Atlantis Online - Ladies of rock

Atlantis Online will present a growing number of interviews with female artists in music, primarily from the rock and metal field. We present them back to back and this is the seventh page. Enjoy.

- ON THIS PAGE -

Sophia Ramos - Heidi Parviainen - Carina Lirola

Sophia Ramos

What is your full name and where do you currently reside?

- Sophia Ramos. NYC.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.

- OK, a little about myself: I like tall men with smoldering eyes and big hands. My cat died last month and right now I am looking out my window at a spectacular view of Dessert Mountains filled with huge cacti. How I discovered music: On the radio.

Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?

^-^{Mr. Fielder my 4th grade
teacher. He was the first adult male to show me
kindness and passion. He inspired by reading us Greek
mythology and playing us great composers such as
Bernstein, Gershwin and Bach.}^{Janis Joplin because she
was the first real "Fuck you I’m gonna sing
with all my pussy power" chic in rock}^.^{Led Zeppelin, Stevie
Wonder, Black Sabbath because their writing was
genius and magical.}^{These artists
shape me as a young teen and help keep my sanity}^.

^{If
you could pick three records to take with you to a
desert island, which would they be?}

^{- "}^{Houses of the
Holy}^"^{Led Zeppelin}^{, "}^Blue^"^{Joni Mitchell}^{, "}^{Kind of Blue}^"^{Miles Davis}^.

^{There
has been a huge surge, almost a paradigm shift in
rock and metal the last few years, in that women are
now counted in the hundreds in a field that used to
be very much male oriented. Would you like to comment
on this?}

^-^{I am sorry but I
don’t agree enough to use words like huge and
paradigm shift. I still think the business is filled
with gynophobic assholes.}^{The
fact that a handful of women have squeezed through
and managed to sell some records just shows that our
balls are pretty big to stick it out and play in this
"He -man woman haters club" and it show s
that fans, real music lovers don’t give a shit
what gender you are. The real question has always
been, are you making people feel something? So
obviously what women are singing about is appealing
to more people now.}

^{When
did you record music for the first time?}

^-^{When I was 16.}

^{If
you have to pick out a few favorite tunes from your
catalogue, which would they be?}

^{- "}^{Kill your Pain}^{", "}^{Torn Down}^{", "}^{What I Do Know}^{", "}^{Stay here With
You}^".

^{Many
seasoned artists still fear that moment right before
showtime, how did you learn how to deal with that and
how is it for you these days?}

^-^{Well I just deal by
becoming completely lethargic and by taking at least
5 shits right before I hit the stage.}^{That usually mellows me
out and gives me a light clean feeling.}

^{What´s
the best tour/s you´ve ever been involved in and
why?}

^-^{Well being an indie
artist I have to say that most tours I’ve done
with my own band have been the squeeze in a van have
to deal with smelly band mates kind. Nothing to write
about}^.^{And then
I’ve done some big tours to make money with
artist who suck and music that sucks, that also is
not worth mentioning.}^{So
I would have to say the best tour was the Lollapalooza
tour I did with Psychotica in which we opened the
main stage for acts like Metallica, Soundgarden, The
Ramones, Rancid, and Rage Against The Machine! It was
TOO much!}^{I became friends
with Jason Newsted and Joey Ramone and traveled on
the Soundgarden tour bus just cause as a hot chick I
could!}

^{What´s
the situation for your type of music where you live
right now?}

^-^{Well to be honest NYC
SUCKS!!! It is not a Rock n Roll town, especially
anything heavy.}^{Too many frat
boys turned yuppies have taken over my hometown and
cleaned it up with suburban chain stores and soulless
socialization.}^{Maybe I should
move to Sweden? I hear everyone is gorgeous there, is
that true?}

^{What
are you currently up to?}

^-^{I just recently finished
mixing my 2nd record and decided I need a break from
NY}^.^{So I finally
agreed to do a Stage production of Love, Janis Based
on the life of Janis Joplin.}^{So I am currently in
Tucson, Arizona playing the singing role of Janis
Joplin.}

^{What´s
the best feedback you ever had from a listener?}

^-^{Wow that’s hard
because I’ve had so much great feedback,
I’m a grateful for that.}^{I would have to say it
was a fan letter I received back in 2003 from a
teenager in Brooklyn NY. She said I had made her
believe in herself again and that by seeing me
perform and listening to my lyrics she was inspired
to free herself from her abusive family situation}^.^{I must admit I cried
because that’s what Rock n Roll is all about
anyway, Freedom.}

