METAL QUEENS MONTHLY
Issue One
Copyright 2011 by Armand Rosamilia
Editor/Writer: Armand Rosamilia
Cover Model: Lamia
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Nina Osegueda, of Washington, DC's A Sound of Thunder, describes her band's music: "I can't think of a better way to describe us other than 'Heavy Metal'. Classic Heavy Metal, maybe? Progressive? Sometimes a little power Metaly, thrashy... but in the end, Heavy Metal."
As a female in a male-dominated genre, was there ever a problem with being taken seriously? "Absolutely. I've been told that the best way to market myself is to wear short skirts and show more skin. I've been asked to include backup dancers. I've been asked to sing a song about revenge sex to get more male listeners. A lot of people don't think of us as singers, they think of us as female singers. I'm glad my band doesn't do that."
Nina's favorite female musician? "Doro. She's powerful, but she doesn't use the sex schtick to make herself more 'marketable'. She lets her voice speak for itself."
What is she sick of seeing in the Metal scene these days? "Two words: Goth tutus."
How does she think people perceive the 'Metal Chick' label? "I think a lot of people think we're a bunch of Amy Lee clones. We're supposed to wear cute Goth dresses and sing like The Little Mermaid while the guys around us play Metal."
Weirdest place Nina found a female Metal fan? "We were playing a gig in someone's garage, in Manassas. Hundreds of high school kids and people from the neighborhood came from miles around for free beer and Metal. The owner told me that I reminded him of someone he couldn't quite place, then he remembered! Dorothy Pesch. Doro. He said he watched her in the 80's and absolutely loved her and how she sang. The best part of this is that our next gig was an opening slot for Doro's show in Virginia."
Most embarrassing Metal moment? "I was at a pretty high-profile gig in another state, and one of my travel companions drank so much vodka he passed out in the bathroom. They kicked him out of the venue, so he lay in the sidewalk for the rest of the night, leaving me to make excuses and apologies."
Best stage moment? "Opening for Sabaton, this October. We were the only openers, so we got to play a much longer set. I milked that for all it was worth and gave my best performance."
Is your boyfriend/husband/significant other a musician? "Nope. We met in college where we both majored in media art and animation. He's a video game artist."
www.facebook.com/asoundofthunder
www.asoundofthunderband.com
Long live Heavy Metal!!
Metal Queens Monthly Cover Model
LAMIA
Age 29
Mexico City, Mexico
http://www.lamiamodel.daportfolio.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lamia-Alternative-Model
http://www.modelmayhem.com/lamia
"I'm a fan of Black Metal for all that it involves; I have always believed it is more than a genre because there are many factors involved: philosophical, mythological, a great connection with nature, war and above all Satan. Its an ideology that I believe and follow its precepts."
"A
band of girls that really impressed me since childhood is L7.
Probably the first time that I heard about them was about 7 or 8
years ago and the strength and dedication with which they played blew
me away."
"In
Mexico there are many concerts of local bands, almost every weekend;
but nowadays I'm not really a follower of the local scene. On the
other hand there are a few foreign band concerts here in Mexico and I
try to go to as many Black Metal gigs as I can."
"In
the Black Metal scene is not common to see women who are true
warriors on stage. I have seen many, a lot behind a keyboard and as
years have passed I realized it was just a fad for them and a very
few have remained."
"Some foreign bands I follow are: Astarte, Cadaveria and her participation with Opera IX, Mythic or Demonic Christ, and in the local scene I've heard Labei Ritual, Benatnash but the only worthy one for me is Maledictvs."
Upon Shadows is a two-women Dark Metal band from Montevideo, Uruguay, Natalia Arocena on bass, and Tamara Picardo on guitar, keyboards, voices and programming.
Tamara Picardo answered a few questions for us, and tell us about the band's beginnings: "Upon Shadows is my project I started when I was playing keys in Eclampsy in 1995, one of the biggest Death Metal bands of my country. I played with them for seven years and started this band in the middle of 2002. I was trying to find a new way for my music."
"Upon Shadows music style could be inside of Dark Metal, full of keyboards and atmospheric parts. For the first release the band was formed as a trio, conformed by following musician friends: Marcelo Aguilar in guitar and lead vocals in demo 2003 (ex Thy Dominion / Requiem Aeternam). Natalia Arocena in bass guitar (ex Sigma Sentinel /Alsirat/ Asgard), and I."
"The demo album was called Upon Shadows and there are fourteen tracks (about 45 minutes) with a big range of keyboards, effects and dark ambience. The atmosphere of both music and lyrics have a conceptual thematic, a CD that talks about magic and myths."
"In 2009 I took up the vocals as well. We released The Huge Circle Of Time, a short album of six songs, divided in two parts. The first three tracks are total Dark Metal and the last three are instrumental keyboard songs."
"One year later Melodies In Grey Scale was released, again with some changes in the lineup. This time the band became a female duo, with me taking over guitars as well. And the result is the most personal work of all."