ROCKER TWINS
REVIEW
"The keeper of the flame...is the girl on the side of the stage."
~Cameron Crowe
BENEDICTUM - OBEY
The Rocker Twins have a candid interview with the SUPER TALENTED Veronica Freeman aka Ms. "V" about the new album, new line up and what it's like to be a KISS ASS METAL SINGER in today's world.
By The Rocker Twins *Post date December 17th, 2013*
With their newest release OBEY...BENEDICTUM is bringing it harder than ever! With one of the best releases of the year, we were never more pleased than to get a chance to interview the amazingly talented Veronica Freeman aka Ms. "V" and get her take on the new album, line up and what being a KISS ASS woman in our favorite genre of music...METAL, is all about. So sit back, have a laugh with us...and remember..."you must OBEY!"
RT: Hello, how are ya?
VF: I'm doing great. How are you?
RT: We're good! We're so excited to talk to you.
VF: (LAUGHING) Thank you!
RT: Right on. Well I'm Mandy, and my sister Brandy is here and we kinda interview together, but we sound the same so there's really no confusion.
VF: Okay, okay. Double for me then.
RT: So we gotta tell you we loved the new album. It was awesome!
VF: Oh I love how you just jump right into it, right on.
RT: I know right. It's gonna be fun. Alright lets get into it.
VF: Yes, Maam.
RT: Alright, we're gonna start with the new album stuff first. We loved "OBEY", it was awesome and a great title track. Are you liking the new band line-up better now? Cause the musicianship is fantastic throughout this release. And we loved the beginning of it, the progression of the scream from song 1 to song 2 is awesome.
VF: Well I thought it was great before.
RT: Oh no, don't get us wrong it was.
(ALL LAUGHING)
VF: Okay, so you like the title track, this is good. So far so good.
RT: Yeah, it was a great title track. But the one we loved was the duet you did with Nina from Sound of Thunder.
VF: Yeah that was fun, isn't she somethin?
RT: You've worked with her before right?
VF: Yes I did. When we did the Flight of the Valkryie Festival back in the day. I knew of them and knew of her and all that kind of stuff. So it was really when she asked me if I would be on her EP "QUEEN OF HELL". And that was, just to give you a little inside information, that was how I met John Herrera who is the producer on "OBEY" and I hadn't worked with him before. So we wanted to kinda see what it would be like to work together cause that's kinda like...you're gonna be spending some time with that person. So when I brought the track over there and he opened the file and we're kinda lookin at each other going, "This stuffs pretty damn good". So it made me feel really good it just makes you wanna do that much better, cause she's definitely bringin it. So it worked out really cool that she was able to do this with me on "THORNZ". She (Nina) came out, which was really cool, cause now days people just do the sending of the files and all that stuff. But her and Josh flew out and we got to hang out and have dinner. It was actually really cool to see it all work in the studio. It made it a lot more fun. I like that kind of personal touch type of thing.
RT: Yeah, and you could totally hear the chemistry in it. We wanted to ask about track #10, "DIE TO LOVE YOU", did you guys do orchestra music with it? We could hear all the strings in it.
VF: Well that's the one Craig Goldy (DIO) wrote. Let me give you a little story on that, cause we all love stories.
(ALL LAUGHING)
VF: You know he and I have been friends for such a long time, but we hardly ever get to spend any time together. It was one of those things where we've been wanting to work together, usually he just gets to guest on a CD or something like that. But this is the first time we actually did a song in this way. It was something that he had written, we worked some stuff out and met him in San Diego got to chill out together. But I automatically loved that song. Then we just went and tweeked some things here and there. He actually had quite a bit of the orchestration plans for it and I think, or thought, to me, that it was a lot longer before and I liked it that way. I liked it with the little long thing, but it got edited, that's what happens ya know. But I really really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to collaborate with Craig for a change. I hope that we get to do it again and more often, so we don't have to wait so many years.
RT: Yeah. Well that song totally blew us away. We loved it and your voice on it was so awesome. We've been following you since someone sent us a Youtube link of you singing "BALLS TO THE WALL", we were like, "Who the hell is this chick?"! How fun was it
doing that song?
