Bedazzled or bewitched NOCTURNE strikes it again with a seductive enthrallment of their current release to date Guide To Extinction an album score of sinister toxicity of emotional turmoil to raged hatred. Bestowing creative mixtures of industrial metal with a harder edge than before Lacey Connor, lead enchantress casts her glow of erotic touches to words told of musical change, upcoming concert tour to organizations of world importance. Capturing an essence of intrigue Lacey reveals her guide to musical revelation.

Jussi: Wanted to say greetings first and foremost. Btw, thanks for putting out a great album. I was impressed overall. So far how have been the reviews for Guide To Extinction?
Lacey: Hi Jussi! Thank you so much for your kind words in regards to the new album. We too were very happy with the way it came out. So far, the majority of the reviews have been very favorable! We have come across a few negative ones, mainly from people who seemed very "metal elitist", but overall we've received a lot of very positive reviews and we are very pleased with that.

Jussi: As compared to previous released albums this current material has more of a metal vein to it. Why the change?
Lacey: We basically followed the changes in our own musical tastes. Chris and I, the primary writers of NOCTURNE, both started out as teenagers listening to bands like the Cure and Siouxsie & The Banshees. As we got older, we both took a liking too much heavier bands like Ministry, and over the past few years I've really gotten into bands like Korn, Static X, and Rob Zombie. I think the evolution of my own taste in music (and Chris' too) is very much reflected in the music that we write.

Jussi: Do you think the intensity with this latest material was influenced of what happened between you and Chris?
Lacey: Some of it, yes. There is at least one song that Chris wrote that I feel was most likely influence by our break up, and I can certainly say the same about one song in particular that I wrote as well. But even if a particular song wasn't directly influenced by the break-up itself, there certainly was a lot of emotion going on in that period of our lives.

Jussi: Through the songwriting content is at times heart felt yet brutal, do you find that the band is moving towards a new style of influence?
Lacey: Absolutely, but I think this is a good thing. I don't want to be the type of band that has every album sounding like the previous one. We want to give people something totally new with each release, and hopefully we are accomplishing that.

Jussi: For those that have not seen NOCTURNE live, what can one expect?
Lacey: Slutty, sexy, energetic, powerful, aggressive, musical debauchery!

Jussi: This CD seems to be part personal and part serious was it difficult at times in recording since you and Chris has a downfall of sorts?
Lacey: I could say that it was a little weird sometimes, but not so much difficult. I had moved out of the house, and we had spent many months apart by the time we had begun actually recording what we had written, so we had a little time to heal before we got back to work again. Chris and I are troopers!

Jussi: Do you think the recording of Guide To Extinction was difficult to record?
Lacey: Not so much, as I sort of answered in my previous e-mail. After I "turn in" my songs to Chris that I have written, he does most of the actual recording on his own. So I was there mainly only for the recording of the vocals.

Jussi: Was there anything that you felt you wanted to do differently with this album?
Lacey: We basically just wanted to give it a more organic feel. In the past, we always programmed our drums, whereas we used a "real" human drummer on this album. Some of the songs were a little heavier than on past NOCTURNE albums, and we didn't program quite as much this time around. It still certainly has an "industrial" feel to some of the songs, but overall I think that the new album has much more of a rock/metal feel to it than what we've done in the past.

Jussi: One thing that really takes me by surprise is that the band is form Texas, but has an East Coast sounds more or less, do you think that NOCTURNE falls differently from the typical Texas southern rock sound?
Lacey: Well a lot of interesting bands have come from Texas: Pantera, The Toadies, Rev. Horton Heat, Drowning Pool, to name a few. Texas has that "I'm a bad ass" thing going on - LOL - so in my mind; it shouldn't be such a surprise.

Jussi: The band was currently on tour with Pig Face, how did that go?
Lacey: It actually went really well! We had a good time and were well received by the audiences. That scene is fairly "safe" for us though... we are excited about the upcoming tour that we are preparing for, with Mushroomhead and Dope. That's a totally new and different genre for us and we are looking forward to hopefully expanding in a new scene.

Jussi: Is there a particular favorite song on the new CD that is a personal favorite? If so, why?
Lacey: Argh! It's difficult for me to answer these types of questions for fear of sound arrogant. Ha, ha! Oh well. Okay, that being said - Of my own songs, I like Walk Away the most. I'm proud of the lyrics, and feel that the music is very powerful and moving. Of Chris' songs, I think I like Dead Man the most. The lyrics are daring and eye opening (along the lines of "Oh My God, I can't believe he actually SAID that, but we all know so many people are thinking it!"). The music is quirky but very cool, heavy, and smart too.

Jussi: Any current plans for additional touring?
Lacey: Yes, most definitely. As I mentioned before, we are getting ready to go out on a U.S. tour with Mushroomhead and Dope for two months, starting July 25th!

Jussi: Since having Ben Graves on drums, has this added anything different to the tour to NOCTURNE’s live sound?
Lacey: Um...I debated on whether or not to give you some vague made-up answer to this, but I decided instead to be bluntly honest. We didn't get along with Ben too well. *lol*! He's not going to be doing any more tours with us. He was nasty to our driver, overall he didn't treat people very well (fans, soundguys, members of Pigface, members of NOCTURNE, etc), and he was extremely arrogant. I don't do well with people who think they are rock stars. So no, to answer your question. The only thing he added to NOCTURNE was irritation! ;-)

Jussi: NOCTURNE seems to be a band about personal rights/freedom, more humanitarian based, do you feel that this is something to raise more awareness about since there is a message of that in the CD and band website?
Lacey: I'm so glad you asked me about this. Thank you. Yes, I certainly like to spread awareness in regards to issues relating to human rights, animal rights, and the environment. I can go on and on for hours about these topics, but to keep it short, I try to at least encourage people to type in "human rights" or "animal rights" into their search engine and see what comes up. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes each day or a few times a week out of their busy lives, to try to educate themselves about these issues, and to actually try to learn to care about things going on in the rest of the world that really matter and are so important, outside of their day-to-day lives.

Jussi: Any particular organization that you support personally?
Lacey: I'm a big fan of PETA, but I give to many different organizations when I can (I recently made a donation to UNICEF.) Some REALLY good websites that I often check out to see what's going on include: www.hrw.org (human rights watch), www.animalcruelty.com, www.peta.org, www.animalconcerns.org, www.antiwar.com, and www.greenpeace.org.

Jussi: Favorite non-music related pastimes?
Lacey: Going to the movies, taking my two dogs to the park, riding horses (which I love to do, but am not able to do so much anymore since we tour so often), going to the beach (now that I'm in L.A! I couldn't do that in Dallas!) um... I think that's about it as far as NON-musical activities go. :-)

Jussi: Any additional information that we need to know about NOCTURNE or what to expect in the future?
Lacey: Um... I think that just about covers everything. As for future plans, we're going to be touring a lot this year. I'm already working on a fall tour. We'll definitely be sticking around! I'd also like to ask those who read this to please be sure to check out our website as well as our MySpace page.

Jussi: Thank you Lacey for taking the time out of your schedule for allowing this interview to be conducted. Much success to you and NOCTURNE. Thank you for putting out great material. :)
Lacey: Thank you SO much Jussi! I really appreciate your kind words. Thank you for doing this interview with me, and for bringing us the extra exposure. I enjoyed your questions, and I wish you all the best! Take care.