When we look back through the history of metal there have been very few female fronted bands that have ever received as much global media attention as Arch Enemy. Fronted by the beautiful Angela Gossow, Arch Enemy has been serving their own brand of electrifying, brutal metal to punters for years. Formed out of the ashes of Carcass, Arch Enemy had quite a following during the late nineties but it wasn’t until the band released ‘Wages of Sin’ that metal fans and critics all over the world really stood up and took notice. With tracks such as ‘Ravenous’, ‘Burning Angel’ and ‘Web of Lies’ Wages of Sin went burning up the metal charts. Angela, like many of us grew up listening to some of the greatest extreme metal bands of our time such as Cannibal Corpse and Carcass! Born in Cologne, Germany Angela joined her first metal band Asmodina at the age of seventeen and has never looked back. By 1997 Asmodina had disbanded and Angela went on to form Mistress who were very active on the touring scene but had never been able to make that next big step… It was during this time that Angela was also writing for an online music magazine and was given the opportunity to meet and interview Arch Enemy on their 1999 ‘Burning Bridges’ tour in Germany! As a fan of the band herself, she accepted the offer. Knowing that the guys were always interested in finding local supports Angela gave Christopher Amott a copy of the Mistress demo to check out and ultimately ended up keeping in touch with Chris via mail! In the autumn of 2000 Angela received a phone call from Michael Amott informing her that Arch Enemy had split with vocalist Johan Liiva and were now looking for a new singer. Michael had told Angela that they had come across her Mistress tape and loved her voice, asking her to head to Sweden to audition for the band. And we all know how that has turned out! Since Angela joined Arch Enemy the band have grown musically and have put out some killer metal albums such as ‘Wages of Sin’ ‘Anthems Of Rebellion’ and most recently ‘Doomsday Machine’ Arch Enemy have gone on to have the success that so many bands only dream about, recording multi platinum selling albums and touring the world with metal legends such as Slayer and Megadeth. Last year Arch Enemy returned to Australia for their second visit within twelve months. Shortly thereafter I caught up with Angela to speak about her recent Australian visits, life on the road, writing for the new album and much more! It’s time to jump head first into the Doomsday Machine with Angela Gossow. Metal Fanatix: Hi Angela, firstly I’d like to thank you for taking the time out to answer the following questions for our readers. Angela, I want to congratulate you on the success of last years Doomsday Machine. I am a huge fan of the album and was wandering, a little over a year on is there anything you would have changed looking back at the recording experience? Angela Gossow: Everything! We are never satisfied with what we have created so far, this keeps us on our toes and wanting to do it better next time. ‘Doomsday Machine’ is very dark and doomy. We want more ‘fire’ for the next album. Metal Fanatix: Awesome, now you guys had spent a little over twelve months out on the road touring on the album, during that time did you guys write much material for the new album or did the writing all take place once you guys returned home? Angela Gossow: Yes, we actually do write a lot of material on the road! We toured with a lot of inspiring bands lately, for example Gigantour. When you are surrounded by heavy metal 24/7 you come up with a lot of extreme stuff yourself. Metal Fanatix: I believe about seven songs are already completed for the new album, can you throw us any new titles you may be working on, tell us if the next album will be in the same direction as Doomsday Machine? Angela Gossow: We want the new album to sound more organic, livelier, and less produced, which won’t be easy given the fact we are perfectionists.
