On March 22nd 2019, Italian glam-rockers VAIN VIPERS released their acclaimed self-titled debut album via Volcano Records. Today the band teams up with Metal Shock Finland to premiere worldwide their new video ‘Let’s Party’ from the album. Watch it here:
To celebrate the video premiering Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to interview the guys, so let’s learn more about the band, video and their debut album:
1. Hi VAIN VIPERS, and welcome to Metal Shock Finland. Your self-titled debut album came out a year ago, via Volcano Records, how it has been received among your fans?
This is our first album. We had excellent feedback from local and non-local fans, much more than our expectations. We have sold several CDs in Italy and Europe and even in Japan, America and Australia.
2. What can you tell me about the influences and topics of your songs?
Our songs topics are the classic themes of the genre. The influences comes from the music we have listened since our childhood, combined with a modern touch.
3. How have you supported the album in this past year?
We have self-produced some videos for the singles of the disc and tried to play as much as possible despite, currently, the music scene in Italy is not the best.
4. Today we have a pleasure to premiere worldwide your new video ‘Let’s Party’ from the album. What is the story behind the song and video?
In the video you can see exactly what can happen at one of our gig… and that’s what always happens every time we go out together… which is the fourth essence of the “Let’s Party” and our way of being. This time we choose to pay tribute to our fans with a video dedicated to them, getting out of the habit of having a plot-based video.
5. What will happen next in the VAIN VIPERS -camp? Future plans?
We are composing new songs and we hope to come out soon with a new album. We are also looking for new gigs to continue promoting the album.
6. And now the word is yours: what is your message to your fans and Metal Shock Finland readers?
We want to thank them for all the support they have shown us and that continue to show us. To the Metal Shock Finland readers, we invite them to go on youtube and find our videos or on Spotify / Itunes to listen to our album. Come and join us to the Party!!!
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VAIN VIPERS are an Italian glam-rock band, they were formed in 2013 by Scott and Wild (ex Cryin’ Angels). In the spring of 2016, after several lineup changes, they finally found their current singer: Mick (ex Sex for Cash and Shabby Trick, currently in Crying Steel) and in early 2017, their drummer, Aaron. From there, they began appearing in many italian clubs, sharing the stage with the famous rock bands Bai Bang, Rakel Traxx, and Stop Stop. In May 2017, the single “Lost in Your Eyes,” was finally released, and with it their first music video. At the dawn of 2018 it was time to start on their first LP, recorded entirely at Roberto Priori’s Pri-Studio. At the end of that same year, they found in Volcano Records the thing they’ve been looking for: A label, an agreement, and an album release.
“Vain Vipers” tracklist:
1. I Hate You
2. Bitch Please (Shut Up)
3. Kissy Doll
4. Lost In Your Eyes
5. Let’s Party
6. Reach Me In The Dark Side
7. 80’s Whore
8. Devil Is Waiting
9. Rock ‘n’ Roll
10. Weeping
Running Time: 48’33”
Italian singer/musician, vocal coach, record producer, songwriter MR.JACK released his first solo album “Long Road” on March 20, 2019, produced by Wanikiya Record and recorded at Mountain Rock Studio, in collaboration with Metal Shock Finland, Metal in Italy and Italia di Metallo. “Long Road” features great special guests of the rock and metal scenario all made in Italy.
We had a pleasure to interview MR.JACK, via the video interview, which can be seen below. Among the topics, of course, his latest solo album, the details around it + his ‘Da Jack Live Club’ and future plans.
Watch the interview below + questions listed under the video:
The questions we made to MR.JACK are:
1. Hi MR.JACK, our readers already know you via our articles about your music and latest effort and debut solo album “Long Road”, which was released on March 20, 2019 via Wanikiya Record, and in which also Metal Shock Finland was involved, as one of the sponsors. What drove you, in the first place, to start working on “Long Road”?
2. What can you tell us about the song topics and what inspired you in the songwriting process?
3. “Long Road” mixes genres, from Metal, to rock, ballad, hard rock, why this choice?
4. “Long Road” features a long list of special guests, great names, all made in Italy! could you please tell us, shortly, about each of them and their input in the album?
