Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Rising from the Shadows: ANNA BRUNNER of LEAGUE OF DISTORTION On Music, Empowerment And Breaking Barriers

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Rising from the Shadows: ANNA BRUNNER of LEAGUE OF DISTORTION On Music, Empowerment And Breaking Barriers · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, This is Anna Brunner or Ace from League
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of Distortion, and I'm very looking forward to being here
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and talking to you.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: You released the self titled album last year. Did you
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: have so much content that you wanted to release Galvanized
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: so soon? Or is it all new material on galvan Ie?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's a really good questions. It's actually new material,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to be perfectly honest.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: There is one song that didn't fit on the album
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: on the first album, and we took that again and
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: re redid it, and that there's actually one song that
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: made it to the second album.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, the second So one song sorry from the
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: previous album that made it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: To exactly exactly I mean we did. I mean, I
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: always have so many new ideas, so yeah, and you know,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the mindset has changed a little bit, or my mindset did.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: And then sometimes like a song or lyrics from the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: past doesn't feel so right to release in the present
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: with some songs, and but for that one it was, Yeah,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: it felt right and it was cool to really take
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: that up again and to dive into that theme again
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: and to rearrange the music to make it fit even
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: better for this new record.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well that's awesome. And being a fairly new band.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: What was it like playing these big, major festivals. Wasn't
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: scary for you guys?
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: So well, the funny thing was like our very first
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: show we played that was before, that was right after
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: like the first song.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Wolf for Lamb was released.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: It wasn't a huge festival, but it was like the
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: first time we were on stage together.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that felt so natural. It was crazy.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I mean I've played songs or gigs and tours with
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: my bandmates, like with Jim with Arrow from League of Distortion.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I was on from Kiss and Dynamite.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I was on tour with Kiss and Dynamite, So I
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: know these these guys, Yeah, and then taking our music
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: and putting it on stage felt like we've never done
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: anything else.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So that was crazy, crazy, good feeling.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: But of course, if you have like a festival like
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Summer Breeze, where I've been going to as like, you know,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: as a teenager or you know, seeing bands and being
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: fan girlish, you know.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And then you're you know, you're diddy on that stage.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I was pretty I was pretty fucking
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: nervous before that show.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't blame you. Yeah, it must have been
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: so amazing. But as you said, because you've told you've
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: already played with bands beforehand and the guys beforehand, you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: and it felt natural. Yeah, that's that's really awesome. That
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: to you, nervous but also natural at the same time
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: sounds like.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And you know, I actually like, I do appreciate
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: my nervousness a little bit. I mean, sometimes it makes
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: me crazy, but it makes me focus too. I'm like, Okay,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: I know this is important to me. That's why I
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: have this nervousness, and I'm like so alert, and I
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: go on stage and I just managed to give it
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: all and and I kind of like that too.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I love that there seems to be more female
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: metal vocalists in the scene, as metalists typically a male
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: dominated genre, and you're at the forefront really showcasing the
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: talent of female vocalists. Are you proud of that?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm proud of what I do because I put
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: like everything I have into it.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily I mean.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: If I were a guy, I would be as out
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: as I am if I'm a girl, I don't seek
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: me being different, but I do want to be an
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: example for women, girls to show them, I can do
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: both or business woman or I can reach my goals
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: if I fight.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: For it, if I work hard for it.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: I want to be an example for young women, definitely,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: but I also want to be an example for everyone.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: You know. I also want to be an example for
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: a guy who says, oh wow, if she can do that,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: I can.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I can try to do that too.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So yeah, with the songwriting process an even musical process,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: is it a collaborative effort or are you the one
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: that mainly takes charge with all of that.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: We have two producers who we work with and they
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: contribute to the songwriting a lot, like I bounce my
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: ideas back and forth with them a lot, which is
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: great because they were They're on the first record too.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: It's Hannah Brown from Kiss and Dynamite and Julian Broika,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: and I'm so glad I got together with them for
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: the first record and this this team just feels so natural.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: We know how to work together, and then also having
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: the band maids contribute. We've also did a couple of
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: jam sessions this time just with like go in the
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: studio with a friend and jam on ideas, and some
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: of them even also parts or parts of it made
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: it on the on the record, So yeah, this time
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: it was a little bit more complicated because we were
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: on the road so much like it was like in
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: the process of we should actually be in the studio,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: but we have festivals, we have gigs planned.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Then of course there was also the Exit Eeden release.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Which was kind of you know, oh my gosh, there's
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: there's so many things going on at this Yeah.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, were you always into metal, especially when you found
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: out you could sing?
