We are very honored to present you the interview that Alissa White-Gluz, the singer of Arch Enemy, gave to Rock Overdose and to Konstantinos Sotirelis. Alissa talked about the band's new album, their tour, the "As The Stages Burn" DVD and many more.
Enjoy:
Rock Overdose: Hello Alissa, welcome to Rock Overdose. How are you?
Alissa: Hello Konstantinos! I’m great, thank you!
Rock Overdose: How things are going on Arch Enemy’s side these days?
Alissa: Everything is great! We are going to promote our new album “Will To Power” which is coming out at the beginning of September, so everything is going very well.
Rock Overdose: You have revealed the album’s title and the art cover so far. What should we expect on “Will To Power”?
Alissa: Yes, “Will To Power” is the name of our new album and it’s coming out on September 8. I think people that love the early days of Arch Enemy as well as the modern era, they are all going to be very satisfied and happy. It’s a very diverse album, but also very focused. You know, really heavy but also very melodic. We are really proud of it. I think it’s a very cool album and every time a listen to it I just like it more and more. I hope that everyone enjoys it as much as we do.
Rock Overdose: Could you tell us if are there any differences from the “War Eternal” album?
Alissa: Yeah, I mean it’s definitely a different album. You know, we wrote it and recorded it after 300 shows with this line up, so of course are connected in a very different way. We have a great chemistry as people and as musicians. I am really proud of “War Eternal”. I think that maybe “Will To Power” is even more, more heavy, more melodic, more aggressive but also more emotional. I think that “Will To Power” is a chance for a new territory on Arch Enemy.
Rock Overdose: That’s good news for all the fans.
Alissa: Yeah, I think so!
Rock Overdose: Some people say that “War Eternal” is one of the best albums that Arch Enemy has released so far. How do you feel about this, thinking that this was your first effort with the band?
Alissa: That’s a huge compliment because I think that Arch Enemy has an amazing discography, an amazing collection of songs. So, I’m happy that people enjoy “War Eternal” so much. I do agree that it’s a great album and, you know, it’s a really huge compliment to say this. I appreciate that.
Rock Overdose: You know, when a band changes a vocalist, some die-hard fans usually complain about the new singer, but I don’t think that Arch Enemy had such problems. So, what’s your point of view on this?
Alissa: From the moment I started working with Arch Enemy it just felt really natural and very normal. It wasn’t weird. It felt like I ‘ve always been in the band in a way. I think fans could feel that and of course we released great music. It’s the most important and I think we did that and we’ll do it again with “Will To Power”. I’m really, really thankful that fans supported Arch Enemy this whole time and I think they’ll be happier with “Will To Power”.
Rock Overdose: Angela in a way approved you and said some very good words for you. What does this mean to you?
Alissa: Yes, Angela not only approved me but she chose me so I think that helps, too. There was no messy situation. She said that she won’t be the singer any more but she was the manager for years and she is still the manager now, so she wanted to do what ‘s the best for the band so she found a replacement that she thought that it will be able to do that and I think she was right. So, that’s so how it went. She is still the manager.
Rock Overdose: Maybe that’s why the fans accepted you from the beginning.
Alissa: Yes, that could be it.
Rock Overdose: Is there any specific reason that Jeff Loomis didn’t contribute to the new album?
Alissa: No, there is no reason. I mean, he did contribute to the solos of course, but Michael was always the mastermind behind Arch Enemy’s music, so it’s not different now. Michael also wrote some of the lyrics. Of course, I wrote the lyrics but he also does. It’s not different now. Michael writes the music. Of course, when you have Jeff Loomis in the band, you want to hear his solos, so you will be able to hear that.
Rock Overdose: Is there any chance to hear some Jeff Loomis music on Arch Enemy in the future?
Alissa: Yes, probably. But right now we are thinking about this album. But we love Jeff and his shreddings.
Rock Overdose: That’s why I’m asking this, because Jeff Loomis is an amazing guitarist and especially here in Greece we really love him.
Alissa: Yes, he is amazing, so for sure there is a possibility and we are open to it. Jeff has always good ideas.
Rock Overdose: How did the change from being a singer to the Agonist and now to Arch Enemy, affect you?
Alissa: It’s great, Arch Enemy has such a great and devoted fan base. The music is so much fan to perform It live. We have a great crew, like the guitar tech. All of these people keep Arch Enemy as active as we are and it’s great to meet people and different countries, playing the songs and in every country there are people singing along. We have a great team, great manager. We are such a good team. It’s a very good place to be.
Rock Overdose: So, let’s talk about the “As The Stages Burn” DVD. Would you like to tell us your experience about performing on Wacken and recording this show?
Alissa: Obviously, since the release of the “War Eternal”, Arch Enemy has played hundreds of shows and we felt that we had to had a document about headlining on the biggest heavy metal festival in the world. We turned that DVD to a live concert movie and that is the DVD called “As The Stages Burn” and it’s also a live album. It was a great experience, a great show, everyone put a tone of effort to do that. So, yes, it was a lot of fun! For us as a band, whether we are playing in front of a hundred people a hundred thousand people, we are giving our all and still putting in all of our hearts into the performance.
Rock Overdose: You started your first summer festivals three days ago (the interview was done a month ago) and in September you have your new tour promoting the new album, and you are going to visit Greece. How do you feel about coming here?
Alissa: Yes, that’s right. In September 8 we release “Will to Power” and then on September 23rd we are going to visit Athens and Thessaloniki, which is really cool, because I went to Greece for the first time a couple of years ago and the fans were so passionate about metal, so it’s cool for me to see that and experience how passionate the greek metal fans are. So, I’m really excited to go back because I haven’t been to Greece very much, so, it’s going to be very cool.
Rock Overdose: What should be expect from your shows here and what about the setlist? I’m sure that you’ll play a lot of songs from the new album, so as to promote it.
Alissa: I don’t know exactly what the setlist is yet, but, when you have 10 studio albums, it becomes a little bit difficult to play everything. It’s hard to choose the setlist. Some songs have to be in, we definitely always want to have. For me, I think we agree we always want to have “War Eternal”, “Nemesis”. But since we have a new album, we have to play new songs, so we have to remove some of the old songs we used to play. That’s always the struggle to figure out but it’s actually a good problem to have.
Rock Overdose: I’m sure you are not going to disappoint us. Thank you very much for this interview, it was a great honor for me. I would like to close it with a message to the Greek fans.
Alissa: Arch Enemy would like to thank all the fans in Greece for your support and keeping metal alive and I hope to see you all soon at our shows in Athens and Thessaloniki.
For Rock Overdose,
Konstantinos Sotirelis
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