Judith & Federica - Raving Season
Interview By Robyn Stryker
Italian progressive gothic doom metal band, Raving Season, features two female voices -- haunting soprano vocals by Judith and growling vocals by Federica that are guaranteed to scare your neighbours. The band’s new EP, “The Brightness of My Disaster” offers more than 30 minutes of complex doom metal with a progressive flourish. Femme Metal sat down with Judith and Federica to learn more about this up-and-coming band. Read on for a double-dose of femme metal goodness.
Judith and Federica, welcome to Femme Metal! We are so glad that you could talk with us today.
Judith and Federica: Thanks so much, we are really glad too. It’s amazing to have the possibility to promote our music and to speak with important supporters of the metal-scene women!
Would you start off by telling us more about the sound of “The Brightness of My Disaster” and the musical influences that listeners might hear?
Judith: I think that the sound of every single track is full of different types of emotions, and as we want to describe contradictory feelings, the songs often change their atmosphere to express them clearly. Moreover the 3 central tracks are very different from each others, so listening to them is like a kind of journey among our feelings, from frailty to anger, crossing our sad memories and bright hopes.
Our sound is a mix of doom, death, gothic and progressive, so our influences are really a lot, the most important are for sure My Dying Bride, Opeth, Tristania and Swallow the Sun, but we all listen to many types of metal and we are not closed to new ideas, so probably our sound will develop song by song. The most important thing for us is to express feeling in our personal way, hoping that people can appreciate our honest way to express them.
What is the meaning of the name Raving Season?
Federica: The two words forming the band’s name were decided one by me and one by Judith. When we had to choose the name, I proposed "raving" because we wanted to express all our feelings by music and without any filter of rationality. Instead, Judith proposed "season" because she needed to start a new season of her life, musically and personally and she wanted that project to be the first step for that change. We noticed that those two words sound good together, so we chose the name Raving Season.
Federica, what made you become interested in using an extreme vocal style? How did you train your voice to growl like that?
Federica: I’ve heard and loved metal music since I was 15 or 16. In those years, I casually heard a Kittie song in a compilation that I bought with a magazine. I really liked the growl voice as I did for other bands before, but when I read that the singer was a woman, I went crazy! I couldn’t believe that a woman could sing like that for real, I was completely bewitched and started to dream about me doing that too. In the very next weeks, I knew other bands with female growl voice, and I tried to growl too…
Honestly, I just do that in the rehearsal room while I’m playing with Raving Season because the walls in my house are really thin and I don’t want to shock my neighbours. Anyway, sometimes I sing in my car while I’m driving!
Judith, what type of musical training have you had?
Judith: I’ve always loved classical music and, when I was 11, I started to play piano with a wonderful teacher. For many years, I just wanted to become a pianist and I couldn’t even imagine that singing should be all my life. But studying for a music theory exam, in which I had to sing reading notes, I understood that with voice I could express much more of myself, and suddenly I started to sing too. That teacher encouraged me a lot because she totally believed in me as an artist, and as she has been a musical singer, the first thing I learned was modern singing technique. At 17 I took part of in metal band here in Rome, with Federica, and that first band experience has been so important to me, as it gave me the chance to understand definitively that my dream could become true. For the vocal melodies, I used to take inspiration from bands like Tristania and Nightwish, and so I decided to learn to sing in a more classical way. During these years, I’ve studied with many singing teachers till I found the perfect one for me, an opera singer who introduced me to lyrical techniques and I decided to study it seriously because I think that my voice can give much more singing this way. Right now, I’m studying for the conservatory exams as a private student because I’m also taking a degree in architecture. For me, classical music is like the first innocent love and metal is like a sweeping passion, so mixing them together is the best way to express myself, that’s why this band is so important to me.
If I understand correctly, the two of you have been best friends since you were children. When did you first start singing together? Were your families supportive of your music?
Federica: Judith and I met during a party when we were 16 and 17. We talked a lot that night, and realized that we had lot of things in common, one of the most important was of course the love for metal music. It was the beginning of our long friendship that is stronger and deeper every day! We are indivisible and were dreaming to sing together for all these years.
Judith’s family supports her beautiful voice, especially her dad Lucio loves her music and he’s her first fan. My parents, instead, don’t support me while I’m singing, it’s difficult for them to understand my extreme voice… Anyway, my sister Francesca is a fan of mine and really appreciates our music.
Raving Season first formed in 2005, but then split up for a few years. Why did the band come together again in late 2008, and what did you do during the break?
Federica: When we decided to give up playing together in 2005, we did that because Judith, Sergio and I missed the right musicians for our own style. But when we had to do that, each one of us believed in the Raving Season project and knew that we’d start to play together again as soon as possible. In the years before the reunion, we kept in touch of course, but musically I didn’t sing, while Judith went on studying lyrical singing and gave life to her solo project recording the album "The Path" and Sergio played with the band, At the Sunset, and also recorded some tracks with them and made some concerts. For as regards our personal life, I’ve been concentrating on studying for university and Judith too, while Sergio studied and worked.
Are you currently involved in any other musical projects?
Judith: I’ve got an ambient/soundtrack solo project. I have written songs since I was 19, but just a few months ago, thanks to the help of Roberto Romano, a great producer and leader of the death metal band Ade, I decided to record a mini CD that will be soon available on my personal MySpace. Moreover during these years I’ve also taken in of some music projects singing and composing for documentaries soundtracks and theatre shows. At last Federica is collaborating with her voice in a black metal project called Myrrha Dei.
