Bill's PurpleCrayon Blog

PRESENTING PART TWO OF MY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BENEDICTUM VOCALIST VERONICA FREEMAN

The more one listens to Benedictum’s freshman release, Uncreation, the more fascinating it gets. There’s a lot going on in this CD. The guitars are big, the vocals are bigger, and the production is bigger still. It’s a tremendous accomplishment that only gets more exciting with every listen. In concert, this band will blow away all competitors.

Veronica Freeman, Benedictum’s vocalist and lyricist, is an articulate woman with diverse interests, curiosity about the world around her, and no fear about speaking her mind.

This is Part Two of a three part interview conducted in early March.

Enjoy!


VF: And “Them,” with this little lovely lyric, was actually when I was working at another establishment, and was in a position where I felt that I was being very attacked. And the boss that I had a the time, who is very, very -- we still are very close friends -- at that time felt like I was just being a hysterical woman. And I was like, “No, you’re really being deceived here. These people are doing this and that,” and it was just this, you know, work drama. So I was so mad that I just, I had to get it out somehow, so I wrote the song. I mean, it’s not about -- and people are thinking yeah, it’s the obligitory, “I’m some tough woman in metal.” If it wouldn’t have been for the men in my life, I wouldn’t be here, so I’m like, “What are you talking about? You know?” So let me set the record straight on that.

BM: What about the other tunes? What about Wicca? Is that a subject matter you’re interested in or is it just --

VF: Very much so!

BM: Really?

VF: I’m a very spiritual person. And I, you know, I don’t want to get on my soapbox. Anything in history -- present, past, future, whatever --that I just feel that we should…that we’re spiritual entities and as such, should be, feel pretty free to express ourselves. So the deal with that song was the same boss, who, like I said is still one of my good friends to this day, was in a phase of his life where he was into -- he was actually practicing Wicca and that stuff. So he had a book that he was reading, which was a nonfiction book, by the way, and it had some letters of people that had been persecuted as witches. One of the letters was from a father to his daughter. And the daughter’s name happened to be Veronica, which really freaked me out. And he read it to me. And the letter was so profound, it was like, it described his torture, it described what they did to him, how they would lift him up at the top of a makeshift ladder, so to speak, and just drop him to the ground, you know, breaking bones or whatever. And the whole deal was the same deal that it always was: you need to confess to being a witch. And you also need to confess that your neighbor, so and so, is also a witch. And if you don’t, you’re gonna die. You’re gonna die anyway, but at least you can die with a clean soul. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: And that stuff just blows my mind. And so he was trying, apparently he was able to smuggle a letter out, of some sort, to his daughter. “You know what? Don’t even try to come here. This is probably the last time you’re ever going to hear from me. You know, I love you, just go. Cuz they’ll probably come for you too.” And it was just, that’s what that song is about. It was only Wicca, you know. It was an ancient ritual, loving the earth and all that stuff. And you can put your twist on it or whatever, but the bottom line was, a lot of people, if you really look at the historical content of it, it was a lot about depriving women and a lot of other people of their property. It was about money. [laughs] You know, and the church and all that stuff back in the day. Didn’t mean to just blow you off the platform there. But, you know…

BM: No, that’s perfectly okay. I have a wide variety of interests as well, so I’m just soaking this up, you know. I enjoy listening to you talk about it. So it doesn’t freak me out or anything. It’s --

VF: Ok, Sorry.

BM: No, no problem.

VF: [laughs] That’s great.

BM: Well, how do you then...you’re a spiritual person. You sound like a very intelligent person.

VF: Thank you.

BM: Very emotional. Romantic, even. How does this then fit with the stereotypical view of a metal chick in a band? Do you find any discrepancy with that?

VF: Well, whose view is that?

BM: Well, look at how -- well, look at how you were talking about the lyrics to that song, the obligatory tough metal chick sort of lyrics. Do you feel like you are yourself when you sing these songs and you’re on stage and all that?