-Freddy Delirio (Death SS)
-Maestro Mistheria (Vivaldi metal project , Keyboard of Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden)
-Tomas Valentini (Animae Silentes – Skanners)
-Valerio Edward De Rosa (Soul of Steel)
-Steve Volta (Pepetual Fire)
-Raffaele Albanese (From the Depth – 5th Element Project)
-Mario Zeoli (Red Sofà Lab, The Angelis, Thirdston3)
-Marco Angelo
-Alessandro De Fusco
5. The album came out last March, how the album has been received by your fans and music scene?
6. Let’s go back to past, you started to sing and play with various bands at age of 14. But what was the moment when your knew that Music will accompany your entire Life in various ways?
7. You’ve done several collaborations with great artists along your long road, what are your highlights so far?
8. Not long ago you made one of your long time dreams come true, opening ‘Da Jack Live Club’, giving a great platform to many bands to play their music live. While telling us more about your club, please tell us also from where you take your endless passion and energy?
9. What are your next plans for the future?
10. What is your message to young people of today, when too many times the future doesn’t look bright to fullfil their dreams?
Thanks a million for your time and for this chat, Jack, may your future bring along satisfactions you can’t even dream of yet…
Jimmy Schulman’s fluid bass work was the perfect complement to and anchor of Dan Lorenzo’s monster riffs in HADES in the mid-80s and again pm the band’s 2001 reunion-era album. Now, Schulman is at it again, adding his bass prowess to Lorenzo’s latest band, VESSEL OF LIGHT.
The group’s stellar new release, “Thy Serpent Rise”, is the first to feature Schulman and fellow former Hades drummer Ron Lipnicki, joining founding members Lorenzo and singer Nathan Opposition. It’s Vessel of Light’s second full-length disc (in addition to a debut EP). The disc is out now on CDbaby.com and and will be available on all platforms Nov. 1. U.S. distributors are All That Is Heavy and Cobraside. The album can also be ordered at DanLorenzo.net
Schulman shines on tracks such as “Meet and Bone” and “Rush of Blood”. On the latter he takes the spotlight during the solo section. Even a short clip of the band performing new song “Abandon Light” at a recent show in Brooklyn (watch here) is evidence that Vessel of Light is a live force not to be missed.
We recently spoke to Schulman about Vessel of Light and reflected on the Hades days.
How did you come to join Vessel of Light?
They were happy being a studio project originally and then the next thing you know a gig popped up and Dan asked me and (drummer Ron Lipnicki) to play the show. It seems Ron and Dan and I are like family. I’ve been playing on and off with Dan for 35 years and he’s a riff monster. I love the challenge of playing bass to his riffs. We started rehearsing some of the tunes. When Dan gave me the EP, I thought it was genius. It was especially cool listening to him with a different singer. I really like the tone of Nathan’s voice and I loved his vocals. They wrote some really good songs together. They were catchy but still heavy. We played and it was unbelievable, a lot of fun. Talks of Ron and I joining the band started really happening then.
What are your responsibilities as the bass player in Vessel of Light?
I’m the same player no matter what. You give me a riff, you give me a song and I can work around that either by playing along or adding something to the song. I can do a lot. It depends on what is needed but it’s always based on the riff.
Tell us about “Meet and Bone”, the first single from “Thy Serpent Rise”
“Meet and Bone” is Lorenzo riffing at its finest. It’s an exciting song to play. The riffs don’t stop. His riffs just roll over one into the next into the next and the fact that Nathan can find space in there to sing and have a hook just amazes me. Nathan is such a talent. I think they were meant to write music together.
On “Rush of Blood” you get some spotlight in the middle solo section which only features lead guitar and bass, with no rhythm guitar track.
I came in thinking less is more and Dan was mentioning Non-Fiction was the only project where there was never a rhythm guitar track. I heard the rhythm track behind the solo on “Rush of Blood” and then I asked Dan to consider pulling the rhythm track and leaving in the lead guitar and bass. I thought it would sound like a groovy, bluesy sort of thing.
In late September the band played a weekend of shows. How has Vessel of Light progressed as a live act over the past year?
