MORGANA'S
KISS
Sadness and melancholy, I
think, play an important role in our lives. Humans are vulnerable creatures
that have the need to express their deepest emotions and thoughts. This
is exactly what Morgana's Kiss do with their music, they open their heart
and share their vision with us. Franz Eissenberger the band's bass player
gave us some really interesting answers regarding their extremely sentimental
album "The Endless Cry".
1.SO, FIRST OF ALL PLEASE POINT
OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES
TO THE READERS.
I am Franz Eissenberger, bass player
and founder of the band. As Morgana’s Kiss we started in 1996 and after
a few demo tapes in the early years, we signed a deal with Electric Funeral
Records in 1998 and also release the first album ‘Rain Shall Fall’. The
line up, at the time, was completely different except for me and Claudia
MacDowell, the lead singer. After a few years, all the band members, except
myself and Claudia, left and so we had to start all over again. In 2000,
the deal with Electric Funeral was over, and so slowly we decide to write
new songs and 2 years later with a new line up, in which we find our present
keyboard player Alessio Fagrelli, we release our second album ‘The Endless
Cry’. Now, after several other changes, we recorded a new promo tape and
so we got in contact with Obscurus Angelus Records. In these years we also
had the chance to support great band live as 69 Eyes, Lacuna Coil and Faith
& The Muse. The band is very strong now and the new members (Matteo
Jacopino on guitars, Alessandro Bassotti on drums and Arianna Usai on backing
vocals) are helping a lot in writing new songs with their ideas and energy.
2.IF I ASKED YOU TO PRESENT "THE ENDLESS
CRY" YOURSELVES TO THE READERS, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM?
It’s a very melancholic album,
we worked a lot on it and, even if the quality of the sound it’s not as
we want it, the songs are great. The voice of Claudia and the keyboards
of Alessio Fagrelli are awesome. The lyrics are very important for us and
all the stories we tell introduce the listener to the sad side of life.
3.WHERE WAS THE ALBUM RECORDED? WHO
WAS THE PRODUCER? DID IT TAKE YOU A LONG TIME TO COMPOSE AND RECORD THE
SONGS OR NOT? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT? IF YOU COULD CHANGE
SOMETHING NOW, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
The album was recorded in a studio
nearby Rome and it took us two weeks to do it. We wrote the songs in the
period before the recording. I am satisfied with the quality of the songs
but not with the recording. We had some problems with the producer because
we wanted to change something and so things didn’t come out exactly as
we wanted.
4.YOUR MUSIC IS VERY SENTIMENTAL. DO
YOU HAVE TO BE IN A SPECIFIC STATE OF MIND OR FEELING IN ORDER TO COMPOSE
MUSIC FILLED WITH SENTIMENTS? DO YOU AGREE WITH WHAT SOME SAY, THAT THE
ARTISTS ARE MORE CREATIVE WHEN THEY WITNESS PAIN IN THEIR LIVES?
You are definitely right. The sadness
is inside us and we need to express it through our music. The music comes
out very naturally and so I think that is inside our deepest nature. It
is strange that our music is sad and melancholic because we are very funny
and happy people but probably we can be that way because we liberate our
dark side through our music. It’s like a psychological therapy I guess.
5.WHICH ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES AND
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN "THE ENDLESS CRY" AND "RAIN SHALL FALL"? WHAT KIND
OF PROCEDURE DO YOU FOLLOW WHILST COMPOSING?
The main differences are the general
sound and mood. In the first album the sound is much more metal, probably
because the band members at that time were very metal oriented. After that
and with the new incoming members the gothic-dark side of our music came
out definitely but we didn’t lose our strong and energetic sound. We did
not have a particular way in composing the songs, every band member can
bring ideas and so the rest of the group follows that inspiration. That
is why our music is so various.
6.COULD YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS
THE MAIN SUBJECTS THIS ALBUM DEALS WITH? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS?
The lyrics are completely in the
hands of Claudia. She likes to write about love, about the sadness in losing
the love and in dealing with these feelings. Her point of view is, of course,
very ‘woman oriented’ ahhahah… She writes real poems and she easily puts
these words into music. I really like her way of writing songs and she
is really our brightest star.
7.WHICH ARE THE MAIN ADVANTAGES AND
DRAWBACKS HAVING A FEMALE SINGER?
We have two female singers and
that brings you in a completely different world. The sensibility and the
mood that every woman expresses constantly are unique and fabulous and
all the band knows that perfectly. Of course a female voice has a different
way to express and while composing we have to deal with this. In the end
I think there are no advantages or drawbacks but only a different way to
act.
8.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK
YOU GOT THIS FAR? WHICH IS THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST REVIEW YOU HAVE
RECEIVED? IS THERE A COMMON ELEMENT YOU SEE REPEATED IN ALMOST ALL THE
REVIEWS YOU RECEIVE?
