Interview с Angtoria : DARKSIDE.ru

How are the things going in Angtoria at the moment, are you still seeking for a record deal? Why does it appear so difficult to get signed despite many good responses to your first demo?

Chris: At the moment we’re negotiating with a record label. This negotiation has been a result of our collaboration with our management company Fortress Artist and Management group. It’s unfortunately extremely difficult today to find a record label interested in and able to invest in a new band. File-sharing downloads have made a huge decrease in album sales which has a serious effect on which type of bands record labels dare to invest in. It still costs a huge amount of money to record and finish an entire album production, and that money has to come back from somewhere... If albums don´t sell enough copies because everyone is downloading the songs from the Internet, that means the record label will not get their invested money back and therefore will not have the possibility to invest in another band.

How many songs have you recorded for the upcoming album? Which songs from the demo will be included?

Chris: The songs on our demo will be included on our debut album. Our “demo” has not been released officially and is meant for business purposes only, so we will re-record those tracks and include them on the album along with more songs to complete a full length album.

An Internet resource once mentioned the songs “Little Girl” and “I Cried Alone” in the track-list of the demo instead of the songs “Suicide On My Mind” and “A Child That Walks The Path Of A Man”. What songs are those ones?

Chris: Those were just “working titles” for the tracks “Suicide On My Mind” and “A Child That Walks The Path Of A Man” and were never meant to be published, so they are not separate songs.

Sarah: Yes people love to talk and print before they know the facts! Seems we can’t shake off the working title "I Cried Alone".

Sarah, apart from Angtoria you are still involved in a variety of other projects. Can you mention the albums for which you recorded the vocals in the past couple of years?

Sarah: Mostly Cradle of Filth. I stopped singing for Therion because at the time I was going through some personal issues and couldn’t deal with the stress. And Mortiis simply couldn’t afford to bring me on the road with him. I’m happier performing with one band now. Less stress for me. The last few albums I’ve done are Cradle of Filth apart from I worked with a band called Mendeed from Scotland (You can hear Sarah’s voice on the album “From Shadows Came Darkness” (2004) – ed.).

You began to sing at 11. How did it all begin for you? Where and what did you sing in the beginning?

Sarah: I began singing as soon as I could open my mouth I think. I remember as a kid, standing by the fire and just singing, nothing in particular, just singing! I don’t come from a musical background so I don’t know why I wanted to sing so much. Never even listened to music as a kid really. But my first performance to a live audience was when I was 11. Singing one song "Summertime" by Billy Holiday.

Did you ever study vocals? Who influenced your vocal manner?

Sarah: Never had vocal training but that’s a mistake I made. Anyone who wishes to sing, get a teacher because he/she knows how to look after your voice, that’s the important part! As for my influence, Madonna was my major influence, then Mariah Carey. I always wanted to be like Madonna and have the voice of Mariah!

How did you come to metal? What band was your first serious experience in this kind of music?

Sarah: I got into metal when a mate took me to a metal pub. They used to have a metal DJ and everyone would head bang. It was amazing. I feel in love with the music. Turned my back on the scene I was into at the time! Metal is everything to me. I still remember headbanging to Alice in Chains and Suicidal Tendencies! The first bands that I really got into were Slayer, Metallica, Faith No More, Guns N’Roses and Sisters Of Mercy. Most people start around those kinds of bands.

Sarah, what are your favorite albums on which you sang and on which you didn’t?

Sarah: “Vempire” (Cradle Of Filth), “Nexus Polaris” (Covenant) and “Midian” (Cradle of Filth).

Why do you keep concealing the full Angtoria line-up? How many people are in the band at the moment? What instruments do they play?

Sarah: What is the point of announcing a line up of a band when you don’t even have a record deal! Anything can change. We are talking to people about being part of Angtoria but until we are signed, we can’t invite anyone else in and we certainly can’t tell people our plans just in case it all goes wrong! We don’t want to be a band that has a line up change every month! At the moment it’s just me, Tommy and Chris!

Chris: The core members of Angtoria are and always will be Sarah, Tommy and myself. Sarah is obviously the vocalist and Tommy and I will play the guitar live. The three of us have founded Angtoria and are responsible for everything about the band all the way from the music, sound, and lyrics to artwork etc. Although the three of us are the core of the band we will most definitely complete a full line-up to be able to do shows and play live etc. Whether or not those members will be added as full-time members or session members is too early to say and depends completely on how well we do with Angtoria, their own wishes and ho

w much of us the audience wishes to see. The other members that will be included in Angtoria are all members of/or has been members of pretty well known bands and simply don´t have the time to participate in nothing but a band that is active with releasing albums and doing shows etc.

