rocknroll_n_blues_queens | At last! A bassist as well as a vocalist in a gothic, symphonic metal band!!!

Its hard as hell to find women in gothic, symphonic, progressive and similar types of metal bands that are not vocalists. we can look pretty and sing, but heaven forbid that we be instrumentalists. That's still considered a man's job. Midnattsol, a a band with German and Norweigan members who perform Norwegian folk metal band, breaks the mold with a female vocalist and a bassist. Carmen Elise Espenæs, younger sister of well respected vocalist Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull (Leaves Eyes, formerly of Theatre of Tragedy) joined forces with guitarist Chris Hector to form Midnattsol. Among the recruits to the new band was bassist Birgit Öllbrunner (who also plays in the band R.I.P.)

This video has great shots of Brigitte being all headbangingly awesome, but Carmen's vocals kinda suck, unfortunately:

Midnattsol - Haunted (Live Feuertanz Fest 2005)

She comes off better here:

MIDNATTSOL - Desolation - Lament - Skogens Lengsel - MFVF VII 2009 Wieze Belgium

Here they are as they sound on the two albums they have out so far 2005's Where Twilight Dwells and 2008's Nordlys I particularly like the shadings that Carmen Elise's voice can take on depnding on the song, especially on the songs from Nordlys (the last four).

Midnattsol - Unpayable Silence

Midnattsol - Infinitive Fairytale

Midnattsol- Desolation

Midnattsol - En natt i nord

Midnattsol - New Horizon

Midnattsol - Open your eyes[with lyrics]

Wintertime - Midnatsoll - Nordlys

Wikipedia reports that their third album is due this year on March 25 and will be called The Metamorphosis Melody

Here's an interview with Birgit about the band when the first album was released:TARTAREAN DESIRE WEBZINE: Midnattsol Interview

I´d like to comment on the fact you use two languages in the album, Norwegian and English. Is it something you are going to do in the next releases? What about the idea of becoming one of the few bands (hmmm... I just can recall Norske masters Solefald doing that) using German, English and Norwegian lyrics in an album? Have you thought about that?
Birgit: Oh oh, I don´t really think that we will use German lyrics, this would probably sound quite strange to us. But who knows, I don´t want to say never, it is always a think of feeling which language is used and so far we used English and Norwegian, as we like the tone of the languages and they sound more mystic and interesting to us. So I think that we´ll also use the two languages also on the next release.
....
To feature a girl in the line-up is something quite more common these days, but too often it comes just as an extra addition just for the picture and increase the lyrics. Midnattsol has a competent bass player who is a lot into extreme metal, as far as I know, and the singer has a beautiful voice. What do you think about the “bands with a girl”?
Birgit: It doesn´t matter whether a band is with male or female members, as long as the music is good. Musicians shouldn´t be valued by their gender, but by their music. I´ve been playing in bands since many years and I´ve never played in a band because I´m a girl, always because I´m a bassist. I still play in another band called Commander, where we play extreme Death Metal. I love Metal and that´s what has always played a very important role in my life since I´m a kid. I could´t imagine a life without music. For example Doro Pesch has always been one of my very big favourites, she´s a great Rock Lady and shows that women enrich the music scene. Also Jo Bench from Bolt Thrower is really great. Carmen is also singing at Midnattsol because she has a wonderful voice, not because it could be better for promotion to have girls in the band. But maybe some guys like girls in bands though ;-)
MORE

Carmen Espanaes at Musical Discoveries when the debut was released

What in particular do you find so inspiring about Nordic mythology?
The nature, the creatures of nature and the nordic tales inspire me so much to make music, it gives me such emotions, and it’s these emotions that I want to express through the music of Midnattsol. I love the mystical and beautiful side of nature in these tales, it makes me dream about an anti-capitalistic, mystic and beautiful world. If you go to Norway, stand in the middle of a wood, everywhere you turn around are mountains, and you take a deep breath then you know the roots and inspiration of my music.
I have to admit that I don't really like the modern world. The people have a lot of stress, people mainly think about their selves and their career. The important things are money and material things, and they don't really care about other human beings, other creatures and the beautiful nature. The most of the things are so rational. So I dream about another kind of world and let the fantasy flow.
What got you interested in this subject?
I've always been interested in traditional tales from Norway, tales about troll, elves, and other creatures of nature, I can’t really say at what time I got interested or why. I think it was natural, because the folk fairytales are made in this direction, so nearly every child in Norway knows these creatures. We also learn and read about it in school. I'm a person that daydreams a lot, and when I was a child, I wrote nearly a story every day. I had so much fantasy!
I'm generally very interested in old tales and history, I love to read about it. For example, Snorres Edda and the old sagas from the Viking age, they are great!! I watch films about earlier times. Then I have to say that it's especially "Huldra" that fascinates me. A tale said that this beautiful woman of nature lured men into the woods, and you can only imagine what she did with them! The Norwegian people said that was the reason why many men didn't come home after their trip into the woods.MORE

and here is an interview with all of the band Lords of Metal interview Midnattsol

Some of the bandmembers are Norwegian, other German. No problems with great distances?

Birgit: Well, it is not possible to practice three times a week, as we are all spread in different cities and I live in Switzerland. We always meet at the weekends to play together and write new songs. Carmen also lives in Germany and not in Norway, so she’s also always there when we practice. Midnattsol is very important to all of us, so everyone is willing to work hard and to give a 100%. We all have to sacrifice a lot of free time and drive long ways, but if you hold your own CD in your hands or if you can stand on stage and play live, then you know, that it is worth it.

Carmen: According to the fact that we all live in Germany (I moved to Germany two years ago), we don’t have this problem. But still I have to travel nearly two hours to practice with the band, so of course I can’t just come whenever I feel like it. MORE