Ethereal Metal Webzine

Interview by Jessica Clingempeel with small contribution from Josh Becker
1/10/2019

Hello
Ailyn, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. How have things
been for you?

Hi
dear, thank you for taking your time to do this. Things are very good, thanks.

You
mentioned recently you were struggling with depression, and other issues. We at
Ethereal Metal know this all too well as we suffer with bipolar, depression,
etc. What helped you cope and get through the dark days and have you been able
to overcome your depression?

Well,
I think what helped me most was to keep working on music, having some guest
shows and having some time for myself away from all the last years drama. It’s
been quite hard to go through everything and it took me a lot of time, but
step by step I think I’m getting back to myself, or at least it’s what I always
try. As I have diabetes and it’s normal to get depression every now and then.

You
also have struggled with Type 1 Diabetes since the age of 7. As someone who has
seen the toll diabetes has taken on many family members, how do you keep
positive while having a very negative disease?

As far as I can remember I think I
took it in a positive way. When I was hospitalized I got a psychologist to
check out on me and he told my parents I was perfectly fine. My dad also had
diabetes, so he and my mom were very good explaining what happened to me and
how should I take care of myself. At home I was always treated as a “normal”
person. Especially my mom, she wanted me to learn how to grow up and be an independent
woman and how to survive on my own. She didn’t want me to be a spoiled child
and always tried to avoid having people around me influencing me in a negative
way. During my entire life I had to fight not just against my illness and the
complications it brings over the years, but against people who are telling me every
single time they can that “I can’t do “this”, or “that” because of my
illness"… Luckily my parents and my sister wasn’t like that, they always
supported me on every decision I made about my career. My mom always taught me
that being ill doesn’t make you less capable than the people who are actually healthy.
And it makes me sad to see there are so many people who still have this preconceived
ideas thinking ill people are not able to do a normal job. I don’t know if my positivism
is something I learned over the years or if I was actually born like that, but it
keeps me going no matter how difficult things can be. It makes me want to show myself
and others that it doesn’t matter what they think, I can do it!!! And it is why
I always fought very hard to be known as the person I am, not the girl "who
is ill”. My diabetes it’s something I have to live with, but it doesn’t
describe who I am.

You’ve
mentioned you did some collaborations which includes Pierre le Pape of Melted
Space and Débler. What other bands have you been working and/or touring with?

Yes, besides Melted Space and
Débler, I worked with bands like Serenity, Diabulus in Musica, Mago de Oz,
Sebastien, Secret Rule, Enemy of Reality, Vivaldi Metal Project and some others
I cannot mention until they announce it. On tour I’ve been as a guest with
Secret Rule, Melted Space and in a show with Mago de Oz, Débler and Leaves
Eyes.



Regarding your solo project, you have been busy writing lyrics. Is there a
certain theme to the lyrics, will it tell a personal story?

Well to begin with I might say right
now I’m actually writing for two different projects ;). Talking about my solo
album, at first I thought about making a concept album, but while I was writing
I realized I needed to write about my personal experiences. It was a very hard
at the beginning… After my mom passed in 2016 and everything it followed after I
felt so lost that I didn’t even know what to write or how express myself. I
felt myself frozen and empty, like there was nothing I could or want to share
with others. And then when I finally could start writing down my emotions I realized all the lyrics were very dark, sad and depressing that I decided I
needed to stop writing for a while until I felt ready to write about other
things too. Even though I think it’s ok to write about sad things, I don’t want to
make an entire album talking about the same when there are so many things to
write about it.

In
another interview, you mentioned that people may be disappointed as you may not
be going the symphonic metal route and that this project is under
experimentation as far as sound. Many in the metal community tend to like when
artists play around with music and not stick to one particular genre, Tarja is
a fine example of this. Is it safe to say this project will contain a variety
of metal elements and maybe even other genres?

Yes, I would think so. You know, if
it’s good I like to listen to any kind of music genre. So for this project my
idea is to do something mixing everything I like and see if it works. Since I
started singing until now I’ve been influenced from many different musicians so
I want to use everything I can.

 Any thoughts on duets or guest musicians for this solo album?

Yes, I
have an idea about some guests I would like to invite for this project.
Actually one of the guest I thought about was Anders Fridén from In Flames, but
then I saw that Within Temptation were faster 😉

What
would be one of your most memorable highlights of your career?

I would say it was when I got
contacted from “Mago de Oz” to sing in their album “Finisterra Opera Rock” in their
song “Astaroth” and after that being able to join them on stage and perform
with them. I grow up knowing their name and their music, so for me to be
contacted from them was a big thing.

Is
there any point of your career that you regret and/or wish you could do over?

Not really. Of course there’s some
“projects/jobs” I did in the past that makes me feel a bit
uncomfortable, sometimes I think about it, and I regret I put my energies on
it. But then I stop and think about it and realize that everything I did
(doesn’t matter how good or how bad the experience was) made me be who I am now
as an artist.