It really clicked from the start. For the first show last year we had never rehearsed with Nathan and he flew in that morning before the show. We got onstage and it was as if we’d been playing together for a long time. That goes to prove that Dan, Ron and myself really know each other and are a tight trio and then with Nathan coming in, it was like, ‘wow, this is amazing.’ We’ve done weekends worth of shows and as we do more of them the more addicting they become. Its’ all great, whether we’re paying before 15 people or 600. We’ll never turn down an opportunity to play before a headliner. We’d love to play before a large audience before a national act.
What lies ahead for Vessel of Light?
Dan is already writing the next album. In 2020 we’ll continue to play and see what happens. We’re all already very excited about that.
Let’s talk about your history with Dan Lorenzo starting back with Hades. Dark Symphonies just rereleased the band’s first two albums, “Resisting Success” and “If At First You Don’t Succeed,” each with a second disc of rarities. What do you remember about joining the band?
I remember listening to all the older songs. “The Cross” was great. Then Dan played me demos of “The Leaders” and “Nightstalker” and I was like, I’m all in. This is it. The music was ahead of its time, a sign of things to come, and I wanted to be a part of it. It was interesting to be in the studio back then. “Resisting Success” was a raw album that was indicative of the time.
The band made a huge leap musically with sophomore effort “If At First You Don’t Succeed”
The band was coming together as a live act and we had all new songs and they were all tremendous songs. Everybody was bringing their talent and ambitions to the table.
Any favorite rarities on the bonus discs?
“Bete Noir.” I pushed for that to be included. It was exciting to have a song of mine that was never heard see the light of day. Everybody gave a great performance. I’m definitely proud of.
Check out the band’s new single “Meet & Bone”, taken from the upcoming album “Thy Serpent Rise”. Stream and buy ‘Meet and Bone’ at this location.
We had the honor to talk with Megadeth’s legendary bassist David Ellefson before the next leg of his “Basstory Tour”. We discussed his latest book “More Life with Deth” and the structure of the tour that will take him to Europe and Latin America, including a special date in Wolverhampton, where he will be joined by K.K. Downing, Ripper Owens and Les Binks to play a set of Judas Priest classics.
David also told us about the story behind his eclectic compilation album “Sleeping Giants” featuring previously unreleased tracks, including collaborations with John Bush, Chris Poland and David Glen Eisley. Of course, we also talked about the present and future of Megadeth, including the upcoming Megacruise, the recording of the new album and the recovery process of Dave Mustaine.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David (MSF): You’re currently promoting your latest book “More Life with Deth” through a series of bass clinics, signing sessions and shows. The next dates are in the UK, mainland Europe and Latin America. Can you describe a little bit the concept behind these different variations of the “Basstory Tour”?
David Ellefson:
Yeah, everyone is gonna be a little different, you know. The first show, that I’m kicking off with, started originally just as a kind of book signing at KK’s Steel Mill (K.K. Downing’s club) up in Wolverhampton. And K.K. (Downing) being a dear friend, obviously we like to play music, and we’ve never played music together. So, we’re gonna get on stage and fire up a big thing with Tim “Ripper” Owens, Lis Binks, my partner Thom (Hazaert) and A.J. Mill. We’re gonna fire off one show, so that’s kind of a standalone show on November 3rd. And then, November 4th we’ll be down to London in the Underworld. That’s going to be a bit more similar to what I’ve been doing here in America with the Sleeping Giants band, being a full band set, playing some of the classic songs people know me for, as well as material off my own Sleeping Giants album, and book signing afterwards. And I’ll do that same type of thing across Europe, across Italy and one date in Switzerland. And then, when I wrap up in Rome, a couple days later I will be starting the Latin America Basstory. That’s going to be slightly different, I’m going to actually use some local musicians in every city, and part of that is just because I want to involve local musicians as well as fans. There’s a lot of cover bands, tribute bands of various musicians who … I just thought it would be fun for them to get up and to basically play some songs together. So, that’ll be a little bit more like my Basstories were in 2018 and even earlier this year in 2019, when I was doing Basstory across Europe. So, everyone is going to be a little bit different, which I think sets the stage for a unique experience for the fans and everybody who comes to these shows.
