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Moldovan progressive modern metal unit Infected Rain recently released their fifth studio album ‘Ecdysis’. Multi-talented frontwoman Lena Scissorhands was on the other end of a Zoom call from her home in Las Vegas to talk about the album, as well as the struggles that arose from not performing live in nineteen months, and affirming the importance of artists paying it forward by supporting fellow artists. Lena’s Miniature Schnauzer Luna also put in an appearance, which helped make it a perfect day, check-in with Lena below…
The new album ‘Ecdysis’ has been out a few weeks now, do you go back and revisit an album once it’s finally out there? Or is it a case of once it’s out there, move on?
Oh, no, I am a big fan of my band, I listen to all our stuff, all the time. Different artists have different approaches towards their art, and I know that I am speaking for the entire band here…but we do this for ourselves as well, mainly for ourselves. And if what we do is appreciated and loved, and people can relate to it, then that is awesome, and a bonus. We need this for ourselves, so yes, we love our music, and I think that it’s important to like what you do.
The title means “shedding of old skin, casting off”, is that correct?
Yes, it’s basically the metamorphosis that happens in nature, specifically, it’s a word mostly used in biology. The idea behind the title was mainly because of the world that we live in at the moment…and just hoping for a new, better world! A new, better society. A new, better us. It’s in our power to make the change…it’s up to us!
At this point, Lena’s Miniature Schnauzer Luna appears on the screen and all composure goes out the window! If you can’t smile and fawn over a doggo when it appears, then we have no chance of survival as a race!…
I think that she hears me speaking and thinks that I’m speaking to myself and she get’s a little jealous!
One of my planned questions for later on was regarding Luna, so let’s get it moved to the front! You were able to take Luna on tour with you when Infected Rain toured the US late last year, that must have made the whole touring experience so much easier?
Oh yes, a lot easier, especially on my mental health. Luna is a certified service animal, and we both had special classes that lasted 18 months. It’s a class where you learn to bond with your dog on a different level and the dog learns to recognize certain needs that you might have, like mentally, and your dog can be there for you, and Luna is there for me. She’s helped me through the roughest time in my life – even before she was a service animal – she’s my baby for sure! Thanks to covid, we actually had the time to go and take the classes. She travels with me all the time, I’ve been to Eastern Europe with her twice now, and we’ve flown across America together a couple of times.
She’s gorgeous! With regards to the new album, did covid and the worldwide lockdown cause an issue? It must have made it quite difficult?
Yes, and, no. It was definitely different because we had to adapt to different things and try things that we hadn’t done before. I live in America, and the band lives in Moldova, and for the last six years, we have been figuring out how to work remotely, so covid didn’t really put us in a completely strange position. However, certain things were not possible during the early parts of 2020, traveling was banned, so I had to figure it out. I put a lot of time and money into equipment, I built a vocal studio where I could record and do pre-production on the vocals because we didn’t know how the situation was going to evolve, and luckily, eventually, I was able to travel and I was able to finish the album with the band and the producer. We had to start somewhere and I think that was a good thing as I had the time and opportunity to learn a recording program and acquire some skills in that area. I could collaborate with a lot of musicians and work remotely, and I’ve done so many collaborations…it kept me sane! Other than that, nothing much changed as we are pretty accustomed to this way of working.
What was it like listening back to the finished album for the first time?
[Laughs] It was awesome! It still is actually, sometimes when I play it, I get goosebumps…sometimes it makes me cry as certain songs are very emotional and very personal. I will be honest with you; I’m very proud of Infected Rain. Putting my hand on my heart, I’m telling you that I’m insanely proud of every single musician in Infected Rain, every single crew member that has been with us for years. I’m proud of our evolution, I’m proud of us never giving up. It wasn’t easy, we come from a very small country, and let’s just say that certain things took longer than they would in a country with a little more possibilities, specifically for artists. That being said, we don’t regret anything, we don’t blame anyone or anything for how long it took for us to be where we are now. We enjoy it. We learn from our past and we try to be better, and that’s why every album sounds different…hopefully, more mature – in our eyes it does – but it’s not up to us to judge; it’s up to the listeners…but I love every song on our five albums.Last year was the 13th anniversary of the band, the band has grown so much in those years…
It has. We filmed a documentary in honor of the anniversary – The Devils Dozen – it was only available online but we got such beautiful feedback, and so much love, that I think that eventually, we will release it physically. I don’t know when, as we still have so much that we are working on, but we will release it eventually as we also have the support of the label…they loved what we have done. We also did a big, big show that included – in our opinion – some strong songs from the first four albums that summarize the first 13 years, and then we started the new year with a new album.
