DATE OF INTERVIEW:

STREAM OF PASSION

30th September 2010

MARCELA BOVIO; JEFFREY REVET

METAL DISCOVERY: Whose idea was the cover of ‘Street Spirit’? When I had the promo through to review I read the song titles first and thought – “nah, that can’t be Radiohead, that’ll never work as a metal song”. Then I played it I thought it wasn’t because it starts with an almost ‘Shine On…’ Floydy kind of intro, then it kicks in with the opening arpeggios and I was like – “ahhhh, it is ‘Street Spirit’!” And it works as well. It shouldn’t work as a metal song, but you made it work. So whose idea was the cover?

MARCELA BOVIO: It was actually Stephan, our lead guitar player. We wanted to do a cover song and we had no idea what to do so he was like – “why don’t we do ‘Street Spirit’ by Radiohead?” I’m like – “well, that’s a cool song”. Then he’d already sent…he’d made a little sketch with the guitars on it and I was like – “oh wow”. Then we started adding layers and I added the vocals and it clicked immediately. We knew that it was a very daring choice.

(Marcela Bovio on expressing her excitement of touring Canada through the medium of cake)

"I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…"

Jeffrey Revet & Marcela Bovio in the P60 Café, Amstelveen, 30th September 2010

Photograph copyright © 2010 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com

Interview & Photography by Mark Holmes

RELATED LINKS

Stream of Passion Official Website:

Stream of Passion Official MySpace:

STREAM OF PASSION DISCOGRAPHY

Embrace the Storm (2005)

The Flame Within (2009)

Albums & Singles

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Andy Turner for arranging the interview.

Out in the Real World (2006)

Live in the Real World (2006)

MD: But it works though, actually. Did you ever contemplate any other Radiohead songs for cover versions before?

MB: Well, not really, no.

MD: I’d love to hear someone do a cover of ‘Paranoid Android’ as a big, epic prog-metal track. On your next album maybe!

MB: [laughs]

MD: Over in the UK, I don’t know what it’s like in Holland, there’s so much talk of a female fronted metal scene and people talk about that like it’s a genre of music even though all the bands who are labelled as that have totally different styles of metal; they just happen to have female vocalists. Do you think it might ever be limiting for Stream of Passion if people judge you in that way rather than…?...well, I think music should be judged free from gender of the people that make it and judged just for the music it is. You know, there’s no “male fronted metal” label.

MB: Yeah, exactly. Well, I don’t know. I think even though it doesn’t really mean anything as a genre that you can have an argument to make such a label, but there are a lot of people that like a lot of the bands that are labelled that way so we do have an audience in common. So, for that matter, it kind of works to group us all together like that. Amongst those people, there are some that like the more symphonic, pompous stuff, and a lot of people who like the more atmospheric kind of stuff like The Gathering. There is a common ground, like a lot of points in common. People can discover us through that label through liking other female fronted metal bands. It kind of works.

MD: I suppose so, that’s a good answer, I guess. You have the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium, so…

MB: Exactly. And that was from all kinds of different things. There was even death metal with a female grunter.

MD: Interestingly though, Arch Enemy never get labelled as “female fronted metal” or as part of that scene, even though they’re playing at Metal Female Voices this year, but they never get lumped in with that whole ‘genre’. I find that interesting. Maybe it’s just because Angela Gossow growls like a man.

MB: [laughs] Yeah, maybe it sounds metally enough to not call it female fronted metal! Which I really respect, by the way!

MD: And Holy Moses, of course, the original band to do that. You got to collaborate with The Gathering last year on ‘The West Pole’ as did Silje Wergeland. I read that she initially did one track as did yourself, but then they asked her to become the permanent vocalist and record the rest of the album. Hypothetically, if they’d asked you to do that instead of her, would you have joined The Gathering?

