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"It wasn't easy being a young girl trying to learn how
to play the electric guitar," recalls Flavia Canel, guitarist
for Sweden's Drain S.T.H. "I didn't know where to go or who
to ask, 'How do I do this?'"
So Canel did what many self-respecting rockers have been doing
for years: she taught herself by listening to records and "picking out stuff."
"When I was 13, I listened a lot to the Runaways. I thought
it was really cool that women were playing that kind of music.
I always liked heavy guitars and heavy sounds."
These days, Canel is making some heavy sounds of her own. Along
with bassist Anna Kjellberg, drummer Martina Axén, and
vocalist Maria Sjöholm, Canel is launching a frontal assault
on U.S. audiences. American head bangers first caught Drain on
tour with Type O Negative and at last year's OZZfest. The group's
stellar mix of melodic vocals and killer guitars earned them a
return ticket to this year's OZZfest, where Drain shared a triple
bill with Coal Chamber and Sevendust as well as separate concerts
with Megadeth.
Now fans of the band are getting an earful courtesy of Drain's
1997 album, Horror Wrestling, which is enjoying stateside
release through Mercury Records. The U.S. version includes three
new tracks, including a cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades."
"It's [about] how you wrestle with your own fears and [the]
mental wrestling [necessary] to get over your fears," Canel
says, explaining the album. "We are kind of dark. I'm very
comfortable with that. There is enough happy, nonsense music in
the world. You need something a little bit darker and serious."
Apart from pinning listeners to the mat with their confessional
and confrontational lyrics, the female metal-rock quartet pile
drives a sonic assault of growling guitars. But while Canel's
arsenal currently includes a Jackson Soloist and a Roland GP-8
guitar effects processor, the guitarist found herself employing
one decidedly lo-tech effect on the group's album.
"On 'Unreal,' I closed the bathroom door in the studio,
and you hear that creaky wonnnn," she explains. "Martina
heard the door and said, 'Oh, that sounds cool. We have to use
that on the album.' I closed that door many times until we got
the right sound." -Phillip Zonkel
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