VF: Yeah.

BM: Or is there a part of you that’s not showing?

VF: Who am I gonna be?

BM: Well, that’s a good question.

VF: So, I mean, that doesn’t equate with me, because of the diversity of the songs. I mean, if you really -- and so I throw it back to you. I know you just got the CD. I mean, listen to the lyrics. They are what they are. It comes from the depth of my experience, whether it be something I picked up upon, like the article in the book, for example, or one of my fascinations being the macabre, you know, the serial killer thing, or whatever. But I put my own twist to it, because I often think, “God, what an awful thing.” I think of these people and what they’ve been through. I’m a very empathetic person. So you know, I don’t even think about the metal chick thing. I mean, what is a metal chick?

BM: [laughs]

VF: To me that’s like, what’s that? Is there a metal dude? I mean...[laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: I mean, it’s just a person that happens to be singing this.

BM: Well, there’s a “metal god”; there’s Rob Halford, if that matters. [laughs]

VF: Okay. Well, good for him, I mean. And more power to him. I mean, I just, I don’t --

BM: Well, you gotta admit though, look at your persona. Look at these photos, like the cover of the metal magazine here. There’s a certain look that you’re portraying, that’s probably not -- you don’t walk around your hardware store looking like that, right?

VF: Hell, no I don’t. That’s why I laugh at that crap!

BM: [laughs]

VF: I mean, you know, come on! I don’t wake up looking like that, with some thigh-high boots and a bodysuit on!

BM: Sure.

VF: [laughs]

BM: So there is a certain amount of persona though, right?

VF: But whose fault is that?

BM: I don’t know!

VF: I mean, nobody put a gun to my head to take the pictures. However, it was pretty much laid out to me, this is what the promotional plan will be.
BM: Oh sure.

VF: The promotional plan will be a such and such, and then B, once we get it out there. And I don’t fault anybody for it, it’s just rock and roll. It’s metal. Not even rock and roll, it’s metal. There’s not a whole lot of women, I don’t -- no, let me rephrase that -- Ok, there’s not a whole lot of women singing the genre I do, in the way that I do.

BM: That’s true.

VF: I understand that. So, it’s all good. Do you mean- I don’t take that stuff too seriously. Am I thrilled to death when I get a cover of any magazine For me, is a joy. I mean, I look at it and I laugh. I think it’s great.

BM: Yeah.

VF: Do I think, “Oh wow, I’m some metal bitch from hell”? No! [laughs] I mean, come on!

BM: Now, I hope you realize I’m not criticizing anything you’re saying, I’m just asking you questions. [laughs]

VF: I appreciate you asking the questions, and it gives me a chance to give you my perspective of it. Um, I was kind of tentative about the whole thing [her on stage metal persona]. I think it takes a really strong -- I’m gonna go there with this -- I think it takes a really strong bunch of men to be able to back me in this. Does that make sense?

BM: Sure, cause you’re going to upstage everybody.

VF: I don’t mean it that way. What I’m saying is, you know, when I first kind of came on the scene -- although I’d been on the scene for a long time -- when I first got noticed and started doing press stuff, it’s like, “Yeah, we need this image” and stuff like that. And I’m like, “What are you talking about?” And I’m still like, “What are you talking about?” I mean, as long as the product is good, that’s all I care about. If the, if you look at it -- I don’t even know how to put it. Well, I do know how to put it. It’s like, “Ok, you have a can of beans. And it’s a really good can of beans. And you want to put the plain label on it, or you want to put the fancy label on it.” I’m still about the can of beans. I really, and I wanna say I could care less, of course I wanna look good and everything, but that’s not what this is about. You know, I didn’t have a whole lot of control over what the press has done, but nobody put a gun to my head to take the pictures. It was all cool and everything, and all that stuff, but I don’t think of myself as some vixen, rock diva type thing. I think of myself as someone who is having a really good time, singing stuff that she really loves. Now, if everything can come together as a whole, then that’s great. But, you know.

