From Hip Hop and R`n`B to Sport Metal
“Let’s talk about your hometown Giessen. It is a bit like “the other Hessia”, not like the Rhein-Main-Area around Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, etc. with all the cool clubs. More the rural part of Hessia, a couple of university students, that’s it…”
“Well, I am indeed a true country [bumpkin]girl, I’m from Kleeberg, super small village. I grew up very sheltered.”
“And then you became a metal singer…”
“Ah yes, my first steps were more into direction Hip Hop though, shame on me!” We start laughing again as so often.
“I indeed thought so, your outfit, behaviour, etc., it’s all rather Hip Hop than Metal.” We can’t stop laughing; we need a break (out). All that while ‘poor’ Schmiddi tries to find some sleep…
“I really grew up with Hip Hop and R‘n’B as a little teenage girl. It was crazy, that’s how I grew up and then Rock stepped into my life. Because there was nothing around when we started as a band. We didn’t play clubs but small [countryside/remote] festivals. We already traveled through half Germany. No route, no destination too far. We just went there, played, had fun. We always chose areas where we didn’t come from, far from our homelands. It never mattered!”
Super Excited in the Parallel Universe
[At that time] “In two weeks’ time you start your first international tour supporting Dark Tranquility and Ensiferum together with Tag My Heart in France and Spain…” – “Yeah, that’s mega cool. Crazy.”
“Like ‘the band from the village takes Spain in storm, Madrid here we come!’ How did you get that deal?” – “Ah yeah, we have really been living in a parallel world for some months. It still is so unreal. For weeks nothing else mattered and now it is just two weeks before we’ll be on tour. Sunday in two weeks we will play in Paris. I mean: PARIS!!! It is unbelievable. It is another funny story how it happened. Again “Break Out” was the reason. We played in Austria last year and a festival organizer heard this song. It was completely spaced out. Germany was in full lock-down while in Austria everything was possible, all was open.”
“Just look at the US! Everybody has toured the US for half a year. Here, only s l o w l y venues open. But still bands have to cancel gigs or tours because touring is simply impossible in this patchwork of rules in Europe.”
“Yeah true, but hopefully not for long anymore. Anyway the organizer heard this song and he wanted us. The booker of the festival, Dirk [Lehberger] of Noisegate, he is our booker for gigs outside of Germany. He does bands like Lacuna Coil, and was told to get us! He contacted us, saw us live and was convinced. He also does Dark Tranquility and he asked us to tour with them. I am super excited.”
The Sky is the Limit. The only Limit
Someone crosses the room, nearly stumbling over us as we are quite comfortably half sitting, half laying on the floor. There are bigger problems in the world, so we shrug and move on.
“About your new single “Sky Is The Limit”: how are the numbers? Have you already checked the clicks on YouTube?”
“Honestly no, I don’t know. Simply no time.”
“For you the title should be “The Sky Is No Limit” anyway.” Lisa laughs again: “At least that’s the meaning, when you listen to it and follow the lyrics. You will easily find out that there is no limit. It’s a kind of “Break Out Part 2”. The limit only happens inside your head. When we wrote ‘Break Out’ it was the beginning of the pandemic, we decide to party hard, put on the barbeque, drink beer and write the coolest song ever. Last autumn, when we’ve been to the studio for “Fighter”, the EP, we recorded the songs which were already written. Transforming the old story into today. “Sky Is The Limit” and everything which will come now was written from October to January. A really small time frame!”
“So the album [review] is completely done? Why don’t you already sell it here?”
One more happy laughter: “It is just not released!”
“But it is up to you!”
“Yeah, still some rules apply, even for us. For example Spotify, it makes sense to pitch the songs, the more lead time you have, the better are the odds to make it on playlists.” – “You’ve made it already on the public playlist of Lindsay Schoolcraft, ex-keyboarder of Cradle of Filth….”
Oh menno, no no
“Nevertheless, I’d like to address an important, rather serious topic. These old white “sugar daddy” men on concerts, those who just stare on the boobs of the female musicians and you can see the drool running down the face, what do you think about them? Do you have this problem?”
“Actually we don’t have this problem and so far I haven’t notice such things on our shows. I don’t know if it is my personality. I don’t have the problem to be sexualized. Maybe we are too much of one body as a band. We also don’t have these typical gender roles in the band. Like I’m not doing this or that because I’m a woman.”
