HTF headed down to the 100 club to catch up with the princess of darkness Emily Ovenden of Pythia to see what their plans are this year. After being invited to play alongside Dragonforce on their one off exclusive show to celebrate Chinese New Year, we took this as the perfect opportunity to find out what makes a good Pythia party.
You can find out more about Pythia via their Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pythia/
HTF: So your album is out in a few short weeks, tell us a bit about it?
E: Well the album is called ‘The Serpents Curse’ and it’s coming out on the 27th of February. It’s the combination of three years of work so yeah it’s been a long journey. It’s basically an epic monstrosity of British heavy metal!
HTF: Dragonforce asked you to be here tonight, how do you feel about that?
E: It’s always nice to be asked to come and play the show so you know I’ve got to know Herman and the lads over the last 6 months. He came down to a gig we played recently to see us and he asked if we’d open up for them s that was really nice.
HTF: What are your plans for 2012?
E: Well you know getting the album out and doing as many shows as possible, hopefully go to Europe and do as much music as I can.
HTF: Planning on playing any festivals?
E: We’re talking to festivals and stuff, its early days. With a band that’s sort of at the level we’re at people are really waiting to see which way things are going to go. We’ve had a few enquiries and stuff.
HTF: What did you get up to on Valentine’s Day?
E: Me and my other half and my baby went out and has some Sushi, then my husband-to-be got really trashed and fell asleep on the sofa and he was snoring! So yeah that was my romantic night!
HTF: Do you find it difficult being a mother and being in a band?
E: It’s always difficult being in a rock band it’s a lot of hard work, particularly in the current climate. Having a baby as well adds that extra level of difficulty but if your determined you will keep pushing forward no matter what obstacles are in your way. But don’t go into music lightly that’s what I would say; it’s a very hard road.
HTF: You’re a published novelist, got any new books lined up?
E: I have written another book but I haven’t got round to editing it up and going round talking to publishers. I feel that my writing career is something that will take precedence at another moment in my life because at the moment I am so focused on music, I got Pythia and a couple other projects that I work on. In order to be good at something you have to focus on it single-handedly so I think when I’m 65 and too decrepit to get on stage then I might work a bit harder on my books. I do love writing and it’s always there in the back of my mind.
HTF: You had a guest appearance on your album with Brian Blessed, how did that come about?
E: I wanted to include the poem on the album ‘Army Of The damned’ but originally I read the poem myself but Marc Dyos the drummer of Pythia is a massive Brian Blessed fan and loves him and used to talk about him quite a lot so I said why don’t we get Brian Blessed to do the poem. So we sort of tried to work out how we would get him to do it.
I wrote to him and got ignored, so in the end we phoned up his agent and asked him if he would do it and he actually said he loved the poem which was written by one of the great war poets so we got to spend a really lovely day in the studio with him which was great fun. He has a very filthy tongue, swears like nobody I’ve ever met in my life!
HTF: Some people seem to think your sound is similar to Nightwish, what are your thoughts on that?
E: To be honest with you, you never want to be compared to anybody else. As a band you see what you do as very unique. But I think it is a very obvious comparison because they are the biggest female fronted metal band out there but from their earlier work I can see maybe where those comparisons come from but what they are doing now is very, very different from what we are doing.
It’s okay to be compared to them, if you’re gonna be compared to a band then Nightwish is a fairly okay comparison. I like their heavier stuff y’know that’s where I’m at as well really but I think Olzon is a great addition to the band and I saw them when they came over and played with her for the first time and it was so nice to see someone on stage whose was obviously enjoying it so much. It was their choice to go with a poppy sounding vocalist and I think it’s worked for them but it’s not what we’re interested in.
HTF: So you’re shooting your music video this weekend, what’s the story behind that?
E: We’re actually going to release a double single. So we’re gonna have one song that aimed towards radio and one towards visual. The visual song is called ‘The Circle’ and it is one of my favourite songs off the new album and there’s gonna be a kind of homage birdman in the video so watch out for that. I hope it’s not too cold we are actually shooting it on the coast so there might be come thermal underwear involved!
HTF: What is your best joke?
E: Why did the pervert cross the road?
HTF: I don’t know, why did the pervert cross the road?
E: Because it’s dick was stuck in the chicken!
HTF: Have you got any party tricks?
E: I can do an owl impression! Listen here:
HTF rate this owl impression an 8/10! Listen and rate Emily’s owl impression below!
HTF: What makes a good Pythia Party?
E: Shit loads of booze! To be honest with you the best party’s are usually spontaneous. I think if you build up to a party you’re usually quite disappointed. So the best party’s are really spontaneous and you get some really close friends with a big bottle of tequila and your old records out!
HTF: Who’s your favourite band?
E: Pythia obviously! (Laughs) you know I’ve got a really broad music taste but I would say Rainbow. I love Rainbow and I love Ronnie James Dio.
HTF: How did you feel after Dio’s death?
E: I was actually quite gutted when he died I had a little cry. I got my Rainbow and Heaven And Hell collection out and had a little cry.
I’m actually working on a cover of a Dio song, I’m not gonna tell you which one but I don’t know if it will ever see the day but it’s a song I really love and me and Tim are looking at doing a very different version of it. I know his wife has a charity for cancer so I was thinking of releasing it and handing all the profits over to the charity. I am a massive Dio fan and it was a very sad day for Heavy Metal.
HTF: What’s your favourite Dragonforce song?
E: I’ve been very privileged to hear the new album and I would probably say a new song, which they have already announced and played live. And it’s called ‘Cry Thunder’.
Interviewer: Louisa Smith
