Metal Monthly: Hi Donna, thank you for taking the time to talk to Metal Monthly and let us and more importantly your fans know what is going on the world of RESONANCE PROJECT.

Donna: It’s a pleasure. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.

MM: First off let me start out by saying what an amazing vocalist you are. You have such edge, with power and fantastic melodies. Influence wise, who is behind your amazing style?

Donna: Thank you very much. I’m glad you get into it. Stylistically, I suppose throughout my life there have been an amalgam of artists that must have had something to do with it. There were a lot of melodic voices out there through the 70’s & 80’s that were doing extraordinary things and I’m sure anyone into rock/melodic rock and metal will have been effected by them in one way or another. I grew up listening to the folks’ music and their tastes all included big, melodic voices so I just assumed that was the normal. “Be big, melodic and loud”. Our music teacher at school didn’t necessarily agree and I think back then, it held me back from doing it the way I felt was right for me. Having said that, it was also a good lesson in control too. I think you get something of value out of every lesson in life, whether in the classroom or on the street.
Being a female with ‘strong vocal ambitions’ was a challenge while I was finding my voice. We women didn’t have too many female rock artists to draw inspiration from then, so the next obvious thing was to listen to the male vocalists. One of my biggest inspirations would have to be Robert Plant. His vocal range and depth of delivery was always so on the money, no one could deny him room in their life if you were a rock artist. Plant had a way of reaching through and grabbing you with whatever he sang and his tales were and are still sublime. At the other end of the spectrum were bands like Pink Floyd through to Yes, Journey & Rush.
While many of us trod the boards of coverland to pay our way, most of the women would be doing the typical Top 40 popular artists. I didn’t find much joy in those songs stylistically – not enough soul/depth or energy. Instead, we went out there with songs from bands like Motley Crue, Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake, Mr. Big, AC/DC, Guns’N’Roses, Bon Jovi, Skid Row etc. The one female fronted band in amongst this group of artists, was Heart. So although I haven’t gone about emulating any artist, but rather more developing as a female rock vocalist because of the nature of music and the previous lack of women in it at the time, people have compared me to Ann Wilson. I’d like to think I have my own style, but that is certainly a name I would gladly be placed in the company of. Huge respect.
I think that women in rock and metal now surfacing over the past couple of years may have gone through a similar thing and for that reason we have so many unique female vocals out there today. It’s great to see and hear.

MM: I agree, it is awesome to see women getting into this business and showing the world that they can play just as heavy as the boys can. Have you always been interested in music, writing and singing? When did you first realize that this is what you wanted to do, that it was in your blood?

Donna: Yes I have always been interested in music and singing – the writing came later. From 2 months old my mother insists she had trouble holding me go to sleep if there was music playing. I would apparently groove to the beat in her arms even if I was almost asleep. They couldn’t have the music on! At 2 years old some of my first words were ‘working like a dog’, so I guess the Beatles must be an influence of sorts too. Whenever we had family gatherings, the family would break into song, something I gathered was the normal thing to do so I joined in and I would notice that they would all look at me with a surprised expression, yet keep singing in case they spooked me and I stopped. The stories go on like that until mid junior school when I realized that every time we had singing class, it would be me they asked to sing the song through for the first time to show the others how. I was hit by a car at 12, just three days before starting high school and was in hospital for several weeks, which saw me start my senior years later than everyone else. Due to the lateness of my beginning, the music teacher decided that it was too late to enter his class and completely shattered my young dreams of making my life in music (or so I thought at the time). This set me on a confusing course for the entire of my teenage years while I tried to work out where my road was, if not in music. My life thereafter was a series of mistakes and bad judgement, street life, and a few failed and heavy relationships, but for the saving grace of two extraordinary partners who filled the void that music wasn’t able to while I believed that I was simply not meant to be with what felt was my natural calling, even though instinctively that wouldn’t sit with me. Those two awesome partners are my kids.
Then, by chance as fate will deal occasionally, I managed to find my way into some garage bands, and the floodgates were open. 15 years ago, I met my music partner and soul mate, Graham Greene, and there has been no looking back – until now when you made me spill!! *grin.
So although the road had been seemingly unfair at times, everything I’ve been through in my life has given me incredible insights into people, the world, spirituality, self recognition and the road to inner freedom, and from there – some great songwriting and music has formed. No regrets – it’s all good.

MM: Music does form at a very young age, I am a firm believer of that, if it’s in your blood it’s in your blood. You are a very worldly musician, recognized in many places, clearly that is an accomplishment to be proud of especially as a woman. Talented as you are songwriting wise and vocally how has it been working in the predominantly male music world?

