Malice In Wonderland - Interview Hanzi / V.U. and Chris Wicked
In the beginning of 2006 the Gothic/Glam Rock Guys of Malice in Wonderland, healing from Norway, released their debut album, simply called "Malice in Wonderland". To be honest: It is my first meeting with Malice In Wonderland and I was pretty surprised while I was listening to their Debut-Album which is almost covered with melancholic Songs with a deep structure, but indeed with a big difference to other bands of this Genre. So it was clear for Visions Underground, to get in Contact with the Band to ask them a few Questions about their plans, wishes and Dreams .... Here we go !!
melancholic Gothic Metal with Rock Influences from Norway: Malice In Wonderland
Hello Chris, welcome to the German Visions Underground Magazine. How are you doing in Norway?
Chris: Hey Hanzi, I’m doing really good thank you very much! A bit busy preparing a tour in Italy next month, planning a music video and what not, but that’s how I like it!
Congratulations to your debut album. It turned out even way better than expected. What is your personal Opinion about the Album and what Expectations do you have for the Future, maybe you still have some plans to have a Tour in Europe including Germany?
Chris: Thanks for your kind words man! I’m really satisfied with the album, we all are. It’s one of the best rock albums from Norway ever. That’s my personal opinion anyway he, he. I have great expectations for the future, that’s for sure! We will try to do as much touring as possible in the coming years, and I hope we will make it to Germany sometime after the summer.
It seems like that you still have found your own Style in the Gothic/Glam Rock but with differences to the quite “normal” Gothic sound. Do you agree?
And what do you think about the other Bands of this Genre? There are a lot of, for example Finnish Bands, like Entwine or To/Die/For which are very popular. What is the difference in your Opinion between MIW and these Bands?
Chris: Yes, I agree, I think we have found our own style.
I’ve seen that we’ve been compared to all those Finnish bands yeah. It’s not a scene I’m that much into and we’re not inspired by any of those bands, so I don’t know really. I don’t think we sound like them though I can see why people compare us to HIM etc. If you like some of those bands, it’s possible that you will like Malice in Wonderland as well. However, Malice in Wonderland plays Malice in Wonderland music and that’s all I care for.
“Malice in Wonderland” was released through Karisma Records, a small local Label based in your Hometown Bergen. What made you decide to sign there? Sooner or later it must be your Aim to sign in a bigger record company...
Do you still think about that nowadays?
Chris: Yeah, it’s a small label with limited recourses. It would be great to be on a label that could give us some tour support, better promotion as well as a bigger studio budget, so we don’t have to do it all our selves, but Karisma Records are growing as well so... We’ll see...
I have seen on your Homepage that the Gorgoroth Guys are mentioned on the Link Site and they are coming also from Bergen. Are you Friends of them? Musically both Bands are totally different from each other so now you can do something against the “evil” Opinion that many People have about Gorgoroth... :-)
Chris: Yes, they are my friends and drinking buddies, but I don’t think it’s my job to change people’s opinions about them. And are the musical styles really so different?? Yeah, I guess... He, he.
We have heard that your debut album has been delayed for some time. What are the reasons for this because if I’m informed right, the album was already recorded last year, so did you had some delay because of printing the Booklet or some other problems, maybe with the recordings?
Chris: That’s true. We recorded and produced the album our selves and we used a bit longer time than we expected, so it got delayed. However the album was released in Norway last year and also got available in the rest of Europe, but with no promotion.
You had some Line Up changes in the last Years...Did you find the main Line Up right now and why you had those changes?
Chris: We’ve had some line up changes during the years, also last year, that’s true, most of the time because people wanted to concentrate on other careers than the music biz. However, we will now continue as a four piece and for the first time in the history of Malice in Wonderland, I now has a full band were all the members are 100% dedicated to this band, and that feels good!
Your Debut Album got really perfect Arrangements and the Sound is also absolutely perfect too. Did you have had a good time at the studio while recording and mixing the Album? Which Studio you choose to record “Malice In Wonderland”? I’m sure that you will return to this Studio, every Member of MIW must be satisfied with the whole Album and the events how it came to be....
