17th October 2011

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It is only appropriate that I would publish a post with the word “doomsday” in the title, today of all days. Readers, you may be unaware of this but before the Rapture, Tuesday, April 26, 2011 had been long anticipated as “DOOMSDAY.” You might be curious as to why that is. Well, that was the day of the official release of Atavist, the highly-anticipated new record from the metal band Otep. I had the privilege of corresponding with the lead singer via email the day preceding “DOOMSDAY.” So, I proudly present my interview with Otep Shamaya, “the noble savage herself.”

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fallenevanfan: First of all … I would like to sincerely thank you for taking the time to sit down and answer these questions. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude – you are very influential to me as an artist and as a strong female role model, and it is an extreme honor to have the opportunity to interview you.

Otep Shamaya: Thanks for the opportunity.

fallenevanfan: The first Otep song I ever heard was “Head,” from your album Smash the Control Machine (2009). It was featured on an episode of season three of HBO’s True Blood last summer. How was your song chosen for the show, and why that song specifically?

Otep Shamaya: I’m not sure how the process works. I received an email from the label that read, “Check this out” with a youtube link and an air date of the episode. I am very proud that our song was on the show. I am a huge fan of the series and am really excited about the new one.

fallenevanfan: True Blood touches on a variety of mythical creatures, such as vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, fairies, etc. If you could be any mythical creature, which one would you choose and why?

Otep Shamaya: A shapeshifter, because then I could be all of these, I could be anything.

fallenevanfan: Needless to say, I was (and still am) awestruck by your powerful vocals. Tell me what instigated your desire to get into the metal genre and how you have honed your screaming skills throughout your career as a musician.

Otep Shamaya: I wanted to make the most emotionally aggressive, in your face, gut punch, head nourishing, spiritually healing music I could and this genre seemed to be perfect. I take care of my throat as one would a 300 year old Stradivarius violin.

fallenevanfan: However, screaming is not the only talent you possess. Upon listening to Smash the Control Machine, I noticed that your musical palette also ranges from melodic singing to rap-rock-style vocals to simple speaking, as if you are reading poetry (I say that in reference to “Kisses & Kerosene”). Describe to me why you delve into these different vocal styles.

Otep Shamaya: I let the songs build themselves. Whatever they require, I try to indulge.

fallenevanfan: Out of Otep’s entire discography, I would have to say that the album The Ascension (2007) is my current favorite. Personally, do you have an album that you favor more than any of your others? If so, why?

Otep Shamaya: ATAVIST is my current favorite. It’s a very personal album and does everything I ever wanted to do as a singer, poet, and songwriter.

fallenevanfan: Speaking of albums, your fifth full-length studio album, Atavist (courtesy of Victory Records), drops tomorrow, April 26^th. It seems like only a short while ago that you were tweeting about writing material for a new record. Has it seemed like a short while for you or have you been anticipating it just as much as your fans? What your thoughts and/or feelings in regards to its release?

Otep Shamaya: I am very proud but there are no words as to how I feel. It’s beautiful.

fallenevanfan: After hearing the first single “Fists Fall” and your cover of The Doors’ “Not to Touch the Earth” I cannot wait to hear the rest of the songs. Do you have a favorite song from Atavist? If so, which one and why?

Otep Shamaya: They all have equal importance and equal value. I admit that ATOM to ADAM is the first song to come to mind every time someone asks me this question. Second to mind is WE DREAM LIKE LIONS.

fallenevanfan: “Fists Fall” also has an official music video that I described on my Twitter as “fierce.” Tell me what the inspiration behind the lyrics was and how you came up with the video concept.

Otep Shamaya: It’s not important if we win or lose the fight, what is important is that we fight.

fallenevanfan: In this day and age, it is crucial, almost necessary, for musicians and bands to be involved in social networking. I know that you are an active participant on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. and even update them yourself to communicate and stay in touch with your fans. What are your motives behind this?

Otep Shamaya: -To maintain contact and communicate with my fans and supporters. To keep the circle of friends and allies tight. To let everyone like me know, they are not alone.

fallenevanfan: Your fans have come to be collectively known as “The Tribe of Otep” or quite simply, “The Tribe.” Where did that come from and how do you feel about it?

Otep Shamaya: As a species, we are inherently tribal. Technology allows us to connect to each other, those who think, feel, believe, and fight they way we do.

fallenevanfan: You recently did an FYE in-store appearance that allowed you to meet some of your fans directly. After that, I assume you are anxious to get back out on the road and meet countless others. What are your touring plans?

Otep Shamaya: To be announced very soon.

fallenevanfan: That consists of my questionnaire. Thank you, Otep Shamaya … Is there anything that you would like to add, or even ask?

Otep Shamaya: Art saves.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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LA-based metallers Otep have just released their latest album “Smash The Control Machine”. Here we catch up with singer Otep Shamaya to get the lowdown…….

This album marks the return of Mark “Moke” Bistany on drums and Rob Patterson on guitar, which I’m sure will please many long-time fans! How did this come about?

We’ve all remained friends over the years and when the chance to write a new album came I reached out to Moke and Rob to see if they’d want to write a song with Evil J and I. They agreed. But one song led to the whole album. Once we were all back in the same room together it was if we were never a part. It was really magical.

How long did it take to write and record?

We wrote and recorded the entire thing in 2 months.

What were the main influences behind the tracks on the new album?

The fragile coil of existence, the cruelty of the human species and the struggled triumph of good over evil.

Violinist Emilie Autumn, and Koichi Fukuda of Static-X both appear as guests on the “Smash The Control Machine” track “UR A WMN NOW” - how did these collaborations come together?

Our amazing producer, Ulrich Wild, set this up. It was a perfect match. Witnessing Emilie and Koichi perform on this song is one of the highlights of my career.  

That particular track, much like “Perfectly Flawed” on your previous album “the_Ascension”, presents (musically at least) a lighter moment on the album. As a band normally known for having such ferocious delivery, do you ever find it difficult to reign it in and use a calmer approach/delivery? Or is this something we can expect to see more of in the future?

No, it’s not difficult. Art is art. Besides, “UR A WMN NOW” belongs to a family of songs that begins with “EMTEE”, to “Autopsy Song”, to “Perfectly Flawed”, to “UR A WMN NOW”. The narrative is there … in the music and the message.   Another track off your previous album was a cover of Nirvana’s “Breed”. Did you notice an influx of Nirvana fans into your own fanbase upon its release? Much like bands such as Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Korn, Otep are very much a band capable of reaching out to people on a personal level, especially if comments left on your recent MySpace blog are anything to go by.
 No, I didn’t notice an influx of fans. Most of our fans are Nirvana fans too.

Has Dave Grohl heard your version?

I have no idea. But I am a big fan of Grohl’s work and if he ever does hear our tribute to Nirvana, I hope he understands the purity of our intentions.

Do you approach your lyric writing for Otep, any differently to your poetry? Has there ever been an occasion where a piece has started out as lyrics but instead been turned into poetry, or vice versa?

All poems are songs.

Are there any plans to release more poetry in the near future? How are things going with Imaginary Friends?

I have been thinking of creating a book of illustrations. But nothing certain yet. Imaginary Friends is just a hobby. Nothing definitive will ever come of that.

Whereabouts will the forthcoming tour be taking you?

America, Fuck yeah.   

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Guitar riffs, killer bass, brutal drumming, grueling screams, and poetry that sticks in your mind for days; this is a band known as OTEP. I had my first experience with them on 2004’s Ozzfest and have been hooked ever since. Here is my first interview with OTEP’s vocalist, Otep Shamaya, as she talks about the backgrounds of where she grew up, a little bit about the band, and their new album that just got released on October 30, 2007 The Ascension.

Becca Parry: So I’m with Otep Shamaya on the phone here, which is the lead singer of the band Otep. Just would like to thank you for taking the time out to talk to me here tonight.

Otep Shamaya: Not a problem at all.

Becca: So your name Otep was given to you by your mom who was a fan of Egyptian times. What exactly does Otep mean?

Otep: From my understanding, it’s a word used in African nations now and it can mean a number of things. Its a greeting; it also means peace with you and creative offerings. I believe it was a suffix in ancient times and was commonly used at least from my research.

Becca: That’s a cool name; always thought it was very unique. The starting point in this industry for you; what made you want to do music?

Otep: I’ve always been a creative person whether I’d be drawing, writing, or something like that. Building things. I’ve sort of lived through my imagination and eventually it got to a point where those outlets weren’t as satisfying as they have been, so I decided to give music a shot and discovered a lot and I’ve been happy ever since.

Becca: In 2000 you guys had formed, and from what I understand, you and Evil J McGuire are original members. Since then you’ve gone through some guitarists and drummers and met up with Aaron Nordstrom and Brian Wollf. How did you meet them?

Otep: Actually we had a bassist before Jay so he’s not an original member but he’s the longest member in the band and one of my best friends. Aaron and Brian are actually old friends of ours and we were looking for a drummer who could play aggressive music and fast music but someone who has a capacity and sense of all kinds of music. He has an amazing ability to play hip hop, jazz, metal, to rock, and classical. He also was a fan of the band and he understood the direction of the band and where we were coming from which is really important to us. He has a great energy and spirit with this band. We’ve gone through a lot of guitar players after Rob Patterson and met up with Aaron Nordstrom. I was looking for someone who was creative and technical which is really rare because you can get someone who isn’t very creative and very technical or someone who is creative but not very technical of a player. So we were looking for that and we found it in Aaron. They both round out the band really well.

Becca: Yes I think they do round the band out really well too.

Otep: You know I’ve always wanted a band that was just a bunch of musicians that were very dedicated and very loyal. Someone who brings in their own creativity and inspirations and inspires all the rest of us in the band and understand the message we are trying to send across. Someone that works hard which is very rare in this business and not try to develop a celebrity ego.

Becca: Right you can’t have someone who has that rock star attitude and is not in it for the music.

Otep: Right, yeah that’s right! The down side with having friends in a band is you lose a friend but you gain a player which sucks but it happens.

Becca: Yep, it happens with any band but you just keep going with what you love. Now when you guys started playing in LA, you played at The Viper which Johnny Depp had owned. I heard it was haunted and some things have happened to you while you were there? What exactly happened?

