Capri

Amberian Dawn

Slowly rising into a distinct recognition in the fields of Neo-Classical Power Metal, the Finnish group, AMBERIAN DAWN, has been constantly trying to find their edge by teasing darkness. Charlotte had a talk with vocalist Capri due to the release of the new album, "Magic Forest", see what she had to say…
By Charlotte Whittingham
July 5, 2014
Interview - Capri (Amberian Dawn) interview
So you are now the new vocalist for AMBERIAN DAWN; how many months has that been now?

It's been like one year and something [laughs] because I did 'Re-Evolution' one and half years ago

How are you settling with the band and fans?

I first noticed that the rest of the band are great musicians; right from the beginning they felt like another family and I was comfortable with them right from the start. The fans have been very supportive and of course there will be some who don't like me or my style but I think ninety nine percent of the feedback has been wonderful. Some of the fans won't like my style but that's understandable, I knew they would compare me to Heidi Parvianen. I think it's OK for me since singing is so personal to me and no-one sounds like someone else so I don't think they should compare anyone.

As a vocalist, who are your musical influences?

There are so many but if I mentioned a few I would have to say I admire the voice of Lara Fabian and of course Sebastian Bach from SKID ROW. I think it depends on the mood I'm in; some days I like ABBA and sometimes I like ALICE IN CHAINS or WITHIN TEMPTATION. In my opinion there are so many things you can learn from every genre of music so it isn't just one band or one singer I like to listen to. I think I listen to everything.

It states you did solo work before joining AMBERIAN DAWN, is this first band you've taken part in?

I've been doing music since I was three and I've been touring with cover bands so I've been doing a lot with music and AMBERIAN DAWN is the first high profile band I have been in.

Your new album 'Magic Forest' is due for release very soon, what influenced this theme of a magic forest for the album?

The first song I heard from the album was 'Magic Forest' and I wrote the lyrics for it. When I heard the first ten seconds of the track I knew instantly it had to be called 'Magic Forest' and Tuomas [Seppälä] had already named the album that. I started to imagine an evil witch singing in a high voice; that's the operatic song voice singing 'Come here little song birds' and then I had to write it. It reminded me of 'Hansel and Gretel' and the lyrics for the songs came from listening to the music like "Time After Time" and "Eyes Closed". I didn't think about the lyrics or themes before hand; I think I just let the music speak to me and I don't decide what to write about. It can take one word that rings in my head or a picture to influence my songwriting, it's the music that tells me which way to go.

Suppose you could describe it as a Metal fairy tale?

Yes absolutely, I can say that.

For me the music video reminded me of Tim Burton with it's dark fairy tale; was this intended?

I love Tim Burton's films like 'Corpse Bride' and when I saw Tim Burton in your questions I started to laugh because in our promo photos my style was kind of Tim Burton with messy hair and lots of dark make up. I love Tim Burton's films.

What's your favourite Tim Burton film?

I think 'Corpse Bride'.

Interviewing different bands I find each one has a different process of creating an album; which aspect did you start work on first?

For me the work starts when Tuomas has sent over the composing's so I would say we work on the music first and after that it's the lyrics. I don't know how to answer this because Tuomas does most of the work and I just write the lyrics.

Where was the music video filmed?

It was filmed in Finland in a place called Aulanko. That's where the forest scenes were filmed and it took one day, I think it was seventeen hours and it involved a lot of running. The two girls were amazing, they didn't complain at all and the band scenes were filmed in Helsinki and we spent ten hours filming those; we filmed these in front of a green screen. Making the video was great because I hadn't done this kind of thing before; I've done acting before but not in videos. So we had to re do takes over and over again whereas when I'm on stage it's done with one take.

Is the music video for 'Magic Forest' a set up for a story that the album will tell?

Every song is different; I can't see if it is a concept album straight away because every song I wrote is different. I like English poets from the 1600s; there are two songs that are quite personal as they are influenced by a poem that no one really knows.

Will there be a tour and festival appearances to promote this album?

Right now we are working with the release of the album 'Magic Forest' and we are doing a lot of interviews at the moment. We are starting to prepare ourselves for the album release shows in Finland and we're keeping our eyes peeled for chances to get out there and start touring again. Our booking agency is working on this matter; hopefully we'll be able to tour again in Europe but I think it will be early next year.

Tell the readers why they should buy the album?

I think anyone should buy albums for the same reason; because the album is good. For me 'Magic Forest' is important because this is the first time I have written lyrics for an audience. Of course I write these songs for myself. I'm very excited about this album because it will have my own personal influences bigger than before. So overall I can say, you should buy the album because it's good.

Thank you very much Capri for taking your time to do this interview.
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