You
mentioned being a huge fan of video game soundtracks and anime, given the
chance would you ever consider working in the world of video games and/or
anime?
           
Yes,
sure!! I love video games and anime music. And of course someday I would love to
sing a song for any video game, for example like Final Fantasy. Actually
there’s some anime (Spanish version) where I put my voice in it many years ago.

What
is your favourite anime to watch, game to play, and/or soundtracks to listen
to?

I’m a bit old fashion, so my favourite
anime to watch is “Touch” (known as Bateadores in Spain) from Mitsuru Adachi.
For the game, right now I keep playing Diablo III. But many years ago I was
very into playing to the Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid. As for the
soundtracks, I like many of them, from video games, movies, animes, etc.

Are
there any artists/bands you find yourself listening on repeat lately?

Yes, it comes depending on my mood.
If I like something I listen to it until I get tired of it and then I find
something else to listen until I get tired again and again. Right now I’m with
Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds

For
someone starting out in the Industry, what advice do you have that you wish was
given to you? 

Well maybe it sounds a bit brutal to
put it like this, but I wish someone had told me before in this “music world”
friendship doesn’t exist. Everyone is “nice” while you have something to offer
and when they think they can’t get anything from you, everyone runs away and
it’s like you never met them before. With this I don’t mean everyone is bad, in
all this years I met very nice people too. But you know, everyone wants to be
known, famous, everyone wants to have success on their careers and their dreams
and there’s a lot of rivalry. It’s also known that artists are known to be
egocentric (some are very egocentric, some others less). But being egocentric
doesn’t make you a bad person, the problem is that sometimes this ego can make
you do bad things you wouldn’t do in other circumstances. So I guess that would
be my advice. Enjoy and have fun but remember, at the end of the day your true
friends are those who have accompanied you through the good times and the bad
ones.

Being
that you have been all over the world, what country has the best food? 

Oh wow, this question it’s very
difficult to answer!!! I couldn’t choose just one country. I was very fond of
trying traditional food everywhere. Now I have to be careful as I have allergy
to gluten, so it’s not that fun anymore ;). But everywhere I went the food was
excellent.

What
is it about Norway that keeps you from moving back home to Spain?

Norway is a very beautiful country,
I really love it here. I love my country too, I don’t forget my roots, but the
life quality I find here I don’t find it in Spain. I am a quiet person and
believe me it’s very quiet here and very safe. I can go out alone in the night
without fearing for my life. Of course you can never be sure that nothing will
happen to you, but I can go for a walk being 99% sure that I’ll be safe. Also,
I’ve been living in Norway for 8 years and I made my life here, so I’m not
going to push everything away and go back to Spain, because I like what I build
here. Maybe someday I will move back to Spain or maybe not, none can say.

Do
you still visit friends and family in Spain often?

Not as
much as I would like, but yes I visit my sister every time I can. I try to go 2
times a year, but sometimes it’s not possible and then I just go once. I would also
love to go visit my friends. Every time I have plans to go to Spain we try to schedule
the holidays at the same time, but it’s not that easy so it’s been quite long
since I had the chance to see them.

When
you have the time, are you still taking singing lessons?

Lately I couldn’t take lessons and I
really miss it. But the periods I can’t take lessons I check for videos on
YouTube that might help me to learn new things. There’s some nice channels out
there.

Last
year, you performed the song Imaginary World with Italian metal band Secret
Rule- I have to say, you and Angela have great harmonies in that song, and your
voices mesh very well together. Are there plans to release any more music or
work on any more projects with them in future?

Thank you!!! Well for now there’s no
plan to work together in another project with them, but I would love to if
someday there’s another chance. They are great people and very fun to work
with.

When
you are performing someone else’s work (like a guest on an album,) do you find
that you are limited in your range, or do you have free control on what notes
you want to sing?

That depends of with who you are
working with. Some bands tells me, “this is my song, just sing what I tell you
to”. And other bands say “here you have, fell free to change what you need to
change and do your thing”. Of course when you have to do exactly what you are
told sometimes you can feel a bit limited. I love when I can decide how to
sing, not because I think the melody I get isn’t nice, but because I can chose
the way I sound better which is nice for me and for the band itself as I can do
a better job.

With
your collaborations, such as with Secret Rule, did you have any input when it
came to lyrics or composition?

No, for
all the collaborations I always get the final result. I always get the music,
the lyrics and the vocal lines I have to sing. And as I mentioned before
sometimes I’m ask to sing it as it is and sometimes I’m able to change my
lines.

Who
would your ideal band be in terms of vocals, guitar, bass, drums, etc.) Roy
Khan, perhaps? 🙂

Oh yes, you know me well, I do love
Roy Khan voice and singing!! But for this I would probably say Freddie Mercury,
Slash, Yoshiki Hayashi (both on drums and piano), John Paul Jones and Lindsey
Stirling. Wouldn’t that be amazing!?