Questionnaire | Blue Hawaii

While bandmate Raphaelle Standell-Preston focuses on her Braids, Blue Hawaii’s Alex Cowan has taken to adventuring solo, packing little more than his favourite records. From Montreal to London, with stops in Berlin and Moscow, there’s always something to explore. We asked him with five adventurous questions. Here’s what he had to say about diving into the unknown, tropical fish and unpacking zip files.

Questionnaire by Brenda Bosma. Photos shot by Valeria Cherchi in London, UK

1) What is adventure to you?

a) Saying yes to everything and then later dealing with pain and regret
Saying no causes more regret, the pain part is part of life. I guess so long as I don’t lose too much money or a good friend, I live for exploring.
b) I just think preparing is for insecure people
c) Other, namely: …

2) What’s the most adventurous you’ve been lately?

a) Trying to find tropical warmth in Berlin
b) Installing a mindfulness app on my mobile phone
c) Other, namely:
I broke into a 600-year-old tower in London, my new hometown, a few days back and watched the sun set, that was adventure.

3) Blue Hawaii conjures up an image of a sweet paradise with a gloomy side to it, as if with every low tide hundreds of colourful fish wash up on the beach gasping for oxygen. Would you throw these fish back or watch them take their last breath?

a) This image makes me sad, but was exactly the reason we called our band Blue Hawaii. There is no music without a little death.
Ha! Sure. Sometimes I think about the band name’s double meaning as ‘blue’ being the emotional colour, not a tropical waterscape, and Hawaii being this strange prevented kind of paradise, suggesting the American power of the ’50s with resorts, the whole shebang, and of course there’s that incredibly gorgeous side to it.
b) See answer a)
c) Other, namely: …

4) After making the latest album Untogether, while you both were in different parts of the world, is there room for a record that’s made with the two of you in one place?

a) Who knows, but for now we just love seeing each other’s pixelated faces and unpacking each other’s zip files
Love that.
b) We will find each other in the end
c) Other, namely: …

5) You are at the end of the questionnaire. What are you going to do next?

a) Download a mindfulness app
b) Digest my German fruhstuck
c) Other, namely:
I’m DJ-ing in Moscow tonight! Currently receiving lots of stares on a train in some Russian suburbs, pretty hungry, a little nervous, badly wanting a haircut.

Blue Hawaii (DJ set) plays Somewhere Else on 18 July at Canvas in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members before midnight.