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The
Asylum in Birmingham has become quite a hot spot for discovering new
talent at the minute and in particular the all day festivals they've
hosted have been nothing less than fantastic. One band that caught
our eye at the recent Dames of Darkness festival was Tainted Grace.
A female fronted band with a lot more to offer than your usual 'club'
band.
Today we catch up with lead singer Trissy Norris who together with her
band Tainted Grace kick started the Festival off in fine style...
MM
- Would
you like to start by introducing the band to us and giving us a little
bit of history on how the band started.
Trissy - I
formed the band in March 2007 as I couldn’t find a local band that
needed a singer that was playing my kind of music. I was contacted on
myspace by Mark who also wanted to start a female fronted metal band.
Shortly after we auditioned Anth and he joined the band. However it soon
became apparent that Mark had lost interest in the band and had other
commitments so we had the replace him. Anth and I were then contacted by
Sean who we auditioned for drums and Jo who played bass. When Jo left we
found Andrew and later added Scot to the mix on keyboards. We’ve just
recently taken on a second guitarist in the form of Sam and we’re in
the process of re-working all the songs to accommodate a second guitar
line.
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MM -
How would you best
describe your music to any of our readers who are currently
unfamiliar with your music?
Trissy - Our music is a big mash of whatever Anth has been
listening to or inspired by that week inc. Dream Theater, Opeth
or Metallica. Vocal wise the influences are Within Temptation,
Nightwish and Evanescence.
MM
- Did you all agree on your particular sound at the
very beginning or were there any clashes over musical ideas?
Trissy - The sound is still evolving and continues to do
so as we add more members, style and influences. But we all have
a common love of the same bands so there’s rarely a clash.
MM
- Are there any bands in particular, past or present, that you
guys look up to or get inspired by?
Trissy - As above Metallica, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Opeth,
and all other female fronted metal bands including Within
Temptation , Nightwish and Evanescence.
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MM
- Where did the bands name come from and are there any hidden meanings
behind it? Can you remember any of the other names that were
considered at the time?
Trissy
- I was writing a song, back in the day and it had this line - in a
world of tainted grace. And thought, “I like that” so when I met
Mark I suggested it as a name and he liked it too so it stuck. I don’t
think we even considered any other names – I pretty much had my mind
made up by then. I don’t remember what happened to those lyrics –
maybe they’ll resurface at some point.
MM
- The band recently appeared at the Dames Of Darkness Festival, how did
you come to be involved in that and did you enjoy the festival?
Trissy - I contacted Dave ages ago and just said Hello and can you
consider us for the next Dames – and he did. I think we’ll all agree
that the festival was the best gig we’ve played to date. The venue,
people, other bands – everything was amazing and well worth the long
trip from Hampshire. I hop we can do more shows like that.
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MM
- Is the whole song writing process covered by one individual or
do you generally all have inputs in to the material?
Trissy
- Anth
tends to write the main backbone of the song. We use Guitar pro
to sketch out ideas and then he sends me the file which I
probably re-arrange a bit. When I’m happy with the structure
I’ll email it back – (oooh the wonders of modern
technology!) and he’ll change it back again (ha ha).
When
we’re happy with the arrangement I’ll work out some vocal
melodies and then finally the lyrics. I’m not a brilliant
lyric writer, I believe the heart to the song is in the melody
and if you have a catchy memorable melody then you’re half way
there.
We’re
hoping to become more organic with the writing process including
Sam and Scot more often with sessions at Anth’s flat involving
copious amounts of beer and pizza.
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MM
- When writing a new song do you usually start with a lyric, a riff,
what works creatively for you?
Trissy - I’m happy to write my lyrics
to a finished musical arrangement, I can pretty much come up with a
melody over anything. I think that writing the music to fit the lyrics
is odd and more difficult but we do have a couple of songs where I like
the lyrics but the tune needs to be reworked so we ay have a go at that
sometime.
MM
- Do you have any music available to download/purchase? If so
where can this be obtained?
Trissy - Currently you can listen to our tracks on myspace (www.myspace.com/taintedgraceband)
or purchase a 2 song CD at our gigs. We’re not planning distribution
at this stage – I think well wait until we have more songs recorded.
But that’s proving difficult simply because of the cost involved.
MM
- Is there a song written by someone else that you love and wish you'd
been the one to write?
Trissy - Personally it’s ‘Bring me to life’ by Evanescence.
MM
- Does the band have any live dates lined up? If so how can our readers
find out more about these?
Trissy - All shows are listed on our myspace page and I make events
on facebook but we don’t have anything currently booked before
Christmas. I just found out that we’ve been short listed for Weyfest,
but that’s next September.
MM
- Are there any particular places that you guys would want to tour or
anyone you would like to tour with?
Trissy - Er,
Nightwish? Seriously though, we’re just starting out. We need to start
playing in London soon but that’s proving hard due to the ‘pay to
play’ policy most of the venues have. I suppose in an ideal world
we’d like to tour Europe with any band of similar genre, perhaps
Season’s End who are good friends. I think we’d go down well in
Germany for instance.
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MM
- How has the internet helped spread the word about the band and
do you feel downloading is harming the scene or helping to keep
it alive?
Trissy - Oh my, we’d be nothing without the internet,
it’s amazing. I found all our band members via the internet. I
think when you’re in a small band starting out then
downloading is the only way to get yourself heard. The only
reason that we don’t offer download on our tracks is that I
want people
to come to the gigs to get a cd. If we had a bigger gig turnout
then I wouldn’t mind at all as long as people are listening
and enjoying the music. Small bands don’t make a lot of money
and it would be silly to see this as anything more than a hobby
at the moment.
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MM
- What are your long term aims for the band and what do you personally
hope to achieve?
Trissy - An album would be nice, and a tour perhaps. We’d like to
play Bloodstock J
MM
- Can you remember
what magical musical moment in your life made you want to become a
performer in the first place?
Trissy - For me
it was when I heard ‘Bring me to life’ on the radio – I nearly
cried, it was exactly the kind of song I wanted to write and finally
someone had done it. I’d never heard of any other female fronted metal
bands then and it really inspired me.
MM
- If you could ask
one of your heroes/someone who’s inspired you a question, who would it
be and what would you ask them?
Trissy - I
can’t think of anything in particular. I think I’d just like buy
them a drink and says thanks for inspiring me.
MM
- We have seen a lot of changes in the music world, but looking forward
what changes would you like to see over the years to come?
Trissy
- The live
music industry is becoming a graveyard, especially in the South-East.
Too many music venues are closing, too many people are opting to stay in
to play on play stations etc. I don’t think this is going to change.
The internet is the only way forward now and that’s sad. I have no
idea what could make it better.
MM
- Finally are there
any words you’d like to pass on to all our readers out there or
anything that we might have missed that you’d like to mention?
Trissy - I
spent too long dreaming about being in a band. Now that I’m doing it
I’ve never been happier. So if you want to be in a band, regardless of
your talent then do it – start your own band today. It’s not easy
but it is rewarding and a perfectly good pastime. Just don’t give up
your day job, you’ll need the cash!
MM
- We'd like to thank Trissy for taking the time out to chat with us
today and look forward to seeing her and the rest of the band out on the
road again some time. |