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Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Amartia (22.08.2007)
French band Amartia with Marionette released a very intense Progressive Rock album. This was occasion enough to sound songwriter Vince and singer Britta out.
HH: Hi Vince - how do you do?
Vince: Hey, well things are rolling. Lot of positive things these days; Amartia evolves more and more, we just had a great serie of livedates and third album composition is on the good way. I also play a lot in a cover duet called Chasca.
HH: Please describe AmartiA to people that have not heard of you before.
Vince: Amartia is a Prog and Atmosperic Metal band. Tracks are very emotional and each instrument gets it own life thru band compositions.
HH: How did you meet your fantastic singer Britta?
Vince: When our first singer Marielle left the band in the end of 2003, Cyril, our former keyboard player and I took some time to find the right person. Thanks to Cyril's brother we made contact with Britta who lives in France since 15 years now. She played with various Jazz bands and studied singing in a professional school based in the north of France. We were more than seduced with her exceptional voice. Moreover, she is a very kind person and it's very easy to work with her.
HH: Where do you, the rest of the band and Britta live? Britta almost has to live in Lille because of you brisk concert schedule. If you and the band live in Lille and Britta lives in Hamburg: How do you maintain contact? How do you manage the live gigs?
Britta: I was born in Hamburg but I live since 1990 in France, and since 5 years in Lille. So no problem to work with the rest of the band who live around Lille too.
HH: Where does the second "big" A in the band name come from? What does AmartiA mean in the first place?
Vince: Amartia means "Commit a sin" in Greek. I found this word one night listening to Sin/Pecado album from Moonspell. On booklet central page, you can find all translations of the word "Sin" and I found that the Greek one was souding great.
HH: As I unterstand you are the musical mastermind behind AmartiA. How did Marionette come into being? What influenced you most during the songwriting?
Vince: Well, I have no real influences when I compose for Amartia, things just come spontaneously. Some ideas come from the end of Maieutics recording like "Come Back from Heaven" or the first part of "Revolution Der Marionette". What inspires me the most in Amartia compositions is emotion. You must note that I was not the only person involved in this album creation, Cyril did a great part of the job on "Ignorance", "List" or even "Chosen One". His work has been preponderous in the elaboration of Marionette.
Britta: I've written the texts of Marionette, except "NDE" wich was written by Laurent Depla and me. Our way to work was that Vince has proposed the musical arrangements to me. I’ve tried to capture the atmosphere of the arrangement and followed my different sentiments for writing. When we had a first version of the text we adapted a melody to the text or the text to an idea of a melody.
HH: Your songs are quite complex. How much time do you need to arrange one of your songs in the studio?
Vince: It depends of the song. I don't like to work on a single track at a time. One title barebone can be finalized very fest but arranging is another story. We can work until the very last minute on a title. Bruno Levesque who mixed the album brought a lot on this side. He knew how to valorize our album without making the music loose its original spirit. We think that he will be also involved in mixing the 3rd album. We are more than satisfied of his work.
HH: What do you want to express with your music?
Britta: I think that we would like to express our crazy personal phantasy. Music is a fabulous way to do that.
Vince: I love emotion and the big thrill! Each time we play live, this is a great emotional journey for me! It might be a bit pretentious to say that but I think our music does it well. Communication between us is very important too. We want to build a strong and united band on stage. Since Sylvain arrival on the bass play, band has reached a new level and you will be able to feel it on the 3rd album.
HH: What are the lyrics about? Unfortunately the lyrics weren't included with my promo copy of Marionette.
Britta: The songs essentually talk about humain being 'cause this is something I'm next to every day. But I really don’t like to explain the textes because I really think that everyone has the right to keep the liberty of interpretation of the words.
HH: Why do you write in three languages?
Britta: This was not something we have prepared before. The wish to write in french, german or english came very spontaneously. This is probably because I live since more than 20 years with three languages in my head and the textes express parts of myself.
HH: When will the rest of Europe, i.e. Germany, see you live?
Vince: Nothing is planned for the moment but we are very open. Marionette has just been released in Germany and we hope to be noticed very soon for us to play as opening act or in a festival. Wait and see!
Britta: Here we are with open arms! ! !
HH: If Marionette would be something to eat, what would it be and why?
Vince: Since I find Amartia very sensual, I would say 'a lady'!
Britta: Danger! Not edible! -The pleasure we have if we eat something is unfortunatly very short. So Marionette is a sweetly poison that you can hear but better not touch to extend the pleasure…
HH: Thank you very much for your time! Any last words?
Vince: Thanks to you and your readers. Don't be shy to visit our website @ www.amartia.com and our Myspace page @ www.myspace.com/amartia. We strongly hope to come to play live In Germany soon !
Britta: See u soon : ))))