Leaves'
Eyes
"Vinland Saga" is surely
one of the best albums I've listened to this year and although I'm not
into this kind of music, I found the songs simply enchanting, magnetising
and majestic! The story narrated on this album is very beautiful too. So,
these are some of the things that me and Liv Kristine talked about in a
very long, extremely pleasant and friendly interview! Liv Kristine is such
a nice and calm person that makes you feel you are actually talking to
a friend. Read this interview and you'll find it out yourselves!
1. FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS FOR “VINLAND
SAGA”! IT’S A GREAT ALBUM WITH A LOT OF DEPTH!
Thank you very much! It’s really nice to hear
Christina!
2. COULD YOU POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS
AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUR CAREER TILL NOW WITH LEAVE’S EYES?
Hmm… the most important moments with Leave’s
Eyes was of course to have a record deal and it was just shortly after,
just a couple of months after I was kicked out of Theater Of Tragedy...
Well in fact it was at the same time as I was kicked out of Theater Of
Tragedy and it happened really quickly. I had a record deal with Leave’s
Eyes and we could write a record, write a concept and I’m very grateful
of that, cause when I was kicked out of Theater Of Tragedy I was really
sad. It was bad luck! I was 10 years in this band. I actually started this
band and I asked myself... Shall I continue as musician or is this
the end of me? So, believe me when I had a record deal with Leave’s Eyes
it was like a light in the tunner for me. I felt fantastic and yesterday
happened something that no one expected. We have just released a mini album
called “Elegy” and it went straight in the charts!
-REALLY? THAT’S GREAT!
Yeah! It’s good for Leave’s Eyes and great
for Napalm records, because...
-WELL THEY HELPED YOU AND YOU HELPED THEM...
Exactly! It was a great day! We didn’t expect
it, but it happened! I must have an angel somewhere!
-YOUR SON MAYBE...
Yeah! You’re right! My son! He is a true angel!
Hahahaha
3. I THINK THAT THIS ALBUM IS EXCELLENT, MULTI
LEVELED AND COMPLETE, HOWEVER LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU WERE GIVEN THE CHANCE
TO REVIEW IT. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY, TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
Ooooh! This is a very difficult question...
I would say that the album has more depth into it, it’s more complex, the
song structure is more complex and also the album is very variated. You
have ballads that are very feminine, soft and emotional, like “Leave’s
Eyes” and “Mourning Tree” and then we have the more bombastic, metallic
and brutal ones, like “Solemn Sea”. We also have the intro, “Vinland Saga”
and the outro,” Ankomst” which are like soundtracks. So, you have a very
complex album with depth and a very big and broad sound. If I tried to
be objective that’s what I’d say...
-SO, WHICH ARE THE DIFFERENCES WITH “LOVELORN”?
DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE PROGRESSED?
Yeah! I think so! The songs are more complex
and the album is more variated and also the female vocals are more varieted,
since you have the classical singing, the typical singing of me and then
you have a kind of Celtic/folk inspired singing. You have lyrics in Norwegian,
in “Ankomst” and English and there is the song “Amhran”, where you have
a completely different language, which I have invented only for that song...
-YEAH AND I WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT “AMHRAN” AND
“ANKOMST”... SO, YOU HAVE ALREADY ANSWERED MY QUESTION I SUPPOSE...
Yeah, yeah! Haha! That’s right!
-SO, IS THIS A LANGUAGE YOU HAVE INVENTED?
Yes, but it’s not a language I use! Hahaha!
It’s only for the song. I wanted to write lyrics in Celtic, in the Gaelic
language, but I cound’t find a teacher. I couldn’t find someone that speaks
this language. It’s dying out and I had to fo to Ireland to learn it. So,
I gave up, I sat down and took pieces of Gaelic, old English and Old Norse
and put it together. That’s hgow I made this fictional language. “Amhran”
is a Gaelic word and it means songs. It’s a bit Gaelic and a bit fantasy!
Hahahaha!
4. IS IT EASY TO WORK WITH YOUR HUSBAND IN THE
SAME BAND?
In most cases I’d say you only have advantages,
because you can be very open and I know I can trust my husband in any case.
