Getting To Know DELAIN Singer CHARLOTTE WESSELS

The U.K. branch of Roadrunner Records recently conducted a short interview with singer Charlotte Wessels of Dutch symphonic metallers DELAIN as part of its "Getting To Know You" series. The quesion-and-answer session follows in its entirety below.

Q: What were you doing when I interrupted you to do this?

Charlotte: I was doing a soundcheck with SONATA ARCTICA, because I am doing a guest appearance with them. We're on tour with them and they asked me!

Q: Date of birth?

Charlotte: It's 13th of May, 1987.

Q: Where did you go to high school?

Charlotte: I went to high school in Zwolle, which is a little town in Holland. I went to a special high school that focuses on culture so there were a lot of art and music classes. I was in the school big band there, I joined my first high school bands there, and I met the girl who got me into songwriting there, so I'm very thankful for my time at that high school! I spent an extra year there because I was having so much fun!

Q: When you were at high school, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Charlotte: I wanted to be either a singer or a painter. I wanted to do something with art, I was confused at one point because I did a lot of drawing in classes, but I think singing has always been number one. I studied history of art alongside my music, which was a nice way to learn about art, and that has also been an inspiration for my music. If you see a great painting, you can get great emotions from that for your music.

Q: Tell us about the first band you ever played in.

Charlotte: Our first band was when I was 12 or 13, it was called THE MIRAGE, which we found in an English dictionary because we wanted a cool-sounding name. We didn't know it was pronounced "mirage," so we pronounced it "mi-ridge" for two years! We made silly rock songs and ballads and punk songs, with really great lyrics like "I love you / sky blue." Hahaha! We had a lot of fun; we were real high school celebrities — at one point half the school was singing our songs, and we actually covered ourselves by playing a punk version of one of our ballads. That was fun.

Q: Beverage of choice?

Charlotte: Hmmm, wine or coffee, wine or coffee, wine or coffee... I think coffee, I need coffee! If we drive past a Starbucks, I have to stop.

Q: What's your favorite food?

Charlotte: I think probably a good paella.

Q: Track of the moment?

Charlotte: "Rabbit Heart" by FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE — I'm really addicted to it! They really got to me live. I saw their CD and I thought the cover was awesome, then I was at a festival and I saw they were playing so I thought I would see if I liked them first and she just blew me away. She has such an amazing, powerful voice. I think if there was a little bit more guitar in there, they'd be my favorite band ever, but I've listened to that album so many times since I got it, it's awesome.

Q: Album of the moment?

Charlotte: It would be "Lungs" by FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, but my all-time favourite is anything by RADIOHEAD. Right now it's "Hail to the Thief", but any one will do!

Q: Biggest pet peeve on the road?

Charlotte: I'm hesitating. I can't choose between not being able to sleep, not being able to shower, or dirty toilets! Maybe the fact that you don't get to choose your food. I really love food, when I'm at home I cook every single day.

Q: Random fact about you?

Charlotte: I have two kittens. I was always a dog person, but now I have two kittens and they're great. That's not very metal, is it? I don't mind, they're cute!

Q: Movie of the moment?

Charlotte: I always liked "Almost Famous". That's probably why I wanted to be a musician! I still like "Tommy" a lot — THE WHO movie — and recently I liked "Pan's Labyrinth". I never liked fantasy movies but this one is awesome. If you don't like fantasy movies, the next movie by that director (Guillermo del Toro) is called "El Orfanato" (The Orphanage),and that's equally awesome — it chills you to your spine!