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 ninth page. Enjoy.
- ON THIS PAGE -
Natalie/Arcane Grail - Johanna Lesonen/Dotma - Theresa Gaffney/Phoenix Reign
Natalie Shcherbakova
What is your full name and where do you currently reside?
- Natalie Shcherbakova, Russia, Moscow.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.
- So, to say the music is the only one interest in my life, would be not so correctly. Actually, I’m designer and painter of some kind. But speaking about music, I can say, that it was always with me. Maybe not in that kind that I was dreaming to be a singer. In my childhood I was a beginning dancer. Three classes of ballet school. The usual rehearsals…somehow those dreams I forgot once one of my school friends asked me to find one musical album…
Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?
- It was Nightwish, "Oceanborn", this band, was really the first one I discovered for myself, I found it, and finally fell in love with! I was so impressed with this record, that I thought out all the others, and after this, my adoration turned into imitation . Nightwish became the first point on the way to the role of singer in my own band. I turned into a metalhead. Right after Nightwish there are Within Temptation, Arch Enemy, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Ambehr (rus)…With the last one I had also a great experience in singing. I can really say that I found not only friends, but teachers there. Arch Enemy and Eternal Tears Of Sorrow – two bands from whom I’ve started learning growling manner of singing.
If you could pick three records to take with you to a desert island, which would they be?
- Nightwish “Oceanborn”, Within Temptation “The Heart Of Everything”, Ambehr “Spiders Web”.
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 that this situation allowed all the existing metal styles to get the new start. I also suppose that woman as singer can bring different kind of emotions not only with her voice, but with the way, which the melody walks through her soul. Of course all this added new people to the fans of hard music and on the whole it’s the big plus. Cause the metal music is more intellectual, more interesting from the historical point of view, than all that “…bla-bla-bla….baby dance with me! Shake your hips”…
When did you record music for the first time?
- The first serious record in my life was with Arcane Grail in 2005. That´s when we recorded our first (and the only one till this moment) album. Of course, there were some attempts before, when I was trying to sing Nightwish in my early days.
If you have to pick out a few favourite tunes from your catalogue, which would they be?
- Our new song "Snake and Raven", "Iolanta Arioso" by Tchiaikovsky, "Stargazers" by Nightwish.
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?
- I’m very worried right before showtime. It always happens in the last minutes. Band mates lose some needed stuff, or sound of all the previous bands was awful on the whole…or I’m not sure I got my voice warmed up before the performance. The only one thing you always remember, keeping it somewhere in your head, that all will be good, right after you put a step at stage. There is no place for any thoughts…only for living through the moments honestly and with all your heart showing your truth to the audience.
What´s the best tour/s you´ve ever been involved in and why?
- Each of our tours or just any gig outside of Moscow, have all had their characters. You always see the new emotions and faces. Giving joy and taking it back. But mostly I remembered our show in Ukraine last winter (in the beginning of December). Even the road there brought a lot of impressions…and the show itself was very pleasant surprise to us, cause firstly, after we’ve seen the performances of several bands before us, we understood that we had too many different styles, and remembering the audience reactions to them , we figured that our show would’t be so successful…. The most praised band were mostly oriented for thrash death….and we are melodic death-black. But after we started our performance, and one guy from the crowd started to chew the cable of our bass guitar, and then the guitarists, we changed our minds. The crowd was absolutely crazy and we could hardly reach our dressing room after the gig. I could hardly keep my head as usual. My poor neck was not working well at all! And after this show, we had traveled by the tour bus to Belarus – for a little bit more than 2 hours with the nightly road, surrounded by forest and mist….me personally was listening to Hagalaz Runedance and watching through the window in night! Perfect journey!
What´s the situation for your type of music where you live right now?
- Metal music in Russia has very unofficial status. Even so that bands, which are well known in the world (here I mean firstly Aria), very seldom appear on TV, which is occupied with all the rap and pop music….But saying about the underground culture on the whole, I must say, it’s quite wide in Russia, and directly in Moscow. A lot of metalheads visit the performances. The only one thing that is sad, is that they like the foreign bands more than the russian. Looks like metal is very popular here, but it will take a while until we’ll be able to see metal videos on TV as freely as pop ones. Saying about music of Arcane Grail, my own band, I can say, we have a lot of fans in Moscow and other cities. We know it from the internet and all the letters we receive.
