Five Minutes with Simone Simons | Metal Hammer 341
What’s the worst thing about being in a band?
"Missing my family and friends. The silver lining of our current situation is that I’m finally home for a longer time. Of course I have that itchy feeling about getting back onstage but it's such a special time in my son’s life and he’s more aware of me being there as a mother, now I can catch up on what I’ve been missing.”
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
“My aunt said, ‘You should wait until your voice has matured before you take singing lessons.’ I didn’t listen to her so the best advice was listening to my gut feeling that this was something I had to do. I got lessons and I got in touch with Mark Jansen but if I’d waited like my aunt said, I think everything would’ve taken a different turn.”
When the first time you felt like a rockstar?
“When I’m playing huge festivals with a big audience. I never see myself as a famous person but those are the moments where you’re like, ‘Shit, everybody’s looking at me,’ and everything just hits you.”
What’s been your worst experience on drugs?
“I suffer from insomnia so sometimes I have to take sleeping pills. While recording this new album, I woke up in the night and took a pill. The next morning, I drove to the studio and parked the car, but the car rolled down the hill so I had to jump in and pull the handbrake. I can drive perfectly but the pill was still in my system so I wasn’t into my everyday automatic movements.”
When was the last time you cried?
“I’m not a crybaby but motherhood has made me into a wimp! If kids are hurt in movies or I see something on Instagram with a sick child, I get teary-eyed. During my wedding ceremony, I took half an hour to say my wedding vows instead of two minutes because I kept on crying, it was embarrassing!”
Have you picked up any hobbies during lockdown?
“I started off with good intentions of finally learning to play the piano because our son’s learning and he’s surpassed me. Whenever I practice, he comes over like, ‘No, you’ve got to play it like this!’ He pushes me away from the piano and I don’t have chance to practice. I have so many hobbies like photography, I also have a blog!”
How are you handling teaching your son at home now?
“Lots of red wine! That’s probably the last time I cried because I was just so frustrated, everybody wasn’t dealing with the situation very well and the insecurity about what’s happening to our tours, how we’re going to make money and everything. Plus our kid is suddenly at home so we were all on edge, it was difficult but I found out I could never become a teacher.”
What’s been your proudest moment with Epica so far?
“Anniversary shows and special shows when we have a new album out always have an extra spark for me. I quite enjoyed the shows I did when I was pregnant, there were basically seven band members on stage and I was so proud. My lifelong dreams were to become a singer and a mother so those shows were like everything coming together.”
After 18 years together, what has Epica grown to mean to you?
“Epica has been my therapy over the last couple of years. Now listening to other Epica albums, I can feel why fans tell us our music has helped them. It’s really been Epica that’s kept me going and brought out my inner strength.”
What message would you like fans to take from your new album Eight?
“Believe in yourself and no matter how bad life goes, music will always pull you through. For me, Eight is a record of what’s going on in our lives as a society and as individuals. I had quite a rough time leading up to the new record and I put that all in the music. I hope we can give this back to everybody, that they can also get through hardships in life.”
LIVE REVIEW: Lacuna Coil - Alcatraz, Milan | Metal Hammer 341
Witnessing a band joyfully getting back to the ‘office’ after an eight-month global pandemic-enforced tour break is one of the few plus-sides of these uncertain times. Presenting all the dramatic onstage visuals of a normal Lacuna Coil show, smoke machines and striking makeup to boot, the band broadcast a night in the Alcatraz venue in their hometown of Milan for a special online show celebrating last year’s album Black Anima in its entirety – including bonus tracks – an exclusive chance for fans to see every song receive the onstage treatment.
Donning their monochrome boiler suits from the album’s tour and delivering Sword Of Anger’s gutsy notes for the first time with all their signature energy, the night gets off to a typically theatrical start. With a bright-eyed renewed energy and no usual crowd noise, the vocal discourse between Cristina Scabbia’s heavenly cleans and Andrea Ferro’s roars is more crystal clear than ever, most noticeable through the reflective Now Or Never.
