melodylane

 INTERVIEW  WITH  JENNIE-ANN SMITH

MELODY LANE: Hello and first of all thank you for accepting our interview. Let me start with a curiosity... After almost ten years and four albums with Nuclear Blast you have switched labels to AFM Records... What can you tell us about that, and how are things going?
Jennie-Ann Smith:  Hello and Thank You! Well...about your curiosity...You know we had come to a point where we were free, and we could choose, so... we had written four tracks, I think, more or less...and we pitched them to a number of record companies and fortunately we got offers for different record deals based on just those songs...so we made our choice and signed for AFM Records and what can I say...we love being here! So far so good! We've reached a new level in the German charts that we hadn't explored before and we're happy about that, we've also received so many great reviews of the album so far… and so...they're certainly doing their job! So… yeah...I would say everything is good, it feels good....  

MELODY LANE: So the label change wasn't due to choices about the direction the band chose to take or maybe about changes in the sound of the band...or anything like that...
Jennie-Ann Smith:  No…You know… actually since the beginning of AVATARIUM  none’s ever disturbed our creative process; we have always been free to choose both with Nuclear Blast and now with AFM Records. No one has ever interfered and no one interferes  with our music and I’m very happy about that and that’s how it should be…

MELODY LANE: Regarding your latest album, it has been literally overwhelmed by compliments from the specialized press… Do you know at the moment which are the countries where the album did better?
Jennie-Ann Smith:  Oh well…I don't have any numbers, but I have this collection of reviews that makes me almost embarassed... wonderful reviews! Our album 's been album of the month in some European countries and it was really well received...And obviously we are very happy about.  

MELODY LANE: I must say that the band's sound is changing, in my opinion it is richer and more diversified than in the past with jazz and progressive contaminations... In my opinion it sounds 'real' and 'warm', not cold and artificial like many modern albums and I think it's best to listen to it all together from the beginning to the end, because the atmosphere and the emotional charge of the album are better appreciated, the songs seem to slide into each other just like the great Progressive masterpieces of the 70s... I don't know if you can agree, and if it was your intention to explore new territories sonically...
Jennie-Ann Smith:  It came quite naturally; I think that since the beginning of AVATARIUM we have always pushed a little bit beyond the classic borders of Metal, or Doom Metal...You know in particular my way of singing, my style, it's never been typically metal, I come from a different background...And you know, I believe that in the history of music very interesting things have happened when musicians and songwriters have made unexpected collaborations, then something new and different is born; and I think that's what happened to us with the AVATARIUM since the beginning and we are continuing on that path: breaking boundaries…probably quite unintetionally but for me as a songwriter it's very important to be able to be creative, open and free...Marcus Jidell and I wrote most of the material included on the album and you know…we come from quite different musical backgrounds, we've played very different music in the past and have different references and that in my opinion makes things very interesting, because we bring to the table different things and that comes either from how we write music or how we arrange it or how we think about arrangements...and we have to collaborate, we have to work together, we have to compromise but that makes it more exciting and fun . We always try to remain as free as possible in the studio, but always with the aim then to choose and get the best for the songs. We had written the first song on the album that’s A LOVE LIKE OURS…  we wrote it together the famous swedish songwriter Svante Henryson…Me and Marcus Jidell had written the core to the song, the verse and the chorus,and then Marcus sent the demo to Svante Henryson that made a cellos arrangement to the song... We really liked the arrangement with the cellos, the song started to work out wonderfully, the sound had become quite dramatic, but I felt like something was missing, you know… like a percussion or something that could drive the beat…and then the inspiration came to me using an acoustic guitar with nilon strings almost like a percussion... and it worked and became the intro to A LOVE LIKE OURS... ha ha ha there are many ways you can use an acoustic guitar with nylon strings but, all kidding aside, you always have to be open-minded, that's the important thing.... You have to be open to what the song requires and what the inspiration suggests, you don't have to set limits, a song needs what a song needs. I also love writing and thinking about music for the whole album, we wanted the songs to have a relationship with each other, to be interconnected,we have our significance sound, we have our specific sound I should say which is ‘dark, heavy and poetic’...But I think it's also very important that each and every song can stand on their own... 

