Welcome Monica and welcome William. 
William: Thank you. 
So how about we just start out with a general history of both your careers, Monica you were in Strange Boutique. Was that your first band? 
Monica: No that was probably my third or fourth band actually.  
Ok, but until Strange Boutique everything had not been up to par with its popularity? 
Monica: I released my first album in 1984 with my band Madhouse, however that is now a relic, and whenever people find it it's quite a bit of money. Strange Boutique, though was definitely my most proud accomplishment.
William, you're from Christian Death and Mephisto Walz fame, is that right? 
William: I did some work with both of those bands over the past couple of years and yeah it was a good time. 
Are you on any of the Christian Death albums? 
Yeah, I was on 'Rage of Angels' and 'Path of Sorrows' in '93 and '94 respectively. 
And you were on all the Mephisto Walz albums? 
I was on two or three, but as a lot of Mephisto Walz albums tend to comprise a 'best of' I could end up being on many more or so it would seem. 
It may seem that Strange Boutique and Mephisto Walz/Christian Death are from two seemingly disparate worlds or different worlds? 
William: Strange Boutique was comprised of people who were in punk bands and new wave bands and hence we were from a different fan-base than Christian Death. Strange Boutique I think is very different than that. 
Now would you say that that fact is a reason why Faith & the Muse seems to have such a wide range of sound? 
William: I would definitely agree with that.  
So it's a product of both your influences coming together and being synthesized? 
William: Yes, definitely, we have a completely different style and way of doing things.The whole Christian Death thing and related music, for whatever reason rose out of the punk scene. It was just sort of a natural progression of that. I think Strange Boutique definitely had a slightly more pop pretense about them. They're a more melody and new wave oriented band, whereas with Christian Death the image and the sound were placed on the same level. Strange Boutique were definitely more oriented towards melody and the songs. 
And I think that comes through on the albums, because I think the more "rock songs" that Faith & the Muse puts out have that lush, rich, layered sound that may indicate the Strange Boutique/Christian Death synthesis. Now would I be wrong in sayng that? 
William: No not at all.  
Monica: No, and may I thank you. 
William: A lot of it is a product of different styles and the way that we write, but essentially I think the sound comes across that way because of the production, that is the actual time and energy we put into the work in the studio. Early punk albums didn't have much production at all, it was really about just getting it on tape and that was all, but with the technology we have at our disposal it is much easier to make an album sound good and that plays into it as well. 
Certainly it would be difficult to get that kind of a sound with so many instruments going on, if you didn't have the production. 
Monica: I think that our combined experience in the studio and William being an engineer as well will result in every album getting progressively better in production. 
William: It's a matter of knowing what you want and knowing how to get it, and with our past experience we certainly know what we don't want. 
Monica: At the same time, we also know not to over-produce. 
William: Some things can come off sounding too slick. 
Yes I've noticed that the guitar parts are not ultra prominent in the mix, functioning almost the way a bass guitar should be in a mix. 
William: It's a texture just like anything else.
Now a lot of Faith and the Muse to me sounds studio oriented. And certainly that ties in with the production. It has a very 'classical' feel to it. I can imagine songs like 'Cantus' and 'Cernunnos' being very difficult ot play live. 
William: We've gotten a lot of stick for it too. A lot of people wish that we were playing 'Cantus' or any of those types of songs live. 
Cantus is a very popular song. 
William: It seems to be the one that people are focused on. It's one of my favorites too, but due to the nature of the song and its production it's been impossible to do live. However, we do plan on doing it live on the next tour. 
Monica: We plan on having live the amount of people that is necessary for performing that song.  
William: It's going to be like seven people on the next tour.  
In direct contrast to your current Vera Causa tour. 
William: Yes. 
So would you consider the Vera Causa tour to be an exploration of a certain element of Faith and the Muse? 
Monica: I would totally agree with that. 
William: I wouldn't call it so much an exploration as I would perhaps an offering of what we do on its most base level. There's nothing new about it to us because that's how we write. So, right out of the box, it's what we are in our rawest form. 
You play the title track from 'Annwyn' live in your acoustic set, and its strange how some of the power of that song which is a "rock song" still comes through, despite the fact that there is only an acoustic guitar and a voice there. 
William: That's where it all starts from. If the power isn't there from where we begin on that level, then we ususally don't move forward. 
Monica: Yes, if it's not in the song writing, then it can become a whole bunch of hot air.  
