First of all
congratulations for your new album “ Call Me Under 666”, how
has it been received by the media?
Mitch: Thanks a lot! We had really good feedback from the
whole international press so far. So we’re very happy that
people like our new record as we do. Hope you all enjoy it and
have a lot of fun with it!
Tell
us some things about your history as a band.
Mitch: Godiva was founded in 2001 by
Peter, Sammy and me. Later Anthony de Angelis joined us. We
recorded first a 3-Track Demo by ourselves and had some really
cool support gigs with Shakra, Primal Fear, Dokken, Freedom Call,
etc. We decided to record a full length-album and went to Germany's best engineer for Heavy Metal, Mr. Achim Koehler. Tom Naumann (he's been a good friend of mine for
the last few years) produced this debut album. We played some gigs
in Switzerland and in spring of 2004 we began to write the new songs
for “Call Me Under 666” and recorded it during late fall and
winter of 2004 again with producer Achim Koehler in the House of
Music-Studios in Winterbach (Germany).
You
have just released “Call Me Under 666”; tell us a few things
about it. How satisfied are you with the final result? Will it be
released on vinyl?
Mitch: We’re very satisfied with
that album! We think we’ve got a really good variety of
songwriting and that’s the way we want going on in future. We
just tried to hold the power and metalism of our precedent output
and mix it up with some more melody tunes and variation in the
instrumental and vocal section. We think with "Call Me Under
666" we made the right step in the direction we want to go
and we’re looking forward to record the third album even if it
will take some more time until we’ll re-enter the studios.
Which
is the reaction you’re getting from the fans?
Mitch: Our Fans are really happy with
it I think; we had only really positive reactions so far.
Do
you believe that it is a step forward from your already
high-acclaimed debut album?
Mitch: Without doubt. As I said
before, we think we hold the power and riffing from the debut
album and gave the new songs some more feeling, variation and
melody. Sure, with a new singer it never sounds as usual… but in
our case Fernando is a big step forward concerning vocals.
How
many copies have you sold of the debut album?
Mitch: Hmmm.. I’m not absolutely
sure but I think between 4 and 5000.
You
have made a video for the track “When Lightning Strikes” do
you think it will get any airplay? Or is it just for the fans that
buy the album?
Mitch: Certainly we hope to get some
airplay with the video but it’s really hard to enter the
TV-stations as a metal band nowadays but first of all we wanted to
make a cool bonus for our fans who buy it. Some kind of a thank
you to them.
Who’s
responsible for Godiva’s music? Tell us how Godiva’s compositions
usually start to shape up.
Mitch: Sammy, Moses and I are the
main songwriters. Fernando is responsible for the lyrics and vocal
lines. Normally every one of us records his own ideas at home
alone. Then we sit together and choose the best stuff for the
album. Later Sammy and me, we sit again together and we start the
pre-producing including the changing of arrangements and the
recording of the vocal-ideas of Fernando. If this procedure is
finished we enter the studio and record these songs.
What
can you tell us about your lyric approach?
Fernando: It was a challenge to me to
write the lyrics, they had to be somehow Godiva-style. I never did
lyrics like that before, it is completely different to what I’ve
done with Victory or Wicked Sensation, but I really enjoyed doing
something totally new. No more Mr. nice guy …
*laugh*
How
did you end up with former Victory shouter Fernando Garcia?
Mitch: We completed the whole
recording during October 2004 with De Angelis. Just before we
began with the final mixes, we had to make that decision to part
with him due insurmountable personal and musical discrepancies.
This decision was a mutual agreement. Sure De Angelis is a good
singer, but his ideas didn't fit with ours anymore. So it was the
best way for both of us. But enough from the past.. Let’s talk
about the future… Fernando is a very great and absolutely
professional vocalist. The most of you should know him from his
Victory-times! He has an incomparable voice and very good ideas
for melodies. He is the singer we just looked for, for a long
time. He gives Godiva that independent touch we need and want. As
you said it won't be the same as it was. But we are sure that all
Godiva fans will love that way of singing! It gives us more
professionalism.
Any
tour plans yet?
Mitch: We played a few gigs in Switzerland
so far. In early July we’ll play two gigs with Y&T in Germany
and then are a few other Festivals and club concerts fixed right
now. If we’ll do a support tour we don’t know yet, but sure we
will do our best. We’d love to play in Denmark!
What
do you think of the nowadays European metal scene as a whole? Do
you consider it to be healthy?
Mitch:
Mmmh.. hard to say.. I think it becomes better again. The nineties
were very, very hard for the metal scene and metal bands. But
it’s still hard to convince people of solid handmade rock music…
except Gotthard… Swiss people in general rather listen to Swiss
German styled music… awful…
Which
bands and releases have you been listening to lately?
Mitch: Judas Priest – Angel Of
Retribution, Halford – Live Insurrection,
Bruce Dickinson – Tyranny Of Souls, Fear Factory –
Archetype, Rammstein – Reise, Reise, Iced Earth – The Glorious
Burden…. This are the records I listen frequently in my car (I’ve
got the better audio system in the car than at home, so I can turn
it up louder cause there are no neighbors that are fucked up…hahahahaha)
A
final message to all your fans all around the globe?
Mitch: Don’t miss listen to our new
record, you won’t be disappointed! Stay metal, bang the head
that doesn’t bang, drink a lot, have fun and finally let that
fucking tank roll!
Big
cheers from Switzerland
to you all!
Thanks for
your time.
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