Otep: I don’t know if he still owns it but I know he used to but yea, we were about to do a show for an album release or something and right before the show I was a little nervous about a few things and the label we were on at the time, the president was on his way to see us.

[Fans outside screaming “Otep!” over and over again]

I don’t know if you can hear that but there are people standing outside our bus screaming for us to come out ha ha. What’s up!

Becca: I don’t hear it at all but that’s cool as hell that they can’t wait to see you.

Otep: It’s always great to hear that from the fans for sure, but umm all of a sudden I started to get anxious thinking about everything and all of a sudden the cd player came on and it was The Doors which is one of my favorite bands. There was no one in the sound booth at the time and everyone said ohh it’s the ghost and I said well what do you mean? So they tell me they didn’t know who it was that it could have been anybody. It was pretty nice of the ghost to turn on roadhouse blues for me to calm and settle my nerves so it set the standards and the spirit of the night and it turned out to be a really good show.

Becca: Wow creepy but something really cool. I think I’d be running out the door if that happened (laughs).

Otep: (laughs). It was calming and soothing.

Becca: Didn’t you guys land a deal with Capitol Records that night?

Otep: No, not that night. That’s probably what we were celebrating.

Becca: Oh ok ok. Now your no longer with Capitol right?

Otep: No, thankfully. We are now with this magnificent indie label record company and they are called Koch Records. They are intelligent, artistic, creative, and they know how to sell records. They understand music, musicians, and they understand music business which is nice. It’s a refreshing environment to be in I can tell you that.

Becca: It’s always better to be in something that is refreshing and is understanding where your coming from and what you want to do.

Otep: Yes and they don’t limit us to what we can do which is nice.

Becca: In 2001 Sharon Osbourne had asked you to be on Ozzfest. What was your reaction to it?

Otep: Umm, we were a little blown away and excited you know. Really unexpected and it came out of no where. I always believed that we would be on Ozzfest that year even when I didn’t have a band. I had gone to Ozzfest in 2000 as a fan with some friends and I saw this really crappy band play. I can’t remember who it was and they were being really disrespectful to the fans and to the girls in the audience. I just remember thinking if they can do this I can do this and I looked at my friend and I go “you know what, I’m going to be here next year”. He just laughed at me and said you don’t even have a band and I’m like it doesn’t matter. You watch and of course, we were on ozzfest the next year.

Becca: (laughs) I bet he was a little taken back by it.

Otep: Yeah he was. Once I get my teeth into something, it’s hard for me to let it go and that was something I really wanted and was bent on doing.

Becca: You’re very driven and you need to be driven in this business because it’s a tough business.

Otep: Yes it is, yes it is.

Becca: You have released three albums and two Eps, which do you think is the favorite you’ve done so far?

Otep: My favorite, well it’s hard to say, but I had the most fun with and more excited with the new album then anything else. We got signed so quickly and only had done about four shows and I didn’t really get to know my band members as musicians. So we were all pretty much strangers getting to know each other. With this record, the band itself has discovered each other and sounds. Jay is very proud of his bass sound on this album and Brian is very comfortable with the new styles we put on him as a drummer. We only released 3 ½ records and others were eps which is something I did on tour on my lap top from some poetry and spoken words that we were just giving away.

Becca: Congratulations on the new album by the way which came out on October 30th. I picked it up and can’t put it down.

Otep: Thank you so very much.

Becca: “House of Secrets” is one of my favorites and during that album you had, Joey Jordison and Greg Wells on it. What was it like working with them?

Otep: It was pretty phenomenal. Greg and I got to know each other and is one of my friends now; and we built a great friendship. Joey is one of my favorite drummers of all time so it was a dream come true to work with both of these people. I had a lot of fun with them and I learned a lot and hope to work with them in the future.

Becca: Growing up in LA, what was that like for you?

Otep: I was subjected to a lot of violence and poverty that I don’t really care to focus on too much because I’m trying to get past that through art and music. Just becoming what it is that environment tends to create. It breeds violence and monsters and I would prefer not to fall into that trap and hopefully continue to grow as an artist and set a new standard for people who refuse to accept circumstances their forced into. None of us can control who our parents are, what our genetics are, what part of the country we are raised in or what our dna is. How tall we are, color, sex, gender, orientation; it’s something we are born into but we can create our own lives and our own identities according to our own standards and that’s what I hope to do promote through my own self evolution and proceeds of self.

Becca: It’s sending a message out to the fans that there is some kind of hope out there and they don’t have to subject to it.

Otep: Yeah, that’s what I hope to promote, is that we can’t have to give in just because that’s what everyone else does.

Becca: Right, right. Now recently you’ve gotten tattooed on LA Ink and I haven’t got the chance to see the show that you were on but you got an octopus on your right shoulder blade that takes up most of your back. What’s the meaning behind it?

Otep: I got it for 2 reasons. First reason, to commemorate the passing of my brother. He was in the navy and the octopus represents the ocean to me and the eternal mystery of the sea and I was always very proud of Mikey for being in the Navy and I wanted something to memorialize his life that I can have with me all the time so tattoos helped with that. It was a couple years ago he died and we miss him everyday. We always try to send soldiers care packages but the government sometimes sends it back but we try to get it over there to them. I do oppose the war in Iraq and I think it was a mistake but I support the troops and they are doing an amazing job with what they are given. Second reason is I’m also attracted to what it symbolizes, which is the subconscious mind eternally seeking answers. The octopus lives in the depths of the ocean and seeks out it’s prey. I was kind of a romantic and someone I had a crush on liked it so I kind of got it for them too, but I don’t really talk to them anymore.

Becca: I agree with you. I think the war was the worst possible answer but I give the troops my support because they are over there fighting for our freedom. Bush does not get my support though (laughs together). I Just got two more questions for you.

Otep: Alright.

Becca: How far do you want to push this band and see this go in the future?

Otep: I want to see us in a sold out concert in the ruins of churchilianiums; that’s what I want (laughs). We are just going to keep doing what we do and try to be the best musicians we can be and the best songwriters. You know, part of music is to nourish the soul and keep our messages out there with personal philosophies but offer people to wrap their minds and ears around it. So we will just keep doing what were doing and they seem to be catching on and that’s great.

Becca: Yes it is great and your fan base has definately progressed over the years from when I first remember seeing you guys in ‘04 at Ozzfest. People knew who you were but then you got the ones that were just finding out and were loving what you were doing.

Otep: We hope they keep loving what we do.

Becca: My last question for you is basically just a message to local bands and fans.

Otep: Local bands you need to play as much as possible and play for the right reasons. If your playing for girls, money, liquor; then go do something else because I think your being a detrimence to music. If you’re playing because you believe in music and art, then you’re adding to the true spirit of creativity. To the singers out there, I always get asked a lot about writing lyrics; just keep your head full of words and read everything you can get your hands on. It’s important that you do that. To fans, thanks for believing in our music from the beginning and the new people coming on board; thanks for being a part of this movement and everyone’s support is appreciated. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be surrounded by such amazing people. I’m so blessed to have these people. We are going to do our best to entertain you guys.

Becca: You guys are doing an awesome job at it. I’d like to thank you so much again for taking the time out to do this interview and I hope to be photographing you guys here in the Cleveland, Ohio area and congrats on the album again as well.

Otep: No problem. Thank you and thanks for the interview. You take care.

Becca: You too

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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OTEP SHAMAYA: THE METAL ARMY INTERVIEW

Artist, poet, author, actress and political activist; Otep Shamaya wears many hats in addition to being the front woman of her band OTEP and she is adding new roles all of the time. She changes guises naturally like snake shedding its skin and she slips comfortably in and out of every role. Out on the road supporting the recently released Atavist album she checked in with us  for the interview, which was unlike any one we’d ever done before. Much like her performances, she attacked our questions with all authority and seriousness. Graciously, she touched on many topics from the songwriting process, album artwork, song meanings, activism and even her social media prowess.

MAA: You are out on the road supporting Atavist (Victory Records). Please tell us how the new record came together.

OS: Well the album sort of formed as a savage little atom inside my soul and burrowed its way deep. Then it flourished forth out of every pore of my body. It became this unyielding force that needed to be born. I wanted to go back a more personal, private, authentic, sort of not really political, a little bit personal, a little bit cultural, but more of an emotional album where the subconscious could take over and drive the record to its competition.

MAA: Do you write poetry and lyrics all the time and then fit it to the music or does sometimes a piece of music come up and inspire some concepts and phrasing as well?

OS: Yeah, it’s both. Whenever I am writing with people and I enjoy their contributions and if they are bringing in song ideas or riff ideas then I’ll add something I’ve written. I’m a prolific sort of scribble writer. I write all of the time. It’s called hypergraphia and I just write all the time. If something comes from that I might think that idea would go perfect with this thing I wrote. Sometimes I will try to give someone some intention, and idea or direction towards the song or sometimes they will hear something I’ve written and they will write something really remarkable around it. Sometimes we will just write something together. There is something about the creative process that I am really addicted to and really take so seriously. It’s not about what you can do it’s about leaving your ego at the door. It’s about allowing the songs to be born between the two of you or however many of people are in the room.

Artist Joey James Hernandez and Otep created the Atavist album cover.

MAA: I found the Atavist artwork to be really distinctive and that it tells a story. Some friends of mine freaked out when they saw it. Can you tell me about the album artwork and what it sums up to you?

OS: I like the fact that people can make their own interpretation out of it. I use a lot of universal imagery inside our symbolism and so forth. I know what I wanted to do was have all of the different elements from the all the different albums I’ve written included in this cover. This album number five, 2 and 3 become 23 with numerology and things like that were fitting in to creating this piece. I also wanted it to touch beyond fences and back into the subconscious and into the umbra. Where true passion and our true selves exist beyond all of the piles and piles of life with cultural identities and costumes there we throw on each other. I hoped this artwork would trigger and ignite a very primal piece of the viewer.

Poetess and provacateur….

MAA: Overall I found the sound of the record to be really heavy. However, the song “We Dream Like Lions” jumped out at me the first time I heard it. What is the meaning behind the song?

OS: “We Dream Like Lions” was initially written as a reaction to the death of Matthew Sheppard and to all of the bullying and suicides that have been going on in the Gay and Lesbian community. Then it occurred to me that there are so many other people who are bullied in this life other than people like me and for other reasons. People that are just different, they listen to different music, they think differently, act differently and just are different. So they are picked on and chosen, pointed out, exposed and exploited, pushed to the side, outcasts and cast aside. So I wanted to write a song for all of those people I wanted to tell that no matter what life throws at them, they need to continue to fight. Even though we are told that we might be ‘timid as sheep, that we dream like lions’.

