CRUCIFIED BARBARA is a wild female beast from Stockholm, Sweden, consisting
of 4 pretty nice but loud girls. She was born in the year of 1998 and the star of her name has been raising ever since. From playing small clubs in Stockholm and weekend gigs on the country side
to playing huge festivals like The Download Festival (UK), Sweden Rock Festival (S), God's of Metal (I) ,,, the band has improved a lot during the years. The girls included are all around 23-26 years old.
You just come back from touring, how were the dates and the feed back from Metal heads ? Which date impressed you the most ? Any disappointed during this tour ?
We have been out for almost 7 weeks on the Hellride tour which has covered France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland and Russia. It started out in France and it was a blast. The audience was amazing, the venues were really cool and the food was as usual great (even though we all got sick...). The most amazing thing is all the supportive fans that keeps coming to our shows, since we've been many times in France now it's so cool to recognize a lot of faces and meet friends that we've got to know during past tours and gigs. So even if Russia which ended the tour was an amazing experience we all enjoyed France the most. We did about 25 shows, with amounts of people all from 20 - 2000 so you can imagine the venues were various. We have done
a lot of cool support gigs, for example Jon Oliva's Pain, Sonata Arctica and Doro, and played some huge festivals with some really big names (Motörhead, Alice In Chains, Guns'n'Roses, Soilwork, Sonata Arctica, Doro, Nevermore, DIO, Evergrey, Edguy, Gamma Ray, Helloween, In Flames ..). But we have also enjoyed the small club gigs with only a few in the audience. First of all you get a very cool connection with the people who's actually there, and second, by playing these gigs in front of almost no one we have proofed to ourselves and the attending people that we deliver 100% on stage no matter what so the fun barometer is almost on the same level ! Russia was of course something special. We went there with Doro and it was so great to have her
fans supporting us really hard as well. I am a bit jealous of her since she get tons of roses threw on stage every time she plays. And the only thing we get is dirty underwear haha. But I don't really wish for roses, I think they look more beautiful where they grow in the mud where they were born and raised. But still we could live without the underwear. They do also look
better where they belong..
I think your band name simply kicks ass, it's so fucking straight and efficient. It perfectly summarises the music, who came up with such name ?
Thanks it's cool to hear ! The band got it's name already in 1998 (before I
was in the band) and it was 2 of the members who were at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. They saw a guy carrying a blow up doll -sex toy (in Sweden called Barbara) on a cross and they thought that the symbolic in the picture was so cool that they wrote a song about it (before CB was formed). Later on the first line up got the name CRUCIFIED BARBARA. It can be
interpreted in many ways and I think it's up to you to decide how you want to see it. It's been around for many years now so for us it's just the name. Barbara can be anyone you want to see on a cross. I actually have a relative that is called Barbara and I don't want her anything bad, so it's just a symbol. For a blown up person...!?
When the band started in '98 it was a four piece band as well but with another singer. The music was young as well as the members, and more plain punk with a lot of Heavy influences. There were some unserious acts involved trying to sign the band to make it a product but CB has always been a down to earth band with no other intentions than playing music in our own way so
it wasn't in the bands interest. I joined the band in 2001 as lead guitarist and we started the long work of mixing our influences and music to one perfect piece of CRUCIFIED BARBARA. Some demos were recorded but nothing for the masses. In 2003 just before we got signed, I took over the microphone and we were again a 4 piece band. Since the vocals and the chemistry in the band changed due to this, I would say it was a new start for CB and our sound. And we were really satisfied with the way it turned out. We were all developing as a band and wasn't really ready for a release until GMR music (Sweden) signed us, it was in the perfect time for us to take the next step. We had found our final line up and we had found our sound, and then we found our record deal !
The single "Losing the Game" was released in Sweden in December 2004 to prepare the masses for the upcoming release. I don't know how many copies that were spread but the first week we were no 8 on the single Hit list in Sweden, which is pretty good for a band that don't play radio pop and with the first release... After that the release of full length album "In Distortion We Trust" followed in the spring and have got great response all over the world.
CRUCIFIED BARABARA is a 4 female band, how did you meet each other ? It's not so common in these days to find a Glam/Hard Rock band consisting of only females Are there any chances for a male to play with you ?
Klara (guitar) and Ida (bass) were the founders of CRUCIFIED BARBARA. They met while rehearsing with other bands at the age of 15 and started to play together. Later on they hooked up with Nicki (drums) and the formed singer. I had seen them play sometime at a youth place in Stockholm and thought that they were really cool. At the time I was playing with some guys in the suburb where I grew up, outside of Stockholm. We met at a party and I asked if they needed one more guitar player, and they were looking at the time so it was good timing ! I went to their rehearsal and after that I was a permanent member of the band. So we all met kind of accidentally and it wasn't a plan to be only girls. We have all been playing with guys before
and I don't think there's any difference. I think that to have a good lasting band you need to have a good personal chemistry, that's all and we work out very good together. People use to say that girls can't be in a room together, but I really can't believe my ears sometimes when I hear what some of our male colleagues are fighting about in their bands ! Of course we get tired of each other from time to time, but we can always solve the problems. And we have been around each other so long now so we know when to stay back if someone has a bad day. Anyway, there are no chances for a male to play with CRUCIFIED BARBARA since we don't have any room for one more member !
How could you
define your music ? Would you simply say it's "fucking rock and roll
so shut up and bang your head" ? C.F is the ideal mix between the
UK scene from the 80's and the Glam one from USA, don't you think so ?
I think your explanation was pretty good ! I don't want people to shut
up but maybe add "So drink your beer" instead, but it's maybe
too long to have as a genre description.. We don't have any ideas about
where to put our music in the world of 1000 000 genres, we just play it.
We want it loud, dirty, heavy and wild. I think the reason to why people
have problems to put a label on us is because first of all we are females,
and people seems to have the will to compare girls with girls for some
stupid reason. And so far we have not too many female bands with our sound.
People compare us with Girlschool and The Donnas, which are 2 totally
different kind of styles and besides that it's no bands that we have been
listening to or influenced of. And we grew
up with grunge, not 80's Metal. But now a days the 80's Metal is closer
to our hearts anyway, as well as heavier Metal. It's kind of fun to read
when people write what bands we must have been influenced by, when it's
bands we've hardly ever heard of ! We use to say it's a mix of Heavy Metal,
Punk rock'n'roll and a lot of energy.
Ha,ha.. read above ! (I've just done it hahaha, unfortunately the question was written before your previous answer baby -ed). These bands are all great, but I wouldn't say that we are influenced by it. Not for me personally anyway. I think it's a VERY difficult question to answer, about influences. It's something for the listener to answer I think. For me it's more about what's inspiring me. I don't play someone else's music (unless when we do covers..) when I hear music I like, I can be inspired to write but then it's not about doing what they're doing. I get inspiration to get my own things out. The process to create a CB song is kind of complex so I would be surprised if someone says it sounds like a specific band. But of course, what band doesn't say that
they are total original !? I think it's fair, 'cause I don't think many bands make music with the intention: "Let's make a song that sounds like this band". Then it mostly ends up sounding like something else anyway but that's because we live in 2006 and there are so many songs already written. Or..!?
I feel like coming back in the 80's when listening to "In Distortion We Trust", so I'd like to know how you wrote the tunes of this record. Was it a hard task to reach this old school touch without sounding too much cliché, if you get my point ?
Interesting to hear your point of view ! We didn't have much in mind when we entered the studio, except from making our first, mind blowing album. It was our first real studio experience, so we were not experienced in sounds and the whole recording process. We had our wishes about the sound, and then laid our trust in our amazing producer/ sound engineers knowledge. All we
knew was that we wanted a good presentation for CRUCIFIED BARBARA, and we got that. We had our songs, and of course another producer could have created something terrible with that due to our innocence, but Mankan Sedenberg just did his great job and didn't change anything that's us, just took us to the next level. And I think the sound of the record is also the result of not
too much thinking. I think it's dangerous to think about to much about in what direction the music should be or sound like. Of course you need a picture, a wish and a goal, but I don't like the idea of produce the songs too much. It's a very easy to cross the fine line, to be too excited about creating a blasting chorus and change the songs just to make a hit. In the end it's about get out the music that lives inside of you, and present it in a way you can stand for. Then it's up to the listeners and reviewers if it's in their interest to put it in a genre or call it what ever. As long as it's
HEAVY !
I read many reviews of
"In Distortion We trust" and the less we can say is that the
feed back is nearly perfect. You received overwhelming words from press,
did you expect such great reviews honestly ?
