ETHS Frontwoman: 'We Love Mixing The Innocent With The Beast'

UK's Terrorizer magazine (web site) recently conducted an interview with vocalist Candice of the Marseille, France-based female-fronted metalcore band ETHS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Terrorizer: Introduce yourself and your band to those who don't know.

Candice: "I'm Candice, the singer from ETHS since 1999 when we formed the band with me and the two guitarists Staif and Greg. We are a metal band from Marseille, based in the South of France. We met each other in high school and the guys introduced me to heavy metal as I was more into Courtney Love than Max Cavalera at that time. Honestly, it's when I discovered the first album by KORN that I knew I wanted to sing and write like I do now. ETHS released two albums and one EP within the last ten years and our latest record, 'Tratologie', is supposed to be the darkest one, more in phase with our personalities and the music we like to listen to. ETHS is influenced by a lot of different sources and we try to include every kind of style according to our feelings. We like to be open to new instruments, new ways to create and we perceive the music as a space of freedom. We just love to learn..."

Terrorizer: Why should people go and see you with CHRISTIAN DEATH in November?

Candice: "It's hard for me to sell my own band, because I cannot imagine what other people see, but when I hear the audience or see videos I notice that our atmosphere is very heavy and dark not only on a record or on the cover. When we go on stage, we are not the same people and my heart beats differently. I deliver all the force and all the energy from my lyrics, which are very significant for me. We love playing live and deliver a damn good show. For our fans we try to be as much as possible in tune with the visuals of our album: dark tones, shady lights and expressing our melancholic sinister and oppressive side. On the other hand, we are as energetic as possible. We love mixing the innocent with the beast — a bit like I do with my voice. When people ask where the male singer is, I have to reply that I'm 'the male' and the female and advise them to check me out on stage. We love sharing our strength and duality with the audience. It's amazing, when people give you the power to go deeper or higher with your feelings and your body. Every gig is another experience for us, where we take a deep look into our hearts."

Terrorizer: You guys are doing pretty well in your homeland, what's been the high point so far?

Candice: "We played this summer with METALLICA at a festival in Madrid. Alright that was not in our own country, but it still means a lot to us, because we are all huge fans of them and we very much appreciated their show and the fact we played in the afternoon just next to them. In my book this could be the highlight of our career at the moment. In France we made Les Eurockennes De Belfort, which is a big festival. I remember it was the first show we delivered in front of 10,000 people and we were quite excited, of course."

For more information, visit www.terrorizer.com.

Candice recently spoke to the German edition of the Metal Hammer magazine about ETHS' video for the song "Bulimiarexia". The interview, along with the "Bulimiarexia" video enhanced with English subtitles (the original song features French lyrics),can be viewed at this location.

"Bulimiarexia" comes off ETHS' latest album, "Tératologie", which was released in France in October 2007 and was made available in other parts of Europe this past April via Season of Mist. The band's sound is described in a press release as "dark and powerful metal with tortured atmospheres, led by charismatic female singer Candice, who with her amazing voice sings, talks, whispers and growls."

"Bulimiarexia" video:

Making of "Bulimiarexia" video: