CR: Many of our readers don’t know or know little about the music proposal of Octavia Sperati; can you please introduce your self and your music to us?
Bodil Myklebust: It started out as a friend’s project in 2000. Some of us knew each other beforehand and some of us got acquainted through the local metal scene, so we were hanging out, going to concerts etc. It turned out that we all, unaware of each other, had been thinking about starting to play ourselves: Making music instead of only listening to it, playing gigs instead of only watching. The genre being so male-dominated, it’s not always that obvious to girls that we can contribute as well, but luckily we got around that and took some initiative. When the idea was first out in the open it didn’t take long until we had gathered a complete line-up and found rehearsal rooms etc. Since then we've been working really hard, playing festivals and gigs around Norway, done some recordings: “Guilty” demo 2002 and “Winter Enclosure” album 2005, had some changes in the line-up, and of course signed a record deal, which was a major break-through for us personally. The usual band-stuff I guess?

CR: Octavia Sperati has recently finished a big tour with other big names in metal, like Cradle of filth, Cathedral, Paradise Lost and Leaves eyes; how was your participation in such an event; how did the crowds and the other bands respond to Octavia? Any special moments that you can share with us?
Bodil Myklebust: He, he I guess the most spectacular thing during the tour happened on the last day. Apparently in the UK it’s a tradition on the last day of the tour that the main bands crew play a prank on the support band. We had heard rumours about this during the day, and it’s safe to say that we were kind of anxious when we entered stage that night. What on earth were they going to do to us? And as we just had started playing the third song of our set, on stage comes COF`s guitar technician butt naked with only balloons cowering his “private parts” and he starts dancing around on stage……We all started laughing but luckily we managed to keep on playing.

CR: Your first and latest album Winter Enclosure was release in 2005, and many critics are starting to look at your band from a different point of view, leaving a side the fact that you are a band made by women, can you say that the record has interested people more because of your music or by the rarity (not very rare really) of all girls on the band?
Bodil Myklebust: Hehe…It is really difficult for us to say what people are thinking. I hope people like our music for its one sake, and not because we are women! I guess maybe some people get curious of the band and want to check it out because it is a rare thing that women play metal music, and that we get some new listeners that way. On the other side, maybe we loose some listeners because they have prejudices because we are women… Anyway, I hope the critics are focusing on the music, and not only the fact that we are women!

CR: Winter Enclosure is a very interesting mix of doom metal and gothic rock, I read the label “gloom metal” a couple of times before, but never really understood it, can you explain to us what’s up with that label being placed upon your music? Are you happy with it?
Bodil Myklebust: To be honest I do not really understand the meaning of that label myself. I had never heard the word before I read it in a review of our record… I understand the critics need to label music, but we our self do not think about that when we are making music, we do not want to limit ourselves in a specific direction. Am I happy with the label? If someone can explain it for me, then maybe I could answer that question! Hehe…

CR: There is a clear combination in Octavia Sperati, beautiful songs that also carry some serious depressive tunes; what’s the general mood of every Octavia member when it comes to music, are you guys trying to create a certain atmosphere around your music or is just a way to express what you feel and it doesn’t really determine who you are?
Bodil Myklebust: It’s not really a concept album and we never set out to make a depressive album. People interpret the album in different ways, and we think it’s cool that people find different things in it. Silje (vocal) writes most of our lyrics and the content is very often based on personal experience. But it is widely expressed, with the intention to keep it open for the listener to interpret and recognize different aspects of their own life.

CR: Reading your biography I found out that your government and some musician’s organizations supported your music a lot; do you think that the band and this album would have existed if it wasn’t for their help? Was it hard to get their help? Do you know how many metal bands are currently being fund by this organizations or the government?
Bodil Myklebust: Yes, both the band and the album would have existed without the support from the government and organizations. We really wanted to make this record, and would have recorded it anyway. But the support has of course helped us a lot! It has made it possible for us to use more time in studio, without ruining ourselves. We have also been able to do some more touring than we would have afforded to do without the support, so it has been a vital help for us! I do not know how many metal bands that are getting funds from organizations and the government. The funds are given on a project basis, which can be a recording, a concert or a tour, so the number being supported will vary. To get the support you have to write a good application, where you give a good description of the project you need money for, you have to show that you are serious and hardworking, and deliver a detailed budget for the project. It can be hard to get support, because the funds available are limited, but the key is hard work and good applications!

	Pic courtesy of: Octavia Sperati "It’s said that life in many ways just is an endless chain of fortune and coincidences. And for us, being at the right place at the right time did it. We managed to give Candllelight a recording of four of our songs (raw-mixes) and I guess they found what they heard interesting"

CR: How did you guys get the record deal with Candle Light Records?
Bodil Myklebust: It’s said that life in many ways just is an endless chain of fortune and coincidences. And for us, being at the right place at the right time did it. We managed to give Candllelight a recording of four of our songs (raw-mixes) and I guess they found what they heard interesting.

CR: Going back to your record Winter Enclosure; this album was nominated for best Bergen Album of the year, which must be a great deal for such a young band? Just by being nominated it must put a lot of pressure in you guys when you begin to work in your next album, or those things are not really in your mind when working on your music? (you know, if people liked so much the first one, we cant disappoint them with a bad second record…maybe something like that could cross your mind)
Bodil Myklebust: We actually won the “Best Bergen Album of the year award”!!!. Which is really cool. It feels good to have support from your local community. When it comes to our next album, I guess we just have to keep on doing our own thing, that’s the only way to do it. We have started to work on new material and so far it looks good. So at the moment we actually don’t have that many fears, ha, ha.

