Interview // 2023-04-21

Predatory Void

I can sense the anticipation for Predatory Void's debut album! This five-piece band is full of people with proven talent. When I heard about them, my curiosity was lit.

I have been following them as they release their videos and have seen sneak peeks of their performance at Soulcrusher.

There is something honest and vulnerable about this music! I had a lot of fun talking to vocalist and lyricist Lina about this journey into Predatory Void. Join us!

Hi, how are you? You must be a little later than me. You are in the afternoon time. It is the morning here, 10:00am. How is your day going?

LINA R: It's good. I have done a lot of stuff today, so it's busy, preparing for the show on Thursday.

Yeah, that's exciting.

LINA: It's a bit stressful, to be honest.

You have a debit album coming out on April 21st, so that's coming up really quickly. 7 Keys to the Discomfort of Being, can you explain what the title of the album means to you?

LINA: The album is dealing with themes of different types of discomfort. So you are dealing with emotional, mental, and physical distress. We are trying to represent it in the songs. So, every song has elements of this discomfort in them, in the lyrics, and some kind of struggle within the music itself.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I find the emotions do ring through in the songs. I can definitely pick them out so you did a good job of that.

LINA: Yes!

You were invited to join the band by Lennart, was that an easy answer?

LINA: To be honest, I hadn't heard from him in, for like? I have known him for 10-plus years but I haven't heard from him for maybe 8. Once I got a message from him, I was like this is a joke. I could not believe that. I was like, "Yeah, someone is just pulling a prank on me. It can't be real." But then I answered and he sent me demos and I really loved what he wrote. So. It was easy, but in the beginning, I was like, "No way!". 

Reconnection for sure. It was a surprise for you?

LINA: It was, big time!

You have done vocals before and lyrics and everything in Crossbringer?

LINA: Yeah, in Crossbringer, and before that I had several bands as well. So, I had some experience.

How did you get started with music?

LINA: Well, you know I used to sing in a choir at school when I was very little. I got kicked out because I did it in secret. I had to learn to play instruments in secret at school as well, from my parents. They wanted me to play piano. I played it and then I didn't like the teacher, and another teacher, left. So, I joined the choir, but I was like, "Yeah, they are not going to like it if I stay later after school." I had to skip a lot of rehearsals and they kicked me out, even though they were like you have a really good voice. And so I stopped for some time. Then I heard there was a guitar circle at school and I joined it. So, I also had to look for excuses to be late at home. Then I told them and they were like, "Just do it if you like it." But they didn't believe that I would be following through. Then I went to musical school and I finished it in three years because I had to hurray. If you finished normal school you have to leave there as well. So, I had to synchronize it a little bit. Then I really wanted to play drums but my parents forbid it. Then I started listening to more heavier music, I didn't listen to very underground bands in the beginning because I had no access to the internet. But I used to sing and dance and play music as a child a lot so.

So, it has been a part of your life. 

LINA: Yeah, but I stopped for a bit. I think when I started listening to heavier music I was like, "Yeah, I am just going to listen to this." Because they really answered all of my cravings, everything I want to have expressed feelings-wise. They are doing it already, so I am good with that. Then I got some ambition, of, "I actually want to play in a band as well." And then it started underground circles or whatever like that and here we are.

When you were learning vocals, was there an end game in mind or did you just experiment?

LINA: There is no end game ever because I always hear something that is not good. I always feel like I could do something better. First I sang in a death metal/deathcore band. They just needed someone. I don't remember at all. I was like 17/18 years old, I feel like. And they asked me and I just started practicing like gutturals and stuff, like pig squeals and guttural. And then I played and sang in hardcore bands. And then my other band, the Homeless is Dead, it is called, it was kind of like a power violence, death grind band. then I had to really scream at the top of my lungs and move a lot. And then I realized the technique wasn't there. I am just doing something. The worst part of that part of my life was when we had to play a DAY festival in Germany and I got so stressed. I did the whole tour, 7 dates, every day, no days off. We arrived in Germany and I have heartache. I don't know what it was. I feel like I had some kind of panic attack because I had trouble breathing but it was like mentally very challenging to do. Four people in one car. Then I started puking with water on stage. I couldn't produce any sounds and I was just like "whuhh". Constantly puking and it was embarrassing, but no one said anything. I am just like, I am going to try to forget it, but I never did. 

