HEAVENLY INTERVIEW
The French melodic metal scene has really been exploding in the last couple of years, with such good bands as Nightmare, Fairyland, Dream Child, Adagio and Heavenly all releasing great discs. Now Heavenly have their new disc, "Dust To Dust" out, and Martin sent some questions off to bassist P.E (Pierre Emmanuelle).

Interview by Martin Jørgensen
1. First of all I would like you to compare "Dust to Dust" with your to previous albums. It seems to me that "Dust to Dust" is far more powerful?

"Yes, "Dust to dust" is definitely more powerful. It's not Morbid Angel, but it sure is heavier than our first two albums. That's really something we aimed for when we were in studio, wanting to get a heavier vibe and mood, while still keeping the elements which made Heavenly on the first two album, like the melodies, choirs and orchestrations."

2. We critics have a tendency to always want to label a heavy metal band when it comes to musical style and genre, but how would you describe your own music?

"Well, at least you don't describe us as a "symphonic melodic speed fantasy bullshit metal" or something ! Heavy metal is a cool description, I don't particularly like when things are put into too narrow categories, and when it sometimes seems that there are as many different categories or labels as there are bands ! I like heavy metal as a whole, it may be Iron Maiden, Kreator, Europe, Dimmu Borgir or even Linkin Park. So I would say that Heavenly is a heavy metal band and that's good enough for me!"

3. What bands are your main inspirational sources?

"For Ben, who is the main songwriter of the band, inspirational sources are bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Iron Maiden, Manowar etc. Personnally, as I said I like all kinds of different bands within the metal genre. I love Iron Maiden, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Queensryche, Europe, Yngwie Malmsteen, Symphony X. But at the moment and since a while, my favorite band is Nevermore. They're just perfect for me. I love also Kreator, Morgana Lefay, Fear Factory, Annihilator, Arch Enemy, etc."

4. Why? What does these bands have that other bands don't?

"Every band that I like has different qualities. I love Nevermore because they have everything : it's heavy as hell (for me their music is more violent and angry than most black and death metal bands), powerful and emotional. There are huge riffs, powerful and technical at the same time, amazing drums, solid tight bass, and the vocals have all these different sides which suits the music perfectly, it's unbelievable. And they have intelligent lyrics as well."

5. "Dust to Dust" is an interesting conceptual album about a man who gets bitten by a vampire. Tell a bit more about that.

"This story is about this guy who becomes a vampire and who wants to become human again. Anyway, it's divided into three chapters. In the first one, he becomes a vampire and has to sort of get used to his new lifestyle. In the second one, after living several centuries, he takes time to think about the world in general. In the third one, he wants to become human again, so he has to find and kill the guy who bit him."

6. Why do a conceptual album? And why about vampires?

"It doesn't really matter if it's a concept album or not. The music is more important than the lyrics. Of course it never hurts when the lyrics are great (like in Nevermore for example), but the music has to be good first of all."

7. Who got the idea for this concept?

"Ben had the idea about vampires, so he wrote the lyrics. When he wrote the story, Ben realized that it sounded like the movie "Interview with a vampire", but it wasn't meant to be."

8. What does the word "originality" mean to you when it comes to making music?

"It's always very tricky when people talk about originality. When a band is original and good, then it's perfect, but some bands just want to be original for the sake of it. It's plain shit but some people say it's cool because it's original. But on the contrary, I don't think a band has to be original to be good. But it's important than within a certain genre, bands have their own style and way of making music."

9. Which is easier: To be original in writing the instrument parts for an album or in writing lyrics for an album?

"I guess it's pretty much the same thing. But as I said, as the music is more important than the lyrics of course, it's probably better to concentrate on being original in instrumental parts than in lyrics ! But you can do both of course!"

10. Do you consider Heavenly an original band?

"Of course we're not a band doing a completely new and totally different music style. But I think we now have our way of doing this style which makes Heavenly stands on its own."

11. Do you think there is enough originality in today's heavy metal?

"It's cool that there are a lot of different styles within the metal genre. There's a lot of variety and that's definitely great. But within each style, there are probably too many bands doing the same time, without having their own touch."

12. In your opinion, what is the most original heavy metal band?

"There are a few original bands, but risking to sound not original in my answers, I would say Nevermore once again :-) They didn't invent a style of course, but they are totally original in what they're doing, whether it's the riffs or solos, the drumming, or of course the vocals."

13. You have played gigs with Stratovarius, played festivals featuring bands like Symphony X and last year you played at Wacken Open Air, so you have quite some experience playing live. Are you planning some gigs or even a tour to support the release of "Dust to Dust"?

"We have played on a 2 week tour of Europe with Stratovarius in 2000 after the first album. We played two shows with Symphony X. For the second album "Sign of the winner", we supported Edguy on their "Mandrake" European tour for 6 weeks in 2001. We have a third European tour in the works at the moment. It's 95% confirmed that we'll support W.A.S.P on their upcoming European tour, which is of course very very cool. It will be a blast opening for such a great and legendary band, which I've been listening to forever. We hope to play open air festivals as well, it's also in the works. And we should also headline our own French tour sometimes during 2004 as well."

14. All the best to you guys. Do you have any last words to say?

"Thanks to you for the interview. I would tell your readers to keep an eye out for "Dust to dust" in January. Those who liked Heavenly will love this one, and those who didn't like us before… Well, give it a try you might change your mind now ! Please visit our website www.heavenly.fr.st or www.noiserecords.com/heavenly for all the latest news and soundfiles in the following weeks!!"