"I DON'T LIKE YOUR BAND BECAUSE YOU'RE A WOMAN" INTERVIEW WITH LARISSA STUPAR OF VENOM PRISON
Venom Prison
From Wales, England, Venom Prison has recently risen up the Metal ranks across the globe. From tours with Darkest Hour, Trivium and Suicide Silence, the band's Death Metal with Hardcore elements has brought them attention to hardcore and casual Metal fans everywhere. As this was Venom Prison's first appearance in North America, vocalist Larissa Stupar spent some time with me talking about the band's journey here, their musical influences and style, the difficulties for women in Metal bands, and more.
(The full audio interview can be found on the bottom of the page)
Metal Assault: I happened to travel to Oakland for this show, my first time here. Is this your first time in Oakland?
Larissa Stupar: It's our first time in America, generally (laughs).
You're from Wales (England), correct?
Yeah, we live in Wales.
Just you, or the whole band?
Two of us live in Wales, two of us live in Bristol, which is right next to it. And our drummer lives in Liverpool.
Generally when I interview bands, I usually know the bands that I'm interviewing, but I actually don't know too much about this band. So, can you give us a little brief history of I believe, Ben the guitar player and yourself formed the band, if I'm not mistaken?
Me and Ash (Gray) the guitarist, formed the band. When we lived in Germany and we just recorded a five song demo, and then we moved to Wales. We got the rest of the people in the band involved, of course we didn't know if we wanted to play shows at first, but we did (laughs). Since then, we released an EP, and a full length (Animus).
I noticed when I heard Animus, that Venom Prison is labeled as Metal/Deathcore, but for me, there's bands who are Deathcore who play Core, but the band sounds like a Death Metal band that has and plays Core parts, I hear a Death Metal band first. Was that intentional, the band's influences more with traditional and extreme Death Metal? Or do you prefer being influenced by Deathcore?
I think we prefer being associated with like, classic Death Metal, more than Deathcore. We never did it to be a Deathcore band, we're just a Death Metal band with Hardcore elements.
When you hear Death Metal from other countries, you hear a little bit of their "flavor", from America, or Psycroptic from Australia, your band from England, etc. I noticed in some of the songs off the album, the really fast parts with your vocals for example, did you track all the vocals or did one of the band members do backup vocals.
I do all the vocals in the band (smiles).
Venom Prison (From The Moshville Times)
I noticed the really fast blasting parts and your parts screaming and growling, it gave me a Napalm Death kind of just, chaotic explosion, a quick burst like them. Am I wrong to have heard some of that influence in there?
We're definitely influenced by Napalm Death. And Carcass, I would say as well.
This is around the middle part of the tour. So far, how has your experience been? There's so many bands on this lineup, sometimes it can hard to be noticed, it can be hard to stand out when you have so many Metal bands. How has the band been received so far on this tour?
I think we've been received pretty well, so far. The fact that we're like one of the more groovier bands on this package, is probably something that is positive for us. And yeah, we're quite organic. We don't play to (drum) click, and yeah, it's been really good. I think people, like really notice us on this tour.
How did Venom Prison get on this tour? Were you contacted by the record labels of say, Aborted and Psycroptic? How was the band able to get a spot on this tour?
Our booking agent Daniel is the one who books this tour, and he puts the bands together that he loved, I think. We just agreed to play (laughs).
As it's your first time in America, what's it like? Are the stereotypes of Americans true? Is the food or people worse or better? What has been your personal experience of what you've seen so far in America, touring wise or even off days sightseeing, tell me what your stay so far in the states?
Like the one thing I can tell you for sure, is America is pretty fucking big! Because we noticed on some of the drives that we had, and I would also say it lives up to it's stereotypes. But it's not a negative thing. I think people here are really friendly, mostly. It's been really fun, living your lifestyles because the American life, is different to Europeans. The food is amazing, it's better than we thought it was going to be. We thought it was going to be good, but it's even better. I think we all really enjoy being here.
