In February 2020, Boston-based theatrical symphonic metal masters Seven Spires released their new album “Emerald Seas”. Recently, I had the pleasure of talking to vocalist Adrienne Cowan and guitarist Jack Kosto about all the details regarding their latest masterpiece as well as some of their side projects, inspirations and many more!
TMO: How are you doing?
Adrienne: Doing great! As well as we can be in the current situation. How about you?
TMO: I’m all good. So everyone’s quarantined now. How are you guys dealing with it? How are you filling your time?
Jack: We’re working on music and trying to film a bunch of content to throw on YouTube. And other than that, trying to eat healthy, stay on a workout regiment, and just not be sad.
TMO: So you had a pretty serious blow when your tour with Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum got cancelled. How has that taken its toll on the band and how are you coping with it?
Jack: Well it was mostly a bummer for the Finnish guys because they came over here, spent money on plane tickets and visas, played one show, and then had to go back home. So it was the worst possible scenario for them, and even though we took less of a loss, it was still fairly significant.
Adrienne: For a band of our size, it was essentially all of our band savings plus personal investments. But our fans, I mean all metal fans, are amazing. We had a donation opened for a little bit, and also had a sale on our merch store. We’re back on our feet now, and just felt that other people need more help than we do right now. Our fans have been extremely generous. But yeah, it was also a blow to band morale. We got to play one show on our first bigger tour that wasn’t DIY, sleeping in a van. We had an RV with good air conditioning and everybody had a bed and there was a bathroom. That was going to be awesome.
TMO: Your new album, “Emerald Seas” has been out for over two months now. How has the response been so far? Are you happy with it?
Adrienne: It’s been pretty good. We have a graph of the reviews and their scores and it looks like for the most part it’s been actually a pretty overwhelmingly positive response!
Jack: I think our fans, in particular those that have known us from our previous album, seem to be really interested in the concept side and the story side even more so than the last album. That’s exciting for me personally because it’s such a huge part of it for me, the world building and musical and lyrical themes that intertwine. I’m really happy that everyone’s liking it.
TMO: So what do you think of the album? Are you pleased with how it turned out? Is it what you had in your minds?
Jack: I think it’s hard to know that kind of stuff while you’re making the album, but then reflecting on it later on you can be like “Yeah that’s ok. We did alright!”. The biggest difference for me was actually getting to record Chris, like his actual drums since we didn’t have him for Solveig unfortunately. But, I think this album sounds more like we sound as a band in a live scenario perhaps, and hopefully the next one will be even more so.
TMO: What would you say are the biggest steps forward you took with this album compared to Solveig?
Adrienne: For me personally as a songwriter, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a step forward, but it’s a step in a direction: Because the album is set when the character is still human and still mortal and alive, the songs are more straightforward, with more traditional forms. I tried to present every melody in all the arrangements including the string parts etc in a very clear and digestible way, rather than endlessly filling the arrangements with like, “Here’s a string melody, and then here’s a countermelody that’s very similar but only slightly different”. I feel like the arrangements are better organized. Beyond that, it was recorded a few years into me being better at screaming, so I feel like the screams are a little bit cooler. No guest screams on this record!
TMO: About the story. Could you briefly say what it’s about?
Adrienne: The main character is Solveig, who is the demon character from our first album named “Solveig”. Emerald Seas follows Solveig’s journey as they’re searching for the cure for mortality. Solveig captains a magic ship that follows the heart’s deepest desire. Along the way, they meet someone from their past, and this makes them feel alive, but they have to keep going out on their quest. They’re hunted by an ancient beast, a kraken, that follows sailors who have lost all hope… and that’s almost all of the story actually! Solveig and parts of the ship get swallowed whole by the kraken, and is shortly after beached on the island where the fountain of youth (or whatever you want to call it) is located. Solveig claws their way out of the beast’s carcass and passes into darkness next to a stream, and the stream is the fountain of youth. And then Solveig wakes up and is like, “…Guess I’m immortal now. I get to watch everyone I love die over and over again… I got what I wanted. But it’s not what I wanted. Shit!”