Donna: Well there’s a loaded question. *smile. I’d have to break it into two categories. Men in business and male musicians. For some reason, and it’s something I hear a lot of women in rock say ‘hell yeah’ to, we find ourselves with the men in business ‘seemingly’ deciding that women don’t have a place in rock or metal and will preferably take to promoting a male fronted band before a female fronted band – unless you are being a very lovely, middle of the road artist and not stepping outside that boundary which is deemed acceptable by the fraternity, as far as women rock artists are concerned – and also seemingly, the songs all need to be about personal struggle on the ground level. They market ‘the acceptable’, but I wonder how many people out there would really like to hear what strong minded, well traveled and insightful female musicians have to say. There is an evolving race with a higher mind expression that isn’t necessarily being tapped into musically – why can’t the songs be about survival and positive living on a deeper and spiritual level from a female’s point of view instead of ‘he did this to me and now I’m all woman because you light up my life’ – do they really believe people won’t understand any other angle? I find it to be somewhat of a paradox and completely frustrating. It’s more and more about the money and the throw away incomes of people under 25 than it is about the quality of music being delivered to our world. We see an upswing in female rock and metal artists today. I wonder how many of us will really break through, with or without a ‘gimmick’. Musically – some of the best bodies of work composed by females deserve to be heard, especially when you have great songs, apparent ability or skill and such talented musicians working with you – the potential is endless. Like anything, how can we be exposed if we cannot make it into the light. - Which leads me onto male musicians!
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the most amazingly talented male musicians. There has always been a great connection with the guys I’ve worked with and we have always worked for the material – no matter the version/members of the band. I’ve had nothing but awesome support from all the guys over the years (internally or externally) and wouldn’t be here if the mutual support and respect hadn’t been there all along. The past few years have brought together the ultimate collection of band mates any vocalist or songwriter could hope for. Their friendships are invaluable to me, their skills phenomenal and I love them like brothers. It’s generally my male musician friends who keep me balanced, inspired & uplifted in a genre that has been predominantly male oriented, perhaps until now. One woman can hope.

MM: And hope we can, but artists such as yourself are paving the way for more woman to walk through that door. Obviously you have a very well known and respected guitar player Graham Greene playing with you guys. How is it working with someone known as the “Satriani of the South”?

Donna: You know, it’s a funny thing. “Satriani of the South”, “Australia’s Answer to Steve Vai”, “man… you play just like Eddie Van Halen” are all terms that Graham has heard said of him over the years. Whoever the hottest guitarist was of the hour, Graham was immediately compared to. However, Graham has been playing ‘just like Graham Greene’ since the age of 15. Being from Australia when all the action was happening in the US and Europe, while having strong family commitments here and without the added bonus of having Hollywood down the road seems to have almost kept Graham one of our hidden treasures. Graham was at the forefront of the Melodic Rock revolution here in Australia with his band Ice Tiger (‘87-‘92) whose CD, Love’N’Crime, charted here in Australia in the Top 20 and then seemed to almost magically appear on European shores in 1991/92 (with no remuneration to the band) and also later in Japan - all just as the band was finishing after 5 years of ‘royal’ status here. Grunge had kicked in as the ‘new thing’ and the scene changed whereby the Melodic Rock fraternity were no longer being pushed or promoted. Graham took some time out, and went solo in 1994 and has rolled out an incredible body of work in his solo projects. That year we also began with new ideas for the next band, Judgement Day (an earlier version of Resonance Project).
Working with Graham is one of the most incredible experiences - something money can’t buy. His knowledge of music and his unfathomable skills as a musician/writer contribute to a constant journey of growth and exploration. It’s simply a fact that Graham is one of the most well respected and admired musicians here. He has taught many of the younger guys who are now out there giving their all (much to his pleasure). Graham is an inspiration to everyone for his ability to not only help others develop, but to continue to develop as a leader and leading exponent of electric guitar and sounds, but mostly for being the unbelievable musician and human we could ever have the pleasure to know. Graham is ‘Guru’ to many.
It’s Graham’s musical prowess, status and personal qualities that caused Perry Ormsby of Ormsby Guitars to endorse Graham with two signature model guitars; The GG6 and GG7.

Yes – we have a fairytale romance and we are living the dream – but I guarantee you, everyone who knows Graham will agree to everything here. Seriously, I don’t think my words truly do him enough justice. Why he isn’t out there amongst the rest of the ‘greats’ receiving his dues is beyond any of our understanding or comprehension. We are the lucky ones.

MM: Well, one thing I can say is that he is fantastic, I could listen to him for hours and never tire of his music. When you decided to bring forth this band what were you looking for musician wise?