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: No, I actually came to metal fairly late. I always
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: like loved when I started my first band. I always
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: liked the the hard rock like the like like a
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: c DC, and I liked the way bos Scott or
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Brian Johnson sang and scream. I wanted to try that,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: not not necessarily always trying to sound pretty, but just
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: letting it out.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But there wasn't the metal influence yet, Like.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Hailstorm was a great influence, and I think you can
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: call the metal, but not the like really hard heart.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And when I grew up, I also was like
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: more of the mainstream R and B rap listening girl,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: and I actually do, like naturally put these styles into
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: our music.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: It's like, you know, we chat, we mix styles.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: We have this hip hop beat, we have this electronic
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: minimal sound, and I never really thought about that I
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: want to do it this way. It was more of, hey,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I throw loops and songs and sounds together and it's like, oh,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: this sounds like blad.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I was like, maybe that was what I was listening
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: to when I was like.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no deaf. I hear that in your music too.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: It's hard to define you guys as just say just metal,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Like You've got different influences in there, and you guys
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: do it really well, like there is hip hop and
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: rap even in a few other different electronic Yeah, it's mad.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: That brings me to my next question as well. Is
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: there any music that you like to listen to at
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: the moment that may be a bit of a surprise
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: given the music that you make.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, I really.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Now, and then I really just put on my eminem playlist.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: He's so good.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, I love his flow. I do get inspiration by
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: part of his lyrics too. I'm like, oh, okay, I
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: got to write this down.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. One of the main themes or
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: messages you like to convey through your music.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Empowerment is one of the most important things to me,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: and also.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Hope in a way, because we're all in this situation.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: The world has become crazy and mad, and there's so
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: much like fighting and and envy and these.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Bad emotions going on.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: And you see people being successful and getting up there.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Altho though you as a normal person, you understand that's
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: not a good person. Why does he deserve all this?
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Why is there so much injustice and why is there
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: so much poverty and unfairness going on? I feel that
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: a lot. I mean in the world, but also with
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: personal conversations I have with friends or with people. Yeah,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: and I want to use our music, the strength of
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: this metal music, to give hope and energy back and
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: not Okay, this is I'm just gonna.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Hide, but I will get out there. I'm not alone.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: There are good people out there, and I want to
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: bring these people together to show them we are more.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Join the league, be part of this, be part of
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: this movement, and if enough people are on the good
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: side again, we can I hope we can switch this.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Madness into something positive again.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Definitely, you worted that so well. I love that like that.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I think you're not just about one message that you're
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: about the state of the world at the moment and
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: all of the negativity and hope to raise a voice
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: against it and change, hopefully change that with as well.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: It's a great it's good that you've got that platform
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: to do that.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we'd love to see you guys here in Australia.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Is there any plans for a tour foun number soon?
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that would be Actually, that would be
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: one of my bucket list dreams to tour in Australia.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: We had a we had a sound guy talking that
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: he was in Australia and I was like, Oh my gosh,
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: tell me more.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really cool. We've got a big world metal
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: scene and a harder rock, heavier sounding scene here and
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: we'd love you guys. I can't believe you haven't been
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: here already, but yeah, I guess, I guess it hasn't
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: been that long since you guys have started touring. When
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: did you guys first start touring?
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Well, we Like, we we released the albument two okay.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: And that's when like in the end, like in November.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: That's when we first started the first tour with Like
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: as a support band.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and yeah, so it's not been that crazy long.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And how did you guys mate? Because I know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I know Kissing Dynamite. I actually they're my first introduction
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to like German metal is Kissing Dynamite, and I actually
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: really liked them. How did you guys all, mate?