TMO: I actually really like that scene where Fearless ends and “With Love From The Other Side” starts. It really has this “washed ashore” sort of imagery with the character passed out there with the waves coming over him. It was like watching a movie.
Adrienne: I’m thrilled to hear you say that. Sound design was another thing we did more on Emerald Seas. So not just having the music, but also the addition of like waves and ambient beach noises. It’s kinda cheesy and almost like Karaoke background videos. But on the other hand, a lot of people said it was like listening to an audiobook or watching a movie.
TMO: So the story is really cool, really adventurous and fun to just go through but did you want to also hide any deeper meaning behind this or was it aimed to just like, create this environment?
Jack: I think it’s more of a challenge to get everything in there that’s in our brains, so hiding it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The biggest challenge is finding a way to get it all in there without making it too at the front so that we’re beating you over the head with it. But, we want the songs to stand on their own, and for people who just like music to be able to listen to it and not have to worry about our artsy fartsy shit. But we want the artsy fartsy shit to be there for people who are interested. So it’s not really hidden, but it’s also not so plainly obvious.
TMO: That’s another thing I really liked on Solveig and I think it’s even stronger on Emerald Seas. The songs really flow from one to another and come together. From the first to the last track it’s one whole piece. But if you take one song and listen to it alone it makes sense. It doesn’t feel like a piece that’s ripped out of something. It works on it’s own. So is that something you actively look for?
Adrienne: Yeah kind of. I don’t think that we set out to do something like one piece of music, but definitely one cohesive set of songs. But, if it feels like one full piece, then even better.
TMO: So this is a prequel for Solveig. Is the material that you’re working on now gonna keep building on the same characters and on the same universe or will you take it somewhere else?
Jack: At least one more in this universe.
Adrienne: We’ll call it episode three! Yeah, there’s gonna be one more at least in this universe, including the same characters and some interesting twists as always. Maybe if we’re lucky, there will even be a happy ending for once. After 2 albums of heartbreak, these poor characters really could use a little bit of hope, you know?
TMO: I want to ask you about your music videos for Succumb and Drowner of Worlds. The location is very similar but the vibe is very different. Was that intended and is there any meaning behind that?
Jack: I don’t think there are any overlapping locations in those two videos. But there are some in Bury You and Succumb.
Adrienne: I mean granted, okay. They’re both in eastern Massachusets.
Jack: There were different beaches, but it’s still ocean themed so it kind of makes sense.
TMO: Yeah they looked very similar to me.
Adrienne: All beaches look the same. Haha!
Jack: But as far as the different tones of the video, I guess they’re adjacent songs on the album but very different moods, very different vibe, very different points to the songs. So it made sense for Succumb to be lighter and more playful, even more nostalgic, and then Drowner of Worlds is pretty brutal, with the storm and the ship rocking.
Adrienne: It’s the first time this character passes into darkness and begins to… die basically. So I had this idea that before Solveig became the demon character, they would be very pure and light; blond-haired and with soft facial features. And then as they go further into their life as an immortal, everything starts to grow darker: black hair, the eyes sink deeper into the skull, and the lines and shadows on the face become more fed up and angry and tired. Like the difference between Succumb and Drowner would be like life and death.
TMO: So I think that’s like a crucial turning point in the album going from Succumb to Drowner of Worlds cos until then the songs are pretty similar in vibe like it’s symphonic power metal, energetic, adventurous and then from Drowner of Worlds onwards every song is something else. And this was a huge surprise for me cos everything just hit me in the face. Was this sort of surprise factor intended or is it just the direction that the story gave the music?
Jack: I think both. If you think about the album as a film, usually the half way point is where everything starts to go to hell. So in story writing in general, it makes sense for that to be the point where everything starts to get serious and go crazy. So yes and no to both things in both ways.