The irony of belting Apocalypse and its stunning guitar artistry right in the middle of a pandemic is not lost on Lacuna Coil tonight, emphasised by a faultless debut performance of Under The Surface’s ode to isolation, which carries even more depth in 2020. The poignant The End Is All I Can See also sees its first outing, neatly framed by the atmospherics of Veneficium pouring its heart out. Journeying through the punchy Bad Things into the ballsy Layers Of Time and closing on Black Anima’s gorgeous theatrics, this relentless trio make a powerful ending to the evening’s packed setlist but not before one final surprise. Once the band leave the stage and give their thanks to viewers, Cristina Scabbia performs a heartfelt rendition of Save Me with pianist Silvia Zanaboni, translating one of Black Anima’s most rousing odes into a truly moving tear-jerker. Despite fronting an empty venue, Lacuna Coil produce a stirring back-to-back performance of an incredibly personal album, bringing their gut-wrenching songs straight into the homes of fans separated for now by COVID-19, but hopefully not for much longer.
ALBUM REVIEW: Tallah - Matriphagy | Metal Hammer 341
Those with a sensitive disposition should probably look away now — Tallah’s debut album is not for the faint-hearted. The face of nu metal in 2020 is a grotesque one, according to the genre-disfiguring Philadelphia outfit masterminded by Max Portnoy, son of Dream Theater’s Mike. Establishing their sadistic mission statement through chaotic tales embellished with venomous raps and despairing cleans, Matriphagy paints gruesome pictures you can’t tear yourself away from, picking up where Korn’s self-titled left off. Overconfidence will make you reach for your JNCO jeans, The Silo rakes up spooky vibes from '00s gothic metal and Cottonmouth’s Code Orange-esque aural onslaught sets your teeth on edge: Tallah’s shock-factor approach is already proving to be tremendous.
ALBUM REVIEW: Like Moths To Flames - No Eternity In Gold | Metal Hammer 341
Five albums into their career, metalcore’s Like Moths To Flames discover their nirvana. Where 2017’s Dark Divine lost itself in lofty concepts and slow-burning atmospherics, No Eternity In Gold laces the melodic devastation of When We Don’t Exist with a newfound moral purpose. Delivering a scathing commentary on religion and the futility of humanity’s obsession with the afterlife that leads to neglect of the present day, the Ohio four-piece’s 2020 guise pits vocalist Chris Roetter’s emotional range against neck-snapping breakdowns while tackling a very personal spiritual conflict. With the show-stopping guitar display on A Servant Of Plague alone, Like Moths To Flames have found their place in cutting metalcore, and not a moment too soon.
While the rest of the music industry waits out a pandemic to discover its fate, DevilDriver frontman and all-round metal mastermind Dez Fafara is busier than ever. While juggling work for his own label Oracle Records and preparing the world for the release of a scathing double DevilDriver record, he squeezed in a few moments to answer queries sent in by our readers, from revisiting his iconic Coal Chamber makeup to DevilDriver’s plans for world domination — step aside, coronavirus.
Did you feel a bit silly having to slap on spooky makeup again for the Coal Chamber reunion?
Brendan Smith (email)
“No, I loved it to be honest with you! I’m a gothic punk rock kid that only found heavy metal because I found Motörhead, I love it violent and aggressive and all those things that go along with what metal is, which is why I got into metal. Otherwise, I’m a punk rock kid so that lends itself to eyeliner and all the other shit. Now I look at what’s popular right now, looking at some of the bands out there, it looks like they could be taking from what Coal Chamber did. I see Avatar and think, ‘Thank god we did what we did back in the day or maybe there’d be no ground breaking open for a band like that.’ Which is me giving accolades actually, not saying if we never did that, you’d never have a band. I’m saying that back in the day when we broke that out, there was only a few bands doing it. When the harsh critics got the gold records thrown at them, they understood we were doing something right!”
What would be your one piece of advice to a young band?
Cat Olah (email)
“Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Play in your local town until you sell out your local club, get all your social medias online, get a YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. Don’t get caught up in the sex, drugs and rock and roll thing, get caught up in the rock and roll thing and the rest will come. Really pay attention to your craft, that’s what I’d say.”
What have you been writing about for the new DevilDriver album?
Jo Bersden (email)
“The reason why it's called Dealing With Demons and the reason I needed a double record to do this was that I’m moving in a different direction lyrically in the future and before I do, I’ve gotta get some things off my chest. Invariably they are things I’ve written about my whole life, I’m writing about my demons and society’s demons and society’s ills as well. The first single Keep Away From Me is about me being terribly agoraphobic. I’ve been socially distancing my whole life, I don't do well in crowds, I’m not gonna show up to your Grammy awards party. If you invite me somewhere where there’s a bunch of people I don't know, there’s a chance I’ll tell you I’ll be there but be prepared for me to call you an hour or two before to tell you I can’t find my car keys. Iona represents society’s ills and people who enjoy a certain kind of horror. Horror to me is Dracula, The Mummy, ghosts, what’s around the corner, the shadow in the background. Somehow, somewhere it became slashers, for example the guy who says The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is his favourite movie. He plainly killed 15 women and skinned them in that movie, why would you gravitate to that? Why do people run home every night to watch CSI or murder porn TV? I’m asking about that, what has triggered society to make that their favourite thing? Nest of Vipers is about how people and their loyalty are easily bought. There’s a chorus that says, ‘She sleeps with bones beside her / She sleeps in a nest of vipers,’ and that’s about how women can be bought and sold and that’s not prostitution, I’m talking loyalty.”
