OTEP Frontwoman Discusses Making Of 'The Ascension'

February 16, 2007

OTEP frontwoman Otep Shamaya recently spoke to MTV.com about the recording process for the band's third full-length album, "The Ascension", due on March 20. According to the singer, the material for the CD was written long before the Los Angeles metallers boarded a plane bound for New Orleans — where they'd track the effort with Grammy-winning producer Dave Fortman (EVANESCENCE, MUDVAYNE) over the course of several months.

"We went there for a couple of reasons: Dave was there, and we wanted to get out of L.A.," she explained. "It's very easy for bands to make records where they live, but when you go home every night, it becomes more of a job. You can't live the album all day, every day. In New Orleans, we could never escape that energy. We also really wanted to try to bring something to the economy of that area, but we didn't realize how bad it was. Nothing's happening there."

When OTEP arrived, Fortman drove the band through the city's Ninth Ward, "and it was shocking. Absolutely shocking. There are entire neighborhoods that are just gone — pulverized. Boats pinned beneath houses. So that kind of seeped into the songs a bit. A part of that energy — part of the people who asked us when they saw us not to forget about them — that did seep into what we were doing. It had to. It was very important for us to include that energy in our music and remember how important art is and what it can do."

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