Adrienne: With Solveig it’s a similar arc in that you have pretty symphonic melodic metal, and then you hit The Paradox, and then everything after that starts touching more on black metal, melodic death metal, things like that. Until, of course, in the last song, you have this sort of bittersweet “I got what I wanted” feeling, which is definitely a trope that I’m a little bit addicted to if that isn’t already clear. Like Jack said, it’s very much typical storytelling, and we definitely like to draw from different genres to musically illustrate scenes, and I think the best way to show that shit’s really hitting the fan is to take a hard left musically.
TMO: Looking back on Solveig now after you’ve released Emerald Seas and you’ve obviously progressed a lot, how do you feel about this album? Do you feel that it still represents who you are as musicians. Are you still happy about it or are you like “Oh I could have done that better!”?
Jack: As soon as it’s done recording, a week goes by and we’re like, “I could have done that better.”. We’re definitely that kind of band, and we’re all those types of musicians. So even though we’re still very happy and very proud of it, just enough time goes by, and we know that we’re always pushing ourselves and we could have done it better. So it doesn’t make it any less cool for us, but we know that the next one is gonna be even better, and the one after that, and so on.
Jack: And then to do some really cool shit live.
Adrienne: Yeah! When we play some of the songs live, it’s still the same song and the skeleton is the same, but I do some different vocalisations or Chris plays something that’s much cooler than what’s on the album, or Jack shreds harder, or Pete puts in some cool tapping parts. Whatever we’re able to do while still maintaining the integrity of the songs. We’re definitely a band of over-the-top everything.
TMO: That’s actually another thing I really loved about Emerald Seas. It’s like, mind-blowingly technical but somehow the technical stuff isn’t the main focus. How do you do that?
Jack: I don’t know. That’s difficult to do, and I think from what I know about Peter and Chris, they’re mind-blowingly technical players, and to not use that as part of the band would be like… sacrilegious in some way.
Adrienne: That would be like a deadly sin.
Jack: It would be like hiring Christina Aguilera to sing Happy Birthday for your toddler’s birthday party. So it has to be on there somewhere, but obviously the main focus has to be the song and the story, and we can’t just be focused on our own technical show-offy-ness. I guess we all individually spend a lot of time making sure that our parts that we’re gonna play still fit the song while being technical and fun for us to do. So it’s something that we’re conscious of, but not hyper-focused on perhaps.
TMO: I’m gonna shift gears a little bit now. What do you guys like better if you have a preference? Studio or touring?
Jack: Oh man! Both!
Adrienne: Touring.
Jack: I love both. I also mix and master albums for other bands, and I do session work, and we all do session work for other things, so I love being in the studio and I also love playing live. They’re two totally different things and I love them both.
Adrienne: They’re my own separate torture chambers in different ways. They feed my self-loathing and impostor syndrome in their own ways, but at least I get to have fun when I go on tour. Haha!
TMO: So Jack, about side projects. Just yesterday I listened to the debut E.P. from Threads of Fate and I think it’s really good. I also heard it when it got released but I didn’t really remember it. So as far as I know you’re working on a full album?
Jack: Yes, it’s done.
Adrienne: It’s really good!
Jack: I just finished the masters of that. We were just starting to think about sending it to labels and trying to get a deal with someone to get it out there, and then all of this COVID-19 stuff hit, so nobody’s doing anything and nobody knows what’s going on, and nobody has any money so we’re kind of at a stand-still with that now. Hopefully we can start getting that out soon. It’s a full-length album. Definitely a step up. And actually Chris played drums on it.
TMO: Woah! I knew I wanted to listen to it. Now I definitely have to listen to it.
Jack : Yeah he did a great job. Completely different from how he plays in Spires as well. He’s such a musical player and it was great to have him on that as well.
TMO: I’m actually also really looking forward to his solo album.
Adrienne: Me too! It’s also really good.
Jack: I mixed and mastered that one as well, and every song is more brutal than the last one. So it’s straight death metal all the way through.
TMO: I’m down for that. I actually listen to a lot of technical death metal like Beyond Creation and stuff. I thought, and I wonder what’s your take on this, that part of guitar and bass going along in Fearless sounded a lot like Beyond Creation.
