"Arjen gave me a lot of responsibility for the songwriting process for the first album...He always pushed me to the front; I did all the interviews and basically, also, made a few decisions here and there. He made it clear that he wanted to make it as much about me as possible so when the time came for him to leave…"
"I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…"
Progressive symphonic metallers Stream of Passion burst onto the scene back in 2005 with their warmly received debut album 'Embrace the Storm'. Originally conceived by the prolific Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon fame as another side project in his ever expanding array of musical ventures, the band was also notable for showcasing the stunning vocal and violin talents of Mexican musician and Stream of Passion's co-founder Marcela Bovio. 2007 saw Lucassen quit the band to focus on other pursuits in his disparate canon of work and it was 2009 before the Dutch/Mexican ensemble returned to the public eye with new personnel and a deal with Napalm Records which saw the release of sophomore album, 'The Flame Within', an impressive collection of tunes rich with all the melodious grandeur for which they had become associated after their debut offering. Marcela and new keyboardist Jeffrey Revet spent a short while chatting to Metal Discovery before their "request the setlist" show in Amstelveen's P60 venue over in the Netherlands at the end of September...
METAL DISCOVERY: Tonight’s been billed as a “request the setlist” show…
MARCELA BOVIO: Yes.
(Marcela Bovio on being groomed by Arjen Lucassen in preparation for his anticipated departure from the band) "Arjen gave me a lot of responsibility for the songwriting process for the first album...He always pushed me to the front; I did all the interviews and basically, also, made a few decisions here and there. He made it clear that he wanted to make it as much about me as possible so when the time came for him to leave…"
Jeffrey Revet & Marcela Bovio in the P60 Café, Amstelveen, 30th September 2010 Photograph copyright © 2010 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com Interview & Photography by Mark Holmes.
MD: Have people requested the songs you thought they would do?
MB: Yeah. We came up with the idea and thought it would be nice to give them a chance to tell us what they wanted to hear. We got quite a few requests online. We haven’t got time to play them all because there were a lot of different songs!
MD: I looked on the forum and people seemed to be putting forward whole setlists. I thought that’s a bit greedy!
MB: Yeah! [laughs] It’s very nice, though, to get such input and we like to make fans participate.
MD: Doing a “request the setlist” show, do you have to rehearse all the songs in your repertoire or is it easy for you to slip into playing whatever whenever?
MB: Well, it wasn’t all that difficult because we know most of the songs already and have played them. There were just a couple of songs where we were like “heeeey, that we haven’t rehearsed in a while”, but then we just played them a couple of times and the guys are great so it’s not difficult at all.
MD: It must be difficult rehearsing if you all live in different parts of Holland.
MB: Yeah, that’s also quite a lot of driving. We don’t rehearse all that often so we make just a few appointments when we all get together, and everyone will rehearse at home and, again, they’re great musicians so it goes really well.
MD: You had the “Eat and Greet” competition running for the show tonight as well. Who came up with that idea, and the name “Eat and Greet”?
MB: Oh, that actually came first, I think, from P60, from the venue. But that was brilliant, you know. It’s also a very nice way to share a little moment with the fans.
MD: Yeah, and it’s a good play on words “Eat and Greet” but I thought I’d actually coined that phrase when I interviewed Rich Ward from Fozzy in March this year. They were thinking of doing some sort of “Dinner with Fozzy” at some UK dates and a “Meet and Greet” with the fans, so I said it’d be more like an “Eat and Greet”…
MB: [laughs] MD: He said “ohhhh, I love that, I have to steal that”. Then I saw you had the “Eat and Greet” and thought – “they’ve stolen my idea!” MB: [laughs] That’s funny!
MD: I Googled it after the interview and no-one’s done that before!
MB: You should interrogate a few people here! [laughs]
MD: Do you think it’s important to keep that sort of close contact with your fans rather than with some bands who like to maintain more of a distance?