Any particular state or city that you've gone through that you've liked? You have LA tomorrow, and I'm from Southern California, and LA is one of the best Metal communities and sights you'll see. But besides that, any place that really blew you away?
So far, I think my favorite was Denver, and New York City.
Not just for the sights, but how were the crowds? I know New York is one of the best places for Metal, Denver I don't know too much. How was the Denver show?
The Denver show was really busy. I wasn't really into the venue, because I don't know, it had like barriers on the side, and people were really kind of reserved. But it was still fun to play. And the city itself, I really enjoyed.
For being your first tour in America, does the band constantly tour where you're from, in England, or anywhere in Europe? Has the band toured a lot so far, closer to your hometown shows, or further places?
We tour actively, a lot. Like this year, we've toured six months already, so far. We have a tour coming up when we get back home. We've been touring constantly since we released Animus two years ago. The tour cycle kind of ends in August for this album, then we record our new album when we get home. And then we're going to start touring again after that.
I've heard so many positives, rumors and all things of how Metal is received in Europe. How are the shows in general? The Metal scene to be honest, here, is very boom or bust. But the past couple of years has been excellent, and very consistent. How is it over in England and other parts? Is what they say is true about the consistency, attendance, and passion, overall support for extreme music over there?
I would definitely say so, especially in the UK, the Metal scene is really active. People always go to show and support the bands. They even show up to see the locals.
To be honest, it's really hit or miss here for local bands here. We also have six or seven bands on a show usually all local, very talented. And they're usually $5 to $7 a show, and sometime it's still impossible to get people, because it's not the name they're familiar with. For as much as you've toured so far, what have you noticed about those local shows get that kind of attention? Is it because of demographics, or what does Europe and those shows have, that we're may be lacking here?
Usually we don't have seven bands on a bill (laughs). Like three to maybe five, is standard in Europe?
Even for weekdays or weekends?
You get festivals on weekends, that's like the different thing. But on weekdays, it's just usually like three to four bands.
We sometimes get six to eight, on a Monday, I just can't...Summer time you can get away with that a little more, but generally for school sessions and Winter time, it's atrocious, and ridiculous.
I personally sometimes it's a bit too much, because it's unfair for the bands that open as well, because there's no one there to see them, when they start early. And that's just a shame, and it demotivates a lot of bands as well, I would say.
Animus, Venom Prison's first full length album
I also wanted to talk about something as well. I've been listening to Metal, and have been in the scene for a very long time, and over the years I've noticed it's been a lot more welcoming and easier, for women to be in Metal bands. And not to just be in the background, but to have predominate roles: Vocally, play lead guitar, and write songs. Over the years with say, Anathema, Arch Enemy, Sinister, The Agonist, Bolt Thrower; we admire those bands, and I feel Metal has a much more appreciation when women get involved, and those women can play just as good as guys, it's hard to get the public to know that. How has it been overall for your experiences leading the band and being one of the founding members? Has it been difficult for you to be taken seriously in extreme music, and any obstacles you still may have to endure?
I think women usually have to work harder in Metal. They need to show the people that they're not just there, for "fun", that it's serious, that you can actually do it with energy and there to stay. I think you can only do it if you really give everything, and I think men have it a bit easier sometimes.
A lot easier, and that starts with the culture of how it was back in the 80s and 90s. Jo (Bench) from Bolt Thrower was one of the only females in a larger extreme band for quite some time. What women in your life have maybe influenced you to lead that way, if you feel you need to do so? Any woman in Metal, sports, media, or any in life? As you say, men do have it easier in Metal, there's no question, unfortunate but true. Anyone in your life that helps show you that women absolutely belong in Metal?
To be honest, I never had a female role model, which I really think is a shame. When I was growing up, there wasn't that many Metal bands that I knew had women in them. The only ones were Evanescence, and they didn't really consider them an extreme Metal band (laughs). So it was for me, it was men. And I never really felt that I was any different from them. For me, women and men have always been equal in my eyes. And it's only when I started playing in bands that I realized that people don't treat us the same, which is really a shame. And I think what we need to do, is to destroy the barriers in our heads, where we say that we're different and that we can do things that others can, because it's bullshit. We can all do anything we want.