William: All the production techniques in the world are not going to make a weak song work. It will just sound like a highly polished weak song. 
Songs like 'Cernunnos' and 'Cantus' seem to have this rather 'apocalyptic/ethereal' feel to them. Where does that come from? 
William: Well, apocalyptic and ethereal being opposite ends of the spectrum, 'Cernunnos' and 'The Hand of Man' the apocalyptic end of it I completely concur. Those songs are ultimaely expressions of my view of the world. 
Yeah it seems to have that kind of final say about it. 
William: Yes, I am of the slightly darker belief that mankind has taken the slide to hell. 
Monica: Well with 'Annwyn' you would think that it would only express that kind of an 'ending' to all, but it is actually written as a kind of celebration of the next 'beginning'. I am the voice of hope here.  
William: We work in extremes, which is why we work so well to begin with. 
Now the actual music that you put out seems to support these lyrical notions. With these abstract conceptions, the music seems to back it up. It seems like there is an 'extra-rock' influence working here. 
William: Well a lot of the time, the song itself will start with a melody and that will suggest what is to follow, or maybe her lyrics will give the tone of the song and suggest certain sounds, and that's how that works. As far as the 'rock' stuff, a lot of people have said that this is a louder, more aggressive album. But I don't think that we will ever be simply on one level. 
Well, certainly a song like 'Cantus' may construed as aggressive, yet I could imagine an orchestra playing it. So I'm thinking that you guys must listen to classical music. 
Monica: Oh, yes.  
William: Yes, certainly. 
Monica: I don't think there is one style of music that we wouldn't listen to. We kind of view it as all one and the same. 
Well, with theatrumaethereum the motif is a kind of synthesis between classical and gothic, and I see Faith and the Muse as an exemplar of that synthesis. 
William: Thanks. It's just something that speaks to us. As soon as we came together it happened very unconsciously, subliminally. There was almost no discussion about what it was that we were going to do. 
And hence the integrity of the project. 
William: We'd like to think so. 
There's also a very strong Celtic motif running through both of your albums. Where is that coming, both of you? 
Monica: It's definitely in our roots, it's in our family background so it's not unusual that it would come into the surface. 
William: Monica's anscestry is Welsh, mine's Irish and we just started to delve back. We've uncovered all kind's of amusing little details but along the way, we've been raised with Celtic folk songs in the family. There just came a time where we started to explore that a little further. There are a lot of Dead Can Dance comparisons which I don't really understand. These days they are delving primarily with Eastern and African music and they have very little Celtic influence in their music at all. I think people make that connection because it's the only thing within their frame of reference. 
They just hear a rock artist going into some kind of extra-American musical terrain and then they lump all such artists into one category. 
William: "Mandolin? Dead Can Dance!" 
 So what about the future of Faith and the Muse? 
William: We've got about twelve dates in Europe for the Vera Causa tour, and there's a rumor about a guest appearance at Whitby, but we'll see if that materializes or not. 
Monica: Some people listen to 'Annwyn' and decide that we are headed in a 'rock' direction, but we didn't really want to rewrite 'Elyria', we wanted to create something new. I think that our albums will represent where we happen to be mentally at the time that we do them. We have plans for a third album. 
William: Speaking of about the writing, we ultimately write for ourselves and if anybody else likes it then it's a plus. I think that if we focusing on perhaps to gain notoriety, or something else instead of that, our friends and fans would see through that. 
Monica: I think that it would be so transparent. William: If our heart's not in it then we aren't going to do it, and our hearts are certainly not in rewriting 'Elyria' or 'Annwyn' for that matter.  
Yet if you take a look at 'Elyria' and 'Annwyn', one can see a natural progression there. 
Monica: Certainly in hindsight that is the case. Some complain about there being too many electric songs in 'Annwyn' as opposed to 'Elryia', or they ask if that is now where we are going, but we really don't look at it that way.  
William: It's a circumstance. It's where the album happens to find itself. I'm sure with 'Annwyn' we lost some fans and gained some and I'm sure with the next album there will be a similar turnover. 
Speaking of your audience, it is quite known that you love your audience in a very special way. 
William: Absolutely. 
Monica: Oh yes. It's kind of hard to put it in words. 
William: It's a wordless thing. 
Monica: We really love touring because we're face-to-face with those who write to us and love us.  
William: We've always remained very approachable and always try to make time to talk to everyone. 
Very 'folky' 
William: Well I suppose in that respect. 'It's not a hippie-ish thing man'.