Mystica Girls interview

Interview with Cinthya Blackcat, Mystica Girls guitarist, to discover more from their new LP “Gates Of Hell”, the past, present and future of a band starting to get international recognition

Why did you create a female metal band? Was it an idea conceived from the beginning or was it pure coincidence?
In my case I always had the dream of being part of a girl band, many years passed until finally I was lucky to find myself in a bar with a female band playing covers and interestingly they were lacking of a guitarist because at that time there was a man who was playing the guitar, by a twist of fate I was able to talk to the bassist who was Jane, so I auditioned for the guitarist position, we were playing covers in bars of the State of Mexico and Federal District and two years later began to compose original music .

Do you think being an all-female band makes it easier to capture the attention of the media or the opposite, you have to work even harder to prove that you are a band of powerful, serious and skilled music?
Having a band formed uniquely by girls is a double-edged sword. It is true that it catches more the attention because it is no that common to see bands formed only by women, but we have also had to confront taboos, gender bias and discrimination in some cases by people who believed that we were only image and nothing else. But over the years the crowd has realized that we take our project very seriously and each day we seek to grow and improve to provide a more professional product.

Is there any female rock/metal band in the world that you consider a role model, one which you would kill to play on stage (even disbanded)?
We’ve known many projects comprised of girls and we are pleased to see that the musician women movement has grown, we love playing with any band of girls no matter the genre.

“Gates Of Hell” is a great metal album, a big step forward from “Metal Rose”, in terms of production and composition. It also offers a sound change, more rock and accessible but no less forceful. Is it a natural evolution or is the result of a deliberate decision?
A little of both. The deliberate decision comes from the constant commitment to improve our sound. This album is the result of all the years of experience that we have in music, we have much more experience in songwriting and production. The previous album had little shape, we were not sure how to make good editing and mixing. I think Gates of Hell is definitely much more complex at all levels, however, as you mention, was more accessible to the public, and that pleases us a lot because we are not losing anything of our essence, we’ve only evolved naturally as a project, try to always use music to express what’s inside us.

There have been several lineup changes since “Metal Rose”. How has this affected your creative process and sound?
Having a band is always tricky and worse if it is made only by women. It’s a lost of time not having a solid lineup, but those situations have never held us, changes have always been good to us, whenever it is a change is to improve , and we’re definitely very happy with the new sound of the band. I think the most noticeable change occurs in the energy transmitted by our music. We have a very good relationship between the four of us and deeply love what we do, and I think our music reflects that good atmosphere.

What do you think there’s in Mystica Girls sound that makes it unique?
I think music is one of the purest ways for people to express themselves. If one is sincere and let the music that was born in your heart flow, the result will be as unique as our DNA. We always try to do that. Every song we compose we do it freely without thinking about how we’ll sound, in which genre or which subject, there are many elements and we do not limit ourselves. If we want to make a rocker song we do it, if we do a more technical one we do it, there are many sounds that can be exploited within the same metal and rock genre and we love it.

Mon Laferte voice is spectacular. Did you think of her while composing the songs? Because they fit perfect with her range.
Yes, it’s about creating songs as best as possible. After having the vocal lines we search to accommodate them to fit Mon’s voice, to take profit of it, that we love ourselves and we believe its worth taking a listen.

“Sweet Picking” is another novelty, strictly instrumental. How did the idea of including it come from?
For some time I had the desire to do some instrumental, I was given the opportunity to do it and this is the result song. We’ll keep on including some instrumentals in the future.

Which is the album song you are more proud of? Tell us why and what is it about.
I have a special affection for all the songs, I see them as children, do not love one more than another, but the love you have for them is different. There is something special for me with “Spooky Cookie” because it is the end of the disc. In this song, the scariest monsters and demons live in a happy holiday, and invite you to be part of it. To me, these monsters and demons represent our fears, and the song is symbolic of someone who has come to know herself to the point that now she’s “friend” of her fears. When that happens, they go from being a threat to become a fortress. “Spooky Cookie” is an invitation to do this, and the conclusion of “Gates of Hell”.

