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Metal Bulletin Zine #162 Washington state, U.S. January 13, 2019 (no.2 in Jan.) www.metalbulletin.blogspot.com www.twitter.com/MetalBulletinZn www.facebook.com/The-Metal-Bulletin-paper-zine-238441519609213/ special issue dedicated to DRACENA (Sweden)
issues of this zine are available online at: www.fuglymaniacs.com
interview: Dracena
This is an interview with Dracena, extreme metal from Sweden that began in
1994. The interview has been done in segments. The person answering the
interview is Mia, who is the creative force behind Dracena. The objective is to
do an extensive interview that covers the past and present of Dracena. First,
here is a review of Dracena.
REVIEW
Dracena’s latest album Cursed to the Night (2017), which could be described
as fast and melodic black thrash with a solid production, will, I hope, impress
any metal supporter that wants, above all, headbanging songs. Comprised of
eight songs, and clocking in just under 40 minutes, Dracena’s mastermind Mia
Larsson apparently is just as impatient as anyone else, and she decided that
the album must, absolutely must, be on point, must waste no time, get to the
headbanging metal quickly, and when the song is finished, end it, and move
on. There is no weirdo experimentation, no spoken-word passages, no ambient
meditation segments, no big political declarations about the environment or
politicians or whatever; there is one minute of quiet intro, and then it’s off to the
races until the end, and then there are thirty seconds of outro, and it’s all over,
and it’s time play it again.
Dracena is traditional extreme metal with the songwriting spirit of traditional
heavy metal and thrash, along the lines of fast and headbanging black thrash.
By the same token, if you already know that traditional heavy metal, classic-
style thrash and traditional black metal are genres that you enjoy, then
Dracena will be of interest if you’d like to hear a combination of these elements
together as a coherent sound aimed straight at everyone into loud and proud
metal music.
The riffs are based on ideas about what headbanging metal the Dracena way
should be, which is an already established sound due to the fact that it was
more than 20 years ago that Dracena started in Sweden. Many things have
changed since the old days, people have come and gone, times of inactivity,
but along the way the identity consolidated around an emphasis on speed,
high energy and fast melody. If you are new to Dracena, but you are looking
for an album that can draw you in as a participant, not a spectator, then
consider this work. What does this mean, participant, not spectator? Dracena is
not here to try to fool you and make you supposedly marvel at the so-called
amazing talent. It’s not talent, like some sort of gift from nature. It’s sweat, skill
and hard work. You, too, can learn to play metal like this, as long as you have
this stubborn singlemindedness of purpose to do it for years and years. The
difference is that Dracena has been sharpening the tools of the trade for a long
time and the execution of the ideas is very good. It takes time to arrive at this
sound and do it well. Dracena’s sound did not just show up out of the blue.
You can understand this music. You can hear the riffs, the drums and the
vocals. You can do air guitar or real guitar to the solos. There is no mystery here:
hard work in the art of the mighty metal riff. You can dedicate your attention to
the album knowing that Mia and friends (Jocke on drums and Unleashed’s Fred
on solos) understand people who listen to metal to bang their heads.
INTERVIEW
First of all, where online can people hear the new album Cursed to the Night? Is
there a way to hear the complete recording at this point?
Cursed to the Night as well as Dracena’s other two albums is available in full
version on most of the digital services such as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music,
Deezer and Pandora. Some of the earlier demos can be found at YouTube.
Now, what about getting a copy of the cd?
The older albums and merchandise can be ordered from
http://dracena.tictail.com/
All the albums as well as the limited ed. cassette for Cursed to the Night can be
ordered from our current label Infernö Records https://www.inferno-records.net
There is also a limited ed. on cassette of our album Ravenous Bloodlust recently
released by Unholy Fire Records - http://www.unholyfire-records.com/
Who is the personnel on the album?
The studio line up for Cursed to the Night is me on vocals, rhythm guitars and
bass, Jocke on drums and Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed, Firespawn, Dead
Kosmonaut) on lead guitars. We also have a guest appearance on vocals for
one of the tracks from Ola Malmström (Sorcery).
The album sounds good to the ear and it sounds professional. Where did you
record it? How has the experience of learning to record your albums been for
you?