What are you currently up to?
- So, for right now, we are making new songs. Arcane Grail is planning to release a mini-album between the first one and the next. It’s because the songs we created already have quite different style but also they can be easily recognized as A.G. songs. My personal plans for this is to start drawing our booklet and cover in the near future. So, then in the summer we are planning to give some gigs in southern cities of Russia, and take the part in several festivals. And in the autumn there are some tours coming up. Also outside of Russia.
What´s the best feedback you ever had from a listener?
- I’ll copy from our myspace.com page: “hi!!!! stopping by to say, "hello". Thank you again for the CD. i cannot stop listening to it. it is the best music i've heard ever. the artwork in the sleave is so good. when i die, i want the song "Bewitched wolves" played. your music is brilliant!!! take care, Darkvision”.
Do you take a personal interest in your MySpace page and what do you think of this new invention?
- I think that Myspace.com is a nice way to find new friends, all the needed contacts for the band, or designer…and even somebody, which can be much more, than just friend to you.
Do you think the recording industry is out of touch and what would you change if you could?
- In Russia all the labels work with bands like this - you give them record - they release it. Metal bands never have contracts for several albums with any label, and label gives money for recording of disk… Labels here also don´t make the tours…promotion, only through the 2-3 magazines. The main magazine about metal asks for money for articles... all the reviews will always be bad if you don´t pay up. I´m not saying we do it. With metal it’s deep underground here…in TV…and even in this culture itself all works differently to Europe… Of course, if I could change it all, I would!
Do you surf the Internet and if so where do you usually go?
- Jah, you can find me quite often being online. So, if I am, then the first sites, is of course ours, then myspace, and also several russian ones where I can find all the music, videos, articles I’m interested in. And also I have the russian diary, where I always write the latest news about Arcane Grail and myself. I can also say that this diary helped me to find some interesting people.
Do you have other major interests outside music?
- Now I feel mostly concentrated on music, but as I told before, I’m designer and painter (I made our cover and booklet, all the work took 1,5 years, cause it was while studio session, and also booklets and covers for Ambehr. For the albums “Sword’s Song” and “Black Road”). I think that design and painting shares the first place in my list of interests with music and singing itself.
What authors do you like and have you read anything good lately?
- I prefer Tolkien, Robert Salvatore, Ted Williams, Maria Semenova. If you know these names, you can understand that I mostly like to read fairy tales of different kinds. The last book I’ve read belonged to Maria Semenova. Her tales about Wolfhound, the lonely hero, whose kin was killed, very expressive and based historically on the pagan legends of Slavic nations. I think it won’t be wrong, if I say that all my band mates also like her books very much!
What favourite actors in film and television do you have, and what do you enjoy to watch?
- I think I can´t name any person I do like more as an actor. I’m enjoying all kinds of adventure movies, fantasy ones, also horrors and dark comedies, like Elvira "Mistress Of The Dark". As the favorite ones in different styles I can name: "Lord Of Rings", "Wolfhound", Harry Potter (ja!!!), "Taxi", "Pirates Of The Caribbean", "Memoirs Of A Geisha" and lots of anime (not the serials): all the cartoons by Hayao Miyazaki …the list grows quite fast! The atmosphere I feel and see in all these movies gives me inspiration to create my pictures.
What favourite food do you have?
- Lasagna, pizza, barbecue, fried meat with potatoes…But honestly I allow myself to eat it all quite seldom, taking care of my shape. So, the usual menu - just different salads and juices.
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?
- Jah, I have some kind of experience …I mean there were cases when somebody was trying to become introduced to me…I don´t mind if a chat in transport (for example) makes the trip shorter, but it’s very seldom, when I feel the shade of interest in person I’ve met 2 minutes ago…And it’s even more seldom, when I can share the talk. Honestly, if somebody wants to get acquainted with me about town, I never answer these calls: “Lady! Lady! Can I find out your name”…I’m just not in the mood for all this. And it’s the endless status! Hah! I’m finding it vulgar and dislike it, preferring other ways of finding friends and only then can I meet someone. I can easily say “ I’m not interested in YOU” and continue my walking. Saying easily - I choose, and don´t allow to be chosen myself. All this pickupchatter I take like poor and stupid humor.
