Interviews

Empress Interview

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Hi, I am glad that this interview came to be, because I feel like that you are a valuable and interesting band. I would like to get you some more attention. First of all let’s start with the basics. Who are you, since when are you around? Why did you all start to play music?

Thank you so much – I’m also glad this interview worked out! We really appreciate your kind words. My name is Barbara Blackthorne, lead vocalist of Empress. We are a progressive symphonic power metal band and we started as a band at the end of 2018. We all have our own reasons for starting to play music, but honestly, I play music because I can’t imagine doing anything else!

Your style is mostly symphonic power metal. Altough there’s been a handful of other bands under these genres, but you still have chance in my opinion. Your catchy songs carry handful of emotions, perfect guitar solos and great vocal performances. What would you like to ad to this list?

Once again, thank you! I think what else I would add to the list would be variety – between the five of us, we have quite a wide variety of influences. Some of us have death metal backgrounds; others, progressive folk power metal; and one of us even has jazz! And while we are ultimately symphonic power metal, I do think that all of those influences find their way into our music and colours it in a unique way.

Returning back to the sound, it is not a miracle that we are talking about quality here, because the famous Dan Swanö mixed and mastered your record. Was it a must for you to work with him? Why did you decide on him?

Nicholas, our bassist, has been a huge fan of Dan’s work for forever. He was very excited about showing him to us as an option when we were looking for the right person to mix and master our debut album – as soon as everyone listened to just a few songs from his catalogue, we unanimously agreed with him that Dan was the one for the job.

What words would you use to describe his work? How do you like the final outcome?

Dan is truly an artist and master at what he does, and his work absolutely reflects those facts. We can’t express enough how happy we are with what he did with our music- he’s a legend for a reason, after all!

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Your album got the name „Fateweaver” and it came out August 19th. This will be your first album. How much would you say are the 9 tracks are a direct way you are heading towards or you are just tapping your feet into the water to test what works?

I’d say that being the young band that we are, while “Fateweaver” is certainly indicative of the Empress “sound” we’re developing, we certainly have lots of growing and experimenting we want to do! We’re pushing ourselves constantly, and I’d say that it’s a little bit of both – testing the waters with our sound, but certainly heading in that direction.

For our European eyes America seems way too far and we must imagine the metal scene there totally different than how it really is. Are there any genre there that is more underground than others? How do people like your own music there?

The metal scene – especially the power metal scene – is very underground here, but there is definitely a community for it! The North American Power Metal scene has some incredible talent in it, and it’s fun to be apart of because it’s sort of like we’ve all sought each other out and are banding together. So far as the general music scene goes, our music is considered strange for this region and we definitely stand out, but it’s really cool to introduce this genre of music to entirely new group of people who may not have known about it otherwise.

How much popularity and buzz would you like to have right now? Or do you think that if you keep on working what you like, people will recognise it and the instant popularity doesn’t really mattter?

Of course we’d love to have as much popularity and buzz as possible right now! But we know these things take time. And honestly, we’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with the responses we’ve received. The response has been truly humbling and we’re incredibly grateful for it. No matter what, instant popularity or not, there is something to be said about paying your dues, and building an organic fan base of real fans is always worth it 100% of the time.

There was a campaign for your new album at August 16th. Your record was available on Discord before the release, and people could donate any amount they wanted to support you with. What would you like to tell us about this event? How did it go?

That event was our listening party and it went incredibly well! It was so much fun to have that experience with our fans & friends as we all shared in listening to the complete album together and seeing their reactions as they listened for the first time. It definitely heightened our excitement about the release just a few days later and all of the festivities surrounding that.

What do you plan to push the album as much as possible? Would you rather do concerts or videos?

I don’t know that I’d “rather” do one over the other, as I truly love both and hope to get to do plenty of them. Videos are a beautiful artistic medium for telling a story, and live shows allow for an energy and connection with an audience that is unlike anything else. So far as promoting this album goes, we’re hoping to take this show out on the road soon!

Could you name an opportunity that you would like to get, because that would help you to reach your goals a bit easier or faster?

Getting to play any major festival would be a huge deal, or to open for any established band whose fans may like us – some dream ones would be Epica and Symphony X.

When you first got into metal, at that perios what music spoke to you the most? What concerts did you like to visit? What kinds of stories did you tell to your friends about those nights?

I was 15 when I first got into metal, ad it never let me go! It spoke to a part of me almost instantly, and it has been that way ever since. I loved bands like Twisted Sister (who was my very first metal concert), and eventually came to love power metal bands like Dragonforce and Versailles. I remember after my first metal show seeing Twisted Sister telling my friends that I had whiplash from headbanging so much throughout the entire night!

Did you ever thought that you will be on stage rather than just watching a show?

Ever since I was young, I knew I’d be on stage – there was no way I’d be able to just sit and watch forever! Performing has called to me and I’ve had no choice but to follow.

What feelings do you have from watching other young kids seeing your shows?

Watching young kids see our shows is the greatest feeling in the world. I know how much my favourite performers inspired me, and if I can have even a fraction of that impact on another child then that’s something I take a special amount of pride and gratitude from.

Thank you so much for this interview. I enjoyed my time a lot talking to you. Wish you the best, and if there is anything you would like to share with your fans, feel free to do so!

Thank you so much, it’s been an absolute pleasure! Fans can find us on all of our social media channels at the handle “Empress Legion.”, and we advise keeping a close eye on all of those socials for all the latest news – some of which will be revealed soon!


https://www.facebook.com/Empresslegion
https://www.instagram.com/empresslegion/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC935_iEZwpt4G9Ali6j0VmQ

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