ROAD TRIPPIN’ ELUVEITIE
The swiss folk metallers are ready to hurdy and/or gurdy their way here with lacuna coil
What’s it like touring in a band with so many members? chrigel glanzmann (vocals): “honestly, i don’t think it makes that much of a difference how many members there are in a band. if you’re on tour as much as we are it basically means that you’re spending your lives together. You have to get along together on a professional level, be respectful and take care of each other. these are things you have to do and learn in a touring band, no matter if you’re three people or nine.”
theatricality and storytelling is a big part of your music – how important do you think it is to your live shows?
“it just naturally comes with what eluveitie is. when fabienne (erni) and i sing something, we very much feel the lyrics and it comes from a very deep place in our hearts. so in that way, yeah, but at the same time it’s about transporting an atmosphere and energy and that’s probably the strongest part of our live shows. as important as the lyrics are to us, you don’t go to a metal concert to learn about history, you go to bang your head and have a great time.”
You’ve been gigging in the UK for just over 10 years now. What do you like most about coming here?
“the professional answer is that one thing that i’ve noticed over the last 15 years is that there’s surprisingly few places on this planet where a metal audience is significantly different to another. it doesn’t matter if it’s turkey, canada or Norway: a metal audience is more or less a regular, typical metal audience. i could give you the answer like, ‘Yeah we love the British metal audience!’ but i don’t think they’re that much difference to the audience in croatia. i came to find it a very beautiful thing because it shows how powerful music is and how it’s able to unite humans no matter where or what culture they come from. it shows what a strong beautiful community the metal community is.”
…And what’s the non-professional answer?
“Personally, i love to play great Britain as i love it as a country. i really love dartmoor and the south of england, around cornwall, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful specks of earth i’ve ever been to. and i’ve been to a lot of them.”