MB: I don’t know what it’s like for the rest of the guys but I really like to have that feedback and close contact with people. You immediately know how the show went and how they’re feeling. If we have the opportunity to do it, we do it. It’s nice.
MD: [To Jeffrey] How about yourself?
JEFFREY REVET: Yeah, we also try to go into the venue after the show and have the meet and greet to talk to people.
MD: It seems to be more of a Dutch thing than an English thing actually.
MB: Really?
MD: Yeah, definitely, I’ve noticed more bands do that in Holland. Anneke van Giersbergen said to me a couple of years ago that there’s no superstars in Holland and no massive idolising of bands as such. Is that the same in your experience?
MB: Well, I couldn’t really say. I’ve been living here two years and, so far, I do have the idea that it’s a little bit more laid-back and because the contact’s a little bit more close, there’s not the idolising thing. I kind of like it. It always brings a really good atmosphere with the people and with the band.
MD: When you’ve played in other countries, do you find there’s more of an idolising culture than in Holland? MB: Well, we had one really crazy experience in Belgium at the Metal Female Voices Festival last year, and that was just a place where people from all over Europe and even outside of Europe come to see bands of the genre. There was a full venue, like…
JR: ...four thousand people.
MB: Yeah, four thousand people and they were all screaming and going crazy, so we were like “wow!” Then we had the signing session and there was a line of…I don’t know how many people…but they were all so excited, so like “woah!”
MD: So a very different experience than playing in Holland.
MB: Yeah.
MD: You made a comeback of sorts last year with the new album, ‘The Flame Within’…is that a good word to use – “comeback”?
MB: Yeah, I think it qualifies as that! [laughs]
MD: Obviously you have new band members now too, but was there ever any talks that Arjen might do another album?
MB: In the beginning, it wasn’t even supposed to be a tour after the album. There was just the build up and build up and then we had the chance to play big festivals, and then we had the chance to tour again. So pretty much from the beginning we knew that Arjen would go on and do something else because of the kind of musical nomad that he is! We knew it was going to happen; we just didn’t know when it was going to happen. When, finally, it did we knew that we had such a great time exploring so many beautiful things that we just had to go on. That’s how the whole journey started.
MD: It’s kind of like his baby…he gave birth to Stream of Passion then kind of abandoned it and you adopted Stream of Passion!
MB: [laughs] Well, I would more put it like it was a child of us both! [laughs] Then I was left a single mum…no, I’m kidding! [laughs] Since the beginning, Arjen gave me a lot of responsibility for the songwriting process for the first album. We started with very basic ideas that he would write, then he gave me all the freedom to do whatever I wanted with the songs. He always pushed me to the front; I did all the interviews and basically, also, made a few decisions here and there. He made it clear that he wanted to make it as much about me as possible so when the time came for him to leave…
MD: He knew he was going to abandon his child!
MB: [laughs]
MD: I’ve read you describe the album as having a live band feel compared to the first album – were the songs composed with the live performance in mind?
MB: Yeah, definitely. On the first album we had a lot of ballads and a lot of soft pieces, and when we started playing live we figured that what we like is that energy, you know, the drive that we have when we go on stage. So that’s why we wrote the songs like that.
MD: I think with the production as well you seem to capture that because the drum sound particularly is very live sounding. Particularly the snare I noticed is a very live snare sound rather than an overproduced, kind of Pro Tools, manipulated drum sound.
MB: Yeah.
MD: ‘Embrace the Storm’ is perhaps more progressive that ‘The Flame Within’ which has a more prominent symphonic metal influence…is that something you’d agree with?
MB: I don’t know. I hear the same kind of progressive elements and symphonic elements in the two albums. Maybe what ‘Embrace the Storm’ had was a little bit more contrast between very soft parts and heavy parts. But yeah, I hear those two things in both albums.
MD: [To Jeffrey] What do you think?
