To mark the release of “In The Red”, the four swedish rockers of CRUCIFIED BARBARA came to visit France, the perfect occasion for Rx3 to ask a few questions to a band loved by the french audience and who loves us back.
An interview with Mia Coldheart, lead singer and guitarist of the band.
Excerpts.
We put 110% on making this album, with more focus on the grooves and melodies, to find great harmonies for the 2 guitars.
Gus : CRUCIFIED BARABRA hello ! For our readers who may not know you yet, can you tell us more about yourselves?
Mia : We are a rock’n’roll/metal band from Sweden, formed in 1998. We’ve released 4 studio album and been touring a lot all over the world, with bands like MOTÖRHEAD, SEPULTURA, IN FLAMES, BACKYARD BABIES, DORO and many more, we’ve done 3 headliner tours in Europe and 2 in South America. Apart from that we share the passion for making and playing music together we’re also best friends.
Gus : Your second album was released 4 years after the first one, the third one, 3 years later, and only 2 years separate the fourth from the third. What lead to this acceleration in your releases?
Mia : With the first album we just never wanted to stop touring. When we had planned to enter the studio we were invited to go to Australia and then the Motörhead tour in the UK, and of course we couldn’t say no to those great opportunities. After that long time between albums we got better on knowing when we had to start the song writing to not take too long. Something that also speeded up the process is that we have become better and more experienced when it comes to writing songs and work together. With this album we worked hard and focused and with a good speed from the beginning til the end.
I can honestly say that it comes from the heart when we say that France is special for us.
Gus : Musically, after listening to the album several times, I was impressed by the homogeneity of all the songs; they’re all very straightforward, with yet very subtle differences between all of them, which was not always the case with some of your previous songs. What has changed in the way you write and record?
Mia : This album was written by all four of us together every day in the rehearsal room for 5 months with exceptions from the weekends we were out playing gigs to afford to write the album. We put 110% on making this album, with more focus on the grooves and melodies, to find great harmonies for the 2 guitars and I worked extremely hard to write melodies and lyrics that fit the songs.
Gus : Everytime I hear a new CRUCIFIED BARBARA, it appears to be the best you’ve ever done. Is it important for you to mature and evolve with every new release?
Mia : We think that have found our sound now and a way to write together that we want to stick with. But for every new album of course we want to improve and make things even better. And I think it’s something necessary for every band that are serious about their music, to never stop improving.
Gus : You’ve got a lot of dates in France, and you’ve said in interviews that you love playing here. Since I’ve read the same thing coming from a lot of artists, can you tell me what makes the French audience so special?
Mia : I can honestly say that it comes from the heart when we say that France is special for us. It’s the country where we have toured the most of all countries in the world. It Is the first country that we toured in outside Sweden in 2005 so it was our first long tour experience (with American Dog, who thought us all about drinking extreme amount of beer – and life on the road) And our booking agent in France, Dominique Berard, has been doing amazing job for us ever since our first album was released in France. We love the fans in France, they are very dedicated and it’s so amazing to see familiar faces on every show in France, some are even travelling outside the country to see our shows in other places. And the fact that we really enjoy red wine and cheese doesn’t make it worse to tour in France!
No podcast, the photos come from the band website.