Do you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?
- I think I have some interest in all the unknown. I like fairytales and fantasy movies, heh. But it have never been the real interest.
Have you ever seen a UFO or do you know anybody that has had an experience that they´ve told you about?
- Once, when I was a child and was playing with another children at playground, our parents, showed us the sphere in the clear-blue sky. It was moving, and stopped right over the playground…and was hanging there for a while. I remember that we hided with all the children and was spying through the windows at this sphere. But how it ended and what was it…I don´t know!
What´s your take on that?
- All could be…One day we’ll know more.
If you could give a piece of advice a younger sister that would like to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?
- Dont hurry, think carefully before taking action and believe in yourself and your own power.
Would you like to add something to this interview?
- Fight for your music and your truth!
At MySpace / Natalie - Arcane Grail
Johanna Lesonen
What is your full name and where do you currently reside?
- Johanna Lesonen, and I live in Finland.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.
- I'm quite an artistic person: I enjoy painting, writing poems, and singing of course. So I'm not practical at all. I suck in financial issues, and I hate doing housework. I would like to live as bohemian life as possible. I prefer melancholic music, dramatic movies, dark clothing and gothic architecture. Since I was born, music has been one of the most important things in my life, so there was not really a particular moment for me to discover music.
Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?
- Yes I can. Tarja Turunen. I remember when I got my first Nightwish album "Wishmaster" in 2001 and I was so impressed of Tarja's voice that I started to practise classical style of singing. Few years after that I started to take singing lessons and I'm still on that same road.
If you could pick three records to take with you to a desert island, which would they be?
- Pink Floyd "The Wall", Amorphis "Eclipse", CMX "Vainajala". Tomorrow my choice could be different.
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?
- This same phenomenon can be noticed also in many other fields. That just tells us that women are now stronger than ever before.
When did you record music for the first time?
- It was a year ago when I recorded backing vocals for another rising band, Thaurorod. Before that I did many recordings in our keyboardist's home studio.
If you have to pick out a few favourite tunes from your catalogue, which would they be?
- Because there are only few tracks in our set, I'll pick up one great song, and that's "Never Ending Journey".
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?
- I wouldn't call it fear. It's more like excitement, and I love that feeling.
What´s the best tour/s you´ve ever been involved in and why?
- The best tour is about to come!
What´s the situation for your type of music where you live right now?
- Well, Finland is the cradle of heavy music, so the situation around here is quite good!
What are you currently up to?
- I study music and practice with DOTMA, and on my spare time I sit in Bar Zoom or Pub SariAnne - I´ve also been seen selling furniture.
What´s the best feedback you ever had from a listener?
- Once I was told that my voice is like a beautiful dream, and that's probably the loveliest thing I've heard from a listener.
Do you take a personal interest in your MySpace page and what do you think of this new invention?
- I visit on that page regularly, and I think it's a great invention.
Do you think the recording industry is out of touch and what would you change if you could?
- Well, I do think that the recording industry has faced a lot of challenges along the possibility of downloading music from the web, but that's all I know. Is there something that should be done? Probably. But here in Finland CD-records are quite expensive, so this was likely to happen.
Do you surf the Internet and if so where do you usually go?
- I read my mails, and then I usually go to MySpace and Mikseri.net.
Do you have other major interests outside music?
- I love shopping, travelling, doing yoga, and drinking red wine!
What authors do you like and have you read anything good lately?
- I haven't read anything worth mentioning lately, but one of the greatest books I've ever read, is 'Miss Nobody' by Tomek Tryzna.
What favourite actors in film and television do you have, and what do you enjoy to watch?
