You could say Norwegian musician Morten Veland is a ladies' man. Beginning in 1996, he was one of the founding members of the gothic metal band Tristania, led by female vocalist Vibeke Stene and credited with helping conceive the female fronted-symphonic metal subgenre that's thriving today. After leaving Tristania in 2001, Veland formed his own band in the same mold, Sirenia. During the past decade, Veland and Serenia have seen a harem of talented, beautiful female singers come and go, including Fabienne Gondamin (At Sixes and Seven), Henriette Bordvik (An Elixir for Existence, Sirenian Shores) and, more recently, Monika Pedersen (Nine Destinies and a Downfall). Then he found and recruited Spanish vocalist Ailyn after auditioning more than 500 women. I don't know how Veland keeps his composure around all of these beautiful temptresses. Ladies' man? You bet.
Ailyn previously had been a contestant on the Spanish version of X-Factor, an American Idol-type singing competition produced by Simon Cowell. And the 28-year old singer isn't the typical gothic metal vocalist either. She brings a pop-sensibility to Sirenia's sound, yet also has an exotic quality to her style due to her strong accent. Her debut with the band came on 2009's The 13th Floor, an album that LiveMetalNet said "should put Sirenia into the elite class of gothic metal."
A couple years later that hasn't quite come to fruition, but their new album, The Enigma of Life might change that. Just as the album was released, Veland called into LiveMetalNet's Jeff Maki for our first audio interrogation of 2011. Veland delves into the history of Sirenia, tells us all about the new album and reveals his secrets to getting all of the ladies. Don't we wish.
