Personally, I would never use sexuality or looks as a selling point.
Alissa White-Gluz
I think one of the reasons that Arch Enemy gels so well as people and musically is because we all share very similar values when it comes to human rights, animal rights... even politics, religion.
We don't follow trends; I don't think we even set trends. We just do our own thing. We just do what we love. That's why Arch Enemy sounds like that.
There's this company called Vega that sponsors us, and basically, what it is is a vegan health optimizer. But really it's a protein shake that has all the vitamins, all the enzymes, all the minerals, all the carbs, all the proteins... everything that you need to set yourself for the day.
I never took lessons. And I never aspired to be a singer until I was one in a band.
The animal rights cause is something close to my heart and something I truly believe in.
Some people are really surprised that I can sing different ways.
I had my first band. it was kind of a progressive metal band kind of thing. I just started writing songs that required more and more challenging vocals, and I just did them. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? So I just sort of did what I had to do to make the songs sound the way I wanted them to.
I haven't seen too many similarities between Montreal and American cities.
I like musicals a lot. I think probably 'Jesus Christ Superstar' is my favorite. I love Andrew Lloyd Webber for the most part. It's rare that I'll find a musical that I don't like.
My parents, along with my brother and sister, are vegetarians.
Anywhere we go in the States, people know we're from out of town: like, we stick out like sore thumbs. People are like, 'Freaks! Go cut your hair!' and whatever. It's a little weird.
I'm always, always really health conscious - even more so on tour.
That's one of the reasons I'm vegan. Death terrifies me. I don't want to impose death on anyone else.
I've been vegan longer than I've been a singer. And it's definitely something that I try to put across in my work, but that's just because I really care about it.
Often the 'lead' of a classical song will have something really cool to its melody that - even though it might be a violin or something doing it in the song - I end up wanting to try something like that with my voice.
I am one of the few but very lucky people who grew up in a vegetarian household. So, I was vegetarian since birth along with my mother, sister, and brother.
I didn't have any doubts about joining Arch Enemy.
When I was in high school, I started organizing fundraisers and other events for people like PETA and Greenpeace.
It's pretty clear I am a diehard Chris Cornell fan, so his voice, musicianship, and lyrics have touched me across many different projects.
I've seen a couple of singer switches happen right before my eyes, one being Roy Khan to Tommy Karevik in Kamelot, and the other was Anette Olzon to Floor Jansen in Nightwish. Those happened with me present, and I saw how well the fans took to these singers because they were presented in the proper way.
Is it hard to be vegan? Absolutely not. It would be hard to not be vegan.
I wasn't raised in any way where I was forced to be a vegetarian, too. I always had the choice. My mom would say, 'I don't eat the stuff, so I won't cook it, but if you want to eat it, you can. Let me tell you why I don't eat it.' So she was open about it.
I have read and heard so many stories from people all around the world describing how they've found their own reason to believe through Arch Enemy, and that genuinely inspires me and keeps me going.
Fighting the ongoing war in your day-to-day life, everybody has their battle going on that nobody else knows about.
I love 'hearing a person's face' in their music. I've been told by fans that they can tell when I'm smiling or feeling mischievous in my voice - that's a huge compliment.
Lzzy Hale could sing me the dictionary, and I would swoon. She is so amazingly talented, and her voice is absolutely delicious.
We can do many different things as a band. But that doesn't mean we should do that. If we did all we're capable of, it doesn't necessarily mean we'd be writing better songs. None of us are huge fans of bands that seem to go, 'OK, I'm gonna sing for no reason and then scream for no reason just because I can.'
I've done music as a hobby, either in musical theater or just jamming with friends, pretty much for as long as I can remember.
Playing with my sister - we always had musical instruments lying around the house.
It's totally natural to me to be vegan.
I feel just as much a part of 'War Eternal' as I do 'Will to Power.'
We should be pointing out people's accomplishments rather than their looks, but if it can promote our band, why not?
As a female in metal, I'm going to get ostracized one way or another. So, if I'm going to have people hating me because I'm a female in metal, I might as well get people loving me because I'm a female in metal, too.
For some reason, people don't want to see a girl onstage. Whether it's a girl or a guy, if you like the music, who cares?
I work out a lot. I started to work out on the road as much as I can, but I work out a lot at home to keep myself in good shape.
When I hear from fans that they not only like the music but they're also very touched by the lyrics, or they also learned about a specific cause because of me, that's really rewarding.
I feel very fortunate to be in a position to where I can continue to make music and have people appreciate it.
I have a lot of people I think are important to me, a lot of different causes I like to talk about also.
I love doing clean singing, which is one of the main things that drives me back to Kamelot all the time.
It's fun for me, and I love singing Arch Enemy stuff without clean singing, but I think it would be cool to introduce it. It's just a matter of if it feels right.
I never had this idea, 'I wanna be a solo artist.'
When I first started playing metal, lyrically, I sort of related a little bit more to the punk and hardcore scenes, where there was a lot more veganism and straight-edge people and people taking a stance for causes that they believe in.
I think that metal has always been, in my opinion, the most passionate form of music, and it only makes sense to actually be passionate about what you're saying when you're delivering music to people, whether it's through an album or for a live show.
A lot of my musician friends have the same kind of anxiety and panic when faced with crowds of people, and I do, too.
That's the thing: when I'm on stage, I don't care; there could be ten people there, there could be ten million people there. But if I'm offstage, I'm, like, counting the people. I know exactly where everyone's standing, how far they are from me.
The way I see it, I am lucky to be alive and well, and I only wish the same for others.
'Wages Of Sin' was the first metal album I ever bought, and it was love at first listen.
I'm really excited to be a part of the 'Fallen Heroes' EP.
Touring, it's really difficult to actually make a band work, and I think that's why there's so few bands that do work, actually, 'cause there's so much that goes into it.