Jack: Oh awesome! Pete will be very happy to hear that cos he loves them and I think Obscura’s probably his favourite band.
TMO: So if I’m not mistaken, your third and even fourth album are already in the works. So could you disclose any progress status on that?
Adrienne: I think we can say… We’re polishing the demos for album three so that we can begin pre-production and send it to the people that need to hear it before we get the final “ok”.
Jack: We’re basically in the drawing-board stage for album four, so we’re planning out what it might potentially look like before we start writing the actual music for it, which is a little different than how we’ve done things in the past.
Adrienne: But there’s no shortage of ideas. There’s just a lack of time and sometimes motivation on my part because… well, because I’m sad basically.
TMO: I can relate to that. Being sad is what kills my productivity with all I want to do. If I am to think about it I’d say that you’re probably one of the most hard-working bands I know seeing how much you tour and how much you write, so if you were to give any advice to starting musicians who want to get out there and stay in the public eye what would be your bullet points, most important things to do?
Adrienne: 1. Make sure that you do it for the right reasons, which means that you have to do it for yourself. When it gets tough, you can’t have done it for someone else or for any other reason than you wanted to do it. Nothing else can stand up to the astronomical weight of being onstage in front of thousands of people who love you while you feel like the loneliest and worst person alive. I’m not saying that happens to everyone, but I suspect it’s more common than people think.
2. Don’t post anything while you’re extremely emotional. Gather your thoughts. Write whatever you want to post into a note on your phone and let it wait — you’ll have the authenticity of your immediately feelings preserved, but waiting will give you the clarity of mind to decide whether or not to say it, and how to word it in a way that won’t read poorly.
3. We had a teacher at Berklee. James Taylor’s brother Livingston Taylor, who always said, “It is sad to be ready and not be called, but it is a tragedy to be called when you’re not ready.” So the point here is always be ready!
Jack: So I guess aside from what Adrienne mentioned about the internal stuff, externally as a musician practice your ass off. There’s no excuse for not taking the time to learn your craft. Even if you’re not trying to be Paganini or Jeff Loomis or Floor Jansen, make sure that you have the skills you need to make the art that you want to make. And surround yourself with a team of people that do the same. Don’t let someone else who isn’t taking the time to practice hold you back from being the artist that you need to be. So practice your ass off and find a team of people who are also practicing their asses off.
TMO: Yeah I think that’s actually the mantra of being in a band.
Adrienne: I guess that’s usually the hardest part to be honest, finding the right teammates.
TMO: But I guess you all did a really good job with that.
Jack: We got really lucky.
TMO: Adrienne, you toured a lot with Avantasia, I guess it’s safe to say that that was on an entirely new level from what you’re doing in Spires. So how has that influenced you as a person and as a musician and is it in any way influencing your music in Seven Spires?
Adrienne: With Avantasia of course I’m mostly a backing vocalist, which means I get the best seat in the house watching all the legends do what they do best every night. So this was incredibly inspiring. Toby is a phenomenal front-man. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to play big production shows, so getting to do that and knowing first-hand what it’s hopefully going to be like kind of lit a fire under my ass even more. It’s like, now I got a taste of it, and now I really want to make it happen. At the same time, it was also such a level up in terms of the types of shows that I was playing, that for the first couple of shows I was like, “I do not belong here. Why did they take me? I am the weakest link here.” It was hard, but I loved it, and now I know that that’s definitely all I ever want to be doing, touring on that scale. I really hope that I can make that happen. I don’t know that it’s really influenced or changed the way I write music, but I definitely have drawn on some of my feelings and experiences from that tour. Seeing the music industry from that perspective rather than from a regional band that’s slowly ascending, looking from there, I’m like “Man, there’s still so far to go!”.
TMO: I guess it’s an endless journey!
