As promised, here are answers to all (or most of) the questions you might have regarding international all-female collaborative metal project Chaos Rising we introduced a couple of days back. The project unites female metal artists from all across the globe with a purpose to show and promote their abilities and talent through involvement in a wide spectrum of aspects of the music industry; from writing to recording to album production to promotion and design. Answering today is the founder of the project, French songwriter, vocalist and instrumentalist Stéphanie Nolf.
MG: Stéphanie, what kind of a project is Chaos Rising?
Stéphanie: Chaos Rising is a collaborative online metal project open to every female artist interested in metal music who would like to be involved in any aspect of music projects: playing, recording, album art & design, lyrics, album production, promotion….
MG: Let’s talk about the history a little… Who and when came up with the idea of Chaos Rising?
Stéphanie: After 24 years playing music with only male local musicians, in 2016 I started to work online with two other musicians for an international all female band project, which lasted two years. I wanted to go on with this experience and so I decided to create the Chaos Rising project in 2019. I thought it would be very difficult to find women playing guitar, drums, bass in metal music and we started the project with only two French musicians, Isa (vocals, lyrics) and I (guitar, bass, guttural vocals, lyrics, drums progr. mix, video…) to release the first songs. Then gradually more joined from different countries (Germany, Switzerland, UK, Brazil, Iran, Sweden, France…) and now we are more than twenty!
MG: Who can participate in the project? Are there any requirements for collaborators?
Stéphanie: Any woman who plays metal music can record herself on click and make little videos. We work in teams according to the different metal style musicians want to do: Thrash, Death, Melodic metal, Doom, Hardcore… Everyone can work on as many songs as they want, work in different teams… There is a lot of flexibility which allows us to publish something regularly. We want to keep a high level of quality, so everyone works to practice instruments the best they can and must be involved enough to deliver according to the timeline set by each working team.
MG: You said there are more than twenty women participating at the moment. Who are they? Can you introduce them?
Stéphanie: We are more than twenty members, and new join people regularly. Here are the names of those who have already contributed to songs we are currently working on:
Stéphanie Nolf (songwriter, guttural vocals, bass, guitar, drums prog., mix, video…), France
Catherine Fearns (songwriter, guitar, piano…), Switzerland
Britta Görtz (guttural vocals, lyrics), Germany
Tina Grusch (bass, graphics), Germany
Janaina (drums), Brazil
Barbara Teleki (songwriter, guitar, solo guitar), UK
Pitchu Ferraz (drums, bass), Brazil
Isa Lçn (clean vocals, lyrics), France
Anika Ov Moseberg (guttural & clean vocals, lyrics), Germany
Audrey Gardenat (drums), France
Mel Most (songwriter, guitar, lyrics), France
Laura (baritone saxophone and clarinet) Germany
Mio Frantic Amber (solo guitar), Sweden
Imke Von Helden (guttural vocals, lyrics), Germany
Benhaz Ghavidel (clean vocals, lyrics), Iran
Maggy S Nell (promotion), Mexico
MG: That’sa a wide variety of artists with different backgrounds and instrumental skills. What subgenres of metal does Chaos Rising cover?
Stéphanie: We are currently working on death/thrash, melodic metal, doom, melodic hardcore, grindcore songs. Other subgenres can be proposed by musicians.
MG: How many songs have been recorded and released so far? Where can people find and hear them?
Stéphanie: Four songs have been released, four are almost finished and will be released soon and seven have just started to be composed. We publish them gradually on our pages: Youtube, Instagram, Facebook page, Facebook group.
MG: Are these songs a part of something bigger, like a CD?
Stéphanie: There are a lot of possibilities for this and other ideas. We will discuss it together when we will have a lot of songs published to see what the teams will like to do.
MG: And how does it even work? How are these collaborations born – written, recorded andmixed? What is the entire process of creation like?
Stéphanie: Musicians who want to join the project can contact us on our webpages and propose a collaboration. Those who compose songs propose one with a style idea and it’s shared with other musicians. Those who like it join the team and we work together on the song in discussion groups.
At the beginning of the project since we were not so many, I was composing songs for different teams according to what people wanted to do, and I had to do all the missing parts (bass, vocals, guitar, drums programming…) to be able to complete the song. This is why I appear on many songs that will be published. Now as more musicians have joined, I won’t have to be in each team.
When the demo song is finished, everybody records it again properly, the guitars and bass in DI mode or with real amps, the drums in midi or studio recording, it depends on what people can do. So far, I have done the mixing as there is no female sound engineer in the team yet.
MG: That’s a lot of work, indeed. Some people may be also interested in the financial aspect of the project. Do you need to pay or support the project financially when you get involved?
Stéphanie: No, it’s a volunteer project. We produce music by ourselves with what we have, the best we can.
MG: And last but not least, what is the main goal of the project?
Stéphanie: The purpose is to show and promote women’s talents and abilities. We are women playing and producing metal music together, nothing more 🙂
If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Stéphanie through Chaos Rising’s Facebook page or via e-mail.
Metal Goddesses 