Donna: Insightful awareness, integrity, creativity, intelligence & ability – musically and as humans.

MM: Those are qualities to be respected that is for sure. RESONANCE PROJECT has been around for some 13 years now, tell me a little about the rest of the individuals that make up RESONANCE PROJECT.

Donna: There have been several lineups for this band and a couple of name changes over the years, but the core of the material has remained as Graham and I have been the principal writers to date. Each transition has developed the material more as time and inspirations come along. Previous members have all bought their own style to the music and for the time, it was always a great experience. The members we have now are the perfect combination of people to see the tracks now reach their fullest potential. We have been working with second guitarist, Saxon Smith, and bassist, Jim Awram, since 2002 with our other project, namely “Graham Greene and The Happy Sinners”, Graham’s solo band which also featured some of our vocal tracks for added colour to the live shows. The most recent addition to the group is our drummer, Tommy Ions who now also plays in both of our projects. Between all of us, we have a cross section of strengths that manifest into a unique blend of metal, blues, fusion & melodic rock. Saxon’s metal attack and solo melodies on second guitar matches and compliments Graham’s melodic chops and soaring melodies – the two of them together is like watching, feeling and listening to the left and right arms of the perfect guitar beast. An unbeatable duo to behold on any level, watching, listening to, or working with. Jim on bass – Jim’s background entails a fair amount of blues and jazz fusion and coupled with the metal & rock background of Tommy’s playing style, the rhythm section sets a benchmark for feel and groove. Each member is a master of their craft. Bring all of these elements together with female melodic power vocals and you have Resonance Project. This band does ‘resonate’ with everyone and these musicians are the reasons why. The band chemistry and musicianship rocks!

MM: That’s for sure, just from seeing a few of your live videos you can see the continuous flow with eachother. When you brought this project together was their anything specific that you were looking for music wise or did you have a pathway set out in front of you? It’s obvious from listening to your music that you are not a typical rock/metal band. Your melodic sound is amazing.

Donna: Regardless of whether you are playing death metal or a polka, it has to start with a good song and a good sound. I think the pathway was already pretty much cast in stone in as much as our music has always been about the betterment of music and the common man, but recently that was fortified when we were invited by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam to represent Australia and be a part of the celebrations for their successful Economics Conference which entailed delegates from roughly 60 nations and included several acts from around the globe. The concert was called “Welcome Vietnam” and was put on to celebrate & promote global friendship. We were initially blown away that they would consider our style – any rock & metal band will appreciate that comment. They were after a vocal version of the band, and we had just finished recording ‘Resonance ~ Spirit of Man’, so we decided that the time was right to try the tracks out on a live audience of 12,000 in My Dinh National Stadium and 6 million viewers on VTV1, an opportunity that doesn’t come by every day.
We initially called the band ‘Resonance’ which struck a chord with us due to the name and nature of the CD. ‘Resonance ~ Spirit of Man’ has it’s obvious connotation, but the track was originally written as a gesture of support to the members of the www. stopchildexecutions. com campaign to help to shed some light on the cause and at the same time, perhaps synchronicity played a part, the funds from the Vietnam show were going to aid the Orange Children’s charity, we found out later – that all resonated with all of us – so, ‘Resonance’ it certainly was.
We had watched the preceding performers at the concert who were all received really well by the Vietnamese people – but we noticed that all of the people remained seated throughout the night – they are a very polite, humble, beautiful and friendly people.
So when it came to our set, we were even more blown away with the response.
We began with “Fire In Your Liberty” and the people lifted off their seats and began waving their arms in the air and yelling out for joy. You tend to try to hold back in an environment like this one, so as to not blow anyone out… We wanted to let them know that our style of music wasn’t to be feared, but embraced. It was completely breathtaking. We were fortunate enough to have some of the footage delivered to us, so you can see our reactions to them as well as theirs to us. I was in awe and fell in love immediately. The connection was tangible and mind blowing. When we performed our song “Home” I couldn’t resist. I had to get some of these people on film. You can see their energy at the end of the “Home” video (both videos are on YouTube & MySpace) when I go down into the audience to get closer to these magnificent people who until now had been sitting down and clapping. You can only dream of touching people this way through music.
We finished our set to a standing ovation.
Our belief is in the dynamics of the music, but that it has to be melodic for people to hear it within. People understand melodies across all language barriers. Within everything harsh and heavy in this world, you can always find an empathy, compassion, love and/or understanding somewhere… if you allow it to resonate within and without. This concert proved our theory that even to a crowd of people who didn’t necessarily understand every word we sang, nor had had our brand of music before – we create an impact. This has been our signature no matter the size of the crowd.
Now we are an ongoing project and hope to reach as many people as we can with our music and energy. We quickly became “Resonance Project”.

