SEVEN SPIRES recently released their new album, “A Fortress Called Home.” We caught up with singer Adrienne Cowan to talk more about the band’s latest album and much more during her stop in Helsinki on her busy tour with AVANTASIA. Watch the interview here or read the transcript below…
Hi there! Thanks so much for taking the time to sit down with me before your show with AVANTASIA at Hellsinki Metal Festival. How are you doing today?
Adrienne: Oh, I’m so sleepy. I’ve been sort of traveling and like on tour and everything for basically the entire year. Right now it’s mid-August. No, it’s early August. Yeah. And it’s finally catching up. I went for a nice walk through Helsinki, like the town center, I guess, and I had to come back because my body was like, you need to lay down. No more. You’re done. Don’t forget you play a show tonight. So, yeah.
Is it your first time in Finland?
Adrienne: A few years ago we played, I’m going to absolutely butcher this, Oulu. We did this festival and another one, but I didn’t really get to explore it. I just remember that it was very mosquito-y and also extremely beautiful. Yeah. So, it’s the first time that I get to actually see some stuff.
And first time in Helsinki then at least.
Adrienne: I think so. Very happy to be here.
Yeah. Sadly not with… well, AVANTASIA is great, let’s be real.
Adrienne: It could be worse.
It could also have been SEVEN SPIRES.
Adrienne: Yeah. Hopefully next time it will be.
You recently released “A Fortress Called Home.” How did you experience the release cycle?
Adrienne: It was, it’s a very raw, emotionally raw album. So, because of this, it was quite a scary release process. Because it was such an emotionally raw album, it was a pretty scary release process. And it’s, I would say, like, kind of an ugly album. But, so, I had the feeling that I would, by releasing this album, I would basically stand naked in front of the world. So, like, here it is. But the reception was quite cool because in, for example, my Discord server, there’s a thread where people share their stories, how they relate to the songs that they love the most. And it was so cool to see people talking about their own stories and how the songs struck them in their own memories. And so, sometimes I forget that when we write and release music, it becomes no longer about us. It’s now something that everybody connects to. And that was a really beautiful thing. And it was totally worth all the terror. So, I’m very, very pleased with that.
You mentioned it’s a very dark album. Can you elaborate on that and the themes a little?
Adrienne: I guess during the songwriting process, I mean, it’s been going on for almost two years. It started in, I think, October ‘22. And during that time, I was in kind of a dark place. And then it came again during the recording. So, I guess that’s why we needed to put out an album. I mean, we also do it because we want to, but those were the feelings in my heart at the time. And so, yeah, here it is. A dark album. Not so much of a… kind of a concept. I can’t truly say that it’s not related to the original trilogy, but it’s not as much of a journey from point A to point Z, for example. But maybe it informs more of the motivations and character development behind the events and the characters of the first three albums.
So, where does the story continue in this record?
Adrienne: Inward, I would say. And yeah, I mean, it’s definitely full of lyrical and melodic references. And there’s even a mention of the Cabaret of Dreams in the song “Architect of Creation.” And so, I mean, the song is super manic. The feeling that you have coming out of the dark place, sometimes you latch onto something. And it’s like, now I’m ready to kill God and become him. And yeah, so we burn everything that we know and create our own Cabaret of Dreams. Yeah. It’s hard to say if it fits somewhere linearly, but it fits somehow.
I would say that especially in this record you have a more progressive sound. Where did that come from?
Adrienne: I guess we’ve just all lived and we’re always learning new stuff, working with different artists and different groups. And so, we kind of just learn new stuff. I also started listening to a lot of LEPROUS.
Oh, LEPROUS.
Adrienne: So, you’re a fan. TESSERACT and like sort of these types of prog bands. I would also even say that a band like KAMELOT has quite some progressive tendencies, although they’re typically categorized as something different. But I think in general, we’re always trying to push our limits, not for the sake of pushing our limits, but just because it’s always about serving the song. And sometimes, if I only stay in one sub-genre, it’s not enough to let the song be what it wants to be. Yeah. So, yeah.
So, do you actually listen more prog than you actually listen to the symphonic power metal?
Adrienne: Good question. I guess these days, yeah. When we started the band, I listened a lot to bands like KAMELOT, NIGHTWISH, also DIMMU BORGIR, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE. I mean, it’s also strange to say symphonic metal because that usually has a certain indication, but you can’t say that FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE isn’t. But yeah, in terms of my day-to-day metal listening, it’s usually like melodeath. I’m a huge OMNIUM GATHERUM fan, for example, from Finland. And yeah, LEPROUS is another one, TESSERACT, DRACONIAN also. I fell asleep to “Under a Godless Veil” for like a year and a half after it came out. So, I think, yeah.
Do you listen to music when you try and fall asleep?
Adrienne: Oh, a lot. Yeah. I think my brain needs something to latch onto just a little bit in the background because otherwise I’m just thinking and thinking all the time. And there’s only so much that meditation can do.
Yeah, that’s quite interesting. I mean, as a kid, I used to listen to Beethoven for some reason.