Please introduce us to the other members of Raving Season, and tell us a little something about each person.
Judith: When me and Federica were searching for a guitarist in 2005, Sergio was the first who answered to our notice and we were immediately sure that he was perfect for our project. From the first time we played together, we felt a strong alchemy between his doom/death riffs and our idea of music in which we wanted to express contradictory feelings like desperation and hope, or love and anger, and his way of conjugating sweet and gloomy melodies with the starving ones was exactly what we were looking for. He is a sensitive and honest friend, and simply an artist. Marco is another great guitarist, his music influences concern more with trash and progressive metal and, together with Sergio, is the main composer of the band. I think they complete each other. As a person he is very nice and funny and a totally necessary member of the band. Paolo [bass] is a very cultured person and musician, his music preparation comes from classical music as he has been playing piano for many years. He is also an engineer, and I can say his contribution to our organization is fundamental! Laura is an amazing pianist, and she is exactly the keyboard player we were looking for. She has a great technique and a big sensitivity for dark and gloomy atmospheres as she is a passionate of black metal. Stefano [drums] is the last person who entered in the band, and immediately engaged himself to do the best for the band. He really believes in what we’re working for.
The songs on “The Brightness of My Disaster” are long and musically-complex -- shifting from peaceful acoustic passages to full-on metal assaults to melodic metal passages. What was the process of composing the album’s music? And which came first, the lyrics or the music?
Judith and Federica: For as regards the instrumental part, it all begins with Sergio and Marco, who work together developing each song riff by riff in a very personal way. They have different and particular styles and, mixing them up, the result is the Raving Season sound. After that, each member of the band can add something personal. They are both open minded, accepting all advice willingly. For as regards the lyrics, the composing process can happen in different ways. Sometimes we choose already written lyrics, arranging them to the music, and sometimes we write them inspired by the melodies of the song. I can say that it depends on the song and on the feeling of the moment.
You both wrote all the lyrics for the album, which have been described as “extremely personal and intensely autobiographical" . What do the lyrics mean to you?
Federica: Lyrics are very important to me and Judith. We both write when we have a feeling we need to express, and we have done that since we were teenagers. Judith also has a diary where she writes very often, while I write something in some particular moment, if I have something inside I can understand just by expressing it on a paper. For us, it is fundamental to sing words that make a deep sense to us and to talk about our feelings, experiences, fears, hopes…
Since your singing styles are polar opposites, is it difficult to write lyrics for each other?
Judith: Absolutely not, because we know each other very well and we are also very similar. We just express different parts of our souls. For example, when I write something, I suddenly understand which part should be sung by Federica. My voice could never express desperation or anger as hers does, but I feel these sensations often, and my lyrics are full of them. At the same time, my voice can express easily purity, frailty and more ethereal feelings, so Federica entrusts her verses to me.
The beautiful (yet unsettling) album artwork certainly suits Raving Season’s music perfectly. I keep puzzling over the shadowy shapes between the little girl and the dilapidated house ... ghosts, guardians, pursuers? Can you tell us more about the album art?
Judith: The shadowy shapes represent the ghosts of our past -- persons, events, regrets and rancours of our lives that still threaten our serenity. The child can be considered as the purest part of us, survived from the past and searching for a better place far from the house. I think that this artwork perfectly describes me and Federica, and of course our lyrics, because actually we are just people searching for some peace far from our past, and trying to save the best part of us, the child, from all the delusions and cruelty of this life. Sergio is the author of all the artwork and, as he has a great sensitivity, he’s been able to express all this more than I could ever imagine.
Now that the band’s line-up is complete with the addition of Paolo, Laura and Stefano, Raving Season has started playing gigs around Rome. How has the experience playing live been? Were there any surprises?
Judith: The live experience has been really amazing for all of us. Each member had only performed with other bands. But I can say that, as this is a totally personal project, it is a completely different experience, thrilling in a new way. Moreover, performing together requires relying on each other, and that’s why live gigs connect each member with each others.
Personally, with Raving Season, I’ve had the best live gigs ever, because when I am on the stage with them, I feel like that is exactly the place where I should be, and suddenly I’m not shy or scared anymore, and I feel free to express everything I’ve got inside. This was a “surprise” for me because I usually don’t like so much to have too many eyes on me.
What is the music scene in Italy like for new metal bands?
Judith and Federica: Italy’s underground metal scene is full of great bands, there are a lot of new ideas and prepared musicians. Unfortunately Italy is not exactly the best place for every type of art, because those who should sponsor new talents just try to exploit them, so just the famous bands have the possibility to go on. We think that, if we want to make a living just with music, we should go somewhere else, or write another type of song, much more simple and trivial.
Is Raving Season working on a full-length album? If so, how far along are you in the process?
Judith and Federica: Yes, we are working on new songs for the full-length album, we will also play one of them in the next concerts. I don’t know exactly how much time we need to complete a full-length, but for sure I know that everyone wants to give their best for that, so maybe it won’t happen so soon, probably after next summer.
Thank you so much, Judith and Federica. Do you have any parting words for your fans at Femme Metal?
Judith and Federica: Thanks so much for your support, every single person who appreciates and understands our music is really important to us. We hope to meet you all one day!
Links
Raving Season Official MySpace
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