David (MSF): Yeah, definitely. This is your second book after 2013’s “My Life with Deth”. Have you found something therapeutic about writing that you couldn’t express through music or what was your motivation to write this second part?
David Ellefson:
You know, I like to write. I found over the years, you know, that probably if there was a word for me, it would be “communicator”. And sometimes, I do that with a bass, sometimes I do it with a guitar, sometimes I do it just like you and me are doing right now talking over the phone, other times it’s writing a book, maybe it’s doing a Basstory masterclass clinic performance, etc. So, it’s all about just communicating, you know. Communicating thoughts, ideas, creative things. Creating it out to your audience. The books are just one of those ways to do that. You can do things in a book you can’t do in a song, and vice versa. I think with “More Life with Deth”, the thing is … I kind of hit a sweet spot on it, because a lot of this stuff with social media, it’s like everything is so immediate. And people kind of know I’ve got a record label, I’ve got a coffee company. So, I talked about those things in the book, some of the backstory to them, got a little deeper into some of the underpinnings and workings of those processes. But I think the one thing that was kind of an unexpected sweet spot in the story for me was, as I started talking about acquiring the rights to Combat Records, and relaunching that record label, it took me way back to the origin of Megadeth, to 1983. When, and how the band started. And I had some of my childhood friends from Minnesota who moved out to California, when we met Dave and got the band started. And I had them weigh in and give some personal testimonies about that. I think those, to me … I had as much fun reading their personal testimonies in my book as I did reading what I wrote about it. So, the Combat events really took me back to the earliest days of Megadeth, and that’s largely been an untold part of the Megadeth history. Kind of “Rust in Peace” onwards it has largely been told and pretty well known. A lot of those artifacts live online, on YouTube and whatnot. But the early days in the 80s, it was really fun to go back and open that chapter up, and really dig deep in and again, get these personal testimonies from other band members and friends who were with me on the journey back then.
David (MSF): Yeah, that’s very interesting. You mentioned the compilation album “Sleeping Giants” and there’s a lot of metal stuff in it, with different musicians. But I was very surprised by your collaboration with David Glen Eisley. What’s the story behind his partnership?
David Ellefson:
With the Sleeping Giants songs you mean?
David (MSF): The one’s with David Glen Eisley, this kind of soft rock tracks …
David Ellefson:
You know, in the “Countdown to Extinction Tour” in 1993 we had a tour break, and I met up with a friend of Nick Menza’s. His name was Pat Schunk, and we used to mountain bike, riding in the hills there in Los Angeles and hang out. Pat and I became fast friends, and we started doing some writing, because he’s also a songwriter, so we began doing some writing together. I put some of those songs on “Sleeping Giants” because there were some demos that we’d written, and I really just loved the songs. One of them “If You Were God”, which features John Bush on vocals, was something I actually did bring in as a consideration to the “Youthanasia” record, and it didn’t really fit the scope of where we were in that record, so it didn’t make the cut. But it’s a great song, and I have always loved it. I wrote the music, Pat wrote the lyrics and John Bush sang it. So, you know, to include that it’s been really fun because John Bush and I, we do stuff with Metal Allegiance and we’ve been friends for many years. So, it’s been fun to really collaborate with him again, even on stage, singing that song when I do Basstory shows. And then some other stuff, some stuff that I did with F5 during the 2000s, you know. That David Glen Eisley stuff, you know he was a friend of Pat Schunk’s, they were in a group together called Dirty White Boy, which featured David Glen Isley, some members of the group called Autograph, who were a pretty popular radio rock band here in America during the 80s. And, you know (we wanted) to write, and have different singers come in. These were really just demos and I thought, these things have been sitting in the vault, literally sleeping in the vault, yet I felt they were pretty cool songs. I mean, I think the title “Sleeping Giants” is not only a good title for the lead off track on the record, but it’s also a good description of the songs that are embodied on the album.
David (MSF): Yeah, exactly. Since we’re slowly running out of time, I don’t know if you’re okay with a couple of Megadeth related questions (David agrees). How’s the process of the new album going on, do we have any potential release date for it?
