Skype interview with Liv Kristine (Leaves' Eyes)

On one particularly cold evening I had an interview on Skype with Leaves' Eyes frontwoman Liv Kristine, here we talked about their new album release next month, their appearance at a festival and who she would have headline her own festival. So here is the transcript of the interview, the audio version will be available on my Souncloud page very soon.

Charlotte:       Hello there I am Charlotte Whittingham from Loud Stuff.com, it’s a very cold autumn evening and I am on Skype with Liv Kristine from Leaves’ Eyes. So Liv the last we spoke you were on tour with Firewind in Southampton.

Liv:                  Yes yes, OK I remember now. That was about a year ago.

Charlotte:       According to some press information I received you will be releasing a brand new album soon Symphonies of The Night, how different is it to your previous one Meredead?

Liv:                  Meredead is a bit folkier and many of the songs include my native language Norwegian. Symphonies Of The Night is a lot bigger, more powerful and heavier. It sums up the 10 years of Leaves’ Eyes. We have a 10^th anniversary in 2013, which we realised in Spring. So when we started to compose for the pre-production of Symphonies Of The Night, we realised that we have to go with a creative flow and luckily we have our own studio so there is always something going on. The men like working at night and I just open the most recent files when everyone is sleeping but there is always something going on and it was a very creative process. It is a heavier album than Meredead and it sums up 10 years of Leave’s Eyes history, experience and dedication, some of us have been around for 20-25 years.

Charlotte:       Being it’s your 10^th anniversary of Leaves’ Eyes are you doing anything else to celebrate besides the album or is the album a celebration itself?

Liv:                  We haven’t really planned anything but we’ll see as soon as we get the finished CD. We’ll celebrate with a glass of wine.

Charlotte:       The track listing has recently been released, which songs do you think represent the album best?

Liv:                  That’s a very tricky question, I actually asked my husband [Alex Krull] to think about that question a couple of hours ago and he named Hell To The Heavens. I would say Ophelia, they are both straightforward rock songs and they might sound easily structured but they are not as they were recorded in the final third of the album process. Every song says a lot about the album when it comes to atmosphere and power. So probably Hell To The Heavens and Ophelia.

Charlotte:       Are there going to be any single releases from the album?

Liv:                  That’s up to our record label [Nuclear Blast], I wish I could make that decision.

Charlotte:       What’s your personal favourite song from the album and why?

Liv:                  I was listening to Ophelia in my car this morning and I would say that is my momentary favourite if I’m allowed to have one. Nightshade is my baby on the album because it struck me during my morning cup of coffee I just had the idea. Everyone went to bed after their nightshift in the studio. I just ran into the studio and recorded some vocal ideas, added some fake strings and after 48 hours the song was finished. Apart from the folk instruments but Nightshade is my baby.

Charlotte:       You are set to make an appearance at Female Metal Festival this weekend [18^th-20^th October]…

Liv:                  We’ve been practising a lot because we will play at least five songs from Symphonies Of The Night. We have been very busy and tomorrow the whole band will gather again for a Leaves’ Eyes rehearsal then a Liv Kristine rehearsal as I will performing on Friday with my solo project so double time.

Charlotte:       You’ll be very busy

Liv:                  I’ll be busy but you know I’ll be able to stay around for two days so I hope to meet a few of my girlfriends, the other ladies.

Charlotte:       I recently asked this question to Heaven’s Basement frontman Aaron Buchanan as his band appeared at a lot of festivals over the summer. If you could be in charge of your ideal weekend festival, what would the festival be called and who would you have headline each day?

Liv:                  Oh dear oh dear, instinctly I would have Black Sabbath headline because that’s the music I grew up with and gave me the influence to form Theatre Of Tragedy almost twenty years ago. So Ozzy, Black Sabbath and get an autograph for my father. It was he who played Black Sabbath when I was a toddler. What would it be called, that’s a good question. Normally you would have an adjective like folky or female or symphonic or extreme symphonic female; none of that probably just Metal For Everyone.

Charlotte:       I’ll probably know the answer to this question but which iconic musician would you have coffee and a muffin with?

Liv:                  [laughs] Ozzy, if you asked me when I was a teenager I would have probably said Madonna which I’ve heard rumours that say she is quite difficult. I would choose to do yoga with Madonna and I will have a coffee with Ozzy.

Charlotte:       I’ve seen a recent news post that there will be a Leaves’ Eyes tour.

Liv:                  We have Female Metal Festival this weekend. We have just been told that we are able to get our visas for China finally, it’s the third time we have tried to get into China. So we’ll be appearing in China, Taiwan and Thailand, then it will be Romania, Bulgaria, Russia that’ll be all for Leaves’ Eyes and Atrocity then I will be doing two exclusive solo shows in Germany and Switzerland in December. Then we will do a little UK tour in January so I hope to see you there, then we will do 70,000 Tons Of Metal through the Carribean in February. Then a US tour, that’s about two thirds of the upcoming year. So after that we will see.

Charlotte:       Last question, aside from touring, album releasing and festival appearances what are the plans for Leaves’ Eyes for the rest of the year? I suppose it’s too early to think about Christmas…

Liv:                  I’ve already planned Christmas. I’m going to be very busy so I had to mark a few days, a week in December around Christmas and New Year where it’s just family time. We are going to Austria to stay in a little wooden house in the mountains with my best friends, my husband and my son. It has a sauna, a jacuzzi and a bubble bath. I’m looking forward to that, I had to plan it in July because if I were to do it now I just know there will be a concert that weekend because nobody wants to play a concert on Christmas Day or New Years. I’ve always been that kind of person where I think OK I’m here, if I’m not going home to Norway or booked my flight to Norway I might as well do it but not this year. I’m going to have some time off, apart from promoting Leaves’ Eyes, doing interviews and shows coming up. I will start working on my next solo album and I guess Atrocity will start to work on their next album so there is always something happening.

Charlotte:       Thank you very much Liv for taking some time out to talk to me tonight and best of luck with the new album and your festival appearance.