Otep burst onto the metal scene a few years ago with their awesome debut album, Saves Tra but, since the release of the album, the band’s profile didn’t quite hit the peak that the album promised. Well, despite not breaking outside the USA, the band have continued to follow their dreams and have just issued their new album, The Ascension, so we caught up with vocalist Otep to see if they were frustrated by the lack of success in the UK and their plans for the future.

Planet Loud – Hey there, how are things going today?
Otep – Things are quixotic, thank you.

Planet Loud – You’re currently on tour around the States, how’s it going?

Otep – The tour has been a lot of fun.

Planet Loud – What’s it like playing the new material live?
Otep – It’s a thunderstorm of emotion. It’s so very satisfying to bring these songs to life on stage but it’s also exhilarating to see the audience lose their mind when they hear the first few notes of the new songs.

Planet Loud – Okay, tell us a bit about the new record, what did you want to achieve with it?
Otep – I am so very proud of it. I was hoping to fuse all the elements and strengths that empowered me during the 1st two albums that will elevate and propagate a new creature of sound for us. I believe we achieved those goals.

Planet Loud – In your biog you describe how you wanted to achieve the mindset you had on the first record. How would you describe that mindset?
Otep – Many bands seem to plateau after a few albums and their work seems to lack the emotion and risk taking energy that impacted everyone who initially heard them. I could never allow that to happen to us. We have to take risks, to remember why this band was created, to embrace the messages, the importance of what it stands for — to believe again, to be a child again, to go through the process of evolution all over again. To initiate the sexual, intellectual, and spiritual freedoms our creative natures hunger for.

Planet Loud – When you’re writing your lyrics, what do you do to get you in the mood to write?
Otep – I keep a pen and a pad with me at all times. Creativity, for me, sometimes comes as a flood, other times as in fractioned drips and sprinkles. When the river runs dry, I try to seed the dream with words. I read. And read. And read. Anything and everything. Words are my canvas, my paint, and my brushes — I need any and all combinations of metaphors, philosophies, and ideas.

Planet Loud – Could you talk us through some of your favourite songs on the album and tell us what inspired them?
Otep – I really love them all. Perfectly Flawed embraces uniqueness and celebrates the differences that make us who we are. We dont have to live up to someone else’s idea of what beauty is or who we are supposed to be. Confrontation is a political call to arms seeking to incite insight and motivate the citizens of our great nation to take it back from the oligarchs and our own self imposed exile in apathy.

Planet Loud – You covered a Nirvana track on the new record, what made you choose that particular song?
Otep – I am a HUGE Nirvana fan. I admire Kurt Cobain and his impact on music and culture and thinking is something I wanted to celebrate.

Planet Loud – Is somebody like Kurt Cobain a big inspiration on your life?
Otep – Absolutely.

Planet Loud – His partner Courtney Love has come in for a lot of criticism in the media over the years, do you think this has been fair or do you think she is an easy target?
Otep – I could never imagine what it must be like for her and their daughter. People were so distraught, and angry over his death that sometimes it seems like they just wanted to lash out and Courtney was their target.

Planet Loud – As a female, do you think Courtney is a good role- model for young female rock fans?
Otep – I think Live Through This is an absolutely amazing album. It is just another example of destroying dominant paradigms and I still listen to it to this day.

Planet Loud – When you were growing up who was your role model?
Otep – Baudelaire, Picasso, Sylvia Plath

Planet Loud – Okay, going back to Otep, you made quite a stir when Sevas Tra came out and there was a lot of interest in the band outside the States. Over the years since the first album, do you regret not capitalising on that?
Otep – I regret that our first label, Capitol Records, didn’t do more for us overseas. They seemed to embrace a systematic corporate policy of internal lethargy.

Planet Loud – What are your plans for 2008?
Otep – Touring, videos, and other acts of creative insurgency

Planet Loud – Thanks for your time, good luck with the tour and all the best for 2008, is there any message for Otep fans?
Otep – Thank you so much for your continued belief and support.

Interview by Graham Finney