VALKIJA
Valkija is a rising star
from Italy and they managed to offer us one of the best demos lately and
one of my all time favorite ones. I am sure that if they continue on this
path they have all the potntial to become a huge band. For now here we
have the band's bass player Nikoll revealing some of the band's secrets...
1.HI VALKIJA, PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE
BIO WITH YOUR OWN WORDS SO EVERYONE CAN LEARN WHO REALLY VALKIJA ARE AND
HOW THIS BAND STARTED.
VALKIJA is a band born from the
ashes of ESHUAS, epic-doom metal band in which, in the latest line up,
were fighting NIKOLL HAMM (bass), ZORAIJA(female singer), JHON TURTURRO
(guitar), FEDERICO MARCHESE (guitar), ALFONSO GIORDANO (male singer and
now frontman of NOBLE SAVAGE – under UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY-), IVANO BONACCORSO
(keyboards), and HAL 9000 (the drum machine)!!! Then JHON, ZORAIJA and
me joined with ALEX SCARLATA (drums) and LEO TORRE (GUITAR) for a class-metal
project ( dokken, riot, white snake, tesla, ecc...): but then winter came
again. Fear and epic moods came out again, and we heeded the call... So
after some adjustments in line up (we changed three times the second guitar!!!)
we kept the feeling for a record session and here we are...
2.I THINK THAT THE FEMALE VOCALIST
OF YOU’RE BAND IS MORE THAN GREAT. IN MY OPINION ZORAIJA IS THE FLAG OF
VALKIJA.I MUST SAY THAT WHEN I HEARD THAT A WOMAN WAS BEHIND THE MICROPHONE
I HAD SOME FEARS, NOT FOR THE PERFORMANCE BUT I WASN'T SURE IF A FEMALE
VOICE CAN REACH THE FEELING THAT AN EPIC METAL SONG NEEDS TO BE GREAT CAUSE
SIMPLY WHEN I THINK EPIC METAL THE FIRST THINK THAT COMES TO MY MIND IS
MEN FIGHTING WITH SWORDS AND THINGS LIKE THAT AND THE VOICES OF ERIC ADAMS
(MANOWAR) OR KIMBALL (OMEN) THAT FULFIL THE LYRICS WITH PASSION. SO WHAT
DO YOU THINK? IS IT RISKY TO PUT A WOMAN TO SING ESPECIALLY IN AN EPIC
METAL BAND?
I still remember the first time
I heard ZORAIJA ‘s voice: we were playing in a studio session with eshuas
and some sayed “Hey, it should be marvellous to insert a female voice to
reach more ethereal mood in this point”, and I proposed my girlfriend Zoraija:
she was at the time a celtic singer and the match was perfect. In the meantime,
as VALKIJA (the name back then was FAST LOVE) we were searcing for a singer
we tried Anna for a cover of TESSLA and her rage came out simply incredible.
Zoraija is also in love with all that epical moods typical in the metal
sound and she takes real care that melody spread out from her lightning,
poisoned soul: she doesn’t sing with a chord, but with heart! This is her
real power. However she’s a great fighter also in life, ever with sword
in hand. I cannot say the same for lot of “men”I know. Finally yes: she
is our flag and we carry her with honour.
3.THIS IS A QUESTION FOR ZORAIJA. AFTER
HEARING OVER 400 TIMES YOU’RE PROMO CD I AM CONVINCED THAT YOU ARE A GREAT
MUSICIAN (I DIDN’T NEED TO HEAR IT 400 TIMES BUT GUYS YOU’RE PROMO IN MY
OPINION IS
FANTASTIC) SO BRAVO. I ALSO TRACED
SOME SOUNDS THAT BROUGHT TO MY MIND PERFORMANCES OF DE FEIS (VIRGIN STEEL)
AND KIMBALL (OMEN). ESPECIALLY I NEVER EXPECTED FROM A WOMAN TO GIVE ME
THE SAME FEELING THAT KIMBALL GAVE ME WHEN I FIRST HEARD OMEN, AND I MEAN
THIS SLOW CRAWLING HEAVY VOICE LIKE THE VOICE OF AN OLD WARRIOR THAT SPEAKS
ABOUT HIS FIGHTS. PLEASE TELL ME WHICH ARE YOUR INFLUENCES AND WHICH IN
YOUR OPINION ARE THE 3 BEST VOCALISTS EVER?