JR: [laughs]…Well, I think ‘The Flame Within’ was written a little bit more as a band, with new band members, so there are some influences from all of us. We all have a very different background musically so, yeah, I think there are some more symphonic elements but, on the other hand, Marcela had a big part in the songwriting for the first album and that still makes it Stream of Passion. So I agree with Marcela that most of those elements are still there. It’s still Stream of Passion.
MD: So you mentioned there that all band members have different influences, what are the extremes of those?
MB: Well, I think the guys, when they take my iPod and they put it on shuffle for instance they get something like experimental jazz, and then some Slipknot, and then some New Age, and opera. Jeff is more into symphonic stuff and the classics, the 70s. Then you have Eric who is more into the dark, The Cult, Depeche Mode and that kind of stuff. Steve has got like a whole…
JR: Nu-metal…
MB: And Dillinger Escape Plan. Martijn used to be a lot into black metal. So it’s all different kind of things. We’re not gonna try to make a mix of everything because everything’s gonna go bananas! It’s nice to have those flavours.
METAL DISCOVERY: Whose idea was the cover of ‘Street Spirit’? When I had the promo through to review I read the song titles first and thought – “nah, that can’t be Radiohead, that’ll never work as a metal song”. Then I played it I thought it wasn’t because it starts with an almost ‘Shine On…’ Floydy kind of intro, then it kicks in with the opening arpeggios and I was like – “ahhhh, it is ‘Street Spirit’!” And it works as well. It shouldn’t work as a metal song, but you made it work. So whose idea was the cover?
MARCELA BOVIO: It was actually Stephan, our lead guitar player. We wanted to do a cover song and we had no idea what to do so he was like – “why don’t we do ‘Street Spirit’ by Radiohead?” I’m like – “well, that’s a cool song”. Then he’d already sent…he’d made a little sketch with the guitars on it and I was like – “oh wow”. Then we started adding layers and I added the vocals and it clicked immediately. We knew that it was a very daring choice.
(Marcela Bovio on expressing her excitement of touring Canada through the medium of cake) "I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Andy Turner for arranging the interview. Out in the Real World (2006) Live in the Real World (2006)
MD: But it works though, actually. Did you ever contemplate any other Radiohead songs for cover versions before?
MB: Well, not really, no.
MD: I’d love to hear someone do a cover of ‘Paranoid Android’ as a big, epic prog-metal track. On your next album maybe!
MB: [laughs]
MD: Over in the UK, I don’t know what it’s like in Holland, there’s so much talk of a female fronted metal scene and people talk about that like it’s a genre of music even though all the bands who are labelled as that have totally different styles of metal; they just happen to have female vocalists. Do you think it might ever be limiting for Stream of Passion if people judge you in that way rather than…?...well, I think music should be judged free from gender of the people that make it and judged just for the music it is. You know, there’s no “male fronted metal” label.
MB: Yeah, exactly. Well, I don’t know. I think even though it doesn’t really mean anything as a genre that you can have an argument to make such a label, but there are a lot of people that like a lot of the bands that are labelled that way so we do have an audience in common. So, for that matter, it kind of works to group us all together like that. Amongst those people, there are some that like the more symphonic, pompous stuff, and a lot of people who like the more atmospheric kind of stuff like The Gathering. There is a common ground, like a lot of points in common. People can discover us through that label through liking other female fronted metal bands. It kind of works.
MD: I suppose so, that’s a good answer, I guess. You have the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium, so…
MB: Exactly. And that was from all kinds of different things. There was even death metal with a female grunter.
MD: Interestingly though, Arch Enemy never get labelled as “female fronted metal” or as part of that scene, even though they’re playing at Metal Female Voices this year, but they never get lumped in with that whole ‘genre’. I find that interesting. Maybe it’s just because Angela Gossow growls like a man.
MB: [laughs] Yeah, maybe it sounds metally enough to not call it female fronted metal! Which I really respect, by the way!
MD: And Holy Moses, of course, the original band to do that. You got to collaborate with The Gathering last year on ‘The West Pole’ as did Silje Wergeland. I read that she initially did one track as did yourself, but then they asked her to become the permanent vocalist and record the rest of the album. Hypothetically, if they’d asked you to do that instead of her, would you have joined The Gathering?