I am very pleased with the sound and production of Cursed to the Night.
Everyone involved has done a great job and given a personal touch to the
album Cursed to the Night was recorded in three different studios: All drums
was recorded and played by Jocke at MediEvil Studios (Uppsala) where the
additional vocals on “The Shadow of What Once Was” was also recorded lead
solos and melodies was recorded and played by Fredrik Folkare at Chrome
Studios (Stockholm). Rhythm guitars, bass and vocals was recorded by Pontus
”Punchy” Ekwall at Studio Cave (Fagersta) and he also mixed and mastered
the whole album.
This far I have used different studios for each album. When I choose a studio I
look at sound, recommendations and location. I listen to earlier recordings from
selected studios to evaluate if it will fit the sound I am looking for and ask friends
if they can recommend a studio and if the studio technician is cool to work
with. After I’ve chosen a studio I present a selection of references of what kind
of sound I’ll expect to hear in the finished production.
To me it’s important that once we’re in the studio, everyone involved in the
recording will get along well with each other to be able to produce the best
possible version of the album, to be creative and to make suggestions to
enhance the songs and to have a good time.
On the album you play rhythm guitars, bass and did vocals. When did you pick
up the bass and decided to take care of the bass responsibilities for your
recordings? When you play bass what type of rhythms or tones or sounds are
looking for?
I started to play the bass out of necessity for the first album, Infernal Damnation,
simply because I had no bass player at the time. I usually only practise the bass
before I go to the studio, 4-6 months of rehearsal, as guitar is my main
instrument.
My main goal with the bass is to make a depth in the song and differ the bass
notes from the guitar riffs, because just following the guitar makes a very thin
sound experience.
You have been playing guitar for a long
time. What is the first instrument that you
practiced? Were you a child or a bit older, like
in adolescence, when you began playing
an instrument? For guitar, do you remember
what or who inspired you to play guitar?
The first instrument I played seriously was the
violin, I guess I was about 8 years old. After
that I had a small synthesizer for a couple of
years and I bought my first guitar at 13. I think
the reason I switched to guitar was because I was already into heavy metal but
also because we recently obtained cable TV and a bunch of cool late night
shows like Headbanger’s Ball and The Power Hour/Raw Power. I probably had a
collective inspiration source from all my favourite bands to pick up that guitar
and start to write my own songs.
What kind of music did your parents play in the house when you were a child?
Being Swedish, did your parents like ABBA, Europe or Heavy Load?!
There was a wide diversity of music at home when I grew up, everything from
ABBA, Elvis, The Sweet and Rolling Stones to Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. 70’s disco and 80’s pop on the radio and my
friends listened to black rock or punk or metal.
When you were a teenager what
was happening in music that
interested you in particular?
Were you around for the
explosion of Swedish extreme
metal in the late 80s and early
1990s?
In the early 80’s some of the first
metal videos I recall that really
made an impression was Kiss’
Heaven’s on Fire, Twisted Sister’s
We’re not gonna take it and
Queen’s I want to Break Free. I
was really fascinated both by the bands images and their music.
In school we used to tape trade and record vinyl albums to cassette from each
other and I got hold of a cassette recording of WASP - Animal Fuck like a Beast.
From there it went on with all the bands around at the time. I used to buy
English and American rock magazines and make special orders at the local
vinyl store to import the latest albums of bands I’ve seen on the TV rock shows.
In the early 90’s I lived in Gothenburg and became more familiar with the
extreme metal scene around at the time, mostly through friends in the
Gothenburg scene like Swordmaster, Decameron, Sacramentum, Dissection,
Lord Belial, etc.
When it comes to music, metal is the genre which is closest to my soul,
something that will make it bleed and crave to create my own songs. The
metal bands that will always live on in my eternity are the bands from the 70’s
and 80’s, which had a huge impact on my evilution and has been with me for
most of my life.
Staying in the 80s for a minute, did you listen to the complete albums by Kiss,
Twisted Sister and WASP and other bands after you watched those famous
videos? Were your friends excited about this music at the time or were you
pretty much alone getting into it?
Me and my friends used to listen to all the great bands of the time, there was
always someone who had purchased the latest album which could be
recorded on cassette and traded, weather it was the whole album or a best of
tape of a collection. In my school there were a few metal heads in different
classes, but we used to get together during breaks and hang out and talk
about the bands and albums, what was new and trade cassettes, VHS and
posters and stuff.
What did your parents think about it?! I mean, WASP, and stuff, you know?! They
must have thought you were going off the deep end!
As I can remember my parents took it pretty well and didn’t have any
particular problem either with my choice of music or my choice of clothing and
hair style. My room was covered in posters and pictures from different bands
and idols and at one time I even painted a huge portrait of one of my favourite
bands right on the wall with water colours. That was not too popular at first, I
recall. But they have always been very supportive to my interest although it
turned out to be quite extreme.
Is the 1980s your favorite era of Kiss? Have you gone back to listen to the earlier
Twisted Sister albums? Of course, WASP had a great run of albums in the 80s,
too, right? How do you feel about those old albums now?!
Actually, I am more a fan of the 70’s and early 80s Kiss albums, up to the
Creatures of the Night album and also some of their solo albums and spawn off
bands. I still listen mostly to anything recorded pre-90s, whatever the genre,
simply because that’s the kind of metal I love the most! Then there are some of
those bands still active today which have made truly amazing recordings in the
last decades and survived with the torch held high. The WASP 80s album
releases are each a favourite, different from each other and yet held together
by that unique sound like so many of the other great 80s bands used to have,
like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Accept etc.
So what happens after those bands? Did you become interested in thrash at all?
Where does your interest in metal music take you after bands like Twisted
Sister?
In the mid-80s my best friend used to listen to Kreator, Metallica, Anthrax and
Megadeth, but I was more interested in Mötley Crüe, Ozzy and Alice Cooper
before I got into thrash and speed and later on introduced to the early black
metal scene.
When did you hear that some students from school are starting to form bands?
Did any friends show you their demos at the time, inspired by the big successful
metal of the time, like Judas Priest?
In the city where I grew up the local scene was not big and the bands did not
play heavy metal but more hardcore, punk or rock.
When did you hear that there were demo bands in Stockholm? Is anyone you
know getting those Stockholm demos at the time, getting those cassette tapes?
It wasn’t until I moved to Gothenburg in the beginning of the 90s that I got
more connected to the underground scene, simply because most of my
friends’ bands were still unsigned. I didn’t have a lot of contact with any
Stockholm-based band except for occasional meetings at mutual friend’s
parties.
So, as you go from being a fan of metal music, excited by WASP, and later, by
the crop of quality bands in Gothenburg, like Sacramentum and Swordmaster,
at a time when Dissection is also getting international attention, what are you
thinking then? What do you? Are you thinking: Hey, I need to start a band, too!
Do you have a plan?
The idea of forming a band and specifically with all girls, (if possible), surfaced
in 1993-1994, when almost all of our male friends got signed and started to
release their first or second albums on major labels. Which they played loud
and proud at every party. I already rehearsed with some girls since a few years
back but that “band” was more a thing to get together and play an instrument
than any serious attempt to launch a metal band. So we made a few line-up
changes and began to write our own songs.
Later, how do you start finding friends who want to form a band? Where do you
find friends for a band? At school? in the neighborhood? Is it difficult to find the
right people for a band?
I asked female friends at parties if they had an interest in playing in a band, but
it took some time to form a lasting line-up, mainly because most of them had
never played an instrument. The greatest challenge was to learn how to play.
Luckily, we shared rehearsal room with some other bands and had access to a
good back line, so it wasn’t necessary to buy a lot of equipment in the
beginning. After we finally had settled for a line-up we started to write the
material for the first demo.
By the way, do you know what you want your music to sound like at this time?
Or, are you mostly just interested in making some noise with some friends, but
there’s no style in mind that you are aiming for?
We all definitely wanted to play metal, extreme metal. We rehearsed as often
as we could, not necessarily the whole band, sometimes just me and the
drummer, or whomever was available. There was a good mix of different
genres between us and we each had different favourite bands we got our
influences from. All of the members contributed with material for the songs and
that’s probably why it gave the early demos such a unique sound.
