Interview by Brian McLean
Echoes of Metal’s New Angelic
Voice
An interview with Echoes of Eternity vocalist Francine Boucher
Little girls dream of becoming a princess one day and Quebec native Francine Boucher was no different except she wanted to become a princess of the stage. Her prince would be a microphone and stand, her castle would be the venue and members of the royal court would be her fellow band mates.
Boucher fronts the five-piece Los Angeles based Echoes of Eternity, one of the latest editions to the Nuclear Blast Records roster whose debut album The Forgotten Goddess was released in February. Since hitting the streets, the reception from fans has been fit for royalty.
The come-to-life fairy tale began in 2000 when Boucher, a bilingual French – Canadian army brat relocated to Orlando where she enrolled at Full Sail, a media production school earning an Associates Degree in Recording Arts. Ironically, future Echoes of Eternity personnel, founder Brandon Patton (guitars) and Kirk Carrison (drums) were also attending the school.
It was at Full Sail where Boucher befriended Patton and Carrison and where eventually the three friends relocated to Los Angeles after graduation seeking employment.
Boucher said, “Pretty much it’s New York or L.A. if you want to work in the studio.”
While in Los Angeles, Patton began piecing together the band. Duane Cowan (bass) who was a friend of Patton and Carrison was living in Japan relocated to Los Angeles to join the project Patton was putting together.
In the meantime, Boucher had built a small home studio and started writing her own songs. It was this material in the vain of Tangerine Dream that Patton heard prompting him to extend an offer to Boucher to join the ranks as vocalist.
Patton’s efforts would materialize into Echoes of Eternity.
Boucher says, “This is my first real band and collaboration with other people. It’s a lot of fun.”
From listening to tracks on The
Forgotten Goddess, it’s easy to pick up the varying tempos
and time signatures. Some call it ADD metal whereas others would call
it progressive.
Boucher said, “Brandon’s not a 4/4 guy.”
Even though there are four members listed on the on the debut, the music is actually written to incorporate a second guitarist according to Boucher. Several weeks after the debut disc was release and pre and post release auditions, Echoes of Eternity announced the addition Sam Young to step into the role of that second guitarist.
“Live, it’s a lot better”, Boucher says.
During the writing process of The Forgotten Goddess, Patton stayed busy.
Boucher said Patton would create riffs. From there, Carrison would work with Patton and the two determine what riffs worked best with each other. As for Boucher, she would work on the vocal melodies but added that all had a say in the song structure.
Lyric wise, sometimes it was dual effort between Boucher and Patton, other times the two would work individually. For Boucher, those would be lyrics for “Lost beneath a Silent Sky,” “Garden of the God” and “Towers of Silence.”
All the material written, ten tracks total were released on The Forgotten Goddess. There are no bonus tracks to surface later on but Boucher said that could change.
Echoes of Eternity has already filmed and released a video from The Forgotten Goddess. With feedback from a poll at the band’s myspace page, “Voices in a Dream” was selected to be the first video.
Boucher says, “We were contemplating. We weren’t sure if we wanted to do “Forgotten Goddess” or “Voices in a Dream.” There were two others, “Towers of Silence” and “Lost Beneath” but the first two were the main contenders. We wanted to ask the fans what they thought and Voices won.”
The video which can be viewed at the band’s myspace page was filmed over the course of two days. According to Boucher, day one consisted of all the indoor and individual band member shots and day two was shot on location in the hills that over look Hollywood and the sunset strip.
For Boucher, the second day of shooting consisted of several formal wardrobe changes giving her an edge of elegance to accompany her voice.
Boucher says with a laugh, “There was a lot of people watching and dogs in the park that kept coming up during the filming.”
As with all bands that have a recent debut, there’s a thirst to get out and tour but the lingering question is always with whom, when and where.
Fortunately for Echoes of Eternity, the mystery of their first major tour has been revealed in a relatively moderate amount of time since the debut’s release. The band will take part in a summer tour with Symphony X and Sanctity. It’s a good billing for all involved and will be Symphony X’s first outing in four years.
Once the tour with Symphony X concludes on August 10, Echoes of Eternity will have a decent break and then head back out hitting the market areas that will not be covered on the summer tour. The second leg has Echoes of Eternity teaming up with Canada’s Into Eternity and label mates Ed Guy from Germany.
The obvious goal is to expose Echoes of Eternity as much as possible and with the intense listing of dates from July through October and 31 days off starting in mid August, it will happen.
Reflecting back, last year was a special for Boucher. Her goal and dream from her childhood years became a reality when Echoes of Eternity signed a six album deal with Nuclear Blast in May 2006.
As for 2007, Boucher said, “I just want to play all over and become the best I can be. A great entertainer / performer and give everybody a great show.”
With the results of her work on The Forgotten Goddess and the approaching tour schedule, she’s well on her way and within reach of her 2007 personal goal. More importantly the same goes for Echoes of Eternity.
As a band, their journey is just beginning.
An added bonus courtesy of the Echoes of Eternity, autographed copies of The Forgotten Goddess can be purchased through the band’s myspace page but ONLY before the tour with Symphony X starts.