MB: Oh, you know what, I actually went and met with them…it was me who started the contact because I saw that they were looking for singers and I thought they actually had the idea to make an album with a lot of different singers. That was the original idea. So I said – “hey, you know what, if you wanna do something together then I’d love to”. So I went there and from the first moment on they knew that I had this whole mission and plans for Stream of Passion, and going on and doing a lot of stuff, and they look at my schedule and, from the first moment, it was a very unfeasible thing to do. They’re great people and a band that would be fantastic but it was not for me to fill that position.
MD: [To Jeffrey] How would you have felt if you’d lost your singer to The Gathering?
JEFFREY REVET: Yeah…[laughs]…I’d have felt bad about it, of course. It’s not a tricky question to ask because she would’ve answered…“oh yeah!”
MB: Oh yeah, that would’ve been great, you know, but now I’m stuck! [laughs] MD: You’ve got shows coming up in Canada soon, in a couple of weeks – is there much demand for Stream of Passion in Canada? MB: It’s the first time.
MD: Do you know if you’ve got much of a fan base over there?
MB: We have no idea. JR: No, we don’t know! [laughs]
MD: So was there just a promoter who said “hey, let’s get the band over to Canada”?
MB: Yeah, there was a promoter who got in touch with us and we’re joining a tour with a Canadian band, Unexpect…
MD: Oh, Unexpect, the French-Canadian band.
MB: Yeah, they have a big following. For us, it’s a perfect opportunity to get our music over there.
MD: Two very different styles of music.
MB: Very different styles of music!
MD: Their music is…well, I wouldn’t know how to label it…just crazy!
MB: We’re playing with three bands, actually – Manahil from Canada; they’re a little bit more into the style that we are playing. So with Unexpect and us it’s a nice combo. Also like a female fronted metal label! [laughs]
MD: I watched the YouTube clip where you express your excitement for touring Canada by baking a Canadian cake. Do you always express your excitement through the medium of cake?!
[laughs]
MD: Do you get excited about cake often? MB: Well, I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…[laughs] MD: Sounds like an excuse to eat more cake!
MB: Yeah! [laughs]
MD: You realise that in Canada now, fans will be bringing loads of cakes for you they’ve made. That can’t be bad.
MB: [laughs]
MD: Being from Holland as well, when you said you’d baked a “special cake”, I thought “oh yeah, I’ve heard about them…”! [laughs]
MB: It wasn’t that special! [laughs]
MD: Have any UK promoters or festivals shown any interest in getting the band over to the UK? You were gonna play in the UK about three or four years ago but you got stopped at the airport or something?
MB: Yeah, right, it was a whole airport hassle thing with customs and Mexicans in the band. Yeah, it wasn’t a very happy episode but we haven’t tried to go back since then. We haven’t really made that contact yet. But it would be nice. I’m really looking forward to going back and kind of finally giving closure to the whole thing.
MD: There’s a very good festival in August over in the UK called Bloodstock, a big open air festival. Get in touch with them because they’re booking bands at the moment for next year.
MB: Oh, that would be brilliant.
MD: Finally, have you started composing for another album and what other plans and ambitions lie ahead for the band?
MB: Yes, we are writing for a new album now. Basically, that’s what’s kept us busy for the last few months. We’ve got some material ready and we’re quite excited about it. We’re planning on going to the studio maybe the beginning of next year.
MD: And your ambitions for the band?
MB: The normal things, you know, like taking over the world.
JR: Yeah!
MB: Well, basically, just keep writing music, and keep playing, and keep sharing more moments with the fans and live shows because that’s what brings the most happiness.
MD: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”! MB: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”!
[laughs]
MD: I’m gonna copyright that!
MB: If you do then at least let us use it! [laughs]
MD: Well, thank you so much for your time.
MB: Thank you.
JR: Thank you.
