Jan 15, 2022

When Germany’s Best Newcomer Feels Anger…

 

Just before the new year, SINU won Germany’s biggest non-profit newcomer music award “Local Heroes”. SINU – now known as Germany’s best newcomer – makes indie-pop that wants to touch – with German and Turkish lyrics. The wide range of themes and influences of different languages, cultures, and genres makes the band from Mainz exciting: because this is new in this musical guise.

We talked to the gigmit artist about racism, old hands in the music business, and how you win a band contest.

 

gigmit: Congratulations, SINU, you are Germany’s best newcomer! Since the title, what has changed for you?

SINU: Of course, we were very happy to win. But during the performance, we had practically forgotten about the competition. But it’s an extra nice pat on the back when a jury of people who really know what they’re doing and know about music says: “What you’re doing is great, keep it up!” It’s nice to see how much press has contacted us since the win, and of course, we benefit from that a lot.

How to win a band contest?

We believe it’s first important to make music that you can get behind, and that might even inspire someone else. No matter how professional you are or how long or short you have been working on your project or your music, a band contest is always a good opportunity to get constructive feedback from strangers and to get out of the bedroom and onto the stage!

Deutschlands bester NEwcomer SINU beim Local Heroes Bandcontest
Germany’s best newcomer SINU: “What really matters: Connecting!” 📷 Julia Schwendner

Regarding Local Heroes, this is a wonderful network with great, committed people who put 100% of their heart and sweat into it! We went to the finals without any expectations. In the past, we have already participated in numerous competitions with other projects. At some point, you become a bit of an old hand and learn what really matters: connecting!

Would the world be better or worse without old hands in the music business?

Oh, old hands are often very wise and some advice from one of them has already brought us further! But it’s also clear that – if you look at the line-ups at festivals, for example – the German music market could do with a bit more diversity. There are many good bands out there. The hurdles to get on stages where they can be seen should be a bit lower!

You are “best newcomer”, what is the biggest challenge for you in booking?

Phew, so we still book everything ourselves! That’s a lot of work, but we also have everything in our hands. Often young bands go directly to some agency with great expectations and are then disappointed when there is no flood of gigs. We believe that until you have established a small stable fanbase in several cities, you should take the lead yourself! But hey, we have a small but nicely growing fanbase. We haven’t used gigmit much yet, but we’re excited to see what the platform offers us!

 

You’ve said that at 9 out of 10 live performances you play the song “Deutschland, Deutschland 21” with tears in your eyes. Why? What kind of concerts are those?

“Deutschland, Deutschland 21” is our angriest, darkest song. It is a lament against everyday racism and related larger phenomena of right-wing violence and terror. Racist and right-wing extremist statements are hurtful, always! And when we give everything on stage, are fully into it, we are also filled with this feeling of powerlessness, injustice, and anger. It’s a song that simply doesn’t leave us cold ourselves and that wants to shake us up in the long term. All this does not leave us cold! It is good and right to get emotional about this topic.

Sinu, thank you for the interview!

 

In addition to SINU as Germany’s best newcomer, other gigmit artists were also honored at Local Heroes:

Discover and book outstanding acts like Germany’s best newcomer HERE on gigmit!
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