Well, I love all the pop singers
like Madonna , Prince... JUST A JOKE MAN... Really, I love VIRGIN STEEL
and I have also listened a lot about EMPEROR, CANDLEMASS, LORDIAN GUARD
up to IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and CRIMSON GLORY. But one of the bands
I loved since I started listening to metal music are BLACK SABBATH (RONNIE
J. DIO and TONY MARTIN period). I also love Ronnie in works like DREAM
EVIL and HOLY DIVER. Is not simple to choose only three singers: DAVE COVERDALE,
RONNIE JAMES DIO from the past: from eighties really three is impossible;
ROB HALFORD, BRUCE DICKINSON, DAVID DE FEIS, ERIC ADAMS ruled! But I cannot
forget JEFF SCOTT SOTO, JON OLIVA, JOE LYNN TURNER ... I could continue
for ever : nowadays I found very interesting RALPH SHEEPERS and singers
of bands like WIZARD, REBELLION, MASTERPLAN,BRAINSTORM... But if I must
choose three:RONNIE J. DIO, ROB HALFORD (you can hear his influence
above all in our new work), and for his unblessed lyricity, MESSIAH MARCOLIN
(Candlemass).
4.SOMETHING THAT WAS A SWEET SURPRISE
FOR ME WAS YOUR LYRICS THAT SPEAK ABOUT LOVECRAFTIAN STORIES, PLEASE TELL
ME HOW YOU DECIDED TO WRITE THEM?
Well, I always liked Lovecraftian
Atmospheres, but when I bought “The Dream”... when I finished this
book I felt something like a miss: all that fantastic, oniric landscapes,
all those creatures... I felt fading away while the grey of routine was
incoming, so I just picked up my guitar and she begun...
5.IN THE MUSICAL SECTION NOW THE BAND
PLAYS MARVELLOUS AND FANTASTIC MELODIES AND I CAN EVEN SAY UNIQUE SONGS
THAT THEY ARE NOT COPIES (JUST INFLUENCES). I DON’T ACCUSE ANY BAND IF
FOR EXAMPLE PLAY A COPY OF IRON MAIDEN SONG CAUSE SIMPLY IT'S VERY DIFFICULT
TO SEPARATE YOUR GUITAR STYLE FROM YOUR INFLUENCES AND FROM THE STYLE OF
YOUR FAVOURITE GUITARIST AND YOU WANT TO PLAY LIKE HIM SOME DAY. I JUST
SAY THAT WHEN A GUITARIST PLAYS SOMETHING UNIQUE IS FANTASTIC AND I THINK
THAT'S WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOU’RE PROMO. SO HOW DIFFICULT WAS FOR YOU
TO COMPOSE THIS SONGS? ARE
YOU HAPPY WITH THE FINAL SOUND
OF YOUR PROMO?
As a matter of fact is not so difficult
to compose the line of a new song but the arrangement. We often start from
a mood to play the headline melody and the rest comes just by playng. For
example one of our new songs (Son Of Thunder) was born a night when I was
driving with my custom motorbike (named THUNDER MASTER) in the narrow way
up to mount Etna. Then I stopped in a bar for a couple of beers with my
heart filled with roar of the engine, the cold of night on the face and
power in my hands: while drinking I wrote the lyrics, gave them to Jon
and then we started composing. The second step is to metabolize all and
then we change them until the songs work. A very important thing is to
be really tight with people you are playing with: it allows you to find
the right feeling and groove: we don’t use lots of words in compositions
we just care one for the other. Last but not least is very important to
listen to lots of music. This help us to find the right solution. About
influences we don’t like to fossilize ourselves on one guitar (or bass)
player and we try to experiment different solutions for the same song:
then time will tell. We often use as test bench how a song works in live
performances, in terms of energy and response. The final sound of the promo
is quite good but we had lots of troubles and made several compromises
also for the non stable line up either for the low price production and
it goes versus quality of the sound.
6.IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING NOW
IN YOUR PROMO WHAT WILL IT BE?
The past is marvellous because
you can’t change it!
