There is a place where 85,000 people every year go to watch some of the most amazing artists the world has to offer. That place is Wacken Open Air, and this year we’ve had the incredible luck of interviewing Brittney of Unleash The Archers, the Canadian melodic death metal sensation that has recently released a new album. What did we talk about? Find out here! A huge thank you to Napalm Records for giving us the possibility to do this interview!
Benedetta
Hello Brittney. How are you doing?
Brittney Slayes
Doing well, thank you.
Benedetta
Awesome. I think it’s such an incredible experience to be part of Wacken Open Air and to be performing at the Holy Ground. What are your impressions after the performance?
Brittney Slayes
Amazing. The show was awesome. The crowd was phenomenal. Just packed. Lots of smiling faces, which are always great. And lots of energy. The crew was phenomenal backstage and everything. Everyone’s been really welcoming and helpful. So that’s always really nice. When you get to these festivals that are a little overwhelming, you’ve got so much to do and so much on your mind. So it’s really nice when someone just grabs your hand and takes you where you need to go. We were very surprised by everyone that decided to come to see our set. So it was an honour, truly.
Benedetta
Speaking of performances, do you have any rituals before going on stage?
Brittney Slayes
Yeah, I do the same thing every time. I start with my makeup, and I do that. Usually by myself, in the green room. Just to have a moment to relax and chill out after the craziness of loading and getting the show ready and all that sort of stuff. There’s a lot to do there. So it’s nice to just have a moment to breathe; then I warm up usually for about 30 minutes to an hour, 45 minutes is probably the best if I can find the time to do that. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. And then I put the outfit on and do some stretches. Then the band meets together backstage for the show. We dedicate the set to someone. Whoever someone special that day. Or just, friends or fans or things like that. And then we hit the stage.
Benedetta
You recently released the new album, Phantoma. And I was wondering how the press and the fans welcomed the release?
Brittney Slayes
It’s been great so far. Every time we talk to they say, “Oh, I love the new album“. It’s just really great to hear that people are embracing it. When you put out new records it’s always the case that people could just be so in love with the old stuff or like a particular album that you put out before that they just don’t give it a fair shot. So it’s been really great that people have been just listening to it in general, like giving it a chance. Yeah, so far people have been liking it and we’re just glad that it’s out there for the world to finally hear.
Benedetta
It is a solid release. It really shows that you’re not doing this because you don’t have anything better to do. You really put your heart into something, so it really shows. And it’s always nice when people put effort and passion into what they do.
Brittney Slayes
I was trying to write something new and experiment a little bit more and have a little bit of the sound of the album before, but also try something different so that it’s not the same thing every time. We really don’t like to do that. Yeah,
Benedetta
What do you think is the most essential, like the most important thing that an artist has to have in 2024?
Brittney Slayes
That’s a great question. Social media is pretty important. I think you really need to keep in touch with your fans. Honestly, I think that Discord is the future. I think that if you don’t have a Discord page where you can really interact with your fans and be present with them, and just be a human being with them I think that’s really the best. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter they’re places where you just do a post and then I think the fans remark upon it. But in Discord, you can have a conversation. It’s just more of a place to chat. I really, that’s definitely my favourite place. I don’t get a lot of time to be in there, unfortunately. I don’t get a lot of time to do anything anymore. But that’s my favourite place to go when I have a free moment, yeah.
Benedetta
Discord is, as you said, a very good compromise because it is still social but it gives you the opportunity to have a good niche that you can follow and interact. I wanted to ask you, I’m a huge pancakes lover. What is your favourite breakfast?
Brittney Slayes
I love crepes, actually. I love it with strawberries and strawberry compote and whipped cream and icing sugar on it. I very rarely get to eat that, but whenever I go out for breakfast, that’s what I like to do. I love that. So delicious. They’re decadent. So it’s like the fancy pancake. Only the sweet ones though. I don’t like the savoury ones.
Benedetta
Did you ever witness or were you ever a victim of discrimination or somebody who has not treated you fairly?
Brittney Slayes
Back in the early days, yeah, it happened a lot. People didn’t want to put us on bills and stuff because we’re female-fronted, and it’s “Oh, well, we don’t do female-fronted bands“, and we said, “That’s not a genre. That’s just a description for a band“. We play a sort of melodic power death metal. They put us on the death metal band, and we’re like okay, we’ll see. We don’t do symphonic metal shows, being all-around metal is not a thing. So we fought against that a lot. And people just do not even want to watch us because we post a photo, and these guys are opening, and the comments would just be, “Oh no, I don’t need to see that band.” “I hate female fronted metal” and stuff like that. And had a lot of that, back in the day. But we started, back in the late 2000s. So like 2010. It was really a struggle back in those days. I’ve definitely had people think that I’m the merch girl. And yeah, be rude when we get into a venue or things like that. Or not want to let me backstage. I’m glad that’s over. Because, people know my face a little bit now, but yeah, that was always the case. I’d be at the merch table and people would be like, “What’s this band Unleash the Archers? Are they any good?” And I’d be like, “Yeah, go check them out, make sure to stick around“. And then they’d see me get up there and they’d be like, oh, okay. But yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever had direct to my face any kind of discriminatory behaviour. Definitely, behind the scenes and just trying to fight your way to the surface in general, but nothing too drastic, yeah.
Benedetta
I want to play a little game with you if that’s alright. There’s a ship in the sea. And there’s a pirate and a ninja fighting on it. Who do you think wins the battle?
Brittney Slayes
I’m gonna go with the ninja, I think, maybe. They’re like, sneaky. They can do backflips and jump on things. Pirates are drunken and they’re all going to shoot the cannons, destroy the ship and then go. I think you should go, ninja.
Benedetta
Brittany, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else you want to add to the readers of FemMetal?
Brittney Slayes
Just thanks for listening, thanks for being a fan, and hopefully we’ll see you on the road sometime soon, wherever you may be.
