Classical Alchemy

An Interview With Pythia
by Taliesin Athor Govannon

(left to right: Tim Neale, Andy Nixon-Corfield, Emily Alice Ovenden, Marc Dyos, Ross White)

The combination of classical music and heavy metal is, at first glance, a strange one, yet one that has been with us for decades. From Deep Purple's ambitious Concerto For Group And Orchestra in 1969 to the Neo-Classical guitar craze of the 1980's (largely fueled by Randy Rhodes' work with Ozzy Osbourne and Yngwie J. Malmsteen's solo catalogue), the power and majestry of classical music has been continuously joined to the power and fury of heavy metal.

Since the arrival of Nightwish on the European scene in 1997, a sub-genere of metal called "Symphonic Metal" has produced some of the most interesting progressive rock seen in a generation. And yet, much of this has been produced by either metal musicians with classical aspirations, or by young, untested classical musical students rebelling against the symphonic status quo. What would happen if, say, an established classical superstar and seasoned metal musicians were to join forces?

Hoping to answer this question is Pythia, which features the vocals of Emily Alice Ovenden, who is perhaps better known as a member of the No.1 selling classical act the Mediaeval Baebes. Drummer Marc Dyos and Guitarist Ross White are from one of UK's foremost Thrash Metal projects Descent, while Richard Holland (Keys), Tim Neale (Lead Guitar) and Andrew Corfield (Bass), round out the lineup. They recently played their first concert opening for former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen on her first solo performance in the U.K., and their second opening for industrial legends Ministry. Currently recording their first album, the band took some time out to answer questions on this new adventure of classical/metal fusion.

Taliesin: When did Pythia form, and how did this come about? (I'll admit, I looked in your forum pages for info on this and only found tales of "sex, mystery and emotion", but that just covered when Andy met Tim!)

Emily: Marc drunkenly sent me an email in Christmas 2006 and I drunkenly replied.
Ross: Marc emailed Emily (as he liked her voice on Medievel Baebes and Celtic Legend) asking if she would be interested in doing a metal band together, then asked me if I would be part of it (we have played together in death thrash band Descent for many years), we started demoing some ideas and next thing u know we have something really great coming together. We then brought in Rich, Andy and Tim to complete the line up.
Marc: I was looking to start a project based more on my power metal influences, as my other group Descent is more death/thrash metal. I knew of the Mediaeval Baebes, and when I discovered Celtic Legend, Em was the common factor so I thought I'd email her on the off-chance she might be interested in singing in a metal band, and for some reason she thought it was worth a go. Ross was my first port of call for guitar/songwriting duties. I have worked with Ross for a number of years so we know how each other approach writing/structuring songs. With Rich on board, we were then able to establish our sound and recruit the right people to take on the bass and lead guitar roles.
Andy: Pythia first came to my attention when Ross asked me if I was interested in a new band he was in. I had heard of Descent and the Baebes and when I heard the first demo tracks I was hooked. The first rehearsal with the guys just clicked, it was like we had all been playing together for years!!
Tim: I was in a fairly sucessful black metal band who just got back from being on tour with one of the genre leaders for fantasy/power/battle metal, and decided that was really where my passion lay. I had heard from Pythia, see as my old friends from SW london metal scene were in it. When Ross contacted me and asked if was interested there was no question. Timing was perfect.

Taliesin: How would you describe your sound?

Emily: Loud, angry and beautiful.
Ross: Gothic Power Metal?
Marc: I think we differ from the majority of Female Fronted Bands who base their sound purely on a slower gothic style. We like to include faster songs stemming from influences such as Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, which I think has broadened our appeal.
Tim: We were once described in a review as 'fairytale metal', seeing as some faiytales get pretty gruesome in parts and others a beautiful and majestic, I think that works quite well!

Taliesin: I've gotten to admit...my Pagan-radar started ticking for no particular reason when I first heard your music. When I saw a link to the Children of Artemis on your band's link page, it starting chiming...is anyone in the band Pagan and/or Wiccan? And if so, then what effect does this have on the band's style, sound, and lyrics?

Emily: I am not a pagan. I am open to all religious beliefs and in this weird and wonderful world, I think anything is possible or probable. I am a humanitarian and a very spiritual person, I believe in the force of nature and also that there is definitely something going on, but I'm not sure what it is.

Taliesin: "Do You Remember The Death Of Love?:,,,it's a very compelling tag line, and perfectly in line with the band's gothic image. Is it just a line from a song that caught on, or does it have some deeper meaning?

Emily: It's a whispered line from one of our songs called Tristan, which is a love song for a vampire. It's about the end of all ends not just the finalisation of a relationship. The end of humanity, the end of hope for our future but also the possibility of new beginnings. Out of the ashes rises a phoenix.

Taliesin: What is the status of Mediaeval Baebes...does the advent of Pythia mean that their time is past? And will Marc and Ross be dividing up their time between Pythia and Descent?