(ALL LAUGHING)
VF: Oh that is hilarious. Oh God bless you. Ya know the Youtube thing...Youtube is great, but please, the sound usually isn't very good. It's off of someone's phone camera or something and then you get the crotch shot in there or just my shoes and then they're sitting right next to the monitor and its just like "oh man". So when people say have you ever seen BENEDICTUM? "Oh yeah we've watched you on Youtube." I'm like, that's not going to see
BENEDICTUM; that's not going to see a band. "Have you seen this band?". And they're still like, "yeah, I've seen them on Youtube and they rocked!" I'm like you need to go to a show.
RT: Well we're ready. Sign us up, where's our passes?
VF: Hey, I'll let you know. You know I will.
(ALL LAUGHING)
VF: Okay so what else do you think of this album? Give me your thoughts.
RT: I know, what else did we love about it? Well we loved "THE EVIL
THAT WE DO", loved it!
VF: Oh good.
RT: But the line in the song "OBEY" that says, "You will obey, you will hear" was fantastic. Are you doing the song writing? Or who does most of it?
VF: Actually Pete and I do most of the writing, but it's definitely a collaborative effort. Not to take anything away from anybody, but Rikard was really great to work with. Man, it was so good to have him on board because he is such a professional and he just fits BENEDICTUM's sound so well. He just really seasoned us up; I mean we were moving stuff here and tweeking stuff there and it just gave it a great vibe that we're really excited about. But I have to say the
majority of the song writing is kinda like how its always been. You know Pete and I have our own little way of doin things. We know how we roll. (LAUGHS)
RT: Right. So you worked with Jeff Pilson (DOKKEN) again on this; how is he to work with? Does he throw extra things in for you; or does he just go with the flow?
VF: Well there was a little bit of confusion, and I don't know what you've heard; but for some reason a lot of people I have been interviewing with for this release think that Jeff produced it; and he actually didn't this time. However, it was supposed to be that way; but his schedule didn't allow for it. He did do some pre-production with us and some arrangements and stuff, so we did get to work with him a little on this. But the producer is a wonderful gentleman and
now friend of ours named John Herrera. And I really admired the fact that he knew what Frontier was looking for, and what we were looking for to capture the vibe from the first 2 albums, but still move forward. I think that his "study" of BENEDICTUM so to speak, gives us our sound, he was very very thorough. And he did an excellent job and put a lot of work into that. So a lot of the orchestrations you hear are from him. The keys on there are from him as well as the strings. The cool part was that before we got to that point Pete and I had a chance to go out to Los Angeles for a couple of days and hang with Jeff Pilson (DOKKEN). And that's where a lot of the stuff came from. I think it was "Retrograde", "Fractured", "Obey", and "The Evil That We Do" actually. They kinda got more of their shape. You know from going out there, he really just kinda put us under the gun there. (LAUGHS) But that's what he does. So that was really cool to be able to have the best of both worlds. You know we had a chance to work with him again and also with John. So it was really cool.
RT: Right. Well you've worked with a lot of the who's who of the METAL WORLD. What was it like to stand next to Rudy Sarzo and have him do a bass line for you; or George Lynch for that matter?
VF: Ummm, he's kinda hot. (ALL LAUGHING) But that's for another show. (ALL HYSTERICALLY LAUGHING) That will be for the after hours version. "Our talk with V, Mistress V in the house."
RT: Well we can do it. I can get it set up. Let's do this!
(ALL STILL LAUGHING)
VF: Oh honey if you can make it happen I will be there.
RT: Well we will call you. Don't think we won't.
VF: I'm ready for you girl. Don't try to threaten me with a good time.
RT: Right! (ALL LAUGHING)
VF: So watch out! (LAUGHIING) Ummm, anyway. Back to what we were talking about. We have been really blessed over the years to get to work with a lot of great talent. As far as the Rudy Sarzo thing, I would have loved...I wanted him to actually come out here and lay the bass track down and get to be able to hang with him and all that stuff. But these days it really doesn't work that way. That's kinda like the exception to the rule nowadays. It used to be you go out there and go to the studio and all that stuff. But with peoples home studios its just different. They send a file, alright lay your tracks on it. Send the file back, I need it on this format; and you know you call it a day. Which is why I was really happy to be able to work with Jeff Pilson (DOKKEN) as much as I have, and when Craig Goldy (DIO) would come down on the other albums and lay his guitar work down your able to get your "hang" on, you know to get to hang out. And that made it really, really special.