David Ellefson:
You know, we don’t. I mean, with Dave’s throat cancer treatments, that he has now completed, he’s just going through the recovery now and we’re hopeful and optimistic about a full recovery for him with that. But yeah, once he’s through with that process, and we’re gonna just let that take as much time as it needs, then we will resume with the album. I’d like to hope maybe in 2020 we’ll be able to get a new album out.
David (MSF): Hopefully it works out. Considering Dave’s health situation, the upcoming Megacruise and the dates you have confirmed for the beginning of next year in Europe. How do you see Dave’s recovery in order to perform live?
David Ellefson:
I think with the cruise, we’re really just taking that a day at a time. Me, Dirk and Kiko are gonna be on the boat, holding down the fort and doing some musical stuff ourselves on there, to just kind of keep a celebration of all things Megadeth. But, you know, we’re definitely giving Dave the time and space to heal and recover, that’s first and foremost for this week. And then, moving into the new year with the Five Finger Death Punch + Bad Wolves tour, you know, hopefully Dave will be ready to go. Sometimes, life throws you a card you didn’t expect and you just try to, you know … Megadeth we’ve always been a resilient band, we’ve always just worked around obstacles. Dave is a fighter, as we know, I was just talking to him and he sounds very optimistic about the future for Megadeth.
David (MSF): Yeah, that sounds great, hopefully he recovers soon. Well, thank you David for your time, it was a pleasure to talk with you. Take care, have a great Megacruise and send my best wishes to Dave!
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.” As of some one hardly rocking, rocking at my smart phone. WOLF to reveal some surprise, raven has never told me any lies. Ah, distinctly I remember it was a night in September. Picked up my phone called Nik, Let’s talk, it will be quick….
Swedish heavy metallers, WOLF have recently shocked their fans with their new line up, featuring Johan Koleberg and Pontus Egberg and that was not all. They revealed that they working on their eighth studio album, entitles “Feeding The Machine”. To find out more I conducted an interview with Niklas Stålvind, an excerpt can be read below.
Asked him about the days that Richard and Andy left the band, what was the story, Nik seemed to be not very happy to talk about that era but he answered:
“We still haven’t finished recording. We have date set for mixing, dead line and we have a release date but it’s been very long process this one… Couple of weeks before [UK] tour, Andy called me, we are good friends but he’s not the guy who call you or at least he never called me. So I was really happy when he called me but then he said there’s nothing to be happy about because I’m quitting the band, but I’ll do the tour but the last thing I’ll do because I don’t feel it’s fun for me to be in the band anymore. Also I should say that Andy is playing totally a different kind of music in his other band and he seems really happy there…. I phoned up Richard to discuss the situation with Andi and everything and he told me that he’s also leaving the band…. I felt like let’s just let it go, because it seems to me neither of the guys are happy with the band and in my head I only had to finish the album and then we can sort it out.”
So what’s story of finding new members, now he sounded more excited and he replied:
“I felt a bit chaotic and I had no idea how we’re gonna to release this album with just half of the band…. Then a friend of us Mike Wead from King Diamond, he’s a close friend of Simon. He knew that we’re looking for people, so he asked Pontus the bass player of King Diamond if he knows anyone around Stockholm area for drummer. He said, yes I know a really good guy, my childhood friend, Johan, who I’ve been playing with for a long time. So I checked out Johan and he was really good drummer and seems to be a nice person as well. Mike Weed also told the bass player of King Diamond the they [WOLF] are looking for a bass player as well but I don’t think you’d be interested. But actually he was …. I did a bit of research on the guys of course, I thought they sound great and they seem to be normal nice guys! So we had a meeting with the guys and they are in the band now.”
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last couple of months because it’s not a good way of, I mean people quitting and new members getting in, it’s been really very exhausting to say the least. But I am very happy to have the [new] guys in the band and they wanted to be not just like hired musicians, they really wanted to be in the band for real.”
I asked him what took them so long for a new album, as “Devil Seed” was released in 2014. Nik answered:
“When we were making the “Devil Seed” album I didn’t have a job, I had to quit my job because I was burned out and I took my sick leave and invested on writing music… After the release of the album, I got a new job and start to work full time and that’s what I was doing. I have a family with two kids and also we did more touring on “Devil Seed” than we done with other albums so we were playing more lives… But mostly because I’ve been working, all the WOLF members have been working full time with day jobs but I wrote the first song for this album in 2015…. For this album, I wanted to go deeper into myself, I couldn’t really force it, to me it is just not like any songs….”
What’s the concept and idea behind the title of “Feeding The Machine” album, Nik answered me thoughtfully:
“The idea, I got, I think it was in 2016, I started to noticing that social media has become something very manipulating. When I was unemployed, I used social media to sell my artworks and I was fortunate that people saw them and buy them so I can buy foods for my children, I was very thankful. But around 2016, I started to noticed, what the f*ck is this, it’s not me using Facebook anymore, it’s Facebook using me. It’s so manipulative and it just make people gather in small groups hating each other and I felt something is really wrong there. Whatever. I take Facebook as an example but it’s the same with Google and everything, if you don’t buy service then you are the merchandise! Not only that, they are really manipulating opinions, elections, these companies are not neutral… Some people recognize it and some people don’t…. We are all feeding this machine!”
Nik and I spoke many other things like how the upcoming album would sound like and its production, so you can listen to the whole of this interview on the Audio Player below:
We recently had the chance to talk with the talented singer and songwriter Anna Murphy from CELLAR DARLING. We discussed the creative process of their latest studio record “The Spell”, such as the ideas behind the story and artwork of this concept album. She also shared her experiences in the last Progressive Music Awards, where they won the “Best Video of the Year” award for “Insomnia”.
The Swiss multi-instrumentalist and producer also told us some of the highlights and stories from “The Spell Tour”, which will bring them to Finland In November for two headlining shows in Helsinki and Tampere. Anna commented the experience of meeting their fans all over the world and told us some details about the future plans of the band.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: You released your second album “The Spell” last March, and I have to say that it’s one of my candidates for the album of the year. What inspired you to create the story for the album?
Anna: Thank you very much, that’s really nice to hear! It’s kind of hard to say because with many things, like melodies, things just kind of pop into my head and I don’t really know where they come from, I think it all happens subconsciously somehow. But the motif that the concept album is based on, that is by no means my invention. It’s actually based on a very old motif, that has been depicted in the Renaissance art for a very long time, in poetry and in art, and that is Death and the Maiden. I wanted to create my own story with this motif, and I pretty much immediately came up with the story of a girl that falls in love with Death and cannot reach him because Death casts a spell of eternal life upon her. And that’s kind of how the whole thing came about, we had the story and the tracklist before we wrote the music, and this is something we’ve never done before. So yeah, it was a pretty intense process.
David: I think the audiobook was very enjoyable and helped me to understand better what’s going on behind the lyrics. Where did the idea of recording those introductions come from?
Anna: The thing is like when a band is recording an album in the studio, this kind of terrifying notion comes up from the label asking you “what are you going to do as bonus material”; and it’s something that you never actively think about, because you’re so engrossed in the whole process of creating the album and not with, you know, what are we going to do as bonus material. What I didn’t want to do is just to include some instrumental versions, covers or whatever, because it wouldn’t really fit. And then we thought it might be nice to just have an audiobook, because I wanted to write down the story from A to Z anyways, and this just seemed like a really fitting idea. I think that the people appreciate it for what it is…
David: In addition to the audiobook, you released animated videos for most of the songs on the album. You recently won the “Best Video of the Year” in the Progressive Music Awards. Can you tell us about that experience?
Anna: I think it was the most exciting day of the year, I’m still kind of recovering from it. I mean honestly, we couldn’t really believe that we won, considering people like Devin Townsend were nominated. It was so amazing, and it kind of proved what a supportive fanbase we have. And at the event itself, I was so nervous to go on a stage and have a speech on the same stage as people like John Petrucci or Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. I met the singer from Yes, and it was all so surreal. I still can’t really believe that we were there, and it was an amazing evening. But we drank too much, so I had a two-day hangover after it… (laughs)
David: In addition to creating the animated videos, Costin Chioreanu did the artwork for each of the album’s songs. How closely did you work with Costin for him to get the concept right?
Anna: That was actually a very interesting process, because what I didn’t want to do is to tell him what to do. Because I have no visual talents in that regard, you know. I take care of the music and the lyrics, and that’s already so much work, I wouldn’t really want to decide on anything else. Costin is such an amazing artist, and it would be really a pity to restrain him in any way. I just wanted him to have his vision and do what he feels is right. So, the only thing I actually provided him with was a basic outline of the story, the lyrics and the music. And he just went and did his own thing. Amazingly, it just fits perfectly to the vision that I had, so that was a really amazing collaboration.
David: Compared to your previous band, Cellar Darling showcases more progressive elements. Concept albums are usually linked to prog rock and metal. Do you have any favorite concept albums or prog heroes or something like that?
Anna: I think there’s a lot. I mean, the thing is we never categorized ourselves as progressive, it just somehow happened naturally. I think it’s so hard to pinpoint what is progressive because there’s so many different artists in that genre. I mean, in the end it just means that you don’t really restrain yourself to certain boundaries or keep yourself within the limits of conventional songwriting. And I’ve always really enjoyed that type of music, and I think there’s way too many artists that I could mention. But what I could maybe do is tell you about the first artist that I ever listened to that was a big prog hero, and that is Mike Oldfield. He released the song called “Tubular Bells”, and as a child I just listened to that on repeat, like the whole day. I think in total it lasts like twenty minutes or something, and that influenced me a great deal …
David: Continuing on that same path, you recorded a cover version of “The Prophet’s Song” by Queen. I think you did a great job, and I wanted to ask you about the decision to cover such a complex song that is also not so very well-known song to the casual listeners…
Anna: Actually Merlin, our drummer, he chose that song. We wanted to each pick a song and make a cover of it. Ivo chose “Mad World”, I chose a classical piece “The Cold Song” and Merlin chose “The Prophet’s Song”. We were listening to it and we thought “Wow, this is like the perfect song for us to cover”, because we just kind of see ourselves within that song. It’s very weird, but it also has these dramatic elements, and I think we have that in our music as well. We could just really imagine playing it ourselves, and we could hear how it would sound, and I think that’s the most important thing when making a cover. We also didn’t want to copy it in any way, we wanted to make it our own. And we realized it’s really brave to cover Queen, because you know it can go really wrong, and it’s such an amazing band. But I think so far people really enjoyed what we did.
David: Given the dark topics that “The Spell” deals with, it is quite a different album compared to “This is the Sound”, which had some brighter moments. Have you already discussed within the band what’s going be the next step in your career, what kind of direction you would like to take?
Anna: We haven’t really talked about it yet, because “The Spell” was a really long and very intense journey for us, and it took a lot of energy. I think it’s going to be hard for us to decide what we’re going to do next. Because, honestly, now that we’ve done a concept album, it’s really hard to imagine doing something that is not a concept album. Because it makes so much sense: every song is connected, it’s not just random eclectic songwriting like we did before. But what we might actually do is, because we had one song that didn’t make it on the album, just because it was too different and it didn’t … well it was in the realm of the story but kind of set loose from the others. So, we actually might release that one at some point next year.
David: Do you have any timeframe or any deal with the record company on when you have to put out a new record, or do you have freedom to work on that?
Anna: We’re actually really free with the timeframe. I mean, I don’t think that we can wait for like five years, and we also wouldn’t want to do that. But there’s no deadline or anything. We can just take our time and work on new music. And I think that’s also really important because music shouldn’t be like factory work, if you know what I mean …
David: Let’s talk about the current tour, which has included so far UK, Ireland, Central Europe, some European summer festivals and Latin America. What have been the highlights of the tour until now?
Anna: I think everything we did so far has been a small highlight in itself, and really positive ones too. We actually went to the UK first because we were received very well over there, and we didn’t really know about this until we went there with “This is the Sound”. We had such amazing crowds there, that we thought it would actually make sense to celebrate the album release there, as opposed to our home country, which is something pretty weird. The summer festivals were a huge surprise for me, personally, because I don’t really like festivals. I always feel kind of uncomfortable and I have a hard time connecting with the audience because it’s not intimate, you know. But the festivals that we did turned out to be really great, and we just did our own thing and it kind of worked. Latin America was just a huge trip, it was a real adventure. It went from pure chaos, like building our own backline out of chairs and suitcases, to not sleeping and having power outages. It was crazy but it was also really great, because we have a very supportive fanbase over there, and we got to see so many countries in such a short time, which was pretty surreal.
David: I noticed one of your posts in Facebook where you said that something went wrong in Peru, if I remember correctly. Everyone was wondering if you were safe, or if it was something very serious …
Anna: In Colombia we had a power outage, the power on the entire street went out for about an hour before our show, and they had to get a generator. But then we could play without a problem, and it actually turned out really great. In Peru the problem was that at the venue they had nothing, we didn’t have a keyboard stand, we didn’t have a drum stool, they didn’t have enough cables. So, our show got postponed for like four hours and we built a lot of the stuff ourselves, to manage to play some kind of show. So, it was very chaotic, but I also enjoy these kinds of shows because they just have something, some weird energy that I like.
David: Based on what you post on social media you seem to be a band that is very approachable to the fans. You have done theses meet and greets without charging money for it, unlike many other bands. What kind of things have you discovered from meeting your fans, any surprises, pleasant or unpleasant?
Anna: We tend to get a lot of presents, which is always very nice. You know, I’m actually not a very approachable person usually. I’m pretty shy, and if I go out in my hometown I don’t really like to party or meet tons of people. So, at first it was weird to present yourself in a different way and meet and hug all people. But in the end, I think it adds to our show, you know. And we would never charge for something like that, because I think it’s great that people go out and they pay for concert tickets. Especially nowadays, you really have to appreciate that as a musician and give an effort, that’s why we do it in the end.
David: Maybe on the same note, since you have probably talked with many of your fans during the tour. Do you think that most of Cellar Darling’s fanbase are people who used to follow you since your days in Eluveitie, or do you think that this new band appeals to a different group of listeners?
Anna: I think it’s both. I think we still have some fans that came with us from Eluveitie, I think there’s also a lot of people who just enjoy both bands, but we’re starting to slowly gather fans from a completely different scene. And me, personally, I’m always excited when I meet people who have never heard of us before, because that kind of proves that they just listened to our new music and they were a fan of that. But I think we still have to work hard on finding our fanbase, because I think there’s a lot of people who don’t know us but would probably enjoy our music. And that’s why what we need to do is just tour and tour …
David: Your first concert in Finland was at the John Smith Rock Festival last summer. How did you perceive the Finnish audience seeing Cellar Darling for the first time, maybe not knowing what they were about to see…?
Anna: I actually loved it there. I thought the festival itself was just amazing, the hospitality was incredible, we jumped in the lake after the show. The show itself I absolutely loved it, there were some fans that were singing along the lyrics which I thought was amazing, because I honestly didn’t know how many people would know us there. And I think for the time of the day there were quite a few people already, so it was absolutely a great journey.
David: What kind of surprises can we expect for the upcoming gigs in November both in Tampere and Helsinki?
Anna: It’s going to be quite a mixed show as far as feelings go, because we’re going to play probably an equal amount of songs from both our albums. There’s a lot of people who haven’t seen us yet, and I think it would be a shame to kind of ignore “This is the Sound”. Our show is going to be divided into two parts, one of them is going to be darker and the other one is going to be a bit lighter and more energetic. So, you can expect that. We’re actually rehearsing some new songs now, I’m not sure if we’ll actually play them, because that will be determined on whether they suck or not (laughs). I’m really looking forward to it, we’re definitely a band where you just have to listen and take it in, you know. We’re not a party band or anything like that, with us it’s all atmosphere …
David: To finish the interview, would you like to send a message to your Finnish fans, maybe invite them to listen to “The Spell” and come to your shows with Forever Still and Oceans?
Anna: Definitely. I absolutely can’t wait to play in Finland, I really love it there, it’s such a beautiful country. We actually know a lot of people from there, because we’ve toured with so many bands from Finland, and I love the humor and the people there. So, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be amazing!