- I don't watch television (except O.C. hehe :D), but I enjoy dramatic and visually beautiful movies, for example "Edward Scissorhands""Dancer in the Dark", "Requiem for a dream", "Boys Don't Cry", "Donnie Darko", "Schindler's List", and many musicals like "West Side Story" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Couple of my favourite actors are Johnny Depp (surprise) and Jennifer Connelly.
What favourite food do you have?
- Chinese thank you!
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?
- No, I don't think there are good pickup lines. Maybe I'm a little bit cynical, but I can't help it.
Do you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?
- What's the unknown? If someone can tell me, then I'm interested.
Have you ever seen a UFO or do you know anybody that has had an experience that they´ve told you about?
- No and no.
What´s your take on that?
- I'd like to see ET´s but I think they live happily in their own solar system and actually are not interested in our rotting planet.
If you could give a piece of advice a younger sister that would like to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?
- If music is your passion, then go for it! Otherwise you should figure out something else.
Would you like to add something to this interview?
- I really enjoyed answering these questions! This was my first interview, and hopefully not the last one! DOTMA's promo record is soon coming up. Make sure you don't miss it!
At MySpace / Dotma
Theresa Gaffney
What is your full name and where do you currently reside?
- Theresa Gaffney. I sing for the band Phoenix Reign, and I live in New York City.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.
- A lot of musicians start off young and my story isn't much different. While I'm not a virtuoso in anything, I sang in the school choir as a kid. I guess that is where I discovered my love of music in general. From there I took piano lessons and then guitar lessons. I also played alto sax for a time as well ha ha. I like having a broad base like that. Now that I'm in a metal band it helps me think outside the box a little.
Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?
- Musically, the top three bands/artists I can think of inspiring me are Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Shirley Manson (of Garbage). Bit of a weird mix, but Iron Maiden was my introduction to metal and they will always be that band I go back to as an example of the pinnacle in the genre. Beside them, I was always really into Megadeth. I really enjoyed the guitar virtuosity and Dave Mustaine's drive. And finally Shirely Manson is one of those really cool chicks that sings her heart out and does it her way, and had a very dark essence of style that influenced me as a teen.
If you could pick three records to take with you to a desert island, which would they be?
- Hard to decide, but for the moment it'd be Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", Rush - "2112", and Type O Negative - "October Rust".
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?
- It's been really interesting to see this trend develop over the years. I remember first getting into metal when I was 12 or 13 and the amount of (notable) women in it at the time were few. There were a lot of rock chicks but you couldn't really say they were metal. I remember really liking Doro a lot back then because she was more of a metal singer. Maybe the lack of women in the genre was due to a prejudice but I think it was really because if you went to a metal show, the proportion of women to men there was really small. So by that alone women's interest in that kind of music was not as noticeable. But once the late 90s came about and some bands found themselves with female singers and members, it became a little more accessible for women, and at the same time it probably softened up some attitudes of guys out there to female musicians. I think it's great and any way you look at it; everyone wins because diversity brings creativity.
When did you record music for the first time?
- The first time I professionally recorded anything at a real studio that wasn't in my basement on a Tascam analog 4 track was in 2002 when Phoenix Reign recorded a quick demo with me. It was definitely a humbling first experience and thankfully since then I feel I've grown a lot as a musician and singer. The recording process puts you in a different mindset and you need to get used to it.
If you have to pick out a few favourite tunes from your catalogue, which would they be?
- I love everything but the best of the best would be "Constantinople 1453", because it's just so damn epic and has a lot of cool additional ethnic instruments like the kanoun and the tzoura. Also, "Masquerade Angel" because it was one of those songs I originally wrote before I was even in the band on the guitar and it's always awesome to see it come to fruition on a CD. "Run Now" is probably my third favorite.
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?
- It´s a weird feeling before you go on stage, kind of like you're in limbo. I replace fear with anticipation as much as possible, and try to get really excited so I'm not thinking about bad things that could happen ha ha.
What´s the best tour/s you´ve ever been involved in and why?
- Well it's not a tour, but one of the best shows we took part in was with Riot. Such a great band. The energy was really there and it's always cool opening up for a band you really like.
What´s the situation for your type of music where you live right now?
