 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Metal Pit : Greetings to you Emma,
welcome to the Metal pit.
Metal Pit : You are the guitar player for the band Vier,can you tell us
a little about the other ladies in the band?
EMMA:
I am indeed, the other ladies in Vier are brilliant, 4 of my best
friends, Charley (Guitar) is one of the funniest girls I know, and she
can do a pretty mean moonwalk, Kay (Drums), who was one of my first
friends when I moved to Brighton is the cause of much amusement in the
band, some of the faces that she is able to pull are ridiculous, Franky
(Bass) is a really positive girl, one of those really nice people to be
around, always making the best of a situation, and Nicky (Vocals) is
the newest member of the band, only having been with us for a year and
a half or so, we have a lot of "in-jokes" in the band, and she is
always the first to bring them up to make us all laugh. So yeah,
that’s the ladies.
Metal Pit : How did you all hook up and decide to form a band?
EMMA: Me
and Kay met Charley in July of 2007 and decided we wanted to start a
band, it was just the 3 of us for a while, and after having something
crazy like 7 bass players and 3 vocalists we met Franky (2 and a half
years ago) and Nicky (a year and a half ago), that’s when it
finally felt like a band. We all just met through being around in
Brighton, going to gigs and the same kind of pubs etc.
Metal Pit : Was the chemistry there right away with all the girls or
was it something that came in time?
EMMA: Definitely
straight away… It felt instantly right with all of them when we
started playing together, couldn’t imagine playing with anyone
else now!!
Metal Pit : Was it important to have an all female band?
EMMA: Not
at all, it was never planned as an all female band, it just kind of
happened that way, we had a couple of male bass players, and would have
had no problems with having male members, it just worked out that we
are all female!
Metal Pit : What is your opinion of women in the Metal scene today?
EMMA: Well
the metal scene is and always will be very male dominated, that is just
how it is. I think that female instrumentalists will always be
pre-judged as inferior to their male counterparts, and we have
definitely found that, with people even saying to us "We only booked
you because we thought you were gonna be shit, so it would make us look
better playing after you". We enjoy that aspect of it though, we work
hard and practice a lot, so the surprised faces in a crowd are one part
of the live experience that we LOVE.
Metal Pit : "We only booked you cause we thought you were gonna be
shit"? Well, I guess the
whole band can use that stupid statement as motivation, right?
The band hails
from Brighton England, what is the Metal scene like there today?
EMMA: Brighton,
England is about 50 miles south of London by the seaside! The Brighton
metal scene is really good actually, there are loads and loads of bands
here and everyone is really really supportive of each other which is
awesome! 2 in particular to look out for I would say are Mask Of Judas
and Here There Be Monsters, both local favorites!!
Metal Pit : Yes, I know of Mask of Judas and they are a very cool band.
Did you have any experience playing with anyone
else before Vier?
EMMA: I
had been in a couple of other bands in the past yeah, none of them
really did anything, Think I was too young to really think about
pushing any of them!
Metal Pit : What or who inspired you to want to play guitar?
EMMA: My
first 2 guitar teachers inspired me the most into playing guitar, I was
learning more technical stuff than what I enjoy playing now, and I
think that is what gave me the basis of my playing. That teamed up with
being a miserable teenager who didn’t want to leave her room, so
I would sit there for hours and hours playing everyday, so I got quite
good pretty quick and then haven’t really improved much since!!
Other guitarists who inspire my style and part writing are Wes Borland
(Limp Bizkit) and Mikey Demus (Skindred)
Metal Pit : Who are some of your favorite Metal bands or performers?
EMMA: Oh
God… I have SO many, I would say my favorites are Faith No More,
Dillinger Escape Plan, Skindred, Killswitch Engage etc… But I
have so many, I have such a wide appreciation of metal from more
hardcore bands like Converge and Botch to commercial stuff like Limp
Bizkit and Slipknot to Djent (Periphery, Messugah) and then darker
stuff like Gojira and Mastodon.
Metal Pit : Do you play lead or rhythm guitar for the band?
EMMA: I
play rhythm guitar actually, Charley our other guitarist is our lead
lady, think my strengths are definitely in my rhythm playing and there
is no way that I could play half of the stuff Charley can, she is a
beast!!
Metal Pit : What kind of gear do you use and why?
EMMA: I
use a Japanese Fender Airodyne Strat, I had always admired a friends
guitar and when he told me he was selling it I HAD to have it, I love
it, it is so versatile, and sounds pretty beefy through my Brunetti XL
R-EVO head, which I discovered when we were recording a demo a couple
of years ago, my tone was sick through it, so I seeked one out and
bought it straight away!