Adrienne: Yeah. And I still struggle with the fact there’s no endpoint, so my brain’s always like “You don’t get the happy chemicals yet because you didn’t get to the end.”. So that’s always a fun thing. But despite all the fears and horrible self-talk, it was a wonderful experience and I’m extremely grateful that I was the one who got to do it. I loved this band when I was like 16 and like, Michael Kiske and the song Wastelands, this was how I learned to sing power metal. So I can’t let that be unsaid. It was LITERALLY a dream come true. This is yet again, this bittersweet trouble of “I got what I wanted and Oh my God, it’s not what I was expecting”.
TMO: I’m hoping this next one is a fun question. So for each of you, what would you say is the best thing about being in this band and doing what you do?
Jack: There are so many good aspects, but my favourite is just the hangs. Like when the four of us are hanging out in a van or at a show, it’s always a riot, and it’s always a great time and really positive, and I feel like we make each other better people in some way. So just like being around other stellar musicians and people who take everything seriously and we’re just all best friends so it’s a great time.
Adrienne: My answer is basically the same. The best part is having three musical soul-mates in one project. It’s amazing. There’s nothing more that I could ever want than that really.
Jack: It’s really cheesy.
Adrienne: Yeah super cheesy but man, that’s my favourite part.
TMO: Sometimes what’s cheesy is what makes most sense.
Adrienne: It really feels very much like a family and it’s the only place outside of my house that I feel like I can really be myself completely. That is irreplaceable.
TMO: So I want to ask you this cos I know you’re really fond of this band. How excited are you about the upcoming Carach Angren album?
Adrienne: Oh My God! I’m so excited. The keyboardist posted about it and I commented on it on Instagram and he liked my comment but he didn’t like anybody else’s so I know that he knows that I really like his work. When is it coming out?
TMO: Initially I think it was supposed to be end of May but then Corona happened so now it’s June 26th.
Adrienne: Still happy to look forward to though. I mean ok, on the topic of metal storytelling they are like some of the best in the genre or like in all of metal for me. Other people could have a different opinion but they are amazing storytellers and My God, the orchestrations are to die for. That’s a band that we’re like “What do we do with this section? Well what would Carach Angren do? Ah great idea!”.
TMO: Yeah I think it’s my only contender that could actually throw Emerald Seas off the Album of the Year position but I have yet to see. So I guess this is the last question. You guys are really active on social media, really interactive with the fans and stuff. What are the reasons why you invest time and energy into this and what would you say are the best things that you get out of it?
Jack: I guess aside from all of the posting and various photos going around, it’s where a lot of our actual business and communication is done these days like through Facebook Messenger and Instagram.
Adrienne: I joined Winds of Plague because of Instagram.
Jack: Since all of us musicians are told that we need to be on social media doing stuff, we’re all on social media doing stuff! And a lot of stuff happens through that. And, of course, it’s a great way to keep in contact with fans and keep people updated on things. I have a hard time remembering to post stuff cos I’d rather just be in the studio playing with EQ plug-ins or something.
Adrienne: Last time we were hanging out watching videos on Instagram, he didn’t say anything and he just stood up and went to his room to play with reverb sounds.
Jack: Also on the off-chance that something blows up, it’s just a lot of free marketing and publicity that wasn’t around 10-15-20 years ago. So it’s an extra tool in the toolbox to get the job done, selling albums I guess.
Adrienne: I think it’s also a cool and interactive way to show a deeper version of who we are as a band and as musicians and as people. I know that when I’m a really big fan of a band, it’s not just about the music. I mean, it is mostly about the music, but sometimes I want to know more about the artist. I want to be immersed in their world, I guess, and so if somebody feels that way about our music, then I would hope that would be enough for them to dig through all of our Instagram posts.
TMO: I guess that’s it. Do you have any closing remarks, anything you’d want to say to your fans?
Jack: I guess just everyone stay inside, stay safe, wash your hands.
Adrienne: Thank you for helping us get back on our feet!!
Jack: Yeah that as well, and if you have the means and opportunity, support your favourite artists! Everybody’s struggling right now. Do what you can to give and help out and listen to your health experts and don’t listen to Biff down the street who thinks he knows everything.
Emerald Seas is out now through Frontiers Records and can also be found on the band’s website.