"I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…"
http://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/streamofpassion_interview_2010_pt2.htm
http://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/streamofpassion_interview_2010_pt1.htm
"I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…"
Progressive symphonic metallers Stream of Passion burst onto the scene back in 2005 with their warmly received debut album 'Embrace the Storm'. Originally conceived by the prolific Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon fame as another side project in his ever expanding array of musical ventures, the band was also notable for showcasing the stunning vocal and violin talents of Mexican musician and Stream of Passion's co-founder Marcela Bovio. 2007 saw Lucassen quit the band to focus on other pursuits in his disparate canon of work and it was 2009 before the Dutch/Mexican ensemble returned to the public eye with new personnel and a deal with Napalm Records which saw the release of sophomore album, 'The Flame Within', an impressive collection of tunes rich with all the melodious grandeur for which they had become associated after their debut offering. Marcela and new keyboardist Jeffrey Revet spent a short while chatting to Metal Discovery before their "request the setlist" show in Amstelveen's P60 venue over in the Netherlands at the end of September...
METAL DISCOVERY: Tonight’s been billed as a “request the setlist” show…
MARCELA BOVIO: Yes.
(Marcela Bovio on being groomed by Arjen Lucassen in preparation for his anticipated departure from the band) "Arjen gave me a lot of responsibility for the songwriting process for the first album...He always pushed me to the front; I did all the interviews and basically, also, made a few decisions here and there. He made it clear that he wanted to make it as much about me as possible so when the time came for him to leave…"
Jeffrey Revet & Marcela Bovio in the P60 Café, Amstelveen, 30th September 2010 Photograph copyright © 2010 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com Interview & Photography by Mark Holmes.
MD: Have people requested the songs you thought they would do?
MB: Yeah. We came up with the idea and thought it would be nice to give them a chance to tell us what they wanted to hear. We got quite a few requests online. We haven’t got time to play them all because there were a lot of different songs!
MD: I looked on the forum and people seemed to be putting forward whole setlists. I thought that’s a bit greedy!
MB: Yeah! [laughs] It’s very nice, though, to get such input and we like to make fans participate.
MD: Doing a “request the setlist” show, do you have to rehearse all the songs in your repertoire or is it easy for you to slip into playing whatever whenever?
MB: Well, it wasn’t all that difficult because we know most of the songs already and have played them. There were just a couple of songs where we were like “heeeey, that we haven’t rehearsed in a while”, but then we just played them a couple of times and the guys are great so it’s not difficult at all.
MD: It must be difficult rehearsing if you all live in different parts of Holland.
MB: Yeah, that’s also quite a lot of driving. We don’t rehearse all that often so we make just a few appointments when we all get together, and everyone will rehearse at home and, again, they’re great musicians so it goes really well.
MD: You had the “Eat and Greet” competition running for the show tonight as well. Who came up with that idea, and the name “Eat and Greet”?
MB: Oh, that actually came first, I think, from P60, from the venue. But that was brilliant, you know. It’s also a very nice way to share a little moment with the fans.
MD: Yeah, and it’s a good play on words “Eat and Greet” but I thought I’d actually coined that phrase when I interviewed Rich Ward from Fozzy in March this year. They were thinking of doing some sort of “Dinner with Fozzy” at some UK dates and a “Meet and Greet” with the fans, so I said it’d be more like an “Eat and Greet”…
MB: [laughs] MD: He said “ohhhh, I love that, I have to steal that”. Then I saw you had the “Eat and Greet” and thought – “they’ve stolen my idea!” MB: [laughs] That’s funny!
MD: I Googled it after the interview and no-one’s done that before!
MB: You should interrogate a few people here! [laughs]
MD: Do you think it’s important to keep that sort of close contact with your fans rather than with some bands who like to maintain more of a distance?
MB: I don’t know what it’s like for the rest of the guys but I really like to have that feedback and close contact with people. You immediately know how the show went and how they’re feeling. If we have the opportunity to do it, we do it. It’s nice.
