FEMME METAL

 

 

 Interview By Erwin Van Dijk

 

An interview with Marcela about "The Flame Within", the latest Stream of Passion Album.

 

Most people did assume that when Arjen Lucassen left Stream of Passion this would meant the end of the band. They were wrong. Last year (2008) we saw Stream of Passion Version 2.0 for a few gigs in Holland. And yes, this version of Stream of Passion was different from the first incarnation. But "different" is not always something negative. Bands have to grow. And Stream of Passion did grow. The album has not left my cd player since the album release party and personally I think it is a good album.

Stream of Passion’s latest album was released in May. It was not a carbon copy of "Embrace the Storm". Thanks to Marcela’s voice it is still recognizable as Stream of Passion but without the many Lucassen elements of the debut album. And, most important, "Embrace the Storm" was released four years ago in 2005. People change and a lot has happened to Stream of Passion the last four years. So I think it is time for a new interview.

The past

The first question is about the past. If you look back at the early days of Stream of Passion and the first album, are there any things you would have done different with the experience you have now?

Not all that much, really. Perhaps now with more writing experience I could’ve dared to do more adventurous things with the music but not all that much. I just look back to those days with a big smile, they were really fun and exciting times!

Do you think that the success of Stream of Passion has changed you as a person and musician?

It has definitely changed me as a musician; every step of the way I’ve had to set higher goals for myself and do my best to keep growing as a singer and song writer. And I’ve changed as a person as well, these wonderful experiences have helped me become a more confident and happy person.

A more personal question: do you miss Mexico? Because I doubt you will have any time left to visit your home country with the Stream of Passion tour schedule.

I miss it a lot! Especially my family and friends; and of course that lovely warm weather and countless days of sun. But I cannot complain one bit, I’m having a blast in Holland and enjoying every minute of my life over here.

 

The present

There are four years between "Embrace the Storm" and "The Flame Within". Why did it took so long for a new album? Most bands have a new one every two years or so and even Trail of Tears kept the traditional two year schedule despite the fact that singer Ronny Thorsen had to start all over again when all the other members left Trail of Tears.

There were a lot of things going on. Besides the big line up changes we also spent some time looking for a new record label and took some time to figure out what we wanted to do with our music. Half way the writing process we had some live shows, to also get a feeling what it was like to play live with the new band members. And me moving to Holland was also a sort of pause that we had to take, while I got adjusted to living in this new country.

About the song writing. With "Embrace the Storm" you did all the lyrics and Arjen Lucassen all the music. This time the entire band has been credited for the songs. When you started with the new songs did you had the idea that the new album should stay close to "Embrace the Storm" or were all options open when it came to sound and musical direction?

We knew we kind of wanted to follow the same line, but we really wanted to make of this new album something heavier and more live orientated. After playing together for a while we figured out how much we like to go crazy on stage and just unleash all our energy in our shows. So we wanted to write songs that would allow us to do just that!

What is the idea behind the title of the album?

"The Flame Within" is the inner drive, the willpower we need to overcome all obstacles and go after our dreams. We felt this was a very suiting title, considering the whole process it was to put the album together and because there are a few songs that deal precisely with the whole adventure that was going on with the band.

The album was produced and mixed by Jochem Jacobs and Joost van den Broek.

We all know Joost van den Broek used to be the keyboard player of After Forever (RIP) and Jochem is the guitarist from Textures. How was it to work with these two musicians and what was their influence on the album?

It was amazing to team Joost and Jochem together. Our idea was basically to get the best of both worlds: the heavy drums and guitar sounds from Jochem and his strong metal background and the symphonic side of Joost with his huge experience in string and piano arrangements. We basically had these two sides of the music that we eventually mixed together; it was a new and exciting process for everyone, this way of working, but it turned out great!

Can you tell us something about the songs on the album? Where did you get the inspiration for the lyrics.

Like I mentioned, a few of the songs of the album were inspired by the whole process of putting the CD together. Like “Now Or Never”, where I was looking to encourage myself to not dwell for long over the difficulties and obstacles I came across but simply go on after my dreams. Some other songs deal just with human emotions, things I go through or read about and inspire me. “This endless night” for instance, is based on the experiences that people with post-traumatic stress syndrome can go through; I was reading about the subject and started figuring out what it would be like to be haunted by some memories in your past, things no human being should ever go through, and that’s why I came up with the lyrics for the song.

Why is “Far and apart” a bonus track?

We wanted to leave out a song for a limited edition and make it something a little bit special. “Far And Apart” is a song that for our feeling is a bit different than the rest of the album, so we decided to leave it as an extra track.

"Street spirit" is a cover of a Radiohead song. Radiohead is an alternative rock band from Abingdon, United Kingdom. They have absolutely nothing to do with Gothic, Progressive of any other kind of Metal. So my question is: Why did you choose this song as cover. And, did you really need to do a cover?

Not that it’s necessary, but it’s super fun! I love the idea of being able to interpret a song in a completely different matter, which is what we did with "Street Spirit". We were basically thinking for a while about a song to cover and couldn’t come up with any good options, until Stephan came up with the idea of covering "Street Spirit" and sent us all a demo of the song with his heavy guitars and drums in there. We were all immediately blown away and excited with the idea, and the rest of the arrangements just came out very naturally.

And what is/are your favourite songs on this album?

It’s not really fair because I feel a very strong connection with all the tracks in the album! But if I have to mention favourites I think I would go for “My leader” and “A Part Of You”. Tomorrow though I could just choose different ones...

"The Flame Within" release party was a few weeks ago. At worst possible moment Davey Mickers left Stream of Passion. But you got a replacement fast. Who is his replacement, Martijn Peters?

Martijn is a very experienced drummer that has been playing in different bands for a while now. Eric knew him already from his network of friends and when we asked a few people about him they were all immediately very enthusiastic about his skills. We called him and invited him to a rehearsal; within a couple of days he had already figured out half of the songs on the new album! Needless to say we were all happily impressed.

Stream of Passion is really busy touring right now. One of the biggest gigs will be at the Metal Female Voices fest this October. Do you have any special plans for this gig?

It’s still a while from now, so we haven’t really thought about it! We are very excited to play there though, the festival has been gaining a very high reputation on the last few years and some really amazing acts have performed there; it’s an honour for us to be able to be part of it.

Besides your work on the new Stream of Passion album you also found some time to record a song for the latest The Gathering album. The Gathering was one of the most influential Dutch bands during the nineties. How was it for you to work with this band and what have you learned from this experience?

It was great, I really enjoyed working with them and getting a glimpse on their vision of making music. They basically gave me some tracks to work on and gave me total freedom to do what I wanted with them, I felt honoured. I worked all the vocal lines at my place and sent them over to them; they were really excited about them, which made me really happy!

And the last question: is there anything the reader should know that I have not asked?

I think we’ve covered everything!