PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR US WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
First of all, thanks to Photogroupie for reaching up to us and for this interview. Godiva is a Portuguese metal band, based in Oporto, the biggest city in the north of Portugal and with a strong metal underground movement. We started long ago, way back in 1999. Since then, we’ve released a demo-CD in 2000, an EP in 2002 and another one in 2007. Next February we’ll release our debut album. From the death/black metal of the early years, to the introduction of some gothic and atmospheric elements in both EP, currently the band has incorporated in its songs orchestral and symphonic arrangements, well sustained by strong death metal rhythms. It's fair to say that we’ve tried always to create our own sonority, despite the distinctive influences that each band element had at a particular time. Nevertheless, although our sonority changed a little through the years, Godiva always aimed to carve out a unique identity and create meaningful music that resonates with its listeners.
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE?
We’ll focus first on our singles, since we’ll have the opportunity to talk about the album up ahead. So, recently we’ve released two advanced singles videoclips: “The Meaning of Life”, on last December and whose lyrics try to explore the themes of suffering, confusion, and the search for a meaning in life, and “Media God”, released already this January, which brings us to the idea of being "indoctrinated" by what the media suggests. Both themes will be part of our new album “Hubris”, available on the 3rd of February. You can check them out, as other content, in our official you tube channel: https://youtube.com/@godivaofficial.
WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM OR SINGLE?
Our inspiration, especially for the lyrics, is the idea that newer times demand a whole different kind of new gods to satisfy the actual human condition. The environment created in the music by the orchestral arrangements and the kind of riffs presented in the songs try also to reflect that, in an equilibrium between music and lyrics.
CAN YOU SUM UP THE ALBUM IN A FEW WORDS?
“Hubris” is our debut album. It’s composed by 10 songs, all of them full with plenty orchestral arrangements which creates a bold and dark atmosphere, well supported by aggressive guitars lines. It was produced by Wojtek Wiesławski at the well-known Hertz Studio. The entire album focuses on a critique of the human condition in the 21st century. It addresses the problem of ego and self-importance, particularly as it relates to the way we present ourselves on social media. The concept of "Hubris" refers to an overbearing pride or arrogance, and we feel that this is a particularly relevant theme in our current age, where people are often more concerned with creating and maintaining a certain image online than with being genuine and authentic. We intentionally wrote the message in a straightforward structure, prioritizing the power of the message in a raw form, rather than using a more elaborated language.
WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE AND WHY?
Now that’s a very hard one to answer. We could place here an almost never-ending list. Just to name a couple, we can say “Symbolic” from Death or “The Principle of Evil Made Flesh”, from COF. Both introduced an all-new way of looking at the death metal and black metal genres.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO FILMED BY YOUR BAND OR ANOTHER ARTIST?
Well, this question is no simpler than the previous one. This time we rather focus on ourselves and on our videoclip “Media God”. For its sonority, for its thematic and especially because it was a fun video to make, both filming and producing. We tried new film technics as chroma key compositing and managed to build an interesting environment. But, of course, you can judge it by yourselves. Give it a try.
WHAT WOULD WE FIND YOU DOING WHEN YOU'RE NOT MAKING MUSIC?
There are several stuff we like to do as individuals when we’re not playing, being some of them listening to music and reading. That really helps us to improve our range of influences and dynamics while playing as it helps to write both songs and lyrics. Also, most of us work in something else other than just playing music or working in the music industry and the band is like another job. One that we take very seriously.
DO YOU GET NERVOUS PERFORMING LIVE, IF SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT?
We believe that after all these years playing, nervous it’s not the more accurate term. That doesn’t mean that we don’t feel a little anxiety in the prior moments before going on stage. Which one deals with it his own way. What we know for sure is that after the first couple of chords of the aperture song, all of that just fades and we simply enjoy every single moment of the show.
HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND?
As we’ve told you before, we started long ago, in 1999. At the time we were just a group of teens that shared a common passion for metal music and lots of free time. So, we got together and amazingly things started to work out for us.
HOW DO YOU WRITE? - DO YOU HAVE A KEY SONGWRITER, OR DO YOU ALL WORK TOGETHER?
It’s kind a cliche we know, but the truth is that we’ve always tried to do something different, something that when you hear it you can almost immediately relate to Godiva. Most of the times we try to mix a bunch of influences that thrive from each band member and fuse it in a way that everyone is pleased. Sometimes it’s not easy, but we manage to do it. “Hubris”, for instants, was mostly composed starting from a handful of loose riffs and a lot of studio hours, mixing and remixing. In this album in particular, our lead guitar player had a major role in the process, so we can say that this album has a lot of him in it.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Well, we firmly agree that, after more than two decades as a band, our true inspiration is still our love for metal music and for music in general. If that passion fades, so will Godiva.
WHAT IS NEXT?
First of all, just keep enjoying our music and being able to manage for it to reach others, so they can, hopefully, share the same feelings and thoughts we did when we wrote them. As we’ve told you before, “Hubris” will be out next February, so we are working on its promotion, which includes some live performances for sure. We are presently setting some dates, so we hope to have some news for you soon, but only around or after the album release date. Aside that we are also working on the making of the DVD of our concert at Vagos Metalfest 2019, where we’ve played side by side with a full live orchestra. Also, there’s a couple of new videoclips that are almost finished and to be released further on. So, fortunately, things are plenty busy.
PLEASE TELL US ANY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS SO WE CAN SHARE.
You can find us on social media, Facebook and Instagram, or you can check our website at
https://www.godivaofficial.com/.
You can also check out our you tube channel at https://youtube.com/@godivaofficial for video content or follow us on Spotify to listen to some of our music.
For booking, or a more personal contact you can reach us by mail: info@godivaofficial.com. Finally, you can get our merch at https://godivaofficial.bandcamp.com/merch.