RT: Well yeah, personal touch is the best. We truthfully hate all the file sharing and stuff too. But it is the way of the world now.
VF: Yeah, but it can be great too though. I mean you can get some stuff done. Like I wouldn't have been able to afford to get Tony Martin (BLACK SABBATH) out here to go into the studio or anything like that. So it was awesome to make some things happen with that. But there is nothing like personal touch. You know what was really cool was that in April I went to the UK to visit some friends and had a chance to meet with Tony too. He's just a really great guy, and we had a lot of fun.
RT: Speaking of Tony. We loved "CRY", the duet you did with him on this album. We were like, "oh listen to them together". We were trying to figure out who Tony Martin is, we knew we knew that name and when we looked it up; we were like why the hell did we not know that!
VF: Girls, I'm gonna have to straighten you out.
RT: We know! We felt horrible when we looked it up. Nevermind; don't say we said anything. (LAUGHS)
VF: Oh you will OBEY! (ALL LAUGHING)
RT: We know. Listen to what I say. (ALL LAUGHING)
VF: And you'll like it too.
RT: Well hey, don't threaten us with a good time now.
VF: You will thank me later.
RT: Exactly. See we like you. You're our kind of girl.
VF: I'm sorry, but I'm too old to not be goofy. Life's too short, you might as well have as much fun as you can.
RT: Exactly, have fun all the time.
(ALL LAUGHING)
RT: Okay back to it. We have been doing a series about females in the industry and would like to get your take on it. Have you ever felt stifled in this business, especially being in the genre you're in, which is basically the most male driven of music? Have you ever felt like you haven't been taken seriously because you're a female?
VF: That's a really good question. I get asked that a lot, and I would like to jump on the band wagon; but personally in my experience I have not run into anything like that. If it had not been for all the great strong men in my life, and women, but mostly men. When I was trying to do this they were the ones that believed in me. There was no shame in their game, they didn't have any problem working with me or having a female fronted band. And at that time it really wasn't the thing to do. You know I look at people like Jeff and Craig that really believed in what we were trying to do and kinda looked past all that and realized that it was just some good music. And that's where I like to keep it. To where its like, okay its cool. Of course there's always gonna be that thing where something will happen. I think it has happened for me personally more in the live show thing, when we do club shows or something and people don't know who we are. You can kinda tell that, when I start going up on the stage, you can just feel it. Where people are like, "oh it's a chick singer". And you see people start to mill around and don't focus as much until we start jammin and then they're like "Ooo who the hell is this!". So you know that part is the cool part. But for the most part I've been really blessed. I've had a good time. My frustration is just more from the music business in general; not so much the fact that I'm a woman in it. The way the music has changed and the way that the business has changed. That's what gets frustrating for me. But I'm having a good time overall. I'd just like to get out there and play more.
RT: Well that's exactly how we feel. We know we're not getting paid or anything, but we're having fun getting to know everyone so what's the big deal?! It's a whole industry thing. So movin on. What do you do when your not being a ROCKSTAR, cause we heard you'rea motorcycle chick too. How did that come about?
VF: Oh my God. When I am not doing BENEDICTUM I am pulling my hair out. I have 2 companies. And they are STREET FIGHTERS INC. and the other one is called WILD HAIR ACCESSORIES. And we import after market motorcycle accessories from Germany, most of them are from Germany and some of them are from the U.S. You know we got headlights and turn signals and all that kind of stuff. You can see what we got at
www.streetfightersinc.com and www.whaccessories.com . Also the latest thing I have been doing that is a lot of fun is VJing on HEAVY METAL TELEVISION. You can see it at www.heavymetaltelevision.com it's 24 hours of streaming metal videos and they run my little spot once a week. They have other guest VJ's introducing the videos. It's totally awesome, I would reccommend people to support it and check it out, I don't think there's anything quite like it going on. So it's all the time, it's free, you don't have to log on or anything you just go to the site and start scrolling. You see cool videos of all kinds of metal. So it's very cool, you need to check it out.