MAA: You are well known for your passionate activism on a variety of issues. Why is it so important for you to speak out on these issues at a time when apathy and ignorance seem to be at an all time high?

OS: When I was a child I was smaller than most other children. I was born premature. So I was a small kid, but I was smarter than most of the bullies. I was smarter than all of the rich kids. They seemed to always get all of the privilege and all of the attention. So then I stopped respecting them at that level they wanted to be respected, or the level they were given respect at. I stopped respecting them at that level because I was better than them at a lot of things. Not many of them could draw. Not many of them could write. I could do all of that.  Not many of them could fight, or fight as well as I could fight. I stopped respecting people who were bullies. I saw it happening every day. People who had more money or thought they were better looking, came from a better home, their parents had better jobs, raised in a better area and just thought they were better people. I stopped respecting them. Growing up I felt like I had to fight my own battles and I never felt like I had anyone to fight next to me. So I felt that if I got to a point in my life someday that I could be a voice for people that were like me. People who felt like they had no voice and who had nobody on their side, that they did have someone. They could find me online, they could find an OTEP record and they could listen and hear songs about themselves and feel inspired and feel empowered. They could feel like nobody out there could ever define their lives and they could go on to be better than they thought they ever could be.

Loudmouth Radio debuted on July 4th.

MAA: What is Loud Mouth Radio and what is it going to be like for those who aren’t aware of it yet?

OS:  Loud Mouth Radio is going to be a blog and talk radio show primarily focus on art and activism. I will be co-hosting with this wonderful insurgent, passionate woman named Dee who has experience in radio. I’m not sure if I can say her full name in case she will get in trouble with her current job, but already she works in radio. We’re not going to be holding back or pulling any punches. We are not going to be hippy-dippy liberals. We’re going to be Loudmouth liberals as liberals are; fight the good fight and take it to `em. For too long the airwaves have been conquered by conservative cronies and these folks who want to divide our country and suppress individualism. We’re no longer going to allow that. So Loud Mouth Radio is going to be for anybody who feels the same way we do and it will be a platform to listen and be a part of it.

MAA: I think that platform will be really key, because we are seeing a real groundswell of action and activism with a lot of internet radio and podcasting sites. For instance like what Kevin Smith has done, changing his career from film directing to podcasting.

OS: Yeah I’ve been following that. I think it’s really cool. Right on!

MAA: Lastly, you seem to be really great at energizing your fan base through social media channels. What is your secret to being so adept at it?

OS: It comes very naturally to me. I try to connect with people. I do it online seemingly better than I do it in person sometimes. I really don’t know. People are drawn to the message. People are drawn to a sense of community and a sense of safety they have with us. We are exclusively inclusive. We don’t exclude anybody. We try to support, endorse, incite people and inspire people to follow their own dreams and to find the artist within them. That’s what draws people to us. With social media, I’ve been doing since it started with all the different social media sites. I feel like they finally caught up to me with what I have been trying to do since I first started the band. We’re on Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare. We’re on it all.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Liz Wize: So you are actually the first female I’ve ever interviewed. What’s it like to be not just a female in the music industry, but also a female in metal?

Otep Shamaya: I enjoy the moniker of being the first. I get asked that at every interview. I suppose it’s very similar to the way you feel- journalism is pretty dominated by men. I get my share of people who don’t understand but I get more people that I tend to impress because they’re not accustom to seeing women in positions of power or strength. I think they’re willing to accept it but for some it’s a little bit of change that they’ve never seen before.

Liz: Who are some of your personal influences, not just musical but in life?

Otep: My mom for sure. My mother still is a very powerful force. I know a lot of people say that but she really was. With the volatile background that we’ve come from, our family was Irish immigrants who came to America and did well in the merchant business, everything fell apart in the Great Depression and we just scrambled to get out of that and stay that way. It was my mother who taught us that we didn’t have to accept our circumstances or accept any of those cultural costumes and social identities that have been placed upon us. There are some other literary people I’ve come across like Sylvia Plath who worked out her demons through literature, which I can defiantly identify with. Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain.

Liz: Your album The_Ascension was released October 30th. It was originally supposed to come out in March. Do you think people have been so excited about it partly because they’ve had to wait so long?

Otep: I think people were more frustrated. There was this swelling of anticipation around the first release date and then we had this [Capitol Records] thing happen. And it was an unfortunate blessing. Capitol was this very stagnant, ugly place. Our new label [Koch Records] is very vibrant and exciting. The fans let us know how they felt about it and we perfectly understood. But now that it’s out the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Liz: Now you’re on a smaller Indie label, Koch Records. Is it more supportive and easier to work with a smaller label?

Otep: It’s easier for me to deal with people at Koch. I can’t speak for every Indie label or every major label but I’ll tell you the difference between Capitol and Koch. Koch seems to truly enjoy selling music and records. They love the music business and support the artists. The people at Capitol seemed to like the notoriety of working for a big label- they loved the paychecks. And the president of the label seemed to enjoy being a bigger celebrity than some of his acts. I’ve talked to enough shady accountants in my life to learn that a bad investment can be a good write off. So they [bigger labels] could invest a lot into a band and then not push it in hopes that it fails so they can write it off and get reimbursed later. Being on the smaller label is cool because Koch is a very powerful indie label. They’re bottom line is to sell the record. Plus Koch loves what we do so they’re behind it. Capitol saw us as a novelty, there’s this girl, she’s a poet and lighting LA on fire, which never happens. It seemed like it gave Capitol some street credibility to have a band like us when they mostly have bands like Coldplay and Radiohead.

Liz: Did it ever feel strange being on a label that didn’t have many other metal acts?

Otep: I don’t know if it was weird. I’ve never identified a lot with heavy bands anyway because I listen to a lot of stuff. I was more excited to be on with bands like Pink Floyd and Radiohead, that’s great- they have the Beatles. It’s different people now though. If [the same people working there now] had been there when those bands were coming out, they would have suffered under the idiocy of the executives. Those cats celebrated failure.

Liz: The band has gone through a lot of lineup changes. Are you and Evil J. are the core or have you just had sort of a come-and-go policy?

Otep: I mean, listen, we got signed after just four shows. We’d only been together for six months, I didn’t grow up with these people, I’d just met them. J wasn’t even the original bass player in the band. The original guitar player brought in the original drummer. He told me he’d seen a bass player playing out at a club and asked if I’d audition him. I said sure, he came down and it was J. Going on the road allows you to get to know people much more intimately than just sitting in a room with them for six hours a day writing songs, you’re living with them. One player, I won’t name names, but he got caught getting oral sex from a 13-year-old girl. I can’t have that so he’s out of my band. Others t decided they wanted to settle down, have children, they didn’t like the road life anymore. I started the band with a certain message in mind that I thought was important and needed to be communicated, art needed to be served and everyone else and everything else is expendable. Even I am. Art has to win and be the only reason that I’m out here and do what I do.

Liz: Hellyeah’s guitarist Greg Tribbett co-wrote three songs on The_Ascension. Is that something that grew out of your previous show [in Denver] with Hellyeah? And lead to this tour?

Otep: Oh no, no. I’d written with Greg a year ago. We’re managed by the same company. I told them I wanted to write with a bunch of different people this record and they asked what I thought about Greg from Mudvayne. I said of course, absolutely, I’d be honored. He came in and he had a bunch of riffs. We started out with “Invisible.” We spent some time in a house up in the Hollywood Hills, which was really cool because we could wake up, get coffee and get right to work. We’d sit there and record all day. The next song we did I think was “Crooked Spoons” and then “Confrontation.” It was really amazing. This tour was a surprise. Hellyeah had put a thing on their website asking fans what band should support their next tour and I got a call that we’d been picked.

Liz: What has it been like touring with the legendary Vinnie Paul?

Otep: It’s amazing. It’s a supergroup and they’re all amazing- they really are.

Liz: The band is going to do videos for the songs “Breed” and “Confrontation.” Have you begun filming those? [Links accessed to Youtube January 2008]

Otep: We did them a week before we left to go on tour. Breed will be on Headbanger’s Ball starting [November] 17th, 2007.

Liz: I think that’s about it. Anything you’d like to add?

Otep: Just check out the website and Myspace. Thanks

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Exclusive Interview with Otep Shamaya

Otep Shamaya is the lead singer and namesake behind the band Otep. But to call her a front woman is discrediting her other interests and works. She is an accomplished and published poet, an outspoken activist, and public speaker. She was listed on CNN’s “People You Should Know” special feature. So naturally when we were given the opportunity to talk to Otep, we had to. What transcribed was the most intelligent and eloquent interview (not by me..I am a bumbling idiot). Audio below the text version of the interview.

BnR: A year after you found Otep you were noticed by Sharon Osbourne. How was that first meeting with a rock icon?

Otep: It was pretty crazy. We were probably only a band for about four or five months. I didn’t even know she was there. When I was backstage, someone came in and said ‘Hey Sharon is outside and she wants to meet you.’ I said, ‘What? Get out of here.’ They said ‘Sharon Osbourne is outside.’ I came out and met her. I didn’t know what to say. She said ‘Otep, I love you guys. I love what you are doing. It would be an honor to have you guys on Ozzfest.’ I said, ‘We don’t even have a record deal.’ She said, ‘I don’t care. Make it happen. You are on the festival so however you can get on it, get on it.’ Luckily, we had two showcases right after that. Again only doing four shows with the band and without a demo, we were signed to a major label deal.

BnR: Were you nervous speaking with her?

Otep: Yea sure. It was right after a show, so everything is really very surreal after a performance. When I walked out, I really didn’t know what to say. Once I got back in the room, it kind of hit me. That was Sharon Osbourne and it was with Jack, her son. I have become very good friends with Jack and Kelly now. It was an amazing experience and one of the few times I had no words in my mouth.

BnR: Ozzfest is where we first learned about your band. The Ozzfest crowd is a tough one because if you don’t immediately impress them they start throwing stuff and chanting Ozzy. What was it like touring on Ozzfest?

