VocalistAngela Gossowof Swedish/German extreme metallersARCH ENEMYrecently spoke to U.K.'sTerrorizermagazine about her first couple of years as frontwoman of the melodeath heavyweights, as well as offer her thoughts on the tag "female-fronted" and why metal's rebellious nature has always appealed to her.
On the impact that bringing in a female singer had onARCH ENEMY:
Gossow: "When I joined the band and we made [2001's'Wages Of Sin'], we initially got some positive responses, but when it was finally released the whole 'No way, it's a chick!' thing started, because that was actually quite new back then. So we got a lot of attention, media coverage and support through that, and we supported bands likeIRON MAIDENandNILE, and it was just surreal. I didn't think about it much at first, but there was a lot of press that came because of me being a woman. It went in a direction that had me thinking, 'Right, I thought we were emancipated, but now we're back to this thing of there being a chick in a band?' We had to consciously work against that - we'd be regretting it ten years down the line if we became established as 'Angela And The Enemies.'"
On the term "female-fronted metal":
Gossow: "What does it mean? That the singer has tits! [Laughs] It doesn't say anything about the music, or the quality of the musicianship, and that's something that we've always tried to sail around and avoid. It's a bad thing for us, and other bands go well with it and it's okay if they're comfortable with it, but we're not a 'female-fronted' band. We're an extreme metal band, and that's all I want us to be remembered as."
On her kinship with extreme metal itself:
Gossow: "Metal is a type of music that deals a lot with personal freedom and rebellion, thinking for yourself and questioning authority. It's a music that is loud and demands attention, and it's the sound of freedom. That's been my life philosophy in the way that I live my life, and when I joinedARCH ENEMYI made that a reality, because there's nothing more free than being in a band. Metal is the type of music that says, 'Go fuck yourself. This is my life and I have the basic rights to use it.'"
You can read more onAngela's life growing up and the band themselves - as well as grab yourself a mega-sizedAngelaposter - in the current issue ofTerrorizer, out now.
Click hereto order your copy.
Source: www.Blabbermouth.Net