Good for you, being so determined, to come back from that.

LINA: Now, I am really trying my best in warming up, cooling down, just really listening to my body. Now I am trying to follow a more academic approach in that regard.

You guys actually did some performance before you released your album. It is not even released yet. How was that experience, both being after a pandemic, not being around people that much, and then just being a new band?

LINA: It was stressful. Every answer I will give is going to be like a story in itself. So, just to create some context and maybe you will imagine something. So, we were on the way in the car and I am getting a text that we will have to play like an hour early or something like that. And I am already like, "Fuck I haven't been on stage for like 7 years. I don't know what I am going to do."  We arrive there and we have to sound check extremely fast. We already saw people, behind the door, just crowding and looking. So, it's something definitely. But actually on stage when we were performing I really felt so supported. I have felt like part of an entity. Not like, "Oh my god I am doing this alone." It really felt like magic in a sense. I really felt like we are one entity and we are doing this together and we were breathing and moving. It was really good. And after the pandemic, I already went to several shows. So, Yeah, that felt weird in the beginning but then when we had to play it felt okay actually. It felt pretty good.

Was there a stand-out moment for you recording the album?

LINA: Yeah, I am not going to say which song but there was one song on the album that was super difficult for me to write because, in the beginning, the first lyrics I wrote were about a serial killer named Zodiac, so a little weird. I wrote it and I was like, Yeah, it is great. I really wanted to make something like this for so long. And then when we were recording they were like, "Yeah, so this doesn't fit the atmosphere at all, so you will have to do something else." And I was resisting with all of my being. And I was like, "Yeah, okay I will promise you that." I spent several weeks trying and it never happened so I shared a document. I write compulsively so I have a lot of lyrics written down all the time. They went through my sketches and we made like a Frankenstein text for the song. Maybe you will try to sing it. And then I did everything just screaming and they were like, "Yeah, that's not going to fly. It had like melodic parts and screaming and a lot of vocalization. So, that was really challenging because I don't delegate with a lot of pleasure. I am a control freak in many things. That was like, "Okay, you know what, I am going to listen to you and I am going to be really timid and tame. I am just going to follow and we will see." And in the end, I am like that is my favourite song now.  I am really glad, it taught me life lessons. 

What has been your biggest challenge as a lyricist and a vocalist?

LINA: Sometimes I have crazy ideas. Sometimes I want to say too much, then I want to say everything I feel but very cryptically so no one will understand. So, you have to kind of keep this balance of being very open but also creating images that will verbally work and create a certain atmosphere and context for the listener. I really love this game of being very direct and being cryptic. And sometimes it works and sometimes it is a big challenge to really get your point across. Vocally, I will have to train a lot to get better. I am at a certain level now but I want to do more, and I already know what I want to do. And will this be enough for me when I learn to do that? I think it won't, but I will try. It is constant listening to other people and sometimes you have to work with coaches to perfect your technique and for maintaining your instrument. That's one of the challenges as well, I would say. 

This was a bit of a step out for you vocally, it was a challenge, and you did a few different things that you hadn't done?

LINA: I haven't done them because it was never necessary. The music that I played before was just like screaming, yelling, shouting was very raw, very straightforward. And here we really went for this vulnerability. When you are shouting and yelling the vulnerable things sometimes it's a different thing. I don't know how to express it. 

A different technique but also a different part of you that you have to access?

LINA: Yes, it gets received in a different way, I feel like. It's also for a very different crowd sometimes because not everyone is able to constant shouting for like an hour. With this album and with this band it is like something different, but I am really glad we did it cause now I know, "Okay, I can sing differently." It's good to know that.