MELODY LANE: On some songs, such as Stockholm, A Love Like Ours or Transcendent you have used cellos and violins...I wanted to ask you, when you are in the studio do you ever think about what the live performance of the songs you are recording will be, and it can be a limit for you?… Or do you experiment with everything that inspiration brings to you and then find ad-hoc arrangements to re-propose the songs live? Many bands today make use of backing tracks to compensate for instruments or backing vocals... have you ever done it? And what do you think about it?
Jennie-Ann Smith:  Being in the studio is a great thing, and specifically when you get to arrange, I love that part of the process: when you dress up the songs in the best way possible... but of course there are limits to what you can do live. So yes... I would love to bring strings on stage but, you know, it's not easy also because of the economic settings. But we've never used live backing tracks, we've never done that, we prefer to be completely live.... And this has always been possible for us because of the way we write music, you know what I mean? It depends on how you write music.... I mean... I write music in a traditional way, I write in a 'singer-songwriter' way: I work with melody, with lyrics... I mean, our music can be played with just an acoustic guitar and the voice. For me, writing music is a craftmanship, I am very happy as long as we can play everything live, I prefer that... So, as for the songs you just mentioned -- that's something we have to consider when we're live, we'll see how to re-arrange them...

MELODY LANE: Talking about your next tour, you will play in Europe between April and May together with SWALLOW THE SUN...Do you have anything else planned? Before the European tour will you plan other dates?
Jennie-Ann Smith:  We are discussing different options at the moment, but nothing confirmed yet…maybe we will be able to schedule some dates here in Scandinavia and in Sweden which is where we live...but at the moment the confirmed dates are those of the April/May tour that we will do together with SWALLOW THE SUN. We will also play in Italy, in Milan... 

MELODY LANE: At this point in your career and at this particular time ... Do you think it would be more advantageous for AVATARIUM to go on tour playing as a support band or as a special guest for some very big band, so that you can propose your music to a wider audience, who may not know you yet, with the hope of enlarge your fan base…or do you think that in any case it would be better to play as a head-liner?...
Jennie-Ann Smith:  I don't think one of these options excludes the other…both are possible at this stage; we tried both. For me I need the audience in the same way…I never stop to be amazed by the strong reaction from the audience wether we are headlining or being a supporting band…we see the strong emotions and reactions how break in the audience. I've seen grown men cry in the audience, being very moved by the music and that's such a great gift...you know what I mean?...It doesn't matter if you are supporting or headlining...that happens…Actually, speaking from a musical point of view, it doesn't really matter that much to me because I put the same amount of effort, and emotional effort, into whatever I do. Maybe we may not be the biggest band but the really important thing for me is to play for an audience that cares about the music, and we are really lucky in that sense; our fans and followers really care about what we do,they are really interested in our musical proposal and that is a great gift...To be able to share the emotions and the music with an audience that really cares about , that is the main aim for me... 

MELODY LANE:  Listening to the album one is inevitably struck by the heterogeneity of the tracklist: one can find songs with important acoustic arpeggios, an intimate and ethereal ballad like 'Psalm for the living' or songs driven by rocky Sabbath-style riffs like 'God is silent'...so I'd like to ask you to tell us a little more in detail about how the songs of AVATARIUM are born and about your working method as regards song-writing...
Jennie-Ann Smith: Well…We have different ways to go about the writing process. It can happen that Marcus Jidell comes with a great riff, like he did with the song GOD IS SILENT and he recorded it and sent it to me and I processed it and found something for the verse ... and then this back and forth of ideas takes place and in the end the piece slowly takes shape ... or sometimes the opposite happens, that is, I have a written verse or a poem of mine and I send it to Marcus and he takes the words as inspiration to create the music... other times it happened that Marcus had a phrasing or a sequence of chords on the piano and I sang different melodies over it until we found the one that could work best... In short, as you can see, we have different ways of writing, there's no a standard formula, and talking about the creative freedom ...I really appreciate that we are able to have different ways into the music.

MELODY LANE:  One song I would definitely like to say a few words about is 'Mother Can You Hear Me Now', it's a gorgeous song and the final two minute guitar solo is just sublime, that's a heart breaking solo... Can you tell me something about this song?
Jennie-Ann Smith:   Oh Thank you! I will definitely pass your words on to Marcus, I love that solo too. Actually the melody of the chorus 's been written by Rickard Nilsson, he had  the melody  and the harmonies to the chorus and then we altered the harmonies a bit and I came up with the lyrics to the chorus...and then we wrote the rest togehter me and Marcus...

MELODY LANE: Jennie-Ann, one last short question... What are the band's next moves in the near future, what will you be doing in the short term while waiting to play live shows?
Jennie-Ann Smith:  Well, what I can tell you at the moment is that a new video will be released before long, and then, as soon as things will quiet down from all the promotional work, we will freely focus on writing new music...

MELODY LANE: Thank you very much Jennie-Ann for your time… In the end, a message to our readers...
Jennie-Ann Smith:  Thanks to you! We love Italy and hope to see you soon on tour! 

- AVATARIUM LINE-UP:
Jennie-Ann Smith (Vocals) - Marcus Jidell (Guitars) - Andreas Habo Johansson (Drums & Percussion) - Mats Rydström (Bass) - Daniel Karlsson (Keyboards)

- Web: https://www.facebook.com/avatariumofficial

- Article by: Mike Matty