Was Dracena your first band or were you in other bands early on? Were you in
other not-so-serious garage bands early on?
Dracena was the first band constellation we had a name on, before Dracena it
was mostly just a get together and play whatever cover was interesting, or sit
home and play alone.
How did you decide on the name Dracena? At the time, did you record any of
those early sessions? Do you have tapes of those early sessions?
At first we had a lot of different names, most of them already taken, and finally
we settled for Dracena - which originates from the Greek word Drakaina,
meaning She-dragon. Dragons are my favourite creature so it was just perfect.
I still have all the rehearsal recordings on cassette, some promo material we
recorded on porta studio and a bunch of live shows on VHS.
Then in 1997 there is the first Dracena demo! Where did you record it? It must
have been exciting to have the demo out for people to hear?
1997 we decided it was time to record the first demo. Three songs and a cover
of Venom’s “In League with Satan” were chosen and we booked a studio in a
town north of Gothenburg which was frequently used by the Swedish west
coast underground metal bands, Studio Lobster.
At this demo all the instruments were recorded live and then we added the
vocals on a second track and we also had backing vocals from Peter of
Dissection and Terror from Sacramentum. It was pressed in a limited edition of
100 copies on cassette, very exciting to, at last, have a real demo recording!
Do you remember the reaction in your city? Were you playing house parties at
this time? Were you playing shows in the city, like at bars at this time?
As I recall it, most friends and fans thought it was cool that there was a band
with an all-girl line-up playing some kind of metal. There was also a lot of
attention from zines and even the bigger magazines which gave us a lot of
support already early on. Every show we played the place was always packed
with people. We had several gigs in Gothenburg and the surrounding cities, in
Germany and also at the (in-)famous 2 Heavy 4 You festival in Falkenberg,
where Root and Deströyer 666 made their first gigs in Sweden and Nifelheim
had their first gig ever.
I’ve never played any house party, except for a local MC Club, if that counts?
Usually the show was a metal club or a bar with a scene and we supported
bands like Lord Belial, Siebenbürgen, Ancient, Agathodaimon and
Sacramentum.
Previously we discussed the 2017 album Cursed to the Night, and looked back
at the 1980s and also we began looking into the 1990s, leading into the Demo
’97 recording.
Before we continue to 1997 and after, can you help us understand how the idea
of an all-female line-up came up?
The idea to seriously form a female metal band took shape during a party.
Almost all our friends played in bands from the Gothenburg scene and during
this evening, while we listened to their albums, me and some friends thought it
would be a cool thing to start a band of our own with only girls. It was quite
easy to start up since I already played with some other female friends and we
also rented a rehearsal room. We shared the room with a few other bands, for
example Sacramentum and Swordmaster and therefore we had a complete
back-line available to use with drum set and amplifier.
So, we just went to the rehearsal room, everybody chose what instrument they
were interested to handle and we started to play covers and write our own
material. At this time we had no band name and we never decided to play
any specific kind of genre, but because we all listened to heavy, black, thrash
and death metal we ended up playing a more extreme kind of metal.
All members during the years have been close friends and the band was
basically an extra activity for us to hang out and have fun and play and create
the metal we loved to listen too. Dracena would probably have continued to
be all female if we had had the chance to find a good enough female
drummer which fit with the band and style.
Of course, nowadays Dracena is not an all-female entity. Now that you are
older, and that you have lots of experience with the complete process of music,
from writing to recording, from money matters and the music business, how has
your thinking changed/ matured about Dracena about whether you work with
men or women?
Most of the music industry (not only in metal) is dominated by men, labels,
music stores, management, studios etc., which makes it difficult to not work with
men. If there was a 50/50 choice for me to work with a man or a woman I
would go for the most competent person in every case. In my opinion, gender
has no important role in music, it’s all about talent, dedication and being able
to cooperate with other egos. Playing the extreme genres of metal is a level
you’ll never reach without sacrificing a lot of social and family time. As any art
form, it demands a certain dedication and hours of practise and rehearsing, to
be able to play with speed, technique and tightness/rhythm.