- The US is not exactly a haven for power metal but in New York City there are a lot of fans of it. Over the past 5 years, more European bands have been getting booked at places like BB Kings and even selling out, so it goes to show that the underground is there at least.
What are you currently up to?
- Right now the band is recording some demos for the second album, to see what we can do in the future with it. We got bored just sitting around and not writing new music so we got to that and back into the studio with friends who are really doing justice to our stuff. I can't wait for the opportunity to get the next record out there.
What´s the best feedback you ever had from a listener?
- Honestly, I was told more than once after a live show that I sound like Bruce Dickinson's little sister. I think that's about as high a compliment as someone gets so I'll leave it at that haha. God bless 'em.
Do you take a personal interest in your MySpace page and what do you think of this new invention?
- MySpace is a crazy place. I like it because it keeps me in touch with people I'd not normally speak to on a daily basis. I've also actually spoken to many other great artists through it, from guys in the Project Hate to Cellador so that's neat. They're not exactly people you'd run into every day. The only crappy thing about MySpace are the hackers! And yes I try my best to keep up with my page and talk to anyone that sends me a message.
Do you think the recording industry is out of touch and what would you change if you could?
- Definitely, the music industry as a whole is out of touch with the fact that there are 6.6 billion people on the earth and it's really impossible to think that Britney Spears is going to speak to everyone. If I had it my way I'd break up the conglomerates that control it and allow for some breathing room and opportunity for artists that are actually good and deserve promotion. It's a pipe dream but hey, maybe one day.
Do you surf the Internet and if so where do you usually go?
- I always surf the net - I've been using a computer since I was 4! Some of my favorite sites are scifi.com (I'm a big science fiction fan), newsarama.com (also a big comic book fan) and bbc.com for news.
Do you have other major interests outside music?
- Besides music I'm a big history buff. I'm completing a masters in the field actually. I'm also a freelance web designer so I'm always trying to learn new stuff in that field as well.
What authors do you like and have you read anything good lately?
- I generally read sci-fi books or history books. Also comics. I recently read Larry Niven's "Ringworld" and "Ringworld Engineers" books and they are incredible. He's a hard sci-fi master. Brian K. Vaughn for his comic book run "Y: The Last Man" - it just ended and it was an incredible read. Steven Runciman's books on the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire are really great too.
What favourite actors in film and television do you have, and what do you enjoy to watch?
I don't follow actors as much as some others do but I have all time favorite tv shows a movies. Always been a huge Xena fan, so I guess Lucy Lawless would be one of those few actresses I go out of my way to see in a show. Her work on Battlestar Galactica is awesome too (another one of my favorite shows!). I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Space Above and Beyond and the many incarnations of Star Trek. Some of my favorite moves are "Star Wars", "Lord of the Rings", "Blade Runner" and "Amadeus".
What favourite food do you have?
- I have a soft spot for lasagna. And anything with feta cheese. Pirogies are pretty awesome too.
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?
- Pickup lines are usually terrible. The funniest one I ever heard was "Hey baby, this is a pickup line so you wanna come to my place after I finish saying it?" ha ha! They didn't even try.
Do you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?
- I'm not a ghost hunter or anything but it's cool. I'm more interested in stuff like the space program.
Have you ever seen a UFO or do you know anybody that has had an experience that they´ve told you about?
Never seen a UFO myself but I had a friend in college that swore he did!
What´s your take on that?
- I wish he had, it'd be pretty awesome if there were actually aliens out there. As long as they're not the War of the Worlds type. I'd prefer the Vulcan sort. I partake in the SETI@home project so maybe it'll contribute to detecting something out there beyond our world (http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/).
If you could give a piece of advice a younger sister that would like to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?
- I'd tell them not to let their inhibitions get to them and tell them to explore the opportunities that are out there for women, whether it's music or science or whatever. I'd love for there to be more girls out there that are not afraid of getting their hands dirty and being competitive with the guys.
Would you like to add something to this interview?
- I'd just like to say thanks for the opportunity to answer these questions and talk a little bit about my experiences!
At MySpace / Theresa Gaffney - Phoenix Reign
Interviews made by Mike Eriksson (june 2007-january & february 2008).
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