Metal-Ways: You released your last album My Fatal Kiss in August. Are you satisfied with it?

Cushi: Obviously we're proud of the record because we've worked on it quite a long time. It would be very bad if we weren't satisfied with it. The most important thing is when you play the songs live for the first time to see if you're really up to something. Luckily, so far, the responses have been very very positive, so we couldn't be happier with it. We released it in Germany in August, but we're going to release it in France on Monday.

M-W: And are you planning some shows in France?

Cushi: Well, we hope this time around the stars will align right because last time it didn't materialize. We think that we have good people around us now who are going to hopefully make it happen.

Ji-In: Our booker works on it.

Cushi: We have to. It's about time.

M-W: You played in Wacken in the past. Are you planning big festivals for this year?

Cushi: It hasn't been confirmed yet if we're going to play in Wacken again. It would be our turn again, because it's been 2 years now, but we might do it either this August or maybe next year. So we're still in discussions there. Apart from that, we're going to have a meeting with our booking agency on Tuesday, so they're going to fill us in on all the new stuff that are going to happen.

M-W: You said in a previous interview that My Fatal Kiss was mainly written to be performed on stage.

Ji-In: Getting together with the audience is the most important thing for us. This is why we thought we should write songs for the audience, for our fans.

M-W: And do you already feel the difference between the old and the new songs?

Cushi: To be honest with you, at the beginning we were struggling a little bit because this recording process took us 2 years. We only played Wacken and a couple of other shows in between. So when we returned to the festivals stage last summer, we could tell, when we watched the videos of the shows, that, well, the older stuff, obviously, we've played that more often before, so... But it took us about 2 or 3 shows I think to really get it right. And I think the experiment worked. We still tweaked some of the songs of My Fatal Kiss, added some little parts here, tried something extra here... which you're probably going to hear tonight, some of it at least. It's still an evolutionary process. At the time we recorded the album, we felt "That's how it's supposed to be, those songs work" and now we say "Alright now, what can we change about it? Let's paint them red now".

M-W: How did the writing process go for this album?

Ji-In: We collect all the ideas and we write the songs together, but the master of English words is Cushi and the ideas are from us.

Cushi: But that's basically just putting it together technically because we tend to right about experiences we all share. Because, as a band nowadays, it's very much "up and down, up and down again". We've been through our tries and tribulations. When one of us feels a certain rage or anger about something, all other people can relate to it within the band. So basically, everybody throws his or her ideas on the table and then we think "Ok now how can we unify this stuff?" and that's basically how we do it. Actually this album was even more of a group effort. That's probably because we've been together for 5+ years now.

M-W: And that's quite impressive: the line-up didn't change a bit! It's not that common. How do you explain it?

Cushi: The reason is we hate each other so bad that we want to make life real miserable for everybody else! That's the reason why we don't split up. No, I guess it's just special. We are aware of the fact that this is a combination of 4 people, 4 personalities who met on a personal level, but also on a creative level. So we definitely won't let that go because it's hard to find. We've played in different bands before and you know when you have chemistry going. That's why we don't want to change anything about it.

M-W: Three years ago, we talked about the fact that Krypteria was becoming more and more metal. Are you happy with this new direction?

Cushi: It wasn't a new direction. It was an old way because that's where at least the 3 of us (pointing at the guys) come from. When the 4 of us started making music together, we didn't have this large live experience. This feels right for us, that's why we're not going to change anything about it.

M-W: In My Fatal Kiss, the choir elements are less present than in the previous album. Was it a deliberate choice?

Frank: I was ill, I couldn't sing...

Cushi: He was in jail... that's why. Ji-In: If you try to express your emotions, sometimes it's like "Ok, it wouldn't fit now". I think that's why we didn't think about it. I think that the themes of this album are very personal and that shouldn't be told with all the distance of a choir.

Cushi: We wanted to try to keep it more intimate. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to go back to "Pom Poooooom" again next time. We want to keep it interesting.