MB: Oh, you know what, I actually went and met with them…it was me who started the contact because I saw that they were looking for singers and I thought they actually had the idea to make an album with a lot of different singers. That was the original idea. So I said – “hey, you know what, if you wanna do something together then I’d love to”. So I went there and from the first moment on they knew that I had this whole mission and plans for Stream of Passion, and going on and doing a lot of stuff, and they look at my schedule and, from the first moment, it was a very unfeasible thing to do. They’re great people and a band that would be fantastic but it was not for me to fill that position.

MD: [To Jeffrey] How would you have felt if you’d lost your singer to The Gathering?

JEFFREY REVET: Yeah…[laughs]…I’d have felt bad about it, of course. It’s not a tricky question to ask because she would’ve answered…“oh yeah!”

MB: Oh yeah, that would’ve been great, you know, but now I’m stuck! [laughs]

MD: You’ve got shows coming up in Canada soon, in a couple of weeks – is there much demand for Stream of Passion in Canada?

MB: It’s the first time.

MD: Do you know if you’ve got much of a fan base over there?

MB: We have no idea.

JR: No, we don’t know! [laughs]

MD: So was there just a promoter who said “hey, let’s get the band over to Canada”?

MB: Yeah, there was a promoter who got in touch with us and we’re joining a tour with a Canadian band, Unexpect…

MD: Oh, Unexpect, the French-Canadian band.

MB: Yeah, they have a big following. For us, it’s a perfect opportunity to get our music over there.

MD: Two very different styles of music.

MB: Very different styles of music!

MD: Their music is…well, I wouldn’t know how to label it…just crazy!

MB: We’re playing with three bands, actually – Manahil from Canada; they’re a little bit more into the style that we are playing. So with Unexpect and us it’s a nice combo. Also like a female fronted metal label! [laughs]

MD: I watched the YouTube clip where you express your excitement for touring Canada by baking a Canadian cake. Do you always express your excitement through the medium of cake?!

[laughs]

MD: Do you get excited about cake often?

MB: Well, I have to admit that I have a rather sweet tooth. I’ve been baking a lot lately and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I also wanted to take the challenge of actually drawing a little maple leaf on the cake…[laughs]

MD: Sounds like an excuse to eat more cake!

MB: Yeah! [laughs]

MD: You realise that in Canada now, fans will be bringing loads of cakes for you they’ve made. That can’t be bad.

MB: [laughs]

MD: Being from Holland as well, when you said you’d baked a “special cake”, I thought “oh yeah, I’ve heard about them…”!

[laughs]

MB: It wasn’t that special! [laughs]

MD: Have any UK promoters or festivals shown any interest in getting the band over to the UK? You were gonna play in the UK about three or four years ago but you got stopped at the airport or something?

MB: Yeah, right, it was a whole airport hassle thing with customs and Mexicans in the band. Yeah, it wasn’t a very happy episode but we haven’t tried to go back since then. We haven’t really made that contact yet. But it would be nice. I’m really looking forward to going back and kind of finally giving closure to the whole thing.

MD: There’s a very good festival in August over in the UK called Bloodstock, a big open air festival. Get in touch with them because they’re booking bands at the moment for next year.

MB: Oh, that would be brilliant.

MD: Finally, have you started composing for another album and what other plans and ambitions lie ahead for the band?

MB: Yes, we are writing for a new album now. Basically, that’s what’s kept us busy for the last few months. We’ve got some material ready and we’re quite excited about it. We’re planning on going to the studio maybe the beginning of next year.

MD: And your ambitions for the band?

MB: The normal things, you know, like taking over the world.

JR: Yeah!

MB: Well, basically, just keep writing music, and keep playing, and keep sharing more moments with the fans and live shows because that’s what brings the most happiness.

MD: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”!

MB: Yeah, more “Eats and Greets”! [laughs]

MD: I’m gonna copyright that!

MB: If you do then at least let us use it! [laughs]

MD: Well, thank you so much for your time.

MB: Thank you.

JR: Thank you.