BM: Is there any worry you have -- and I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying -- do you have any concern that maybe some of these sort of vixen-like pictures or some of the press you’re getting will overshadow the music and the band?

VF: I don’t see how it could overshadow it. How could it? I mean, if- ok, there’s either A or B. Either A, you’re going to look at the picture, or whatever it is, the image, quote, unquote, which is so not me anyway – ‘cuz, I mean, really, in just talking to you, I mean, I had a good day, that day, for that photo shoot. [laughs] I had a good day. And I’m like, I have been trying to get my hair to look like that ever since. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: And I failed miserably. And I’m like, “Wow, you had 15,000 lights shining on your hair and it’s all shiny and you’ve got angled just right.” And I’ve got like a crooked nose, and you can’t tell ‘cuz it’s like, angled right, and it’s like, oh please! And makeup and false eyelashes and all that stuff. So for me, I look at it and go, “Wow!” I’m like, “Wow, that’s really good!” you know what I mean?

BM: [laughs]

VF: So I’m probably more excited about it than anybody else is. I’m like, “Wow, this is cool!” ‘Cuz I don’t look like that. And I’ve had people that know me go, “Wow, oh, that is you,” and I’m like, “Oh, bite me,” you know? I mean, ‘cuz I don’t look like that. I wish I did. I wish I did. If I looked like that, I wouldn’t leave the house! [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: So it’s like, it’s kind of a joke to me. But, however, the whole thing -- um, if I felt that this band was sub-par, or we were like putting out a bad product, or something like, oh, you know, let’s throw some stuff out there, but we got a good-looking chick and we can make it work. But it never was like that. I’m not that good-looking. [laughs] And the bottom line is, we do our thing. I’ve been singing, like I said, for a long time, however, I never got really serious about recording anything and putting it out there. And it wasn’t until Craig [Goldy, guitarist] said, “You’ve GOT to do this, now’s your time”, and so I finally did. And Pete [Wells, guitarist] and I had already talked about wanting to do that before hand, and so everything’s kind of fallen into place. So, you know, I don’t think that -- to answer your question -- if the image is out there, and it gets people to get curious about what Benedictum is, even if it’s only based on the image. If it’s based on the image alone, and they pick up Benedictum, and they like it, that’s a plus. Ok, if they don’t look at the image, and they pick up Benedictum, from word of mouth, through other people that have listened to it and like it, that’s a plus. So it’s a plus plus.

BM: [laughs]

VF: I can’t imagine anybody looking at the pictures and going, “Oh, ok, that’s great, but I won’t listen to it.”

BM: [laughs] That’s true.

VF: You know what I mean? It’s like, if it was a picture, and they listened to it, and the stuff was crap, THEN that would be different. It’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. I know that our style is not necessarily, you know, the trend. It’s not the soup, you know, the metal du jour. But, you know what I mean?

BM: [laughs] Sure.

VF: But I gotta go with the stuff that I love. I love that kind of old school kind of stuff, yet I like a modern edge. And so, you put all these different things together, you get Benedictum. And I like it, you know? I don’t think everybody in the world’s going to like it. And it’s not going to be everybody’s flavor of the month. But for those that like more of a classic style, I think it’s different, as far as something that’s thrown out there that’s got a lot of different elements. It’s got some old school, yet it’s got some new edge to it.

BM: See, you’re kind of leading into my next question here

VF: Go for it.

BM: Without even knowing it

VF: Yeah?

BM: See, my background is in advertising and marketing, and I sometimes teach those subjects at a local college. And one thing I always tell the students is, you gotta have a USP. There’s gotta be a unique selling proposition. Every product, every business, has to have a USP. And if I asked you that question, what is Benedictum’s USP? What do you guys do that nobody else can do, or that you do better? What is it about Benedictum that would make somebody want to listen to you anyway? What do you offer that’s unique?

