This year there are FemME Battles again with preliminaries in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. And I will introduce you the bands which go to the Finals. I will do so by ask all of the bands the same questions. So you have the same information about all the bands which are in the finals.
The first one is ‘Pallas Athena’, winner by jury of the “Great Britain Battle”.
The band members Vickie, Alex and James answered the questions. So thank you very much for this!
First of all can you tell us something about the name of your band, ‘Pallas Athena’? What does it mean and which one of you came up with this name?
We were looking for a name that embodied themes of strength and femininity and decided to look at Ancient History for inspiration. We decided on the Goddess Athena because she represents a strong, female figure and we decided to use the epithet “Pallas”.
What can you tell us about the history of the band?
We originally played together as part of another band, ‘A Clockwork Opera‘, which disbanded in 2017. We decided that we worked well together and wanted to continue performing together, so we created ‘Pallas Athena’ and we had our first gig in October 2018.
Please introduce yourself to us. Who are you, which instrument(s) do you play and about your musical background.
My name is Vickie and I am the vocalist for ‘Pallas Athena’. Pretty much every moment outside of my full time job I spent practicing and performing music. I have a very lengthy background in music and I’m currently singing with several choral and operatic groups in Manchester as well as ‘Pallas Athena’.
My name is Alex and I’m the bassist. I’ve played music since I was in primary school and the bass around 7 years.
My name is James and I’m the guitarist. I’ve been playing music since primary school. I layed drums for 20 years (I was the drummer in our previous band) and I don’t know how long I’ve actually been playing guitar.
Which one of you is “responsible” for the songs (lyrics and music)?
Our guitarist James writes the songs and the we get together to collaborate on working in detail together. Vickie is responsible for writing the lyrics and coming up with the concepts of the songs.
Did you release any records already and can you tell something about them?
Our debut EP “The Awakening” was released in January of this year. It features 5 songs and is available to listen via most streaming sites and our Bandcamp page.
Are you full time musicians or do you have other jobs also?
We all work full time jobs and do the band in our spare time.
Can you describe your music? How would you call it?
We like to refer to our music as “progressive symphonic metal”, as it has all the elements of traditional symphonic metal (female vocals, orchestration and an epic sound) but we are progressively working towards incorporating elements of other genres within the music.
Are you influenced by other bands?
We have all our individual influences, but as far as the sound of the band goes I would say we are really heavily influenced by bands like ‘Septicflesh’ and ‘Fleshgod Apocalypse’, and of course bands like ‘Nightwish’ and ‘Epica’.
What was your most cool gig so far?
Vickie: For me, the coolest gig so far would have to be the FemME Preliminary Battles. It was wonderful to receive so much support and hear our name announced as the Jury Winner!
Alex: The gig we played with ‘Imperial Age’ was cool too. The crowd was great plus we got to watch their amazing set after.
James: Yeah the ‘Imperial Age’ gig was fantastic as was the FemME Preliminaries.
Vickie: And the M2TM first heat was incredible too. We’ve played a lot of good gigs in our short career so far, so we’ve been very fortunate.
Is there a band you want to go on tour with?
Vickie: I would love to go on tour with ‘Enemy of Reality’, ‘Ignea’ or ‘Eleine’. All three are incredible symphonic metal bands that are well on their way to becoming huge. They all have unique sounds that are pushing the boundaries of what we know symphonic metal to be traditionally and that’s really exciting for me.
James: There are many bands I’d love us to tour with but we wouldn’t match in terms of genre.
What do you think of FemME?
Vickie: I have admired FemME from a distance for a long time now and it’s going to be awesome to be able to come to The Netherlands and be part of it.
James: I’d never heard of the festival until we had entered the contest but looking back at past lineups I wish I’d known about it sooner!
Are you looking forward to come to The Netherlands?
Vickie: We are very excited to come to The Netherlands! For me personally I love any opportunity to explore another country’s culture and history, and that’s definitely what I’ll be doing prior to the gig.
Alex: I’m mainly excited to try the food.
James: Very excited to come to The Netherlands and see a different country!.
https://www.facebook.com/pallasathenametal/
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