RT: Well right on, we of course will. Okay so we are doing a new thing in our interviews called "Know Your Band", so we have a few little funny questions that don't really have anything to do with what the interviews are promoting it's our get to know you type of thing. Are you game? VF: Of course, let's go. Oh Lord I'm kinda scared now. (LAUGHS) RT: Well it doesn't get scary till the very end, but we think you'll be okay. You seem tough. (LAUGHS) VF: You know I'll tell you an answer or I can tell you where to go. (LAUGHS) RT: See, that's why we like ya. Your just like us. (ALL LAUGHING) Okay first question. What's your favorite movie? VF: Oooo, I love movies girls. Oh gosh I can only pick one? RT: Yep, just one. What just popped into your brain when we asked that question? VF: BEN HUR. (LAUGHS) oh and CLEOPATRA. I gotta throw that in, cause Elizabeth Taylor with all those bad ass outfits she had on and like 50 different hairstyles. I was all about it. RT: Okay we'll put down both of them just cause we're old movie fans too. Okay question #2. What is your favorite TV show, then and now? VF: Oh hell back in the day it would be Hawaii 5-0. I mean Jack Lord back in the day...I think he was one of my first crushes, before I even knew what any of that stuff was. And now I am a big Discovery ID person.
RT: Oh my god! So are we, it runs constantly in our house. (ALL LAUGHING) VF: Right! Probably almost anything from there. But I would say my favorite is Deadly Women. (ALL LAUGHING) Hey go figure right?! RT: What? Your not in love with Lt. Joe Kenda? Come on
VF: Well he is cool, but the Deadly Women just gets me with all the little dastardly things they do, and then I love it when they talk about the ones from like way back in the day like the 1800's. I just think, man the audacity of these women who had no power at all back then, and they're like "I'm gonna show you." (LAUGHS) And there's some part of me that's like, "Yeah, get um." I mean I got my shovel in the back yard, my man better not start actin up. (ALL LAUGHING) Okay I better calm down, I'll be good. (ALL STILL LAUGHING) RT: Okay question #3. What is your favorite thing to eat when you're on the road? VF: (LAUGHING) RT: Why are you laughing?! (LAUGHING) VF: Oh let the thought go V. Ummm, that should be relatively easy. I am very high maintenance, so on the road I like to eat well, cause I am not a fast food fan. So I like to go into a nice restaurant and have a nice prime rib if I can. Then it goes to the completely other end of the spectrum. I like that white cheddar cheese popcorn. Where you get the stuff all over your fingers and your like, num num num, and you got it all down the cleavage and people are like, damn she must have been hungry. (ALL LAUGHING) Then I feel like I am entitled, if I just eat that with a bottle of Sprite. RT: Well popcorn is supposed to be diet food right?! Cause we too are white cheddar popcorn fans. (ALL LAUGHING) Or are we delusional?! (STILL LAUGHING) VF: Photoshop sister! RT: Thank God. Thank God we have big boobs and awesome hair, that's all we gotta say. VF: That's what I'm talkin about. Make it work. Oh, Lord have mercy. (ALL LAUGHING)
RT: Exactly. Okay question #4, are you ready?
VF: I'm ready.
RT: What is the most played song on your IPOD right now?
VF: Ich tu dir weh by RAMMSTEIN. That's the most played one. Over and over and over and over. I mean people must see this totally insane woman going down the road growling it out. That would be me jammin out to it. It gets me all pumped up and I'm like you people need to move over. (ALL LAUGHING)
RT: Well we're gonna have to listen to that one. German rockstars are the sexiest anyway!
VF: Gotta love that German engineering sister. Anyways... (LAUGHING)
RT: Believe us, we love us some German rockstars. (LAUGHING). Okay question #5. Who's your all time favorite band?
VF: RUSH.
RT: Really you're a RUSH girl? You're a rare breed. Don't you know girls aren't supposed to like RUSH. (LAUGHING)
VF: That's what I hear. I especially love the old videos like THE TREES and all that kind of stuff, that would be me. And I like those big long epic songs. Where you can wash your car, do the dishes and wash your hair and the song is still going. (LAUGHING) You know what I mean.
