The final quarter of 2021 has been a bit exciting for Moldovan progressive modern metal unit Infected Rain. Even more excitement will be unleashed in early 2022 as the band prepares to release their new studio album, ‘Ecdysis‘. Along with The Devil’s Dozen documentary, a recent US tour, I caught up with the incredibly multi-talented frontwoman Lena Scissorhands to talk about everything that’s been going on in Infected Rains world and what they have in store for us.
Hey Lena, thanks for talking to me. I know you have released a new single today, which I want to talk about, but first, how are you and the guys doing?
We’re doing fantastic, it’s a beautiful day here, and we’ve just been shocked by the reaction that people have had this morning. We find it rewarding because we put our hearts into this. So we are doing fantastic, yes.
That is great to hear, and how have things in general been in Las Vegas? That is the city, which runs on the entertainment industry, and I’m sure the pandemic hit it especially hard. How was it initially, and what is it like now?
We definitely suffered a lot during the first lockdown because it is the city that never sleeps, and then suddenly it had to go to sleep, basically. I even had my own experience of the empty streets in downtown Las Vegas and went to see what it looks like without people and all the lights. It felt like being in a post-apocalyptic movie because certain things were barricaded, and people couldn’t just sneak in or anything like that.
But other than that, after the first lockdown, Las Vegas things slowly but surely reopened, but with very big restrictions. Still, though, it was opening. Right now, everything is full capacity, but we still have mandatory rules, mainly regarding face coverage and stuff like that. And of course, certain events are only happening for people that are either vaccinated or showing results of a negative test. Though I do hear the rules are going to be softer now. So things are looking better.
In terms of the numbers, im not trying to follow anything like that, but we did just come back from a US tour, and we had our own experiences and covert encounters. We could see just how different every US state was regarding their own rules and everything else connected to Covid. Each state was very different.
Speaking of that tour, that was actually the band’s first US tour, wasn’t it? I know you did have one previously planned with, I think, Swallow The Sun, but that got canceled.
We did have a US tour is planned for 2020. The first one was announced, and we sold tickets. The second one was not announced because of what was happening in the world. Everything had to be postponed and then rescheduled, so that never happened. This one was the first one, and we came back about a month ago.
Do you have any idea how many shows in total that you canceled? Because I’m sure there were European tours that also came up.
We started counting in the beginning, and then we just stopped. I can say that 2020 was supposed to be a big year for Infected Rain because we had just signed with a label, and we had released our first album together in the autumn of 2019. We went on that tour, and things were going so fast for us. In 2020, we initially had four big tours planned. When I say big tours, I mean 30 shows at minimum, to 50 shows per tour. For 2021 we weren’t even planning anything except for the fact that festivals were going to be happening.
But we went on stage after 19 months of not playing shows, in July, at a Ukrainian festival. Which is one that we had played before, and things were just way better there, and the festival was actually taking place, and they made sure that we were there. And a little after a month, that is when we went on tour with Butcher Babies and Stitched up Heart.
Which is something we did plan at the beginning of 2020, but we had just been on standby because of so many different locations and so many promoters because, just like you said, there was so much uncertainty. I’m insanely happy that the tour actually happened.
What was it like emotionally, coming back to the stage for the first time after 19 months at that Festival in July?
Emotions were so high I was even nervous about what I was wearing. (laughing) Like normally, I’m always aware of what I’m wearing on stage, and for me, rule number one is always to make sure that I’m comfortable because I get very emotional on stage. Because I’m so energetic and always jumping around, and when you’re on stage, whether it be shoes or clothing that you’re wearing, you want to make sure that none of that is in the way.
Especially when you’re just playing everyday shows, but here, I was so nervous, just like a little girl, and I didn’t even know what to wear. I was very nervous for sure, but the organizers of that Festivalin the crowd itself were very familiar to us.
We just felt so welcomed, and there was so much positivity coming from everyone that we just felt like we were back home, and it was amazing. It was very emotional.
What was it like coming back to touring itself. Did you find it challenging in any way?
It was a bit challenging because it had been a while since we had toured, and everybody needed to remember how to do this. We had to get back into the routine of having shows every day.
There’s a lot of work. It’s not just an hour and an hour and a half that you’re spending on stage. There’s a lot of work before and after. There’s a lot of driving and so many things that you have to deal with. So getting back into that mode of work, work, work, work, work, work, was almost like trying to remember how to ride a bike. You know that it’s in you, but it’s been a while.
And overall, how was that tour?
It was great. We were not familiar with Stitched Up Heart personally. Still, I do know Heidi and Henry from Butcher Babies, and we became super close friends after they moved here to Las Vegas because they literally moved into my neighborhood.
We have dogs and were doing the same things, and we have so much in common. So not only was it great that we made this tour happen, but also that we did it with friends. The fact that we are so close helped us a lot on tour. Both bands.
We made sure to help out Butcher Babies with everything they needed, and every little situation that wasn’t planned or was an accident, and it was vice versa for us. The same goes for Stitched Up Heart. They were extremely friendly and amazing people. They also hooked us up a few times with some things that we needed on stage. So it felt like these three bands were on the same level, and it’s like we’ve known each other forever, so we tried to help each other when we could.
Going back to something that’s somewhat related to the pandemic, you did an awesome job staying engaged with your fans with your YouTube channel, Bananas. And with features like Party time Excellent. Could you talk a bit more about that, and was that project a result of the pandemic itself?
