INTERVIEW WITH JESSICA MERCY

Jessica Mercy!

(Anaria, Knightfall, et al)

The Interview!

By Darkzen

13/04/2024

Jessica Mercy is a powerhouse vocalist and lyricist located in the New England area. In 2020, she and her husband, Sergio Salvucci, founded Wildthorn Productions, a full-service production company operating in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Her band Anaria has amassed over 3 million streams worldwide. Together, they have appeared alongside national acts such as Lacuna Coil, Amaranthe, Flyleaf, and more.

Jessica is an award-winning costume designer and published romance author. She has her BA in English Language and Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing, and has won several awards for her costume design.

Knights heed the call!

Combining SYMPHONIC/POWER METAL with sounds from the 80’s, KNIGHTFALL is breathing new life into the genre. The project is the brainchild of composer/songwriter Keith Dombrowski (ex Anaria).

Keith had a vision to collaborate with musicians from around the world and create songs that would evoke a myriad of emotions from its listeners.

Keith has put together an eclectic group of songs to create KNIGHTFALL's debut album "Destiny Calling".

Hi Jessica! Welcome! Thank you for the interview! How are you?

Jessica:

I am doing great! March was a very exciting month for me.

You are fantastic! Multifaceted! Where do I start, tell us about yourself! What have you been doing right now?

Jessica:

Thank you so much! Where to begin? I am not only a singer and songwriter, but an author, model, and designer. I have been doing music since age 9, starting with classical piano and then blossoming to include pop and rock. I found a love of female-fronted gothic rock and symphonic metal at age 17 and decided then that it was a path I wanted to pursue. I have my Bachelor’s Degree in English Language & Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing, and have studied classical voice privately. As to what I currently have going on, I had the privilege of being one of a number of fantastic guest musicians on Knightfall’s debut album, “Destiny Calling.” I also released my third studio album with my main project, Anaria, which produces modern metal/hard rock music with a gothic flare. The album is entitled “Holding Cell” and we have begun working on our fourth album already. We also have several music videos! I have two other projects: a Celtic/fantasy project called “To the Ancients” and a goth pop project called “Cities Below.” I have a number of collaborations coming up with other artists throughout the year, and enjoy working part-time as a session vocalist.

You have a beautiful voice! Tell us about your musical career and that beautiful voice!

Jessica:

Thank you! I have the fortune of coming from an early musical background. Beginning with classical piano at age 9, I was encouraged to pursue vocal performance at age 12. While I did not attend higher education in music, I studied classical voice and vocal pedagogy privately. I have always had a deep love and appreciation for all kinds of music. Everything I do comes from a place of inspiration. I am a soprano with just under a 4-octave vocal range, and I sing everything from pop to jazz to metal. I have primarily worked with rock musicians for about 20 years, since age 17–but I have also performed opera, musical theater, jazz, country, alongside cover bands, etc. Currently I offer services as a session vocalist part-time, as I continue pursuing success with Anaria and my other projects.

What are your musical influences? Any style that you like heavier within Metal? Or another very different musical style?

Jessica:

I love all kinds of music! Amy Lee with Evanescence was my first introduction to a female vocalist fronting a heavy band, and I was instantly hooked. From there I discovered artists like Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Lacuna Coil. That was in my late teens, and I knew I wanted to pursue that career path. I would also cite many artists from the 90s/early 00s as influences, such as Sarah McLachlan, Shirley Manson of Garbage, and Alanis Morrissette. Within metal, I have a preference for melodic metal subgenres, but I love a lot of “modern metal” projects like Spiritbox. I also think there is some fantastic metalcore out there these days. Outside of metal, I love dark pop, musical theater, opera, industrial goth, electro goth, film soundtracks, vocal jazz, bedroom pop, and more. While I tend towards melodic genres, I have an open mind and I love hearing new and experimental sounds.

You are also a writer! Your romance novel "THE DEVIL RIDES AT MIDNIGHT" that motivated and inspired you to write it? Do you identify with any character in the novel?

Jessica:

“The Devil Rides at Midnight” is a gothic romantic thriller I had begun writing in 2013 or so, and is my first published work. I wanted to write a romantic piece that paid homage to a lot of vampire classics such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Anne Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire.” Isabelle Grant is my main character, and she is essentially immersed into these paranormal experiences which lead her on a journey of self-discovery. I suppose in some minor ways I may identify with her. She is a dreamer, self-sufficient, interested in the occult/paranormal, and a romantic–and I am all of those things as well. I am currently working on a romantasy (a romantic fantasy) and can say I identify with that lead character even more.

