Crystal Viper - Poproszę dwa piwa
Intervju - 15.04.2012 -
Crystal Viper er jo egentlig begynt å bli ett ganske så rutinert band egentlig -men dette var altså første album jeg kom bortpå med bandet. Dermed så var det kort vei til å kjøre ett lite intervju med vokalist og gitarist Marta Gabriel. Name : Marta Gabriel
Equipment on stage :
Marshall JCM 900 High Gain Dual Reverb, Marshall Jackhammer or VOX Tonelab ST guitar effect, Korg tuner, Jackson / Dean / Schecter flying V guitars,Shure SM 58 microphone.
Best bands:
Virgin Steele, Bathory, Black Sabbath, Immortal, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dissection, Savatage...
Best album :
Dissection "Storm Of The Light's Bane", Virgin Steele "Marriage Of Heaven And Hell Part I"
Which world characters inspire you on a daily basis :
All people who are trying to make world a batter place inspire me.
Known Polish sayings we should know about(?) :
"Poproszę dwa piwa", it means "Two beers, please"!
Hi there and congratulations with a amazing album!
Marta: Hello! Thanks, I'm very glad you like it! I'm still very concious of people's reactions on it, as it's totally different to the previous ones!
The album is right around the corner (release in the end of April) -how is the pressure and everything inside the band right now?
Marta: We can't wait for a premiere of it! We are all very excited to get it to our own hands! And truly, I'm very proud of "Crimen Excepta", I think
it's the best Crystal Viper's album I wrote. I mean I know musicians always say their new album is their best one, but in this case it's something
totally different and fresh.
What can you tell of the technical parts surrounding the album? What studio
etc, and who did the production parts?
Marta: We produced it in a bit different way, everything was produced like in the '80s! Flying V guitars, tube amps, and real drums all the way. No copying - everything what you hear on the album was sung or played. In the '80s there were no false "plastic" parts in the songs, everything was so real and true, we wanted to record our album in the same, true way. "Crimen Excepta" was recorded in MP Studio here in Poland, as it's our favourite and most professional one in our area. The owner of the studio is a sound engineer there, and except that he's a great guy, he also is a big fan of classic metal, and I think it's very important. From the very beginning we have the same producer - Bart Gabriel, who also manage the band, and in private is my husband. He also produced "Crimen Excepta", and lately also produced new albums from bands such as Lonewolf, Jack Starr's Burning Starr, Sacred Steel or Mortician.
You got some guests with you on Crimen Excepta. Could you tell us why you
wanted to include these ones?
Marta: Well, recording cover songs of our favourite bands and inviting special guests is a kind of tradition for us. Our goal is to show to our young fans where are the roots of our music, where we take our inspirations from. And also, as beeing fans ourselves, we have a chance to show respect to the bands, that inspired us. It was the same this time: we all appreciate both bands, Hell and Vader, and as we knew each other, we invited both David and Peter to take part in our songs. And have you seen David and Hell live on stage, or heard their album? I don't think there is any other artist out there, who could be better in the role of William on our album!
How is the work with AFM Records? I see that you also got a release in Japan soon with another company. Could you tell a bit from these parts without ruining your plans for the future?
Marta: Working with AFM is really great for us, as they support us in every step we take, and they are also huge fans of Metal, and that is more important. They understand what Metal bands need and what Metal is all about, so it's the best place for Crystal Viper here in Europe! And yes, in Japan we have another label who release our albums, it's Spiritual Beast Records, and they fight for us in the land of the rising sun!
You got some history already -and you got some past gitarists and bassists. How is the current lineup working out? And do you got any plans for this summer and fall? I guess since the album is on the way -It got to me some concerts and festivals lined up for you?
Marta: Yes, in the past line-up changed from time to time, but it happened because we wanted to find right people, who we could make a real band with. It also happened that some guys of the band had different priorities or commitments, and had to leave the band. But since I play guitar in Crystal Viper everything is perfect, and actually the line-up is the same from our first album, only live musicians changed from time to time. You know, Crystal Viper is hard working band, and everyone has private life as well, so line up changes happen to most of the bands and are nothing weird. We have a a lot of plans for this year, I mean to play as many shows as possible, to do a video clip, and lot of others... And "Crimen Excepta" won't be our only one release this year - but I can't say too much right now. Join us on Facebook as we always post there latest news and updates!
This is actually the first album I stumbled up upon my Crystal Viper. But
you have done quite alot during these nine years. I read nine
Marta: The secret? Do what you really love. Don't listen to the people areound, but do what your heart tells you, and what you think is right. Work
hard, harder, and even more harder all the time and respect people around, this is a way to do something serious. And never give up, because after bad days always comes the better ones.
In the introduction part of the interview I asked about what equipment you use onstage. Is this something that you still change and build on? Alot of musicians never gets tired of changing amps and guitars.... How about you?
Is there a secret (or not) equipment fetish?
Marta: You know, actually no, we are classic Metal band so we don't need any
special digital toys or tons of effects. We have real drums with no triggers, and we use regular guitars with good guitar tube amps. I could say
we are traditionalists, as we love Flying V guitars and Marshall amps & cabinets. We sometimes try some cool sounding amps or preamps (for example Andy is using Carvin Legacy amp on the rehearsals), as there are surely many great ones on the market, but it seems that at the end of the day we always come back to Marshall. This is our weapon of choice. If you want to talk
about equipment fetish, you should contact our producer.
Thanx for doing this interview. Hope that you check out our webzine and keep
sending us some news in the future. Just to complete the whole thing : Do
you got some cool Polish beer to recommend -or perhaps some words about the
fans?
Marta: When you come to Poland, try Zywiec, I think it is the best Polish beer right now. And don't forget to buy a "Zoladkowa Gorzka z Miodem" vodka - it's the best one you will ever try. Thanks for a nice talk! Metal greetings to the all crazy metal maniacs from Norway! I hope to visit you guys with
Crystal Viper soon!