MD: [To Jeffrey] How about yourself?
JEFFREY REVET: Yeah, we also try to go into the venue after the show and have the meet and greet to talk to people.
MD: It seems to be more of a Dutch thing than an English thing actually.
MB: Really?
MD: Yeah, definitely, I’ve noticed more bands do that in Holland. Anneke van Giersbergen said to me a couple of years ago that there’s no superstars in Holland and no massive idolising of bands as such. Is that the same in your experience?
MB: Well, I couldn’t really say. I’ve been living here two years and, so far, I do have the idea that it’s a little bit more laid-back and because the contact’s a little bit more close, there’s not the idolising thing. I kind of like it. It always brings a really good atmosphere with the people and with the band.
MD: When you’ve played in other countries, do you find there’s more of an idolising culture than in Holland? MB: Well, we had one really crazy experience in Belgium at the Metal Female Voices Festival last year, and that was just a place where people from all over Europe and even outside of Europe come to see bands of the genre. There was a full venue, like…
JR: ...four thousand people.
MB: Yeah, four thousand people and they were all screaming and going crazy, so we were like “wow!” Then we had the signing session and there was a line of…I don’t know how many people…but they were all so excited, so like “woah!”
MD: So a very different experience than playing in Holland.
MB: Yeah.
MD: You made a comeback of sorts last year with the new album, ‘The Flame Within’…is that a good word to use – “comeback”?
MB: Yeah, I think it qualifies as that! [laughs]
MD: Obviously you have new band members now too, but was there ever any talks that Arjen might do another album?
MB: In the beginning, it wasn’t even supposed to be a tour after the album. There was just the build up and build up and then we had the chance to play big festivals, and then we had the chance to tour again. So pretty much from the beginning we knew that Arjen would go on and do something else because of the kind of musical nomad that he is! We knew it was going to happen; we just didn’t know when it was going to happen. When, finally, it did we knew that we had such a great time exploring so many beautiful things that we just had to go on. That’s how the whole journey started.
MD: It’s kind of like his baby…he gave birth to Stream of Passion then kind of abandoned it and you adopted Stream of Passion!
MB: [laughs] Well, I would more put it like it was a child of us both! [laughs] Then I was left a single mum…no, I’m kidding! [laughs] Since the beginning, Arjen gave me a lot of responsibility for the songwriting process for the first album. We started with very basic ideas that he would write, then he gave me all the freedom to do whatever I wanted with the songs. He always pushed me to the front; I did all the interviews and basically, also, made a few decisions here and there. He made it clear that he wanted to make it as much about me as possible so when the time came for him to leave…
MD: He knew he was going to abandon his child!
MB: [laughs]
MD: I’ve read you describe the album as having a live band feel compared to the first album – were the songs composed with the live performance in mind?
MB: Yeah, definitely. On the first album we had a lot of ballads and a lot of soft pieces, and when we started playing live we figured that what we like is that energy, you know, the drive that we have when we go on stage. So that’s why we wrote the songs like that.
MD: I think with the production as well you seem to capture that because the drum sound particularly is very live sounding. Particularly the snare I noticed is a very live snare sound rather than an overproduced, kind of Pro Tools, manipulated drum sound.
MB: Yeah.
MD: ‘Embrace the Storm’ is perhaps more progressive that ‘The Flame Within’ which has a more prominent symphonic metal influence…is that something you’d agree with?
MB: I don’t know. I hear the same kind of progressive elements and symphonic elements in the two albums. Maybe what ‘Embrace the Storm’ had was a little bit more contrast between very soft parts and heavy parts. But yeah, I hear those two things in both albums.
MD: [To Jeffrey] What do you think?
JR: [laughs]…Well, I think ‘The Flame Within’ was written a little bit more as a band, with new band members, so there are some influences from all of us. We all have a very different background musically so, yeah, I think there are some more symphonic elements but, on the other hand, Marcela had a big part in the songwriting for the first album and that still makes it Stream of Passion. So I agree with Marcela that most of those elements are still there. It’s still Stream of Passion.