RT: Of course. Okay question #6. What is the best concert you ever saw?
VF: I actually have 2. One would be Wacken (Open Air Festival), when I had a chance to see it in Germany, and the other one would be Gods of Metal in Italy.
RT: Man, we wanted to see Gods of Metal.
VF: Yeah Gods of Metal was cool. A lot of beautiful men running around there. Anyways (ALL LAUGHING) I was like Hello. (STILL LAUGHING) Cause we played it, that was back in 2006, Jesus Christ. And afterwards we decide to go walk around, it was one of our first shows ever we were all excited. We didn't think anybody was going to recognize us, but some did and I was like "Hello ;)" . Like I said beautiful men over there. (ALL LAUGHING) Wooo it's getting hot in here now. (STILL LAUGHING) Okay next question.
RT: Right. Okay, question #7. What was your favorite moment on stage; performance wise for you?
VF: Oooo, that's good too. That's a good question. I have a lot of favorite moments, but I would have to go back to Gods of Metal because as BENEDICTUM we had only played one show prior to that in San Diego for like 200 people. So our second show as BENEDICTUM was Gods of Metal, and that was an experience that we had never had. To get to be able to walk on the big ol stage and see all these people. The moment though, UNCREATION had just come out, so I'm up on stage trying to do my thing, totally nervous and then all of the sudden I see all these people singing along to the words. And that was my moment. I was getting all choked up thinking, "no way". I think it was like song number 4 or something and I was like, "are you kidding me? They know this?" So in that moment I was just so grateful. Regardless of all that other stuff, and having not made a penny at this, cause that's how it is these days. It was so awesome. I'll never forget that.
RT: Well you gave me goosebumps. I got goosebumps for ya. Loved it.
VF: Awww thanks.
RT: Okay, question #8. Our last question for ya. So if you weren't this METAL QUEEN that you are, what would you be?
VF: (LAUGHING) Honestly? Well if I wasn't doing the music thing I think I would be...umm, well I am very very interested in hypnotherapy. So I think I would be a hypno therapist or something like that. I like that sort of thing, and that's probably what I would be doing.
RT: Do you do reiki and stuff like that?
VF: Actually that's the other thing I'm interested in. There is a school called Bennett Stellar, I think that's what its called, but its out in Sedona and actually have some of their classes out in San Diego and I literally was registered to go down there, cause I am a practitioner of NLP, neuro linguistic programming. But that's a whole other thing. You know I started to get into all that back in the day and then I found this university that specializes in that type of thing like the reiki and hypno therapy. I'm still planning on going, and I've put it off and put it off. But I thought, I'm not getting any younger, so that's something I'll probably do. I love to be involved with that sort of stuff.
RT: Yeah, we've been wanting to go to Sedona forever. We have one of our little ladies that we know that goes up there for the classes and she's the one that does our reiki for us, she's too awesome. We're totally getting that vibe off of you. You can do it.
VF: Well okay. Then I will do it with your blessing.
RT: Right. Oh and Brandy just threw one last question at me for you. What's it like singing on stage with DORO?
VF: Oh it's AWESOME! She is so gracious. Talk about somebody who is definitely instrumental, in the way that she looks at women in metal in general. Just how she is, is very warm and kind. You know with women you get a lot of hatin and stuff goin on, you know how women can be sometimes. And I'm not like that, I'm definietly about trying to break that paradigm. And she is too. She took me under her wing during that time, and since then everytime we've had a chance to see each other she pulls us up on stage, and ya know she's just a sweet heart and a talent who is still bringin it.
RT: Right! Brandy was like, "I knew she was." (LAUGHS) That's her hero. (ALL LAUGHING) Oh well we just loved talking to you. And we better let you go so you don't miss LITA and QUIET ROIT.
VF: Alrighty. Yeah, I won't. I'm gonna hop in the shower here and get ready to roll. I thank you so much. You guys are great! You girls we better keep in touch for sure.
RT: We will for sure. You are too AWESOME and we're so glad we got to do this interview.
VF: Me too. Bye Girls!