The only bad thing is that sometimes we forget that we are a married couple
with a private life too. So, 90% of what we speak about every day
is music business, which is very sad, so we often have to pinch each other
in the arm and say “Come on, let’s go out of the studio, let’s go somewhere
else”. It’s nice not to work and just be with Leon, so we sometimes have
to put our foot down and say “OK! Now it’s enough of business”!
-BY THE WAY, HE AS DONE AN EXECELLENT PRODUCTION...
Oooh! Thank you! I will tell him!
-SO, DO YOU SHARE THE SAME MUSICAL VISION OR DO
YOU HAVE TO DISCUSS A LOT IN ORDER TO FIND THE MOST SUITABLE SOUND FOR
YOUR MUSIC?
Well, actually we have the same vision in
our heads. So working with my husband is like sharing a vision and when
I work with him I know that the final result will end up like I wanted
it to be! Yeah we have the same vision of how the album should sound and
how the concpet and the pictures should be... Sometimesd we don’t have
to use any words. We have a common vision, but sometimes it might take
some timew to get thetre. It might take days and nights, but after that
we look at each other and we are both satisfied. We are both perfectionists
and everything has to be 100% or evenmore before we stop working!
5. SO, YOU MUST BE SATISFIED WITH THE THE FINAL
RESULT. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE? DO YOU THINK THERE’S ANYTHING
MISSING FROM “VINLAND SAGA”?
So, far no! Hahahaha! We were able to release
all the tracks, I mean we had 16 tracks plus a remix of “For Amelie” from
Lovelorn, which we wanted to use and instead of making a single for “Elegy”
we made a mini album...
-AND YOU ANSWERING ALL MY QUESTIONS BEFORE I EVEN
ASK YOU!
Oooh!! I’m sorry!!! (laughter) But we just
wanted to offer to the people a bit more for the money and we were able
to remix a song from “Lovelorn” and not “Elegy”. I think that’s bullshit.
We wanted to give the people quality and give more for the money and we
were able to show everything we have got. If I had to choose songs to keep
in this album and leave some out, it would have been impossible. Forget
it!! So, there is one mini album...
-SO, IS THIS WHY YOU RELEASED THIS MINI EP “ELEGY”?
IS IT BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE ANY OF YOUR SONGS OUT?
Yes! That’s why we released it! Yes! Actually
we didn’t plan to release “Elegy” as a single. We wanted to release the
album. You never know about singled nowadays. They cost a lot of money
and you don’t get so much back for it...
-YEAH IT’S NOT POP MUSIC...
Yeah! It’s metal and there aren’t many singles
in metal music, so we said let’s release the album, but then we had too
many songs. So, I said what the hell let’s release them all!
-SO, IT PROVED TO BE A WISE MOVE...
Yeah, I think so! It went into the charts,
so it proved to be a wise move after all! Hahahaha!
6. WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN “ELEGY” TO BE ON THIS MINI
ALBUM AND NOT “LEAVES’ EYES” WHICH HAS THE BAND’S NAME?
It’s very easy! It’s just because “Elegy”
is the most catchy song. Hahahaha! However, “Leaves’ Eyes” is my favorite
song of the album!
7. THERE IS A VOCAL CONTRADICTION BETWEEN YOU
AND YOUR HUSBAND’S BRUTAL VOCALS IN SOME SONGS. SO WHAT DO YOUR VOCALS
SYMBOLIZE AND WHAT YOUR HUSBAND’S? DO YOU INTERPRET ROLES THEN? PERHAPS
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN A VIKING AND HIS WIFE, WHO IS WAITING FOR HIS RETURN?
Yes we do! It’s not only a kind of communication
situation between a woman and a man, but it’s also the peak of energy when
I feel that there is a bombastic explosion in the song, I feel that there
should be male vocals. So, I siad to my husband that I needed him. He sings
in the “The Thorn” which is the most bombastic and the hardest song of
the album and it felt exactly right to have Alex singing there!
