This issue’s band of choice is the wonderful Blood of Roses. Hailing from California, there music is dark and disturbing, instantly appealing to the goth community. They were kind enough to give Grizel an audience. Here’s what they had to say for themselves . . .

1) Please introduce yourselves

Blood of Roses is the studio project of Jaemes Henriques and Roberta Lengua, AKA Bird.

2) Where are you from?

We are both from Southern California, just outside Lost Angeles. The region is Orange County--you may see a movie by the same name at your local cinema soon.

3) How long have you been together?

We've been recording since 1995, on and off. Both of us have other artistic endeavours concurrent with BoR.

4) How did you meet?

We met at the California State University in the mid-90's. Jaemes was about to graduate with a Masters in Music Composition when we collided.

5) Where did the name “Blood of Roses” come from?

The name was Bird's idea; she is the more visual of the two of us, and Blood of Roses is a visually stimulating appellation. It has nothing to do with Guns 'N Roses, nor the (Tori Amos?) song, nor the novel.

6) Being based in California, how have you found getting gigs, doing promotional work etc?

We've (unwisely?) spent our resources making music and not as much as we should or could on promotion. (See answer 9)... BoR is a studio project, and hasn't performed. Since there are only two of us, and the music is very orchestrated, we feel it's just too "Milli Vanilli" to go on stage with racks of synths and sequencers and just play two parts live. Interestingly, however, we might be adding a third member after all these years. His name is Richard Kallet; he is a percussionist, and we might go out and perform a different set of material than what we've recorded. The future is unknown.

7) Your music is beautiful, what kind of reactions have you had from the public?

Thank you for your kind words! Reaction is very location-dependent. In Europe, South America, and New Zealand, we've received many, many, almost embarrassingly praiseful reviews. Occasionally, we are confused with Death Metal music, due to our name only, and those reviewers, expecting blood-curdling vocals and impaling guitars, are surprised. But even among these folks we've received some gracious reviews. In the States, reviews have been generally favourable. However, the American listener's ears have been focussed on a certain set of sounds, constrained by a "Goth should sound this way" attitude; very myopic. So some reviewers have been less than enthusiastic. Our music is difficult to pigeonhole. Jaemes' composing style has never been easy to identify. His influences range from Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp to Kate Bush and Bjork. Bird enjoys Dead Can Dance, Sky Cries Mary, the Orb, and Moby. But BoR has only hints of these influences, and we change as we mature as artists. The latest pieces don't sound like our first efforts.

8) How do you find the crowd react at your gigs?

Sorry, we don't know! (yet)

9) You’ve mentioned wanting to find a label in Europe. What information could you give us to pass on to prospective labels?

Like the by-line at Electronic Services Unit 16 says, "Our music is not composed by a focus group". Despite the fact that we can't easily be tossed into a bin with Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Britney Spears, or Usher, many people do enjoy our recordings. We take as evidence the wonderful reviews and fan mail that we've received over the years. There is a market for our music among discerning listeners, if only BoR had the clout of a thoughtful label, especially outside the US.

10) And last but not least, for anyone out there who wants to hear your music, how can they get hold of it?

Go to www.esunit16.com and click on the rose. We've posted some music files there, and a way to get the CD. There's much other information there too, including Bird's poems and artwork. Our first EP-CD can be had from Amazon.com and CDbaby.com. Also, Peoplesound in the UK has access to our work. Many websites have MP3 versions of some of our material: MP3.com, Vitaminic, among others.