I would love to have an all-female band, but I think it would be difficult to form
such a line-up, even today there’s still so many more guys than girls playing
metal that it would be easier to find a male musician who would suit the
demands.
In your own experience, what has happened that Dracena had ended up as a
solo project with friends helping out with drumming and solos?
After the permanent line-up broke up in 2002 I haven’t felt that I needed a full
band to be able to write and record. The possibility to afford to buy and build a
studio and record at home made it easier to become a one-person band. I
can record all instruments myself and rehearse them one at a time at home
with head phones and re-write and develop the songs anytime I feel like it.
When I engage other musicians I can share the songs online and we can work
from our own homes as well as sit in a rehearsal room. On the other hand,
when, sometimes, the progress of the material slows down and the ideas dry
out it is nice to have other persons helping out with the writing and adding their
touch to the songs as well. I do not dictate the way my studio musicians should
play their drums or guitar solos, just indicate a direction and let them work their
magic, which has worked out excellent this far.
Have you ever wondered about what has motivated you to continue while
other people stopped?
Metal is my life and to be able to create my own music and lyrics and albums is
just awesome! It’s much like writing a book or painting a picture and when it’s
finished it doesn’t matter if anyone likes it or not, it’s something I have created
and given my soul to.
Luckily, I have fans who appreciates my work and gives me great feedback
which keeps me on track when things get heavy.
I think it’s sad when great musicians/bands can’t make a living on their art.
Even when they are on big tours and signed to large labels they don’t seem to
make the money they deserve. Being forced to have a job on the side is killing
creativity, and a society without art and music is a dead place to live in. Buying
music and merch through legal channels ensures your favourite bands to
survive.
Going back to the times of the demo, can you tell us more about the 1997
demo?
In 1997 we’ve had the longest lasting line-up so far and with great anticipation
we booked a studio to record three of our original songs and the Venom cover.
The track list and line-up is:
1.Desire
2.Dark River of My Soul
3.Warlord
4.In league with Satan
MiA - guitar & vocals
Emma - guitar
Camilla - bass
Karin - drums
We chose to record a cover because when Dracena played live we always
had a Venom cover on the set list, usually “Countess Bathory” but we thought
”In league with Satan” fit better on this demo. The title wasn’t very original,
Demo ’97, and the only official release has been a limited edition cassette tape
of 100 copies. The demo sold out quickly and we started to get reviews and
interviews in zines like Slayer Mag and Swedish Close Up and soon earned a
reputation in the underground scene.
What happened with the line-up of the demo after the demo was recorded?
Camilla and Karin (Deathwitch) decided to leave the band sometime after the
first demo was recorded, as I recall they moved away from Gothenburg. We
already knew Asa and she started to handle the bass almost immediately but
we had trouble finding a female drummer who played our kind of metal. For a
year or so we had Terror (Sacramentum/Runemagick/Necrocurse) as a session
drummer during rehearsals and gigs and he also plays on the Demonic Women
demo from 1999.
Who was the line-up for 1999’s Demonic Women. By the way, this demo shows a
tighter, much more black metal sound. It has good melodies. Do you
remember who is playing some keyboards on this demo? Where was this demo
recorded? In your opinion, how had your vocal style changed from the first
demo to the second one? What about your guitar playing from the first to the
second demo?
We still didn’t have a permanent drummer in 1999 so the line-up was me
(vocals/guitar), Emma (guitar) and Asa (bass) and we had help from Terror to
play the drums on the Demonic Women demo. Terror also played the few
keyboard melodies.
This demo was recorded at Andy
La Rocque’s studio Los Angered
as we wanted a professional
studio where we could get a
good metal sound and we knew
that Andy would be great working
with as well. We had a great time
recording this and it was a really
cool experience!
Musically we had developed a lot since our first demo and also starting to
shape the Dracena-sound. The material was better, we all have influences from
different genres and our favourite bands spans from Black Sabbath and WASP
to Bathory and Morbid Angel, which makes a very interesting mix for Dracena’s
material, a mix I have tried to keep when I write new material. In preparation for
the studio, since we had only 2 days for recording and mixing, we rehearsed
several times a week which of course made us better musicians as well as
developed and sharpened my vocals.
