Orkus! video premiere: ALLY STORCH feat. CHAMELEON WALK

“For me, art without AI is always an amazement”

Chameleon Walk and Ally The Fiddle have combined to create an unusual blend of music: simply writing a song together, even if the two speak different musical languages. The result is a soulful yet rocking song. It doesn’t have the heaviness of their prog band Ally The Fiddle, little mid-tempo rock, but still something that is wonderfully suited to flooding the ear canals with melodies that don’t want to leave. We spoke to Ally Storch about the new track called “Violin Girl”, which also tells us a bit about her.

Orkus: You are firmly rooted in your band Subway To Sally, but you also lend your musical signature to other projects time and again. What is your approach?
Ally Storch: I always start by looking at who I’m working with. In other words, how do artists and ensembles present themselves to the outside world, what message is important to them. Then I try to narrow down the genre we are working in. And from all of this I get an impression of how my clients could probably imagine the end result and I try to hit exactly the nerve that they expect from me. I usually offer several variants, from which you can choose your favorite, especially when I’m given a lot of freedom.

O: The violin is your instrument, what do you like most about the sound and the way you play it?
AS: For me, the violin is an incredibly complex body of sound. It has a wonderful warmth in its depth, but also power and at the same time shines in the high register with its brilliance. At the same time, it is very changeable and can become smoky in jazz or offer the craziest sounds for experimental approaches. I find her sound world elegant in every way, even when she tackles hard metal sounds.

O: The latest song was not only created with you, but could also tell a bit of your story. What do you think about that?
AS: I was quite surprised at first. But I think telling a story in this way is a charming way of showing what it actually means to be able to make music properly one day. How you struggle with the first steps but don’t give up. How to put a lot of love into something that will one day lead to a beautiful destination despite adversity along the way. The more we let AI and the media take control of us, the more our awareness of what it actually costs to be allowed to work creatively disappears. How much sweat and tears the material has meant, what AI is fed with and what is now available to almost everyone at the touch of a button.

O: Today, when almost everything can be created with AI, everything in “Violin Girl”, from the recording of the music to the video, was created analog and without AI. What difference does that make for you?
AS: Apart from the fact that I would much rather work without AI from a moral point of view, because we are talking about a legal art theft here, it also makes a big difference to me in terms of aesthetics. The not polished to the end, the moments that have arisen by chance, the memories of the creation process … For me, art without AI is always an amazement. An amazement at what the human mind is capable of achieving. And it always speaks the concrete language of the artist, not a product.

O: The human component may also ensure that things are not perfect. Does that do something to us?
AS: I believe that we can access it mentally more easily if it is a little imprecise. We feel so much more of a connection with the work of art because we are just as imperfect as people.

O: In all your publications, videos and on stage, one can still always see a 100 percent ally. How difficult is it to at least give that impression? Surely you have a bad day sometimes?
AS: I actually don’t always find it that easy. There’s a switch that says “show must go on” on difficult days, but I’m sure you can still feel it in the nuances when you’re not in such a good mood. At the end of the day, you know that everyone has come on a concert day especially to celebrate a few really good hours together. That makes me mobilize all my strength and often allows me to switch back to full power.

O: In this so far only song with Chameleon Walk everything seems very familiar and harmonious, how does that work for you?
AS: I’ve been friends with Axel, the singer, guitarist and founder of the band, for several years, we’ve experienced a lot together and we’ve had some wonderful in-depth conversations. Of course that leaves its beautiful traces. (smiles)

Line-up:
Axel Heyder (Chameleon Walk) – vocals, guitar
Ally Storch (Ally The Fiddle) – all string instruments
Stefan Kerth – bass, production

But it’s best to watch the successful video: