We Queens of Steel have been annoying people for 15 years now. During these years a lot of albums have been released. What albums do you specially remember or are your favourites of these last 15 years? Those you have pretty much scratched. First of all, I’m so glad to see you stick to your ideals and still go on after all these years. Life’s challenging sometimes and I am fond of longlasting good ideas. So, happy birthday! In the last 15 years I’ve been not particulary impressed by new releases of big acts. What I appreciated most are the records by the so-called new comers, and by this I mean the new metal scene which developes nowadays. If we go back so many years, I can say Second Strike by Baphomet’s Blood, Back on the Hunt by Witchunter (both very recommended Italian bads), From Beyond by Enforcer, High Spirits’s Another Night in the City are the first ones I can recall. As from big acts, I can say I liked Motörhead’s last record Bad Magic (and Inferno as well) and Judas Priest’s Nostradamus wasn’t bad… It is not a traditional album but I can consider it a piece of art, or Chastain Surrender to No One, in a pure Chastain tradition.
Even some new bands have born. Which ones are your favourites? We’ve shared stage with many interesting bands, and I won’t say my favourites 😀 Besides our Italian fellows listed above, I do follow with much interest Enforcer, Bewitcher (kick ass band!!) so as Space Chaser we played with in Munich last October, Savage Master, Roadwolf, Liquid Steel and I am curious about Sollicitor… we will see!
And the split up you regret the most? I don’t regret split ups, because sometimes it’s really sad to see unmotivated people on stage. If you think your band did what was needed to be done, call it a day when you still believe in your project. I regret Downing and Tipton left Priest, I regret Lemmy died, I regret Dio died (even if I was lucky enough to seem him on stage with BS)… But I’ve been lucky to see almost everything I wanted to attend.. I don’t like bands such as Slayer decided to end their carreer, I think they’ve been around for too long and when somebody does it for the money fans can easily see there’s no soul behind.
All of us tend to attend gigs, festivals… During 15 years we’ve spent a lot of time in airports, trains, cars. What is the show or festival you recall with special affection? I will say Keep It True festival beacause it has been the unmissed appointment in the last 15 years, no matter what. But I have a few I do specially treasure. MetalWay Festival which took place in 2009 in Zaragoza, we went there to see Warlock playing (lol), and we left Italy on a low cost flight with almost no money in the pocket, a tent to sleep in and no idea what Spain looked like and that we would up in the desert. Or a Festival in Zurich with UDO, Saxon, Motörhead and Heaven And Hell… Killer! Even Frost and Fire Festival in London in 2018 was a blast and we had lot of fun. We’ve played in a lot of lovely festivals all across Europe, and I’d say there are pretty high standards now. I mean, stages are very good, PA always kicks ass, prices are affordable, and I think that if you don’t go to big (i.e. WOA) you’ll never be disappointed. I remember the times when I started going to festivals, where everything was there to spill you money and no one cared about content or quality. Sure, 20 years ago you could see younger persons on stage and killer bands, but the festivals most of them sucked.
They are a lot of years if you think about it. Which would be your most memorable moment(s)? A milestone or achievement, on a personal and/or musical level. The day our first demo tape printed on vinyl was in my hands. So as the everytime I hold for the first time any of our releases. The day we played at Kit, because it was the first big stage for us. The day I saw Warlock playing… And my wedding day!
Everything evolves (involutes sometimes) with time, so does the Metal «community». What do you believe has been the biggest change the Metal scene has experience or is experiencing during this time? For the better or for the worse. Because if we stop and think about it, not even Spotify existed 15 years ago! Absolutely! The scene looks different in so many ways! Time made some people disappear, luckly, and this means there was no particular interest in the music and scene itself, but posing was much more important. What I see nowadays (I don’t want to sound too nostalgic, it’s not the proper intent), is that the new medias made easier to purchase music (both in original and legal ways, but even to listen without spending a cent on it), it is easier to advertise festivals and bands, which by the way became much more professional: products and videos, pictures and clothing, everything is much more easy to approach. So, if 20 years ago you had to go to Camden to buy some cool stage clothes, today you order them on Etsy sitting on your couch. If back then you had to talk to 100 different guitar players to understand how they made to record that particular guitar sound, today you easily ask on Google or on Facebook. Same if you want to order a record, you had to go to a Metal Boerse back then and today you make everything through a website. All these things are pretty cool if you think about it, but I heard a lot of people saying that today the kids don’t earn their collection because it is too easy for them to get it. I’m not sure it’s the right way to see the whole thing. What I don’t like about today’s scene is the drama. Everybody has his spot of stagelights today, everybody who has a page on a social network is convinced to be someone, and that everybody needs to know their opinion, and everybody knows everything about the other people, you see complaining, dramas and so on, all kind of things that we are used to notice among “commons” but that until now did not exist in metal scene. I don’t like this because I always thought that our scene was more unaffected by this poser attitudes, and that our music and our culture was the core of all. But sometimes it doesn’t seem like this.
Looking to the future, what would be the best possible scenario for you if you think about the next 15 years? I will try not to age too much, and I don’t make plans. I am a lucky woman and take whatever it comes the way it comes. I am proud of our results and always try to give the best on every attempt, so I just hope we could tour more often, and that we could meet much more people and places. We will work hard to give our best for the records to come and stick to our Sign of the Jackal personal mark. I mean, constancy is what pays more.
