Infected Rain – Tour Mantras
Sunday, 3rd October 2021
Really hitting their stride and making an even bigger name for themselves following the release of their fourth album (and first for Napalm Records) in 2019 with Endorphin, Infected Rain has finally made it over to the United States for their first tour, alongside Butcher Babies and Stitched Up Heart. Hitting up the Poughkeepsie, NY date early, we took a few minutes to speak with vocalist Lena Scissorhands to discuss the tour (one of the first national tours since COVID shut them down) and how it’s going, being open and honest on social media, the band’s message, and more!
Dead Rhetoric: This is your first US tour, how do you feel the reception has been so far?
Lena Scissorhands: It’s very interesting, because I don’t really like to divide people into nationalities or geographic placements, and I feel like a crowd is always a crowd. It doesn’t matter what language they speak or what their ethnicity is – it’s just music lovers. I feel the same about it here. However, this tour is very unique because we are on tour with friends. It makes this tour so much more fun, so much more easy going, and it’s just so different than anything we have done before. Everyone keeps saying the same thing – our friends in the Butcher Babies too – it’s so much easier when everyone is friendly and are friends outside of work as well. That’s what makes this tour so unique I think. Being our first US tour, I wanted to say that I knew that we had a big following over here but we didn’t realize how big [laughs]. We are pleasantly surprised every single night.
Dead Rhetoric: I saw a few days ago there were some pictures of the four of you in someone’s tour bus that were posted. It looks like there is a lot of comradery on this tour.
Scissorhands: You have to be extremely professional and work, work, work, although we become friends with the bands that we tour with normally. But here, we have been friends with Butcher Babies since long before the tour. We became friends with Stitched Up Heart during the tour.
Dead Rhetoric: These are some of the first few shows since COVID. Do you see a certain amount of hunger, or is it hard to tell because like you said, it’s your first US tour too?
Scissorhands: I feel like it’s both. What I see in person is that hunger, to finally be back at shows. But also online, I see a lot of people who are very upset because they are afraid of this situation we live in. It’s understandable. I don’t blame people who really were looking forward to this, but can’t come.
Dead Rhetoric: At the beginning of this year, there was talk of new music and being in the studio. How’s that coming along?
Scissorhands: We are all done. By the end of this tour, we will slowly start releasing stuff. Our new album is coming out in January. Album #5!
Dead Rhetoric: Do you have any pre-show rituals you do beforehand?
Scissorhands: I do, and I usually share them on my YouTube channel – it’s not always possible to work out. It’s either at the gym on the road, or backstage doing some good stretching. I do my vocal warm-ups, I try to eat very healthy, and I try to speak as little as possible after shows and just go to sleep. So rest! These are pretty much the rules of my touring life.
Dead Rhetoric: Like you were saying, you share a lot of your personal stuff on YouTube on your channel. What are some of the pros and cons of being so open about everything?
Scissorhands: I’m a very honest person in life in general. I try to be as much as humanly possible. It comes with my job, a little bit, to embrace the fact that I am a public figure and either way, people will find out things about you. Do you want them to find out things about you and assume things? Or do you want to be the one to share your story? I choose, if I can, for the story to come from my side – people hear it from me so that there are no doubts about it. There are so many people that just assume about my ethnicity, my career, or my upbringing as a musician, or what I did before becoming a musician. Or even my sexual preferences, you know? If I am very open about my life, it’s going to be better because people will assume less. I embrace the fact that it comes with my job. I don’t mind it, especially because I manage my own YouTube and social media, so no one else is there doing it for me.
Dead Rhetoric: In handling your own social media, are there challenges involved, such as trying to figure out time to do things like new videos and that sort of thing?
Scissorhands: I try to have fun with it. When it comes to my YouTube channel, whenever I have an idea I write it down. Eventually I go through my ideas so that I never have situations like, “What should I film about?” It’s not an every job, it’s my job but it’s not – it’s for fun. When it comes to videos. When it comes to social media, the only hard part is when it comes to dealing with people that are not stable. That’s the most difficult part – I am managing my own social media and the band’s. Certain things that I get to read or see are not pleasant. That’s the most annoying part I guess. Other than that, I don’t really pay attention too much to comments that are aggressive in a way, or offensive. Normally fans take care of that [laughs]! They really do, they hold my back and support me.
Dead Rhetoric: You do Patreon as well. I can remember when it was this huge taboo in metal a few years ago, but it’s improved since then. Do you find it to be a nice additional way to get revenue?
Scissorhands: Yes, and I think it’s very fair to have something like that, for two reasons. On social media, you post something once or twice a day. Sometimes there is more to it. There is material that you already have but you can’t put it out on social media. So for people who have this privilege on Patreon, they can support you with just a little bit and see all of it. First of all, it doesn’t go missing. For example, our photo shoot earlier today. Those photo shoots are normally like 20-30 pictures. We will probably post 1-3 max. The others are going to be on Patreon. I think it’s fair. There’s so much work behind every picture and every show, behind every video there are a ton of people involved. I share a lot of what I eat and do on tour – people are curious but I don’t feel like sharing that on Instagram really. I don’t want to bore people with what I eat! But people on Patreon, they really want to know my lifestyle and what I do. It filters people in a sense.
Dead Rhetoric: I have always looked at it as fans versus like, super fans, which is what things like Patreon cater towards.
Scissorhands: I don’t really love the word fan very much, just music lovers and supporters.
Dead Rhetoric: In terms of your own or the band’s message, what do you hope that people take away from Infected Rain?
Scissorhands: That’s a very tricky question, because we don’t really have a specific goal with the band like that, one goal that we pursue and try to promote and advocate. But every single song does. Each song has its own message. But if we want to really keep it short, I guess the one thing that we all are trying to bring together is to be more real and kind, to be more aware of your surroundings. Stop sleepwalking to everything that surrounds you: people, the planet, nature. Everything matters. I believe that is it, if you want to put it into a short little sentence [laughs].
Dead Rhetoric: To wrap up, you are out on tour now and the album will be out in January, anything else in the works?
Scissorhands: We are actually planning another tour in America for spring of 2022. Fingers crossed that the situation in the world only gets better. That’s what we are hoping for!