Metal Pit : The band currently has two songs out,"Wrong" and "
Beautiful Wrath", when can we expect to see a demo or full length cd
from the band?
EMMA: We
don’t really plan to release a full length CD for a while, we
will continue to put out singles, and sell them at our shows, at this
stage we are just trying to get people to listen to us, so we record
when we can afford it and then sell the CD's as cheap as we can!!
Metal Pit : Vier currently has a vid for the song "Wrong",why did the
band decide to put out a video before an actual cd?
EMMA:
We made the video for promo purposes really, it was
actually a kind of practice video but it ended up turning out a lot
better than we all thought so we just whacked it up on You Tube and
people seemed to like it, which is cool!! Wrong is actually a pretty
old song for us now, so we didn’t feel like there was any point
in us releasing a CD with it on as we are writing much better material
at the moment, so want to focus on that!
Metal Pit : Don't get me wrong,I think a quality made video is a very
important thing for a band to have,it's just a bit unusual at this
stage,correct?
EMMA: I
don’t think it needs to be unusual, I think with the way the
industry is at the moment online promo such a massive part of being in
a band, and having a video is a visual aid, rather than just trying to
get people to listen to the songs. It is also a good way to get gigs,
because then the promoter can see what he is booking, performance wise,
there are loads of bands who sound amazing on record, and then they
start playing and you might as well be listening to the CD because
there is nothing to watch!!
Metal Pit : I know making videos can be a real pain in the ass at times
and can make for a very long day ,was this something you and the other
girls enjoyed doing and would like to do more of in the future?
EMMA: We
really enjoyed it yes and we will be filming another video in the next
month for our new single "Dead Soul Country" which we are all very
excited about!
Metal Pit : Excellent, cant wait to see that one.
Do you have a
personal favorite Metal or Hard Rock video?
EMMA: I
love all the Foo Fighters videos actually, I think that they are so
funny and it is nice to see the lighter side of a successful rock band!!
Metal Pit : Has the band had the chance to play a lot of live shows and
if so what were some of your favorite clubs to play at?
EMMA: We
have gigged pretty much non stop for the last 3 years and have played
at some awesome venues! Some of my favorites have been the smaller ones
where the crowd is literally right there in front of you! One of the
bands favorite places to play is a place called the Bang Bar in
Basingstoke, the kids that go to the metal gigs there are MENTAL, we
have seen human pyramids, circle pits and walls of death there, which
we have never really had anywhere else!!
Metal Pit : If you could do a dream tour,who would it be with and where
would you play?
EMMA: For
me I would love to support Skindred in the UK, they are such a
brilliant live band and such lovely guys!! We would love to go over to
Australia and America as well as we have a few fans over there, and you
know the weather would probably be a bit of a bonus!!
Metal Pit : When you are not playing with Vier, what kinds of other
things do you like doing?
EMMA: I
know this sounds really sad, but I love my job, I work in a music venue
behind the bar and get to watch bands all the time which is AWESOME! I
like running, making sandwiches hanging out with friends, Being in Vier
is my favorite thing in the whole world though.
Metal Pit : Do you envision yourself doing this as a career someday?
EMMA: I
would absolutely LOVE to do it as a career, playing music with 4 of my
best friends all day, sounds bloody BRILLIANT! We will continue to push
the band as far as we can take it and who knows, one day we might be
able to do the band as our job!!
Metal Pit : When can we expect some new music from Vier and where can
fans find out more info about the band?
EMMA: We
are currently writing new material as we speak so within the next few
months we will be looking to record again and get some new tunes out to
you all. For more information on the band I would say go to our
facebook page as myspace seems to make peoples computers crash these
days!! www.facebook.com/viermusic
Metal Pit : Yeah, I agreee....what the Hell is up with Myspace anymore,
right? How does it feel to be chosen as the Metal Pit's Metal
Maiden of the month?
EMMA: I
am very flattered to have been picked as Maiden of the month…
all seems very surreal, but lovely!!
Metal Pit : Emma, is there anyting at all you would like to add to your
interview?
EMMA: Ummm….
I think that is about it!!! Thanks for picking me!!!
Metal Pit : On behalf of myself and the Metal pit we want to thank you
for spending time with us today.We wish you and the band the best of
luck in all that you do.
EMMA: Thank
you and the Metal Pit Nick.
www.myspace.com/viermusic
www.facebook.com/viermusic
Horns way up brothers and sisters.....
Nick Rohm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
