Having just released their debut EP Imperfections, female four-piece IV Rox have been creating a lot of hype about their music. From collaborating with members of UK urban music royalty such as Ghetts to working in the studio with grime production legend Davinche, Raquel, Nadine, Dolly and Natalie have been creating quite the stir, so naturally we had to go and have a chat with them to see what all the fuss was about…
On the formation of IV Rox…
(Natalie) We’ve been in IV Rox for three years now. Dolly knew Davinche and he was creating a project, so he brought her in and we all met in the studio. (Raquel) The beauty of it was that it all just worked, it wasn’t something we had to force. We made a track and instantly it sounded great. Our voices just meshed well together and we love harmonising with each other, plus we all get on so well. We all had a musical background; Natalie had a scholarship to Italia Conti and my dad played in a band. (Dolly) My dad also sings and I have a famous relative, Fela Kuti, so I’ve got a bit of music in my blood. (Nadine) I think I’m the only one that just sang in the bedroom!
On not having a lead singer…
(Raquel) People always say “who’s the lead singer?”, but we compliment each other and work together. (Nadine) I think it’s good that there’s no lead singer and that we can all sing and all take a lead part in each song. We’re really appreciative of each others voices and no one’s trying to out-sing anyone else. There’s a great balance, we love harmonies and I think that’s what really works cos you can still distinguish between who is who.
On working with Ghetts and Stormzy…
(Dolly) We’ve always been big fans of Ghetts; he’s a legend. Obviously Davinche has known him for a long time. I think Davinche just brought him down to hear the song and he was happy to jump on it. When he told us we were all amazed! When Ghetts came down to shoot the video he was so cool and really humble. (Raquel) With Stormzy, it was literally through Twitter. He came down and he was so lovely. We go to his shows all the time and he’s a great performer, plus Natalie is a huge Stormzy fan. It was a pleasure to have him on it and it was really big for us to have him on there!
On artists who they’d love to work with in the future…
(Collectively) Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Wretch 32, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, Tinie Tempah, Rudimental, Chip. (Raquel) All the names we’ve said are from the UK, so you can see we like to represent the UK. Not that we don’t want to work with other artists, but there’s so much talent in the UK right now, so we’d love to work with all those people. (Nadine) Or a massive girl power song with Lady Leshurr, Paigey Cakey, Ms Banks and everyone all in one group!
On some of their early musical inspirations…
(Nadine) Beyonce and Destiny’s Child would be the main ones and Michael Jackson too. But in terms of girl groups; we love Spice Girls, TLC and All Saints. They were all massive influences and I think on the EP you can hear that we’ve gone back to some old skool girl band vibes cos that’s what we listened to growing up.
On the musical genres within the Imperfections EP…
(Natalie) We don’t wanna be pigeon holed as one genre. We just wanna go down as many different avenues as we can. (Nadine) To learn about what you really like, you have to experiment and any artist, whether you’re a painter or whatever, they all experiment and it’s the same with music. We like to try out different things and see what we like. (Dolly) The good thing about being in a group is that we all grew up to slightly different music so all our different tastes are coming through on different tracks, so one is more soul inspired, one is more grime inspired etc. (Raquel) That’s really good for when we have writing sessions too because we can all bring our own ideas and backgrounds, so I guess that’s what makes IV Rox – all our different influences mashed into one!
On their music writing process…
(Natalie) We all throw ideas together and we don’t feel competitive with each other. We’re all like ‘what a great idea, lets put it down!’ and we all listen to each other. (Nadine) There is a lot of talking that goes on, so we’re in there for a few days! (Raquel) The great thing is that we’ll think of an idea and then everyone will write their own bit on how they feel about that specific topic. When we bring it together it just works and ends up like a story. (Natalie) Some days it takes half a day to write a song and sometimes it can take hours and hours!
On working with Davinche in the studio…
(Nadine) Davinche is always in the studio with us and sometimes we make everything from scratch! (Natalie) He’ll be making the beat from scratch and we’ll be sitting there gossiping and he’ll say “gimme some ideas” and we’ll listen to the beat all day and try and come up with things. He’s just so talented and comes out with amazing stuff. (Raquel) The great thing about him is that even though he is this big legend, he always listens to our opinions as well, so it’s a great process.
On the real life stories behind the tracks…
(Natalie) Regarding ‘Better Than Your Girl’, I think most women have been in that situation where some guy comes up to you and you know he has a girlfriend and you’re wondering why he’s approaching you. Sometimes you get into a conversation with them about it and they’re like “nah you’re better than her” and we wanted to sing about those girls because we don’t wanna put up with that any more! (Nadine) Normally when a girl is in that situation, we think that we should be annoyed with the other girl, but they’re not in the wrong, it’s the man. (Natalie) ‘Badder Than A Mother’ is obviously about a man who goes out and does everything he wants to do in life but he’s still loyal. So I guess the songs are based around situations we’ve been in rather than a personal story.
On the meaning behind the title of the EP…
(Nadine) We named the EP Imperfections because we feel so strongly that girls have insecurities and a lot of the media tries to cover it up, but we say embrace it; it’s what makes you you. (Natalie) All the celebrities that have been airbrushed look like they’re perfect and have no insecurities and girls look up to them and wonder why they can’t be like that. But we wanna remind everyone that no one’s perfect, everyone has their own insecurities. (Raquel) That’s the message we wanted to send out there, especially to young girls, that you don’t need to try and be something you’re not; be yourself and embrace every little imperfection because that’s who you are.
On the love of their fans, the ‘Roxstars’…
(Natalie) You know what I love, they’re so funny. They’re all amazing and they keep us grounded. (Raquel) It’s a bit overwhelming cos we haven’t really put out anything concrete, this is our first EP, so to be able to have these supporters is amazing. We see them as our friends really. They send us Christmas presents, birthday presents and everything.
If you haven’t heard it yet, make sure you grab your copy of the debut EP from IV Rox Imperfections here! To stay up to date on all the latest news, tour dates and everything else from the group, make sure you’re following them on Twitter and Facebook.
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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