Chaos Rising is a unique project that brings together female metal musicians from across the globe. The girls recently released their double album, and to date 40 musicians from 18 countries have taken part.
Carrie-Anne from ROX Alive knows only too well how women are a force to be reckoned with in rock and metal. Chaos Rising is a great example of the power, confidence and positivity as well as female empowerment that such bands and projects can achieve. With a growing catalog of fantastic singles it was fitting that a compilation album would be released. And now it has Carrie chatted to musician and driving force Stéphanie Nolf
Your project is a great example of how successful and creative music collaboration can be. But how did the idea for it begin and when?
Stéphanie : I have been playing in metal bands in my country since 1994 only with men and decided to create a new project “Chaos Rising” in 2019. The idea was to have an international metal project open to all female musicians.
Tina: Steph asked me to join pretty much in the early days of Chaos Rising and I was happy to get involved, because I think it's such a cool concept. Then I also asked other women from my local scene and things got moving…
Why did you want to create a project like Chaos Rising?
Stéphanie : When I created Chaos Rising I thought it would be difficult or impossible to make a female-only band in a death metal style in France so I decided to offer an online collaboration because it would offer more possibilities and would allow me to unite musicians from other countries. I already knew how to work online and use the necessary tools to produce music. The objective is to value women in music, meet musicians from around the world and unite around a project. I like to bring together women from different countries and cultures to create a song, each bringing its own style, proposing ideas, even if metal music is quite "codified", it also allows us to progress in our instrumental practices.
Tins: It wasn't on purpose, but the project really got rolling when the pandemic hit. There were no concerts, no tours, so musicians were playing at home in front of the computer. We grew pretty fast during the Covid years.
Why the name?
Stéphanie : The first musicians of the project Chaos Rising chose their name to reflect the intense and dynamic nature of their music. "Chaos" signifies the raw power and energy in their sound, while "Rising" represents their ambition to overcome challenges and elevate their music to new heights. Just like how the band's music combines elements of aggression and melody, their name embodies the idea of conquering chaos through creativity and passion.
Then musicians wanting to make different metal styles contacted us, and I myself decided to compose pieces of different styles to add diversity to the project.
How many people have been involved?
Stéphanie : Since 2019, 56 artists from 19 different countries have joined us: France, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Iran, USA, India, Brazil, Canada, Serbia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Sweden, Russia, Poland.
The project is constantly evolving, some musicians propose to collaborate on a single song, others on several. It is an open project that does not work like a band with a defined number of members and a chosen style, which allows more flexibility and more originality and creativity. This mode of music production seems more adapted to today’s listeners.
Are they solo performers or members of bands?
Stéphanie : Most musicians, including myself, play in bands and have their own projects. The project manages to attract professional musicians like Luana Dametto who plays drums in the group Crypta.
A small number of artists do not play in groups for various reasons, including for example the fact that they cannot practise this style of music in some less "free" countries, because this is what makes the project special, we do not all live with the same rights, the same opportunities, the same access to culture. We must therefore help each other, especially when we are privileged. I think that giving time voluntarily to others is essential, it allows us to give a voice to those who cannot express themselves as they would like. Women must not forget that the rights and freedoms they have acquired may also be called into question at some point.
Why did you want the project to be all female?
Stéphanie : I like to play music in bands with men, I have no problem with it and I keep doing it. This project was like a challenge to show that women can also, by themselves, compose, play, record, and produce metal music songs.
I also think that it allows us to stand out a little from what is the most produced, a majority of metal bands are entirely male and we never ask them why they are entirely male, so why not entirely female ? It’s nice like that, we have fun, we play music, we exchange ideas and we do not set limits.
It can also show those who do not dare to embark on music that it is possible to succeed. If this project can serve as a model for the youngest, it’s cool, I am interested in showing that it is important to be united, together, regardless of our differences. Unity and sharing are our strength, especially in a very individualistic world where egocentrism and narcissism are exacerbated by social networks, so we might as well use these tools to create something positive.
Tina: For me, personally, it was very important to have female role models and musicians I could look up to, when I was a teenager. So we hope to give that back now, and also provide some kind of “safe space” for musicians to get in touch with the music industry and try out new stuff.
Does having only female voices limit song choices and vocal range at all?
Stéphanie : No, on the contrary, it allows you to do all styles of metal, from brutal death to heavy metal or symphonic metal with vocal techniques in a more 'operatic' style. The limits of the project only depend on the willingness of the players and their investment, you can do all the styles you want, you just need to bring together in the same team the musicians who have the desire and the technical level to do a chosen metal music style.
Is it difficult to keep the project organised or is it indeed chaos?
Stéphanie : It's not difficult to keep the project organised, you just have to stick to the guideline that was chosen from the outset: have a good enough level to record the tracks properly, want to work together, show what you can do and do it as well as possible.
In all projects it’s a person or a small group of people who manage the whole to ensure its coherence and prevent it from going in all directions, it may not please everyone but it does not matter, it is usually the best performers or the most invested people who take part in the main decisions of this project.
Wanna tell us the 2022 compilation album “The Singles”
Stéphanie : The album «The Singles» brings together all the songs we have composed and released on a compilation with 2 albums, an album entitled "For the Head" which compiles the most death, thrash, speed... and an album "For the Heart" which compiles the most melodic songs, symphonic, doom. This can make it easier for listeners to navigate.
This album was released in 2022, only 3 years after the creation of the project, we already had 20 songs, we managed to release a new song every month. It was pressed in limited edition, we still have some copies on our bandcamp page, do not hesitate to take a look if you want to support the project.
Those who buy it allow us to fund another one, because we operate without a budget, as volunteers and we did everything by ourselves. The cover of the album was designed by Tina Gruschwitz (Germany), graphic designer, bassist who also participated in several of the songs and who remains very involved in the project.
Tina: Yes, as an enthusiastic fan of physical media, I thought it would be awesome to have a double album as our musical release. Of course you can also get the digital files on Bandcamp or watch our videos on YouTube.
What’s next?
Stéphanie : We continue to produce new songs, 7 songs are already available on our pages, new collaborations are underway, and we can soon release a new album. We also have some surprises with musicians experimenting with new things and we will try to add styles of metal music that we have not yet experienced.
I would like to be able to integrate musicians from Asian countries, Africa, all countries not yet represented, it is not always easy to find contacts, if you are interested do not hesitate to contact us !
Tina: We still want to spread the word and bring this unique project to interested listeners. So thank you for this interview!
How can people get involved and support the project?
Stéphanie : What we really lack since the creation of the project are women who could form a "promotion" team, be several to offer help to promote the project, create content on networks, propose new ideas, be a "driving force" element. Being quite numerous would increase our visibility but also reduce the investment of the few permanent members who are already on many other tasks and who will exhaust themselves to grow a project that can easily be led by several. It is not necessary to spend all your time there when more people are assigned a small task. It is the group work that makes the strength of the project, the collective spirit and the desire to help each other. But why is this team so hard to find?
Do not hesitate to talk about the project to people around you, on blogs, social networks... take part in its development, everyone can contribute in their own way !
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Hi and thanks for your input!