8. “VINLAND SAGA” IS A CONCEPT ALBUM, BASED ON
A STORY WRITTEN BY AN ICELANDER AND IT’S ABOUT SOME VIKINGS WHO SET SAIL
TO GO TO GREENLAND AROUND 982 A.D. AND INSTEAD THEY DISCOVERED AMERICA,
WHICH THEY NAMED VINLAND, BECAUSE OF THE NUMEROUS VINEYARDS EXISTING THERE.
RIGHT?
Yeah1 Haha! You know many things about it...
I’m impressed!
-WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE I’M INTERESTED IN THE VIKING
MYTHOLOGY AND I READ BOOKS ABOUT IT...
Really? That’s great! That’s the concept of
the album. The Viking discovery of America about 1000 years ago. That’s
the main frame of the concept. Everything is historically proven, but it’s
also a fact that one of the guys that went with Leif Eriksson, was a German
actually! I found this out and I said “OK!”!...
-THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR HUSBNAD...
Exactly!!!! From here we can invent our own
story...
-SO, IT’S FACTUAL BUT IT’S ALSO SEEN THROUGH A
MORE SENTIMENTAL PERCEPTION...
Yes! That’s right! It’s factual and fictual.
I invented the story that this German is married to a Norwegian woman,
because he... Well, it’s a fact that he was imprisoned by Norwegian Vikings
and he was taken to Norway. He was living in Norway. That’s a fact! He
went with Leif Eriksson, but we know nothing of his wife, so I invented
this story about his life. That his wife is waiting for him, when he goes
on this journey. So, “Amhran”, “Leaves’ Eyes” and “Mourning Tree” are all
more feminine pieces and those are also the songs that deal with the theme
of love, of waiting somebody..
-YEAH AND VIKING WOMEN MISSED THEIR HUSBNADS A
LOT AND FOR A LONG TIME!
They did!!! It’s very nice to see the personoal
parallels in this case! Hahaha!
9. WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION BOTH
MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY SPEAKING?
My inspiration..Hmm.. It’s mainly Norwegian
nature and my personal, emotional state of mind, because it seems like
I have a tendencay to always get very personal without knowing it. When
I listen to the album after it’s finished and when the production is finished,
I realize how personal I’ve been and it seems that emotions and feelings
are within me and when I write lyrics they come to the surface and when
I listen to the album I get confronted of my own feelings and this might
be scary sometimes. However, this is nice when I’m in a creative process,
cause it opens doors to my personal state of mind...
-AND I SUPPOSE IT’S ALSO SOME SORT OF THERAPY
TO YOU... GETTING ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS OUT IN THE OPEN...
Yes! That’s right! So, it seems like I’ve
been very homesick when I wrote these lyrics...
-SO, YOU HAD TO GO TO NORWAY I THINK...
Yes! And I did! After the albumwas finished
I went to Norway the same day! I just ordered tickets for the flight, for
me, Alex and Leon and I told them “the taxi is waiting, we are leaving
now!”! Hahahaha! My husband freaked out of course! He told me “We finished
the album 10 minutes ago and now we are going!!! Just let me check it one
more time!” and I said “No! We’ll go for 10 days in Norway and when we
return we have plenty of time to check it!”! Hahahaha! After all sometimes
it’s good to keep some distance of your creation, to be more objective
and see the flaws.
10. NOW, BESIDES THE SINGLE YOU HAVE ALSO SHOT
A VIDEO CLIP FOR THE SONG “ELEGY”, WHICH IS EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL AND...
-YES! I’VE SEEN IT LAST NIGHT AND IT’S DIFFERENT
FROM THE VIDEO CLIPS WE ARE USED TO WATCH IN METAL MUSIC. WHO WAS THE DIRECTOR?
That’s right! The director is Canadian, who
is very good for our theme... The discovery of America and the new found
land is of course Canada! He was the perfect man for our work and the video
clip was shot in Slovenia, although the director was Canadian. So, we went
to Slovenia and shot the cvideo clip there. We are happy about it because...hhmm..
-IT’S LIKE WATCHING A MOVIE AND THE MUSIC IS LIKE
LISTENING TO THE MOVIE’S SOUNDTRACK...
Ooh! Thank you! That’s a compliment!!! Thank
you very, very much! The video contains the important things of the whole
album, not only of “Elegy”.