Angela Gossow: We knew already about the passionate audience, so we chose a club without air-conditioning and had gallons of sweat dripping from the ceiling. We played big stadiums as part of the Gigantour and surely reached even more people this time around. Metal Fanatix: Oh I have no doubt about that! It seemed like most people were there purposely for Arch Enemy! Mate, I have seen interviews where you have mentioned that you would love to live in Australia, did you get a chance to look at any real estate while you were here? Angela Gossow: No, but our sound engineer Clem is Australian! He updates us regularly on property prices in and around Sydney, [Laughs] Metal Fanatix: [laughs] Being apart of a festival show such as Gigantour is pretty cool, do you enjoy doing these festival type shows or would you prefer to do your own headline gigs? Angela Gossow: Being part of a festival trek means more audience and less responsibility. But somehow and artist always longs for his/her own crowd. After a long festival tour we are usually hungry for our own headline tour again. Metal Fanatix: How hard is it to get used to home life after living on the road for so long? Angela Gossow: Oh it’s easy. You get home with two large bags full of dirty laundry. You start washing the next morning and here you are again, very well with both feet back on the ground! Metal Fanatix: The world tour has finally come to an end, and you got to head home for some well-deserved rest. How did ya spend your time off? Angela Gossow: Time off… Are you kidding? [Laughs] We are in full demo- and writing mode. We are entering the studio in March now. Metal Fanatix: Oh, awesome! The last twelve months have been crazy for you guys, flying from country to country touring non-stop! What fond memories come to mind when you look at the last year on tour? Angela Gossow: Too many too handle! Our co-headline tour with Chimaira was great! Gigantour was fantastic! We did our own European tour, which was fun as well. And then we went to South America and played to the craziest crowd ever. I like these moments when you come off stage. Everybody’s exhausted and sweaty, but also happy and totally high on the experience. We all laugh and talk really fast. Describe little funny moments on stage. Examine the mistakes. It is a true ‘We’ feeling! You never feel lonely and empty after a show. Metal Fanatix: Angela, over the years you have shared the stage with so many great bands. Who have you enjoyed touring with the most & could you share a funny road story with us from the tour? Angela Gossow: Touring with Slayer was fantastic. Kerry King is a true gentleman of steel. He made us drink a lot of Jagermeister on this tour. He never fails to pass a shot glass to you, no matter where. I also loved the Gigantour. Megadeth are a huge influence on Arch Enemy. Dave Mustaine carried Fredrik who had passed out behind their bus - on our tour bus one night. We were slightly embarrassed, [Laughs]
Angela Gossow: I can maybe name you a top 10 – The Australian shows, Download UK, our last South American shows and our shows in Japan – they would all make it into my Top 10. Metal Fanatix: Awesome, how about the worst? Angela Gossow: Last years New England Metalfest in the USA. I had one wireless mic and two spare ones and none of them worked! It took the crew three songs to get one up and running without ear splitting feedback. And we were headlining that festival! I just wanted to walk off stage and hit some heads with those microphones! Metal Fanatix: What's the strangest/funniest thing that has ever happened to you on stage? Angela Gossow: Getting boxers and strings thrown onstage. You kinda look around and wonder ‘who the hell took these off in the crowd?!’ Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] yeah I guess ya do [laughs]. Looking back to when you first joined Arch Enemy, what do you recall from the first performance? Angela Gossow: It was a packed club in LA. I was too nervous too think. I have no idea how I made it on stage, cuz I could hardly walk. Its funny, cuz nowadays I have no stage fright at all. Metal Fanatix: Angela, there is no doubt that you are an amazing vocalist, and in my mind you do it better than some of the guys in the business. Do you do anything specific to warm up and prepare for a show? Angela Gossow: I do a short, ten minute vocal warm up. Singing some scales, doing some shouts and growls. I stretch a bit and rotate my neck. I do far too much headbanging on stage for my own good, [Laughs] Metal Fanatix: [laughs] yes but we love it! Who have you been surprised to learn is a fan of the band? Angela Gossow: Oh umm, members of Europe, Dio, Megadeth, Slayer... You think… how the hell do they even know us? Metal Fanatix: Being a member of such a successful band I would imagine you get asked some pretty weird questions from time to time. What’s the strangest question you have ever been asked? Angela Gossow: Oh, all the questions about private matters, like relationships. They know it’s rude to ask, but they do it anyway. Metal Fanatix: Some people just have no tact! How about rumors, what’s the craziest rumor you have ever heard about yourself? Angela Gossow: I told one interviewer I was cop who arrested the Arch Enemy guys once and that’s how I got in touch. Which I obviously made up, thinking the interviewer would get the joke. Apparently not! I am still being asked if the cop-story is true!