I pitch in too as everybody else, it should all look nice
“Haha, you only don’t help building up the stage and gear, because you are just the singer, only the mic, that’s all you got to do!”
“Oh menno, no no” Lisa throws the ball back “It’s true I don’t have that much to do there in my band role. But I’m doing other things instead. I set up the merch stall, decorate. Maybe same bands are like this, I believe it is just a prejustice. I pitch in too as everybody else, it should all look nice.”
“I missed some flowers and decorative candles at the merch though…” Lucky me, Lisa doesn’t throw the next best thing against my head.
“But a lamp garland” – “Left over from Christmas?” I receive a look that kills from my opposite but instead of throwing knives, she explains: “I grew up with three brothers and when our dad chopped firewood, we all helped and carried it at its place, up and downloaded the trolley, I never fitted in that typical female role model. There was no difference, we were all equal. I always knew who I am and I believe I radiate that!”
It simply says that there is a female voice
“What about ‘female fronted’ then? A large musical range of bands is classified like that but it says nothing about the musical style apart from having a female vocalist.”
“Honestly and as so often, I don’t care! I really don’t think about it so it is no insult to me. For me it is interesting that you come up with it because then there must be an expression behind it. For me it is okay. It is okay if people look for it at Spotify for a research and get a broad spectrum of bands as a result. It is nothing negative for me.”
Felix comes in, asking for Schmiddi’s stomach, if everything is okay for us, and if someone would like a ‘Jägermeister’. The three of us refuse the friendly offer though.
“I believe you must see everything as two sides of the coin, for me it is the first time that I hear it can be a negative phrase. For me it is not bad at all! It simply says that there is a female voice.” What a practical approach as there are still mostly male musicians in metal bands. A welcome bridge to speak of another female role model in the music biz:
The “stolen” question
“One of your closer fans, I think Till, the large guy already asked you something about the new album “Pokerface” and I thought “Tough luck, he has stolen my question.”
“Ah, yes, something about Lady Gaga, but there is no connection. We’re not die-hard Lady-Gaga fans or so. He was the first one to ask it. The story is different. We made a break during the writing session and the four of us went for a walk. Ben said, ‘we’d need a real killer opener song for the album. It must mean and embody everything we wanna express. Right between the eyes.’ So I suggested to play a game and throw terms at each other. We more and more to the point what we actually really want to say. Finally, I came up with the phrase pokerface. Them: ‘We can’t do it due to Lady Gaga.’ Me: ‘Let’s not care about Lady Gaga, no excuse! Let’s take Pokerface, at least it is what we wanna tell with the album.’ Is it really true what you believe you’re saying? Or is it time to take off the masquerade, stop talking nonsense about and to yourself? Stop being the one I think I need to be because the society wants me to be like this.”
We are so privileged in Germany
Lisa continues:“Or because someone told you, you can’t do that. Those principles you once learned from others and accepted them. For example, someone tells you, you’re bad in maths and you believe it. You’re insecure when you have to calculate something and as soon as someone else comes along, you hand it over because you think you can’t do it. Everything you do. I AM and what follows is the most powerful expression ever! Not what am I, but who do I wanna be? What do I wanna reach? We are so privileged in Germany. We have all these possibilities. Other people in the world currently have the real problems, and we whin around because we must wear a face mask. A mask, nothing more! That’s where you think ‘Stop complaining about everything someone might do wrong and your sh*tty little self-made problems, but reflect yourself first?’ Where can I do something good for others, bring peace into the world? It is always easy to scold about the others. But to say instead ‘What can I do to change something, make it a better world, even if only in my small circle! When someone falls down and I help getting up again.”
“Or someone has stomach pain…” – Lisa echoes“Or someone has stomach pain. I think I need to look for a bitters for him”, “C’mon, not in the night half past midnight! You can still do that tomorrow”, Lisa tells him.
He is still not feeling well, and our loud conversation is doing its part, as he mumbles. Maybe a “Brezn” would help or so, he believes. Something salty and a coke might be helpful indeed, as Grandma always offered it, I think. We exchange funny phrases and recommendations of our grannies for a couple of minutes, it slightly raises his mood now that he is distracted. Lisa finally explains: “When you believe in something, it helps, that’s a fact!”