One of the tracks on the new album is ‘Fighter’; fantastic video to accompany it, the storyline of you preparing yourself for the MMA cage, one could perhaps draw parallels with you preparing to go on stage?
Kind of, yes. It’s a similar ritual, but a little bit different though because when I’m going on stage, I’m mainly fighting my own demons. But, ‘Fighter’ is not only about that but also about life itself; the challenges, the people, the situations, and everything that we have to solve, live through and fight. It’s a little bit more complex. However, yeah, you’re right. In a way, fighting your own demons is probably the most difficult fight, because it’s part of you and we have to learn how to live with our demons. We don’t have to lock them away somewhere and forget about them, because they will come out sooner or later. Never ignore your demons is what I’m probably trying to say. The song, and the video, are about how challenging the life of a woman can be when she is a mother…or a survivor…I’ve had so many examples of that throughout my life growing up and I’ve had a pretty challenging upbringing. But I also know that people have had it way worse than myself…however, I just felt the urge to talk about it.
With the songs being so personal, what songs affect you the most when you perform them live? What songs do you have to take a moment once the lights dim after performing them?
We haven’t been able to perform the new songs just yet, but songs from the past…yes, there are a couple that is really challenging for me, like ‘Orphan Soul’, ‘The Earth Mantra’ is also really strong for me, sometimes when we perform ‘My Home’ it’s very intense for me. ‘Taphephobia’ is insanely difficult; we only played it a couple of times because it is part of the previous album ‘Endorphin’ and we never really got the chance to tour that one. ‘Taphephobia’ is very intense. Vocally, it’s not easy either, but that just adds to the task. But out of this new album, there are definitely some songs that I’m terrified of performing! [laughs]…because of how emotional they are, then you have to find that balance where you give away your emotions and talk about them, but at the same time, you don’t let them overwhelm you. You don’t want to lose your focus…that’s what I’m trying to say. So a good balance between still talking about your emotions, still sharing them, screaming about them, and letting them out…but at the same time embracing them and not letting them thrive and ruining your day, your show, your sanity…that’s the most difficult part when it comes to super-personal songs I guess.
You mentioned 2019’s ‘Endorphin’ and how you never really got much of a chance to tour the album because of the pandemic that followed a few months later, one tour that Infected Rain was able to make was the lengthy Lacuna Coil/Eluveitie tour of the UK and Europe. In what ways did being part of that tour help Infected Rain grow as a band?
That was a great tour, very cool for sure! Eluveitie and Lacuna Coil are absolutely great musicians and great people. It was an interesting challenge because it was a very long tour, but we had fun for sure. Every single show that you perform helps you grow as a band. Every single experience like that helps you grow.
The festival that Infected Rain performed at in Ukraine last year, Faine Misto Festival, was the band’s first gig in 19 months, what was going through your head just before you took to the stage?
Oh my God, right up until the last minute, we didn’t think the festival would happen. All the other festivals for us were canceled, and this was the only one that went ahead, we were in a very tricky situation because when we booked that, we were supposed to be already in Europe for other festivals, so the logistics situation was difficult because I live on the other side of the planet! And they agreed to fly me in because the boys in the band don’t live that far away, Moldova borders Ukraine, but Ukraine is very big and it still took an entire day of traveling for the boys to get there. We have our own little mini-van, so they drove and had fun on the way, they took their time…but I had to fly from Las Vegas for one show only! I arrived early in the morning, slept for a few hours, went to soundcheck, then started to get ready, and it was only then that I realized what was happening! I was like…” It’s happening guys!”…and then straight after the show I barely had time to shower as I had to drive to the airport right away and fly back to America. It was challenging but so worth it. Nineteen months of not performing, and no shows…was a lot. And the festival was worth it, it’s an amazing festival and was not our first time playing there, Ukrainian fans are absolutely amazing and they really love and appreciate our band…it was awesome! Very emotional!
