashes. So, mixing that, we came up with BlueAshes.

How were these bands different?

Alexis: I always did rock but never felt complete. Always missing something when writing originals. With Shila, that missing piece was found.
Shila: It was just for fun. Never anything serious. With Alexis it’s everything.

What do you listen to get ready for a show?

Alexis: I don’t pay attention to that. I have a big playlist of songs in English, French, Spanish, rock, funk, even opera, etc., and I play it on shuffle. So, I listen to whatever is on my phone.
Shila: Me neither. I’m so used to performing now, that I don’t need the boost anymore.

How is Miramar, FL for live music?

Alexis: Miramar and surely Miami is very hard for rock. They have rock bars but people there mostly want to listen to covers, not originals. That’s why we moved to Nashville!

Alexis, what is Mecatronics?

Alexis: Good question, I don’t know, that’s what I started to study at the university in Colombia but music got me before I could finish mecatronic Engineering. It was a combination of electronic, electrical mechanic systems, robotics, automation, and telecommunications.

Tell me about your song “Walking Solo”, it seems to be heavier than any other your other music videos.

Alexis: Yes, it’s the heaviest song we have until now. Drop D guitars and Shila singing about fake people, a common behavior in our society. Plus, we were in Denmark visiting Shila’s family with a very busy family schedule. We had two free afternoons, so we called three friends to help us, Christian Wandel (Drone Pilot), Christina Gullmai and Lola Sjølander. We wanted to show some Danish summer landscapes in the video.

What is the process you use to write your songs?

Alexis: We just sit down, maybe with a glass of wine, maybe two, and we jam. Throwing ideas, no matter how bad we think they are, we propose them and, in the end, (couple hours or sometime in many days), we get a song done.

What is Taylor Guitar Wornstar Clothing?

Alexis: They are just the names of the brands we use. I like Taylor brand for acoustic guitars.
Wornstar is an expensive clothing brand that I like for its rock style. I try to buy them only when they’re on sale.

Are you going to try to include VikinsBaby into your video?

Alexis: VikingBaby is our 8-month-old daughter and yes maybe we are gonna include her in a video. It would be a good memory. In the first two videos (Fire of Madness and Broken Love), Shila was pregnant, so let’s say the intention is present.

What is the best headset to protect babies’ ears?

A: We have Babybanz and they work well.

Do you write them in English or Danish?

A: We write in English but we are going to write some songs in Danish to compete in a Danish contest and open up to the Danish market.

If you could to a collaboration with any artist who would it be and why?

A: So many artists we like, maybe Lenny Kravitz, Lukas Graham, Jason Aldean and more.

What is your favorite meal to cook while you are home?

A: When we are at home, we try to eat vegetarian, but when eating out, we eat everything. The idea is to lower our meat consumption — good for us, good for the environment.

How do you stay healthy on the road?

Maybe eating Subway?

McDonald/Burger King/ Wendy’s?

A: None of them but if we had to choose, once per year McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

What are you’re feeling about Trump’s immigration policy?

A: We don’t really have an opinion about that. To be honest, we haven’t paid any attention to that. We are here to make music.

I am going to name some bands from each of your home countries. I would like you to say something about each.

Denmark bands
The Raveonettes
It’s not my kind of music. But they are definitely different and have their own sound.
Junior Senior
I only know one song from them, and that is a great feel-good song.
Kashmir
Is a huge band in Denmark. I never really got on that wave.
I Got You on Tape
I don’t know this band.
Volbeat
I like this band. I have seen them live a few times and it is always a great experience.
Colombia bands
Shakira
Very talented and powerful voice.
Farina
I don’t know too much about her, I just remember she was in a singing contest in Colombia many years ago.
Fabulae Dramatis (who I have an interview before)
Didn’t hear before.
Juanes
Very talented as a guitar player and very smart changing his style to more pop/folklore fusion songs. He used to do rock. I know his guitarist who a very talented guy.
La 33
Never heard about them.

How do you see yourself in 5 years?

With many albums and good music out everywhere, still making music, of course, paying our “bills” and traveling thanks to music revenues: living our dream.

Anything you would like to say in closing?