Otep: We never really had that experience. Initially, they didn’t know who we were. As soon as we got out there and started doing what we were doing, we pretty much won everyone over. We were this band that no one knew about. We didn’t have a record out. We were on Ozzfest playing in front of thousands of people. [We were] going from LA clubs playing to a hundred people to eight to ten thousand people. It was pretty heavy.

BnR: What was the biggest adjustment you had to make going from those smaller shows to the larger shows?

Otep: I suppose from a fundamental performance stand point, figuring out outdoors venues vs. indoors venues.

BnR: Because of Ozzfest, you have toured with legendary acts. Who has been your favorite to tour with so far?

Otep: We have toured with Down with Phil Anselmo. We have toured with Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Mudvayne, System of a Down, Ozzy, of course. I suppose one of the most memorable moments is having Judas Priest and Black Sabbath on the same tour. It was 2004, I believe. I remember watching that and figuring it was one of the most amazing experiences and what a once in a lifetime it probably was. One night, I guess Ozzy either had to fly back home because Sharon had gotten sick. She was going through chemo. Maybe he just got sick, but Rob Halford from Judas Priest actually sang in Black Sabbath.

BnR: I am glad you mentioned that because that actually happened here in Philadelphia. I got to witness that and it was one of the coolest rock moments of my life. [Note: Bob Wettner was also in attendance but left early to go to bed. Big mistake. Email him at bobwettner@blogsnroses.com to tell him what an idiot he is.]

Otep: Exactly. We were all on our buses in the second stage area and everyone started running toward us saying ‘Halford’s singing with Sabbath. Halford is singing with Sabbath.’ Everyone jumped off their buses and ran over to see it. It was an absolute amazing experience.

BnR: I don’t know if you are aware of this, but in America it is an election year. Your band was able to register 532 voters through MySpace and because of that you were given the opportunity to play the Democratic National Convention. How was that?

Otep: It was amazing. We were going to play, but after talking to Rock the Vote they thought it would be much more effective if I gave a speech. I did, in fact, give a speech and it was incredible. I spoke about voter registration, new voter registration because we registered over 500 people in 36 hours. They were very pleased with that. I gave a bipartisan speech because it was on behalf of Rock the Vote. It was about being informed and being involved and the necessity of paying attention and how it is no longer a thing we should be doing but an act of defiance. It was very well received. I had upper echelon DNC guys coming up to me and asking me if I was interested in doing more speaking engagements toward the election to try and inspire more people. I was blown away by it. I was just up there speaking my heart and this is how it came out. It was a very wonderful, wonderful experience.

BnR: Was that something you ever thought you would wind up doing?

Otep: Oh no way. I never thought I would do that. We saw the opportunity with Rock the Vote. I told them ‘Listen we worked with you guys in the past. This election seems to be one of the most important elections in our lifetime and I would be really interested in helping out in any way I can to register as many voters as I can.’ They said ‘Oh by the way, we have this competition if you would like to do that.’ I said sure why not. We had no idea we would actually win, we were just trying to register as many voters to get people inspired and getting them more involved. It was an amazing experience.

BnR: You are also an accomplished and published poet and activist. Let’s talk about the poetry first. You have published Little Sins and have been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry. Was poetry always something you were interested in? Something you always found easy to do?

Otep: Yea, I think so. I don’t know if it is easy, but it came very natural to me. Especially when I started reading other poets. It made sense to me, it made sense in my head and the way that I think. The Def Poetry performance was again, another one of those really amazing moments in my life. I had never done anything like that before. In fact, the poets were a little rude to me and were very territorial I will say. In fact, they didn’t know who I was. ‘Who is this new girl coming along? She doesn’t do the circuit with us.’ I did that piece and they were all sort of applauding me and I thought that was very nice. Hopefully I broke through. Poetry is also a big part of our live performance. We include poetry before every song, in the individual landscape of important music. You know musical landscapes that the guys are developing to bring about this drama. It is very theatrical and very cinematic. I think it is a big part of what we do. Poetry is like baking. If I can equate it to something someone can understand, you could say writing songs is like cooking a full course meal while writing poetry is like being a pastry chef. You make some really beautiful, delightful little desserts that has a remarkable surprise taste that you never saw coming.

BnR: Have you been able to work some of your poetry into your lyrics?

Otep: Sure, a lot of songs are influenced. They start out that way and then once I can catch some melody and rhythm in it, then it expands to something else.

BnR: Do you find it easier to write poetry vs lyrics for songs or do you sit down and just write out naturally?

Otep: I guess it just depends. It is when you can catch that flow that you were just speaking about. When you find that moment of motivation and inspiration. Then you can just jump on that and ride that until it exhausts itself and dissipates back into the ether. You can probably relate to writing something you are not necessarily connected with but you still have to trudge through it. Whereas writing about something you are very passionate about, your fingers can’t hit the keys fast enough. I think it is the same with me. If an idea starts to flourish and blossom up all around me…of course I am mixing metaphors like crazy here, but once it starts to flow I think it is very natural. Poetry comes much more natural to me than writing songs.

BnR: You wrote an opinion/editorial on the genocide in Darfur. Would you like to become more involved in raising the public’s awareness to these tragedies and any other tragedies that may be close to your heart?

Otep: Indeed I would. I hope I continue to have the opportunity to do so. There is so much out there that we call “news” that is just really entertainment masturbation. It is just this glorified nothing. For instance, when Barack Obama was in Missouri he had a hundred thousand people show up. I am watching the news and there is barely a mention of it. They [the news] stay on some silly smear campaign going on from the McCain camp. Why is that important? They [news] talk more about the celebrity miasmas that are going on around the country. Who is getting in trouble, who is getting married, and who is pregnant and yet there is a million people who were slaughtered in Darfur. And hundreds of thousands of refugees starving to death and no one is talking about it. I know that is not fun to watch on TV, but there are ways of presenting it so that at least it is out there so we are not living isolated in this bubble of nonsense. Otherwise, we are going to see the IQ of this nation fall because we are obsessed over the wrong thing.

BnR: I do feel that the public would care if we were given this information about Darfur. If the public was given more opportunity to witness these tragedies, I think we would be more apt to act on them. But as you said, we are more worried about Britney Spears slamming into things and whatever else.

Otep: Absolutely right. It seems it is getting worse daily. Perhaps it is time for the people to start letting the news people know what we think. Back around the time when I started being very vocal in opposition to the Iraq war. I always support the troops. You gotta say that first. We 100% support the brave men and women in our United States armed forces. We send care packages to soliders in Iraq all the time In fact, I have a lot of family members who are ex-military. But I was always against the Iraq war. People were asking ‘What can we do?’ The newspapers say it is the right thing to do and they support Bush, but we don’t believe it.’ I said ‘Then you write your newspapers because they are a corporation just like anything else. If they feel like they are going to lose readers or viewers, they are going to try and cater to that. I believe maybe that is what has changed a little bit.

BnR: What is on the horizon for Otep?

Otep: We leave tonight for the tour, that is a big deal for us. After that there are lots of things, it could be a European tour, it could be another headlining run stateside, or we could be going back in and writing on a new record. It is pretty exciting prospects for the future.

BnR: How are you able to scream and grunt like that? Where does that come from?

Otep: I am not really sure. I have just been always able to do certain vocalizations that different people can’t do. I am not really sure.

BnR: How do you keep your voice in shape so that it doesn’t go out on you during a tour?

Otep: That is a lot of preparation and a lot of warm ups and cool downs. A lot of silence. I try to drink only a little, no smoking of course. A lot of tea and warm water with lemon. That is one of the easiest remedies anyone can ever try. It sounds folksy, but it is the one thing I have noticed that keeps everything taken care of.

BnR: Do you consider yourself a trailblazer in your genre?

Otep: Without sounding self glorifying. I suppose I am very pleased to get messages from people who claim that they rediscovered their own artistic abilities after listening to our music.  They were inspired to get involved in politics for the first time. They are starting a band. They decided to stand up for themselves for the first time. I am very proud of the fact our music and our art and our messages have that kind of effect on people. That is the kind of art that I tend to like in other artists. I just hope that in my own art, I can repay that by doing the same thing to other people.

BnR: Are there any other female fronted bands that you are a fan of such as Lacuna Coil?

Otep: I have toured with Lacuna Coil. I know those guys. They are great musicians; great band. I grew up listening to Courtney Love. Her first record was amazing. They say it is because Kurt wrote it, but it is still amazing. Her, sort of, outlaw spirit was inspiring to me because that is how I saw the world. It is unfortunate that she is gone, but for people like me it creates a vacuum, of who is out there breaking the rules. Who is out there not adhering to the conformities of society and the barriers they put on women on what we are supposed to be able to do or say or stand for or what we are allowed to wear. I enjoy a lot of female fronted bands and I support them. I hope to see many more of them continue to follow their own dreams and not feel restricted by whatever puritanical miser is trying to sew together the wrong version of community.

BnR: What kind of music are you listening to right now?

Otep: I just rediscovered, I know that is weird to say, but I just rediscovered the Chili Peppers. I bought their greatest hits on iTunes and started going back through their catalog and thought ‘What an amazing band this is.’ Even just from a bass perspective, Flea is just ridiculous. I have been listening to a lot of classical music recently because I have been doing a lot of writing. It helps to have that on in the background.

BnR: Have you been visited by Jim Morrison’s ghost recently?

Otep: Well that was at a club once. That is who they said it was. We were at the Viper Room here in Los Angeles. Johnny Deep used to be a co-owner. River Phoenix overdosed outside the club. It was a very hipster club at the time. It is on the site of a famous club the Doors played in. Suddenly, a light switched on stage and it was right in our eyes. We told the lighting guys to turn the light off for a second we are working. They said ‘We didn’t do it. It was the ghost.’ We kind of laughed it off. Then we did a sound check and when we came off stage, the sound guy came over and said ‘No I wasn’t joking. There is a ghost in here.’ Right at that moment, the sound guy is no where near the booth, Roadhouse Blues came on. It played one verse and then stopped. It started and stopped all on it’s own. The sound guy goes ‘Told ya.’ I said that it was one of my favorite bands. The sound guy goes ‘Oh then you know Jim Morrison. That’s his ghost. He haunts us here.’ I just got a little bit of a chill talking about it.

