They’ve been called ‘rock geniuses’, rock divas’ and ‘rock queens’. We’re thrilled today to be able to interview sisters Marie and Sussie Fernandez about their music, their lives, and their aspirations.
The Peppersplum are a Mexican duo made up of sisters Marie Fernandez (guitar/piano/backing vocals) and Sussie Fernandez (vocals/piano/guitar). Not looking to be constrained to a single genre, they simply concentrate on playing the music they love. The result is a quirky, but enjoyable mix of British and American style rock and Euro-influenced dance-pop, along with a generous helping of Latin flare. They have gained nominations for their previous LPs.
We love to tease our guests with some silly questions to break the ice and you two are no exception. Here we go.
If you had to describe yourself as a car, what would it be?
Both: First of all thanks for this time to share with you as well as all your readers. We’re very glad to talk to you.
Sussie: Nice shot silly questions (smiles)
Marie: Well, definitely we’ll be an Aston Martin (both laugh)
What’s your favourite item of clothing beginning with the letter B?
Marie: First we think of a blouse but that’s easy and quite simple.
Sussie and a bath suit so short.
Marie: so we choose a ballroom gown (they smile).
You are walking to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss told you if you are late one more time you’re fired. Do you save the dog?
Marie: Absolutely, save the dog. We have three Labrador and we just can’t see a dog suffering.
Sussie: Later talk to the boss and say- may I still come to work? (With an apologizing and uneasy smile)
Do you shout out the answers at the TV whilst watching quiz shows?
Sussie: Only if I know the answer (both laughs)
Marie: Yes! If I happen to know it
Do you live by any motto or philosophy?
Both : Be yourself no matter what they say
What horror fiction character scares you the most?
Sussie: That’s a good one because Marie does have one who scares her the most
Marie: Yeah the zombies
Now to the more serious ones…
Firstly, we have to know the origin of the name Peppersplum. Please tell us all about how this name came about.
Marie: When the time came for us to choose a name we wanted to be just The Peppers but
We realized there were too many peppers (both laugh)
Sussie: So we tried to add some sweet to the mix to balance the hot and salt in the peppers, then the Plums appeared.
Marie: Yes! The sweet of the bitter
You’ve been nominated for numerous awards for your work, (aPeople Choice Award in England (2008); the F.I. Awards in Spain; I.M.A.S. nod in Mexico) and work hard at constantly enhancing your position in the music industry. Tell us a little bit about the journey to get where you are today, the successes and the failures.
Marie: The awards were good, although there were as well people who told us -Rock and girls are not suitable, they simply aren’t to be together-. And we had have endure, and show music is for all.
Sussie: Well, yes it’s been a journey, if you stop and look behind, there are lots of good times, other bad, but most of all, lots and lots of work done and to be done, whenever we feel like write a song, or do a gig, there were lots of things we didn’t know how to do back then. Even though we’re still learning everyday now is a little bit easier than in the beginning.
You’ve been called ‘rock geniuses’, rock divas’ and ‘rock queens’ How do you respond to this rather flattering assessment of your talents?
Marie: All we can say is a big and humble THANKS
Sussie: All we always wanted from life was to share our music with all the people and this words make us think people feel good with our work and that’s immeasurable, as Marie said thanks from our hearts
What was the first indication you two were really into music as little girls in Mexico City? Did you perform for family, or in school concerts?
Marie: A great Yes! We loved to perform for our family, we did it all the time, I guess they got a bit tired of us (both laugh) also we tried to be in every school play or show we could.
Sussie: Yes the wardrobe for the plays was a plus; we also take every music lesson we could. guitar, piano and singing lessons.
You cite your influences as U2 and The Beatles. If you had the chance to tour with a band of your choosing, who would it be? Is there anyone you’d love to perform with as a duo?
Susie: Oh what a golden slumber if we could perform a duo with Sir Paul McCartney.
Marie: There are lots of great bands there that we’d love to play with
I found a rather wonderful music review from Sam Liddicott aka Musicmusingandsuch and he goes into rhapsodical detail about the tracks on the album. How do you manage music reviews, both good and bad- do you tend to get upset over them if they aren’t as good as you’d like?
Sussie: When the reviews are good, it’s great, we smile because we feel the journalist who wrote it, understood the message of our music, the band concept, and all we are about. When the reviews aren’t as we’d like (we’re not saying bad, because everybody is entitled to their opinion) we found that not everybody is in the same channel, but we don’t get depress over it. Next time you’ll love it. (both smile)
Marie: Good and not so good reviews are equally worthy, the feedback is necessary. Sam Liddicott did a great review as he also took a deep jump into all the music stuff that could be related to us, we love that review, it’s a great job he did.
Marie and Sussie, thanks so much for taking the time out to answer our questions and tell us a bit more about yourselves. We wish you every success in your music career and may 2017 bring all you wish it to.
Both: Thanks a lot to you we enjoyed it very much. Hope to visit your great country soon, and say hi live, meanwhile lots of love to all over there.
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