MOONSPELL Singer Fernando Ribeiro

MOONSPELL Singer Fernando Ribeiro Explains Working With Former THE GATHERING Singer

Greek-based Rockpages Web Magazine spoke to Fernando Ribeiro from MOONSPELL recently during the promotion of their new album, Night Eternal, which will be released in Germany on May 16th, Europe on May 19th, and USA/Canada on June 10th.

Rockpages: I believe the new opus is darker than Memorial and tunes like 'Moon In Mercury', 'Night Eternal' and 'Spring Of Rage' are both fast and catchy. There’s also an untypical song here, 'Scorpion Flower'. It is the first time you make a duet with a female vocalist. Tell me some things about it.
Fernando: "We had female vocals but not a duet. It was my idea. When we first played 'Scorpion Flower' it was just a stupid file in the computer and everybody hated it, the others always hate that stuff and it is my job in the band to say 'let’s work on this because it’s really good' so I had a lyric and a concept and it was a very feminine thing like love and cult among women, a crazy variation of the cult of Mary, the dark virgin. So we started playing with the song and we needed a chorus. Then all of a sudden when I was at home with my wife looking for a chorus we stared grousing and singing some stuff together then she came up with this chorus line. I was like 'what the hell? You just wrote the biggest Moonspell hit ever!' So we started singing together and then I thought that the song needs some female vocals so then we got Anneke (ex-THE GATHERING, AGUA DEANNEKE) involved. We thought about a lot of people but she’s great and she belongs to our generation. She’s our age, she’s been in a band and we’ve toured together and she’s the most important girl for the roots of this movement because after The Gathering other bands with female frontwoman started to show up. That’s how it became a duet!"

The full interview can be found here.

MOONSPELL Frontman Fernando Ribeiro - ""Summer Is Up.…And Running"

MOONSPELL frontman Fernando Ribeiro has issued the following update:

"Summer is up.…and running. From the heavy rains of Norway to the abrasing sun of Greece, yours truly have been enjoying it to the full. The Slottjfest in Norway has nothing but an experience! We played one of the smallest stages we played in years amidst breathtaking atmospheres and Viking legacy. Scandinavian fests have their way in mixing the odd, the cool and the pagan and even though work has to be done, the fans there, especially the ones who stood firmly by the unexpected yet mystical rains, had a great time. Talk about returning for a 3 leg date somewhere in early 2009 has the best result we could take from this experience, not to mention the great atmosphere and response under extreme Summer conditions:

Hitting the stage under 36 degrees could kill any hope. The Sun was that one that is not a shadow but a round torch punishing heads and bodies. But our return to Athens was glorious: the show, the raised fists, the commotion, the other heat than just that of the Sun, the song with Maxi Nil, the farewell. And then the night out, meeting up with our brothers in ROTTING CHRIST and SEPTIC FLESH. Seeing our friends in LACUNA again, Mas from SAMAEL and so many others. We had a great time, once again we will secure some longer club gigs in early 2009 (which were, to our contentment, very asked for). It was great!

This week we return to Portugal, yes! MaiaAct will be our first gig after the great Rock in Rio and it will be a full length one! With a headliner stage and setlist, with Carmen from AVA INFERI joining us on stage for a couple of songs and with a great, great hunger to play again in the region of Porto to one of the best crowds in the world!!! See you tomorrow! Até amanhã!

Then we go and play a showcase in the great Parque da Cidade, in Loures, in the outskirts of Lisbon. This festival is held by the biggest Rock radio in Lisbon and surroundings and it comes in the right time as Scorpion Flower is number 1 (!!!) in the listeners' charts!!! We will play for a mere half an hour but joining us will be the Crystal Mountain Singers (Carmen, Sophia, Patricia and Silvia), just like Rock in Rio and despite short timed it will be intense and a great warm up for the forthcoming Alliance Festival in the 8th of August which we will be headlining.

Some PT words: Ambos os festivais, Maia e Best Rock, tem entrada livre. O set em Loures terá a duração de 30 minutos.

Saturday we will return to Holland and headline Zwarte Cross festival, sharing the stage with such great bands as OBITUARY or EXODUS. Anneke (van Giersbergen; AGUA DE ANNIQUE singer) can not be singing 'Scorpion' with us as she has a gig herself but we are trying to secure a worth replacement.

On the forthcoming week there will be more from us (Ukraine, Portugal and Germany) and so far we are happy to announce that Anneke will join us on stage in the great Mera Luna Festival.

Until then stay away from the Sun! It burns, it burns, it burns."