August 2002, Chain DLK Webzine, Shaun Hamilton

SHAUN: How did you two meet and start working on music together?

ANJI: We met a few times at different places in Los Angeles. We first started talking at a little Projekt Records party that both our bands were invited to. Then we got to know each other more through a series of appearances he made on KUCI, for both my radio show and other DJs’ shows. One afternoon he had me come over to his studio and he showed me a few new songs he was working on. One of those became the instrumental, ‘Beatitude,’ and the other eventually turned into ‘Love Survives.’

The first song he had me do vocals on was the club track, ‘Ecstatic,’ which just has a little ‘oooh ahhh’ sample. Our first song that came out on CD was a remix of “Bittersweet” for Claire Voyant, in late 1999, early 2000, I forget exactly. 1999-2000 was a very transitional time’ We weren’t totally sure where we were headed yet. Ryan was still very immersed in the DJ scene then, so the tunes we were working on were all 10-minute dance tracks — pretty unsuitable as album material. It wasn’t really until 2001 that things clicked into place for us, as far as the album goes.

SHAUN: Have you or Ryan had jazz training, and what are your musical backgrounds?

ANJI: No, neither of us has had any Jazz schooling. Our sax player, Doron, actually does have a degree in Jazz, though! Ryan’s been reading up on Jazz the last year or so. He used to joke that he’d become a Jazz guitarist after he played a year in the NBA, but now he’s already accomplished the former without getting much closer to the latter goal’ (Ha ha!) Both Ryan and I had a few lessons when we were young, but we’re mostly self-taught. He’s been playing guitar for most of his life. I think listening to a wide range of good music, and studying it to find out what makes it work, has been our best training.

SHAUN: Your work seems to revolve around the subject of love. What is your opinion on the state of love in today’s world?

ANJI: I believe that love is the most important thing in the world. Certainly nothing great can be accomplished without love as a motivating factor. Everyone is searching for love, in one way or another, and many are finding unsatisfactory substitutes in our modern world. I don’t think we can ever feel truly whole until we surrender to love ‘ not only love for another person, but for ourselves, and for the world around us, as well.

SHAUN: Any words of advice?

ANJI: Never doubt your ability to grow and improve as a human being. Don’t let negative people get you down. Pursue your dreams and live your life with joy!

Excerpt from the full interview hosted at the ChainDLK site.

Jianda Johnson interviews Anji for a feature article on the Women of Mp3.com Station.

JIANDA: How did you get into music, how long have you been making it, and when did you join Lovespirals?

ANJI: I’d say that I first got into music through my dad. One of my earliest memories is circling around the coffee table to “Here Comes the Sun,” when I was barely able to walk. I started singing very early, doing school productions from Pre-School on. Shortly out of High School, I got invovled with different garage bands, doing gigs, and recording 4 track demos. Strangely, I really always wanted to be a guitarist, but I’ve just never been very adept at it! I did play guitar in an industrial noise rock band for awhile, but it was a struggle for me. I played percussion in another band around that time too. It’s funny to think about those old bands now, in comparison to my work with Lovespirals. Speaking of Lovespirals, I began working with Ryan in early 1999.

JIANDA: Can you please explain the difference between Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards?

ANJI: When Ryan and I began working back in 1999 on Drum ‘n’ Bass tunes, he was in a transitional period, unsure if he wanted to make another listening album or start releasing 12’s instead. At that time, we weren’t sure if our stuff was going to be released as Love Spirals Downwards or as some kind of side project. We were just recording songs and pressing dubplates for him to spin in his DJ sets, not sending them around to labels or trying to get them released. Then I made those tracks available online through mp3.com and folks started contacting us to include stuff on compilations, so by now all of them have been released somewhere or other, which is really cool. But I digress… It’s tremendously hard to explain exactly where or how things changed between Love Spirals Downwards and Lovespirals, because it was all just a natural progression.