1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
Most of you can be sure never to have heard about us. We are from France in a city next to Germany where I was born. I met some years ago the female vocalist of Desideria, Mylène, because we worked together for a gothic fanzine. Then we looked for band members and there were recurring changes in the line-up until last year. Finally we are seven musicians now and the other members are Samuel and Julien on the guitars, Marc on the bass, Jérémie on the keyboards and Tim on the drums.
2.How would you describe your musical sound?
It’s more difficult to attribute one’s music to a particular music style if you are involved. There is not the distance that you need for. So I let reviewers and listeners decide about what we play. Most of them say we are a gothic metal band. Others say we are a symphonic black metal band. If I had to choose one label I would say a wild and symphonic dark metal band.
3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?
Most of the lyrics are about what goes in the knights’ minds when they face some circumstances as the loss of their love (“Island Of Death”) or the loss of their trust in human (“Wolf Cruelty Claw”) choosing the company of wolves. There are lyrics about knights who are in a sanctuary to save a girl who is the reincarnation of the goddess of wisdom. They have twelve hours to save her and must go through twelve houses and each house has its guardian who represents one sign of the zodiac. The song “Excalibur” has the most explicit lyrics for this concept. The others are “Another Dimension” and “Lightning Bolt”. And with “HellCorrespondence.com” there is one song about a girl you can contact at midnight if you want to send someone to hell. If you pull the string of a straw doll she has given to you she comes and drags your enemy to hell and your soul the day you die goes to hell too.
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
It took a long time before all members agreed with a name and that was Desideria. It was Mylène who had suggested the name. Desiderio is the Italian translation for “Desire”. Desire creates something dynamic in the life of each one of us. It’s something obsessional that dictates our acts and our thoughts. Because Mylène likes names such as Sirenia and Tristania she changed the last letter into an “a”.
5. Has the band had any opportunities to do a live show, if so what are some of the best gigs that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Yes we did some live shows with local bands. Some gigs were better than others but I wouldn’t describe anyone of them to be one of our best gigs. I think the best gigs will come. I hope so. With our new line-up we will see how we will perform together. Now it’s too early to say how we are but in the next months I could answer better this question.
6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?
When all the members meet again we will discuss about next gigs. But if they are it will be not before autumn.
7. Currently you are unsigned are you looking for a record label and if so what kind of label do you feel that would be a perfect fit for the band’s music?
Now it’s the first time we have really thought whether we should or not look for a label. We will discuss about this subject. Nothing is sure. If we do it we know that it will be difficult to find a label that could be ready to invest in a new band. The times are hard with this worldwide economic crisis. I feel there are not many labels that would fit with what we do. Most labels are focused in classic heavy metal and more in extreme metal.
8. On a worldwide level how has your music been received by metal fans?
On our myspace we have sometimes nice comments about our music that are very important for us and encourage us to continue. From the day we have released our music we know that we have to accept bad comments. Some metal listeners don’t like our music, some others like it. There is no music that everyone can enjoy.
9. Are there any side projects besides this band or is this a full time line-up?
Most of us have no time to have more than one band. Marc helps out in another band until he has its own bass player. Julien is setting up his own band in a more brutal death metal style.
10. What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
Up to now Samuel was after the departure of our former guitar player Cédric rather alone to compose soundtracks for Desideria. Now we will see what we will have when Marc and Julien contribute too. I think the music will keep the spirit of our first release and we will also have the one or other song in a different style than that we used to have.
11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
At the beginning I imagined music close to Theatre Of Tragedy and The Sins of Thy Beloved with a fragile female voice opposed to mine. But I imagined it faster. With our main composer Samuel the music is going faster than I imagined and I love it. He and all the other members of Desideria listen to all kind of metal styles from the pioneers to the newest bands. We reproduce the metal sound but we are not conscious about influences when we are in a composition process. We know that we have influences but we don’t know from whom they come.
12. Does Paganism play a role in your music?
Most lyrics are about paganism in the way that I going about polytheistic religions. They talk about knights devoted to their goddess Athena from the Greek mythology in a battle against knights devoted to their god Odin from the Norse mythology. But legends that you find in them are twisted with other components that are imagined. These knights don’t use weapons like swords or axes but draw their fight technics from Cosmo energy. In “Excalibur” that is the mythical sword of King Arthur I talk about this sword like a gift from the goddess Athena to her most loyal knight and the shaping technique of this sword is now in his arms. All this to say that yes, paganism plays a role in the music but unlike other bands who portray Vikings in how they used to live their life as described in history books there are in these lyrics realities that had never been met and components out from fantasy or science-fiction.
13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
I don’t have really other interests apart from manga where the stories of the lyrics come from. Mylène loves the literature of the XIXth century. Samuel loves to travel. Jérémie loves to walk in the forests. Tim enjoys to see friends. Marc loves to draw and Julien likes to go to concerts.
14. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
First I want to thank you for your effort in this preparation of this interview. And then to the few metal saints who have read this interview since we are still quite unknown.
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