INTERVIEW: JENNIFER HABEN of BEYOND THE BLACK – August 2018
According to a recent press release: “Just one month remains until BEYOND THE BLACK will release their brand-new album Heart Of The Hurricane out on August 31 via Napalm Records (GSA via Airforce1). BEYOND THE BLACK celebrate a true story of success! Their debut album Songs Of Love And Death (2015) immediately scored #12 on the German album charts. Only one year later their latest release, Lost In Forever (2016) stormed the charts again and a top 5 ranking catapulted the band even further forward! We can’t wait for their promising new release Heart Of The Hurricane!” We get Jennifer to discuss new music, influences, and much more in our 10 Quick Ones…
1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?
At some little positions, we played with some words like in “Heart of the Hurricane”. Maybe you can spot the word? 😉 We love to do that very subtle and not in every song.
2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?
I can’t really tell you about one moment. Since I’m 5 years old I’m standing on stages. I started in a choir and after a short time I got my first solo parts. Since I can think I always made music if it was singing, playing an instrument or dancing… not much else. So there was never a question for me to get something else than a musician.
3. Who would be your main five musical influences?
First of all: my Mom, she also sang and played guitar a lot when I was young and she was the first one I ever sang with. And after that there were a lot of other powerful women like Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Hayley Williams (from Paramore) and now Floor Jansen (the current Nightwish singer) that I love to listen to.
4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?
If I could choose dead or alive I would definitely say: Freddie Mercury!! He is such an amazing singer and in that documentation, I saw, he seemed like a person I really would like a lot!
5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?
We have the most various musically styles on every album. This one even more as the ones before. Almost everyone could find a BTB-song he likes. There are dark atmospheres, others more epic and symphonic, heavy riffs, medieval tones, an acoustic ballad… I think we have achieved a greater freedom of expression during our short band history.
6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?
Phu… that’s a hard one. I think it’s sharing emotions with a lot of people. We get so much back from our fans and we’re so thankful for that! I’m a huge fan of extreme emotions and I get that almost everywhere in that job: On stage with the fans, in the studio with getting more and more into the song and the world that is described there. That’s what I really love on being able to be a musician.
7. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?
Haha! That’s a good question! Chris would be the one that cooks. Stefan would take the acoustic guitar first, I guess. But who’s getting the drinks in…? That depends on who’s the one who wants to party the most on that day. 😉
8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?
I really don’t know! Maybe doing something with cosplay or makeup in general, since I’m learning a lot about that at the moment, but I never really thought about that, to be honest.
9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”?
I don’t think I would change anything. All the mistakes I’ve made (and I definitely have made some) made me to that person I am now and I’m proud of who I am. I’m always working hard on getting the way I want to be and what I think that is right. Of course, I still have to learn a lot, but I’m happy with my current success on that score.
10. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?
It’s funny but I guess I got my most special recording-moment during the recording process of the new album that is coming. “Escape from the earth” is the song I talk about. The song relates to the feeling, that you have lost everyone and everything you’ve ever loved and the wish to leave this world – to pass over the feeling of being totally lost. As a huge family person that needs love and harmony that of course is the absolutely horror scenario for me. With the first take I sang I was totally in that painful emotion that really kicked my ass! After the last words, I sang “to leave my life in the end” there was absolute silence. It was as if I had sung all of my breath out of my body and I was stone still for a few seconds with my eyes closed. Wow… always when I talk about it it’s like feeling a bit of that moment again. Maybe that’s why I love to tell you that again 😉 I think I will remember that moment for a long time!
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