Then in 2001, there was Labyrinth of Darkness. How you feel about this demo
now?
In 2001 we finally had a permanent drummer, Daniel ”Mojjo” Moilanen
(Heavydeath, Runemagick, Katatonia) and we went to the studio for a third
demo.
This is a demo with potential, but I
am not completely
satisfied with this release. The
material went a little bit away
from the thrash direction which I
wanted to go towards.
The recording was in a home studio
and the production sound is a bit blurry and muffled and I would have loved to
make a re-mix, but sadly I never received the original files of the recording. We
had a lot of technical problems during the recording and the vocals was
recorded in a friend’s bedroom behind a mattress with no effects in the feed
back to my head phones, which made me sing a bit darker and growlier than
usual. Anyway, the songs are still good and a lot more melodic than previous
demos.
Things seem to be going well for Dracena in the 1990s. Three demos: 1997, 1999
and 2001. Yet the debut full-length album Infernal Damnation does not come
out until 2006? In addition, now it is just you, Mia, and a session drummer,
correct? There were about five years of silence. Did you think about ending
Dracena when all the members were gone?
There has never been any plans to end Dracena, not even after the split with
the other members. Since we already had released three demos I kept on
writing material with the plan to finally record a full-length. For a while I had a
few new members on the way, but I later decided to go on my own with the
recording and release the album independently. Infernal Damnation was
recorded in 2004 but wasn’t released until 2006 as it took some time for me to
get everything in order with finances, the sound mixing, the cover and layouts,
and to find a place to press the album as well as learning all the technicalities
with file formats etc for the CD-master, booklet and so on.
I set up my own home studio and learned to program drums and record all
string instruments on my computer. This is the first time I actually practised how
to play the bass which was a fun experience. Mojjo came back as session
drummer and we used two different studios for this recording, Hellbound Studios
for all the instruments and Brutaliator Studios for the vocals. Beside the Infernal
Damnation album we also recorded a WASP cover, Animal – F*** like a Beast,
which was released in 2004 by Codiac Records (DK) on a WASP tribute album,
Shock Rock Hellions. All the guitar solos were played by Chris Loud.
Do you remember if there was a moment when you decided that Dracena
would continue? Did you think about a project like Bathory in which it was
essentially a solo project by Quorthon?
I can’t say that I have ever had any conscious thoughts about ending the
band at all, even if there’s been idle periods those are mostly because I have
been busy with my job and haven’t had the time to be creative. This is also one
of the main reasons to why I am the only member of the band - it would have
been unfair to engage other full-time members when I can’t give my full
attention to Dracena, Being the only member gives me the freedom to chose
when I feel like putting together the next album and it works just fine for me to
have my session musicians whenever it’s necessary… and it’s kinda cool to be a
female version of Quorthon.
Then album Infernal Damnation was released in 2006. That was more than 10
years since the beginning of the band. Looking back on it, how frustrating was it
that it took more ten years to release a proper album? When you were doing
the demos, were there record companies interested in releasing your music?
Sure, it was frustrating to have to wait for so long before the release of our
debut album as Dracena had worked so hard for many years. We wrote and
recorded demos, played live and promoted the band all the time in zines and
everywhere we went. After each release we sent out promo packages to
labels, press and gig organisers, making Dracena a well-known name in the
underground scene.
We did receive offers from labels but none of them appealed to us. I guess we
were pretty picky and we always tried to negotiate the terms a bit too much
which mostly cooled off the interest from the label. Perhaps if we had been
signed early in the days the Dracena career would have developed different,
but we didn’t want to sign just any contract in desperation to get our recorded
work out to the audience.
So what happened after the album was released? At that point, were you
frustrated and decided to take a break from music?
After the release of Infernal Damnation I decided that I needed a better-paid
job to be able to support myself to record and release my music. For the next 4-
5 years I worked hard with extremely long working days and I also worked on
weekends and holidays. Meanwhile, I didn’t have a lot of time to write or to be
creative although I kept writing material which I recorded at home and I also
made a few attempts to put together another full length, but I wasn’t satisfied
enough with the tracks to book a professional studio.
Yet in 2014 Dracena returned with the EP Ravenous Bloodlust. What motivated
you to resurrect Dracena?