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, like like my the bass player acts. He's
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: been a musician on by my side since I started
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: studying music in my hometown and we you know, we
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: played cover songs. He also plays guitar. We played in
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: bars in front of like three.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: People, are you know.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: It was like the regular thing you do when you
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: start doing music.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: So I'm very happy.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: It's like, I'm really proud to have him by my
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: side since all these years. And and also also a
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: and Tino. He was in my when I studied music
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: in Manam. He helped me with my show. I had
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: to like put a show on stage as my final
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: exam and he was one of the drums.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: He was the drummer in that band. And yeah, and
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: jim Ero I knew him.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I got to know him through through through Hannas from
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Kissing Dynamite. He also studied music at the same music
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: school I was but we didn't meet, so.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: We were like we left, I left and then okay
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: wed But yeah, but we've become friends.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: And we also did live in the same city for
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: a few years, so the connection was always there. The
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: funny thing is I never actually thought of him being
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: a part of my band, because of course he'sn't kissed
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: and Dynamite and you know that's what's.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: You're already so big.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But when I showed him my first ideas, I
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: think that was even in twenty twenty during during COVID,
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: he was like, yeah, wow, it's so cool. It's such
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: a different sound and I would love to have another band.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: And I was like, okay, you want to start this
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: with me.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, so lucky, that's so good.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: That also brings me to another question. What's it like
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: touring in a band that are all guys. You're the
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: only female, even when you're out at festivals. Do you
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: feel like you get traded differently or is it frustrating
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: at times just being around guys all the time, or
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: how does that work.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I've kind of had that.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Since, like my first band was only guys. I've actually
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: like Exit Eden was my first band, with girls. Yeah,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: and that was very refreshed in the other I was
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: more used to being with guys, and now I mean
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: with my with my leak of distortion guys, since I
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: just know them for so long, I can be totally myself.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I know they got my back. I know when I
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: say I need this or that, or could you help
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: me with this?
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Or they know by the way I act, I can
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: tell what I need.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I think since I have my buddies, like
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: who really know me, it doesn't matter if they're women
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: or men.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I've been lucky with that.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I think if you're like, if you comment to a
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: new group as a woman and there's only guys and
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: you don't know them, they don't you, and yeah I can't.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I think it can, Yeah it could. It can be
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: tough or that.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I was.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I was lucky with with them.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. That's so he There's some amazing special effects, makeup
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: and costumes in your video clips, like in Crucify Me
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: and Galvanize. Did you come up with those ideas yourself?
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Well? For the first video shoot, we also were lucky
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: again to work with Milkovitski and Cammi Zero and Cammi
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Zero is an amazing makeup artist. I know we were
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: like writing ideas back and forth. I was like annoying him,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I think a.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Lot, because I had a lot questions the very first video.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: But being able to work with him these years, I've
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: kind of learned more about my ideas and about what
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: he can also he can do yeah. Yeah, So it
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: was my idea for crucifying me to have this alien
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: ish ai Ish figure from the artwork to be me.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: You know, that's and it makes sense now, that's where
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I I was like alien on the cop Yeah, oh
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: that's so cool.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And I knew I knew he could do it.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: So it was like, if I didn't have Cami Zero
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: by my side as a makeup artist, I probably wouldn't
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: have come up with that idea because I wouldn't have
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: known that someone could do something like yeah, yes, yeah,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: And it's a great collaboration. It's it's I appreciate it
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: so much to work with amazing people and to be
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: able to have my crazy ideas really get done by
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: someone who really knows.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: What he's doing.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Oh no, it's fantastic. Well, anyone that knows me knows
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: how much I advocate for more when women led bands
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: in the industry. It's so refreshing to hear a League
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: of Distortion and we can't wait to hear the full
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: album and hopefully see you guys down under in the
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: near future. And they thank you so much for your time.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Is there anything else you'd like to add or say
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to your fans?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: First of all, it was really great talking to you,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: and I think it's it's so important for for for
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: us women to stand up for each other and to
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: work together and to be a voice.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: And I love this.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I love to get to know more women who are
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: yeah on the same page and.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're were.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: We still have a long way to go to get
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: this equality and to get this fairness also among men
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: and women. And it's great that you are also fighting
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: fighting for this.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that a lot.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: And honestly, if I if you guys were around when
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I was little just looking up to you, I wish
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: that you guys were around when I was younger, because
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I would have then been able to see you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: more bands. You know, you did have your female pop
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: stars and things like that, but I wasn't really into
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: pop music when I was younger, I was we're into
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: rock and things like that, so very I think it
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: is very influential what you're doing. And yeah, love it,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: love to see it. So thank you, thank you.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: That's amazing and I wish so much we can we
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: can come to Australia sometime.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Please, we'd love it. We absolutely love it.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: We just want to be out there and see and
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: reach more people all around the world, reach.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Our message, our positivity and empowerment.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: We want you all, got all to join the league
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: and be part of this, and yeah, we're gonna fight
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: for for a better world and as many people as
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: possible who are with us, we can reach more.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Definitely, well, I'll be definitely joining the league, so I'll
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: see this