Who's the toughest motherfucker in the heavy metal scene? (You can't say yourself!)
James Richardson (email)
“I would never say me! Who’s the toughest motherfucker? What is ‘tough’? Is ‘tough’ the guy that can survive 30 years in the music industry or is it the guy that can walk into a bar and beat everybody’s ass? I don’t know how to answer that. All I can say is this: in a brawl, I’ve never lost and my nose has been broken three times.”
Will there ever be a new Coal Chamber album?
Joe Cadec (Facebook)
“I’m not gonna say no because we’ve all spoken, Mikey [Cox, drums] is running a very large general contracting company at this moment, Meegs [Rascón, guitars] is doing something in another band for the moment, Nadja [Peulen, bass] is waiting. The main thing for me is that the relationship is all good after numerous fallouts in the beginning and after some stuff went horribly wrong when we got back together to release Rivals, the vibe in that camp is very cool at the moment and we all have each other’s backs. During [Fafara’s wife] Anahstasia’s cancer, they were all writing and calling all the time so it was really incredible to see them come back into my life. I’m not gonna say yes or no, I wouldn’t put it past us but right now I’m definitely concentrating on DevilDriver.”
Will there be a collab between you and your son?
Jeanie Bean (Facebook)
“Yes, my son Simon collaborated on Fighting Words when he was 9 years old and on this new record, Dealing With Demons Part I, he’s on the choruses of You Give Me A Reason To Drink and he sounds incredible. He’s actually working on his first record right now that we plan on releasing next year, so look out for me getting ready to pass the torch to him very soon! His lows are lower than me, his high screams are higher than me, his clean voice is absolutely incredible. To the point that if I fell ill, he could go fill in for me with DevilDriver and he could slay it. He came out on stage with me in LA the last time and 3000 people went insane when they saw him, he did an incredible job on Clouds Over California with me.”
Have you ever thought about a solo album, and if so which musical direction do you think it would take?
@chriscull80 (Twitter)
“I have thought about it and I just don’t know because I’m real good in a group atmosphere. The direction of it would ultimately be way heavier than anything you guys have ever gotten from me to be honest. That could be in the works or it could not be in the works, I can’t really say at this point, but you guys should expect something insanely heavy when you do get it, if you do get it.”
Do you ever think of taking Coal Chamber songs and beefing them up with Devildriver?
@J1sonofagun (Twitter)
“We’ve done that, we’ve played a few of them live and that’s only because I missed playing the songs live and if god forbid something happened to me and I never got to play those songs again or people didn’t get to hear them again. They sound incredible done by DevilDriver with two guitars, it’s a lot heavier to be honest. For me, it was a good time to bust one or two of those out at a DevilDriver show, people always go crazy and it’s really cool to see.”
Would you ever consider a tour of the first DD album?
@paddy_008 (Twitter)
“Yes, we’ve been considering that. If lockdown or anything more happens and we can’t get out to tour, we’re gonna start doing pay-per-view shows and play all the records in their entirety. If we can’t come over there from the US and there’s no touring in the US next year, it’s time to start doing PPV shows. We’d use Oracle Live which is a PPV company we started in February and it’s been doing incredibly, we were Wacken’s streaming partner, we’ve done Black Veil Brides and Body Count, plus we’re getting ready to do some very large bands in the next week or two, we’ve got relationships with venues and camera crews all over the world.”
What's your plan for 2021? Also European Tour, right?
@_StefanoDV_ (Twitter)
“I wish I knew! There’s a lot of plans up in the air to try and tour and I just don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s no touring at the moment in the US, I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to come overseas because of what America’s going through right now. Here’s the thing: we never script a movie, we always watch the movie play itself out, now I’m having to find myself sitting in the seat watching the movie play out. As soon as we get to the end, Stefano, I’ll let you know!”
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