I am a student of the Doors and works of Jim Morrison, James Douglas Morrison. I hope that I am doing him justice in trying to show, the master and the apprentice as I like to think of it, in the works that I create. I believe they were on to something important, the Doors, before Jim’s untimely death. In just the provocational style of theater they conjured in their live shows but also their fusion. I know a lot of people like to label us a metal band, but I tend not to. I tend to think of us as a rock fusion band because we have so many different types of styles within our music, including metal, rock grunge, poetry, hip hop, and spoken word.

Thank you Otep for taking the time to talk to us. We recommend you check out Otep live. They are currently touring with Ill Nino, Walls of Jericho, and Sister Sin as part of the Unite and Conquer.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Heavily influenced by the emotional rawness of Nirvana and the social messages of early East Coast rap and hip hop, OTEP blends a sharp spoken word style with blistering metal guitars. Shamaya’s background in literature shines through with lyrics that are clear and dramatic. If having one of the few female frontpersons in metal—and its only out lesbian—seems like a recipe for disaster, think again: OTEP played Ozzfest 2001, 02, and 04 (they didn’t perform at Ozzfest 2003 because Shamaya was writing their second album, House of Secrets).

This year OTEP is headlining the Alliance of Defiance tour, with forty stops scheduled through the spring.

AfterEllen.com: With the kind of diverse musical influences you had, what brought you to metal?
Otep Shamaya: Aggression, that’s it. I’m quite an aggressive person. I needed a sonic landscape that was just as aggressive as I am. Bands like Slayer and Slipknot, hearing those bands, there was something phenomenal about the way they communicated their messages. Just so precisely, like barbwire. I just fell in love with it. It never occurred to me that women don’t do this kind of music. It never even crossed my mind that I was a rarity or something unique. It didn’t cross my mind that I’m a lesbian and there were no other lesbians around me.

AE: That are out.
O: That I know of, so it never even crossed my mind why I should hide it. Why I should hide anything. Why should I think along those terms? I don’t feel like I’m something unique. So far I’ve only had a few people who seem to have a problem with me being here. Mostly because I’m a woman, and I guess I’m the antithesis of what they embrace as what a woman is. Like, you know, tits and ass. The sexuality of what I do is not even a part of it. If there is anything in there that people can see as erotic, it’s not anything overt. Everyone needs an enemy, and all too often it’s us. If you’re not just gay for a day or bisexual…

AE: Or you’re not there for them to watch with their girlfriend!
O: Exactly, I get that a lot, even from girls. It’s weird. “Oh I’d be lesbian for Otep. Maybe she’d let my boyfriend join in.” Ew! No! I think the lesbian community is just now showing all of itself, all of its faces. Where as before, people might have a certain idea of what a lesbian is. The more exposure people get to any community I think is good. I don’t judge them based on their lives, and I don’t care if they like mine or not, I’m not here for that. We are born alone and we die alone, what’s in between is mine.

AE: Is this your first band ever?
O: This is my first band. I tooled around with musicians, but I was never formally trained. Equipment, timing, different time signatures, I didn’t know any of that stuff. I sat with musicians, learned a little bit by osmosis. It’s a completely different mental process from writing.
When I started the band I found a manager and I brought my books over, my journals and all my illustrations in this big pile. “This is what I want, I want to turn this into music”. And he looked at me and said “OK, let’s try it, let’s find some musicians.”

What we do is a little different, it’s not just your typical metal show. It’s not hair metal or glam or anything of that nature. It’s sort of a dissident cabaret, its theater and in the highest respect to someone like Antonin Artaud. It’s delivering the experience of the topic of the song versus just singing about it, we actually live every moment of the song onstage. Without fire or any sort of theatrics or anything. It’s all through the act of performance.

AE: How did Capitol [Records] find you guys?
O: We were doing local shows around LA and the buzz started and all of a sudden we start noticing suits in the corners watching us and on their phones and their little Blackberries. A friend of ours was our manager at the time and he started coming over and saying “Hey they want to showcase you.” It was a bunch of major labels which was really bizarre, because I never thought we’d get that.

AE: That’s exciting.
O: It was, it was really exciting to have that kind of recognition, especially for what we do. We’d only been a band about eight months by the time we got signed. It happened so quick. And Sharon Osbourne came with her son Jack to one of the shows, at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Sure enough, right after the show, she came up and said “Hey, you guys are playing Ozzfest.” And she hugged me.

AE: What the hell was that like?
O: Yeah! You know what, Sharon’s great, man. She’s a really strong woman. And a lot of people give her a bad name, but that’s just typical for any woman that’s in power/charge. We said “Hey Sharon, we don’t have a record deal.” She said “I don’t care, make it happen.” I don’t know, the stars were in line or something for us that week. Not only did Sharon come out and offer us Ozzfest before we had a record deal, we had three showcases that same week. Capitol called us back for one more showcase, they said we’re gonna bring down somebody and we want you to do it one more time. And I said okay.

AE: How did that go?
O: So there’s this little club called the Viper Room that Johnny Depp used to own. Really nice, really cool place. It’s real intimate, and a great vibe there. It’s haunted—

AE: By who, do you know?
O: Not sure. But things have always happened strange for us when we are there. I’m a big Doors fan, and so when we got there the sound guy goes “Now look, while you guys are setting up, if the music just starts playing in here, like from our CD player, it’s not us. We have an electronic problem. Actually we have a ghost.” And I said “Oh uh whatever.”

AE: It’s the old electronic problem slash ghost. (laughs)
O: Yeah, ‘slash ghost’. (laughs) And I guess if you don’t believe in ghosts, then you latch onto the electronic problem. If you believe in ghosts…so I just dismissed it as ok whatever this guy is just trying to set a mood. So we’re standing there and sure enough, you know, I’m talking to somebody about something and right over the speakers “Roadhouse Blues” just erupted.

AE: Wow!
O: And lights would come on and off periodically. It’s just a really bizarre place.

AE: Holy shit! That’s cool. Little visitation from Jim Morrison.
O: It was a nice little visit from Mr. Morrison to come down and say “Hi” on the day we decided we were going to sign with Capitol. I took that as a big omen. So we did the show and after the show I’m always trapped in this whirlwind of emotion. So I walked outside, came out the back door, and there’s all the Capitol guys on their phones saying “Now! We gotta make this deal happen now!” It’s been a really quick ride.

This is a message driven band and we stand for something. For me it’s so important to live it and not just pretend it. To get over having some sense of celebrity or fame or notoriety or money or girls or whatever, that’s not what I started this for. So I’ve gone through players trying to find people who are like minded. Our fans are very passionate people and I think they’re for the same kind of things we’re searching for. And you can’t take advantage of that. It’s easy, it’s tempting to do. You get people that want to get close to you and get to know you, but what they are looking for is what’s in your music. There is some honor in living by that. And not “Oh well, this girl is damaged and needs someone to stand by her, well okay I can take advantage of that with a quick night and then be back on my bus be on my way”. I don’t think that’s what this project is for. There’s a thousand other bands out there that do that. So anybody that doesn’t want to shed their skin and be a part of this movement, then they can be in one of those other thousand and one bands.

AE: What is the message you are talking about as far as the band goes?
O: There’s many messages I think, but the overall message is that art saves. I come from a very aggressive background, poverty, violence, religious persecution. So the only thing that allowed me to either not become a victim or a victimizer, which is all too often the case as well, or seeking out other people to victimize me, was art. I ended up not hurting myself, as much, or hurting anyone else, as much. The music itself is a celebration of survival. I think it celebrates the fact that, as the existentialist movement embraces, life is shit, there is nothingness and life is pain. By embracing that, you become a whole person, you become joyful and exciting. Not by not looking at it and not facing it. This embraces it and takes it head on.

Then celebrates that we’ve overcome any obstacle put in front of us. I think that is a message lacking in aggressive music and I think that’s another thing that sets us apart from the herd.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Speaking of Voices from the Shadows
Good Omens and Good Conversation with Otep

By Rob Swick
Photos by Marco Herrán

A few hours before her band’s eagerly-anticipated Halloween performance, poet-singer Otep Shamaya met with Rob Swick from All Access Magazine to talk about music, media, and messages…

All Access Magazine: Tonight it’s Halloween in Hollywood, and Otep is playing the world-famous Whisky-a-Go-Go where, back in the psychedelic era, the Doors were the house band. Otep Shamaya, in another interview you said that when you played the Viper Room years ago, you experienced a kind of “visitation” from Jim Morrison, right?

Otep: I think so. I mean, we had been told that the place was haunted, and it was kind of a big night for us, it was a showcase, and we were getting ready to come down for the show, and all of a sudden the music comes over the intercom, over the P.A., and it’s “Roadhouse Blues.”

AAM: Since this is Jim Morrison’s stomping ground, the Whisky, do you feel any kind of presence, vibe, sense of communion across the decades?

Otep: Well, the Doors are one of my favorite bands. And of course, the type of show we do is heavily influenced by the Doors’ live show. And so whenever we play here, I always hope to have some sort of creative connection, and it always feels like we have. Something blossoms beautifully in this place.

AAM: You do believe in omens, don’t you?

Otep: Sure, absolutely.

AAM: Then, speaking of omens, I would imagine you have a good vibe for your upcoming CD release, since, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t the title something like “Recognize the Signs, Obey the Omens”?

Otep: That’s a slogan for it. That’s not the title.

AAM: Do we have a title yet?

Otep: We do, but I’m not allowed to release it, the label’s will just strangle me.

AAM: Understood. Can you tell us when the release date is expected to be?

Otep: Early next year, they keep telling me February or March.

AAM: How many tracks so far?

Otep: Twelve tracks, with one “hidden.”

AAM: How much of tonight’s show will feature new music?

Otep: Three songs. We’re doing a ten-song set: five songs from the first record, two songs from the second, and three from the new.

AAM: You’ll be touring for the new release, won’t you?

Otep: Yes, we’re doing the first-ever “user-generated tour,” in November. We teamed up with Eventful.com, and allowed the fans to choose, the fans voted, and it’s the first time it ever happened. The response was incredible, we actually do have some of the most passionate and beautifully-inspired fans ever.

AAM: Let’s talk a little more about that. For instance, here in the Valley we have different interesting little population pockets. Do you find unexpected pockets of fans here in the Valley, or in L.A., or for that matter, around the country or around the world?

