Music Review and Interview with Corna – Dr Ratib

This track will take you back a little with its classic metal riffs, beautifully distorted, and that thick, heavy drum line. It sounds exactly like you’d hope it would sound, for lovers of rock music, metal, heavily melodic guitars and song writing. The chorus is completely unpredictable when compared with the rest of the song and the verses that surround it. It’s brilliant, so unique in its own, new way, and thoroughly memorable. You get that chorus section stuck in your mind, you want to sing along, and the choir of voices makes it feel like a huge moment.

And then, on top of all this, some wildly electronic sounding, almost experimental section, comes pouring out through the speakers. The guitar solos, this moment of pause within the song, it’s a great time to be listening at full volume. You can totally escape to this section, and although the sounds seem out of place a little, you soon release how great that is as a quality within the track – why do what is expected of you? Particularly when it comes to creativity and music.

The song writing highlighted throughout this whole release has a story and a concept about it that is probably unlike anything you’ll have heard in recent years, and that’s a strong point, a huge one. It grabs your attention, and then the music unfolds, and this whole theatrical sound scape wraps its sounds and it’s arms around you.

There’s a hint of Iron Maiden at times, but you soon forget that, the outpouring of individuality from the band members feels like something fresh and unaffected. Something new for fans of this kind of music to really sink their teeth into. The chorus is great, such an unusual direction in which to take a track of this genre, but a wonderful addition to the music, really making the sound stand out as theirs.

By Rebecca Cullen

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

Corna: Heard of it through twitter and seemed like a good channel to introduce our music to a new audience.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Corna: All of the band members are from various locations in Norway. Tom Erik (the drummer): I can remember I was really fascinated by music videos in the 80`s where the rock bands had long hair, make up, girls, explosions, fire and played cathcy songs that was rebellious and that appealed to me. I wanted to be a rock star, especially a drummer because all of them had this thundering sound. I was very much into KISS and twisted sister and started to jam to the cassettes when I got my first drumkit as a 12-year old. The music interest has built progressively since then.

The great response from the audience is a fantastic motivator, but seeing a result after band practice with song-writing and arrangements is what drives the band forward. We basically have fun with our music and that means creativity flows and that results in us progressing as musicians. Never a dull band practice!

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Corna: CORNA; the sign of the horns is a hand gesture with a variety of meanings and uses in various cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little fingers while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb. This is the famous rock n roll sign first extensively used by the late great DIO and has been adapted ever since by all rock n rollers all over the world. The singer came up with the name during a band practice that was it.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Corna: As a new band you want to share your music to get feedback and to get your expressions out. The biggest part of promoting your band is to share music and to be available on the common streaming channels as well as on youtube with live clips and videos. We have given away CD`s to promoters, venues and for booking purposes.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Corna: As a new band you should create music you enjoy and want to play. Continue to do what you love and don`t make music just because others say this or that, do it your way and keep it up. The more you believe in your music and show it, it will generate enthusiasm. Followers that like your music will spread and then radio channels will pick up on it, venues will recognize that you deliver your best and again will book your band or talk to other venue booking agents. Always perform your best and give it your all, and the gigs will come.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Corna: Sometimes mistakes are made during shows, but with a good chemistry in the band it is easy to adapt and continue. The audience will not notice minor mistakes if the band communicates well on stage.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Corna: We have`nt been on a tour yet, but have done a several live gigs. The summer of 2015 we played a festival where 1000 people screamed: “one more song, one more song” at the end of the show! That was pretty amazing.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Corna: Someone in the band brings a riff or an idea of a song and it will form during a jam with contributions from all band members. Other times a song could be more or less finished and just needs polishing and fine-tuning.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Corna: We have our own web-site: www.corna.no, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Corna/664637683607989?ref=hl, Twitter: https://twitter.com/Corna16034643

We share our music on almost every relevant streaming site available, such as: Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Wimp and many more. We have also had some radio play in Norway national radio station but also radio stations in UK, US ++.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Corna: The drummer has a couple of Bee Gees songs….

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Corna: Hire a good studio and an excellent producer to finalize and record our next album. And of course to promote the new album with a tour and publicity stunts all over the world.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Corna: We are currently working on new songs for a future album release next year..

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Corna: To play gigs, promote and spread the word via social medias and radio/TV stations. We send out albums to various media for reviews or for general radio play requests.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Corna: Tom Erik (the drummer) would love to play as an opening act for KISS with a jam at the end!!!! Venue: madison square garden!!!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Corna: dental floss salesmen!

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Corna: Tom Erik (the drummer): I remember my first album: KISS – Destroyer, and how amazed I was listening to it over and over again, I was hooked.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Corna: Music is our nr 1 outlet for frustrations and emotions of daily life situations.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016/2017?

Corna: New material, as in a new album, festivals and other gigs during spring and summer.