First of all, we are of course very happy about the all the good reviews
!! In the beginning of our career as a band with our first record, we
didn't know what to expect. It's hard to sell records these days and there
are so many good bands. I don't know really what we were expecting, but
of course we were hoping for good response. I know for sure that when
we were in the studio, recording the album, we didn't expect everything
that has happened so far. Touring all over the world, meeting so many
people, getting so much great feedback from all over the world. All in
just one record. It's totally amazing. So to answer your question, I don't
think we were expecting this great feedback. But we are very happy about
it, and of course we're going to
beat this with a killer album no. 2 !
According to me, the only draw back
from "In Distortion We Trust" is the crystal clear production,
that is a bit too much clean for the music you play. For instance, I'd
have preferred a kind of Motörhead production that is both pro and
raw at the same time. Do you agree with me ?
Yes we agree. That is actually the only thing that we are not 100% satisfied
with IDWT. A lot of people who have heard the album have been telling
us that they thought it was ok, but when they saw us live they were blown
away and that the sound of the album isn't making the band justice. But
the album were recorded 2 years ago and a lot has changed with the band
as well so we are a better band now adays as well. For the next album
we will work more on to get a really fat drum sound for example. Nicki
beats like a beast and it's kind of hard to hear on the album. And the
guitars are not that rough as we would like them to be. But this is what
we will work on for the next album, to get more energy out. It's hard,
very hard to have an idea of how you want it, and then have a sound engineer
or a producer to have the same ideas and get it out just as you want it.
Even if you're all working on the same idea, who knows what's coming out
in the end ! It's not until you have had a 2 weeks brake from the studio
work and you listen to the songs again, that you can get the feeling of
how it really turned out I think. It's a very interesting process and
we're looking forward to start the work of the next album, and to really
catch it this time !
With such song titles as "Losing The Game", "I
Wet Myself" or "Bad Hangover" we can say you're heavily
influenced by Lemmy in the choice of the titles. I guess it's done willingly
to assert your music strength ?
I am writing most of the lyrics and I am not heavily influenced by Lemmy
in this case. All these titles is written together with Klara Force as
well, and we just wrote them, from our personal perspectives of life.
The only thing on the album that are flirting with other bands or statements
are I need "A Cowboy From Hell" (love Pantera, the song has
nothing to do with them
but it was just playing with words and also a tribute message to one of
the greatest bands in the world) and "Hide 'em all" (sayin Hi
to Metallica. But also this was just our bad sense of humour)
Let's keep on the lyrics, what is the influence when writing
lyrics ? Once again it's only about sex, beer and rock and roll, is that
right ? According to you, who wrote the best lyrics in the Metal history
?
Lyrics are very important, first of all. When you can catch a feeling
with words, and also deliver it in a way that other people can feel with
you, or recognize themselves, it's magic. "IDWT" consists of
a mix between true rock'n'roll fun and deeper moments in life. Some reviewers
have been complaining about that we only write rock'n'roll clichées
but I think that's
unfair even though I understand it a bit. Writing about drinking to much
and getting a headache is of course "true" rocknroll but still
it's something from our lives, that we know about too well (unfortunately..).
And it comes natural to write about things that is in your life. We are
a rock band and of course we go through all these rock'n'roll moments...
We will never deliver any lyrics that we can't stand up for and we don't
write clichés just 'cause it fits good in that particular part
of one song. I think that the next album will be darker in that perspective,
'cause we have all
grown as persons and been through a lot during these years, getting more
aware of life and of course it will affect the lyrics as well as the music.
But, to put it in another more suitable order: Rock'n'roll, beer and sex,
it's all about that in the end... it includes it all!
Our "mother" label is actually Swedish (GMR music), and we were signed in the beginning of 2004. Bad Reputation is our French label and released our record after the Swedish release. We are very happy to have a label in France. In many countries it's only on distribution and of course you can't get the same attention as when you have a label supporting you. Bad
Reputation has together with our French booking agent Aurrock, made an incredible job to make the French Metal audience aware of CB. We haven't seen such good support in any other countries except for our own country, Sweden.
What is your musical background
? How long have you been playing instruments ? What about your gear ?
Do you think that Gibson and Marshall must be part of your equipment to
get this "old" sound ?