MM: When you can speak directly to your listener or your audience it draws them in, that is definitely what I see with you guys. Where does the heart of RESONANCE PROJECT style come from, who are the main influences that help bring you guys together musically?

Donna: We all still have time for the classic bands of the 70’s & 80’s like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin & Black Sabbath from where everyone else has descended, but the heart of our style is really Graham’s writing. He obviously draws from these influences, but also listens to everything from classical to jazz, resulting in a universal style that none of us have any trouble interpreting. When we play together, we influence and inspire each other.

MM: A style all your own, that is what RESONANCE PROJECT is. I was listening to the songs on Spirit of Man and I was completely blown away. The sound, the lyrics and the music can take you places as you sit and listen to it. How was it making this fine piece of material?

Donna: I guess that’s one of our strengths. Graham has always been known as something of a fantastic ‘soundscaper’ and lays the foundations for the tracks. This is a comment that goes hand in hand with anything that Graham writes, either instrumentally or in song form. Every singer that has heard the instrumentals has begged Graham to allow them to add vocals and vocal melody. That’s the inspiration created from his writing ability. Then I have the joy of producing the melodies and lyrics, sometimes co-written with Graham, and the songs come to life. We all get to put our part into the music and the experience is always and flawlessly alchemical. We follow the flow of the songs – this is the most enjoyable part of producing our sounds – the end result needs to take us for a journey too, then we know that the listener can take their own journey when they spend time with the songs, just like you did. This is our goal and it is immensely satisfying when we get feedback from ‘fellow travelers’.

MM: That being said from where do you pull your lyrics? All your songs seem to come together to tell a story, almost capturing the listener with the words.

Donna: Like you, the music takes me on a journey. The melodic sounds and rhythms provoke the thought patterns that come along, usually inspired by an insight or life experience and the story unfolds.

MM: It is captivating, a lyrical journey if you will. Obviously in our technology advanced world promotion of a band has become so easy. Have you found it easier now to get the word out on your CD than say a decade ago?

Donna: In some ways yes. The internet has broken down many barriers and introduced us to a lot of people, like your good self. 10 years ago, the problem was getting a record company to listen to your stuff and hoping that your band bio and CD didn’t land at the bottom of the pile. It was almost like being in a lucky dip. Now, that still remains but we have other resources within reach that we didn’t then as much. The problem now, is that the world is saturated with hundreds of varying styles of one genre who all want to be heard. So now instead of being one of the bands who hope their bio will be seen and music heard, we have to hope that venues allow us to play our chosen style and that our music is strong enough to gain enough attention to rise to the surface to be heard. We’re not the kind of band who is going to paint their faces or tear their clothes or get caught bending over like Britney. So we hope the tracks you hear from us do the talking. For us it’s about the music.

MM: You have to love technology these days. I was reading some of the reviews on your band page and I see it is being accepted very well. How have your fans old and new taken to the new material?

Donna: When we put the band together and started performing the new material, the general vibe we got from everyone was; “encore! - what took you so long?!”. The band and songs have been embraced wholeheartedly and with more opportunity to play or sell out CD’s internationally, we aim to reach more people with the same effect.

MM: I also saw that a new CD was in the works, when can we expect to see that effort?

Donna: Two of the new demos are currently on our player on www. myspace. com/resonanceproject and we are currently well into preproduction with the rest of the tracks. We hope to have a studio chosen soon and are tentatively planning a release for later this year.

MM: That’s awesome, I am sure many will be looking forward to your new production. Any plans on touring with Spirit of Man and if so are you planning on coming to the states at all?

Donna: We are open to any and all offers. We’d love to bring it to the States. Any investors or sponsors reading this? *grin!

MM: Anybody out there, we need to bring these guys to the US!!! It’s clear that RESONANCE PROJECT is a dynamic band that is tight, and right on the mark with the music. What can we expect from you in the future?

Donna: It might sound cliché, but more of the same. We’ve only just begun to explore a new realm of musicality and we will be following that into the foreseeable future. It’s all looking very positive and inspiring. We want to meet the world face to face.

MM: Well thank you for talking to me and feel free to add anything else you wish. Good luck in the future and keep on tearing up the music world with those amazing pipes of yours!

Donna: Thank you! I hope I’ve given you some insight into the world of Resonance Project and I hope we get to meet in the flesh some day, when you can meet my pipes in person. *grin. Peace.

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