11. “VINLAND SAGA” WILL BE RELEASED AS A JEWEL
CASE CD AND ALSO IN A DIGIPACK EDITION WHICH WILL CONTAIN 2 BONUS SONGS
AND MULTIMEDIA STUFF… SO, WOULD YOU LIKE TO INFORM YOUR FANS ON THOSE EXTRA
THINGS TO KNOW WHAT THEY SHOULD EXPECT?
OK! There will be abons track called “Heal”
and there will also be a remix, a new edition of a song from the “Lovelorn”
album called “For Emelie”, which we re-recorded again. We like this song
a lot but we decided to record it again. There will also be the video clip
and also multimedia information, like a little movie, the maiking of the
album and a long interview with me...
12. I’D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE COVER ARTWORK NOW.
IT’S VERY BEAUTIFUL. SO IS THE LANDSCAPE REAL OR IS IT COMPUTER GRAPHICS?
No! This is real landscape and it’s the landscape
where I grew up actually! The photographer is from my hometown and it was
actually my mother who gave me a book with these photographs and looking
at them I thought they would be perfect to the concept, because the ship
sailing for Greenland, sailed from the West coast of norway and that’s
the place where I grew up! So, I thought it was perfect!
-IT’S BEAUTIFUL, BUT IT MUST BE REALLY FREEZING
OVER THERE!
It is freezing! Yes! Hahaha! It is, but it
worths it!
13. WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART
IN YOUR MUSIC, ACCORDING TO YOU?
The best and the worst in the music... Hmm...
Well, I think that’s the most diffcult questions I had from many many interviews...
The worst thing, I’d say, is that we are on a very high technical
level and we always have to follow the high technical level that we have
started and this means that we every album it will be harder and it has
to be more technical and we’ll have more thing to take care of...
-BESIDES YOUR FANS ARE GOING TO EXPECT TO LISTEN
TO MORE TECHNICAL AND COMPLEX STUFF FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE...
Of course! That’s the thing! You always have
to be informed and be aware of the latest innovations. That’s maybe the
worst things! Sometimes techology lets you down, like when we were in the
middle of mixing the album and we had a crush down of the studio computer,
due to some virus that got into the system. Things like that often happen
and I’m always afraid of them. In the end when i keep the master CD in
my hands... I say “This is it!!!” and I’m SO afraid something wrong might
happen... There are many bands that have finished the album and they just
want to record it on the master CD and then something happens and they
have to do it all over again! That’s the worst thing when dealing with
music. But the best thing!!! Oooh!! There are only good things!!! Hahahaha!
The best thing is that it makes me happy to work as a musician and to be
a creative person and live off what I’m doing! This is of course thanks
to our audience and to our fans, without these people this wouldn’t be
possible!
14. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT WHAT YOU’D DO IN LIFE
IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THIS TALENT WITH MUSIC AND NOT SUCH A GOOD VOICE?
Hahahaha! Hhmm.. I’d work with children and
I’d probably work in a kindergarden or a school... I think children are
so honest and I like that!
-WELL AND THEY ARE VERY CUTE, BUT THEY CAN ALSO
BE LITTLE DEVILS TOO!
Hahahaha! Yeah, they can be little devils
too! Indeed! Actually I worked as a teacher for a year, before I became
a mother at the time I was kicked out of Theater Of Tragedy and I was also
writing my final paper for university in linguistics. So, I needed something
else in my everyday life, so this was a chance that I had. Somebody asked
me “Hey we need a teacher. Can you come tomorrow?”. It was a special school
with difficult youth, but I loved it! I loved them! It was great! It was
a special school, but I had the chance to take the kids with me to the
studio, so we actually made a single ourselves. They felt like superstars
dor a couple of days. I will never forget that! I really loved that time!
Of course sometimes was very stressfull, but I loved it! So, I guess I’d
work in a kindergarden or be a teacher and write children’s books, because
I like inventing stories.
15. IS IT EASY FOR YOU TO TOUR NOW THAT YOU HAVE
A SON?
