interview: Dracena (part 4: conclusion)

This is an interview with Dracena, extreme metal from Sweden that began in 1994. The interview has been done in segments. The person answering the interview is Mia, who is the creative force behind Dracena. The objective is to do an extensive interview that covers the past and present of Dracena, whose most recent work is called Cursed to the Night (2017).

The previous parts of the interview are found below, and after that, is the new segment. This is the conclusion of the interview.

metalbulletin.blogspot.com/2018/02/interview-dracena-part-1.html

metalbulletin.blogspot.com/2018/03/interview-dracena-part-2.html

metalbulletin.blogspot.com/2018/09/interview-dracena-part-3.html

Things seem to be going well for Dracena in the 1990s. Three demos: 1997, 1999 and 2001. Yet the debut full-length album Infernal Damnation does not come out until 2006? In addition, now it is just you, Mia, and a session drummer, correct? There were about five years of silence. Did you think about ending Dracena when all the members were gone?

There has never been any plans to end Dracena, not even after the split with the other members. Since we already had released three demos I kept on writing material with the plan to finally record a full-length. For a while I had a few new members on the way, but I later decided to go on my own with the recording and release the album independently. Infernal Damnation was recorded in 2004 but wasn’t released until 2006 as it took some time for me to get everything in order with finances, the sound mixing, the cover and layouts, and to find a place to press the album as well as learning all the technicalities with file formats etc for the CD-master, booklet and so on.

I set up my own home studio and learned to program drums and record all string instruments on my computer. This is the first time I actually practised how to play the bass which was a fun experience. Mojjo came back as session drummer and we used two different studios for this recording, Hellbound Studios for all the instruments and Brutaliator Studios for the vocals. Beside the Infernal Damnation album we also recorded a WASP cover, Animal – F*** like a Beast, which was released in 2004 by Codiac Records (DK) on a WASP tribute album, Shock Rock Hellions. All the guitar solos were played by Chris Loud.

Do you remember if there was a moment when you decided that Dracena would continue? Did you think about a project like Bathory in which it was essentially a solo project by Quorthon?

I can’t say that I have ever had any conscious thoughts about ending the band at all, even if there’s been idle periods those are mostly because I have been busy with my job and haven’t had the time to be creative. This is also one of the main reasons to why I am the only member of the band - it would have been unfair to engage other full-time members when I can’t give my full attention to Dracena, Being the only member gives me the freedom to chose when I feel like putting together the next album and it works just fine for me to have my session musicians whenever it’s necessary… and it’s kinda cool to be a female version of Quorthon.

Then album Infernal Damnation was released in 2006. That was more than 10 years since the beginning of the band. Looking back on it, how frustrating was it that it took more ten years to release a proper album? When you were doing the demos, were there record companies interested in releasing your music?

Sure, it was frustrating to have to wait for so long before the release of our debut album as Dracena had worked so hard for many years. We wrote and recorded demos, played live and promoted the band all the time in zines and everywhere we went. After each release we sent out promo packages to labels, press and gig organisers, making Dracena a well-known name in the underground scene.

We did receive offers from labels but none of them appealed to us. I guess we were pretty picky and we always tried to negotiate the terms a bit too much which mostly cooled off the interest from the label. Perhaps if we had been signed early in the days the Dracena career would have developed different, but we didn’t want to sign just any contract in desperation to get our recorded work out to the audience.

So what happened after the album was released? At that point, were you frustrated and decided to take a break from music?

After the release of Infernal Damnation I decided that I needed a better-paid job to be able to support myself to record and release my music. For the next 4-5 years I worked hard with extremely long working days and I also worked on weekends and holidays. Meanwhile, I didn’t have a lot of time to write or to be creative although I kept writing material which I recorded at home and I also made a few attempts to put together another full length, but I wasn’t satisfied enough with the tracks to book a professional studio.

Yet in 2014 Dracena returned with the EP Ravenous Bloodlust. What motivated you to resurrect Dracena?

In 2012 things finally slowed down at work and I had so much material that I decided it was about time to sit down and try to re-write the best of the best of my new riffs and record at least one decent mini CD. So I slaughtered all my darlings and in another 5-6 months I had re-written 4 really great tracks which I felt would make an awesome mini album. After I had finished the material all I needed was to find a good studio and a good session drummer. One evening while I was thinking about a possible drummer an old friend of mine (who just happens to be a drummer) popped up on the chat with a link to his latest recording. I asked if he was interested in doing the session drums for my album, which he accepted.

The choice of studio was easy as I am very pleased with the sound of our second demo, Demonic Women and therefore I booked a few days at Andy La Rocque’s Sonic Train Studios.

In 2017 there was the album Cursed to the Night. How do you feel at this point about making music and having Dracena be a solo project? Do you enjoy being able to do whatever you want and not having to deal with “band meetings” and band drama and discussions? You get to be your own boss!

I am quite content about being the only member in the band, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to, and I have no obligations to anyone but myself. But there are a lot of advantages to be working with a group of people and share a unique dynamic and the fusion of different minds. If the constellation is of a positive nature it will lead to the band’s progression and evolution, adding all the small details and variations to the music which takes it to a higher level.

Is it stressful, though? Having to do so much by yourself?! If you want something done, you basically have to do it yourself?

Yes, I write all the instrumental and lyrical material, create the album concept with layout and graphical designs, handle the website and social media as well as having a full-time job - and beside that there’s all the usual things that needs to be taken care of in life. While I am having an active album ongoing I estimate it takes 1,5-2 years from start until the album is released and then another 6 months for the usual aftermath with interviews and so on. It can be stressful occasionally to find all the time necessary to keep things moving and meeting the deadlines with studios, photo sessions, interviews, correspondence, etc. Racing toward a studio deadline and feeling the material isn’t good enough or finished is horrible, knowing that if I don’t have everything ready at the booked date it could be a huge delay before I am able to get another date to record the missing parts, but it will also be expensive to have to pay for more days of recording.

Has Dracena played live recently? How do you feel about that? Have there been offers to play live? What would have to happen in order for Dracena to play live?

The last show we played was in 2014 in Münster Germany. After the release of Ravenous Bloodlust we supported some friend’s (Savagery (DE)), album release party. I do love to play live, but there’s a lot of time and work to rehearse for a live show as I play both the guitar and do the vocals as well. To prepare to play live is time consuming and since there is no steady line-up right now I chose not to play any single events. Another aspect is also the cost to play - travel, vehicles, hotels, food and so on for the whole band. As a support band there is not much payment from the ticket sales and if the merchandise don’t sell every show will be expensive for the band.

We’ve had offers for gigs but mostly “pay to play-gigs” to join a bigger band as support. At the time it was too much money for me to pay but I would definitely invest in a show or tour if I had the musicians and we were well prepared and if it would benefit Dracena in the future.

What is next for Dracena? Do you have more music that you would like to record? Do you know when there will be new music?

I already have 4-5 “skeleton” tracks which I am rehearsing and working with, although right now I am considering myself to be in-between-albums-idle and I don’t feel any pressure to start working actively on another release for some time.

In 2017 there was Cursed to the Night. It is now 2018, almost 2019. Has there been enough of a good response to the album that you think that you would like to make another one?

There’s been a great response to Cursed to the Night, but even if it hadn’t been I would still keep writing new riffs and when I feel that I have enough new material, I’ll probably start sketching on the next album.

facebook.com/Dracena.SE/