Otep: It’s always interesting to me whenever we go to play different cities. It’s a different culture, everywhere, and you can usually tell which areas you’re in by the style of dress and things that are indigenous to certain cultures. It’s always surprising to me to find that the counter-culture is so amoebic now, that it doesn’t have a central sort of leadership, it’s not focused, and maybe it never was, but especially now – it’s so thinned out, and I think that has a lot to do with the Internet. That allows people to connect. And so whenever we do shows like this, it’s always a blessing for me, because I’m able to connect with people that have the same mindset.

AAM: On that note, you’re known as a West Coast or L.A. band, to a degree. Do you or your bandmates claim any particular town, barrio or neighborhood as “stomping grounds,” from either old times or current times?

Otep: It’s hard to do that. We don’t really segregate ourselves to Silverlake or Hollywood. We’re an L.A. band, and we feel that all the different elements of L.A. represent us.

AAM: In addressing what you represent, do you sense any kind of thread between early protest-related metal such as Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” all the way up to songs of protest like your “Warhead”? Is there any connection, any thread of continuity?

Otep: Oh, sure, I think that there is in some respects. I think it’s the job of an artist to provoke. That’s a definition of art. People ask, “How do you know this is art?” – you know, if it’s Impressionistic or modern art, or whatever. If it provokes something inside you, then it’s art. And I think that people who do this for a hobby aren’t necessarily representing their audience the best. It’s our job to speak, when we have a voice, because there are so many people who don’t.

AAM: So true. And speaking of voices, you know L.A. lost hard-rock radio station KNAC a while back, but now we have Indie 103, which appears to have featured your “Buried Alive,” maybe among other tracks. Are you getting other local airplay?

Otep: No, we’re not, not that I know of. But I know that one of the DJs on KROQ is a real big fan. He came out to one of our shows and he was asking me, “Why don’t I have any of your music?” And I said, “I don’t know.”

AAM: Okay, to find out more about how your music got started, can you tell us how young were you when you started writing?

Otep: As soon as I understood what a story was, I started writing. I was still in grade school, probably.

AAM: Did you keep it to yourself for a while, or were you able to share even from those early times?

Otep: I shared it with my mom, but that’s it. I wasn’t raised in any intellectual, progressive household.

AAM: And it was after you found your written voice that you began to develop your audible vocal style. How did you begin to develop your style, which I think is still evolving?

Otep: I think it’s an artist’s job to always evolve. Once I feel like I’ve plateaued, it’s time for me to switch to another genre or another medium.

AAM: Well, coming out as Otep did, around the year 2000, were there certain influences that might have helped you?

Otep: Sure, bands like Tool, Korn, Slipknot, The Doors, Nirvana, The Deftones. I think all those bands made such an impact because of their uniqueness. They were so unique, and had their own identity. There are not a lot of bands that have identities nowadays.

AAM: Among the aspects of your own identity is your vocal range. How do you protect your voice from show to show, month to month?

Otep: I drink a lot of tea. It’s Yogi Tea, for the throat. A lot of lozenges. And I actually do know some vocal warm-ups and lessons and things to strengthen and protect. It’s all muscles. I think a lot of times singers’ egos get in the way of them stepping and admitting that they may do exercises or something, and I think that’s silly, and I think, why? You should always want to protect your instrument.

AAM: Do you play any other instruments now? Strings, keys or percussion?

Otep: I won’t ever dare to say that I play any instrument. I mess around a little, but I compose more than I play. That’s what the musicians are for.

AAM: And the composition process is a team effort. Now, you’ve been through various personnel changes over time, so we want to make sure we get the lineup for both tonight’s show and the new disk. Obviously, Otep Shamaya, lead vocalist. We’ve already seen Evil J on bass. Karma Cheema is who you’ve got on the axe tonight, and on drums would be Brian Wolff. Now, are these the same guys that will be on the new disk?

Otep: Yes.

AAM: Any other featured performers, backups?

Otep: No, but I wrote with a lot of people on this record, not only the band. I wrote with the guitar player from Mudvayne, I wrote three songs with him. I wrote with another songwriter I was really pleased to work with. That’s part of what I hope to do, to be inspired and challenged by as many artistic influences as possible.

AAM: And you’ll even be willing to synthesize or merge or meld with other minds.

Otep: Sure – how else am I going to grow?

AAM: Let me ask about the live performance experience. Do you find it to be a catharsis for you?

Otep: Sure, absolutely.

AAM: Can it then be a way to disperse negative aggression, to help to re-focus it possibly in a positive direction?

Otep: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that’s the point, the whole purpose of it. I find art to be a method. You have to want to be saved, you have to want to grow, you have to want to change and heal and get strong. Nobody’s going to knock on your door, bop-bop-bop, and hand you a new life. It’s more about being consistent and focused and passionate about it.

AAM: Do you believe, though, that we can fully “exorcise” our demons, or must we simply come to grips with them, learn to live with them?

Otep: I think we must learn to put them in chains. I don’t want them to go away. I don’t want anything to go away – I want to always remember it. But I just don’t want it to control me anymore, I want to control it.

AAM: Remembering the excesses and untimely demise of Jim Morrison, for instance, or how about Rozz from Christian Death a few years ago – when do you know when to step back from the “edge,” maybe of madness or self-destruction, and how?

Otep: You know, self-destruction is counter-productive, and at the same time, who are you satisfying with doing that? I mean really, who are you going to end up hurting? And are you just really surrendering? I would prefer to go down in a fight, rather than just fold my hands and say, “I quit.”

AAM: Will the Whisky provide the stage tonight for some kind of “dissident cabaret”?

Otep: Of course. All of our shows are dissident cabarets.

AAM: It appears one of your influences was French writer Antonin Artaud, who asked, “Who am I? Where do I come from?” Do you begin to answer, or try to answer those questions, when you suggest that we “shed our skins”?

Otep: Yes.

AAM: You have said that you’re a message-driven band, and not only can you, as a writer, stand for something, but your fans can stand for something too, for instance, when we come to the term “shadow soldiers.” For the uninitiated, what do you mean by “shadow soldiers”

Otep: I feel like a lot of us live our lives in the shadows, invisible. So I felt like it’s important for people to feel empowered by, say, their isolation, or if they don’t feel like they really fit in anywhere. So I felt like they should feel empowered by something, so we gave them a label that I felt was important. Plus, at the time, you had all this b.s. Republican rhetoric going on with “shadow soldiers” and “terrorist cells,” so I thought it was just a nice play on words.

AAM: As a message-driven band, in summing up, do you have a message or word of encouragement for the people who will read this interview?

Otep: I hope that they will continue to define themselves – and don’t ever allow anyone else to tell you who you are.

AAM: Thank you so much. All Access Magazine thanks Otep Shamaya and the band for their time and attention for this interview, and for what’s sure to be a great show. Happy Halloween, and rock on!

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

17th October 2011

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Interview with OTEP       
So, after a deep slumber, Music Equals Life has broken from it’s cocoon and we are ready to share all music that we feel you should know about if you don’t already.  Or if you do, then to help you expand your knowledge of it.  As you know, we definately focus on the melodic rock aspect of music.  But we also delve into the other regions of music as well.

We at Music Equals Life would like to first acknowledge our new writer on staff.  She has been a good friend of the site for awhile but just recently joined our crew of misfits and bandits.  Her name is Amber.  She is a much welcomed addition and will be a great asset for our site!  So welcome!

For this interview, Amber sat down in at The Rave in Milwaukee for a conversation with Otep Shamaya of the metal band OTEP, about her struggles and successes with the business of music, the state of rock / metal itself and more.  This may be a bit of a lengthy read but definately interesting through and through.

Amber:  It seems that you’ve had a roller coaster of a ride since the merger of Capital and Virgin Records.  First in march, rumors that you were off the label, then back on and now off again.  How’s that been for you?

OTEP:  Well, it’s been difficult.  To say the least.  I think, we were expecting something to happen around November with the label because we heard through the rumor mill that things weren’t going well.  With like the president of capital records at the time, Denny Slater was nervous about his job.  And whenever the president of the label is nervous, then that means everyone should be nervous.  And pretty much the entire place just kinda froze with fear.  It just became paralyzed because no one wanted to lose their job. They didn’t really know what was going on, and you know at first, when you know, the axe came down, and everyone got fired within Capital… We were fine.  We still had a release date, everything was great.  And there were rumors and this, that and the other, and when the merger happened between Virgin and Capital the new regime still wanted to keep us, but I just felt it was time to move on. We’d been with Capital Records for a long time and I would just rather be out on the market place and be around people that, instead of inheriting our work, and they have to work it, I’d rather that they want to.  And find people that are excited and passionate and all that, so we negotiated a release and we are unsigned which is fabulous and we haven’t been this excited in a long time.  The offers are pouring in right now from a bunch of different labels and there are some very interesting ones too, which I was quite happy with.  So, hopefully before this tour is up, we will have some news.

Amber: Awesome! Now, you’re all done with the album?

OTEP:  The album is done, it’s mastered, it’s ready to go.  The packaging is all ready.

Amber: The record label…

OTEP:  All they have to do is buy it.

Amber:  So what do you think of music right now?  Especially the Rock and Metal Scene?

OTEP:  It seems, I think, congested with garbage.  I think that there’s a lot of image oriented bands that don’t really worry about song content.  They don’t worry about compositioning, it’s all about hair gel and tight fucking pants and that kind of thing.  And it’s not about music anymore.  So at least the overall general consensus is that…  We’re lucky on this tour it seems, to be around bands that are all west coast bands, which is exceptional.  But we’re also around bands that have the same philosophies and they’re all incredibly talented.  It’s just amazing on a tour like this.  But I don’t know.  I can’t….  There’s not very many bands that are new that I can be switched on by.  I don’t think I’m alone in that.  But I think also that it’s the dumbing down of the audience as well.  They’re excepting weaker images of things that were once thought of as powerful and excepting them as dominance.  It’s just disappointing to see, and to experience and to be around.  Hopefully though, since it seems that there is a change in the conscienceness of America, through political means, it seems there will be a change in the overall awareness of America which is actually good.

Amber:  It’s got to be hard for bands who have a good message and want to be out there and are in it for the love of music when everything is just dumbed down.

