FEMME METAL

 

 

 Interview By Erwin Van Dijk

 

Theatre of Tragedy is well known as one of the pioneers in the Gothic genre. Just last month on the September 21st the band released their seventh album called “Forever Is The World” (review here) on AFM Records. Singer Nell gives to Femme Metal Webzine all the low-down.

Did you always want to become a singer?

You know, no, not really, if I'm honest! I always wanted to become a teacher, but alongside that, I’ve always been singing.... So, now I feel exceptionally lucky, becoming both a music-teacher and a singer. Happy life :)

Before Theatre Of Tragedy you were known as the singer from The Crest. Was this your first band?

I used to sing in a soul band once, called Freedom Train :), but that’s something I really don't talk about too much, ha! ha! The Crest was my first serious band, yes!

Did you follow any singing lessons and what do you do to keep your voice in top condition?

From the age of 16 till 18, I was taking classical singing lessons, and three years or so after that was mostly singing jazz, in both lessons and by myself.... Then I got into this Goth-rock scene, and singing rock music is just totally different! You really have to push your voice to the limit, and work hard to compete with the band. To keep my voice in shape, I try to sing as often as time will allow, just keeping my voice alive. But the only way to train my voice in a decent way, is practising with the rest of the band really.

What are your favourite bands and to what kind of music do you listen yourself?

Bands I would like to go to a concert to see right now? Paradise Lost, U2, Apoptygma Berzerk, Magnet, Dolly Parton, Kiss, Ozzy, Britney amongst others…There's so many and they're so diverse. I often end up listening to the same CD’s, so right now I’m very happy that something like “Spotify” exists on the computer, because it gives me the opportunity to listen to so much new music and find out about so much.

Do you have any updates on The Crest?

It's still very active actually... We’ve got material for a new album in our computers, but we’re not working with any label at the moment, so that’s where we've stopped right now! We’ve all been busy doing other things, but we’re hoping to record our songs in the near future, a year or five, ha! ha! :)

This is ancient history but how did you become a member of Theatre Of Tragedy?

That's ok! One night, sitting in my living room - that must have been July 2004 - I got a phone call from Hein Frode Hansen, Theatre's, and now our drummer. He told me they'd just fired their female singer. All the guys - except Ray (Raymond Rohonyi) - had seen The Crest in Stavanger around one year earlier, and we’d also been to some of the same parties together. During the phone call, we decided to try out a couple of songs together. I received some mp3’s, and there we are. That was as simple as that.

What are your favourite Theatre of Tragedy songs?

I still think “Fade” (off last album "Storm") is our best song, but I also love “Forever Is The World”, the title of the new album. Besides the melodies, the lyrics mean a lot to me.

And what are the highlights for you with Theatre of Tragedy?

There are many, but just being able to write music with really creative people like Raymond is a honour. Singing the music the whole band creates is a great challenge but it's so satisfying!

 

 

 

Is it difficult to combine Theatre of Tragedy with your personal life?

I wouldn't call it a big problem, no. But of course, sometimes it's hard to put song writing aside, and spend time with my family instead. I feel Theatre Of Tragedy has become a part of my personal life, it's a nice balance :)

Since you became a member of Theatre of Tragedy the band has released "Storm" and did a small tour in 2006. What have you and the band done since then?

There have been one or two festivals and these “one or two gigs a weekend” type of tours, just around small parts of Europe, ...and time has flown by, you know? In early 2008, we were actually ready to record this album, but we were waiting for the producer we wanted (Alex Moklebust) to finish an important job. We ended up using a different one than we were meant to, but we’re all happy about that. He’s been a pleasure to work with and the result is so much better than we expected at the beginning!

About the new album "Forever Is The World"

Well, I feel you can see a red line going through almost every song on this album and I feel it's got a really strong 'message' if you like? All the songs are somehow about enjoying life, carpe diem! It’s a cliché, but no less true; find what’s good in life and enjoy it. At this moment when I'm writing this, "Hollow" is my favourite, as it combines elements from different Theatre of Tragedy periods. I think all of the songs have an important story or message to say. And I also like the way it ends up with Raymond, using both voices, clean and growl.

The songs on "Storm" were credited "Theatre of Tragedy”. Where do you get the inspiration for the music and lyrics?

This album is no different either. It’s how we always do the credits; by 'Theatre of Tragedy'. By doing it that way, we avoid a lot of potential fighting over money. We all have different parts and roles in the band, and we believe it always evens out. On this album, “Forever is the World”, I wrote 95 % of my lyrics, Vegard (Vegard K Thorsen - guitars) also wrote a couple of phrases. And it's the same with Raymond; Vegard also wrote a couple of his. Most of us came to the recording with sketches for a song, and then all of us are working it out together, more or less. Sometimes a movie or a sentence from a book can inspire you, but at least to me, it’s still difficult even then. You start with one sentence, and find all these good lines, and you just need to be able to phrase them properly and make them work in the song. Each idea has got to feel good to sing and nice to read as well! Several minds are often better than just one!

You and Raymond are responsible for the vocal part of the band (a bit like Lacuna Coil). How do you work together?

Basically, from day one, he’s doing his parts, and I’m doing mine. But in the end, we always come together to work it out together. You know, possibly changing the lyrics to make it fit the other sometimes, and even, if one of us can be stuck at one part, then maybe the other one can take over? It really works very well!

What is the idea behind the name of the album? (It would do great as the name of the next James Bond movie)

The title? I've actually never seen an entire James Bond movie, so I'm not sure I can comment... But, “Only Man ends, but forever’s the world”, is one of the lines taken from our last song on this album. There's too much good in life to go wasting it. I guess I’ve just reached a point where I've realised the world is going to last longer than us, at least that’s what I hope for? We are nothing but dust, and still there is so much to gain in life. Makes you kind of humble and dizzy at the same time.

As we mentioned, the album was produced by Alexander Møkleburst from Zeromancer. Why did Theatre of Tragedy choose him for this job particularly and what was his influence on the album?

Well, this just seemed natural really! Frank (Claussen - Guitar) had done some guitar work for Alex and Zeromancer in the past, and they were really happy working together, so, as the original choice (Eric Jungren) began to finally drift out of the picture, it became more and more obvious that Alex would be the best choice. Alex has been producing some quite good albums lately, and when Eric was finally out of the picture, Alex took over the reins. He did a fantastic job.

What have you done differently on “Forever is the World” compared to “Storm”?

On this album, we've tried to put some more air into the songs and into the production. “Storm” ended up being maybe a little bit too “compressed” and this time, we wanted the songs to be more “alive”. It also felt right having Raymond back growling again; really, really powerful!

Do you have any plans for touring to promote the album?

Yes, we’ll tour Europe in March, but Lorentz (Aspen - keyboards), is in Sidney studying at the moment. So it feels kind of odd. We’ve put everything on hold until he’s back in December.

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

Well, of course, hope to get some gigs in England this time as well. It’s always great to play there and we hope to see you all then :)! Thanks for the interview and see you very soon!

 

Links :

Theatre Of Tragedy Official MySpace

Theatre Of Tragedy Official Site

The Crest Official MySpace

 

Please retweet and share this article if you found it interesting

 

Just leave a comment, if you like!!!