MOONSPELL : A CURE FOR LIVING...

-Mike : I think that ‘The antidote’ is a big project, in terms of artistic forms, we managed to reunite a lot of

different angles , from literature to the visual aspect, the video and also the lyric content of the stories, the

mixture of beauty and horror we tried to bring to ‘The antidote’, these are the bigger differences with

‘Darkness and hope’, and the experience and the confidence that we gained from doing an album like that,

so that we could feel comfortable with going to something more complexe like this new album.

-This time, you have a new member, Niclas Etelavuori, from Amorphis, on bass : why this choice and is he a permanent Moonspell member now ?

-Mike : We met Niclas the first time because we toured with Amorphis, in 2000 in America and we had an

amazing time, and even just because of them being a Finnish band, that we discovered that we enjoyed

knowing their country and their music scene and their producers, we were very happy to feel at home there,

specially with the producers like Hiili Hiilesma, and even when we did ‘Darkness and hope’, the Amorphis

guys were always ready to help us out with equipment, take us out at night when we needed it, just get out the

board from studio. So when we had problems with our bass player, Sergio, the perfect decision that we thought would fit the music in the band, especially on a personal level, you work a lot easier when you know somebody, and touring gives that to you : it’s hard to run away when you’re on a bus with someone ! Niclas did an amazing job, he prepared very well, we sent him the demos before going to Finland and it only took ten hours recording : this was just a project for the album, so at the moment we have a session bass player to play live, who lives in Portugal and he also came from a different background and has a true passion for metal music in this style, so I think it was very good to have somebody with a new energy playing live with Moonspell. For the future with Niclas, I don’t know : for the moment we have the four members of Moonspell which are stable, and when the bass comes, in our history we had many problems, I don’t know why, but I think we feel comfortable now.

-An essential thing for this album is the collaboration with the young Portuguese writer Jose Luis Peixoto : how did you meet and what do you appreciate in his works ?

-Mike : He’s a very interesting character, and very popular at the moment in Portugal as he represents the young generation of authors and he’s very promising. He’s got also a lot of international success, and when we found out that he was a fan of Moonspell, we were very surprised that he actually wrote a lot of material and books listening to Moonspell and being very inspired by our music and lyrics. His subjects are very about death, love, hate, all the strange imaginary, he’s very...out there : his books can make you feel sometimes sick and sometimes they get you in a good feeling, he creates great landscapes in your head, and it’s very nice to check out his books. When we found out that he was a Moonspell fan, we got to know him better and researching to switch material : he gave us some books, we get him to some rehearsals in our studio, we got along very well. Sometimes, he even seems like a Moonspell member. His only problem is that he doesn't know how to play anything ! He tried to play bass, but that was just a joke between us ! You never know, he said : « maybe in five years « ! We thought it was an amazing concept to be able to have an album that you could read, and him being such a fan and understanding us in a special way. Fernando, his lyrics itself, he took his material in our songs and made short stories for each song, so it takes you to another dimension where you can listen to the song, have the lyric but also go to another fantasy land through the book. We thought it was very important to everybody to have an easy access, so on the album, you will have a multi media CD with a digi-book translated in English by Richard Zenna, who also translated Fernando Pessoa and very famous books : I re-read it English and it’s quite frightening when you get this material. In Portuguese it’s also very good but in English it’s more direct and easier to understand. We’ll have also the book in Portuguese, which will be released by his own book company, and it will be in bookstores, so imagine you go to the Fnac and have a book of Moonspell, which will also be called ‘The antidote’, I think it’s very cool for our fans, since we've always had a good contact through literature with our music, specially with Fernando being such a fan of great authors in their philosophical ways, and maybe it will also open the minds of the younger generations because with the computers and everything, they don’t have much access anymore to imagination !

-Were the songs already written or did he write them specially ?

-Mike : The lyrics and the songs were already written and we gave all the material to Jose Luis, so he could,

in his own views, write the stories ; of course, he would send them to Fernando, so that he could read them and

sometime there were little things he might not have agreed in order to push it harder : that’s always

like that, they want the best of each other, and that’s why he also has friends like us because we tell him the truth, and sometimes that’s what you really need to hear, even if you don’t want it. It’ makes the material

better, and even for us, he’s been in the studio with us in Finland for the final mixing, so he could experience

a bit what it is to be a musician and to be in a studio and not know what to expect when the song comes out

with the mix. If you’ve been already in a studio, you know this sensation of the musicians being nervous of

what the reaction is going to be. So he was there to be able to also feel that and also it helped him a bit in his

writing to recreate that.