We all started playing at the age of 14, all of us influenced by the grunge
music. Nicki is playing Yamaha drums, Ida is playing Ampeg amps and a
Fender Precision bass. and me and Klara both use Gibson guitars and Marshall
amps. I have a Gothic Flying V that I love more than anything. It sounds
great and it's total me. I have got offers for full endorsements of other
guitars, which is total cool. I couldn't dream of that scenario some years
ago. But after trying it out, there has been something missing. I just
miss my Flying one.. So I always ends up with that guitar in the end,
no free guitars... But it's worth it, I couldn't play something that isn't
the right thing for
me. It's like a relationship... You can be with someone for years, but
when you all of a sudden run into the right one, you know it's right and
what you've been doing for years have just been the 2nd best... (just
waiting for that to happen and so far I'm satisfied with finding the right
guitar...). I have a Marshall JCM 800, modified by Tommy Folkesson (http://www.tommy-folkesson.nu/
) but I mostly use it on gigs in Sweden since it's difficult and risky
to bring it with over seas the budget we have now when we are touring.
I love this amp though it seems to have a life of it's own. Sometimes
it hates me and make the weirdest sounds but most of the time it's my
best friend. The distortion in this amp is incredible. Peter Tägtgren
wanted to buy it after the tour we did with them in January 2005 but it's
not for sale so far. I'm still curious to check out other amps and I'm
really interested in the Engl amps. We'll see where it ends up.
Could you speak a bit about you as Metalhead girls ? How and
when did you discover the Metal scene ? What are your classic diamonds
in your collections ? I guess you both listen to Punk and Metal…
As it's only me doing this interview (it's kind of hard to find time to
sit down all together..) I have to speak for myself. I experienced the
Metal scene when I was around 15 and I was playing with my first band,
called Notorius together with 2 friends from my school. We were playing
grunge rock and covers. A guy from our school was really in love with
my band mate and I started to get to know him since they didn't really
connected and he was totally broke down by this. After some time we became
best friends and his music also became my music. He introduced me to the
world of Metal in a wide perspective, everything from Metallica to Dream
Theater, from The Gathering to Slayer... going from only listening to
three pretty non technical grunge bands to open the gates of all these
Metal bands you can imagine I felt that there were no use of continuing
playing guitar.. I just loved it but I thought it was a world beyond me
in the matter of playing. It still is but along the way I realised it's
not about the technical skills, it's about what comes from you. My record
collection was stolen during a drunk moment last year so my diamonds are
sad but true not with me anymore, but anytime I can afford it I get them
back, one by one.. To mention some bands and albums that has meant a lot
to me; Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia (and one of
my favourite songs ever are Hangar 18), Alice in Chains -Dirt -first of
all, Obituary - World Demise (the first of their album that I got), Phantom
Blue - Built to Perform ... there are just to many. It was some time ago
I updated myself on the other girls favourite bands at the moment, but
I can give you what I know for sure; Klara loves Accept, Ida loves Guns'n'Roses
and Nicki loves Led Zeppelin. Then we all love bands like Mustasch (Swedish
band if you don't know them check it out NOW!!!!) In Flames, Turbonegro,
Slayer, Monster Magnet, Bullet, Sepultura... everything
that's good. We're not trapped in any genres and when we were on tour
I had a Swedish singer/songwriter in my mp3 player just to relax from
the crazy world outside and all the noise that fills your head out of
the stage. When we were younger, music was much about statement, to show
were you belonged. But it's not that important anymore, at least not for
me. As long as the music is good and it makes you feel, there's no reason
not to listening to it. Either if it's Thrash or folk music. (don't tell
anyone I said that he,he) (don't worry nobody will read the last sentence
ahahah-ed)
As you can read above in #6 it's no thought about us getting together except from the fact that we come along very good together and wanted the same thing, and still does, playing music and have fun.
Lemmy stated he started playing Metal to get a rock and roll life and fuck as many female as possible, what's about your aims playing in a Metal band ?
It's kind of fun. I have heard a lot of guys saying this, that they started to play just to get the girls attention. I, or we, didn't start to play just to fuck guys for sure. I think that most of the people, male or female, starts to play 'cause the music is calling you. I started out in the music school with an instrument that my mother put in my hands, that I didn't feel comfortable with or could enjoy. But when my sister got an acoustic guitar I took it over completely and it was just right for me. And when I first tried out an electric guitar, in an amplifier I almost fell of my chair, still remember that moment ! And it's still what's drives me to play the music we do. As soon as you turn on your amplifier and turn up the volume and the gain, the feeling that comes from that can't be beaten by anything else. The groupies are nothing we counted in from the start, it's just a bonus (laugh)
How would you define the Heavy Metal music ? Heavy Metal has been existed since more than 35 years and now it's coming back with some fucking powerful combos, many coming back from legendary bands. So do you think that Heavy Metal is timeless ?
