Interview by Mike Richardson

 With two studio EPs to their name already, Switzerland based November-7 released their third offering, aptly titled "Season 3" earlier this year. The mix of powerful vocals of Italian born front-woman Annamaria Cozza combined with crunching guitar riffs, a groove laden rhythm section and just the right amount of loops and other electronic wizardry it is receiving rave reviews worldwide. We caught up with Annamaria to chat about the band and find out a little more about them.

Hi Annamaria, and thank you for taking the time to talk to us at Femme Metal. We're loving the new album "Season 3" here, and are really excited to share a little more about November-7 with our readers

I am also very excited! It’s cool that you guys like the album…

Firstly, for those that haven't yet discovered November-7, can you tell us a little about the band; How would you describe your sound?  How long have you been together?  Who is in the band?  And what is so special about the date November-7; how did you arrive at the name of the band?

That’s a lot of questions! The core of November-7 got together for the first time in late 2005 when Stephane (lead guitar) composed the first songs and I wrote the first lyrics. Then we found some musicians and had our first gig in 2006. Since then we’ve released 2 self produced EPs, 1 live CD/DVD set and finally our full-length album "Season 3". The current line up features 2 guitarists (Stephane and Matt), a drummer (Yann), a machine man (Stephane) and a singer (myself). We’ve all been in previous music projects and we’re all music-holics… One thing that I can say about our songs is that they are all quite different. Some of them could be classified under the label of gothic, some other are more electro-metal, some others more hard rock and we even have some new ones that are bit more progressive. I’m not sure what label I’d put on them… and I’m fine with letting our fans decide what label would be more appropriate. Oh and the name… November-7 is more a suggestion than a reference to a specific date, even if it’s true that the origins of the group date back to November 2005, so there’s also a bit of that. And 7 is one of my lucky numbers... I really like they way this name sounds.

As I already mentioned, "Season 3" has gone down a storm here at Femme Metal, with our reviewer giving it a massive 90/100.  It has been equally well received elsewhere; What do you think is it about the album that people are finding so appealing?

I think that every fan or journalist would have a different theory for that… and it’s actually a very good sign that something touches different people for different reasons. What I personally like about this record is the perfect balance between melodies and power… I’m also literally thrilled with the work that our mixer Stefan Glaumann did. Before working with him it was always an issue to find a way to make the guitars and the drums sound nice and heavy without just drowning the rest. In this I think Stefan Glaumann is really a magician, we had tears in our eyes when we listened to the first song he mixed…

And how have the single and video for "Parasite" gone down? It looks from your website like you had a lot of fun pulling the video for that together.

Yes! Actually we always have a lot fun with our video director: he’s a character and he has a lot of crazy ideas! He likes to see us suffer, so he refuses to shoot if temperature is not below zero. The smoke coming out of my mouth in "Parasite" is real and is the result of a temperature slightly above 0. We’re now shooting the video clip for "In My Mind". It’s a very interesting concept... but I do not want to tell more... It’ll be out in the next couple of months.

With a Gothic-tinged melodic-metal sound you must inevitably get compared to bands such as Evanescence and Lacuna Coil.  What makes November-7 different from other bands?

If you are not well-known it’s normal that you get compared to existing famous bands. I think it all depends on what you focus on when you listen to music. Voice is maybe the most immediate thing you focus on. I remember that once a female singer from a French band told me that my voice is ‘unexpected’, which I quite liked and surprised me because usually everybody when they listen to their own voice find it kind of unexpected or weird so it’s interesting that someone else is saying this about your voice... Anyway, music is much more than voice: you have the instruments, the arrangements, the sounds, the mix… We I listen to November-7, I’m really captured by this balance between power and melodies. This is the result of our hard work not only each single music element but also on how they blend together.

 

You have managed to blend together metal, rock, electronic/industrial and goth into what some reviewers are calling "future metal”; taking all the best aspects of each genre and mixing it up to get a new beast..  Your earlier releases were much softer and perhaps goth oriented than "Season 3".  How did you make that leap "into the future"?

Future metal?! Wow that’s cool!! It’s like "2001 A Space Oddity"… when the movie was out 2001 sounded so far away and people were sure that it would bring extraordinary things... Well, you know I think it’s quite simple: we listen to all kinds of metal and our songs reflect our tastes and influences. It’s not a sexy answer but yeah, we compose what we like and we like different stuff, there’s no much more to it I guess...

Would you care to share some of the stories behind the songs? The lyrics and feel to some of them, for example "Parasite", "Angel" and "Untie Your Hands" are pretty intense and seem quite personal.  It would be interesting to know how they came about.

Probably all my songs are personal, in the sense that they are about stuff that happened to me or to people around me, or stuff that I wish had happened to me but never did, or that I thought it happened but it didn’t… Or sometimes they’re just a collection of images. More specifically, "Parasite" goes out to this person that really messed up the life of someone close to me and I think it’s quite easy to relate to it as we’ve all met a parasite once in our life. Some people even more than once, but anyway... With "Angel" I tried to express the way I feel about this guardian angel that, as a kid, I was told would be next to me all my life to protect me. What is quite funny about this song is that I had no clue I has these thoughts about my guardian angel, but they just came out when I wrote the song… Spooky!! "Untie Your Hands" is quite straightforward: false prophets setting traps in which we tend to fall so easily. An easy song to write as there are so many sources of inspiration on this topic nowadays...

What's coming up in the near future for November-7? Are you touring or playing festivals? 

Oh yes! Playing live is like a drug... we toured early this year when we released the album and we’re now getting ready for some more gigs in fall. On October 7th (November-7 minus one month…) we will play in the US for the first time and we are so excited! We’ll fly to Seattle for a showcase and I really can’t wait to perform there. I lived in Seattle for 1 year and it’s a bit like going back to one of my homes..

Then we’re shooting our third video clip “In My Mind”, but I already mentioned that, right?

And last but not least we’ll start recording the next album late this year. Half of the songs are ready and this time we want to record the album in 2-3 waves.

Is there any chance of seeing you in the UK anytime soon, perhaps at the next Femme Metal Festival in Birmingham?

Hey that would be AWESOME! We have formally applied to join the next one and it’d be such an honor to come!! Choose us!! Choose us!!

What do the band like to do to relax when they're on tour? Do you get up to anything mischievous?

No we’re house-trained and very easy to take care of. We like to make fun of ourselves and invent crazy stories about each band member. For example machine man is schizophrenic because every time there’s a technical problem with the samples he always claims that it’s not his fault. So we made up this story about him trying to sabotage us in very picturesque ways… and every time we develop this story farther and add new details…

Finally, any messages for your fans out there?

Oh yes! You guys rule! You are the ones who make it all happen! It’s so exciting for us to play for you and we’re so touched by your kind messages your compliments! You get us going, so thanks a lot! See you down the road, maybe next year at the Femme Metal Festival? 

Latest Multimedia

Photo Credit

All the photos by Stephane Berginz

Links

MySpace - Facebook - Twitter - Site

Share & Comment

Tweet

Share