^{Do
you take a personal interest in your MySpace and what
do you think of this new invention?}

^-^{MySpace rocks! I've been
fortunate to have a creative}^{wizard, Princess Tai Poe, working on my
solid web presence and online PR!}

^{Do
you think the recording industry is out of touch and
what would you change if you could?}

^-^{Well lets see}^,^{yes they’re out of
touch and I think they have been since 1970 ha!}^{What would I change? Well
I honestly don’t care enough about it to want to
even spend any energy on trying to dismantle of even
figure out this MAFIA that is the music business.}^{Too many, short greedy
pigs run the show and hopefully soon they will have
their day at the roasting spit!}

^{Do
you surf the Internet and if so where do you usually
go?}

^-^{No. But when forced I
visit myspace}

^{Do
you have other major interests outside music?}

^-^{Sex, prayer, ritual and
hiking}

^{What
authors do you like and have you read anything good
lately?}

^-^{Kurt Vonnegut, Alice
Walker, Dylan Thomas}^.^{No
I haven’t read any novels of late but there is
an excellent journal of global current events called
Foreign Affairs that I highly recommend}^.

^{What
favorite actors in film and television do you have,
and what do you enjoy to watch?}

^-^{I don’t watch TV and
I spent the last 8 years of my life not owning one.
However my husband bought a used Mac powerbook and
they were some episodes of Lost in the itunes so when
we remember we download some Lost and watch on the
laptop in bed. It’s a frustrating show but
cheesy entertainment.}^{And
I really can’t think of any favorite actors,
sorry}

^{What
favourite food do you have?}

^-^Sushi^.

^{I´m
sure you´ve heard many bad pickup lines, did you
ever actually hear a good one that made you think
that this person is perhaps interesting?}

^-^{Yes. Once a guy said to
me, "Damn woman, you are so sexy I promise I
wont fuck you up the ass on our first date, but maybe
the second"!}^{I guess this
worked because the man was drop dead gorgeous and
naturally funny so his delivery was just right. Any
other schmo would have come off like a jerk.}

^{Do
you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?}

^-^{Yes. I see dead people.}

^{Have
you ever seen a UFO or do you know anybody that has
had an experience that they´ve told you about?}

^-^No.

^{If
you could give a piece of advice a younger sister
that would like to follow in your footsteps, what
would that be?}

^-^{Run for your life, but
stop and have fun at the roadside attractions on the
way}^.

^{Would
you like to add something to this interview?}

^-^{Yeah, You are what you
think so get your head out the gutter.}

At MySpace / Sophia Ramos

Heidi Parviainen

What is your full name and where do you currently reside?

- My full name is Heidi Lisa Maria Parviainen and I reside in Espoo, Finland.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.

- I started taking piano lessons at the age of 11, but soon it became very clear that I wanted more than just classical piano playing. After various teachers I quitted taking piano lessons and have played by myself until recent years. At the age of 14 I started taking classical singing lessons. During more than ten years I have also sung in various choirs and ensembles. The first touch to heavy music I got in 1997 at high school when a couple of heavy metal- guys asked me to sing on their EP.

Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?

- There are so many that have inspired me in different ways but here are some. I ´m greatly inspired by baroque music and compositors like Purcell, Dowland, Vivaldi. Inspired by my friends and great musicians from Iconofear, Kiuas and Ablaze in Hatred and music from Kamelot, Within Temptation, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Symphony X, Dreamtheater, Therion, Amorphis etc. And of course people that I have musically worked with, especially my singing teacher Raisa Lahtiranta who has softly been guiding me through these 14 years.

If you could pick three records to take with you to a desert island, which would they be?

- I listen to different kinds of music depending on my current mood but maybe I would take one metal album, one classical album and one Latin music album.

There has been a huge surge, almost a paradigm shift in rock and metal the last few years, in that women are now counted in the hundreds in a field that used to be very much male oriented. Would you like to comment on this?

- I think it is great that women have also found the heavy scene. And I believe that women have a lot to give on that field and not only with their voices but by bringing something fresh and new to heavy music along with new audience. And of course women can make metal more attractive too ;).

When did you record music for the first time?

- It was in 1997 with Iconofear. By that time the band was called Agonia and we played melodic death metal.

If you have to pick out a few favourite tunes from your catalogue, which would they be?

- Amberian Dawn is now in a studio recording the first full-length album and it will be released in fall 2007. On the album there are many great pieces but I won’t tell their titles yet ;). "River of Tuoni", which can already be heard on MySpace, is definitely one of my favourites.