VF: We offer what we do. And that is, to define that is, we take our eclectic volume of influences, and we bring that to the table. I -- that is a good question -- I’m not exactly sure how to answer that. I’ll tell you what’s been told to me from Craig. I’ll take it from Craig, because Craig’s the one that’s pushed me in this direction. I wish he was here, otherwise I’ll kick his ass, cuz it’s like, “Oh, now I need you, you’re not here!” He would always tell me, “Veronica, you’re unique. You have this look, but you sound like a guy, but, and you sing with this power, but you look like this, and you do this and you do that, and then you’ve got Pete.” And Pete’s so incredible, Pete’s one of my guitar heroes, and yada yada- and then, now you’ve got the rest of this band, which -- you know, Craig’s known me for a long time, so he’s heard the stuff that I did with, you know, the other band I was with, and that was all good. And he was like, “Yeah, this is great.” And some of this stuff we morphed into what we’re doing now. But all the elements were there for him to be able to say, “Let me take this to somebody.” So, but he’s always believed in me. I mean, there were long periods of time where I didn’t sing at all. It’s not like I’m surrounded by people who are like, all, like, metal fans. In my life, my particular experience has been most people trying to tell me, “Can you sing something else?” I had the opportunity to do a voice demo to make some serious money! [laughs] I won’t mention any names or anything, but the point being that, “Wow, V, your voice is really good. Let’s do this that and the other thing. I need a voice demo.” But all the stuff I’ve ever done has been metal. And so when they heard it, it’s like, “Can she do anything else but that? Her voice is absolutely…I’ve never heard anything like it. But, can she do it in this genre or that genre?” And I just never have. Craig would always tell me my unique selling point is gonna be being a woman, being a non -- I don’t want to say non-white -- but I’m not white, you know, I’m not skinny and blonde, I mean I, you know, that’s just not me. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: I mean, you know, I just do what I do. And that’s what he’s always telling me that the selling point would be. Me or the vocals or whatever, and coming from a woman, you know, not being mousey, but being very strong and powerful and that kind of stuff. I mean, I don’t know what else to say, that’s kinda like what’s been told to me. I still feel really uncomfortable with it. Because there’s members of my family that to this day haven’t even heard my album, because they’re just so not into metal.

BM: [laughs]

VF: I mean, it kinda hurts my feelings, other than they’re very proud of me. But they’re like, “Uh”, and I go, “But you’ve never even heard the whole album.” “No, no, well, you know...” They just, they can’t groove with that, you know?

BM: [laughs] Well now that you guys have the album out, what are you finding is your biggest challenge? Is it distribution? Is it airplay? Is it booking? What challenges face you now, as a brand new band?

VF: D. All of the above.

BM: [laughs] Yeah.

VF: Ok? We’re signed to a relatively small label in Europe [Locomotive, based in Spain]. I have to give them their props because for doing that, I am eternally grateful. For a small label in Spain to sign a Southern California band is awesome. It’s great. And the press that we’re getting is Europe is great. I mean, I’m thrilled about it. However, the challenges are, we’re getting, at this point, a lot of press. I mean, I am backed up with I don’t know how many interviews I have to type up.

BM: Type up?

VF: Yeah. Because I’m doing phone interviews every week, but I have a lot of written interviews --

BM: Oh, I see.

VF: -- that I have to do too, for webzines and magazines. And all that stuff is great, but the challenge is getting this band over to Europe. And with a small label -- it costs money to fly us over there. So you have the inhibitive cost factor, which I’m hoping -- I know Locomotive has put a lot of money into our press and promotion. And I am grateful for that, so I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I am hoping that they won’t close the books on it, and I’m hoping they will see that, “Wow, they are getting [lots of press]” I’ve got a few covers here and there. And that’s kind of like, that’s really cool for a new band from San Diego. Please, think about it, in the big picture. So that’s all fine, but I want to get there and be able to promote the album, ‘cuz it just came out in Europe on the 27th of January. So it’s been just a little over a month. And so, we will be going over to Europe in June.

