Today we’d like to introduce you to Guinnevere Philipp.
Hi Guinnevere, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We met in a Facebook group called “NJ Musicians”. I, (Guinnevere), made a post asking if anyone would like to play guitar and do some covers with me. I got a decent amount of replies, but Chris directly messaged me and we ended up connecting over going to the same college and living fairly close to each other. We met in person in our college’s practice space and clicked right away. Chris brought up the idea of writing some originals, and showed me some acoustic instrumentals he had in his back pocket. We ended up booking a 45 minute set a few weeks later, and needed to write enough originals to cover that time slot. We were able to do it with ease as our writing styles worked so well, and that sparked Aftyn, our original duo. As our professional and personal relationship developed, we found more of our sound and what we wanted to write about. That insane connection and seeing eye to eye on writing is what led us to where we are today. We seem to always be on the same page so when writing, deciding where to move next, or what shows to play, there isn’t much disagreement. We work well in harmony.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As an acoustic duo, we don’t always fit on the bills we are put on. Sometimes it feels disheartening, but there always ends up being someone in the crowd who seems to appreciate our genre of music. We’ve attempted to be under management before, but ultimately deviated to save that for a different time to keep some of our original ideas just for us until the timing is right. It isn’t easy being an indie musician especially while handling all of life’s other obstacles-jobs, pets, etc. But at the end of the day we always think about how this is what we love, and we’’ll happily perform in a room of 5 or 500.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are a folk/pop duo. We work well as a duo because Chris has an ear for instrumentals, which lends a hand to producing and writing guitar parts, and I am a singer and songwriter. I’ve always attached myself to the lyrics of a song first whereas Chris picks up on the sonic elements before anything else. I think I’m most proud of how well we can work in harmony like that and be able to see what the other person might not. What sets us apart from other duos, may be the fact that we are married. When we write and perform love songs, the audiences gets a glimpse into our lives together through those songs and can see what makes us a strong pair. We still don’t shy away from writing breakup songs or songs of the past, because we can work through those emotions together on stage. I think that also makes a lot more at stake in our music. We were once told by a managment company that would be a valid reason not to sign us-because we were in a relationship. I can understand exactly what they mean, if the personal relationship fails then so does the professional one. I think having those high stakes and real chemistry on stage sets us apart so you aren’t just seeing a duo perform, but people are truly connected on and off stage. Our tag line has been ‘songs about cats and love’.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to us is writing music that is authentic and always remembering the core reason why we write, because we love it. We both agree that without music, we wouldn’t have a large part of our identity, and there’s no reason to ever stop. As long as the ideas keep coming to us and we are moved to create art, we will.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aftynband.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aftynduo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aftynduo/
- Twitter: https://x.com/aftynduo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFL0ZA23izHlhOyfBNWbQbQ
- Other: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xVc0GXcbuG8mz7KGAHxcLdPIDNidkEYo/
