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DIVA DESTRUCTION
by Craig Harvey
 What brought about the formation of Diva Destruction?
Debra: I started the band here in Hollywood back in 1998 after I
compiled a lot of songs that I had written. I wrote most of the first
album solo and with another vocalist, and then a session guitarist
[Jeremy Meza] mostly followed my low keyboard parts. I also did the
drum programming on the first album and I still did a lot of drum
programming on this second album, “Exposing The Sickness”. After the
first album was released, I found other people to help me put on the
live shows. I also asked my friend Sharon to do keyboards for me for
the live shows, since I didn’t want to sing and play my keyboards at
the same time on stage.
Who is in the current band line-up?
Debra: I am the primary songwriter and main singer. Benn Ra plays
guitar and Sharon Blackstone plays keyboards for our live shows, along
with backup vocals. Stevyn Grey (Christian Death, Mephisto Waltz, and
Faith & The Muse) just joined the band as our new drummer. We are
very excited about Stevyn joining us since he has been with so many
great bands and has extensive experience touring Europe.
Now you originally lived in Gainesville where you went to UF. What
got you to move out to LA?
Debra: Well, I grew up in Sarasota and I first went to Emory
University in Atlanta for my B.A. degree.Then I moved back to Florida
to go to Univ. of Florida for my graduate degree. I moved to LA
because it was the best city for pursuing music.
Your band is based in Los Angeles, however most of your tours are
in Europe. Do you feel there is a larger audience there for your music
because your branch of the genre is more accessible there?
Debra: I believe it is mainly because goth and industrial is so much
larger in Europe. I don’t think a lot of people in the U.S. scene
realize how much larger it is over there. The Wave festival in Leipzig
that we co-headlined last May has 20,000 goths every year on average.
I thought the crowds would be maybe only half goth/industrial, but it
was 100% goth/industrial and almost every single person was extremely
dressed up. Thousands camped out in cold tents for the three night
festival because their level of dedication is so high. The annual
U.S. Convergence festival that I went to one year only pulled in about
1,000 people. There are also tons of large goth magazines throughout
Europe with distribution that is far greater than here in the U.S. We
were fortunate to be on the cover of some of those magazines which
really helped, and DJs played a lot of our songs on dancefloors.
Benn: The market for dark music as a whole is much more fertile in
Europe than in the States. We were signed to a record deal there
before we got the deal with Metropolis. We are already established
there, therefore we get more frequent touring offers. Now that we
have a deal with Metropolis, we will be touring the States more.
Sharon: Goth/industrial music is more popular in Europe, so therefore
you have more audiences, and a larger scene. The majority of our
population in the U.S. thrive off musicians/performers such as Manson
and Pink. The focus is on sex and shock here instead of more
artistic standpoints.
Now because of your popularity "across the pond", have you
considered relocating to Europe?
Debra: We have discussed it, but I don’t think we will do it in the
near future.
Benn: As a matter of fact we have....
Sharon: The thought has crossed our minds, due to the amount of
traveling overseas we have done, but as for me personally, I enjoy
visiting.
Exposing the Sickness, your new album, is your second release, but
the first under the Metropolis label. How did your signing with
Metropolis come about?
Debra: They were interested because my first album was selling very
well through the mere distribution deal that I had with them and
because we had a very famous producer mixdown our second album. Scott
Humphrey (producer of Rob Zombie, Motley Crue, Crystal Method, etc.)
did all of our album mixdowns and he helped it sound even more
powerful. It is not very common for a goth/industrial band to have
their album mixed down by a platinum and gold selling producer. We
were very excited that Scott liked our sound and was interested in
mixing our album.
Your first album, Passion's Price, was more of a single person
production. Was the new release more of a collaborative effort?
Debra: I still wrote most of the thirteen songs by myself, but I did
co-write four of the songs with my guitarist Benn. I like to write
entire songs all at once and in the middle of the night, including all
the layers of music, basslines, lyrics, and I even program the drums.
Then we sometimes replace the drums with real drums or add the real
drums on top of my programmed drums. Then the guitarists I have
worked with typically follow my bassline notes. I also write all of
the backup vocal harmonies for Sharon or myself to sing as well.
Benn: Debra and I shared production duties... I contributed music
for 3 songs and collaborated on the music with Debra on "Tempter".
Julian Beeston of Nitzer Ebb has contributed a bonus remix of "When
Trees Would Dance" on the new album. Is he a fan of the band?
Debra: Well, he was interested in doing this remix and he’s
interested in remixing many more of our songs. I’m definitely a fan
of his Nitzer Ebb band.
You have done covers of Radiohead, Stevie Nicks and the Cocteau
Twins for soundtracks and some Cleopatra compilations. Will these see
re-release on any upcoming DD or Metropolis comps?
Debra: Metropolis paid us to do the cover songs for Radiohead and
Cocteau Twins for their tribute albums, so they own those recordings.
Also, the movie producer for “Gypsy 83” owns the Stevie Nicks cover he
offered to pay us to record. Any future re-release decisions would be
up to them.
Benn: It will be very difficult since we do not own the rights to
these songs....
Are there any plans to re-release Passion's Price under the
Metropolis label?
Debra: I currently have just a non-exclusive distribution deal for
the first album with Metropolis, and I’m not sure if I want to upgrade
it to a full deal in the U.S./Canada for that first album. I enjoy
selling it on our website in the U.S. and I’m not sure that I want to
give that up. Several years ago, I signed a full deal with our German
label (Alice In) for the first 3 CDs for Europe and the territories
beyond the U.S./Canada, but I may want to continue to keep just the
U.S. rights for my debut CD.
With the exception of the 2002 Halloween Ball at LA's Coven 13
where you performed with The Damned, and a club opening in April of
that year, you haven't toured in the United States since 2001. Are
there any plans to embark on a stateside tour in the near future?
Debra: We can’t wait to do a second U.S. tour, and we will likely do a
U.S. tour this summer. We will post tour dates at our site at
www.divadestruction.com. We also just posted our upcoming
April European tour dates and new photos on our site.
Benn: We are planning one now...
What music do you listen to in your downtime?
Debra: Radiohead, Moby, Faith & The Muse, Curve, Tori Amos (I love
fellow pianists since I grew up playing classical piano from a young
age), Snog, and Das Ich.
Benn: Type O Negative, Faith and The Muse, Young Gods, I really like
the new Interpol CD and I have recently discovered a band called Yume
Bitsu..
What can we expect from Diva Destruction in the future?
Debra: I am already making plans for the third album. I will probably
continue to write some songs with my programmed drums, some with real
drums, and some with both layered together since we liked how it
worked on this album. I am already looking at new keyboards, since I
am ready to expand to creating even more electronic sounds beyond what
I can do on my Kurzweil 2500xs and my Roland.
Benn: Less talk... more rock? hahaha You can expect many wonderful
things from us in the future...
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