-And on stage, will you play it in order, as in the record and the complete story, or a selection ?

-Mike : I think all the songs have a very strong connection, these duality of love and hate, but it’s difficult to

play it all because we have so many good songs, and if we start to play just the whole album, some people

could be disappointed . But I think it’s very important to represent the album as much as we can, and I think

that the first part of the concert will be the big part of the new album, but anything that feels right from the

old Moonspell can come in between we will definitely do it : but each time that we have a new album out,

we always rediscover our old songs and somehow bring them back to life in a more mature way to have to do

with what we’re doing. Like I said, everything that is special in life, like a good wine, take some years, and

it’s very nice to be able to combine everything to make one show, and Moonspell is a lot more than just eight albums it’s from the beginning to the end, we have to respect and honor everything we’ve done and not be ashamed of it either.

-You adapted already, and you’ve been influenced in the past by writers, like Patrick Suskind or Fernando

Pessoa : are you yourself a big reader ?

-Mike : I’ve read as much as a normal person in the last couple of years, but it’s always something difficult

for me because I’m more energetic, I like to be more on a personal level and even computers at the beginning frightened me, and of course now I have to have one, because of the work in Moonspell keeps me a lot in contact with the world, but lately, especially with all these new discoveries with Moonspell in literature, I’ve been very influenced to read more, and I’ve been rediscovering also a lot of other parts, in the past I’ve always been looking for new albums and music, but now I can also look for books which is very fascinating for me. The last couple of books I read was ‘American psycho’, by Brett Eaton Ellis, and since I have a good knowledge of America, because I was born there and I came to Portugal very young, when I was twelve, and I still have brothers who live there, even one that lives in New York, , and when I was reading the book, sometime I was frightened because that a situation here I have felt without reading. And at the moment, I’m reading ‘Stupid white men’ by Michael Moore, which is also very brutal ! And I’m reading too ‘The dark house’ by Jose Luis Peixoto, which is his latest novel and also a pretty amazing book : I remember there were times I was reading it, and there were situations I felt like throwing up because I was so disgusted by what he was recreating. He has a lot of talent, it should be shared with the world, at least for people that are into this kind of more gothic, horrors.

-Talking about the production of 'The antidote', how did you choose Hiili Hiilesma (Him, Sentenced)?

-Mike : It started with 'Darkness and hope', that was the first time we worked with him, we came to Finland and that was the first time we've got in that studio too, so we didn't know what to expect ; and I think we did enjoy it so much, we were so relaxed that we had to repeat that experience with Hiili. I think he's an amazing talent, he has a lot of experiences with bands, Him, Sentenced, Apocalyptica, and he has his own band, more than one in fact, one being called 'Scrapers' which is kind of porno rock and he's the vocalist : he looks like the guy from the Cramps with high heels and pvc clothes, so a guy with those talents has no problems to express what's going on with himself and know how to makes us feel a lot more confident and at ease to make everything that we wanted to do : if we were in the studio and wanted to scream, we screamed, if we wanted to cry, we cried, it was so nice to be like you were at home, without inhibition, and I think that's very important to take the best out of an artist. With this album we also brought back our old producer, Waldemar Sorytcha, which was a very good idea because Hiili had no time to come for the pre production, so our manager suggested Waldemar, because he was also very interested to work with us again. So we took him in our studio in Portugal for a week, and it was a really nice experience to be with somebody who knew us so well from the past, and at the same time we had stayed away for years. I think he brought a lot of cool magic and mysticism Moonspell has from the first album, not so even for us, he reminded us the way we were at those times, how young we were and how exciting it were to have new experiences coming to these kind of fields of music in different countries. And then having all that work then with very good professional producers like Waldemar to take it all to Finland to work again with Hiili, at first it was a little bit shocking because Hiili wasn't so into the music like Waldemar, because he hadn't been with us, but that was only the first or second day, he was really quick. Everything went right into hand, we only took three weeks to record 'The antidote', we didn't have much time to fool around, I think that keeps it more exciting when you know you can't be there forever and you really have to get as much excitement and expression on the album. Even myself, I took a day and a half to do drums, which is a new concept, and it happened because it was going well, if it haven't gone well, it would have taken the normal time, four or five days, but you know, that's the thing : we were so excited, so well prepared, that we just did it like it was a show. So we trusted him very much too, to make things going their own way. I think it's a big possiblity that we work with him for the next record ; a lot can happen in the next years, but I think Hiili is somebody that I'll be always very happy to meet and work again with, which is also the same with Waldemar, who brought also so many good memories, but who knows what the future can hold for Moonspell.

