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All images courtesy of Nervosa Press

Recently, we caught up with veteran vocalist, Diva Satánica of Nervosa. Among other things, we touch on how Nervosa is kicking off 2022, the band’s revitalized lineup, Diva’s entry into the band, and a whole lot more.

If you would like to learn more about Nervosa, the link to their webpage is here. Once you’ve checked that out, dig into this interview with Diva. Cheers.

Andrew:
Diva, thank you for taking the time. The band is currently on tour, right? What more can you tell us about this current jaunt?

Diva:
Hey! Thank you so much for having me. It’s been an amazing tour so far with Burning Witches, Warfect, and System house 33. Amazing people, amazing musicians and we are having amazing times on the road! All the best to our fans out there, all the audiences have been fantastic so far! We didn’t expect such an overwhelming response but we feel very grateful!

Andrew:
You joined Nervosa in 2020. Take me through your indoctrination into the band.

Diva:
We all received a message from Prika [Amaral] asking us if I wanted to have an audition to join the band, and that totally blew my mind! Everything happened in the middle of the pandemic situation, but anyways I wanted to try even though I thought probably tons of other female musicians would get the job instead of me. I feel very thankful to be part of this new era of the band with such talented musicians who I really admire. 

Andrew:
Fernanda Lira left some tough shoes to fill. How do you intend to translate the band’s classic music, while also adding your style into the mix?

Diva:
Sure, Fernanda is an amazing musician and she has been one of the big influences on all the female musicians in this generation. I’ve been a big fan of Nervosa since their beginnings, and I felt the pressure, but the good thing is that when you have a new lineup, you have the freedom to change some of the roles in the band, for example having a bass player instead of doing it myself. Also, my vocal register is different and we had to try to accommodate the old songs to my style. It took me months to get to that point, that was the hardest part for me because we need to play the old songs too, but that is another thing that makes me feel proud – I worked my ass off!

Andrew:
Your first album with Nervosa was Perpetual Chaos, which was released in January 2021. Being a newcomer to the band’s recording process, take me through the writing, and recording of the album.

Diva:
We spent three months writing the album, each one of us from home: sometimes Prika sent a riff and asked us to add our parts, and other times she already had written the entire song in the past. It was a very dynamic process because we also changed many things when we met all together in person for the first time in the studio for the recording sessions. Once again, Martin Furia did an outstanding job as a producer, he wrote many of the lyrics and he helped me a lot to make my vocal register fit in the new songs of the band. For sure, I’ve learned a lot as a vocalist!

Andrew:
You came into the band with Mia Wallace, and Eleni Nota, right? In some ways, this is the dawning of an entirely new era for Nervosa. Expand on that sentiment for me.

Diva:
When Prika told me which ones will be my new bandmates I felt like the luckiest person on earth. Mia is probably one of the pioneers along with Doro, in the female metal scene. She has been working in the toughest scene as a female musician, with one of the most important musicians in the black metal scene where there were not many women at that time. The funny fact with Eleni is that I remember watching her covers on her YouTube channel some years ago. She is one of the most amazing drummers that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. And the most important thing, since the very beginning, we felt that connection, the good vibes between us, beautiful energy – that’s something that makes things work.

Andrew:
What makes this incarnation of Nervosa the best, and most powerful version of the band to date, and one which will lead the band to greater success moving forward?

Diva:
I wouldn’t say that it’s the best or the most powerful, it’s simply a different era of the band with new band members and a renovated style. Putting the band to this level took over ten years and tons of hard work, and that’s something very important to respect. When a lineup changes, as a consequence, the new band members bring their influences to the music, it’s like having some fresh air. We feel all very grateful to the fans because everybody supported the new lineup since the beginning, and as we had the chance to release our first album together kind of soon, people started to see that we really wanted to make this happen. Obviously, having a founding member in this new lineup guarantees that the essence of the band is still intact, so everybody is happy.

Andrew:
Going back a bit into your history, what first gravitated you toward rock and metal music?

Diva:
Nobody in my family or my closest friends are metalheads, but we are all music lovers, so I discovered my first rock song while watching a TV show when I was twelve years old, and that made me start to love rock and metal music. Since that day, I started buying music magazines to discover new bands, and then I bought the albums at a record shop in a shopping mall close to my house. That led me to start listening to bands like Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana and then trying to discover new music genres until I got into the extreme metal scene. 

Andrew:
What was your local music scene like as you were growing into a burgeoning musician?

Diva:
Spain has not a very strong metal community because we have amazing summer festivals such as Resurrection Fest. But when I was a teenager, my hometown in the northwest of Spain had lots of metal events at venues, and that allowed me to attend many shows, and start getting involved in the metal scene.

Andrew:
What was the singular event which led you down the path of being a singer and frontperson? 

Diva:
I don’t recall any particular show but maybe watching some live videos on YouTube of Sabina Classen performing with Holy Moses, and then attending my first Arch Enemy show with Angela Gossow, made me think that I could try to learn how to growl and find my place in a metal band.

Andrew:
As your career has moved forward, what lessons have you taken with you along the way which have allowed you to evolve as you have?

Diva:
Work as hard as you can, and never stop listening to all the advice that other people with more experience than you can give you. Singing with my other band Bloodhuner, which was my first band ever, I’ve also learned all that I know: my first recording sessions, my first live shows, so it’s important to never forget where you come from, and all the things that you have learned with the years, so you can keep on improving.

Andrew:
There is a strong push to do away with the term “female-fronted metal” and the like. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Diva:
Gender and music are such different terms like weather and food. Obviously, it was needed to mention when there were so few women in the industry, but nowadays we are lucky enough to feel that the situation is getting better, and gender should be something as important as the hair color AKA nothing that should grab our attention in terms of music.

Andrew:
Last one. What’s next for both yourself and Nervosa in all lanes, Diva?

Diva:
We will be playing wrapping up our current Double The Metal Tour on April the 8th, then coming back home for five days, and then going to the USA to tour with Destruction. We have been confirmed at many summer festivals around Europe this summer and then South America from September to November. It’s gonna be busy! And yeah, we’ve already started to write our next album!

Interested in learning more about Nervosa? Hit the link below:

Be sure to check out the full catalog of VWMusic Interviews, by Andrew Daly, here: www.vinylwritermusic.com/interviews