CRUCIFIED BARBARA Frontwoman: 'I Feel Really Naked Now Without The Guitar'

Robin Stryker of Sonic Cathedral recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mia Coldheart of the Swedish all-girl hard rock quartet CRUCIFIED BARBARA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Sonic Cathedral: With you being both the vocalist and lead guitarist, how do you keep from getting mixed up during live shows, when you're singing and playing with thousands of fans screaming and all the distractions going on around you?

Mia: I don't know. [laughs] I really have no idea. I started in the band as just the guitar player, so it was not my intention to sing from the beginning. It just happened because our first singer quit, and we had to look for a new singer. So I just tried it, and it worked. It was hard at the beginning, but I learned along the way. I had to practice a lot, but now it is a natural part to play. I feel really naked now without the guitar, so I just do it. I don't know how.

Sonic Cathedral: When CRUCIFIED BARBARA were working on "The Midnight Chase", what did you want from the new album?

Mia: First of all, we had a lot of focus on songwriting because we wanted to write great songs, and wanted to work even harder this time. Before, when we started, the thing was to write heavy riffs and cool riffs, and then try to find some vocal melodies that fit. But to make the best songs, I think you have to go with the melody, and don't compromise with that. So we thought a lot about that, and I think we succeeded because we are really happy with the new songs. We have become better songwriters. We also wanted a more natural sound — less modern metal, and more rock and roll. Now we have our great Mesa Boogie amp, with its deep voice. We didn't want the trigger on the drums to be digital, just the real wood sound on the drums. And I think we got it now the way we wanted it.

Sonic Cathedral: CRUCIFIED BARBARA are just coming off the Sweden Rock Festival and a major tour in France. Which of the new songs did the crowd really go crazy for?

Mia: Hmmm, I think it was "Into The Fire", because it is the one that we released, and people had heard it and seen the video. But on the tour in France, it was really cool to try out some of the new songs and to see that the audience really liked the new songs and tried to sing along, even though they didn't know the songs already. You can see all the people in the audience. You notice so much from the stage, and can see what everyone is doing… if they are on the phone or if they are talking. [laughs] Here you can see some of the difference between the old songs and the new songs, because you can see their heads start to shake without themselves noticing it. So that was cool.

Read the entire interview from Sonic Cathedral.

"Everything We Need" lyric video:

"Into The Fire" video:

Photo credit: Tallee Savage / www.savagebeauty.se