And the one you can’t wait to play live, this song you know it will be a complete success?
“Gates of Hell”, for being the album starter, a pretty strong song, the subject it’s about, the energy that can be given on the stage with it… that’s why there’s no solo in it, for the drums to shine and for us to do a more aggressive show.

You’ve definitely left the Spanish as the language for your songs. , I guess with the clear intention to internationalize the band. Are you collecting the benefits of this change?
Since we released our previous album we have people who follow us from other countries, so we decided to do the songs in English because the genre we play normally (and originally) is sung in English, and because the issues we handle are not trivial we wish the songs to be understood by as many people as possible, and English, being the universal language, allows us to do this. Anyway some songs were recorded with versions in Spanish, because we love our mother tongue and it is likely that in a few months we’ll release them as singles.

Now that the number of albums sold is not a good parameter for assessing the success of an album, how do you measure the impact of “Gates Of Hell” ?
We’ve noticed it due to the amount of people who have been following us lately. Another aspect is that as part of the promotion launch we were sending promo packs all around the world, which was of great surprise because we did not expect to have so much demand from other countries, where we thought we were just starting to be known, and many people who already know us listening to new material gives us their feedback and we are very happy with it. These comments make us very happy and grateful, this indicate that we are on the right way.

Talking about this followers, you’ve got a big bunch of them in the social net. What do you think that attracts such this amount of fans?
Fortunately, people are curious to hear our music or to learn more about the band, and they found out they like us and find something in MysticaGirls to be identified with, and then they become marvelous and loyal fans. You can’t imagine how we appreciate this loyalty, because thanks to that response the followers count grows day by day.

You’ve always taken care of your look, the quality of your videos. How important do you think that is your look for the success of Mystica Girls?
Image is important in any work, whether in music, in the office or with any other work. We’ve got it well present, therefore, for us is very important to have a good look, however, people who listen the kind of music do not get convinced easily just by the look, they are critical people more interested in musical quality than other things and I think that is the most important, and what has given us better results.

What is the next step on the agenda of Mystica Girls?
We are currently promoting the album while we are updating all the administrative part of the band, we are finishing up a shop online, designing merchandise, and everything necessary for the band to have another level in production. We are also seeking to achieve global distribution of the physical disk and a few months after we recover financially from the investment to produce the “Gates of Hell ” album we pretend to do a presentation of it and recording a live DVD. We are also upgrading our equipment and renovating it all well to improve the rehearsal conditions and polish all the musical details we need to ensemble it all.

You’ve been nearly a decade in this. How the band has changed since its inception? Do you still got the same passion, the same illusion?
A lot has changed since then, we have seen grow our dream every day with many details, such as the number of followers, the weight the band have nationwide, the compositional quality are driving and our skills playing the instruments, is a path that is just beginning and of course we’ve not lost the enthusiasm and passion but the opposite, it’s been growing more and more.

And what are your goals, when will you feel fully realized as a band?
Personally I am a very ambitious person, but in a positive sense. Every time I have a success I look forward to reach another one, I’m always hungry to grow as a person, so it’s hard to feel satisfied, because I’m always turning to see what how to improve myself, and that includes the band. I definitely feel realized and happy, but that does not make decrease my desire to grow up and to try to reach a higher level.

And to finish, will be ever see you live in Europe?
Definitely yes! We are working very hard to make an American and European, so sooner or later in one way or another will see you there.

Thanks for your time, time to write a message to our readers.
Thank you for reading these lines, I appreciate you’ve read this interview. To Mystica Girls you are the most important and be sure that you won’t receive anything but the 100% effort from the band . We love you, receive a big hug!

Related links:
Mystica Girls at Metaladies.com
Mystica Girls official
Mystica Girls at Facebook
Mystica Girls at MySpace