Japan's BLOOD STAIN CHILD are featured in an interview with JaME World, conducted shortly after their recent Russia/Ukraine tour. An excerpt is available below:

Q: What made all of you want to start a music career?

Ryo (bass): "For me, I guess it was because I used to watch lots of musicals and movies when I was younger. And because I used to play the piano. I picked up bass during high school."

Sophia (vocals): "It was thanks to my grandfather who is a music teacher. I never aimed for a career in music, at least consciously. I don’t know if my subconscious ran wild all these years, but through helping other bands with their career, I gained both positive and negative experiences, which eventually led me to seize the opportunity of starting a band when it appeared before me. I felt I was in the right place at the right time with the right people. I knew I couldn’t decline, no matter how crazy it sounded at the time (laughs)."

Q: Why did you choose metal? What are your musical influences? Recently, what music are you listening to?

Ryo: "Well, I guess our music sounds like metal, but putting everything together, my intention was something rock. I love extreme sounds though. IN FLAMES, DIMENSION ZERO, DARK FUNERAL are among my favorite bands."

Sophia: "I used to listen to metal when I was younger. I still appreciate the bands I listened to, but I don’t search for new bands anymore. My musical influences range from 80’s electro pop and rock, techno, '90s Britpop, alternative, to experimental and depressive metal, gothic, electro-industrial...visual kei, bossa-nova and jazz. I like sad songs the most. Recently, apart from visual kei, I’m listening to lots of smooth jazz and oldies (laughs)."

Q: Sophia, how did you meet the members of Blood Stain Child? And how did you become the vocalist of this band? Weren’t you afraid that some of the fans might be against such a drastic change?

Sophia: "I met Ryu (guitars) through my previous job. I was a visual kei/anime event organizer in Greece, and I also worked as a promoter and agent for Japanese visual kei bands. I’d booked BSC for a Greek show, but that year’s Japan Expo was cancelled, so I had to cancel my show too. Funny, huh. Haha, I was definitely worried about being vocalist, ‘cos I know how fans think, both metal fans and visual kei fans. So I was expecting lots of negativity that never came. Of course not all people were happy with the result, but the majority was and I’m very thankful to all of our fans!"

Q: Is it difficult to be the only girl in a band?

Sophia: "I don’t get any special treatment. I carry heavy equipment two floors up, just like they do. We usually don’t have problems, but sometimes the guys don’t understand that I need a certain level of cleanliness around me to survive (laughs)."

Click here for the complete interview.

As previously reported, Blood Stain Child updated their official live photo gallery on Facebook. Go to this location to check it out.

Blood Stain Child recently announced a string of spring/summer tour dates for their homeland, with more shows to be announced soon. Their schedule is currently as follows:

May

19 - Nagoya - 3star
20 - Osaka - Namba Rockets
26 - Kagoshima - Speedking
27 - Fukuoka - Graf

June

23 - Niigata - River St.
29 - Tokyo (Shibuya) - Cyclone
30 - Tokyo (Shibuya) - Milky Way

July

1 - Tokyo (Kichijoji) - Crescendo

The band's latest album, Epsilon, is out now via Coroner Records. The tracklist is as follows:

'Sirius VI'

'Forever Free'

'Stargazer'

'S.O.P.H.I.A.'

'Unlimited Alchemist'

'Electricity'

'Eternal'

'Moon Light Wave'

'Dedicated To Violator'

'Merry-Go-Round'

'LA+'

'Sai-Ka-No'

Check out BW&BK;'s review of the album here.