NS: How did Freakangel come together?
FA: Freakangel was created in 2009. During those times I was working mostly with my electronic band Suicidal Romance. It was some kind of electro-goth mixed with pop and some dark electro there and there. We were signed to Germany based Infacted Recordings and have released 2 albums when I’ve decided to form Freakangel as a side project so I could express a bit different emotions through different kind of music. Slowly after releasing third album for Suicidal Romance I’ve lost almost all interest in this band and so I’ve put a lot of effort and all my spare time in Freakangel. It’s when FA became a band from being just a side-project. You can hear this difference in our second album “Let It All End” and especially in our third album “The Ones To Fall”. Our debut “The Faults Of Humanity” was written 90% by me when while recording/writing sessions of our third album every member did around 33,3%.
NS: Who are you inspired by and at the same time how do you hope to inspire future artists?
FA: Freakangel is a three piece band. Everyone is open to all genres of music, but still prefers something that suits him most. We all have metal past. It’s Estonia after all. We all love metal here. But at the same time I think it would be fair to mention that we are influenced by Mr. Manson’s first works (“The Portrait Of An American Family” and “Anichrist Superstar”). Not that we are trying to copy his work or something… it’s just music that we grew up listening to. Same words can go to The Prodigy (“The Fat Of The Land” mostly) and Alice Cooper (“Brutal Planet” kicks ass). Today it became pretty easy to write electronic music. Go get yourself a laptop… download FruityLoops from “thepiratebay” and you are settled down to go. We really hope that one day those people will learn how to play real instruments instead of just standing behind their laptops. We have nothing against it… it’s just that we really hope to inspire electronic musicians from our scene to combine real instruments with synthetic sound. There are so many borders considering music styles. Forget about them. Be free. Create.
NS: Ultimately what persuaded you guys to get involved in music?
FA: I think it’s because of our love for music. Being young we really enjoyed supporting our local scene and visiting almost all possible gigs that were available in our town. Starting from punk rock to death metal. We are still doing so but not that often as before. What I’m trying to say is that we always wanted to do something with music right from the beginning. Maybe we were born under the “rock’n’roll” star… who knows. At the moment we all working on new demos for Freakangel while I’m trying to resurrect Suicidal Romance at the same time and while two other guys are playing death metal in Beyond The Structure and some crust punk from times to time. We can’t live without music anymore.
NS: I see you did a remix for 3TEETH on their track “Final Product”. What was that experience like and in what ways do you determine what artists to mix?
FA: Yes, it was one of the easiest remixes I’ve done. It’s just like I’ve started following the flow right from the first notes. Everything else just came itself after demo structure was ready. I really love when this kind of magic happens. Actually it was my first experience in remixing someone just for pure fun. I mean… they had some kind of contest on their Facebook page. I had some spare time and decided to take a part in it. Why not? Mostly when I’m asked about remixing someone I really need to have a listen of their music first. I can remix almost every track, but I really want this process to be fun… and it can’t bring any joy if I do not like the music of the band, I’ve been asked to remix.
NS: Out of everything you’re involved in musically, which one do you prefer the most?
FA: I think that touring is the most interesting thing that musician can have in his life. Being able to get from one country to another meeting all new people on the road is such a wonderful feeling. Different nations, different interests… damn… it’s all so damn crazy. Love it.
NS: I’ve been on Freakangel’s official youtube channel, and they contain so much dark imagery. Are your ideas ever part of the concept of these videos?
FA: I think that every band should have some kind of image to express themselves or their music. Music is art. That makes us an artist and everyone should play their role when they are on stage. It gets only better if in real life you feel exactly the same way as you feel being on stage. All I’m trying to say is that this is how we feel. We are true to ourselves. We play this kind of music not because we are trying to conquer the world… it’s just because we like what we are doing and this is how we feel it.
NS: Tell us about the collaboration with Emelie Nicolai for the song “Porcelain Doll” ?
FA: Emelie is from PsyAviah. We are on the same Belgian label Alfa Matrix and we have done remixing works of each other since 2009. So we knew each other for sometime before we have decided to ask her to be our guest not only on “Porcelain Doll” but on the whole album “Let It All End”. I think it was a great co-work. Everything went really smoothly. Emelie gave pretty interesting KMFDM’ish feeling to our music, especially if you will take a listen to “Mutual Forms of Bleeding”. I really hope that we will be able to work once again one day. She is a real pro.
NS: Do you feel any obligation to keep outdoing your prior work when constructing your next chapter?
FA: No, I wouldn’t say that we want to outdo our prior work… what we are really trying to do is to keep our own sound that listeners are familiar with and to add something new that we have not tried before. That’s why all our albums are pretty different, but listening to them it’s pretty easy to say that “oh… those are Freakangel guys”. Some listeners might be against it because they were listening to our music since our first album and they expect us to release the same music. But it’s impossible… at least it’s impossible for us. We are growing up… something happens in our life from time to time and we just can’t be the same for years. Our music is our reflection… and we do change a lot with time.
NS: What’s the best way to deal with people who are constantly comparing your work to other more mainstream artists?
FA: It’s their choice. I really do not care about it. If they hear something that from their point of view reminds of someone else… then why not. Everyone can say what they think, but it does not mind that I will agree with it. Mostly I take a giggle and skip those comments for good. Sometime people compare us to bands that I’ve never heard before or the ones that are just very different from our musical style. Lets face it. It’s internet. People say things. I can deal with it. No problems here. No harm done.
NS: What is it like being a band from Estonia who receives attention from American fans and/or artists?
FA: Estonia was always friends with America. Our president was raised in America and etc… The problem is that we have never been there… and we are really working hard on being able to get our asses to the states. Talking about attention. Well… getting attention is always good. If we get attention then it means that we are doing something probably right. Lets hope that we will be able to stay in the same flow.
NS: Do you believe Europe is more inclined towards aggressive industrial music than the US?
FA: No. I would not say so. I really like American industrial music. It has it’s own sound and this sound is more suitable for me than we have in Europe. Old NIN, Ministry, Skinny Puppy… Manson. I might be deaf, but this is how real industrial should sound.
NS: Are you planning on moving over to an American label any time soon?
FA: Few years ago I was able to release Suicidal Romance “Shattered Heart Reflections” on Metropolis Records under Infacted license… and I really hope that one day I would be able to do the same with Freakangel. I think that our music suits American soil very well. As I said before we are working pretty hard at the moment to be able to spread our name around the states. I will cross my fingers and hope that this will happen sooner or later… preferably sooner rather than later.
NS: What have you learned so far that has changed how you think about the music business?
FA: I think that the most important rule to remember is that in our scene artist should be ready to do almost everything by himself. Yes, there are labels, but you won’t be able to reach anything sitting on your ass. Learn to communicate. Make friends on the road and be thankful to people that are ready to help you out. In music the passions enjoy themselves.
NS: Do you have any other comments you’d like to add?
FA: Thank you for your time and your questions.Readers be sure to check http://www.freakangel.net Bookers, promoters… if You are reading this then feel free to get in touch with us! Rock n’ Roll.
