This interview comes from a Polish rock magazine, and therefore has been translated from Polish.

Yesterday the frontwoman of the Guano Apes – today a solo artist starting her new career. But really, a joyful girl, who talks about her new album, ‘The Signal’, her neighbours and family.

TERAZ ROCK: On the cover of your record we can see two snakes. Was one of them tempting you to go towards rock, and the other one towards pop music?

SANDRA NASIC: *laugh* Yeah, that’s interesting. You could explain the snakes’ symbolic meaning that way if you wanted to. For me, they mean good and bad sides to something, they mean that everything can has two meanings. I like strong symbols, I like religious symbols as well and I’m fascinated by topics like heaven and hell and the snake in the paradise too... And let’s not go too far with the ‘tempting towards pop’ thing. In Guano Apes melodies were very important too, it’s just a matter of what instruments you use. From my point of view, I was constantly staying in the pop ‘area’, although this time I decided to experiment more with the sounds.

TERAZ ROCK: I get the feeling that the career of Gwen Stefani was kind of an inspiration for you.

SANDRA NASIC: No, not at all. I like her music, it’s really well produced. I never worked with producers that significant, I did most things myself. Even the electro songs, I composed and produced myself. It was easier for me to work in a studio with a computer, a keyboard and a guitar than it was before with the band.

TERAZ ROCK: If you were composing using the computer by yourself, you must be very good with all the software, like Pro Tools or Logic...

SANDRA NASIC: Oh yes! I’m a total Logic maniac! I learnt how to use it by looking over the shoulders of people who worked with us in the studio. We were recording over like ten or twelve years. And I started to play with it myself, although it may not be typical for girls, for singers... I found it interesting, because alongside singing I’ve always been composing.

TERAZ ROCK: Are you a gadget person? Do you need to have the latest mobile or mp3 player?

SANDRA NASIC: No, I’m not. It’s interesting, because when it comes to technical stuff I can be a complete moron sometimes. I don’t have the latest mobile. I don’t use most of the functions you can find in it, like the camera for example. Sending a text is the most I do. But when it comes to music, I do need to have all the latest stuff – a powerful Macintosh, all the updates for the software, lots of plug-ins, I also have a huge arsenal of guitars and basses in my studio. In this area I’m following the latest releases. *laugh*

TERAZ ROCK: I take it your studio is situated within your house?

SANDRA NASIC: Yes, I’ve got a small studio and a big rehearsal room, in which I can practice with a band.

TERAZ ROCK: What do your neighbours say to this?

SANDRA NASIC: Oh, I don’t have any neighbours! Well, I do actually, but they’re all musicians so they don’t mind.

TERAZ ROCK: Since you’ve started to work on your own, why did you decide to hire musicians from the outside at some point?

SANDRA NASIC: You know, you could do everything yourself, but at some point it starts to be tiring. So far I’ve been playing only with Guano Apes. I wanted to experience working with other musicians as well… (her phone starts ringing: Halo, ich ruf dich gleich zuruck, ja? Tchuss). Sorry. You can learn a lot by working with other people. Especially seeing that most of them are great instrumentalists too. I can play the guitar well enough for song writing, but for producing I need someone who’s really good.

TERAZ ROCK: You’ve got a band already, right? We could see it in the videoclip.

SANDRA NASIC: In the videoclip it’s not my band playing. They’re my friends. T. Raumschmiere, with whom I worked some time ago, is not only a DJ, but he’s also got a punk band. I said to his boys, ‘I need to shoot a video next week, would you mind taking part in it?’ and they said ‘sure’. *laugh* My band didn’t exist then.

TERAZ ROCK: And when it started existing, you went right back to the situation you had with Guano Apes.

SANDRA NASIC: Yeah, I can’t be alone on the scene though.

TERAZ ROCK: Why not? Madonna is coping quite well with it.

SANDRA NASIC: She’s got a lot of dancers. And a band somewhere in the background. Maybe in the future I’ll do a separate pop-rock show. I’ll be swapping between the two. *laugh* In the rock part there will definitively be a band playing with me.

TERAZ ROCK: The difference is, now you’re definitively the boss.

SANDRA NASIC: Yes, I did write all the songs, but it doesn’t mean that suddenly I got some balls and I run around saying, ‘Now I’m the boss!’ *laugh* They’re all great musicians, some of them are my friends, also there’s not one definite band, people change all the time.

TERAZ ROCK: And how’s your private life? The lyrics for ‘The Name of My Baby’ seem to suggest a dominative personality: ‘your eyes and your body belong to me...’

SANDRA NASIC: Sometimes I’m like that. Not always. I think that when you’re a solo artist, you need to know what you want and be ready to take the responsibility for the music, the band... I know what I want – I’m sure I can say that. But this doesn’t mean that I’m always dominating. You can ask my boyfriend. He’s quite happy with this. *laugh*

TERAZ ROCK: I understand, and congratulations to both of you. Talking about family... Are you planning on having any children?

SANDRA NASIC: It’s funny that only women get asked questions like this. Did you ever ask a guy about it?

TERAZ ROCK: No way, that’s pointless. Rock’n’roll boys are on a completely different level of maturity.

SANDRA NASIC: Yes... *laugh* To answer your question: there are no such plans for the near future, but of course I may start a family in five to ten years. I don’t know. I need to ask the potential father. *laugh*

TERAZ ROCK: Then perhaps I should ask about your current family. Does your Croatian background influence your music in any way?

SANDRA NASIC: It’s hard to tell. My father was a guitarist, I think he passed his musical talent onto me. He never gave me any lessons, but when I was a child I’ve always liked to observe him playing on family meetings. I remember when we went to Croatia on summer holidays, we had a picnic under a huge tree, and he was singing... Maybe the way I compose my music and melodies has something to do with my Croatian roots. I don’t listen to any Croatian music though, I only know one singer.

TERAZ ROCK: Me too – Severina Vuckovic. But more from the move in the internet than her music.

SANDRA NASIC: Movie? Oh God, I understand now. Where did you get her from? *laugh* I’m talking about Lepa Brena.

TERAZ ROCK: Could you reveal what happened to the Guano Apes? The parting of the band wasn’t friendly, I guess...

SANDRA NASIC: I can only say that I’m happy that I could leave that situation. I left school and joined the band when I was seventeen. I was really young, and the success was really fast. Over the next ten years I was always with the same people. It was very important for me to get out of it all, find out more about life. I’m proud of what I achieved with Guano Apes, without them I wouldn’t get to where I am now, but this wasn’t enough for me anymore. And of course it was cool to earn as much money as we did – and they weren’t small amounts at all – but at some point this also wasn’t important for me anymore. I wanted to do much more in life than this. That’s all I can say about that. For me it’s gone, and moved to the past now.