-How is the situation of the music scene in Portugal? Did your success provoke the rising of new bands?

-Mike : Coming back from the scene as old as we are in Portugal, I remember the demo tape time and there were already many upcoming bands, but most of them had not much success and then opportunity to continue, also due to conditions that we have in Portugal, the instruments are very expensive, we don't have that many venues to have quality shows, and also, something very important, sometimes Portuguese artists find that if they have success in Portugal that I'd be as easy in other countries, but in other countries, you always have to start from zero, and it depends on countries, so it's a lot of work from bands to comprehend that part of the working side. When I talk with Portuguese bands, they always mention that it's always the record company or the manager, but managers or record companies do not make miracles, it's the quality of the music, the understanding of the bands. I think the more informed you are, in all different directions, in the market, in the business, in the music, the easier it will be for you to survive, because you're closer to earth. When you think you're really high, then you see your record sales and you shut up immediately, it's like you know your place, and you have to respect that. But we do have a lot of quality bands, which grew a lot, especially in the gothic metal scene, you see a lot more people into these styles, and I wish there could be more clubs, more restaurants, everything, to make people embrace more this society, even through the shopping : If someone likes to wear gothic dresses, they have to go to a special shop, and I wish some things could grow up a bit more. I know that Moonspell holds a big responsibility in this style, because we are the only band that tours outside the Portugal, and that is better known. Other bands are known, but they don't have the opportunity that we have. We really think about that a lot and try to take as much as we can giving a bit of education for the metal and gothic scene in Portugal.

-About the website of the band : is it important for you as a tool?

-Mike : I think that the website is like the most important thing Moonspell have : it's done by our webmaster Adriano, the same person that did the design of our album and the digibook, which is amazing, the way he work, and everybody has complimented him very much. When it all started, during the early days, there were very few websites, people even didn't know what it was, and the fans came up with Adriano, who asked if we wanted a website. We said :"yes, but what is it?" That was our answer! We started from there and we had very close connections ever since, and the website is always something that we can tell the people to go, check out and visit, have information, even have contact with us : on the web page with the E-mails, sometimes I even post my own answers and the other members, Fernando has a huge section where he answers from more personal questions, and anything related to us, like news, which is very good to inform our fans, it's one of the first places to hear, and actually, we even put an extra song which is not on the single. The video is coming on the multi media cd, and it's something we're very proud of : we had Tiago Guetz directing the video, and he also did the 'Nocturne' video and we were amazed by the quality of the cinematography he put in this special texture with the colors, the visual part that he got out of us, the band, and the actors, and especially the environment, I think is very important to create something around it, not just a black room, it gives a lot more dynamics and a lot more interesting. With this new video, everything invaded,

he has a project of making a kind of like b-horror movie, a classic with cliché scenes from various horror movies that we are all used to seeing but in his own way, we have even a scene where Moonspell come out the ground, just like in a John Carpenter movie, that was very exciting and fun to be able to do it, and when I saw the video I was amazed : it really looks like you're in a cinema and it's gonna be a movie, but that's another step for the fans, they can have an image of the movie, but they can also read the book and listen to the album , so you can recreate a lot of imagary around it, which is pretty cool. We know we wouldn't be there if he hadn't put so much of an effort into it because we couldn't afford a video like this, it's a whole project in his own that he really wanted to do. He had over thirty people working on the video for two or three days, and they all worked for free, just because they believed in this director and in what he was doing. It's just taken what we had of Portugal, putting it together and trying to help each other, so we could become stronger.

-Do you intend to increase the stage act, with a film behind you or pictures, or stuff like that?