Emily: The Mediaeval Baebes are very much alive, we release our new album Illumination worldwide in March 09 and we've spent much of 08 touring the UK, Europe and USA. Who knows what the future will hold, I'm just going to play the next year by ear and see what happens.
Ross: Descent is still rolling also. We are just finishing off writing our next album, playing gigs when the opportunity arises etc. Dividing time hasn't been a problem so far.
Marc: Musically it works pretty well. Since we started Pythia, the Descent stuff is getting faster and heavier as our more melodic leanings are put into Pythia's music.

Taliesin: Gothic/Symphonic metal bands with a female singer seem to abound these days, at least in Europe. How does Pythia plan on breaking out from the pack?

Emily: I don't really believe that we are part of the pack. There's a lot of lame bands around and there's a lot of good ones. We're one of the good ones and I believe our album is going to be stunning, that is enough as far as I'm concerned.
Ross: We aren't consciously trying to align or distance ourselves from any pack, genre etc. We are just doing our thing, trying to write great songs, produce a great album, be a great live band and just generally be as good as we can be. I think we come from a heavier, more thrashy metal sound than most other female fronted gothic bands so I think we could also appeal to people who might find bands like Nightwish etc too light, too commercial etc.
Marc: Coming back to what I mentioned earlier, I think we differ from other FF bands, as musically we like to keep tempos and feel varied from song to song, but at the same time creating a "Pythia sound", which I'm confident we have achieved with this first album.

Taliesin: For a long time, the emphasis in this genre of metal has been on orchestration over shredding, and yet there are some ripping guitar solos in Pythia's songs. Was this planned, or are Ross and Tim just too wild to hold down?
Ross: Yeah you cant hold us back! Once we started writing I think we quickly realized that we should go full on, big heavy guitars, layers of keys, epic vocals, solos, fast thrashy songs, slow heavy songs, as one of our songs declares "There is No Compromise!"
Tim: Seeing as i have always been a lead based geetarist, and my other band Faith of the Few is good ol' southern rock with solo work all based around that bluesy feel, I was glad to let my shred fly for once and have the scope to do pretty much what sounds good, no matter how big and over the top! (with the guys concent, obviously!). Me and Ross have known eachother for about 10-12 years, and this is the first time we have worked together musically and is just a shame we didn't start earlier. The trade off we have works for us both.

Taliesin: The three songs on your MySpace profile are fantastic! Yet, there's only 3, and that's a tease...how many songs have been recorded for the new album? Have you found a label for it yet? Will you release it independently if need be?

Emily: We're in talks about who will release the album at the moment. I have no interest in working with a record label, unless they are prepared to go all the way with the project. I've had too many experiences with bad labels to sign myself to the devil again, we're looking for someone with a new way of thinking someone progressive, who understands and embraces the changing industry. The album will come out early 09 with or without the help of a label.
Ross: The album is gonna have 10 songs, we are just finishing up recording at the moment. We have recorded it ourselves as we have 3 producers in the band and plenty of recording experience. We will then look to have someone else mix and master it and then we will see if we can find a label we are happy with to release it, if not then we have the option of a distribution deal.

Taliesin: Your first gig was opening for Tarja, your second was opening for Ministry...aside from the "...and now for something completely different" nature of the two artists, those are two heavy hitters! Was it nerve-wracking taking your first public steps in such high-profile atmospheres?

Emily: Yes and no. I had a gut feeling at the Tarja gig that we were going to pull it off. From the moment we started playing to together I knew there was something magical about the band.
Ross: Yeah in a way it was nerve wracking but I personally felt confident enough that we have good songs, are a tight band and we would pull it off live. We all have plenty of live experience so it was just a case of seeing how we worked together as a band and fortunately it worked out great.
Marc: Funnily enough I've not really been nervous going on stage with Pythia, as I have confidence in the rest of the band as musicians. When you have that confidence in each other, it allows each of you to concentrate on what you're doing, and put on a great show.
Andy: Like Marc, I've never been that nervous with Pythia. As a bass player, taking the stage before Doug Whimbish was a pretty daunting task!! But this just fueled me to put my all into the performance and the fire is still going, everone who sees us live can feel the energy coming from the stage. From the call to arms "Bring me fire" there's no stopping us!!
Tim: The larger amounts of free food and beer that comes wiuth bigger bands is enough for me!

Taliesin: Your sound certainly doesn't sacrifice intensity for melody...is it a difficult balancing act?

Emily: No it comes naturally to me as a composer.
Ross: The sound of the band actually came completely naturally. It really isn't something we've had to concern ourselves with. Whatever we throw at Emily (musically speaking) she writes the perfect lyrics and melodies for and it sounds great.

Taliesin: Emily, you mentioned on your site that you like to kill time writing about ghosts. Is this fiction, or parapsychology? Have you ever (or do you have plans to) published any of it?

Emily: My first novel "The Ice Room" came out in Nov 08 published by The Verb For I. You can order it from Amazon or any bookshop. I've had short stories published before. I'm slowly becoming recognized as an author.

Taliesin: Anything else you'd like to add?

Emily: Yes. To the treacherous twat who robbed my mother on Ebay, I hope that camper van blows up and kills you.

To hear Pythia Music, either...

Check out their MySpace Page:

Or, their official web page:

Also, check out Descent's debut CD:

Pythia also has a T-Shirt available...check it out: