Eyes On Us explores the double edge of modern drones — from surveillance over protests to armed operations in war zones. What inspired you to tackle such an urgent and political theme?
Honestly, we didn’t plan it. Like most Trash Pillow songs, it came out of lived moments rather than a concept we sat down to write about. With Eyes On Us, it started while we were attending demonstrations in Berlin and noticing how drone activity above protests has become more frequent — watching, recording, intimidating. They’re creepy as hell, invasive, almost alive, like something straight out of Black Mirror.
What struck us was how these machines exist on multiple moral edges at once. The same technology that hovers above crowds to control and monitor is used in war zones to precisely kill and terrorize. At the same time, drones are saving lives — delivering food and medicine to remote areas — while others fly harmlessly through parks as hobbies, or are used in art, including music videos like ours. That contradiction is what stayed with us: one object, many intentions, all watching from above.

The EP RAW approaches war “from the inside out,” politically, personally, and emotionally. How would you describe the experience of creating music so closely tied to real memories and fears?
Isn’t that what music is — or at least what it should be? A form of expression, like painting, writing, or storytelling. When you’ve been exposed to something like war, it never really leaves you. It shapes who you are and the person you become.
Experiencing real trauma recalibrates your understanding of fear. The intensity of those moments changes how you relate to anxiety, danger, and the unknown — things that might feel abstract to others become very real, very physical. That stays with you, whether you want it to or not. At the same time, music isn’t only heavy for us. It’s also fun — a distraction, a release, and a way to communicate without having to explain everything in words. It gives us a space to take those memories and fears and redefine them on our own terms, to turn something overwhelming into something shared, loud, and alive.

Meray mentioned that the EP is rooted in life experiences and memories of war. How did those personal experiences influence your songwriting and lyrics?
Again, it’s not conscious. These experiences just live somewhere in our heads and bodies, and eventually they seep into the songs. We don’t sit down with the intention of writing about war — it’s more that certain memories and emotions bubble up and find their way into the music.
Not all Trash Pillow songs are about war. We chose these four tracks specifically because they connected thematically and felt right together as an EP. Our songwriting covers a whole range of experiences that shape our lives — good and bad, joyful and painful..

The title RAW is “WAR” spelled backwards. How did this idea come about, and how does it reflect the EP’s approach to conflict?
The idea came quite naturally. At some point we realized that RAW is simply WAR spelled backwards, and that felt right rather than forced.
RAW reflects the emotional residue of war: what it does to people long after the bombs stop falling, how it reshapes fear, identity, and everyday life. Turning WAR into RAW also flips the perspective — away from politics and headlines and toward something unfiltered, instinctive, and human. We’re not writing these songs to change the world. For us, they’re pieces of our heads — fragments of thoughts and feelings that needed somewhere to go. They may or may not relate to everyone, and that’s fine.

Your music confronts listeners with the reality of violence and fear. What emotions do you hope to evoke in the audience with RAW?
We’re not trying to tell people what to feel. RAW isn’t meant to shock or educate in a didactic way
If anything, we hope listeners feel a sense of recognition. Not necessarily of war itself, but of fear, anxiety, loss, and tension — emotions that exist in different forms in everyone’s life. If people walk away feeling unsettled, energized, or even strangely comforted, that’s enough for us. The EP isn’t about offering solutions; it’s about sharing something honest and letting listeners decide what it means to them.

Your sound blends fuzz-punk, heavy distortion, pop sensibility, and raw poetry. How do you balance aggression and vulnerability in your music?
A lot of that balance comes from the fact that we come from very different musical backgrounds and tastes. We overlap in many places, but we also bring in influences that don’t necessarily belong together, and that collision is where our sound lives. We’re drawn to fuzzy sounds, fat bass lines, groove, and there’s definitely a lo-fi element to Trash Pillow. About half of the EP wasn’t recorded in a traditional studio at all, but in rehearsal rooms and bedrooms, and that reality shapes the sound in an honest way. The imperfections stay in, and they carry a certain vulnerability of their own. On a songwriting level, it’s really about letting those different musical influences crash into each other — punk energy, pop instincts, raw poetry — and not trying to over-polish the result. That tension between roughness and melody is where the emotion comes through.

RAW is described as chaotic, urgent, and human. What was the biggest technical or creative challenge during the recording process?
A big challenge was simply time — getting everyone in the same place at the same time while life keeps moving around us. Like most independent bands, we’re juggling work, personal lives, and everything in between, and that inevitably shapes how and when music gets made. Budget was another major factor. With limited resources, reaching the final result we had in mind meant being flexible and creative. We ended up jumping between different recording locations throughout the process.
Creatively, one of the biggest challenges was working with samples in a way that communicates the deeper message without being exploitative or disrespectful. We were very conscious about using them honestly and sincerely — not for shock value, but to add context and emotional weight. It was important to us that those elements felt necessary and respectful, and that they served the song rather than overshadowing the human story behind it.

The track Eyes On Us conveys paranoia and tension. How do you translate such intense emotions into musical arrangements and sound?
We kept it very simple on purpose. The track starts with this repetitive one-note line that never really lets you relax — it’s subtle, but it creates constant tension, like something hovering above you. That feeling of being watched doesn’t need big drama, it’s just always there.
We used real drone sounds in the samples, plus synths, to push that atmosphere further and make it feel cold and uncomfortable.
In the middle of the song there’s a sample from a German news report talking about 18 people being arrested during a protest. That moment felt important to us because it grounds the song in reality. It adds to the tension and quietly points at the contradictions around protests and so-called free speech.

Coming from the Berlin underground, influenced by punk and noise, how has the city and the local scene shaped the sound of this EP?
Berlin definitely seeps into the music, whether we want it to or not. The city has this long history of punk, noise, and DIY culture, and that makes it feel normal to work rough, loud, and imperfect. There’s no pressure here to sound clean or correct. The local scene also encourages experimentation. You see bands playing in basements, squats, small venues, trying things out. We’re lucky to be in Berlin

You tackle politically and personally charged themes. To what extent is making music a form of therapy or a way to process your experiences?
We wouldn’t call it therapy in a clinical sense, but it definitely works as a way of processing things. Making music lets us externalize what’s going on inside: fear, anger, confusion, even numbness. Once it’s out in the room, shared between us, it becomes less isolating. At the same time, it’s not only heavy — there’s joy, release, and playfulness in it too. So it’s not about healing in a neat way, but about staying honest with what we carry and turning it into something that feels alive rather than buried.

After RAW, what creative directions are you exploring? Are there new themes or experiences you want to address in future music?
We’re planning to go back into the studio around April to start recording our debut album. It’ll be a concept album, which is something we’re really excited about and gives us space to explore ideas in a deeper, more connected way. We already have a lot of thoughts and directions we’re itching to bring to life, but we’re letting them evolve organically rather than locking anything in too early

Do you view RAW as a turning point for the band or a natural continuation of your previous work?
For us, it feels more like the beginning than a turning point. Before RAW, we’d only released a couple of singles, so this EP feels like a natural continuation rather than a big shift. We really don’t overthink it. We enjoy playing together, writing music, and seeing where things go.

Are there plans for tours or international shows to bring this EP to audiences outside Berlin?
Unfortunately not at the moment, as we’ll be focusing on the album next. That said, we’d absolutely love to go on tour — hopefully towards the end of this year or sometime next year.