-Mike : For the stage part, we spend so much time playing that I think it's essential to feel comfortable and at home, just like in a studio, where we have our little own things to remain us of who we are. The live aspect, from 'Darkness and hope' on we invested a lot of money and props and a lot of theatrics pieces to have on stage like the candles and the Moonspell symbols, and the Tim Burton flames that we have on stage, and what it creates is a more visual aspect of the show, like going to a theater and see a band playing, and even for us, it feels very nice to be in the middle of all that, with those beautiful pieces of art around us. I think that for the new album we're gonna adapt to this part of scenery that we had for 'Darkness and hope' but also take it to the next level : having imagery behind us is something that we've been thinking of, but something that would be expensive, and we're still not sure about what we're going to do with this album. You can always count on something special and different because there are new songs and we want to give it as much impact that it can. But we also invest a lot in personal relation, sometimes the show is not just what you put on it : my drum tech is like my best friend, he used to go to school with me, and I can rely on him for anything. Our sound guy is one of our best friends, we always work with him, we go out with him, I know his family, and it's more than that when Moonspell goes on tour, we try to recreate us a little family around us who also believe in the project and make the show as good as possible.

-Do you intend to issue a DVD one day ?

-Mike : Many people ask us that, and of course it would be a wonderful idea, why not? This year we just turned ten years, our first demo was out in 93, so people ask us to make a tenth anniversary dvd, but for us the best way to make this anniversary is to have a new album and show that we still have new ideas, that we're still here and have a lot of energy to give, and a DVD is something we would like to record in an actual live show, a recent one, so I think we're gonna be going on tour hopefully in the end of this year, we might do a co headline tour with Lacuna Coil in December and January across Europe, and that would be a good idea at the time to get some filming crew, to get at least one live show that we could put on a DVD. But we also have a lot of home recordings, lot of live shows that we would love to put as much as we could on just one DVD, so people could be the good and bad parts from Moonspell, that would be very important especially for people living in regions where they have difficulties to see shows, and specially through the Internet, it's always something nice to have available.

-If Moonspell was a movie, what movie could it be?

-Mike: The movie that I saw, like this video and made me want to write a book through this guy and have all these actors and actually make a movie is John Carpenter's 'Vampires' was very important for this video, that something that I think we do pretty well get into that kind of action movies. all the excitements, the killings and the sex, that something that really excites us to do, but always in a more elegant way, not so gorish, because the Carpenter movie is very gorish and had a lot of blood, but maybe a similar version but with less chaos and more thrills.

-Could you give some records with changed your life at a time?

-Mike : 'Aenima' by Tool was very important in my life, and also 'Shout at the devil' by Motley Crue, but I was much younger, and Metallica's 'Black album', and Massive Attack : their last album 'hundred windows' is very good, but the previous one, 'Mezzanine' is an old time favorite : they want to transmit to the audience on the live show and the way you feel it is something that excites me very much. I saw them live at the Coliseum in Lisbon, and it was very fascinating : they had this big board of images behind them, giving a lot of information, very shocking and real information about the world, and it was the music and that the music they produce so well really takes you to a higher level.

-After ten years, how do you judge the career of Moonspell? Are you satisfied with the way things evolved?

-Mike : I think we expected everything and nothing at the same time, we just wanted to be able to make albums with a relative success the first time we signed to Century Media. I think it's those kind of emotions that we should try and remember and keep close to us. Sometime, we get lost with the publicity and the media because you have won contests and lots of compliments, all of a sudden you think you're something special, but when you get lost too much into this world, it doesn't give much back to the people, because there's something in your attitude and relations that is a little bit fake, we have to keep as close as we can to what made us as we are. To me this album, I usually use the word organic, which is very close to what we are and what we are feeling, our instruments being an extension of that, and through them we are heard, and that's really important to feel that. Any instrument you can tell the difference if it's well played or not, if that person is excited or feel like if he wants to kill himself, and that something that Moonspell have accomplished very well : everything we've done throughout this career is because we believe in it. We took a lot of turns, ups and downs throughout this career and even in styles of music : I think that was very important for us to learn who we are and to know until what point you can go as musician an artist, and that's why we have albums so diverse like 'Butterfly effect' or 'Sin/peccado' that came right after 'Irreligious'; 'Sin/ Peccado' is an album that some people might say it was a bit of a change. I remember this album was very successful in France, people really appreciated it. Of course, 'Butterfly' was like a slap in the face, because it was very raw and very aggressive. I think at that time, because of what you're going through and also on a personal level, things that happen to us and also the changing of producer, and country, that also influenced. In some views, it might be bad sellingwise, it was, but in terms of learning experience, I think we'd never have made albums like 'Darness and hope' or 'Antidote' if we hadn't gone through there, to at least go out on a bridge and not be afraid of falling.

Interview made in September 2OO3 in Paris by Jean Paul Coillard

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