Who came up with the title Angtoria?

Tommy: Angtoria was originally a song title from my former band Moahni Moahna´s second album “Why” (1997), where the meaning of Angtoria was something like “nirvana”. Actually I made the name up by mixing me and Chris´ mother and sisters names together. When we started to think about a name for this project – Angtoria was the first we came to think of. It is like “our own” name and it sounds a bit epic. It is also practical cause when you do a Google search on the internet - all hits are about us…

Sarah, how did it happen that you became the lyric writer in Angtoria? Is it something you dreamed about for a long time, or was it a serious challenge that no one else could handle?

Sarah: It’s normal for every front man/woman to write their own lyrics. If you don’t know what you are singing about, there’s no point in singing! For me to put my heart and soul into what I sing, I must write my own lyrics. I wouldn’t want anyone else writing my lyrics unless I asked for help or it was a special request!

Can you speak a bit about the meaning of the songs from the demo? What are “Suicide On My Mind” and “Deity of Disgust” about?

Sarah: In short, “Suicide On My Mind" speaks for itself! It’s about being lost, not knowing what to do or where to turn. It’s simply about wanting to kill yourself! "Deity Of Disgust" is about a woman who loves to be loved and loves to love! A woman who wants more than one man but the "society" would label her a whore because she needs more than one man to fulfill her needs!

What inspires you when you’re writing lyrics?

Sarah: Life inspires me. Situations I’ve lived through. As I said before, what’s the point of singing about something you know nothing about?

How did you come to covering of Kylie Minogue’s “Confide In Me”?

Sarah: Always liked the song. Carpathian Forest did an amazing job of "The Forest" by The Cure. There’s nothing wrong with taking a song that isn’t accepted in the metal scene and re-doing it! I used to be a big fan of Kylie when I was a teenager and that song is pretty dark. I should have picked "I Should Be So Lucky"! That would have gone down very well amongst all the grim and necro kids. (laughs)

Chris: Sarah and I were both interested in doing a cover version of some song. We discussed various options and it was Sarah who came up with the idea

of doing a cover of “Confide In Me”. Since I also really like that song and Kylie as an artist, I didn´t hesitate at all and started working with it right away.

Sarah, you like Madonna very much. Would you like to cover Madonna whenever? Which of her songs would you cover?

Sarah: I would love to cover a Madonna song but I would have to pick a dark song like "Justify My Love" but that’s mostly a talking song. Someone already did "Frozen"... (That was a band called Girls Under Glass back in 2001, and the recording was mixed by Bruno Kramm of Das Ich – ed.) And I’m sure "Like a Virgin" just wouldn’t suit me! (laughs)

Sarah, what do you like about touring? Who makes your make-up and costumes for shows?

Sarah: I buy my make up from shops like Mac. I design my own clothes and get them made. As for touring, I used to love it but now it’s much like working in McDonald’s. Boring all day until show time. People think being on the road is amazing! You see nothing other than backstage rooms and toilets! And you are really lucky if you get to take a shower and come out of it clean!

And do Angtoria have any plans for live shows? Or will you wait until the debut album comes out?

Sarah: No shows until the album has been out a while. I don’t want us to go out and play to 50 people! We want to give them a show! A good one! We want our sound to be good and we want to leave a lasting impression!

Chris: Our goal is to be able to do live shows, festivals and tours with Angtoria. Whether or not this will be possible is again entirely up to if the audience wishes to see us live and support us enough to make that happen. But our full intentions are to treat Angtoria as a full member and worldwide touring act. We will not do any shows until the album is released.

Are you ready to abandon all other projects you are involved in if you don’t have enough time for Angtoria?

Sarah: For me, Cradle of Filth is still very important but I’ve been doing it almost 11 years now. It really is time to move on and when I do, it will be a very sad day. I never wanted to be "just" a backing singer. That was never the plan. I wanted to sing and I have but for others and they have been the ones to reap the benefits! It’s my turn now! So when the time is right, I will abandon everything else musically.

Chris: My goal and hope is to be able to focus on only Angtoria and abandon everything else to put 100% of my attention and time on Angtoria. But we all have bills to pay, families and children to take care of a provide for. So until the day hopefully comes when we earn enough money from Angtoria to be able to handle all these things without having to work with other things, we al

l have to do other things in order to survive.

What are the biggest influences on Angtoria’s music? If you were asked to pick up the closest comparison to Angtoria, what would it be?

