Speed Round Sharlee D'Angelo Arch Enemy

MTV2 HEADBANGERS BALL TOUR III Cradle of Filth Arch Enemy Bleeding Through Himsa HOB 12/7/04

Arch Enemy's bassist, Sharlee D'Angelo Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

Click here to access part I of Sharlee's interview

Karma: Hur mår du?

Sharlee: Bra, bra!

Karma: What's your mantra?

Sharlee: “Where’s my Jim Beam!”

Karma: Spiritual or religious?

Sharlee: Well I would have to say spiritual as in spirits, the liquid form! [uproarious laughter ensues]

Karma: That’s a good answer! How long have you been playing bass?

Sharlee: 16 years.

Karma: How many candles did your blow out on your last birthday and on which day?

Sharlee: [clears throat] I don’t blow, a lot of other people do!

Karma: Okay, for sake of argument if someone else wanted to blow you candles out, on which would they do it? Dare I ask this one!

Sharlee: They could blow my candles out anytime!

Karma: Any particular day?

Sharlee: Any day!

Karma: [laughing as I turn towards Erika] He’s not giving me this is he?

Sharlee: [devilishly laughs and shakes his head no]
 

Karma: Glasses or contacts?

Sharlee: Contacts.

Karma: One word that would sum up your personality?

Sharlee: Gorgeous!

Karma: So now we know why Dani dubbed you “The Marquis de Suave”! Top 5 favorite movies?

Sharlee: Oh, that’s a hard one! The first Omen, Spinal Tap, Taxi Driver, Footloose, and Cannibal Holocaust.

Karma: What’s your best memory?

Sharlee: My best memory…I can’t pinpoint one.

Erika: Or highpoint? Highlight of your life? Like what was the biggest…

Karma: …most defining Sharlee D’Angelo moment!

Sharlee: I would hope its still to come actually.

Karma: Guilty pleasure Song/CD/Artist?

Sharlee: Well I was actually listening to it last night when I was well and truly drunk, the first Kate Bush album [The Kick Inside].

Karma: What’s your favorite Arch Enemy song?

Sharlee: It changes all the time but “Savage Messiah” from Wages of Sin is my absolute favorite because it has a little bit of everything in it.

Karma: How about your favorite Witchery song?

Sharlee: That would be “Omens” from our last album [Symphony for the Devil]

Karma: If you could commission a band to cover a song of yours who would it be, which song and from which band?

Sharlee: It would be Slayer “The Immortal” [Burning Bridges]

Karma: What's under your bed?

Sharlee: Actually dust!

Karma: Introvert or extrovert?

Sharlee: Extrovert.

Karma: What’s your favorite smell?

Sharlee: Children might read this! [We all laugh]

Karma: [look of shock washes over my countenance] … WOW! Use your imagination folks! All time favorite band?

Sharlee: All time favorite bands/musicians?

Karma: Um, hmm.

Sharlee: That’s a tough one! I’d have to say Kate Bush.

Karma: Live or dead: If you could host a dinner party of 5, who would you invite?

Sharlee: Frank Zappa, Mike Patton, Kate Bush, Salma Hayek… one more… Dani Filth, so he can come up with some more names for me!

Karma: What pisses you off?

Sharlee: Being accused of something I haven’t done or when people sort of assume this way or that way and then they start telling people that I’m this way or that way. I feel like I’m being unfairly treated and that drives me mad to no end!

Karma: Understood! Nicknames your friends would give you on the fly, off the tops of their heads? Asides the one Dani gave you tonight.

Sharlee: The other one is “The Ambassador”

Karma: Most embarrassing moment on stage?

Sharlee: Well I had a real, real classic Spinal Tap moment at the Full Force Festival in Germany 2 years ago. I had these leather pants…well you see where this is going…[we all laugh] Actually many years ago, I made them myself and I just took them out of the closet and I was like, “Oh these are actually quite alright!” But over time they started to rip at the seams and I tried to sew them up with a needle and thread then my dear mother said, “Oh, I could probably do it on the machine…it would be better” The thing is that the stitches were too tight so it was just perforated leather. Went on stage, [imitates ripping noise] wheech! And that wasn't the worst of it really, I mean no one could see it but the thing was there was a “tie” and with that tension of the chains the pants came off. So I played the first couple of songs trying to hold my pants up at the same time. Now I mean this is in front of 50,000 people.

After the first 3 songs of the set they were segued so I didn’t have like any chance at all. When the third song actually ended, I had to go up to Angela and was like just a time out! Speak German to them just do whatever; I have to go behind the stacks for a while so I can go take care of this problem! There was this DVD that came out, one song from each band from the whole Festival and of course it’s one of those songs! You could see that I’m looking very, very uncomfortable. Just rocking out, politely!

Karma: Now that’s a great story! If not music then what?

Sharlee: Bartender.

Karma: First job?

Sharlee: I was mounting breaks on trucks at the Volvo factory at the truck plant.

Karma: If you could travel the spans of time which era would you visit?

Sharlee: Probably the early 70’s just because of all of the music. I mean I think we all have a romanticized view of that time but it just looks cool! I could just imagine to go back and just have riffs from now…all that you know now. Just go back, “Well I have a few songs here…” I would be LOADED!

Karma: Favorite comfort food?

Sharlee: I don’t have one really! Anything with a lot of carbs and saturated fats. Anything fried with a lot of lard, preferably with a lot of mayo with it!

Karma: There you go!

Sharlee: [eyes widen] Deep fried mayo sticks! Ohh!!

Karma: What’s the first thing you do when you get home from touring?

Sharlee: I sit down and I watch through if there’s a TV show that I follow because they’ve all been recorded at home…so I usually just close myself in; become a hermit and just sit and watch TV for days. I call my family and tell them I’ll see them in 2 days. I just have to be…because when you’re around people all the time so you’ve just got to be by yourself. That’s usually what I do!

Karma: If stranded on a Desert Island, who would like to be marooned with?

Sharlee: Salma Hayek.

Karma: And if you had 3 CDs to take with you, what would make up your Desert Island Soundtrack?

Sharlee: Let’s see, Stained Class Judas Priest, what else… only 3! Reign in Blood Slayer and the first Kate Bush album.

Karma: You’re staying in the theme! Tack så mycket för intervjun!!!

Sharlee: Varsågod, det så lite så! This was fun!

Karma & Erika: Glad you enjoyed it!

Karma: While I have you here, Adrian [Erlandsson] of Cradle has a favorite phrase [A Classic Swedish saying from Göteborg coined by Bjorn Mankner that I butchered a bit when I tried pronouncing it] "Det man inte vet, har man ingen aning om" What does it mean?

Sharlee: It means “What you don’t know, you have no idea about!” It’s so stupid! [Smiles]

Karma: Tack, tack!

Related Links

o     Click here for part I of this interview with Sharlee

o  Here for new interview with Michael Amott (New)

o   Here for more photos of tonight’s show - Headbangers Ball Tour

o      Here for photos of the band during Ozzfest 2005

o     Here for photos from the band’s Doomsday Tour (headlining tour)

o     Here for new Witchery interview with Sharlee

o     Here for part II of the Witchery Interview with Jensen