We’ve got another band in Holland to be proud of: theNAME. This Haarlem based band has just recently won the Dutch finals of the Bodog Battle of the Bands and is now preparing to play the European finals in Copenhagen. A good reason to ask the female vocalist Hadassa some questions about these recent happenings.

Hi, how are you?

“Very good, thank you for asking!”

For the people unfamiliar with your band, please introduce it.

“theNAME is a female fronted metal band which was formed by guitarist/songwriter Silas some five years ago. theNAME also incorporates some pop influences, those pop influences are mainly noticeable in the sound of my voice. The band consists of me on lead vocals, Silas on guitar and backing vocals, Mike on bass, Salvador on drums and our newest member is our second guitar player Fabio.”

The name for your band is simple yet catchy, how did you come up with it? Is there any special meaning behind it?

“Silas came up with it. He wanted a name people can easily remember but at the same time something that carries the right attitude in it. We are ambitious and we want to make it to the top so theNAME has to refer to the name; the name of the best band of the world. We’re working on that .”

To pigeonhole things a bit; what band(s) would you compare your band to? Why?

“I hope you can’t compare us with any other band. We combine metal and pop and really work hard to create our own style. Our influences are easily recognizable in the sound of the guitars, in the riffs the guitarists play and in the drum parts. Although I think these influences come from all sorts of “musical spaces”: like nu-metal, rock ’n’ roll and progressive metal. Sometimes you can also hear the pop influences in the catchy guitar riffs, but you’ll mainly find it in the sound of my voice and my melodies. That doesn’t mean I sound like Britney Spears all the time - although I can and sometimes like to - but I can also create a little distortion on my voice or make my voice sound clear but energetic and powerful. I do not use an opera sound as is common in the female fronted gothic metal scene. If you listen well, however, you may notice influences of bands like Killswitch Engage, Disturbed, Guano Apes, Evanescence and Kiss in our music.”


(picture bij Edwin van der Ende)

What bands are you influenced by lyrically and musically? What other things influence your lyrics?

“I’m not really influenced by bands, it’s more like finding certain aspects I have or would like to develop more in certain singers from other bands. For instance, I remember seeing Chibi of The Birthday Massacre for the first time and I thought “Oh my god... that’s the gothic me!”. She is very playful and combines being a sweet little girl with being a devilish little girl. Also her sound can be quite girly; like Gwen Stefani if you want. But that’s not all I do. I also like to sound and perform as a more powerful woman. In that I hope to have a certain powerful attitude as Floor of After Forever can have when she’s performing. My sound at that moment is not really to compare with hers. Some people say that at that point it is to compare with Amy Lee, but I don’t really agree. Also, I like to act a little bitchy or combine that with sensuality in my stage act and my sound so I create a femme fatale. I would like to develop all these aspects better in the future and maybe add a little bit more aggressiveness to them. In the lyrics I write I also play with different aspects of who I want to show on stage. My lyrics express power, vulnerability and sensuality and are set in little poetic stories about everyday life. Nobody influences me in writing them, it’s just what I would like to say or what I’m fighting with when I’m writing them.”

So, let’s head over to probably one of the most important phases in the band’s career. A couple of days ago you won the Bodog Battle of the Bands in Paradiso. Please tell us something more about the preceding three rounds?

“The first round was in a small venue in Amsterdam called Winston Kingdom. We got the chance to participate to this qualification round only two days before the show took place! The second round, “impress the judges”, took place in the Melkweg and that one was really great. Finally the third round, last Friday in Paradiso, was amazing! Of course every Dutch band wants to play on that stage at least once, and when they do they would prefer a full venue. Last Friday it was really crowded, so we got lucky. There were a lot of people and the crowd was really enthusiastic. We had a really good time while performing and after hearing that we won a spot to the regional finals in Copenhagen we went totally crazy.”

Now that you’ve won the Dutch finals, what’s going to happen next?

“The next round will be at the Vega, in Copenhagen, on February 13. Those are the European finals. After that round there are only the finals in the United States left, so February 13 is going to be a very exciting day.”

Can people outside Copenhagen/the US also vote for theNAME? If so, here’s your chance to convince everybody to do so…

“Yes, you can vote online at: http://battle.bodoglife.eu/bandsandmusic/3405/theNAME/. And please do so because I know we’re ready for it and we would really like to win!!!”

Suppose you’ll win the finals in the United States; what exactly is going to happen then?

“We’ll get a million dollar record deal. That would be so great! We would be able to play a lot, have people to promote us and record a great sounding CD.”

What do you think of the other bands who made it to the European finals? Any band that surprised you?

“Not all the City Finals in other countries are played yet, but most bands that made it to the European finals look and sound really professional.”

And how about your Dutch (ex-)competitors, any band that you think deserves more attention?

“Because we also played as support act for Epica on January 11, I wasn’t able to watch any of the other bands that played in Paradiso that night. We really had to run to make it on time. But it was great to do these two gigs in one evening. I wouldn’t mind to do that more often . Based on the other rounds and the bands I saw then I would say it’s difficult to tell which bands deserve more attention; all the bands have their own qualities.” 


(picture bij Edwin van der Ende)

If you get the chance to pick the producer for your new album yourself, who would you choose and why him/her?

“I haven’t really thought about that yet.”

Speaking of a new album, any plans made yet?

“We are working on new songs and we want to record as soon as possible.”

And how about touring plans?

“When the CD is ready we’ll seriously think about that. Of course we do gigs now, but the plans include a ‘real’ tour to promote our next CD.”

theNAME is going to win the European Bodog Battle of the Bands finals because…?

“We worked really hard for it and we have what it takes to become a famous band: we have ambition, talent, the looks, a good stage act, lots of energy, the right personalities and persistence.”

That was my final question, anything else you’d like to add to this interview? Please do so now!

“Come to our shows and vote for us at the Bodog Battle website!”

Thank you very much for your time and good luck in Copenhagen!

“Thank you!”