A lot of events are currently cancelled or postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Horror Expo Live was able to organize an online Meet & Greet with Simone and Mark on Zoom ! The event was recorded and the video will probably be available very soon.
Here are a few things we learnt :
- There will be 2 more singles from Ωmega.
- There are 2 guests on the album : 1 guy from a band (arabic vocals) and 1 woman, also from a band (spoken words).
- Simone and Mark wrote lyrics for one song together, and the song is one of Simone’s favourite.
- The Antediluvian Universe (Kingdom of Heaven, Part III) is connected to A New Age Dawns. According to Simone, it’s a very surprising song.
- The outfits Simone wore in the Abyss of Time video were very uncomfortable.
- In 2004, Simone was featured as a guest in Secret Garden with the Brazilian band Angra. She remembers Vincent was only one year old when she recorded the song in Oliver’s studio. He was crying and she had to record the last chorus with her baby in her arms to comfort him.
- When the band was touring with Kamelot, Simone was always nervous to go on stage to sing The Haunting with them (she’s not nervous usually). Once, she thought she had 2 songs to get ready but Kamelot skipped one song in the setlist and when she was supposed to hit the stage, she wasn’t ready. She had to put on her dress very fast and she couldn’t find her earpiece. She felt like she was deaf for 2 days after that. A few years later, when Epica was playing in Paris, Simone was again too late with the dress change : she didn’t have her earpiece, her dress was not closed, the mic stand was too high because she didn’t have her heals…
- Mark and Simone said they’d like to have an acoustic tour one day, but they don’t make any plans for the future.
- Simone recorded vocals with Oliver. It’s a little surprise for the fans. We’ll know more very soon, and Mark said it’s worth waiting for.
- Simone recorded the video for Ayeron’s This Human Equation at home in front of a green screen. She didn’t really know what to do as she’s not an actress. She loves working with Arjen Lucassen, she has a great chemistry with him and is a fan of his work. In the video for Daniel’s Descent into Transitus, Simone said it was a spontaneous thing to slap Tommy Karevik’s butt, but then she had to do it more times for the video because everyone loved it. Simone apologized to Tommy’s wife. She also hit him several times on the face with the huge wings because she forgot she had them when she moved. She thinks Tommy is a very nice guy.
- Simone was proud to raise the rainbow flag on stage in São Paulo during the Design Your Universe 10th anniversary tour, because she knows a lot of people from the LGBTQIA+ community and she supports them.
- The advice Simone would give to people who want to sing is to take singing lessons, not to stick with the same teacher, practice, and record and listen to what you sing.
- Simone loves horror movies but finds it difficult to watch them when things happen to children.
Thanks to Horror Expo Live for hosting this nice Meet & Greet. Tomorrow, Simone will give another interview and maybe we’ll learn more about the new album !