I've heard your vocal work on Animus, it's excellent! If I showed someone, "Oh this singer's amazing!" And if I mentioned to them after they heard you, that you were a female, they would say, "Ohhh...", and their opinion would change, which isn't right. Other fans would hear it, be astounded, "That's amazing!", usually because they're not around women who sing or play that style. Have you noticed that same thing?
Yeah, definitely. There's been shows that we played, we played a tour with Darkest Hour in Europe, and on the last show that we played, it was in Austria. Someone came up to me after the show while I was standing outside and said, "I don't like your band because you're a woman." I was like, "Okay...If I wasn't a woman, would you have liked the band then?" He said yes. But if you wouldn't have seen me, you wouldn't have known that I'm a woman, so you're full of shit. And then he said, he wasn't sexist! Because I told him that he was, we started fighting. I threatened to punch him in the face if he wouldn't walk away.
You were so close to making that happen.
I was so close, and everyone in the band was sit around and would have punched him too (laughs).
What would you like to see in the future in regards to females astounding to be great in their own right in what they want to do, to be the leader of an extreme band, or be a vocal point, not just a "pretty flower" in the back, someone to inspire women, and men too. What do you believe would be best? It's a difficult, philosophical question to ask, but from your experience, what would help to erase those barriers?
Just accept women for who they are, as active parts of the culture. I think women also should go for it and take things in their own hands, don't wait for others to accept them, make them accept you. Show them you're there, show them you care, and don't give a fuck of what they think.
That's a great answer! Is this going to be the only US tour for this year, I presume?
We might be coming back in the end of the year?
Supporting role?
Most likely.
Speaking of what you said earlier about Darkest Hour, they not only do well in Europe, they do very well here. Was the band main support, or just one of the opening bands on there?
As far as I remember, we were opening, yeah. But it was just the two of us, and there was support bands, local support, we were basically main support.
How did that do for the band's exposure, and promotional status, getting well known through media, merch, etc? Did that tour help open eyes for the band?
I would say that every tour we've done so far, helped open eyes for the band. We play with so many genres that we went on tour with. We toured with Suicide Silence, we toured with Darkest Hour, Aversion's Crown, we fit anywhere. We can play with Hardcore bands, we can play with the most extreme Metal bands, and I think that's a good thing.
Those are very well established bands, especially here. Suicide Silence can sell out a 1,000 people venue here, easy.
Yeah, we toured with Trivium as well, that was the last tour we done, with Trivium, Power Trip, and Code Orange, which was probably the biggest tour we ever done, and it was fucking amazing (laughs).
Power Trip just played here and put on a sensational show, and with the Trivium tour, my question from the beginning: I've never heard of the band before until very recently, and you're on these really big tours. Is your record label, or whoever is in charge, doing more to get promotion for the band here in the states?
We have people who support us, like our record label and management, the lady that does press for us. We've been getting a lot of support from Metal Hammer magazine in the UK, Kerrang, and Revolver here in the US, have been really supportive of us, Decibel as well. I think it's really good that there is people who are willing to support young bands, like us, and bands like Power Trip and Code Orange. The Metal community is ready for some new bands, because all bands will die out, let's be honest. And we need to support young bands because we need to keep this scene going.
In music, sports, nature, the young feed on the elderly, in that regard. What does the rest of this year look like? They'll be another tour in Europe after this?
We're coming back home, and then we're going to record our new record in July, and play some festivals, then go on tour with Dying Fetus in August.
The band is on some great tours, and I'm really happy for the band, and doesn't happen for a lot of bands just starting out. That's a great opportunity for Venom Prison can take advantage of and grab those fans. Any last words for anyone in your home country, anyone listening, for this current tour?
Support young bands (smiles).