I started the YouTube channel a year and 1/2 prior to the pandemic. The YouTube channel is something I’ve been told for years by friends and fans that I should do, but I was skeptical because I was afraid I would always run out of content. Then I finally committed and started doing it. But the one thing that did come out of the pandemic was Party T ime Excellent.
And because of social distancing, I was able to do these conversations or podcasts, whatever you want to call it with people in the music industry that were my friends or people that admired. I do hope to keep that going, and hopefully will become more like in-person conversations, but maybe still by video because a lot of people are traveling back to their jobs and back to their dreams.
It is possible that it is still going to be that way. It kept me busy, and I was curious to know these people more and for them to share their life and their achievements with everybody else, and I’m glad I started it.
We are definitely looking forward to more of that. When you write music, I know it is personal, and you write a lot about your experiences. Are any subjects in the new album based on what went on during the pandemic?
Yes. And not only that, but it’s very interesting how, specifically 2018-2019 were very difficult for me with ups and downs, but 2019 specifically for me had a lot of harsh downs and life-changing situations. Things that I had to deal with while working and while being on tour, and just things that I thought I would never have to deal with.
So that was something that was still in me and that I was dealing with, and I was barely coming out of it by the end of the year, and then at the beginning of the year, the pandemic happened. So it was almost like another slap in my face while I was barely standing. It wasn’t easy for me. I won’t lie; I had therapy and had a lot of time to reflect on my life, myself, and my career. I read a lot of books on that matter, and I think a lot of that just gave birth to many ideas for the lyrics.
Many things happened during the pandemic that was not connected to Covid. All the fires that the planet was doing with around the world, riots relating to political matters. Not only in the United States but around the world. All of that influenced me a lot, and I read a lot about that.
Speaking of some of that new music, this morning, you released a new video and single, “Fighter’, which lyrically, can you give us a bit more details about the song?
The song, in general, is about the inner strength and that inner warrior that we all have inside. But this one is specifically about women. And for all the fans that have been following the band for years and know me well, know that I don’t like to distinguish between male and female.
Were all one people. We are all strong or soft. We all laugh or cry; we all have blood inside, so when it comes to art, it doesn’t really matter that much. Or that it shouldn’t. I’ve always been trying to promote that as much as I could, but the specific song came out of an accidental encounter with a specific person.
Someone sent me a DM on Instagram, and she’s a girl from my country, and at a very young age, she had moved to America and became a professional fighter. She wrote to me because she got inspired and people told her about the band, and she got curious about what we do.
She had this idea about maybe going into the ring to fight with our song because she’s from the same country, and we are a heavier-sounding band, and she’s a supernova. A professional fighter. I started talking to her, and we became closer. From knowing this person and getting close to her, and following her, she has a very beautiful child.
She’s a mother, she’s a wife, and her relationship with her husband is insanely beautiful, and her career and following it is contagious and fun to watch. So because of that, and what I just mentioned prior, I put together ‘Fighter.’ And because of that and the influence, we thought we would do our video around that as well.
Awesome, and along with the great response from that video and song, and with Post Mortem Part 1, you have to be thrilled with the feedback you’ve been receiving.
Yes! We’ve been insanely happy about the feedback. I know a lot of people have been waiting a long, long time for the album, which was ready exactly a year ago. But releasing the album itself had to wait because it wasn’t the best timing to release it because of what was going on with the world. We had a be smart about when to release, and how.
So we thought, okay if we can’t release it now, we are going to catch as many visuals for the album as possible. This album will have five music videos, and we are going to be releasing one every month. So there’s going to be a lot to cover, and besides that, we also have some other cool stuff that’s going to be coming out very soon not related to the album.
We have a movie and a show coming up for the anniversary of the band, which was also something we worked on during the pandemic. So there have just been a lot of big projects that we’ve been working on nonstop since we couldn’t tour.
You mention you have been doing a lot of work on the visual aspects for this album; how important is that for you to the music?
It’s very important, but of course, it’s only secondary to the sound. It always will be with every single instrument and every single thing that I record. But second, come the visuals. This is very important because sometimes visuals can awaken and express emotions that words can’t.
For example, we can do that with a music video, even if the video doesn’t have any sort of specific storyline or in-your-face message. With the proper filming editing and lighting, if you can touch people’s hearts, that’s great.
Can you tell us a little bit more about The Devils Dozen, which is coming on November 26th?
Yeah, The Devils Dozen is being released in honor of our 13th anniversary. Our first show was on August 1 of 2008, and we’ve been doing that ever since, and we’ve had this idea since our 10th anniversary. We had just been so busy touring we never had any time to invest in such a big project.
In fact, this is a very long documentary talking about how everything came together, being told by every member of the band, with their own version of the story, from their own perspective. We filmed in locations that we’ve never shown before, and there are stories to be told that we’ve never told the fans before. There is so much going on, and it is also a show, which will feature a 22 song playlist.
We have some songs that we’ve never even played live before, some songs that we hadn’t played in years, so it’s really awesome, and I can’t wait for people to see it. It is our very first movie as we’ve never had anything like a DVD before, and we never even had time to properly film a show before, like during a tour. It’s our first big baby!
That’s definitely exciting, and it sounds like it’s going to be incredibly awesome. More so since we get to see some old stuff be done in a live setting for the first time. But I do want to thank you for talking to me about the album and the documentary and everything in else today. Is there anything else you’d like to say to the fans and our readers?
Thank you for having me, and thank you for your help wanting to spread the word. And we do need our fan’s love and support, and we see you, and we appreciate you. We technically don’t exist without you, and we see that, and we are very thankful and appreciate you.
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