7.AFTER HEARING YOUR PROMO MANY TIMES
I STILL CAN SAY VALKIJA IS A POWER METAL BAND, OR VALKIJA IS AN EPIC BAND,
I KEEP SAYING TO PEOPLE THAT VALKIJA PLAY EPIC METAL, BUT I DON’T THINK
THAT'S RIGHT CAUSE SIMPLY SOMETIMES YOU’RE FOLK, SOMETIMES YOU BECOME POWER
SOME OTHER TIMES EPIC AND OTHER TIMES ATMOSPHERIC (YOU CHANGE FROM ONE
MINUTE TO ANOTHER THAT I EVEN CAN SAY VALKIJA PLAY PROGRESSIVE) SO IN YOUR
OPINION WHAT DO YOU PLAY PLEASE CATEGORIZE YOU’RE SOUND.
Nothing at all. Just a heavy metal
band. We don’t like this kind of labels, METAL IS ONLY METAL.
8.IN A REVIEW I READ BEFORE I GOT YOUR
PROMO, THE GUY WAS WRITING THAT VALKIJA IS A BAD NAME FOR A BAND… IN MY
OPINION (I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS BUT IT HAS A MYSTERY LIKE YOU’RE MUSIC
AND I BELIEVE THAT IT'S VERY PROPER). SO THE BIG QUESTION IS WHAT VALKIJA
REALLY MEANS, DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE VALKIRYES OF THE
VIKING MYTHOLOGY? PLEASE SOLVE THIS MYSTERY.
Actually we played on the similarity
between VALKIJA and VALKIRJE: furthermore Anna is a female warrior during
live performances! But the real meaning is another; VALKIJA is a city arisen
from the will of gods and walls of which are withstood by four steel warriors
born of fire of Ephesto’s forge and stained in the river of Stigia (obviously
the steel guardians are us). It’s a metaphor: the city is the symbol of
our dreams, wills, loves and hates and we defend it from aggression of
the outside.
9.IN YOUR BOOKLET YOU WRITE, “THANK
TO ALL THE FUCKING KIDS WHO BANG THEIR HEADS IN OUR LIVE PERFORMANCES”.
SO PLEASE TELL ME HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE FANS FOR YOU AND DESCRIBE TO ME
HOW IS A VALKIJA LIVE. WHAT A METALHEAD MUST EXPECT FROM VALKIJA WHEN YOU’RE
ON STAGE?
People at live perforformances
are EVERYTHING! For them are written our songs and they give us energy
to continue our epic battle. Heavy metal was made for being played live!!!
A real metal head must expect from us, all we can give: fire, power and
lot of fun. It goes alone that it’s the same that we expect from people
who come in our shows... posers stay at home!!!
10.WHICH ARE THE FUTURE PLANS OF VALKIJA?
SHOULD WE EXPECT A NEW PROMO OR A FULL LENGTH ALBUM EVEN BETTER THAT YOU’RE
“DAYS OF THE RISING SUN” PROMO?
We are now working for a full length:
we’re waiting to sign with Cult Metal Classic Records (UP GREECE!!!)
and we’ll record for them our new album. It will be a full lenght with
8 or 9 new songs: the title will be perhaps “Son Of Thunder” or “A Thunder
With Heart Made Of Steel” or something alike. The new work is growing up
quite different from our last one: really heavy!!! Most on the style of
power thrash mainstream but always with our epical trademark and
quite everchanging (u shall find influences from A.O.R. up to doom or NWOBHM).
11.THANKS A LOT FOR THIS INTERVIEW.
BEFORE THE END IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAY THAT I FORGOT TO ASK OR
MENTION? THIS ARE MY LAST WORDS FOR THIS INTERVIEW “WORK HARDER I EXPECT
FROM VALKIJA
TO HEAR EVEN BETTER SONGS FROM
THE “DAYS OF THE RISING SUN PROMO” IN YOUR NEXT WORK, IF NOT I WILL
FUCKING KILL YOU, CAUSE AS I TOLD
YOU, YOU ARE AMONGST MY FAVOURITE BANDS KNOW, SO DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME PLEASE”!
GOOD LUCK VALKIJA I HOPE WE WILL SEE YOU PERFORMING LIVE IN GREECE SOON.
I want to spend a word about greek
kids: YOU ARE GREAT! We had lots of contacts with your country and all
people with whom I spoke to were kind an warm. I found that metal in Greece
is really sincere. RISE UP YOUR HAMMERS IN THE SUN, DUDES, AND LEAD TO
GLORY!!!
A special greeting to all at BEHIND
THE VEIL for their support and trust especially to NICK”WARLORD”SIOUTIS!
Nick "Warlord"
Sioutis
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