M.S: Hi, thanks for giving us a little of your time. 
Thank you for giving us a chance to be heard J
M.S: When did you start singing? Which are your influences as a singer?
I have been singing for over 10 years. I was actually kind of hesitant about
singing and never really thought I was that good. But after a lot of support
from people over the years I started to take it a bit more seriously. When I
really found how much I loved Metal things really started to change for me.
I felt like I found a vehicle through which I could express my passion and aggression
and all of the feeling I carry inside. I have a very wide range of influences..
Obviously Dio but also Tina Turner, Sarah Vaughn, Freddie Mercury, and so many
more.
M.S: Which bands were you in before Benedictum?
I was in a band called Malady along with Pete for about 7 years. We broke
up due to differences in goals. Pete and I wanted to branch off and record seriously
and the rest of the band wanted to keep playing locally. Blackie was in G-13,
Magni, RDK and Evilution a Dio Tribute band (with Chris and myself) Chris –
Living Relic, Magni and Evilution Jesse – Has been playing underground for a
while and we met him as he was doing a stand in performance with Cage.
M.S: It’s easy to see that one of the brands of the band is the image of
sexy woman you give in some pictures. Where did you get the idea of giving this
kind of stetic for a metal band?
Well the label wanted to put an image of me out there first so that is what
we did. I don’t take that too seriously though because at the end of the day
it is the music that counts. When you put the CD in you don’t see a picture
of me, you hear the band.
M.S: As for the pics, some pics have been retired from your official site,
why is this so?
I decided to pull them for a while for it looked like the Veronica show.
That was fine but not really where I wanted to go with the whole promotion of
the band. We are having the website redone and it should be up by the end of
March. At that time I will probably add some new pix I will just have to see
how it goes J
M.S: I guess you know you’re taking the risk to become one of the most provocative
female singers of the metal scene, aren’t you afraid that this fact could frivolize
your musical offer?
I honestly never really looked at it that way! If the product is good then
the package won’t matter J one way or the other. That is how I see it. I really
don’t think that my image is so far out there as to detract from anything. And
no I am not afraid of any frivolization. At the end of the day. it’s the music
just like I said earlier.
M.S: Listening to the record, we can appreciate you have a particular voice,
how do you train it? how do you care of it?
Unfortunately I don’t do anything at all for it and I probably should.
M.S: In the promo sheet of the Benedictum album, you says.. "I,m the bitch
you won,t ignore" , what do you mean by saying that?
Well it appears that lyrics were taken out of context (as usual ha ha).
I often get asked about that, but it is a part of a song. The song Misogyny
is about serial killers like Ted Bundy, BTK, and the Green River Killer you
know people like that that had a deep-seated hatred of women. The lyrics " I
m the bitch that you cant ignore" were really in the song from the perspective
of a victim of such crimes shouting back at the perpetrator.
M.S: What is the meaning of the album title, "Uncreation"? 
Uncreation. if you listen to the lyrics at the end.. really is about being
able to recreate yourself out of the ashes of ruin. The uncreation is that place
of the undoing the precursor of that point in time when one can "turn it around"
and make good out of what has gone wrong!
M.S: What means heavy metal for you?
To me it means power, raw and in your face!
M.S: How do you see the Metal scene in the USA?
To tell you the truth – I don’t follow the scene all that closely. I’m aware
of some of the newer stuff that’s out there, like Arch Enemy or Lacuna Coil
for example, but I prefer classic metal and music with melody over the more
extreme stuff that seems to be popular over here. Overall though the metal scene
seems be stronger and healthier than it has been in a while, which is great
but it opens doors for heavy music, period.
M.S: Which is your fave song in the album?
I would have to say for me it is "Two Steps to the Sun" that song was written
during some of my darkest hours and it really helped to get all of my hurt out
through the vehicle of music.
M.S: Most of songs remind of Dio, there are also two Black Sabbath covers,
is it a predetermined way of making the songs, or is there a natural way?
It is just the way things came out. I think the most obvious influence
would be Dio for my voice but as far as the band as a whole there are extremely
diverse influences of all types at work and when blended together you have Benedictum.
M.S: Two Black Sabbath covers performed by Dio. Has he listened to your
album? If so, what is his opinion about it? Could there be a tour along with
him?
Aah now that is a great question. I have had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie
James Dio and he was just the greatest. However, to this day I don’t know if
he has ever heard a single song from the band. It would be a dream come true
(unless of course he didn’t like it J ) if I could find out if he has ever heard
Benedictum and what his opinion is of it!
M.S: Tell me something new that this album can offer to the discographic
market.
I feel it offers a great production of quality music. For those that like
a more classic approach we hope it has a lot to offer. All we ask is that people
give it a listen.
M.S: How did you get in touch with Locomotive records? Are you happy with
their work with you?
During the recording process with Jeff Pilson he let us know that he had
planned to let one of his friends listen to us. When that happened he was impressed
enough to offer to shop us to the European market. Chris (who is now our manager)
was familiar with European labels and decided that out of the offers we had,
that Locomotive would give us the attention we deserved and not just "put us
on the shelf" so to speak. We are very grateful for the great promotion they
have given us so far and hope they will continue to support us as we try and
promote this new album!
M.S: I guess is must have been a real pleasure to work with Jeff Pilson
and Craig Goldy, right?
Absolutely, I have known Craig for many years and consider him the one responsible
for introducing me to Metal and encouraging me to sing it. It had always been
our dream to do something together so the fact that he does and dueling lead
with Pete on Valkyrie Rising was a dream come true. There are just not enough
words to describe my deep admiration for Jeff Pilson. His attitude, talent and
great direction helped us all to be better musicians. It was a great time! We
laughed a lot and made a new friend. I can’t wait till we work together again!
M.S: Tell me a little about "Wicca" and "Walkyrie rising", their lyrics,
who wrote them..
I write all the lyrics at this point. Wicca-I was inspired by a passage
from a book that contained real letters from people that had been persecuted
during the Witch-hunts. This particular letter caught my eye because it was
from a father to his daughter whose name was Veronica. In the letter he describes
his torture and the inhumanity of his tormentors. Valkyrie – We wanted to do
what we called an "epic" tune. It was kind of funny that someone I knew said
"You know what? You remind me of one of those Valkyries . the women who served
Odin carrying slain warriors to Valhalla. So I thought how cool to write something
about a battle and a fallen warrior!
M.S: Are you going to play live to support the album?
Oh yes, we are working on getting some small tours of Europe together in
2006. Starting with the Gods of Metal in June and staying in Europe for about
10 days going to Holland, Belgium and possibly Spain!! That would be so cool!!
M.S:
What do you think about internet?Are you on favour of it, or against it?
I think the internet is a double-edged sword. It allows a lot of music
to get out there that may otherwise go unheard!! That is the upside. The downside
is of course the obvious downloading of music (if done illegally) hurts musicians
as far as money is concerned. Really I used to do that myself and then I realized
that it is the same as taking from someone. I thought about the bad Karma it
might bring and haven’t done it since. I wont download music because that is
someone’s art, livelihood and craft. I MUST respect that if I want others to
respect our craft as well.
M.S: This is the end,thanks for your time again, and if you want to say
something to our readers, this is your moment.
I want to thank your readers for taking the time to read about Benedictum.
Give our new album "Uncreation" a try and hopefully you will enjoy listening
to it as much as we enjoyed creating it!! Hope to see you in Spain VERY SOON!
David A.
Photos: www.benedictum.net
.jpg "Tarja Turunen")