It’s not a problem for me actually, because
I have awonderful mother-in-law, who’s taking crae of Leon. So, Leon knows
that when he is not with his parents he is with his grandparents. He is
with us all day, every day, because we have an apartment in the studio
and also our guitarist has become a father now, so there are sometimes
2 little boys crawling around. We are like a family here. When we go on
tour he is with his grandparents. The only bad thing is that I miss him
terribly much! It really hurts! So, when I go on tour I need to do various
things and not sit, because if I sit, I think of my son and I go crazy.
16. BY THE WAY IF SOMEDAY YOUR SON CAME TO YOU
AND TOLD YOU HE WANTED TO BE A MUSICIANS, WHAT WOULD YOU ADVICE HIM TO
BE CAREFUL OF, TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION YOUR EXPERIENCE? WOULD YOU BE
HAPPY WITH HIS DECISION OR NOT?
Oooh! Hahaha! That in this business there
aren’t only honest people. We are happy because we have napalm records
supporting us and they’ll also release my solo project. I’ve written a
solo album which will be out in the autumn and I have good partners now.
But in my career I’ve also had people that only saw a dollar sign on my
head and you know they just wanted to earn money from me, telling me how
to dress up, when to sing, how to sing, what to do, in which way to sing...
It was terrible! I felt that they didn’t accept me as a person, they wanted
the looks and the voice to earn the money and they never thought of the
person, me, that was behind all these! I had to go to court for many years
and I hate going to courts to be free to make a second solo album. So,
to release my second solo album this autumn is like a dream coming true
for me. It’s been 7 years since I released the first one and it was a really
hard fight! Today I feel I’m working with people I can really trust!
-THEN YOU, LET’S SAY, HAD TO GO THROUGH ALL THESE
TO KNOW WHAT TO BE CAREFUL OF...
That’s right! I learned from my mistake and
my mstake was to trust too many people in this business. So be careful!!!
I’d never advice anybody to take part in a super star competitions. Don’t
do it! The contracts are not good and they get advantage of you and they
earn money out of you. Of course you can become popular this way...
-AFTER ALL IN A COUPLE OF YEARS THEY ARE ALREADY
FORGOTTEN...
That’s right! So, you should really be careful,
don’t say yes in everything and don’t sign anything that hasn’t been carefully
checked by people with a lot fo experience.
17. IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE?
-IF IT WAS A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW AND
WHAT WOULD IT SYMBOLIZE?
It would show the west coast of Norway, like
the coast and the ocean and for me it’d symbolize my childhood!
18. IF YOU COULD BE A FAMOUS PERSON FOR A DAY,
WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE WOULD YOU LIKE
TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
I would like to be Madonna for one day! Hahahaha!
In whcih period? Hmm... I’d like to be Madonna on one of her biggest shows
with 10 thousands of people in the audience!
19. BY THE WAY I WAS ALWAYS CURIOUS TO LEARN HOW
YOU’VE CHOSEN THIS BAND NOW. APPARENTLY IT IS A PLAY ON WORDS BETWEEN YOUR
NAME AND THE WORD LEAVES. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH IT?
It was just an idea that I had when me and
my husband were on our honeymoon, so it’s pure coincidence! Hahahaha!
-IS IT BECAUSE OF THIS WHY WE SEE IN YOUR VIDEO
CLIP OF “ELEGY” EYES UPON THOSE LEAVES?
That’s right!!!!! Yes!!!!! Hahahahaha!
20. THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU’D
LIKE TO MENTION AND I FORGOT TO ASK YOU?
I think we have mentioned everything! I just
want to say that I’m really sad I’m not in Greece today! I think it would
be much cheaper to buy me a ticket to Athens or Thessaloniki instead of
paying my phone calls. They are going to cost about 500 Euro...
-AND THE WEATHER IS REALLY BEAUTIFUL TODAY...
Oooh! Don’t tell me that! I love your country
and your mentality! I’ve met many Greeks and I have friends in Athens and
Thessaloniki! I love your food and I’m really, really sad I’m not there
today! Christina it was an honor to talk to you!
-IT WAS MY PLEASURE!
The pleasure was on my side! Thanks for the
really nice interview and I hope we’ll get the chance to meet soon! Take
care!
-TAKE CARE AND GIVE A KISS TO LEON GTOM ME!
I will, I will!!! Thank you!
Christine Parastatidou
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