Adrienne: Oh, wow. I had like several lullaby cassettes when I was a kid, and yeah, it helps. Now I like to listen to lo-fi when I sleep or like slow jazz.
Oh, yeah. Dark jazz.
Adrienne: I mean “Love’s Souvenir,” I guess it’s kind of obvious. But yeah, like lo-fi versions of the Witcher soundtrack or something like that. It’s really nice.
Yeah, that’s quite interesting. Do you feel like if you listen to music before you go to sleep, and probably it’s like going a little bit into your sleep, does that have some kind of effect on you as an artist somehow?
Adrienne: I mean, maybe. I think it’s maybe not necessarily about what I’m listening to as I sleep, but it’s just the number of hours that I spend listening to something like that. Also, there was a period of like four, five, maybe six months where I was listening to tavern music from Skyrim. So I think there’s some of that that’s present in the album as well. But yeah, I think it’s just like, wow, she listened to 400 hours of this one DRACONIAN album.
Your Spotify Wrapped must be interesting. How much of your inspiration comes from game scores?
Adrienne: I’ve always been a gamer. I’m also working in a video game symphony as a vocalist, and sometimes I do vocals for video game soundtracks and stuff. But I really love the storytelling aspect and the epic nature of especially modern video games, I guess. I mean, for example, I’m a really big fan of Xenoblade, and I think the battle music is amazing, all the environmental, like nighttime, daytime stuff. Also, the way that in films as well, you can use motifs to show a character’s descent into madness by recoloring it, re-harmonizing it, or bringing in a French horn, and then you know shit’s about to get real—I don’t know if I can swear on you.
Oh, yeah. Go ahead.
Adrienne: But yeah, I really love a good score.
As somebody who does orchestrations. I’ve never met like a female orchestrator somehow in a metal scene, at least.
Adrienne: Good point.
Are you the only one?
Adrienne: I’m sure there are others.
Yeah. Come forward, please. I would like to know more.
Adrienne: Let’s make a club, a support group.
Do you feel like, I don’t know how to put this without, you know, I’m a woman myself, so I can ask this, but do you feel like being female, does that influence your orchestrations maybe a little bit?
Adrienne: Probably. I’ve never been a man, so I can’t really make a comparison. I probably listen to a lot of the same stuff that a guy my age who’s doing the same job would listen to. Maybe we have different tastes. I was very inspired by Tuomas Holopainen, for example, from NIGHTWISH to be an orchestrator. Also, I believe his name is Clemens from CARACH ANGREN. Great orchestrator. Also just does horror soundtracks. But sometimes I think that not only in orchestration, but as a vocalist and as a songwriter, and especially as a performer when I was younger, I felt that I had a bit more to prove. So I wanted to be darker, more brutal, just more. And now I think I’ve said and done what I needed to do and say, so I feel a bit freer to show some softness.
Like many people, I discovered you through YouTube. Do you feel like doing the covers helped you in the industry?
Adrienne: I would for sure say that this “Serpentine Offering” cover that I did really was like, okay, she can scream. There it is. And so yeah, I would say that helped. And it also helped point people in the direction of SPIRES, which I was very grateful for.
That’s a long while ago and you’ve grown a lot since. Do you ever look back?
Adrienne: I think about this a lot. I think, I mean, at this point now, I’m 29 years old. I’ll be 30 in January. And I stop caring so much about proving myself and doing things to impress other people. And I think the only person I really want to impress now is 18-year-old Adrienne, eight-year-old Adrienne. And I think 18-year-old Adrienne, who started SEVEN SPIRES and went to school for orchestration, was listening to AVANTASIA on the train on the way to school. I think she would be so proud. I feel good. And I’m thankful as well when I look back for how hard I worked and the sacrifices that I made, especially socially, just in general. I think I went very hard into all of that. And I don’t know if I have the energy to be so relentless now as I was. Yeah. So when I look back, I also feel thankful and ready to make some changes.
Do you feel like you had to learn how to relax in all of this?
Adrienne: I definitely make the act of choice to relax because if I’m so stressed about like, okay, I got to make sure that I do the next thing so that the next opportunity is there when I’m ready for at this point, I feel so, so thankful to say that I know that the opportunities will be there. So therefore, it’s now my responsibility to take better care of myself so that I can show up as best I can for the opportunities. But it’s a weird balance too, because there is still a little bit of the feeling of like, but I can’t relax fully. Because what if there are opportunities out there? And I mean, it’s also kind of real. I think the turnover, we could say the generation of bands, especially in rock and metal is maybe like five to ten years. And so I do want to make sure that I’m still showing up, still growing, still making sure that… I’m afraid to say this, but making sure that I’m doing what I can to, in a way, like provide for SPIRES. I mean, each of us in a band has our own skills, and I think everybody feels that way. But I don’t… I forgot the question. Now I’ve just been talking.
That’s okay. I don’t even know them anymore. But why were you afraid to mention that?
Adrienne: About providing?
Yeah.