Heavy Metal is timeless for sure. It will survive anything 'cause the passion of Metal and rock is real thing for anyone who has been touched by it, and it's here to stay. Like with anything else in this world, there are and will be trends that comes and goes, of course also in the Metal music. And I think it's good and refreshing with new points of views, even if a lot of the new things that comes up is crap. I'm sure there were a lot of crap back in the old days too, just that you're not aware of it 'cause it disappeared. Bands and artists created for commercial purposes will always work in the radio, they will make money and have their moments in the limelight, the 15 minutes of fame.. but it's not making people feel good, it's just a part of the game. If you becomes an artist with the only aim to be on stage and being admired by thousand screaming people, you have got a wicked view of life and yourself, my opinion. And if you don't do it 'cause your passion for music is calling you, you can still succeed but I have hard time to believe that it will make you happy in the end. There's a reason why thousands of people are choosing a poor life just to full fill their dreams, to play music. It makes you survive in this wicked world. I hope that Heavy Metal is timeless, and I really do believe so. But just as there are so many other music styles that will go on for ever. To bad that a lot of people still are not aware that Heavy Metal is the best way to guide you through life. Lordi will hopefully show the way for some new fans, ha,ha.
Now, let's speak a bit about the future of the band, what will be your upcoming activities within CRUCIFIED BARBARA for the next months ? Will you play to any summer festival in Europe ?
We just came home from a very successful Sweden Rock Festival. It was a blast for us, I can't remember a weekend when I had this much fun. We also played God's of Metal in Italy, and Rock Hard in Germany, PestPop in Belgium. Coming up for the summer, we have Rock Harz (G) Decibulles festival (F) Masters of Rock (CZ) Metal Ways (S) Metal Days (Switzerland) and Tobacco Rock (G) and a lot of cool things coming up for the fall. We are going to Australia, and coolest of all, we're going on a month tour with Motörhead in the UK.
It has been hard to find time to work on the new material since we had a very busy year with touring. And we haven't been home even for 3 days in a row just to relax in a very long time, cause there are always things that have to be done, things to do, administration, promotion, whatever. But we will take the summer -between the festivals- to work on the new album and record it as soon as we feel that we have something good going. Everybody -including ourselves- are waiting for the next release, but we think that the worst thing we could do, would be to rush it just because we "need to have a new album out". Of course we need that, but it's not worth to stress just because of that. We want to deliver the best of the best, and we want to give it the time that's needed. The music will always be Crucified Barbara, no matter what since we're at the helm. It's hard to try to analyse how the next album will sound, but of course it will be different. We have all advanced in personal, musical and technical ways. We all want it heavier, and more melodic since we lack some melodies on our debut. But we are also getting more back to the roots of Hard Rock, so we'll see where we ends up. For me personally, I won't scream as much as I did on the first album ha,ha. I have developed my voice and know more how to use it now. On IDWT half of the songs were written before the other singer left the band. We re-arranged the songs so they fit me more but still it's not 100% adjusted for me to sing. And the rest of the songs
we wrote brand new, but still I had only been singing rock music for a couple of months before we entered the studio (except for all the background screaming I used to do even before) so I wasn't that experienced. I still think the whole album and the songs turned out really good but I think that the next Crucified Barbara album will be a killer. And I really hope that our fans will agree and stay Crucified !
Finally the latest question as Franang zine comes from France, what do you know from this country ? Have you listened to any cool band from here ?
It's maybe boring to mention the cheese but we're fucked up in this matter and we love it so I have to say that. ha,ha (me too we've the best cheeses in the world, with incredible ugly smell ! ahahah –ed) . And during all our tours I've noticed that you have a lot of fields.. just as Sweden. People are surprised when we say that we've toured the most in France, 'cause it's not the country with a huge Metal reputation but we still see the best audience here, and the people we meet are really cool. I have been treated like shit when I tried to buy stamps to send a postcard back to my mom 'cause the old lady didn't like that I couldn't speak a word in French (I know some, but
it's so bad that even our French booking agent that thought it to me make an ugly face when I say it), but as soon as you get to the rock club and meet other Metal heads, you feel like home, everybody's the same no matters where in the world you are as long as you meet in the name of rock. Metal unites.
Thanks a lot for your time and answers, stay heavy as fuck !
Thank you for letting CRUCIFIED BARBARA speak. Hope to see you on tour, All the best, Stay Crucified
Mia Coldheart