Sounds2Move.de recently caught up with LEAVES' EYES guitarist Thorsten Bauer to discuss the band's upcoming headline performance and DVD shoot at the Metal Female Voices Festival in Wieze, Belgium. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Q. It is known that you have a big Viking ship built just for that show. In which way will it appear and how did it come about?

Bauer: "The Viking ship will be a real smash! It is 10 meters long, 4,5 meters tall and it is built under administration of Stefan 'Leebee' Liebhauser who is our light man and the visual DVD-Maestro. The construction will be finished within the next few days. The Intro of 'Vinland Saga' starts with Liv saying '1000 years ago a viking ship left Norway in the spring.' In dependence on that and the whole concept story behind Vinland Saga it was obvious to also optically represent it live. The ship will be integrated directly into the stage setting; you will sort of see a band on a ship. I think the fans can really look forward to something very special. Funnily enough, the idea occurred to us in Buenos Aires, yet in spring 2006 when we were on tour in South America and we were talking about the concept for a special DVD show. Since then we’ve been working on it, and when we had chosen the Metal Female Voices Festival as the venue for that event, we already had lots of ideas where we could play that concert. Though many promoters and festival organizers worldwide were interested, we finally decided to do it in Belgium within that outstanding festival. And as you can see the idea of the Viking ship did go down well, not only with the festival organizers – it’s a small world."

Q: Did you also have plans to do that show at another location?

Bauer: "Yes, we also had the idea of filming the DVD in South America or Canada, but in the end the organisation of such a huge stage and film production is a little easier here in Europe. I only need to think about out tour across the States, when the airline lost parts of our equipment and weeks later when they delivered it, it was damaged. It would be horrible if that happened with our DVD show."

The complete interview is available in German and English at this location.

The Metal Female Voices Festival V takes place on October 19th and 20th in Wieze, Belgium. Bands on the bill include:

October 19th: DORO, HOLY MOSES, DARZAMAT, DYATH-LEEN, BENEDICTUM.

October 20th: LEAVES' EYES, EPICA, SIRENIA, FLOWING TEARS, AUTUMN, DELAIN, ELIS, SERAPHIM, BATTLELORE, DRACONIAN, IMPERIA, DISTORTED, INTERRIA and VALKYRE.

Go to this location for event information.