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Rafael Santos – Hello Veronica! At first, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to do this interview with you as well as to wish Benedictum a big success in 2008.

Metal Clube – In December, 2006, Benedictum travelled through Europe next to the legendary Doro Pesch. What can you say on this experience since the drummer was replaced?

Veronica Freeman: All I can say is that it was an experience of a lifetime. Paul Courtois is an outstanding person as well as a great musician. His professionalism and work ethic really kept us going and his great personality made it a blast to be on the road together. The Doro Tour will be something that none of us will ever forget. We were all treated so well and became friends wtih Doro, her band and her crew. We couldnt have asked for more!

It was also the first time that we all had to live together on a bus and that is one sure fire way of getting to know eachother upclose and personal.”the good, the bad and the ugly” ha ha!

Every where we went we made new fans and friends and we cant wait to get back on the road again. 

Metal Clube – How is being to work with Paul Courtois since the drummer, Blackie Sanchez, left Benedictum due to musical divergences?

Veronica Freeman: Paul has had a great affect on this band. He really makes sure we stay on task and also has a great voice! That is very important to me with backing vocals etc. He is a great “team player” and that is also something that people may not realize is of such great value. We have to do this together and to have someone that has that team attitude is what will allow us to progress.

Just to let you know I just spoke to Blackie last week, he is doing well and we are still good friends!

Metal Clube – The new album “Seasons of Tragedy” will be released by Locomotive Records in Europe, January, and later in the USA. Unfortunately, any date has not been scheduled to South America yet. What can you say to the listeners on the new album "Seasons of Tragedy"? Is there any newness in comparison with the debut, "Uncreation"?

Veronica Freeman: I am sad to hear that there is no South America release in the works. But our dream is to play there someday! What I can say to the listeners is that I truly feel that “Seasons of Tragedy” has a bit more diversity in it, I believe that the albums over all sound is superior to the first one and that we are really proud of what we have done together.
 
Metal Clube – How about working along with Mike Learn in the graphic art of the new album?

Veronica Freeman: Mike Learn was wonderful to work with and is working on a custom made guitar for Pete. His artwork however was not used for the album due to differences with Locomotive. They wanted a different look for it so they had another artist  Hjules Havanscak do the artwork. You can check out his work at www.hjules.com. And you can check out Mike Learns awesome artwork at www.mikelearn.com

We are really happy with Hjules work and still will use Mikes artwork for other promotional articles.

Metal Clube – As it was previously confirmed, some musicians made a special guest appearance on the album: Craig Goldy (Dio, Hydrogyn), Jeff Pilson (ex-Dokken, Foreigner), Manni Schmidt (Grave Digger) and George Lynch (ex-Dokken). Where did the idea come from and what did you think about this experience?

Veronica Freeman: WOW yeah it was a great time. We had hoped that Craig would join us again and we were so happy when he was able to make it over to the studio and record the bonus track.

Manni Schmidt became a close friend during the time that we were on tour, he had us over to his house for dinner and we kicked around the idea of his being on the album. When the time came for the recording he was gracious enough to say yes and we were really happy about how the solos turned out on “Burn it Out”

Jeff played the bass on “Balls to the Wall” and also did many of the backing vocals and some keyboards too... as always he is a joy to work with has given so much of himself in producing this project.

George Lynch was someone we had only hoped could be involved. When Jeff asked if he would be interested in working with us we were beside ourselves.

The experience of workign with such talented individuals makes us really grateful. It was cool to watch Craig in the studio and a blast for Pete to work with George Lynch who is his guitar hero.
 
Metal Clube – There are 11 tracks in the new album and among them there is a cover to the song of Accept called “Balls to the Wall”, and at first, you will release a digipack version with a cover of Rainbow called “Catch the Rainbow”. How did the idea of creating a new version for these songs appear?

Veronica Freeman: I had wanted to see what it would be like for a woman to do “Balls to the Wall” and we had a lot of fun recording that one. The idea for “ Catch the Rainbow” was given to us by the label. They wanted a bonus track and we didnt want to use any of the other tracks we already had. We had about 24 hours to put that together and I was glad that Craig was availble on that very day!

Metal Clube – Benedictum quickly won an international prestige. In 2007, you took part in the most important Metal Festival in the world. Tell us about the experience that you felt by playing along with bands like AMORPHIS, BELPHEGOR AND BLIND GUARDIAN in the Wacken Open Air.

Veronica Freeman: Wacken was a dream that I had for many years. We were so proud to be a part of it. It was really well run and we had a blast! We were in awe of many of the bands there and we were able to check out more than just  one day of the festival so that was really cool too!

Metal Clube – You, as a frontwoman, are becoming prominent in this great moment of Benedictum. Have you ever thought of working in a solo project if you have a chance someday?

Veronica Freeman: Hmmm “prominent” that is good to know J. To be honest I cant imagine writing with anyone else but Pete Wells. He and I have been writing for years and I get inspired by his riffs. I look at this whole thing as a team effort so it is hard for me to say anything about a solo career at this point. I just want to see how far Benedictum can go! 

Metal Clube – A proof of Benedictum success also happened in San Diego, California. In 2006, you won the award: “The Best Hard Rock Band”, at the San Diego Music Awards. I believe that now you are ready to compete to OSCAR, aren’t you? (laughter).

Veronica Freeman: Laughter .... lots of laughter! We were nominated but didnt win L but we were honored to be considered in our own home town!

Hopefullly some day I can work on my acceptance speach ha ha!

Metal Clube – Benedictum has been already scheduling a new tour. Do you plan to record some live material for a forthcoming DVD release?

Veronica Freeman: You seem to know more than I do J but yes we are awaiting the plans for a tour in 2008. Hopefully we will know more soon.  A DVD release is also an idea that we are kicking around in our heads, it remains to be seen if the label will get behind that idea but I think it is a GREAT idea!

Metal Clube – Is there any possibility to the Brazilian fans to watch Benedictum live in this new tour?

Veronica Freeman: I can make you this promise. I will do all I can to see if that can be made a reality. If you have any ideas let me know! Earlier last year there was some talk about it but again, there was nothing concrete. I think that would be a BLAST!! All I hear about is how wonderful the fans are over there and we cant wait to see it for ourselves. 

Metal Clube – Veronica, “Metal Clube Website” thanks for the opportunity of this interview once again. Please, leave a message to the Benedictum fans.

Veronica Freeman: It is my honor to leave a message! Thank  you for your interest in Benedictum first of all!

I just want everyone to know how much we appreciate your support and how badly we would love to come out there and play for you! We hope our music gives you a ton of head banging pleasure! STAY METAL! 

Love you all

The V

Benedictum
 

www.benedictum.net/ | www.myspace.com/benedictum

 

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