Label: Nuclear Blast
Album: Beyond the Black
The upcoming Lagerfest tour promises not just to be an opportunity to sample the many variants of the nectar of the gods, but also offers a wide range of musical tastes to savour across the metal genre. Aside from the headliners of Sweden’s The Halo Effect, which consists of seminal musical luminaries from the Gothenburg based melodic metal movement, there is also New Zealand’s well established hard rock act Devilskin, the Australian founded, world adventuring pirate metal band aptly named Lagerstein, Germany’s rising symphonic metal stars, Beyond the Black, and experienced local acts.
Given that Beyond the Black’s profile has been on the rise for several years, and is looking to continue globally, given their successful festival performances within Europe, it was time to delve into the band in more depth. Their latest self-titled album is a fantastic artistic leap that sees them sharing a roster with some of metal’s heaviest hitters on the Nuclear Blast label. We spoke to co-founding vocalist and songwriter Jennifer Haben, who has talent to burn, and some amusing anecdotes for metallers to hear about, perfectly suited to hearing over a lager or two.
Hot Metal: Your latest album has been out for almost a good year now. Are you changing sounds around a bit in the set?
Jennifer Haben: “Yeah, we of course have some songs from the newest album that we will play in Australia, and we are looking forward to playing it to our Australian fans.”
HM: Lagerfest sounds a bit worrying though given Australian’s reputation.
JH: “Ha-ha. Yes of course, and I have heard that. It is funny because we thought about doing an extra shirt with beer references on it. But it is super funny because in Germany we love that.”
HM: Yeah, you’d be used to steins of lager.
JH: “We have never tasted Australian beer so we will see.”
HM: It is a mixed bag, but I won’t rabbit on about it, you will find out. It is an interesting line up with Devilskin from New Zealand, The Halo Effect from Gothenburg, Sweden, and an Australian band called Lagerstein, alongside yourselves being symphonic metal. That is an interesting combination.
JH: “Yes, but I think it is perfect because that opens up the whole crowd. So, everyone will find something that they like the most. So, yeah, I think it is great. Most of the time I will get the people to sing with me together. Hopefully that will happen this time as well.”
HM: There are a couple of songs on the most recent album where it sounds like they were written for performing live in that they have that call and response aspect within them. Is that a conscious decision?
JH: “Sometimes it is, yeah. Sometimes you have in mind that you want something that you can sing with the audience together. We are on tour a lot and with nine years of Beyond the Black, so you learn a lot about what works with the audience and so this is what you kind of start liking, somehow, ha-ha. We might start using a drum part that is for the audience to clap along with or similar things, and that is something that we now think about when we start doing a new album.”
HM: You’ve toured with some massive genre acts such as Amaranthe and Within Temptation, so I gather you’ve watched their performances intently?
JH: “Of course, and Amaranthe was just last year but every time we tour with somebody, and we see them every night, it is of course inspiring, all the time. That is what I love about touring with other great bands. We can watch what they are doing and think about if there is something we want to add to our band, and then it is just about enjoying the shows.”
HM: The first time you went out on tour, it was with Saxon and Hell [with producer legend and Judas Priest guitarist Andy Sneap]. Is that correct? That would have been a baptism of fire.
JH: “Yes, and that was funny because it was our first tour ever and it was in England. We had no experience before and that was a hell of a rock show there, and it was great. It is not the easiest to start a tour in England, because yeah, it is not that comfortable than playing in the rest of Europe. Most of the time, we had nothing, but it was fun because we had the show, the people around us and the crew were so, so nice to us. This is what has continued most of the time on tours.”
HM: There is a ballad on the album titled “Wide Awake” which is vocals and acoustic guitar. Is that something you will be playing live?
JH: “We don’t often have ballads with us, unless we have a longer set, where we will try to include that. If we were to headline, we would include it because it is a part of Beyond the Black, bit most of the time, songs from say Songs of Love and Death [debut album] have some parts of such ballads within the songs so we try to have these at least with us.”
HM: How was co-producing with Sascha Paeth [Avantasia], given his growing legendary status within the metal scene?
JH: “Yeah, and he is one of the kindest people that I know, so it is great to work with him, and especially with Heart of the Hurricane, we were sitting together so many times and I enjoyed every minute. I hope to continue working with him.”
HM: The songwriting credits for the most recent album are interesting. There is obviously yourself and Chris [Hermsdörfer – guitars], but there are also some lyricists [Hartmut Krech and Mark Nissen] who wrote some of the music. Is that something you’ll also look to continue?
JH: “That’s right and yes, I think we will continue with it because it works well. The most important thing is that Chris and I are doing a lot before we go to our producers, and whoever, but we talked about also doing stuff together as a band as well. Most of the time, it is not that easy in the new generation because you’re sending stuff back and forth, so you don’t often have the situation of being together recording. But we will try to do that more often in the future.”
HM: When most artists write their songs, they don’t want outside forces to touch it.
JH: “Yeah, maybe it was because I was seventeen or eighteen when we started so I always worked with other people together, so I didn’t know anything other than that. For me, it is no problem to inspire each other when we write songs together and I think that is something positive most of the time.”
HM: Fair enough, a lot of big acts all tend to collaborate with established song writers. Might be a smart move.
JH: “Yeah, I think so too.”
HM: Looking over the album, after a year or so, is there one particular track that stands out for you?