BM: Oh really?

VF: Oh yeah. We’re doing the Gods of Metal in Italy, and I love Italy for it. Because I’ve gotten more -- you know, at this juncture – press in Italy has been good to me. It’s been good to Benedictum.

BM: [laughs]

VF: As well as Europe in general, you know. And Benelux and Belgium and all that stuff, the Netherlands, all that’s been great. And now, the UK is jumping on board too. I’m getting a lot of fan mail from there through the site. I answer every single email. It just means the world to me, you know, ‘cuz I didn’t really expect to be doing this stuff now. And it’s a joy. So I guess my perspective’s a little bit different. Maybe there’s a reason why it didn’t happen for me when I was 19. You know what I mean? So I appreciate it more now ‘cuz I have more bills now. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

VF: I have a mortgage now, you know? And I don’t have a husband, so that’s out of the picture. I was thinking I was going to have myself taken care of and I’d be able to fly around the world, you know? It’s not like that now.

BM: So what you need in the US then -- well, there is a distributor in the US, right? But being on a small label it’s hard to get into bigger CD stores and whatnot.

VF: I guess we’re going to be in, we’ll be in Tower Records and stuff like that. I mean --

BM: Really?

VF: Yeah! Yeah, I’m just kinda trippin on that. And we have a person, a promoter here in the states whom I have not spoken with yet, and I’m still dealing with, I’m mostly dealing with now, the European promotions. Which is great, which like I said, I’m backed up with that. And after I get off the phone with you I’ve got to finish these other interviews. Which, it’s a joy, it’s just, I’m pretty much the one that does those things. So, you know, it’s an interesting journey. I just didn’t know what to expect, ‘cuz a part of me always wanted this to happen, but the reality and everything involved with it is a little bit different than what you, you know. “Gee, I wanted to have this happen and, you know, this happen.” It’s like, you ask for it, you just might get it. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] So what do you say is your biggest issue or challenge right now, just finding time to do it all?

VF: No. It’s money. I’ll be straight up, it’s money.

BM: Money?

VF: It’s all about money, getting over there, you know, plane tickets, getting over there, staying over there. Hopefully when we get over there, our lodging and everything will be taken care of. And there’s five of us, you know, and not everybody is in the financial position to just pack up and go. But --

BM: How long is the tour?

VF: It’s only like, it’s not -- I guess you’d call it a tour. But right now it’s like, what, 13 days? 10 days?

BM: That’s a tour.

VF: Yeah, it’s a tour. We get over there, you know, we’re still, at this juncture, we’re still waiting for confirmation on some other things. The only other really, really confirmed things are Gods of Metal in Italy, a show in Belgium at the Bebop, and then I think there’s two other shows in the Netherlands. But someone else told me we’re confirmed – ‘cuz I have a lot of people that kind of look out for me, which I think are wonderful, across the ocean and stuff -- but that’s all I know so far. And what we’re working on is hopefully getting, what, Monsters of Rock in the UK?

BM: That would be cool.

VF: Oh my god! You don’t know how bad I want that!

BM: [laughs]

VF: I mean, because, the reason being, just that the type of comments I get from the fans in the UK. They -- Craig used to always say, “It’s going to take someone to get you, Veronica. Once they get you, once they get it, it’ll be on.” And they get it. It’s like, there’s no question about, well what’s up with this woman that sounds like a man, and da da da. It’s like, ok, this is some classic rock, and it’s done a certain way, and it’s really cool, and it’s powerful, and oh my god!


And so ends Part Two. The third and final part will be posted later this week.

In the meantime, buy Benedictum’s CD Uncreation. It’s available at Amazon and, probably, your local CD store. If you don’t see it, ask for it.

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