In 2012 things finally slowed down at work and I had so much material that I
decided it was about time to sit down and try to re-write the best of the best of
my new riffs and record at least one decent mini CD. So I slaughtered all my
darlings and in another 5-6 months I had re-written 4 really great tracks which I
felt would make an awesome mini album. After I had finished the material all I
needed was to find a good studio and a good session drummer. One evening
while I was thinking about a possible drummer an old friend of mine (who just
happens to be a drummer) popped up on the chat with a link to his latest
recording. I asked if he was interested in doing the session drums for my album,
which he accepted.
The choice of studio was easy as I am very pleased with the sound of our
second demo, Demonic Women and therefore I booked a few days at Andy
La Rocque’s Sonic Train Studios.
In 2017 there was the album Cursed to the Night. How do you feel at this point
about making music and having Dracena be a solo project? Do you enjoy
being able to do whatever you want and not having to deal with “band
meetings” and band drama and discussions? You get to be your own boss!
I am quite content about being the only member in the band, I can do
whatever I want, whenever I want to, and I have no obligations to anyone but
myself. But there are a lot of advantages to be working with a group of people
and share a unique dynamic and the fusion of different minds. If the
constellation is of a positive nature it will lead to the band’s progression and
evolution, adding all the small details and variations to the music which takes it
to a higher level.
Is it stressful, though? Having to do so much by yourself?! If you want something
done, you basically have to do it yourself?
Yes, I write all the instrumental and lyrical material, create the album concept
with layout and graphical designs, handle the website and social media as well
as having a full-time job - and beside that there’s all the usual things that needs
to be taken care of in life. While I am having an active album ongoing I
estimate it takes 1,5-2 years from start until the album is released and then
another 6 months for the usual aftermath with interviews and so on. It can be
stressful occasionally to find all the time necessary to keep things moving and
meeting the deadlines with studios, photo sessions, interviews, correspondence,
etc. Racing toward a studio deadline and feeling the material isn’t good
enough or finished is horrible, knowing that if I don’t have everything ready at
the booked date it could be a huge delay before I am able to get another
date to record the missing parts, but it will also be expensive to have to pay for
more days of recording.
Has Dracena played live recently? How do you feel about that? Have there
been offers to play live? What would have to happen in order for Dracena to
play live?
The last show we played was in 2014 in Münster Germany. After the release of
Ravenous Bloodlust we supported some friend’s (Savagery (DE)), album release
party. I do love to play live, but there’s a lot of time and work to rehearse for a
live show as I play both the guitar and do the vocals as well. To prepare to play
live is time consuming and since there is no steady line-up right now I chose not
to play any single events.
Another aspect is also the cost to play - travel, vehicles, hotels, food and so on
for the whole band. As a support band there is not much payment from the
ticket sales and if the merchandise don’t sell every show will be expensive for
the band.
We’ve had offers for gigs but mostly “pay to play-gigs” to join a bigger band as
support. At the time it was too much money for me to pay but I would definitely
invest in a show or tour if I had the musicians and we were well prepared and if
it would benefit Dracena in the future.
What is next for Dracena? Do
you have more music that
you would like to record? Do
you know when there will be
new music?
I already have 4-5 “skeleton”
tracks which I am rehearsing
and working with, although
right now I am considering
myself to be in-between-
albums-idle and I don’t feel
any pressure to start working
actively on another release
for some time.
In 2017 there was Cursed to the Night. It is now 2018, almost 2019. Has there
been enough of a good response to the album that you think that you would
like to make another one?
There’s been a great response to Cursed to the Night, but even if it hadn’t
been I would still keep writing new riffs and when I feel that I have enough new
material, I’ll probably start sketching on the next album.
facebook.com/Dracena.SE/
THE END
— metal programs in Washington (Pacific Times) Excuse All the Blood (Olympia, WA): Friday night 10pm-1am www.kaosradio.org Metal Shop (Seattle, WA): Saturday 10pm-3am KISW 99.9fm www.kisw.com — This zine is also available at: www.issuu.com/metalbulletinzine www.scribd.com/user/93425308/Metal-Bulletin-Zine
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