In
Heaven
In Heaven released some
months ago a very good and quality album that dwells in the atmospheric/
gothic metal boundaries. So, as you can understand a female vocalist is
more than necessary. The band found the ideal singer in the face of Elvira
and I think they chose well, since her voice conveys to us all the emotions
and ideas of In Heaven's sound. So, here we have Elvira giving some really
interesting answers about the band and various other topics.
1. HELLO! “DARCHANGEL” IS A VERY GOOD WORK
FOR A DEBUT ALBUM. SO, SINCE YOU ARE A NEW BAND CAN YOU GIVE US A FEW INFO
ABOUT THE BAND AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE-UP?
Hi and thank you very much! Well, ‘In Heaven’
was a project originally started by Manolis but it evolved later to the
band you are seeing today. We had many ups and downs and also many line-up
changes, as we were struggling to find our sound. Our current line-up is:
Elvira Mitraka: Vocals
Manolis Varouhas: Guitars & Backing Vocals
Giannis Hrysakis: Guitars
Tassos Hronis: Bass
Manos Vasilakis: Keyboards
Minas Vasilakis: Drums
Babis unfortunately had to leave the band
because he has to serve in the army now.
2. FROM THE PROMO CD THAT YOUR LABEL SENT ME I
SAW THAT YOUR LINE-UP IS INCOMPLETE SINCE THE BAND DOESN’T HAVE A DRUMMER.
SO WHO PLAYED THE DRUMS IN YOUR DEBUT ALBUM? ARE YOU STILL IN SEARCH FOR
A DRUMMER OR HAVE YOU ALREADY FOUND ONE?
As you can see from my answer to your first
question, we are now having a full line-up. The drums on our first records
were played by a drum machine! God bless technology.
3. SOME OF THE SONGS THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED ON
THE “DARCHANGEL” ALBUM WERE ALSO ON YOUR DEMO. SO HAVE YOU CHANGED THEM
AT ALL OR ARE THEY AS THEY WERE ON THE DEMO?
You are right, the two songs ‘Thoughts’ and
‘…With You’ are included on our album, but with some changes. They were
recorded from the beginning, the guitar solo was changed a little bit and
the biggest change was the addition of keyboards. So they sound not quite
the same on the album, and of course because of a better production, they
definitely sound much better on ‘Darchangel’.
4. I THINK THAT THERE IS A CONTROVERSY BETWEEN
THE ALBUM’S TITLE AND THE BAND’S NAME. DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? CAN
WE SAY THAT BOTH NAMES GIVE AN IMAGE OF HOW THE MUSIC OF IN HEAVEN SOUNDS?
Really, there is a controversy? That thought
never occurred to me and it wasn’t done on purpose. I think that those
two can’t really describe our sound. In general music can’t be easily described
by words, you have to hear it, ‘feel’ it, in order to understand it. ‘Darchangel’
is a mixed term from the words Dark Angel and Archangel, that Manolis came
up with and we thought that this was a fitting term for our album. Since
we are also playing Atmospheric Gothic Metal we had to choose something
that fit that particular style of music. So we chose ‘Darchangel’.
5. MANOLI AND BABI, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHICH
MUSICIANS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR STYLE AND NAME 5 OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE
METAL ALBUMS…
Since I am doing the interview on behalf of
the whole band, I’ll have to answer this one too. The band that made Manoli
to buy a guitar and become a musician is Iron Maiden. As for musicians
that influenced him the most are many from the classic era of Metal. I
don’t know what his all time favorites are but I can tell you what his
current top five are:
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny Of Souls
Sentenced - The Funeral Album
Pain - Dancing With The Dead
Paradise Lost - Paradise Lost
Delight - ANew
As for Babis, unfortunately he had to leave
the band, because he is serving as a soldier now. This was a very hard
decision for all of us, but we remain close friends.
6. ELVIRA, YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD VOICE AND THE
THING IS THAT YOU DON’T SING IN AN OPERATIC WAY AS MOST FEMALE SINGERS
OF BANDS OF THIS GENRE DO. SO HAVE YOU DONE ANY MUSICAL STUDIES? CAN YOU
TELL US WHICH ARTISTS YOU ADMIRE AND HAVE INFLUENCED YOU? FINALLY, NAME
5 OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE ALBUMS…
Thank you for your praise. No I haven’t done
any vocal studies, but I began playing music since I was 4 years old. I
wanted to learn the piano and keyboards, but since I was too short to reach
the pedals and had too small hands I had to start with the melodica and
later I moved on to the big ones. I continued playing for about 10 years.
So you can say that I’ve studied music but I haven’t had any training on
my voice. I just like to sing and have been doing it for as long as I can
remember, but it is just a hobby for me. My musical tastes are quite different
from the other members of the band. I hear almost everything and have a
‘lighter’ background than the others. Some artists that influenced me a
lot, and still are, are: Amy Lee from Evanescence, I think she has got
an incredible voice and range. Her voice is just amazing for me and conveys
such a variety of emotions. I also admire Vanessa Mae, the ways she managed
to merge classical elements of music with a ‘Pop’ sound are amazing. Another
amazing voice is Sandra Nasic from a German band called ‘Guano Apes’ but
unfortunately they split up. I should also mention Tori Amos, have you
listened to any of her songs? She is incredible. Her song ‘Me and a Gun’
manages to move me every single time I listen to it. I could go on and
on about artists I admire, but I won’t bore you with that. Let’s move on
to my 5 favorite albums. I can’t say that this is an easy question to answer,
because I imagine that some great albums are going to be released in the
future, so this list is only valid for now. Also keep in mind that I have
quite a ‘strange’ musical background. So here it goes:
Evanescence - Fallen
Vanessa Mae - Storm
Tori Amos - Tales of a Librarian
Guano Apes - Best Of
Ace of Base - Happy Nation (you are going
to kill me for that one!)
7. LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SONGWRITING
PROCESS THAT YOU FOLLOW. DOES THE BAND HAVE A MAIN COMPOSER OR IS IT A
TEAM WORK?
During the process of making ‘Darchangel’
there were actually only three people in the band, Manolis, Babis and me.
Manolis had the main idea of the songs and did the initial composing. After
that we all sat together and listened to the song and gave our input and
ideas. What could be done better? What should be changed? Was there a better
way to play the solo? We continued to pick on them until all of us were
satisfied with the outcome. Of course I have to mention Antonis Ryakiotakis,
who did an amazing job in composing the keyboards. He was a great help
to us. For our second album, logically, some things will change. We are
now six people in the band and such much more ideas and influences. We
will see how this turns out.
8. WHICH ARE THE BEST CONDITIONS FOR YOU IN ORDER
TO CREATE MUSIC?
I think only one thing is necessary, and that
is to feel something. Emotions play a huge part in our lives, we are driven
by them and we wouldn’t be anything without them. So in order to create
music you have to feel something, anything, may that be anger, love, rage,
peace, happiness, anything at all.
9. NOW, LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE LYRICS.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM? CAN YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS, WHICH THE
THEME OF EACH SONG THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED ON YOUR NEW ALBUM, IS?
The lyrics are mainly my responsibility, but
Manolis also writes some of them and on some songs they are a joined effort.
I am always more focused on what message I want to send through a song
and sometimes I forget that I am writing a song and not a poem. That’s
when Manolis’ input is needed. Every song is trying to tell you a story,
but it isn’t done in a straightforward way. You have to listen carefully
to see it, but you can also interpret it in your own way. So I am not going
to spoil this experience for you by giving it all away, I’m just going
to tell the main idea behind a few songs.
Betrayed - This one talks about betrayal
and forgiveness that comes too late, because of a fatal accident.
Come out, come out - This is about
power and how the one who has it tries to corrupt and enslave his or her
victim. We mainly had the vampiric relationship of sire and childe in mind,
but it turned out more general about power and its abuse.
In Heaven - This one is about obsession.
A sick and twisted obsession over somebody that gets to a point where it
is unbearable and something tragic happens.
10. THE COVER ARTWORK IS VERY BEAUTIFUL. WHO IS
THE ARTIST THAT MADE IT AND HOW IS IT CONNECTED WITH YOUR MUSIC AND LYRICS?
Credit for our incredible cover goes to Elias
Kontogiannis. He listened to our music and read the lyrics; we also gave
him some guidelines about how we imagined it could possibly look. We couldn’t
have imagined anything better or more fitting than his work.
11. YOU ARE A NEW BAND AND YOU HAVE ALSO SIGNED
WITH A NEW LABEL. IN YOUR OPINION WHICH ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND THE DISADVANTAGES
OF SUCH A COOPERATION AND WHY?
There are many advantages in our cooperation
with ‘Burning Star Records’. We have a very close and personal relationship
with them. We spent literally hours on the phone talking with them about
every little detail. They also give us a lot freedom about our sound and
our image. They are very understanding and they really care about us and
the band. As for disadvantages, since it is still a new label, they haven’t
got means necessary for big promotion and advertising. There just isn’t
enough money and we sometimes have to do some of it ourselves. Due to the
lack of money, there are also some other restrictions, like a single release,
or merchandise, but there’s no question that everything’s fine with us!
12. MY FAVORITE SONG FROM YOUR ALBUM IS “CRY FOR
ME”, WHICH IS YOURS? IMAGINE THAT YOUR LABEL DECIDES TO RELEASE A CD SINGLE.
WHICH 4 SONGS FROM YOUR ALBUM WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO INCLUDE?
You like ‘Cry For Me’, that’s great, because
is such a difficult and emotional song. As for my favorite, I can’t really
choose one. I mean, I like them all since they made it on our record. We
had other songs that weren’t included, we picked only our favorites. If
our label wanted to release a single, I would include ‘Betrayed’, ‘Life
After Death’, ‘In Heaven’ and ‘Forgiven’, but I would also like to add
a bonus track ‘Lie To Me’.
13. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOUR LABEL GIVES YOU A
LOT OF MONEY TO CREATE A VIDEO-CLIP. WHICH SONG WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW
DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
That’s an easy one, since we actually are
going to shoot a video-clip and have already the concept and everything
else ready. The song we chose is ‘In Heaven’ and I won’t give any secrets
away. You just have to wait and see!
14. LET’S SAY THAT TERMS LIKE ATMOSPHERIC/GOTHIC
METAL DON’T EXIST. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC TO A PERSON THAT HAS
NEVER LISTENED TO YOU?
Oh, that’s a tricky one! I would describe
us as a band with heavy guitars, dark and mysterious keyboards and soft
and touching female vocals. Or I would just give the person our albums,
so he or she can create his or her own opinion.
15. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME REPLYING
TO THIS INTERVIEW! PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF BEHIND THE
VEIL WEBZINE AND ALSO ADD WHATEVER ELSE YOU WANT…
No thanks needed, it is us who have to thank
you. Thank you for your interest in our music and for your support. We
wouldn’t be here right now if nobody wanted to hear anything from us. Also
a ‘thank you’ to all of your readers and everybody else that is helping
and supporting us. I know how important music is for me and I don’t mean
only ‘In Heaven’s’ music, I mean music in general. So it gives me an incredible
feeling, to know that our music might be important to someone else.
Elvira Mitraka - In Heaven
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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