3.

Jucifer – L’Autrichienne

Jucifer is a band that I got into in around 2008 – actually it was during the recording of World Painted Blood that Greg Fidelman recommended that album to me – I think maybe we were talking about drums or something and he was like ‘Y’know there’s a band that my wife is into that’s pretty damn good – check it out, you might like it.’ They’re a husband and wife duo and they travel across the country and write this great music. She has a brilliant voice; at times it’s hardcore, like really hardcore almost grindcore with a female vocalist, but then there are some songs that are almost ballads and that variety grabbed me, absolutely. And the creativity and the fact that they don’t limit themselves, they keep experimenting; if they want to write a beautiful song where she’ll sing beautiful melodies, they’ll do it. But if she wants to scream and spill her fucking guts out, then she’ll do that too, and they’ll put it all on one record. It may sound different but I don’t care, I found it and I appreciate true artistry. That attitude of ‘like it or not we’re going to play what we want’ is definitely too rare now because a lot of bands once they find a comfort zone they’ll stay there and they don’t challenge their listeners. I just feel that maybe for me it’s more gratifying if they do – even if fans might not like it at one point, or they’re like ‘oh, I wasn’t really a big fan of it’ it’s like ‘ok, well, maybe next one! I’m glad you like some of our music! That’s cool’; you appreciate what you get. I like to take chances like that as a musician as well.