OTEP:  It is…  Because you see people that get a lot more recognition, and I don’t know if recognition is exactly what we’re after.  But sometimes it does get frustrating when you someone who you know… And I know, because I’ve been on tour with them, or I’ve been around them and they’re not very talented, and they don’t care about their audience. They’re using it as a job and a hustle and all that.  And to see them get revered and get so much attention from publications and critics and shit, it just… It’s frustrating too.  But it’s also kinda the business we’re in, you know?  The flash always gets more attention… Than depth. 

Amber:  I’m sorry, but I’m going to get a little personal on this one.  But your song Jonestown Tea, about you being sexual abused… Now, I read a newspaper article about these girls that went through a similar thing.  And they brought this song to their mother to bring attention to what was happening to them.  Now, have you ever thought that your music and your words would ever help people be able to overcome things like this?

OTEP:  No, no, I never did.  But I think that’s the power of art.  It truly is.  The way that it’s able to empower people and what it did for me is now doing for other people through me and through us.  It was unexpected and it’s meaningful beyond words.  I don’t ever have to win a grammy or sell thirty thousand million records, but it’s doing something like that, that matters the most to me.  And I’m fulfilled, satisfied.  That was one of the most meaningful things that I know that sometimes we play shows and that people come because they hear about how incredibly insane our mosh pits are, or how they want to see the girl scream like the devil, they want to see the gimic of it. But they come and they see the art of it and then when I bring up and we do this song.  We haven’t done it on this run.  But, most headlining shows, we will play that song, and I will always bring up those girls, and it straightens everyone right up.

Amber:  I saw you here a couple of years ago, and it was June of ‘05, I believe, and you preformed that tune, and it was very powerful.

OTEP:  Yea, playing here too.  (speaking of the Rave)  It’s an odd place to play, and it’s really bizarre.  It raises the energy’s floating around this place.  And especially playing Jonestown Tea here, was really meaningful to me. The experience itself, the emotions and everything it brought up.

Amber:  You were recently featured on CNN.com’s People You Should Know, what was that like for you?

OTEP: Good.  Unexpected.  I had no idea, and CNN is where I usually watch news and just clicking over and someone had sent me a link and I was just on the website, but I wasn’t on that page.  So, I went over there and saw it and was like Wow!  I never knew, I never knew.  It was just incredible. It really was.  I don’t know what to say about it, it was unexpected. It is an honor.  But especially someone who is in the underground like that, being able to get certain recognition through something like cnn.com, it’s really cool.

Amber:  Early in your career, you were offered a spot on Ozzfest after Sharon Osbourne saw you play.  What was that all like?

OTEP:  Well, we were playing, we were unsigned, and it was only our 5th or 6th show, ever.  And we were playing the Roxie in LA and before the show, of course someone had to tell me that, *whispers* “I think Sharon Osbourne is here.” And I was like, “oh, okay.” So with that in mind, just do your show.  And so we played, and we were opening for a band called Cold at the time.  And we played, and you know what, it was Jonestown Tea remarkably enough, was the one that hooked her in, and we were doing a really great rendition of that song and after we got done, I was in back, recovering from the performance, because that one is always a really difficult song for me.  And the guy that was our manager at the time, came back and was like, “Sharon wants to meet you.”  “Now?”  “Yes.”  So, I go out and there’s Sharon and Jack and she says, *with a Sharon Osbourne impression* “That was a wonderful performance.”  And I was like, “Thank you very much.”  I’m a little shy at times around people that are very complimentary.  So, she said, “Get ready, because you’re playing Ozzfest this year.”  And I looked at her and was like, “We don’t have a record deal Sharon.” And she goes, “I don’t care.  Make it happen.”  And that was it.  And there were already label cats that were at our 2nd and 3rd shows, so we already had some things lined up.  I don’t know if the stars were in line or what that week because we had a label bidding war and our 7th or 8th show as a band was Ozzfest.

Amber:  It’s got to be incredible to start out like that right away and play in front of all those people.

OTEP: Well, and then like the year before, I was just a fan at Ozzfest, just someone in the audience and I was watching some crappy band play and I’m like, “I’m going to be here next year. I’m going to be up there.”  And the guy I was with, was like, “Come on, you don’t even have a band. What are you talking about?  What are ya doing?” And I was like, “Just watch.”  And sure enough the next year, I mean, when I get my teeth into something, it’s over.

Amber:  Now what do you think about the Osbournes with having their show on TV and all that?

OTEP:  It was outrageous and it was funny. But I know them. And it’s definitely a part of them.  But some of that was definitely dolled up for the show.  Jack and Kelly are actually really great people.  And Sharon is wonderful and has always taken really great care of me whenever we’re on Ozzfest.  But it was interesting and I was really proud for them to get that.

Amber:  Is there any plans for joining Ozzfest this year?

OTEP: I don’t think so.  It’s just too…  We’ve already done it.  We’ve been on it three times, 2 1/2 I guess, 2001, 2002, and 2004. And the way it’s done this year, it’s just weird.  It’s regional, and I don’t know.  It just…  There’s some other things.  Like, we’ve already done it, so why not let some other bands do it who’ve never done it before.  And let’s go after something we’ve never done before, that way it’s fair for everyone.

Continued on page 2.

{mospagebreak}

Amber: Recently, you just cameoed in a song called “Kiss them for me” by  Natalia.  The song is very different than the sound of your band.  What was it like going into a different genre and with the fans that have heard it, what has been their reaction.

OTEP:  Well, before I did aggressive music, I was a spoken poet and I did hip hop. I wrote hip hop lyrics, but it was not like the bling bullshit, it was more like underground poetics and celebrating the beat poets and that type of thing.  So it’s not a departure for me personally.  Maybe a departure for fans that have never heard me do things like that before, but I’ve rhymed over songs before like T.R.I.C., Battle Ready, Possession and Confrontation are similar in that vein.  Fans that have heard it have not said anything.  But it’s her song and she asked me to do it.  And plus the producer who produced it is Greg Wells who produced our second record.  So, it’s all kind of family and friends kind of thing.  He asked me if I would want to rap on a song, and I said, “Absolutely. I mean, why not?” And so I did.  The fans that have heard it and commented on it to me about said they thought it was great and that I should do more of it.

Amber: Yea, I liked it a lot.  Okay, so what have you been listening to lately?

OTEP:  I’ve been listening to a collage of a bunch of things.  There’s this one playlist on my ipod/itunes that I have called ataraxia.  But it’s got everything from Beethovan’s “Moonlight Sinata”, Queens of the Stone Age, to Slayer and Radiohead and Juana Molina.  Nirvana and Bush, The Deftones and Tool and Nine Inch Nails.

Amber:  A good variety…

OTEP:  Yea.  You know, we make aggressive music but that’s just because it’s the way that we want to communicate our art.  But it’s not what completely influences me.  I love all types of music.  I like to experience a bunch of different things and have a variety in life.

Amber:  Who are some of your favorite artists?

OTEP:  Well, Picasso obviously is one of my favorite painters. Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali of course and Max Ernst.  For writers, Hunter S. Thompson, he is the master.  Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Ayn Rand, Anais Nin. and then Nietzsche and Kant.

Amber:  Okay, I was just curious on this new tattoo that you got, why did you cover up other ones?

OTEP:  Well, I thought that it was time.  You get tattoos in the moment in certain moments in your life.  And I’m just ready, as all circus people do, to shed my skin and move past these things.  Besides that, I think that instead of having scattered pieces all over me.  Or meaningless things now.  Things that don’t mean anything to me with where I’m at now, so I want to replace it with works of art that will always be important to me and always have some meaning.

Amber:  So, I have a couple of other really stupid and silly questions, so it should be fun.

OTEP:  Alright, let’s do that.

Amber:  What is the most ridiculous joke that you’ve heard lately?

OTEP:  Ridiculous joke? Hmmm..  Oh well, uh, that Bush has an exit strategy out of Iraq.

Amber:  Now there’s one question, that every time Music Equals Life has an interview — there’s one question we always ask.  It goes, “If the saying was true, that if you are what you eat.  You would be a what?”

OTEP:  Ooooo.  Ah. I dunno, this question could get me in trouble.  Well, ah.  Well, I don’t know.  This is kind of a silly one.  I can’t really answer that in an appropriate way.

Amber:  It can be inappropriate, that’s fine.

OTEP:  Okay, if I am what I eat, I am a….  Cunnlinguist.  Absolutely haha.

Amber:  Alright, that’s all that I have then.  Thank you for your time.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

7th October 2011

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[INTERVIEW] Otep Shamaya Tops Our VMA Poll; Dishes On Rihanna, Gaga And ‘Fists Fall’ Posted 8/23/11 7:33 pm EST by Caroline Walker in Art, Contests, Interview, Music Photo: OTEP (Djosefin Maurer) If you weren’t an OTEP fan before, now’s as good a time as any to join the bandwagon. Metal singer Otep Shamaya creamed the competition in our extended Best Video With a Message poll. A well-deserved honor? You’d better believe it. … Just don’t expect the gracious star to get all self-righteous about it. When we asked her about other performers merging art and advocacy, she shouted out a few female counterparts from the pop world: “Lady Gaga does that famously and fantastically, and I respect that.” And Rihanna? “When you think of someone like her that has a had a real public issue with domestic violence—for her to use that horrible event and for her to turn it into something powerful, I think is very inspiring.” OTEP’s own platforms run the gamut—from government and education reform to civil and animal rights to the crusade for an inclusive, self-loving youth culture; her video for “Fist Falls” is a reaction to national anti-bullying campaigns that emphasize hope—a great start, OTEP says, as long as we don’t just sit around passively for the tide to change. “It does get better,”…(but?)…”you don’t have to let people bully you—you can fight back.” Not with fists, but by being real. “Accepting who you are is an act of defiance. Being educated is an act of defiance. Being informed and being involved in the struggle to better the country [are acts] of defiance.” The artist speaks from experience, and her message comes through loud and clear. “I didn’t choose to be right-handed, to be blonde, to have green eyes, freckles, I didn’t choose any of that. I didn’t choose to be a lesbian but I love who I am. When it says that all are created equal, there are no asterisks. It says all are equal. We need to live up to that part of what our forefathers wrote.” Head over to A Thin Line and Love Is Louder to mark your own act of defiance below.

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

7th October 2011

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Otep Challenges Corey Taylor, Jonathan Davis To Poetry Slam

Heavy metal singer welcomes all challengers in her quest to destroy the world.