CR: So that we and our readers can better understand your album, could you please humor us by saying something about each song in that record, a short comment or just the topic that you wanted to target in each song:
Bodil Myklebust:
2. Lifelines Of Depths: Life and death
3. Soundless: Annoying people
4. Icebound: A journalist’s power
5. Hymn: Much the same as hunting eye
6. Hunting Eye: Hunting something you know is not good for you
7. Future Is: The strengths of the soul
8. Below Zero: Drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness
9. Wasted On The Living: Death
10. Without Air (Before): The “larger than human life” state of everything around us.
11. Without Air (After): The same as Without Air (Before.)

CR: Why don’t so tell us something about the demo Guilty; where it was recorded and how did it help you guys get some attention from the metal scene? (I’m sorry I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of it)
Bodil Myklebust: The “Guilty” demo was recorded back in 2002. It’s a self-financed low budget demo, (like most demos are I guess), and we think that the sound at some points really is crap.
But it served its purpose, we had something to send around and it gave us a lot of live jobs.
The songs on “Guilty” were the first songs we ever made as a band, and we were new to the idea of writing and arranging songs at the time. But I think that you find the same moods and melodies there, only in a ‘rougher’ form.
We have stopped making more copies of it for the time being.

CR: You guys recently recorded a video for the song Lifelines Of Depths, I saw it and you guys look way tough, I mean you guys are beautiful and all, but I was expecting a woman video, with butterflies and some white dresses, something like Within Temptation or Lacuna Coil sort of thing, but you guys appear rocking and head banging, really a good surprise, what was the main idea behind the video? What do you want to achieve with it?
Bodil Myklebust: The “Lifelines of Depths” video was going to be a pure performance video. I don’t know if you have seen it but we have also made another video from the Winter Enclosure album, “Hunting Eye” this video has kind of a story as well as a live part. But with the Lifelines of depths video we wanted to show more of what Octavia really is about! We’re a metal band and we love metal music! We get inspired by that genre and we enjoy attending gigs ourselves, so we didn’t want any “fuzz” with this video, just a plain metal performance video!! We wanted to show as much of what Octavia is and what to expect in the 3minuttes or so that it lasts.

Into some weird questions

Do you think you could still play the music you played if you lived in a tropical country?
Bodil Myklebust: There’s of course no direct link between the climate and music, ha-ha. But artists (of any art form – even music) have always been inspired by their surroundings, there’s no question about it. Staying outdoor, all alone, feeling the grace of a dramatic nature sure gives you the humble feel that in turn is very inspiring. This inspiration can at least feed you the energy and urge to perform. But the musical style, as with the different regional musical styles in the world, they are probably caused by a social element as well, haha?

	Pic courtesy of: Octavia Sperati "I have not got any marriage proposals yet! It has not been any real problems with the fans. Of course, there are some crazy people out there, and we have had some unwanted attention some times – but in general the people we meet are really nice"

CR: How do you handle all of our (male) chauvinist heavy metal fan boy fantasies, I mean how do you feel about being transformed into some sort of goddess just because you are a woman that is not afraid of playing heavy music? Get many marriage proposals?
Bodil Myklebust: Hahaha… I have not got any marriage proposals yet! It has not been any real problems with the fans. Of course, there are some crazy people out there, and we have had some unwanted attention some times – but in general the people we meet are really nice. When we are touring, we like to get out and meet people after the shows, and the people we meet are quite good behaving. I think the metal audience is of the best people there is!

CR: In your biography it mentions that you guys got together because of several coincidences and I quote “The main trigger, however, was new friendships and considerable amounts of alcohol.” My question is, first what coincidences and just how much alcohol are we talking about here?
Bodil Myklebust: The coincidences reflect the desperation that followed the death of a mutual friend. The hole idea of the band, or the “kick in the ass” to just go for it had its origin in this desperation. We all where in a deep need for something new to happened after a long sad period, and fully aware of the fact that if we wanted a change in life, we had to do it ourselves, so we decided to form Octavia!!
How much alcohol? ….don’t remember much from that night really… hehe
No, seriously, there are no alcoholics in Octavia. We all have jobs or are students, but we enjoy a good party!!

CR: Are all the members of Octavia Sperati full time musicians or do you guys have day jobs?
Bodil Myklebust: No unfortunately we are not in the position to focus all our time and energy on the music… yet. As Octavia started out most of us were already studying so it has been important to us to try to finish the degrees we had started on. Like I mentioned above, Trine and Tone are still students while the rest of the band have different part time or full time jobs.

CR: Any good records, other than Winter Enclosure that were released in 2005?
Bodil Myklebust: Hmmm, 2004 was a very good year record-wise, but luckily there was some in 2005 as well; Raging Speedhorn “How the great have fallen”, Helrunar “Frostnacht”, Tori Amos “The Beekeeper”, Nile “Annihilation of the Wicked” were great records that came out in 2005. And probably a lot more, that I can’t remember right now.

CR: Would you guys consider coming to Costa Rica?
Bodil Myklebust: Definitely!!! Coming to Costa Rica would be great! Some sunshine and summer temperature would do.... Please feel free to invite us?

CR: Thank you for your time, hope I didn’t bored you too much, if you have something else that you will like to add, please do.
Bodil Myklebust: Thanx for the interview!!! Hope to see you all in a concert in Costa Rica soon. Please check out our homepage www.octavia-sperati.com for news and tourdates. Cheers and stay METAL!!!!!