earsucker

Music has never been the same since Cradle of Filth has joined in the metal mix. Backing vocalist and lead singer for Angtoria, Sarah Jezebel Deva, took some time out of their busy tour prepping schedule to answer some questions. She is a very cordial person and is someone that likes to take the time to get to know her fans. I had already emailed her a barrage of letters regarding the interview, so I thought I’d keep it short and sweet.

Do you have any vocal training? Or is the talent you have natural?

I’m self taught. No vocal training, I kinda trained myself by copying vocals styles and singers as a kid but that doesn’t mean I sing the right way, i just do what is natural to me. But I’ve always been able to sing.

How is singing for Angtoria different Cradle of Filth? Are you more pleased with the sound?

Hard to say if I’m more pleased. Angtoria, I’m lead, Filth I’m backing. I’m proud of both.

If you could sing a duet with a male performer (besides Dani Filth), who would it be?

I wouldn’t want to sing a duet with Dani!
Well I’ve already sung with Aaron from My Dying Bride, something I’ve waited years to do. We did “Original Sin” together on “God Has A Plan For Us All”.

Other male singers? Mike Patton of Faith No More, Pete Steel is still a vocal dream, Seb Bach and Brendan Perry, he is the amazing male voice behind Dead Can Dance.

Do you write your own songs or is it more of a collaborative effort?

I write all my own lyrics and melodies TO the music. With CoF, in the past I’ve come up with a lot of vocal melodies, but not lyrics.

Any words of wisdom to your fans?

Never give up on a dream! :)

I’d have to agree that Pete Steele and Sebastian Bach are great vocal talents. I’d love to hear a duet with her and Pete. I can imagine a very dark collaborative effort there.

A special thank you to Sarah for taking the time to let us get to know her better. A rockin’ musician whose talent should definitely not go unnoticed. Here’s looking to see ya when ya come to Cleveland!!

Here’s my Sarah Jezebel Deva story. For those of you who don’t know who she is, she’s one of the singers in the death metal band, Cradle of Filth. I really respect Sarah’s talent and kindness, so I will shed light on what happened in our non-interview.

This was totally my fault and I see this now.

Firstly, I will say that I emailed Miss Deva on myspace with no intention on gaining a response. I was wrong. She responded back to my inquiry rather quickly, to my delight.

My inquiry was just this:

Hello, I am a big fan of your music and was wondering if you could make time for a short, ten question interview. That would be so awesome and it would give your fans more information about your music and your inspirations. I’ve been listening to you while you were a part of Cradle of Filth and think you have the most amazing voice.

Please let me know what you think? If you are too busy to respond, then I completely understand. My website is for the fans, basically, so I’m sure they’d love to hear from someone with such amazing talent.

She responded that she’d be delighted to do just that. I asked if we could do a conversational interview, with us going back and forth with questions and answers so that it would flow easier, to which she responded that she’d do it however I wanted.

Apparently, the questions that I sent were lost in the gaping hole that is myspace, because when I emailed her to see if she had changed her mind, she replied that nothing was received.

Hmmm… So, I pondered. I again complemented her voice and talent and asked my question again. Still nothing. Myspace sucks sometimes.

With all of the email exchanges, you would think that I would’ve gotten one question answered. No, this is not the case. She was a great sport about the whole thing, still saying that she never received anything from me.

In short, if you wish to interview someone, have the questions prepared to send with the initial request. The artist can then decide if they wish to respond, and do so, in one short email.