Chris: To compare your own work with something is always extremely difficult. I don´t have any specific sources of inspiration or influences when I turn to to write music, I get equally inspired by everything that surrounds me each day. With Angtoria we play orchestral metal with female vocals, and which comparisons to make are up to each individual that listens to us to make for themselves.

You are living in different countries - Sarah in Great Britain and Tommy and Chris in Sweden. How do you write songs under such circumstances? Do you use mp3s and Internet a lot, or do you prefer to have meetings from time to time to work on the music and lyrics?

Chris: The world is getting smaller and smaller due to the Internet, e-mail, high bandwidth broadband and with flights getting cheaper. Working together but living in separate parts of the world is not at all difficult at all these days and is very common. Of course the ultimate situation would be to live in the same place, but that´s not realistic these days. Tommy and I write the music and record it in our own studio. We then send it on a CD to Sarah for her to give her input and to write the lyrics and arrange the vocals on the songs. When she´s done she simply travels here to us and we record the vocals.

Is there a future for your orchestral project “Torn Between Two Worlds”? Is it now completely abandoned, or will it exist simultaneously with Angtoria?

Chris: We haven’t completely abandoned the project, we´ve simply put in on hold due to Angtoria and due to the fact that it was so difficult to find a label interested in investing in such a project. We will most likely make something out of that project as well in the future when we have the time, or mix it together a bit with Angtoria, who knows... The future will tell.

Tommy, many people still remember your old band Moahni Moahna. But what happened to it eventually? What are its members doing at the moment? And what have you been doing since your departure from the band?

Tommy: I’m very pleased to hear that someone still remembers Moahni Moahna. Many things led to us splitting the band. The main reason for us losing interest was some “bad” record companies ripping us off. I want especially warn everybody for Clemens Väth at Rising Sun Productions in Germany. Henrik Flyman has moved to Denmark where he plays in a band called Evil Masquerade. Martin Häggström did one album with Henrik’s Zool but now he just does some “cover gigs” in Sundsvall (apart from guesting with

Angtoria). Moahni Moahna also have an R:I:P website where you can read more: http://moahnimoahna.inc.se/ . Maybe some day we will wake MM up from the dead and make that third album. We’ll see… During the past 7 years I mainly have spent composing musical/theatre music for a local theatre company in Sundsvall, Sweden. It has been very educational for me, especially in the field of arranging and orchestration for symphony instruments. Apart from that I have spent some time in my recording studio which I built up during these years as well. We´re right now moving the studio to a new facility with a separate control room and a new console. You can see the progress on Angtoria’s website. The main focus for me now though is Angtoria. It is extremely fun to work with these guys and it is a shame that me and my brother didn´t work together earlier, cause we work extremely well together musically as well as professionally.

Sarah, you’re mostly known as a singer in Cradle of Filth, Therion, Mortiis. How did your work with those musicians differ from one another? Who are the easiest and the most difficult persons to work with?

Sarah: There was nothing different about working with these people. They all have goals and aims in life. They all want to be the best they can be! They all want to pay their bills and live off their music. Who wouldn’t? If you could make money from your music or work as a toilet cleaner or cook burgers, what would you do? These people all have ambitions! We all do! Of course people have their good and bad sides. No one is perfect and no matter what I think of anyone, we are all here for one thing, music!

Who is responsible for the male vocals on the demo? Is it an experiment, or will there be a permanent male vocalist in Angtoria’s line-up?

Chris: The male vocals on the song “Deity Of Disgust” is done by Martin Häggström, the singer from Tommy’s old band Moahni Moahna. He´s an amazing singer and a great friend of ours, and we´re extremely happy to have him participate on the song. But it’s just a guest appearance and he will not be a permanent vocalist in Angtoria!

What goals do you set for Angtoria? Do you want it to become a full-time band, do you wanna do lot of touring, or are you quite happy with it being a project with no strict obligations to record labels or promoters?

Chris: Our goals are to treat Angtoria as a full-member, worldwide touring and album releasing band. We are not treating Angtoria as just a project. We´re doing all we can to make our goals happen, but once the album is out it´s all up to whether or not the audience wishes to see us perform live or not and how much they will support us! We sincerely hope that we have enough to offer the public and that the

y are interested in seeing us around the world for years to come!

To round up this interview, can you say a few words to your Russian audience?

Sarah: Thanks for the interview and giving us a chance to talk! I love Russia! Had a great time there when I was with Cradle of Filth! So be safe and hope to see you all in the future! Please visit www.angtoria.com and www.jezebeldeva.com.

Anna Babicheva
September 19, 2005
7 ноя 2005 the End

Angtoria

In Search For Truth Within