JH: “Hmm, I would say “Free Me”, because that is one of the songs that came out quickly and it was not changed much. It was so natural when I was writing it and so I became very proud when this became the main single. Also, we heard all of the reviews saying that this song was very important for a lot of people.”
HM: It’s a well-done song and even with the key changes in there, it seems to modulate between a minor and major key when it goes into the chorus. It sounds more buoyant.
JH: “I don’t remember, ha-ha, I am not playing it on stage to see it but when I think about it, yes, it must be major in the chorus. Yes, it is opening up, and this is most of the time from using a major scale. But also, the modulations and things like that are what we love but not all of the time. I think that with this particular song it worked and was very natural, that is what I really love about it.”
HM: Instrumentation is also an interesting aspect because you employed flute and pipes on the album.
JH: “Yeah, yeah, and we love that because it is some of that cultural stuff that we like to include within our kind of music. We like these medieval vibes as well, if that is the right word, so that is something that I am glad that we can include in our music a lot.”
HM: Backing vocals are something that people underestimate in a lot of music. It is quite a powerful technique within the songs on the album.
JH: “That is something that I have loved the most since I was a young girl. I’m sorry, I just wanted to quickly include that because in a choir when I was five years old, for the first time, so I have been singing harmonies since I was a little girl. This is also, all the time, one of the most, enjoyable things to do in the studio.”
HM: Plus, then you bring in someone like Amanda Somerville or Billy King.
JH: “Of course, and they know what they do, we send the files there, they bring something back that they like, or that they think will fit and most of the time we do not have to correct anything.”
HM: Where do you see the band’s sound going in the near future? What would you say is the musical trajectory?
JH: “Hmm, I have to say that I am so happy with the sound that we had on this last album that I am not thinking about changing anything. Most of the time, when I am working on an album, or when we are working on an album, it is a natural thing that changes within the process but at the moment, it is the first time I am saying, ‘no, I would not change anything,’ and until now, I think that is a good sign.”
HM: The artwork by Heilemania works well. How does it work that once you have an album together, you then have to figure out how to arrange artwork to present it? Unfortunately, in the music industry it is essential.
JH: “Yeah, it is often difficult to decide but, in this case, it was easier because we had these four symbols or themes and Heilemania is a very creative brain so he really had an idea very quickly to have all these symbols and all this context that we created for this album. So, it did not take long for to find something that we all liked. That was a cast decision.”
HM: It also looks good on gatefold vinyl. I guess that era was ideal because you’d listen to an album in one sitting. Today people are constantly distracted. How do you combat that as an artist?
JH: “It is not easy, I am glad that I am no longer in the pop business but am now in the rock and metal business, because they do like the artist, the whole concept, the whole album and like to listen to everything. So, I am not sure if this will continue to happen but of course you do see the changes and I am not sure how to say it at this point.”
HM: Understood. I gather when you were in Saphir, marketing was, ‘get straight to the chorus’?
JH: “Oh, of course, yeah and sometimes as an artist, even if you are into a theme and you know that people have problems with paying attention to a whole song, you think about it when you are writing songs. I try now to not listen to that because I think that it is most important that the song itself feels great, and that it doesn’t have to start with the chorus, it doesn’t have to do all the stuff that the Internet or that Spotify is telling us. It is kind of a rebellion to not do it.”
HM: When you were growing up, and to now, what have been your influences that helped developed your vocals?
JH: “For me, since I came to metal and rock very late, it was more about powerful voices like Whitney Houston. Then in the end, it was of course Evanescence being that I was coming in from the more mainstream side so that was the first thing to discover. Then, I would say that Floor Jansen [Nightwish] has the most amazing voice and I am always so impressed when I see her perform. And Sharon den Adel [Within Temptation], of course. Everything you listen to might inspire you but most of the time it was down to the very powerful rock voices that were my inspiration.”
HM: How is the lineup these days? You’ve got two guitar players [Tobias Lodes – rhythm guitar, Chris Hermsdörfer – lead guitar], a drummer [Kai Tschierschky] and yourself, but no permanent bassist. How did this situation arise?
JH: “In general, it was somehow a natural development and during such a journey that we are going through, it is always normal, somehow, that people are coming and leaving. But at the moment, it feels like this is the lineup that will stay forever, but that is at the moment, he-he, so I hope it will stay like this, and both parties feel very comfortable so I hope that it will stay like this set up.”
HM: Some might argue that having two seven stringed guitar players could almost cover bass duties.
JH: “Yes, but we have a bass player live [Linus Klausenitzer] and we hope to have him with us with a long time because he is unbelievably great and also a very friendly guy, so yeah, it is nice to be around him. Sometimes, when people move on from your band it is not easy to say, ‘Okay, we don’t know anyone that could fit into our band so let’s do it with him,’ and because you are like family somehow, it is not easy to fill in this gap with someone you may not know, so you take your time to just get to know each other before you change anything.”
HM: Indeed. Finally, how would you describe playing Wacken Open Air festival?
JH: “Oh, there were a lot of feelings, a lot of emotions, and of course, we played on the Wednesday and that was when there was the horrible situation around not knowing if people could get there but, in the end, people were standing there and we the last band on the Louder Stage [one of eight stages], and that was unbelievable for us. It was incredible and with the new show elements we had, I’m always nervous then, and I think that I had every single emotion that I own on that day.”
HM: We will see you soon in Australia for Lagerfest.
JH: “Yes, we will see you there and we are looking forward to the shows. Bye, bye, thank you.”