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First of all, could you give us a short introduction of your band?
Sure. My name's Snovonne which is also the name of the band. I've been writing and composing songs since I was 12. I mainly concentrate on rock and metal but like to mix elements from different genres since I hate drawing lines but love crossing them. I’ve been playing shows with these guys, Peter (bass) and Ed (guitar) for about 5 years now and just got a new member, Tuky, who replaced our previous drummer. Our fifth member is Simon, we call him the One-eyed Witness, as he only has one eye. He's 4 years old and is everything but human.
How did things get started?
Basically, after years of being locked in my bedroom, writing and recording music I finally decided to start my own band and get it out on stage. I’ve been involved in other projects and bands before but never felt like it’s the real thing. I was 19 when I felt the time is right so I started putting it all together and eventually, after a few changes in line-up we've come to what we are now. I had tons of material recorded by then so we started rehearsing immidiately.
A practical question - why did you name the band after the frontwoman? Is it your real name?
Snovonne’s a name I made up when I was a kid. It used to be Snowhite but then as I got to my teens I wanted a name that wouldn't represent such a framed picture but rather just give you an impression. So I kept "snow" in there phonetically and added „-vonne“ to make it sound like a name. It’s automatically the name of the band. My music is everything I am and the other way round. I never make up the things I write about and I don’t write about stuff I haven’t gone through. That makes it extremely honest, personal and subjective. I really couldn’t and wouldn’t do it any other way and I am truly sick of people that do.
To get a little bit back in time - you used to share stages with big names in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. Why did you decide to move away after all - and why go to England?
I traveled a lot when I was a kid. Apart from Slovakia, I went to elementary schools in the U.S. and U.K. I absorbed the different lifestyles in different countries so for me it’s always been natural to just get up and leave to anywhere I feel like. It keeps an open mind. We still play shows in Slovakia and Czech Republic and I love it but I’m not and don’t want to be limited to these countries. I feel like the stuff I write should go to a much wider audience.
What are your main influences, and how would you describe your music?
Musically, my influences are very mixed. I grew up listening to a lot of rock, metal, punk, rap, soul, pop and some 70’s and 80’s on top of that. I never even realized there were genres until I was about 14. All of the time I‘d just cling to the radio/TV and watch out for everything. In my teens I was a heavy Marilyn Manson fan. I guess this mixture that I grew up listening to influences me still. Heavy music gave me guitars and middle fingers, softer music gave me vocal arrangements and melody. I guess that‘s the way to describe my music too... heavy but melodic, sarcastic but heart-breaking. A lot of temper in there too.
The debut release "It's Sno, Baby - Not Sugar" got a good review on our webpage - as well on various other pages. What do you think of the release yourself?
It’s a good album. It shows nearly each one of my faces, that’s why I’m quite happy with it. The album will be released officially in March 2010, as I switched labels again. It will have a new sound, it’s currently being mixed and mastered by Jan Nemec at Magic Mind Studios, Germany. There will be some new songs too and the artwork will be expanded, which is what I'm working on now.
If I get it right - the release of the debut album had been delayed and postponed a few times. What was the main reason for this?
Well, it's the people that waste your time by offering you deals and wanting to work with you, talking on and on about how talented you are (which is what I’m allergic to now) and then when work's gotta be done on their side they back out. I'm truly amazed by people who think they can achieve anything by not moving a finger. And it's these people that I've been having around me the past 5 years. It's not just "It's Sno Baby - Not Sugar"... there was supposed to a completely different debut I had ready in 2005. So... I hope I’m under a reliable label now, but only time will show. The past 5 years have caused I hardly trust anybody in the industry, I hate contracts and I get paranoid often. And since I cannot live without writing, I'm just gonna have to find the right people to work with, no matter how long it takes.
What is in your opinion the best track on the release and why?
I chose all the songs on the release, so obviously I think they’re all good. But from what I hear people are responding well to „2 Damn Years“ and "Cradlesong" from the ballads and "It's Sno, Baby - Not Sugar" and "Useless" are quite popular amongst the „f**k-you“ tracks.
What is the message you try to spread lyrically?
As I mentioned earlier, I only write about things I feel and things I have gone through, I don’t make things up. I‘m not sure there’s a lot of honest artists left out there today. I’d love to hope so. Anyway, I don’t only write about how I look at the world but also about how I feel when the world's looking at me. I feel like I've been going against a brick wall in achieveing what I want since an early age. I write about that and I know it’s something a lot of people can relate to. I write about things that are not OK even though the world today thinks it’s just fine. Obviously, I make music for people that have their own head on their shoulders.
The music you make should fit quite a visual live show too. What can a stranger expect when he visits a live show of Snovonne?
Yep. Emotion, Sweat and Headbang for sure.
What can we expect of Snovonne within the near future?
A lot of proper honest music and a lot of shows! Wicked videos on the way too...
Thanks a lot for your time to answer the interview. Do you got any final words to share?
Thank you and all those that took time to read this interview. It takes a lot of effort for anybody to read anything these days, so I appreciate that. Rock on and hope to see you soon!
Interview by: Gerardo, answered by Snovonne - November 2009.
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