You are learning what you are capable of.

LINA: Yeah.

What promotes creativity in you and what stops creativity? I know you are a creative person. I know you do tattoos and drawings.

LINA: I get inspired by basically anything. I am very visual so anything that is eye candy for me. It can be very weird. Like the last couple of weeks I look at a lot of frog memes, for me, it is very inspiring for some reason because they are super melancholic. I don't know why I am explaining this. For me it is very important. They express so much pain and at the same time, they are so funny. I like this juxtaposition. I am roasting myself, you are laughing, I am also laughing but I am also crying. And this is the whole cycle. But I enjoy anything, basically, I can listen to a song and then I hear a word or sentence and I write it down immediately because this can result in a song. This can result in a painting or a tattoo design. I might just be writing a text and refer to this phrase. Or I can go for a walk and see a flower and be like "Oh my god." Once when I started therapy I was walking, I went to pick up cupcakes for myself, and for a moment I realized I was hearing birds sing, and it was so sunny and I see the flowers and a butterfly just flew by me. And I was like, "Wow!". I never noticed it before because I was always very depressed. Then I started crying because it was so great this moment. 

It is true, the way you can see things, depending on your frame of mind or what you are doing.

LINA: So, it can be anything. I can be on the tram? and hear two people talk about something, and maybe they can express a thought that is super weird and I will be like, " Oh, okay I will write it down. I am on my phone all the time because I need to write stuff down.  

So, there is a sketchbook that is featured in the video for Endless Return to the Kingdom of Sleep, which was really cool. The whole idea for the video and everything. So, this artwork is actually sketches that you have done that are nightmares. So hopefully this isn't too personal, but can you share one of the nightmares that are sketched in the book?

LINA: Yeah, so I can tell you about an encounter I had. I was twelve, maybe. I was just sleeping in my bed and like in front of me there is a wall, and in the corner is my door, so you can go in and out of the room. And I am sleeping facing the wall and the door is on the right. I suddenly wake up because I need to go to the bathroom, and I am looking at the door and I see an entity in it, like just a silhouette of a person. You can't see the face, the arms, nothing, you can't see the limbs. It is just a silhouette and you can see a ray of light going from top down. And only when you see this light you can see this silhouette. I was super scared. And I saw this entity twice when I was a child. I was super scared but at the same time I felt like it doesn't want to hurt me, it is just there to look at me, basically. Then I ran past it to the bathroom, and I didn't want to pee anymore. I was like, "Aww, what the fuck is going on." I opened the door and it was standing in front of me again. So, I ran because I was like I am not going to sleep in the bath or something like that. I went to sleep immediately because I was just terrified. Then another time I woke up and it just peeked inside like this and then it went away and I never saw it again. So, that was one thing. Nightmares, mostly they have something to do with like a chase. Someone wants to kill me all the time. From time to time it is like satan's minions. And someone is like they are really looking for you. And then I turn around and there are people with knives. And they are not people anymore, but now they are chasing me. Yeah, a lot of stuff, but it is mostly very dramatic, and over the top. I also have an ability to lucid dream. So, sometimes I would wake up in the dream and I would be like we need to get out of here. And then I can draw a door or a window and get out. The most interesting one that I had, was that I had a dream that I was trapped in a building, a very high apartment block, but it had no doors or windows. I had to climb up stairs all the time and then I found a room with an old lady in there. She was just watching t.v. She had a linoleum floor. When I saw it, I think I recognized the pattern and I immediately became conscious and I started cutting out this pattern. I cut out like 20 layers of this pattern and then I got out of the building. 

You are even creative in your dreams!

LINA: I guess, but it is always very very difficult. When you wake up you are super tired but you are happy that it ended. 

I have also had very strong experiences with bad dreams and stuff so that's why I am kinda calm while you are saying it because it is like, "Yeah, I get it." Thank you for sharing that, Very interesting. 

LINA: It's nice to know I am not alone with this because mostly when I tell people this they are like, "You are really weird." 