Adrienne: Well, I don’t want to ever at all discount the extremely hard work that my bandmates also put in. And it’s just that my particular skill set and also my outside of SPIRES‘ jobs involve working with other bands. And even when we’re touring with other bands, it’s a thing that comes naturally to me. I usually spend time with the other people on the tour party, as opposed to, for example, Jack’s natural talents outside of being a guitar player, outside of being in SPIRES. He’s very good with audio engineering and developing those types of relationships. And I’m usually the one that talks to the other band leader and is like, hey, so when do you want to do this again or something like that? So, yeah, I don’t… Basically, I was afraid because I didn’t want to seem like I’m the only reason this is going anywhere. Because it’s absolutely… It took all three, all four of us. And beyond that, we have an incredible team. There’s so much more to every band than I think I ever realized until actually the release of this album. Because, I mean, Peter is our manager, but he also works with another guy from his own management company. So we have, in a way, an assistant manager or two managers or something. We have a social media guy. We have our label. We have two videographers that we work with. And one of them also has an entire team that had makeup artists. We had various photographers. It took so many people to make this one album. And so, yeah, that’s why I was afraid. I don’t want to sound like I’m the reason this is going anywhere.
I don’t think you would ever sound like that, to be fair. You don’t have that attitude, I think. You’ve been touring with AVANTASIA for quite some time now. Is there anything you learnt while touring on this scale you got to use for SEVEN SPIRES?
Adrienne: I guess. I mean, one of the big ones is, for example, we’re in a very nice hotel and just learning. I mean, okay, so I started touring in personal vehicles and then we graduated to touring in a van. Then we graduated to touring in an RV. But since I’m the one usually doing tours like steps ahead, I’m able to bring home like, hey, it would be great if we put these things on a rider. If we can advance this stuff or if we try to shoot for having these many shows in a row and then have a day off here. So that’s definitely one thing. Also, understanding what type of production I want, just how to make the show look cooler. It’s somehow like not obvious to me when I’m performing with SEVEN SPIRES. I feel like we’re giving our all. It’s great. Blah, blah, blah. Like how could it possibly be better? And then I showed up to rehearsals for this tour with AVANTASIA and we have an entirely new set. We have an incredible like LED, three-dimensional illusion with like a set that you can climb on. And it’s like fully immersing us in a certain world. And this is something that I don’t think about when I’m performing in Sammy’s Patio in Revere, Massachusetts on a floor stage. Yeah, well, you know what I mean? Yeah. So it really helps to just like go beyond like a sort of glass ceiling that I don’t even know exists to just understand the scope of what could be possible.
Yeah, I guess you don’t get to play it. You know, while you are at Graspop, you don’t get to play at the main stage of Grasspop without having some hurdles. But I’m sure SEVEN SPIRES will get there one day as well.
Adrienne: I mean, we were announced to Wacken for next year. And for example, here’s another thing, like playing with AVANTASIA really helped me get over the… It’s not really stage fright, but it’s sometimes very overwhelming to stand in front of that many people. And so I think I’m desensitized in a good way. It doesn’t overwhelm me now. Of course, I still want to do a good job. And like, oh, no, what if I mess up? It’s fine. But I love to watch. I mean, there are so many incredible frontmen in the band. So this is something to learn the way they work with the audience, but also for me to just not be afraid. Because, you know, we as humans aren’t really naturally wired to have that many eyes on us. Yeah. So it’s just it’s kind of like an alien experience to stand in front of 80,000 people and sing alone. That’s weird. But now that I have had sort of a practice, I can now perform at Wacken next year with my own band and not have that hurdle in front of me. I just like to feel relaxed and be the person that I am, I guess.
What other things have you got coming up except for Wacken?
Adrienne: Later this month, we will headline at Mile High Power Fest in Denver, Colorado. It’s actually also our only North American day this year. And I guess we’re kind of thinking of it as our album release party show thing because it’s the only one. We’ll also go to Japan in December with Lords of the Trident for I think it’s like a two-week tour. I’m so excited. I love Japan and I’m going to eat all the good stuff there. And then so we got announced for Wacken. We were announced for, I’m going to butcher the pronunciation of this festival, but it’s Rock in Rautheim, which is a festival that MASTERS OF CEREMONY played this year. And I’m very much looking forward to that. And yeah, we signed with a European booking agent, so hopefully there will be more to report next time I see you.
Yeah, more Finnish shows. Or any Finnish show.
Adrienne: Any would be great.
Well that all sounds great! Anyway, I’m going to let you enjoy the rest of your day and prepare for your show. Do you have any last thoughts you want to share before we wrap up?
Adrienne: Yeah. Just thanks for watching. Thank you so much for supporting us always and really, really hope to come to Finland soon. I know from our Spotify that Helsinki is one of our top listening cities.
It always is.
Adrienne: So we have to come here. Yeah, we have to come here. Tell all your friends. Tell all your promoters. Tell everybody. Tell your mom. Tell your mom I said hi. We would love to come. Thank you very much. We’re always appreciative.
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