All the problems we’ve got in the
past with the line-up and also with our first record company didn’t help
us a lot. But recently things started changing: we work harder in promoting
our music and the help that Obscurus Angelus Records gave us together with
our promotion agency Grinding Halt is making everything much easier. I
must sincerely say that most reviews we received were really good, of course
a few of them, I personally remember one from Germany of our first album,
were not so good but globally most of them were pretty high. The best was
one of Italian magazine Psycho! And the worst I think was from Rock Hard
Germany. The common element is that everyone says that we have a lot of
influences in our music; from Gothic to Metal, from Dark to Wave, from
Progressive to Psychedelic.
9.NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ARTWORK.
I LIKE IT! IT'S VERY DARK, EMOTIONAL AND MELANCHOLIC. DO YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN
TO US WHAT THE FRONT AND BACK COVER SHOW?
The artwork was a great job from
our first web designer Nocturna but what does it mean I personally have
no idea. We simply like it a lot.
10.ON THE ALBUM "THE ENDLESS CRY" YOU
HAVE CLAUDIA SINGING. RECENTLY YOU HIRED A SECOND VOCALIST, ARIANNA. WHY?
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE SECOND SINGER? DOES SHE HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
VOICE AND YOU WANT TO COMBINE CLAUDIA AND ARIANNA, IN ORDER TO CREATE EVEN
MORE EMOTIONS?
We hired Arianna because we thought
it would be a good idea combining two female voices. She will help Claudia
but also she will have different melodies so that both voices will combine
and penetrate each other. Claudia has a more powerful voice instead Arianna
is more deep but they combine perfectly and we are very satisfied by her
support.
11.YOU HAVE WON THE CRITICS CHOICE
AWARD AT A REGIONAL FESTIVAL THAT TOOK PLACE OUTSIDE OF ROME BACK IN 1997.
WHAT DID YOU GAIN FROM THIS EXPERIENCE? DID IT CREATE MORE ANXIETY AND
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE?
Wow, it was long time ago. Not
really. It was only a great experience. It was our ‘first’ big experience.
Many things happened from then but I remember it as a funny and nice event.
12.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS?
WHAT SHOULD THE FANS EXPECT FROM A MORGANA'S KISS LIVE SHOW?
At the present we are doing a lot
of live shows in Rome and in Italy. We hope to also reach different nations
in the near future and we are working with Obscurus Angelus Records and
Grinding Halt to reach as more people and places as possible. We have a
very powerful live show, much more metal than dark oriented, and we really
enjoy playing live. Of course we have some parts, in the show, slow and
melancholic, but the energy is there and you can feel it every moment.
Claudia is such a great performer and with the rest of the band we really
like to give our best while playing live.
13.YOU PERFORMED LIVE AS THE SUPPORTING
ACT FOR SOME FAMOUS BANDS. WHICH LIVE SHOW DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST AND WHO
WAS FRIENDLIER AND MOST HELPFUL WITH YOU?
Our first important experience
was with Finland’s 69 Eyes and they became really good friends of us, they
were really nice and wonderful and I will always remember them as good
friends and wild party mates. Lacuna Coil is also an awesome band and we
learn a lot from them. We are still in contact with these two bands. Last
summer we also opened for Faith & The Muse…a great show and years and
years of experience to learn from. Friendly and also very simple persons.
14.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Melancholy. Definitely melancholy.
It would show a world of clouds and rain, and an infinite variability of
grey emotions. I know that it didn’t sound very clear but I have no other
way to describe it.
15.WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE
BEST AND WHICH THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH DO YOU THINK IS YOUR
TRADEMARK?
Our trademark is that every song
is completely different. And this fact is at the same time our strongest
and weakest characteristic. You know most people love to put music and
art in general into some very rigid schemes. And this is not our goal.
We like to express ourselves through music completely free of any logic
and closed compartments. This helps a lot in reaching new public and people
that usually don’t listen a lot to this ‘kind’ of music. But it is a fact
that our freedom is hard to comprehend to those who have a narrow mind.
16.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK COULD BEST
DESCRIBE YOUR ALBUM AND YOUR MUSIC IN GENERAL?
Sadness, freedom to express our
feelings and emotions and the hope that, in the end, everything makes sense.
17.WHICH ARE ACCORDING TO YOU THE MOST
IMPORTANT WOMEN IN THE ROCK/METAL SCENE?
Claudia of course….. ahahaha and
Arianna also…. Just kidding. I think that Siouxie was and still is a main
guide in this scene but we also like Anneke from The Gathering for her
incredible talent and Sinead O’Connor for her versatility.
18.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
No, but I will to say that I really
enjoyed this interview, and I thank you very much for everything and for
the time you gave me to express and explain the Morgana’s Kiss world.
Christine Parastatidou
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