“Working together on the creation of new songs is our favorite activity” – interview with Frozen Crown

It always makes me proud when an Italian band gets some success and recognition, more so if they deserve it. And so I was lucky enough to interview my Italian friends from Frozen Crown at Summer Breeze Open Air, after they played at the Wera Tool Rebel stage.

Hello guys, how are you doing? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: Very good, we’re really happy. At Summer Breeze, for the first time, we played a really exclusive exorbitant concert. We played at an extremely hot time, but in front of the stage there were a lot of people that left us extremely happy. We have always been satisfied with the feedback in Germany, also with our recent headliner tour. We came back home with a heart full of joy, but I must say that this Summer Breeze was absolutely fantastic.

Aleksandra Lioness: This is the first time actually in Summer Breeze, but my fifth show with Frozen Crown, and I’m extremely happy to have the opportunity to play here with these awesome people. I think they, firstly, they deserve to be a part of this festival, and I’m with them. So we are all extremely happy, and the show was awesome, the crowd was awesome. We will bring awesome memories from this day, and we will cherish it forever.

How do you reconcile your creative work with the rest of the duties that a band has? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: For sure, Federico and I love the compositional part. From what we know, we were able to create that mix, so working together on the creation of new songs is our favorite activity, basically.

Federico Mondelli: There are musicians, there are artists, let’s say, who are born with the dream of becoming a guitarist, of becoming a singer. Actually, we are… Actually, also Alexandra, because she writes too, by the way. She writes, makes videos, edits videos, creates everything. So we are three creative people, actually. We are born with the desire to write and create, even before playing the instrument. I mean, the instrument can also be a Casio keyboard, but what matters is the idea, the will to create, which, I repeat, is not only about audio, but also about video, about… I mean, we make the covers, we make the videos, etc., etc. So, actually, it’s a 360-degree job that satisfies us in the first place. It’s something we do for ourselves. So, I repeat, Frozen Crown are born with the desire to create. Then, yes, we are a band that also plays, I mean, but that comes in second place.

After coming back to Italy for another headliner show, and then going to Japan, if I’m not mistaken, for three headliner shows, do you also take a little break, or…? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: We’ll sleep after we die? No, obviously… Time flies. We’re getting closer to the first birthday of our latest album, “Warhearts” so, obviously when it comes to performing,, there are things that will be announced in due time, but we have to get our hands dirty to start working on the next album. So, a break? Later. 

What is the weirdest, the strangest venue that you’ve played in? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: So, far, I have a really, really nice memory of Hell in Diest, in Belgium. It’s not weird, but it’s so spooky, but every detail is so well chosen. It was like, you know, a horror movie in real life. So, for me, if I have to mention a venue that really shocked me positively, it’s that one.

Federico Mondelli: For me, it was Piccolo Bar in Provincia di Catanzaro. I played there with Be The Wolf, my blues rock band, and we played literally on the tables and on the counter of the bar while the guys were making cocktails. We were playing there, literally, because there was no room. We packed the venue, which was actually really small. 

Aleksandra Lioness:  I just remember two weird stages, let’s say. Since I’m from Serbia, both of them were in Serbia, and the first one was on the truck. The cargo of the truck was the stage, actually. So, it was very unique, let’s say. And the other one was on the ship, but it wasn’t floating, it was just on the shore. We were playing with Nervosa. So, those two are just some shows that are memorable for me in that weird sense.

What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence?

Giada “Jade” Etro: I am really scared about this. It’s something that makes me uneasy, because I don’t like to be fooled. So, watching a picture or a video or something, or listening, I don’t even want to mention listening to music. It’s something that I really don’t like. We don’t need it for artistry and creative stuff. I really hope that this fashion will end up soon.

Aleksandra Lioness: I’m not a huge fan of artificial intelligence. I saw somewhere a photo that says, I don’t need artificial intelligence to do the art for me, but to do the other things so I can work on my art. Which is actually the point, because art is part of human. We should do the art each in our own way, and I think artificial intelligence could be used on some different things, but I’m not a fan of its use in art or music or other creative senses.

Giada “Jade” Etro: Invent something to make people’s life easier, to cure disease. There’s this high potential. Why are you stealing the nice part of a human being?