MD: So you mentioned there that all band members have different influences, what are the extremes of those?
MB: Well, I think the guys, when they take my iPod and they put it on shuffle for instance they get something like experimental jazz, and then some Slipknot, and then some New Age, and opera. Jeff is more into symphonic stuff and the classics, the 70s. Then you have Eric who is more into the dark, The Cult, Depeche Mode and that kind of stuff. Steve has got like a whole…
JR: Nu-metal…
MB: And Dillinger Escape Plan. Martijn used to be a lot into black metal. So it’s all different kind of things. We’re not gonna try to make a mix of everything because everything’s gonna go bananas! It’s nice to have those flavours.
METAL DISCOVERY: Whose idea was the cover of ‘Street Spirit’? When I had the promo through to review I read the song titles first and thought – “nah, that can’t be Radiohead, that’ll never work as a metal song”. Then I played it I thought it wasn’t because it starts with an almost ‘Shine On…’ Floydy kind of intro, then it kicks in with the opening arpeggios and I was like – “ahhhh, it is ‘Street Spirit’!” And it works as well. It shouldn’t work as a metal song, but you made it work. So whose idea was the cover?
MARCELA BOVIO: It was actually Stephan, our lead guitar player. We wanted to do a cover song and we had no idea what to do so he was like – “why don’t we do ‘Street Spirit’ by Radiohead?” I’m like – “well, that’s a cool song”. Then he’d already sent…he’d made a little sketch with the guitars on it and I was like – “oh wow”. Then we started adding layers and I added the vocals and it clicked immediately. We knew that it was a very daring choice.
(Marcela Bovio on expressing her excitement of touring Canada through the medium of cake) "I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Andy Turner for arranging the interview. Out in the Real World (2006) Live in the Real World (2006)
MD: But it works though, actually. Did you ever contemplate any other Radiohead songs for cover versions before?
MB: Well, not really, no.
MD: I’d love to hear someone do a cover of ‘Paranoid Android’ as a big, epic prog-metal track. On your next album maybe!
MB: [laughs]
MD: Over in the UK, I don’t know what it’s like in Holland, there’s so much talk of a female fronted metal scene and people talk about that like it’s a genre of music even though all the bands who are labelled as that have totally different styles of metal; they just happen to have female vocalists. Do you think it might ever be limiting for Stream of Passion if people judge you in that way rather than…?...well, I think music should be judged free from gender of the people that make it and judged just for the music it is. You know, there’s no “male fronted metal” label.
MB: Yeah, exactly. Well, I don’t know. I think even though it doesn’t really mean anything as a genre that you can have an argument to make such a label, but there are a lot of people that like a lot of the bands that are labelled that way so we do have an audience in common. So, for that matter, it kind of works to group us all together like that. Amongst those people, there are some that like the more symphonic, pompous stuff, and a lot of people who like the more atmospheric kind of stuff like The Gathering. There is a common ground, like a lot of points in common. People can discover us through that label through liking other female fronted metal bands. It kind of works.
MD: I suppose so, that’s a good answer, I guess. You have the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium, so…
MB: Exactly. And that was from all kinds of different things. There was even death metal with a female grunter.
MD: Interestingly though, Arch Enemy never get labelled as “female fronted metal” or as part of that scene, even though they’re playing at Metal Female Voices this year, but they never get lumped in with that whole ‘genre’. I find that interesting. Maybe it’s just because Angela Gossow growls like a man.
MB: [laughs] Yeah, maybe it sounds metally enough to not call it female fronted metal! Which I really respect, by the way!
MD: And Holy Moses, of course, the original band to do that. You got to collaborate with The Gathering last year on ‘The West Pole’ as did Silje Wergeland. I read that she initially did one track as did yourself, but then they asked her to become the permanent vocalist and record the rest of the album. Hypothetically, if they’d asked you to do that instead of her, would you have joined The Gathering?
MB: Oh, you know what, I actually went and met with them…it was me who started the contact because I saw that they were looking for singers and I thought they actually had the idea to make an album with a lot of different singers. That was the original idea. So I said – “hey, you know what, if you wanna do something together then I’d love to”. So I went there and from the first moment on they knew that I had this whole mission and plans for Stream of Passion, and going on and doing a lot of stuff, and they look at my schedule and, from the first moment, it was a very unfeasible thing to do. They’re great people and a band that would be fantastic but it was not for me to fill that position.
MD: [To Jeffrey] How would you have felt if you’d lost your singer to The Gathering?
JEFFREY REVET: Yeah…[laughs]…I’d have felt bad about it, of course. It’s not a tricky question to ask because she would’ve answered…“oh yeah!”
MB: Oh yeah, that would’ve been great, you know, but now I’m stuck! [laughs] MD: You’ve got shows coming up in Canada soon, in a couple of weeks – is there much demand for Stream of Passion in Canada? MB: It’s the first time.
MD: Do you know if you’ve got much of a fan base over there?
MB: We have no idea. JR: No, we don’t know! [laughs]
MD: So was there just a promoter who said “hey, let’s get the band over to Canada”?
MB: Yeah, there was a promoter who got in touch with us and we’re joining a tour with a Canadian band, Unexpect…
MD: Oh, Unexpect, the French-Canadian band.
MB: Yeah, they have a big following. For us, it’s a perfect opportunity to get our music over there.
MD: Two very different styles of music.
MB: Very different styles of music!
MD: Their music is…well, I wouldn’t know how to label it…just crazy!
MB: We’re playing with three bands, actually – Manahil from Canada; they’re a little bit more into the style that we are playing. So with Unexpect and us it’s a nice combo. Also like a female fronted metal label! [laughs]
MD: I watched the YouTube clip where you express your excitement for touring Canada by baking a Canadian cake. Do you always express your excitement through the medium of cake?!
[laughs]
MD: Do you get excited about cake often? MB: Well, I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…[laughs] MD: Sounds like an excuse to eat more cake!
MB: Yeah! [laughs]
MD: You realise that in Canada now, fans will be bringing loads of cakes for you they’ve made. That can’t be bad.
MB: [laughs]
MD: Being from Holland as well, when you said you’d baked a “special cake”, I thought “oh yeah, I’ve heard about them…”! [laughs]
MB: It wasn’t that special! [laughs]
MD: Have any UK promoters or festivals shown any interest in getting the band over to the UK? You were gonna play in the UK about three or four years ago but you got stopped at the airport or something?
MB: Yeah, right, it was a whole airport hassle thing with customs and Mexicans in the band. Yeah, it wasn’t a very happy episode but we haven’t tried to go back since then. We haven’t really made that contact yet. But it would be nice. I’m really looking forward to going back and kind of finally giving closure to the whole thing.
MD: There’s a very good festival in August over in the UK called Bloodstock, a big open air festival. Get in touch with them because they’re booking bands at the moment for next year.
MB: Oh, that would be brilliant.
MD: Finally, have you started composing for another album and what other plans and ambitions lie ahead for the band?
MB: Yes, we are writing for a new album now. Basically, that’s what’s kept us busy for the last few months. We’ve got some material ready and we’re quite excited about it. We’re planning on going to the studio maybe the beginning of next year.
MD: And your ambitions for the band?
MB: The normal things, you know, like taking over the world.
JR: Yeah!
MB: Well, basically, just keep writing music, and keep playing, and keep sharing more moments with the fans and live shows because that’s what brings the most happiness.
MD: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”! MB: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”!
[laughs]
MD: I’m gonna copyright that!
MB: If you do then at least let us use it! [laughs]
MD: Well, thank you so much for your time.
MB: Thank you.
JR: Thank you.
"I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…"
http://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/streamofpassion_interview_2010_pt2.htm
http://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/streamofpassion_interview_2010_pt1.htm
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