Angela Gossow: I fall into this hole every time I get really sick on the road. We had to cancel a few shows in the past and it made me extremely depressed. Metal Fanatix: I want to ask you about the film clips you guys have made. There have been some great clips from Ravenous to Nemesis and Rise. Many bands openly state that they hate making clips but as we know it’s a must in this business. Take us through a typical day on the set of an Arch Enemy clip? Angela Gossow: Very tired faces early in the morning. A huge amount of makeup is evenly distributed on all these faces, until we look acceptable enough to make it on film, hours and hours of posing and pretending. I actually do scream along, so I am pretty much wrecked after sixteen hours of shooting. We somehow never get a break to eat. Each of us loses at least three kilos per shoot, which isn’t so bad in some cases, [laughs]. We get about two hours of sleep, until we all drive home, hoping, the producer will safe the video clip with Photoshop, blurry light and fast cuts! Metal Fanatix: During the eighties I can remember seeing so many different hard rock and metal videos on our televisions but these days they are few and far between, Being in a rock/metal band these days do you feel it is still important to spend so much money making film clips that don’t get anywhere near the airplay they deserve? Angela Gossow: We don’t spend a huge amount of money, but enough to make a good clip. We are just hoping for the day they get massive airplay, that’s all! Metal Fanatix: Angela, there has been so many highlights in your career, what would you say have been your greatest achievements to date? Angela Gossow: That we are still going strong, after six years of being in the face of the metal scene! Metal Fanatix: Tell us something about the other guys in the band that we may not know! Angela Gossow: Daniel Erlandsson is a technical genius and very good-looking with no shirt on. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Angela Gossow: Michael Amott is the master of puppets and a witty conservationist. Christopher Amott is the elegant but rather chaotic virtuoso. And Sharlee D’Angelo speaks for himself, when he enters the room. Very charming, a great host and cocktail-maker and a true ladies’ man. Metal Fanatix: Which record/song would define Angela Gossow to a complete stranger? Angela Gossow: Ravenous. Extreme, aggressive, female. Metal Fanatix: Angela I only have a few more questions for you today, in your honest opinion what do you think about the direction that hard rock and heavy metal music has taken over the last few years? Angela Gossow: I don’t think about it. I listen mainly to the old stuff [laughs] Metal Fanatix: [laughs] me too to be honest [laughs]! Are you currently listening to any of the newer hard rock/metal bands?
Metal Fanatix: Two very good choices there! Mate, what advice would you give to up and coming rock/metal bands? Angela Gossow: Do not play Emo-Metalcore PLEASE! It’s enough already. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Angela Gossow: And really, if you want to sing ‘clean’ in a metal song, please learn how to hold a note and put some grit in it, for hells sake. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] That’s great advice Angela! If you could put a band together consisting of musicians passed and/or present who would they be and what would you call the band? Angela Gossow: Ken Owens, Bill Steer, Jeff Walker, Michael Amott. And I would call them Carcass. Metal Fanatix: Yeah that would be great to see! Angela, I want to thank you again for taking the time to answer the questions, it’s been a true pleasure. Hopefully we will see you back in Australia very soon! Do you have any last words for our readers? Angela Gossow: Hobbs Angel of Death is cult! We love your beautiful country and shall return once again to sweat blood! The Latest Arch Enemy Album ‘Doomsday Machine’ is out now and don’t forget to pick up your copy of ‘Live Apocalypse’ 2-Disc DVD For your viewing pleasures. To keep up with all the latest Arch Enemy news and tour dates make sure you visit the following websites: http://www.archenemy.net - Official Arch Enemy Site http://www.myspace.com/insideout666ints - Inside Out 666 http://www.myspace.com/archenemy - Arch Enemy MySpace Site http://www.myspace.com/angelagossow - Angela Gossow MySpace Site © Cameron Edney February 2007 Not to be re-printed in any form without written permission. |