Federico Mondelli: It’s not like artificial intelligence was made to steal art. Nowadays, what happens basically, on social networks, everybody feels like he or she is a little artist. When people go on vacation, and they are not even working on social networks, they are just on vacation, they are just working, for example, as an employer somewhere. They are just taking photos on the beach and they try to post them on social networks, and they feel really brilliant. They are searching for attention from other people. Nowadays, with artificial intelligence, people are just playing around. Yeah, I want to see how I was looking in the 80s. No, it’s not funny. It’s stupid. And everybody is doing the same thing. So artificial intelligence ended up showing what we really are. So we are sheep, all the same. Idiots. So it’s not the fact that they want to replace art. It’s that people are so dumb, that they always want to try to create art. Like, okay, someone who never was able to make their own songs, because they can’t play… Now they can do their own songs, and they post it. I mean, a photographer should take photos. If you can’t take photos, just don’t take photos. Just don’t steal the job. But it’s also… I don’t think artificial intelligence was born with the idea to steal work from Silvio [Colombo, ed]. It’s that artificial intelligence was born with a lot of purposes, and there are people that are so stupid that are willing to improvise themselves as photographers, creatives, drawers. I see people that post drawings, hand-drawn drawings, made with artificial intelligence. They post them like, “I made it“. And my comment is, why? I would never be proud of that. I didn’t make it. Why should I be proud? I’m proud of something I worked hard for. For example, we are playing here today. We didn’t pay anybody for that. We didn’t do anything wrong. We just worked hard for seven years, and now we’re playing here. And this is well-deserved, and we are really happy for that. Everybody is happy. We just had something that doesn’t belong to us, or we didn’t earn. It would just feel wrong. So I really don’t get it. I don’t get it. People are stupid. That’s the point.

Do you think it’s harder for women to be in the metal music industry? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: Nowadays, in my opinion, not. At least we are going towards more inclusive, modern, whatever. Because we had a lot of really, really good musicians throughout the years before us that made our path easier, in my opinion. So nowadays a girl is recognized for her qualities.

Aleksandra Lioness: Maybe some years ago it was not like that. Yeah, maybe 10 or 20 years ago it was a more exotic thing, in metal especially. But nowadays there are a lot of women who are very creative, hardworking and deserve the attention they get. So it’s the perfect time for women to wake up and do stuff in the metal music if they want to, of course.

Federico Mondelli: The fact is that it’s not hard if you are able to ignore some sort of bullshit that goes around. I tell you just one thing. We included 17-year-old Alessia in the band two years ago. And of course there were comments like “Oh yeah, they’re using pussy to sell“. I mean, you must be really stupid to think you must not have a little sister or a daughter. You write something like that there and then you maybe complain because young girls kill themselves because people are harassing or bullying them. I mean, what the fuck? She’s 17 years old. She can play really good. She entered the band. But also, what’s with the pussy thing? I mean, it’s like why that little girl, underage girl and her father and her mother should read that comment? Ridiculous comment, pathetic comment. And there was plenty of that. Promoters and agencies are all really for it, our record label is amazing in that. It’s really inclusive. They are like the best people ever. But of course there are a lot of people online, commenting just because they have to comment. They are really shit. And to me it’s really totally unfair. They say females sell their body to play music when Sebastian Bach, Axl Rose were playing like this, almost shirtless. Everybody is selling his body. If you have an image, you are selling your body. Alessia can dress however she wants. The point is totally that everybody, male or female, can dress however he wants. 

I wanted to play a little game with you. If I’m not mistaken, in the first album from Frozen Crown there was a song called Across the Sea. So, if you had a boat, what would you name it? 

Giada “Jade” Etro: I think Neverending because I would love this trip to Neverending.

Federico Mondelli: Queen of Blades because you should give a boat a female name.

Aleksandra Lioness: I would call it Pointless Sword. 

Thank you guys so much for taking the time to do this interview with us. Is there anything else you want to add to the readers?

Giada “Jade” Etro: So, thank you very much for having us here. Thank you for your support and friendship throughout the years.

Federico Mondelli: And we are very happy to find Italians here in Germany at Summer Breeze. This is a big accomplishment not for us but also for you because we’ve been knowing you since seven years.

Aleksandra Lioness: Thank you.