Many seasoned artists still fear that moment right before show time, how did you learn how to deal with that and how is it for you these days?

- I’ve also shared my moments with stage fear but have learned to cope with it by mental training. I have some routines that I go through before the performance and I try to concentrate and relax. Normally the excitement goes away after first few pieces and then it’s all just fun!

What´s the best tour/s you´ve ever been involved in and why?

- Amberian Dawn is soon starting touring and I believe the best one is still to come!

What´s the situation for your type of music where you live right now?

- Finland is the promised land of metal! There are a huge amount of metal bands in Finland and the competition is hard and the level is high. You have to have something very special and some luck too to brake through.

What are you currently up to?

- As I mentioned before Amberian Dawn is now in studio and the recording is almost done. On the second week of May I start the vocal recordings and then the studio work and producing.

What´s the best feedback you ever had from a listener?

- I think it is nothing that anyone has said but to see people cry during a touching aria is the best feedback I can get. Then I know I have succeeded to express the message of the composition to the audience through my singing. It is great!

Do you take a personal interest in your MySpace page and what do you think of this new invention?

- Yes, and I feel kind of addicted to it! I check out MySpace several times a day whicht is not so great! But in my opinion MySpace is a great area for bands to market their music globally by themselves. I think Finnish people haven’t quite found MySpace in its whole concept yet.

Do you think the recording industry is out of touch and what would you change if you could?

- It is business with the rules of business world and sometimes it gets ugly. Where the money is there is always fight for it too. Because of the competition the bands take what they can get and make record deals that aren’t so good from their point of view. There should be more knowledge for bands about making a deal and that there are professionals to go through the deal before signing.

Do you surf the Internet and if so where do you usually go?

- Recently I have been spending too much time on the computer and in the Internet…. actually I have no idea what I have been doing there!! But normally I get information about different things, read the news, check out band websites, chat with friends and get inspiration for my lyrics by reading about mythology and other interesting stuff.

Do you have other major interests outside music?

- There are many things I’m interested in. I like doing sports and specially badminton and running and on summertime I do windsurfing. I enjoy my daily work with kids and on the side of it I occasionally have some educational writing project going on. But still music takes the biggest part of my spare time and I love doing it.

What authors do you like and have you read anything good lately?

- Recently I haven´t been reading much, felt kind of lazy on that field but usually on summertime I read more. I love detective books like Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes - they are quite easy and fast to read and still quite tricky. Here are some of my favourites too: "The Lord of the rings", J.R.R Tolkien; "The Hobbit", J.R.R Tolkien; "The Raven and other poems", Edgar Allan Poe; "One Hundred Years of Solitude", Gabriel García Márquez (a very weird book); Harry Potter books, J.K Rowling; "Ronja ryövärintytär", Astrid Lindgren; "The Kalevala", Elias Lönnrot.

What favourite actors in film and television do you have, and what do you enjoy to watch?

- Hmm …I like Johny Depp because he does so different roles and movies- I think he is quite a persona, and Meryl Streep because she is so unbelievably good in acting the variety of emotions. I don’t watch TV much but I’m hooked to the TV-series Lost and all the police series like CSI New York!

What favourite food do you have?

- I like seafood and Mediterranean food.

I´m sure you´ve heard many bad pickup lines, did you ever actually hear a good one that made you think that this person is perhaps interesting?

- Actually I don’t get to hear pickup lines that often, not even bad ones! But the best way to get to know me is through a conversation and a good sense of humour is always a grate thing!

Do you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?

- Not really. Sometimes it is fun to imagine what is out there but wouldn’t mention the paranormal as one of my interests.

Have you ever seen a UFO or do you know anybody that has had an experience that they´ve told you about?

- I’ve seen something I didn’t understand. As a child I saw three lights in the sky from my bedroom window in a form of a triangle. I went to tell my mom but the lights had already disappeared…. I don’t know what they were but still don’t admit believing in UFOs or aliens visiting our planet.

What´s your take on that?

- Nevertheless it would be selfish to think that we are the only living in the whole universe.

If you could give a piece of advice a younger sister that would like to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?

- Never loose the faith in yourself!

Would you like to add something to this interview?

Thanks for the interview and stay tuned for the upcoming Amberian Dawn album next fall! And of course visit our website and STAY METAL!

At MySpace / Heidi Parviainen - Amberian Dawn

Carina Lirola

This interview has been published in SLICE 2008 (global edition), and the preview is up on this link now, not here.

Interviews made by Mike Eriksson (april/may 2007).

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