MuzikMan: I want to know about
Marcela Bovio the person, the vocalist and musician. How did you get
your start in music?
Marcela: When I was around 5 or 6
years old, I attended a musical academy where I took all kinds of
lessons like music theory basics, singing and flute; so right from
those times I was very interested in music and singing. Later on my
teens I took violin lessons, and I’m currently studying classical
singing and jazz harmony.
Through the
years I’ve grown interested in many different musical styles; I
started off with pop and rock, then metal, then progressive rock,
then jazz and world music.
MuzikMan: I understand you entered
a contest on Arjen Lucassen’s (Aryeon) website. How did all of that
transpire? As it turned out you ended up in a band with Arjen called
Stream of Passion, did you ever expect something like this to
happen?
Marcela: No, not at all. When I sent
Arjen my CD back then I didn’t have any expectations but to keep
spreading my music; and then after he invited me to do the part all
my intentions were to do the best I could, to deserve that spot
amongst all those great and very experienced singers. And it turns
out that he and I had a great time working together, we connected
musically and that this whole new project was born. It was a rather
interesting turn of events for me!
MuzikMan: The new album from the
newly formed band Stream of Passion is titled Embrace The Storm. Can
you elaborate on the meaning of the title? The name of the band is
very intriguing as well. I look at it as the band is taking their
own life force, their inner streams of passion and putting it all
into the music. Would you say that this is a good assessment?
Marcela: Yes, definitely! The music
is very intense, very emotional; we wanted a band name that would
reflect this. We also thought it was cool that you could relate it
to the way we worked together on the album, sending files back and
forth through the Internet.
The album name
reflects the mood of the album very well I think; it’s mostly dark
and gloomy, but there are shades of light and hope here and there.
So it’s sort of a metaphor: the storm represents change and the
difficult times we all go through, and how we try to cope with them
and accept them.
MuzikMan: The band must be very
excited by the instant respect from listeners, press, and labels.
The recent signing of BMG must have come as a complete shock at
first? How is that going to work? You are already with Inside Out
Music, how can you be signed with two labels at once?
Marcela: We actually have 3 record
deals as of this moment! But each label takes care of a different
territory. Sony/BMG has Benelux, InsideOut has the rest of Europe
and the US/Canada, and there’s also IronD taking care of Russia,
Ukraine and the Baltic States.
It’s very
exciting indeed to have all these labels taking care of the album,
to have that many people working hard to promote it. Of course we
were thrilled when the Sony/BMG deal was signed, because this would
allow us to take our music to a much wider audience.
MuzikMan: I gave your album 10/10
stars, it deserves it. It is an incredible album and you all must
have been extremely happy with it when the recording sessions ended? It
must have been fun working with Arjen, he is a brilliant musician
with a great creative mind. He also is so humble and grounded, is
this the way you perceived him when you did the recording for his
album Human Equation album?
Marcela: Well first of all thanks for
your comments!
Arjen’s a
great person to work with; he’s so creative, loves to experiment,
tries out all these different things and arrangements. He’s not
afraid to take wild, extreme decisions as to where to take the
music. And he’s an extremely nice person on top of that; I could
definitely perceive that from the first time we met.
I think we
were all a bit surprised on how the album turned out, because the
songs changed so much from their initial demo conception. As we
worked on arrangements and the rest of the band members brought in
their influences the music morphed into this amazing and interesting
blend of styles. I’m really proud of the end result.
MuzikMan: What lead you to
progressive rock? Growing up in Mexico must have exposed you to many
different styles of music?
Marcela: I think things here are
pretty much like in every other part in the world. You have all the
commercial stuff played on the radio and the TV, but if you dig
deeper you can find all sorts of wonderful music.
Before getting
into progressive rock I was more into metal, so progressive metal
was the first style I was interested in. Stuff like Dream Theater
and Ayreon, which also have a heavy edge. Later on I started getting
into Rush, King Crimson, ELP, Pink Floyd; all through friend
recommendations I think.
MuzikMan: What CDs are in common
rotation in your stereo these days? What are the bands you feel are
making the biggest difference right now?
Marcela: Let’s see, right now I have
The 3rd and the Mortal, Muse, Interpol, John Coltrane,
Pat Metheny. I kind of live in a shell to be honest, so I don’t
know which bands are making a big difference nowadays; lately all
the music that has made a big impact on me are really old albums,
like stuff from Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonious Monk.
MuzikMan: Arjen told me that the
album is not going to be released until October now, why the long
wait from getting an advance to the actual release date?
Marcela: When Sony/BMG came into the
picture InsideOut had already posted the release date for September;
but in order for them to prepare properly they had to postpone it
for October. It’s a shame we all have to wait a bit longer, but I
think it’ll be worth it!
MuzikMan: Do you think Stream of
Passion is a band that will stay together for years to come or is it
going to be a one off project then everyone will go their separate
ways? It could end up something like Dream Theater, the stay
together and in between band albums, they get involved in different
projects and their solo work. Do you think this kind of arrangement
could work for you?
Marcela: Could be. I guess time will
tell; but in the meantime we’re having an amazing time working
together, and we’re all really looking forward to the European tour
early next year.
MuzikMan: Is there anything you
would like to say in closing to the aspiring woman vocalists that
have not had the opportunity that you have had?
Marcela: Learn as much as you can,
train your voice, knock on every door. Work hard for what you want,
because everything’s possible! I think I’m living proof of it,
he-he.
