M.S: First of all, we would like to thank u for giving us the chance to interview
you. It’s a great pleasure for us.
*Thanks to you.
M.S: For those who don’t know NEMESEA yet, what’s your music style? Which
are your influences?
*Nemesea started out as a gothic/symphonic metal group. Nemesea released
her debut album ‘MANA’ in 2004. Nowadays Nemesea is working on new material
that is different from their previous material, but much cooler; at least we
think so… We have a lot of influences. We listen to a lot of different styles.
I guess ‘MANA’ was influenced by After Forever, Nightwish, bands like that.
But we listen to progressive stuff too, Dream Theater, Symphony X. Our taste
is changing I must add. We always listen to al lot of Funk, Pop and Nu-metal
stuff. The next album will be more influenced by those styles.
M.S: How did the band form?
* Manda (vocals) and HJ (guitar/composer) met each other at the conservatory.
Manda wanted to form a female fronted metal band and asked HJ to join her. After
they sat down and talked about their musical taste and vision they started to
look for the right musicians to complete the band. HJ knew me (Sonny / bass)
through the conservatory, we were classmates and we played in a Pop oriented
group together. We have that very important thing called "click/chemistry "
We have the same ideas and feel the same way about music. Martijn (guitars)
was also a student at the same conservatory and played in several metal groups.
We found Berto (keys) through an ad we had put on the internet. 
M.S: What does the band name mean?
*Nemesea is the day that the old Greek honor the goddess Nemesis.
M.S: We’ve heard that your album talks about WICCA are u interested in it?
"
Manda is into WICCA/nature religion. It’s a way of life for her.
M.S: Many tracks are very elaborated & complex at instrumental level. Are
they very difficult to play live or have u get used to it?
* The music isn’t really that complicated. We all played music on a higher
(technical) level, so for us it’s not really a problem. The difficult thing
is to play into the groove and stay there. I mean that we have to play the same
feel/timing. Sometimes during gigs, when the stage sound is bad that’s a difficult
thing to do.
M.S: From "Mana" we especially liked Threefold Law & Angel in the Dark,
could u tell us what are those songs about & who wrote them?
* HJ wrote the songs. Threefold Law is about Wicca, the rule ….what you
give you will receive in "threefold". Angel in the Dark is about a girl that
tries to break free from the bad environment/condition her family is in.
M.S: Another interesting point to talk about is the marvelous voice of Manda,
did she take singing lessons? Is she taking them nowadays? Was she in another
band before being with NEMESEA?
* She studied Pop/jazz for four years on the conservatory. In 2004 she started
taking classical lessons as well. Now she is working with a famous Dutch vocal
teacher and they are working on Pop/Rock singing basically. Nemesea is her first
band.
M.S: In "Mana" we can see a song divided in 4 parts, Mortalitas, which has
very well done parts & with a lot of variety. Does this song have a special
meaning in the whole album? Could u tell us the story of it?
* We had a story line for a song but it was too big to put in 1 song. Then
HJ came up with the idea to try to follow the lyrics musically as well. At the
end it became 4 parts. The basic story is about the last moments before dying.
The moment when you realize life ends but you still want to fight for it. We
mean it less sinister then most people think. The whole album isn’t meant to
be so called ‘satanic’, we hate that to be honest.
M.S: The front cover of the album shows a face in purple & white. Who is
it? & why those colours?
* She’s the goddess Nemesis. We chose purple as our main color for the album.
It’s also Manda’s favorite color. She really, really wanted purple and as you
know, women are the boss……For the next album it will be totally different.
M.S: Which is your record company nowadays? Are u happy with the promotion
they do to the band? Do u know which is the record company that promotes u in
Europe?
* As you might know we signed up with Ebony Tears to do ‘MANA’. This was
for 1 album so now we are label free. We are talking with some record companies
but we haven’t decided yet. Ebony Tears was a small record company, we knew
that when we signed but still…..we sometimes were a little bit frustrated that
we didn’t get the promotion we needed. If you compare it too Epica/After Forever
for instance, we missed a lot of opportunities. We had to finance the album
ourselves, we did the recording, producing, mixing and mastering. We had limited
options. Still, it’s a good record we believe.
M.S: We’ve seen that nowadays you’re making a promotional DVD, can u tell
us something about its contents?
* The promotion DVD is for promotion purposes only. Maybe we will use some
material for the next album but we don’t know for sure. The music will change
drastically but that’s what we want. We had to present the ‘new’ thing to record
companies. That’s the reason why we made the DVD. We will place some live footage
(DVD) on the website soon. Those recording were made at Huntenpop, a big Dutch
festival in the summer of 2005.
M.S: We know that the band already has a substitute for Chris. How is Sander
adapting to the band?
* Well, Sander was a temporary drummer. For some time he seemed to be the
right person for Nemesea but our musical direction and way of working didn’t
fit him that well So in other words we don’t have a drummer right now. We are
talking to some candidates but are very careful and demanding. We want to make
the right choice this time. We still have contact with both Chris and Sander;
we don’t have problems at all. 
M.S: How do u see the Metal scene in your country?
* Quite big, but it needs something new. Al these Dutch bands sound the
same (to me, to us). It’s time for change, we hope to bring it.
M.S: Appart from the DVD you’re working on, what other projects do u have
in mind? When will we be able to hear the next album?
*We first have to find a record company before releasing a new album. We
are also very careful with that, we don’t want to be in the same situation again.
I really don’t know when. We are working on songs and we are making progress.
Some of us have other projects, Martijn plays in a heavy/speed metal band besides
Nemesea. He made a record a while ago. HJ is working on an album with his Gypsy
jazz project called ‘NUAGES’. It’s acoustic jazz music in the tradition of Django
Reinhardt. The release will be this summer I believe.
M.S: Which countries have you been touring in? Do u have any special memory
of any of them? Will u come to Spain some day?
*So far we’ve played in Holland a lot. We played in Belgium a few times
but no other countries besides those, unfortunately. In our situation it wasn’t
possible to play gigs in for example Spain, we had no connections whatsoever.
We hope to visit Spain some day, which would be great. We will just have to
wait and see. 
M.S: Do you know any Spanish rock or metal band?
* Hmmmm, I’ve heard of Ebony Ark, they just signed up with the Dutch record
company ‘Transmission records’, at least I think so….I’m not a 100% sure though….
I know Spanish artists like Paco de Lucia, Vincente Amigo… HJ always talks
about them…..damn guitarists.
M.S: Well, that’s all. Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer, & if
u want to say something to Metal Symphony’s Spanish readers, now it’s the moment.
* Well…check our website for news and stuff. Our new music will change but
if you give it a chance we think you will like it. We hate repeating ourselves
so ….. Don’t be shocked, please embrace. We hope to see you in the future and
thank you for your interest in Nemesea. Groove on!
David A./ Leticia Ballester
fotos: https://www.nemesea.com