No, no, and that idea of being chased. Even since I was a kid I was always being chased in my dreams. I would actually get up and run through my house to get away, literally, so yeah I get it.

You work as a tattoo artist. Can you tell me about a piece of art that stands out that you did for someone else or maybe for yourself?

LINA: That is difficult because now, at this point, it has become a routine in a certain way. But, you know I had one client from France and she came to me for two two-day session. She did a total of four, I feel like. She was a librarian, and she is a big fan of Audrey Beasley, a 19th century illustrator. A very intricate design. He illustrated Oscar Wild's books. She wanted a back piece with one of his illustrations. It was a big challenge because it is also very painful, doing back and two days in a row. But she really did great and we had a lot of interesting conversations about art and music, because she listens to the same type of music so it was really nice. Yeah, we managed, it was difficult to shape it to a female body, the hourglass figure because the page is like a rectangle. We had a lot of conversations about how it should be and what we should amend. It was a big challenge, but in the end it is very beautiful. Sometimes I get to do very personal designs, when it is a memorial tattoo or something like that. Also, it involves a lot of conversations, a lot of interpretations, Sometimes people want it, but they don't know how to go about it. Or they have seen examples that are trivial. They don't have the opportunity to see some things that can maybe be much better, much more conveying of the idea they have, so I have to really help and open doors for them so they can understand what is possible. Sometimes they are really scared because they hear about very grumpy tattoo artists that only want to do their own stuff. Then I have to comfort them and be like, "You know what just tell me what you want and I will try to make something good." We will do something else or whatever. I am happy when people are happy. It's a lot to take with the pain, with the hours, and with the money so we should both be satisfied with the result. 

That makes sense. I wish you lived closer. I could get you to do a tattoo for me. 

LINA: Well who knows.

What do you think is the point of music as the creator and as the listener?

LINA: Well for me personally, I would say it is like a mirror sometimes. Yeah, I could compare it with a mirror because sometimes you listen to a new band or a new artist and then you get your own feelings or experiences reflected at you. So, sometimes it can be very confronting. No, no, no, no I don't want to touch this. But sometimes you really feel understood, and you really feel seen. It can act like a crutch sometimes in difficult situations. So, I feel like it can make you really happy, but it can also carry your weight with you. It's a great friend. Music is a great friend. It's been like that for me. For my horrible teenage years, I felt like any time, I would sit on the floor, with my headphones on, with my cd player, I felt like this is my world, and I am here and I feel understood. I don't feel alone anymore.

The album artwork, the black and white and red. For me, it seemed liked the red was almost the discomfort, who came up with the idea for that?

Lennart found someone his name is Sven. So, he created the artwork. He also worked with Amenra before. We also saw he has colourful collages, because he makes manual collages. It's not digital. He really makes it like that. We saw some collages like fire and meat and stuff like that and we asked him to interpret the music. We had a feeling that this was it exactly, from the start. It was just like, yes.

I go to songs for certain moods such as when I am excited or angry. Is there a song that you can think of that you would listen to when you are feeling a specific way?

LINA: I have one song that I rediscovered because I knew it several years ago from youtube or something like that. It is going to sound super weird. I have periods when I feel down and there is one song by Tangerine Kitty. It's a band or maybe an artist. It's called Dumb Ways to Die. Very funny and shiny songs. It got popular on Tictok recently, a couple of months ago. I was like, "I know this song." And I found it. It is on my phone. So, anytime I am like, "Everything sucks, I hate everything I just put it on and I am just doing my dishes, and instantly I am in a good mood. It's a great one. 

Thank you for this time. I believe you guys are going to do well. I am looking forward to the reaction from people. I have heard the album. I think it is great! Thanks for getting together today. 

LINA: Thank you. I really appreciate it. It was a really nice talk. 

All the best to you!

LINA: Thank you so much. Same to you!

Playlist Pick

After interviewing Predatory Void, I decided to add the song Shedding Weathered Skin to my playlist.