Late last year Infected Rain performed their first American tour, alongside Butcher Babies and Stitched-Up Heart, did touring America live up to any expectations that you had?
We never had any high expectations or anything. We’ve learned through our career that it’s not about the country, or about the nationality of the people, or their background, it’s just about the love of the music! It was an amazing tour. Maybe even better than we thought that it would be. Probably because we had missed touring so much, and we were on tour with our friends in Butcher Babies…and that was great!
After five studio albums it must be a headache putting a setlist together…but a good headache…
You have no idea! And no matter what you chose there will be people who are not happy…” What about this song?! What about this other song?!”…a three-hour set is not possible!
I’m sure that your voice could cope with a three-hour set!
It’s not just that! It’s physically very challenging to have a two-three hour show every day because when we are on tour we almost never have a day off. Maybe one day off a week? It’s traveling, preparing for the show, soundcheck, then the show, then the aftershow…it’s not an 8-hour job…it’s a 24-hour job! There’s so much more than just the show.
On the subject of touring, what’s the status of the upcoming scheduled tour of Europe due to start very soon?
To be completely fair with you…I have no idea. I’m afraid that the tour is a little bit of a risk, how much of a risk…we don’t know because every single country has its own rules. I don’t know if we will have to make some changes to it, it’s not all about us as there are other bands involved. But we are hoping for the best.
It must be frustrating for the band…
Oh yes, trust me it is! Not being able to do what you love, not being able to do your job…it’s pretty frustrating for many reasons. Even just for the reason that we all have bills to pay, the normal everyday-life aspects, and then the mental health issues.
It must be quite humbling that people are supporting your art through your Patreon page?
Absolutely. I feel extremely lucky to have an army of devoted, and kind, fans of Infected Rain who have always been beside us and helping with the extra care, the extra share, the extra subscription. All these little things make a difference. 100%.
You also have your own YouTube channel ‘Bananas’, and create your own merchandise – the ‘Don’t Forget To Smile’ facemask is very cool! – it must be pleasing that now that restrictions have eased off you can help fellow artists by making videos, having photoshoots, etc, which means that people such as make-up artists, video creators, and photographers are all getting work from you? In a sense, you are paying it forward by helping other creators; for instance, through your social media accounts, I’ve now started following the amazing photographer Victoria Wonka …
I try my best to help, and do my part if I can with my friends, with any type of small company that I think the people involved are humble and hardworking and might need that extra push. I do it for free, and share their stuff…I wear their stuff, and I invite people to also help. When it comes to photographers…Victoria Wonka has been my very dear friend for a long time now, way before the band started, we go back far and we’ve done so much together; the 2022 calendar for instance…I obviously thought of her when it came to that. It’s really cool, we’ve done book covers, magazines, calendars…she’s very talented and the best part about Victoria is that she loves to give me room for creativity which is something that I really appreciate.
One of the special items of merchandise that you have created is the stunning book of your lyrics. As well as the lyrics themselves, you also offer up the meanings behind some of the songs, would it be fair to say that communicating with people is very important to you? You are very open…
I try to be, yes. I prefer that instead of people assuming too much and once they assume something, they share it, and then somebody else adds to the story and all of a sudden there is a completely invited story about you and you are like…” How do people even come up with that?!”.
‘Ecdysis’ is available now via Napalm Records, connect with Lena on social media, here, and check out Lena’s range of merchandise, here.
Interview – Dave
Photo credits – Victoria Wonka Photography
Studio photo of Lena – Napalm Records
