Interview by: Isabell Köster

H I D D E N  M E A N I N G

Your new album is called “TIME”. Is there an underlying concept that connects the songs?
“Yes, there is: time. We liked the simplicity of it and just decided to call it that way.”

When in the composition and recording process did you choose the title?
“We had already started the composing process and were working on the fourth song. We often work on a few songs simultaneously, like taking a break from one and thinking about the other. Somebody came up with a list of ideas for the name of the album, and “TIME” was one of it. I really liked it because we had already written “Dying Light” and staying in the same theme seemed exciting to us. That’s also why I’ve tried throughout the other songs to lyrically apply that topic. To have a bit of a hidden meaning in all songs made sense to me.”How would you describe the album musically compared to its predecessor, “Ecydysis”?
“That’s really a question for a music critic or a fan. It’s difficult for musicians to describe one of their own creations. But I’d say it’s the old INFECTED RAIN with a fresher sound. However, there’s nothing purposefully different that went into the composing process. We just did what felt right at the time and we always experiment in our music. But there are overall two big factors that are different than on previous albums. One factor is that our guitar player Vidick picked up an eight-string guitar for many songs of the albums, but not the entire album. And just as important is that we have a new musician in the band, bassist Alice Lane. She didn’t really participate in the composing process as she joined a little later, but she still added something new. Everybody plays in an individual way, with a certain strength and a particular type of instrument. All these are factors that shape the sound. Everything else remains the same. We love to mix genres and simply have fun!”

P I E C E  B Y  P I E C E

Which song on “TIME” was the most challenging for you as a singer?
“I don’t really know if there was one song that was vocally more challenging than the others. They’re all quite different. And the challenge often lies not in the recording, but in the live performance. Because when we record an album, I record my vocal parts piece by piece. That’s easier, because usually the producer wants many takes, to see what other emotion you can bring out in the verse or chorus. When you play live, it’s not like that, you must play the song all together. The challenge in that situation is that you have to find time to breathe somewhere. I often find little tricks that help me during live shows, like skip a word or after one specific word, I’ll take a small breath and that will help me finish the entire chorus or verse. That’s why a live performance has its own charm, in comparison with a CD recording. Often on the CD the sound is so sharp and crispy, the producers often clean up every extra breath for the audience. That’s why I feel that during recording there are not as many challenges as during performing live.”

How important is it for you as a singer and performer to exercise regularly?
“Well, the older you get, the more you must move – movement is life. But nowadays, I often find myself missing out on exercising, because of the amount of work I have. Sometimes I have five interviews a day and many other things to take care of. I’m not complaining, just saying that some days are more intense than others. And I believe that’s the same for everybody who’s reading this. Often, we find excuses and tell ourselves we will do something the next day, but that rarely works. What helps me in general is having a written down agenda, where I not only write down my schedule for work, but also things I need to do around the house and for myself. With this tool as an aid, I try my best to keep in shape. But being on tour is much more intense, we burn a lot of calories every day. It’s almost like doing CrossFit.” 

P A N I C  A T T A C K

The video for “Because I Let You” is very graphic and depicts an internal injury as an external one. How did that idea come about and how long did the preparation take?
“That song is very emotional and even during the composing process, when the song was still raw, we knew that we needed to film a music video for it. By chance, we found the perfect shooting location: a mental facility in Moldova that also has a morgue that is frequently rented out for different purposes. We immediately loved the idea to film the video there and decided to go a little gorier with the visuals. For that purpose, we hired the special make-up artist Svetlana Golovca who already worked with us on the video for “Never To Return” – she did our zombie faces excellently. Approximately five hours prior to the shoot for “Because I Let You” Svetlana had to apply the prosthetics on my torso to depict the cracked open ribs and make it look real by blending them with my skin. In addition, she had to paint the actual organs and blood. As a result, I had to lie on the mortuary table with my stomach exposed for a long time. But it was totally worth it, looking at the result.”At the end of the video, the camera focuses on your face and shows you crying. I assume those tears are real, so that must have been pretty hard for you.
“Like I said, this song has an intimate and deep meaning for me. I knew that I’d probably get very emotional during the video shoot, because that already happened during the recording process. But our guitarist, the director of the video, reassured me, told me not to worry and just be myself. He told me: “If you’re going to cry, that’s fine. I know how much the song means to you. We will work with what we have.” But still I was scared that I had ruined the entire filming day when I had a full-down panic attack. I think at that moment everything came together: I had been lying on the icy mortuary table for hours, the peculiar energy in the room affected me and the song itself was so intense. I was purposefully bringing up all those painful memories and emotions because I deeply wanted to deliver what I was trying to say, but I didn’t expect it to get that bad. However, my emotions just took over and I couldn’t stop crying for quite some time. You don’t see the whole footage in the video. Maybe we’ll share the entire footage with the fans at some point. The director decided to just keep filming, until at one point I felt some warm hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me down.”

I’ve always been a weird, alternative looking kid, way before I joined the band – and that’s still me today.”

– LENA SCISSORHANDS –

F E E L  A N D  V A L U E

The track “Dying Light” deals with the fact that we all age and must die in the end. What made you reflect on that topic so much on the album?
“I wouldn’t use the word must. After all, we all age and drift away like memories of yesterday. Just like I sing in the song. We are creatures that have a relatively short lifespan and there’s nothing we can do about it. All we can do is embrace life and enjoy every stage of it for its own sake. I see more and more that people try to run away from their age, run away from their wrinkles. I mean, I get it. It’s not like I walk around showing off my age, but if someone asks me, I’ll tell them the truth. Then again, there’s nothing wrong with trying to prevent certain signs of ageing. Take good care of your body, but don’t get depressed over it. Try to overcome that, there are so many other things out there to experience. To just feel and value being alive. Don’t get stuck on things you cannot control. This is what I try to express in “Dying Light”, because if you obsess about things you cannot control, you die much faster inside than you die physically.”

Talking about aesthetics: How did your style (make-up, accessories, tattoos) develop over time? When did you start expressing yourself the way you do now?
“I started falling in love with fashion and beauty around the age of 15. At that time, I applied for a hairdresser school, as a part-time study, because I was still in high school. I never wanted to drop out of high school, but I knew I need a job eventually, so I wanted to get a job that I like. And I was always passionate about hair. That’s how I slowly started working in the beauty industry. Sometime later I became a make-up artist as well and started working with models and for TV shows. I enjoyed being creative like that very much. It was not only my job, but also helped me develop my sense of style and gravitate to fashion and beauty. However, I’ve always been a weird, alternative looking kid, way before I joined the band – and that’s still me today.” ■