M-W: Could you describe a bit more the last album in terms of musical atmosphere and themes?

Krypteria: (silence...)

M-W: Am I clear, or is it difficult to understand what I'm saying...? :)

Cushi: We just don't know what we're doing! We have to come with a clever answer quickly! :)

Chris: We had a control on our way to the venue. They checked our passports. They woke us up. So we are just a little bit slower than you have us in your mind from 2007.

Ji-In: Well, we discuss a lot and we were fascinated about the fact that everything and every person has got at least two sides: a bad one and a good one. That's why we took this subject in a lot of songs. You can also see it on our cover.

M-W: On first impression, the last album sounds musically softer than the previous ones. In which way are they different?

Ji-In: It's so hard to judge our own stuff. I have to check out old songs now!

Cushi: We think about it in different terms because we feel like My Fatal Kiss is a little bit on the edge. But that might be the musical atmosphere... the less use of Latin phrases. But we have a couple of faster songs on Bloodangels Cry so that's maybe where that comes from. It probably was a little bit more metal and now it's probably a little more rock & metal.

M-W: On the last album, are there some special songs which you particularly like?

Ji-In: Yes, I like The Freak In Me because I think that this is the point which makes clear our discussion about the two sides in one person, the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. For me, it was really emotional to sing this song.

Chris: My favourite song is Ignition. I like the energy of the song very much and it was the first song of the album we wrote and it was the vision for My Fatal Kiss.

Frank: I like For You I'll Bring The Devil Down and its video. But I like Ignition as well because when we started to rehearse that song, it took some time to coordinate the choirs stuff with the playing. The first rehearsals were very interesting.

Cushi: It's tough to pick one. I like Why Did You Stop The World From Turning which, unfortunately, we're not going to play tonight because it's such a long song. We've played it live and that was very interesting because it has some sort of this late 60's early 70's vibe about it and you can see the audience reacting to it in a totally different way. And it's a challenging song for us as well. We wish we could play it more often, but again, with a 40-minutes set, it's difficult.

M-W: Ji-In, in this album, there are more screams in your vocals. Was it a choice?

Ji-In: Actually we didn't think about it when we created the songs. Maybe that's because of the personal motivation.

Cushi: And again, we wanted to capture the energy of our live shows and sometimes she's completely out of control so you want to catch that, put it in a bottle and then put in on the record. If you scream live, then scream on the record. That's basically how that came out.

M-W: Tonight you're playing as a special guest for Delain and usually they play with local Dutch bands, so how did things happen?

Cushi: Well, we applied for Dutch citizenship... No, Martijn called me to and told me "If you're interested into playing with us...". We met at the Female Voices Festival 2009. He talked to Chris and he said...

Frank: ... "Fuck you!"

Cushi: (laughing) We have the same record company, so Martijn called me and we were interested in playing with them.

M-W: Did you know them before MFVF?

Cushi: I saw them on stage, but not personally. They were on tour with Within Temptation in Germany. We think it's a great opportunity for us to play in the Netherlands and we want to do the same in Germany the other way around.

Chris: Our first opportunity to talk to them longer than in between shows was today and they're super nice people. They're great so we're even happier now.

M-W: Besides that day when Ji-In lost her top on stage, is there another funny thing that you'd like to share?

Cushi: Frank, all the time.

Frank: But I can't remember...

Cushi: Do you know about Ji-In's accident in Vietnam, when she crashed into the stage?

Ji-In Yeah, that was funny too... The stage in Vietnam was very thin and I was jumping all the time like always, and suddenly "Plouuum". I was stuck with my leg into the floor. Because of the adrenaline, I didn't feel anything.

Cushi: And she even started singing.

Ji-In: Yeah, I continued to sing but Chris was the funniest in that situation: he went on playing like nothing happened...

Chris: I was playing and thinking: "What is she doing there?"

Cushi: Two security guys were necessary to get her out!

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