By Gil Kaufman

Alchemical stews, Marxism, Nietzsche, the puritanical elite, the history of Sapphic poetry, Egyptian mysticism, ancient Roman graffiti and the patriarchal slant of children’s toys.

A list of topics in a college course, perhaps? Nope.

Just a few highlights of a conversation with the leader of a frighteningly heavy (mental) band currently slaying ‘em on Ozzfest. Don’t worry, Ozzy hasn’t gone all Ivy League on you, and Rob Zombie isn’t trading in his shrunken heads for pointy ones.

Her stage name is Otep Shamaya, and if you believe what this scarily well read, demonic-voiced shredder proclaims, the end is nigh … and her group, also called Otep, is the house band of the coming apocalypse.

“We have a unique message, a unique vision, and we communicate it in a way that people are hungry for. It’s something authentic, something sacred. It’s the sweet disease of empowerment,” said singer/lyricist Otep (an anagram of “poet”), who would only give her age as “five lifetimes old.”

With imagery and lyrics that make Marilyn Manson seem like Disney fare, Otep’s recently released full-length debut, Sevas Tra — again with the anagrams, this time “Art Saves” — is a harrowing series of literate, intensely personal poems delivered in Otep’s signature animalistic growl. That rumbling voice, used in a way typically associated with grindcore or death metal bands, is one of the few things that Otep has in common with her Ozzfest brethren.

Invited to join last year’s Ozzfest as an unsigned, unrecorded act after Sharon Osbourne saw the group perform a club show, Otep honed their sound on last year’s Jihad EP before being asked to join Ozzfest again this year. The only female-fronted act on the bill has drawn attention not just because its lead singer is an anomaly on the testosterone-heavy fest.

Otep said she thinks fans are feeling a visceral connection to such mythology-inspired tales of abuse as “Emtee” (“Eye remember/ Feeling the sting of childhood and injections/ Holy bruises”) and the harrowing show-stopper “Jonestown Tea.”

That song, a slow-building, morbid, spoken word tale about rape, murder, incest and the failure of organized religion was inspired by growing up in what the singer described as a “magnetic tar pit of negativity.” Though she refuses to reveal where she was raised, Otep said the poverty and violence of her background gave her two choices: “I could either destroy myself,” she said, “or the world around me. I came up with this new form of mental alchemy where I transformed these negative aspects of my life into something golden.”

That alchemy — in the form of her cathartic poetry and rebel yell — is perfected in the group’s mix of minor-key metal, grinding hardcore hip-hop and thrash poetry on such Sevas Tra tracks as “My Confession,” “Sacrilege” and the anthem of the group’s followers, dubbed Shadow Soldiers, the apocalyptic metal-hop anthem “Battle Ready.”

In the latter, Otep takes on organized religion from a typically unique perspective. “Shaking up the world,” she yells, “Just like the second coming of Christ/ When eye write/ Thrice divine with the goddess sight.”

So, does Otep have a Christ complex? “There was a prophet who thought that if there was going to be a new messiah that it would be a woman and she’d be a Scorpio,” Otep said, disappointed in herself for forgetting the prophet’s name. “Well, I’m a triple Scorpio, but it’s not a Christ complex, because organized religion is a lie.”

While poetry and metal are not typical bedfellows, Otep’s passion has clearly had a profound effect on some of her fans. In the “Poet Tree” section of the group’s Web site, hundreds of poems with titles such as “Reflecting Scars,” “Remedelighted,” “Fragile Mind” and “Glass Heart” have been posted by the group’s followers, further proof to Otep that, no matter how hard the medium, art communicates.

“I don’t think the essence of the poetry is lost [in our delivery],” Otep said. “The ‘Art of War’ teaches you to destroy your enemy from within. We give them something no one else can, and that’s something intellectual, poetic, a real thing that is also brutally savage. Our message is being communicated because the music is so powerful, because there’s no other band that plays heavier than we do, and if they do, they’re in for a run for their money. And there’s the brutality of what I can do with my voice.”

Not one to back down from a challenge, and undaunted by being one of the few women performing this kind of music, Otep then went on to call out Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Korn’s Jonathan Davis and the singers of Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death. “Put them up against what I can do and see how they measure up octave-by-octave and how low they can go,” she said. “Then let’s go to the intelligence meter and see how far up the scale someone like Incubus rise poetically.”

The gauntlet thrown down, Otep said it isn’t about a competition, but, rather, a connection. “Just yesterday, this girl came up to me in tears, shaking, and thanked me for writing ‘Jonestown Tea,’ ” she said. “When people tell me they’re reading books because of what I’ve been singing about, I’m almost in tears because I’m so touched. We’re building an underground army where each person is their own regiment. It will grow out of control.”

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

7th October 2011

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Alt-metal band Otep will release their third album, The Ascension, October 30. The disc was produced by Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Evanescence) and, according to Otep, marks a concerted effort to break out of the nü-metal box some have placed them in. “We said, ‘Genre limits and music fads be damned,’ ” frontwoman Otep Shamaya said in a statement. “Let’s write music that is important to us and that motivates us. I wanted to write songs we believe in and let nothing stop us from building the album we want to make.” …

Tagged: Otepotep shamaya

7th October 2011

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Metal File: Otep, Dimmu Borgir, Unearth & More News That Rules

L.A. metallers Otep discovered a new energy while recording in New Orleans.

By Chris Harris and Jon Wiederhorn

Otep’s forthcoming third full-length album, The Ascension, was written long before the Los Angeles metallers boarded a plane bound for New Orleans — where they’d track the effort with Grammy-winning producer Dave Fortman (Evanescence, Mudvayne) over the course of several months.

During the band’s stay, though, frontwoman Otep Shamaya said she couldn’t help but get caught up in the emotion of living and working in this forgotten, battered metropolis, left devastated in the wake of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Shamaya said the cheerless vibe that permeated this once grand city, and the hopeful spirit of the resilient survivors who continue to rebuild their lives down there, bled into Otep’s new material.

“We went there for a couple of reasons: Dave was there, and we wanted to get out of L.A.,” she explained. “It’s very easy for bands to make records where they live, but when you go home every night, it becomes more of a job. You can’t live the album all day, every day. In New Orleans, we could never escape that energy. We also really wanted to try to bring something to the economy of that area, but we didn’t realize how bad it was. Nothing’s happening there.”

When Otep arrived, Fortman drove the band through the city’s Ninth Ward, “and it was shocking. Absolutely shocking. There are entire neighborhoods that are just gone — pulverized. Boats pinned beneath houses. So that kind of seeped into the songs a bit. A part of that energy — part of the people who asked us when they saw us not to forget about them — that did seep into what we were doing. It had to. It was very important for us to include that energy in our music and remember how important art is and what it can do.”

Working with Fortman on The Ascension, which hits stores March 20 and features a cover of Nirvana’s “Breed,” was important for the bandmembers, Shamaya said, because they are huge fans of his previous collaborations.

“We liked the sound of his albums, the tonality of them,” she said. “For the type of band that I think we are, where every instrument counts, I wanted every instrument to have its own voice and tell its own story. With Dave, when you listen to the records he’s made, every instrument has a clear, signature sound. That was really important for us for this album; that’s what we wanted to happen.”

Otep — made up of Shamaya, guitarist Karma Cheema, bassist “Evil” J. McGuire and drummer Brian Wolff — had to refocus their attention for this effort, the singer said, and forget about anything they’d done in the past.

“From my perspective, knowing a lot of bands and listening to a lot of bands, the first record — even if it isn’t their best record — has this energy about it, this risk,” Shamaya said. “It seems that there’s this sophomore curse for most bands, but they still seem to become confident in the idea that they can write the music. But there’s something missing sometimes. I wanted to refocus our attention and pretend this was our first record and really try and not look at what we know, what’s worked and get mixed up in that whole corporate mentality. I wanted to fall back on our instincts and write songs that are important to us.”

On her end, Shamaya feels she’s grown as a growler and that, through her lyrics, she’s become a better storyteller. “I just wanted to be better at what I do. I think our strength lies in our ability to be a fusion band. Every player has their own influences and own styles, and that helps us create something different and new each time.”

But longtime fans shouldn’t expect a complete shift in Otep’s sound. Shamaya said this third set contains the same elements found on the band’s previous LPs, along with several fresh sonic elements. Lyrically, the singer said she derived inspiration from her own observations on society. The track “Invisible,” for instance, is a commentary on conformity, while “Perfectly Flawed” is a song that celebrates “uniqueness, and how we don’t all have to look like supermodels.” “Noose and Nail” is an attack “on the pharmaceutical culture in this country,” while “Home Grown” addresses the issues of domestic violence. “Eat the Children” was inspired by “those mothers who’ve been murdering their children, sometimes in the name of God,” she said.

“Sometimes,” she added, “I wish I could just sit back and write a song about a sunny day or a car passing, but that’s just not the way my instincts work at this point.”

Tagged: otepotep shamaya

29th September 2011

Post with 8 notes

Otep Dedicated to My Enemy :D <3

Dedicated to my enemy

You have 7 seconds to decipher your
life,before my tongue becomes a blade and your brain gets sliced.
I warned you before,I’m addicted to war,
I was prayin’ for Armageddon on the day I was born..

3 pounds. 4 oz. 7 weeks premature
perfectly flawed and perfectly impure

See, it was a night of lies
it was a sick, quick,compromise
it was… the devil in his eyes
it was… innocence slithering down her thighs
it was… it was his fuckin fist into ah…
[three hard blows into her side]
INTO HER FUCKIN SIDE..

And why? Cuz there was a baby,
Barely 3 Months alive.
But I SURVIVED…
To stubborn to succumb to the drippin jaws of the DOMINANT PARADIGM…

I speak out of turn
I taught myself everything that I ever needed to learn, which is: I don’t have to be anything.. BUT ME
Napalm bright, celebrating the burn..

See, I’m supposed to be weak and depleted,my uniqueness,erased and deleted
I’m supposed to be a fist and a bruise,nothing left inside and nothing left to lose

They want me to be a breeder
Not a thinker
Not a leader
A sermonless disciple to a desperate,demented preacher
NO VOICE! NO CHOICE!
 
…but I WILL FAIL THEM!!
I have no need for their acceptance, their limits,their lies
I learned to hate from YOU!
I am your most BELOVED.. BLASPHEMOUS.. CHILD…”

Tagged: OtepOtep shamayaPoetry