Chris: We recorded most of it our selves so we took our time. We wanted it to be perfect so that’s why it got delayed several times. The album was recorded in Andy Valentine’s studio and I’m positive that we will not do that again. We’re really happy with the result and Andy did a great job as the main producer, but it’s just too much work. It creates a lot of tension and is really not healthy in the long run to be honest. Next time we hope we can get a big enough budget so we can afford to record the album in a professional studio. Or else there will be several years before a new MIW record hits the street he, he.
For this album you’ve used some different Instruments like for example a cello, violins and saxophone. What was the Reason to decide to use these instruments? In Norway Theatre Of Tragedy and The Sins Of Thy Beloved also were working with those Instruments a couple of Years ago....
Was this a kind of motivation for you to try to combine these Instruments in the Sound of MIW, or did you decide this by yourself without the influences of other Bands ?
Chris: We used those instruments because we felt the songs would be better and not because of what other bands from Norway or whatever have done before us. It’s important for us not to “overuse” these instruments, but use it as spice where it’s truly needed, and I think we succeeded with that.
However, the saxophone in the middle of “I Love To Sin” was inspired by Ulver’s “Pedestrian City” while the sax in the end of the same song, was inspired by saxophones often played during sex scenes in erotic thrillers. I wanted to create the same mood and atmosphere as you get from those kinds of scenes.
Do you have a special Message inside your Lyrics or furthermore any musical concept?
Chris: Yes.
Chris Wicked / MIW
Chris: Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, girls & Lucifer inspires me lyrically. When it comes to the music we get inspiration from a lot, but I will say that the British dark rock scene and the L.A. glam/sleaze scene in the 80’s has been our main inspirations.
Like I have said in the beginning of this Interview, Malice In Wonderland came pretty new to me. But otherwise we got the Information, that you are really well known around the World. How this came to be? The Gothic/Glam Scene is of course not so big and many Bands I know are not so satisfied with their Promotion and Touring. So you must be supported really well. Lucky Guys.. tell me about that.....
Chris: He, he, well we are not supported very well at all to be honest. We don’t have any touring support and we’re only getting promotion in Germany. We don’t have a manager, management or booking agency (but we’re currently looking for all these things). However, we do a lot of promoting our selves and we also have a really great street team – The Decadence Brigade – with members all over the world that helps promoting us. I guess great music travels with the word of the street (and the internet).
You have recorded a Demo called “Sin & Decadence” and all these Songs are present on the new Album, so did you had a lack of motivation to write new Songs or why you put the whole demo on the Album?
Chris: Well, we had other songs as well, but the truth is that those 4 songs are very strong tracks and we wanted to record them the way they were supposed to be. The production on the “Sin & Decadence” demo doesn’t do them justice so...
Which 5 Metal Albums are your favourite ones?
Chris: Oh, this it’s not easy at all, but these are some of my all time favourites:
Skid Row – Skid Row
Poison – Look what the cat dragged in
WASP – The Crimson Idol
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
What can we expect from Malice in Wonderland in the near future and what do you expect from yourself and MIW?
Chris: A lot! We’re going to tour Italy next month – “Sin is in” Italy tour 2006 – be there if you can! Other than that we will try to tour as much as possible, I know there are a lot of fans around the globe that wants to see us and we will do our best to make that happen. We have also started to write new songs and we will most likely enter the studio in the end of this year. I believe Malice in Wonderland will be a coming attraction... This is just the beginning!
We’re at the end of this interview right now, so here at this point it will be very nice from you to leave some Words for your Fans....
Chris: I just want to thank everybody that has supported us and bought our album so far. It means a lot and I hope I’ll see you all on tour soon! If you don’t know who we are check out www.malice-in-wonderland.com for more information and www.myspace.com/maliceinwonderland if you want to hear some songs from the album.
Visions Underground says thank you for answering all our Questions and all the best with Malice In Wonderland in the Future.
Hopefully we will see each other someday in Germany or somewhere else. Take Care !!
Chris: Thank you very much for the interview and your interest in Malice in Wonderland, Hanzi! Take care and I’ll see you in Germany someday.
Rock on!!!
Chris Wicked/MIW
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