Besides being a singer, model and designer, how is it to combine these hobbies or passions?

Jessica:

I was once told I was a “Renaissance woman” and I feel like that describes me fairly well. Life is a crazy ride, and engaging with multiple creative endeavors can sometimes be a daunting task, but I would not do anything I did not love doing. Combining the modeling and design elements with my music career has been beneficial in some ways, but I do try to keep a lot of the modeling separate because I often tap into Cosplay and boudoir modeling, which is not very relevant to my music. Being able to design and source my own costumes for music videos and stage, however, is a huge blessing and I love being able to bring that element forward! The writing really goes towards everything I do; I write poetry, lyrics, captions, stories–storytelling is a massive element of everything I do.

About your band Anaria! I know you already released your new album Holding Cell! Tell us about your new album?

Jessica:

Anaria’s third official studio album, “Holding Cell” is a hard rock album which explores themes of isolation, breaking out of one’s own mind prison, and forging towards self-acceptance. Songs like “The Sandman” and “Synthesis” speak to the struggle of outside influence and difficulty of holding on to humanity, while songs like “Freakshow” and “Worthy” laud the acceptance of oneself and others regardless of flaws. We started writing the album about two years ago and have intermittently released singles off of it, culminating in its full release on March 29th, 2024. We collectively feel the album demonstrates the intended sonic direction of our band, as those familiar with our sound will notice we have experimented with a number of genre-fusions since 2014 or so.

The new video for "Holding Cell" sounds great! a good Hard Rock! Do you have another new video in mind?

Jessica:

Thank you so much! We filmed the entire music video for “Holding Cell” in-house with our production company, Wildthorn Productions, and were blessed to have several talented actresses on board to portray the “three fates” as depicted in mythology. We have released several other videos for singles off the album, and we plan to release more videos as the year continues. “Synthesis” and “Circle of Love” are two in particular that I love, where we again were blessed to have incredible talent on-board to portray the various characters we had written into the video treatment.

About the participation you did for KNIGHTFALL with Destiny Calling, tell us a little about being on an album full of various artists?

Jessica:

First off, it is an absolute pleasure to be considered for any collaboration with a fellow artist–but especially one directed by the creative mindset of Keith Dombrowski. He and I have always had a great time working together, because we have similar ideas and interests in music. “Destiny Calling” is chock full of unique and dynamic talent and it is an absolute honor to be included among them. I think it was so smart of Keith to include a variety of musical talent on this project, because it really allows each song to shine in an individual way while remaining cohesive. Pete, Adrien, Stefani, Dee, Susy, Marcos, George, Patrick, and Sergio are all amazing artists in their own right, and to bring them all together is a real musical treat. So if you’re listening to “Destiny Calling”, I hope you will go check out every featured guest’s projects! It is a wonderful opportunity to be able to collaborate with other artists across various subgenres of rock/metal, and I was so grateful to be included.

Do you have any other projects that we don't know about yet?

Jessica:

My husband Sergio and I have two side projects, one of which we’ve only released a single with so far. “To the Ancients” is our celtic/fantasy side project, which has an album and several singles released to all major streaming platforms and a few videos on YouTube. “Cities Below” is our goth pop/dark pop project and we have only released one song so far, entitled “Dead Like Me”. We have an entire album recorded, and the theme of our music is dark, catchy songs about vampires and other supernatural beings/subjects. It was so fun writing all the music for it–completely different than anything we have released before. I have also been known to occasionally release solo works under “Jesica Mercy”--but I find that I have little time to do so these days.

We have Jessica, a great multifaceted artist! Anything else I forgot to ask?

Jessica:

Thank you, I think we have covered quite a bit!

Anything else you would like to share with us?

Jessica:

I am appreciative of all band members (past and present) I have had the opportunity to work with. Anaria has had many chapters as a band, and it truly feels as though we have come a long way from ground zero. Keith of Knightfall was instrumental in laying the foundation for this project, so it is so exciting to see him bring his music to life under this new project and I was honored to be a part of it. I would also be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shoutout to my husband, Sergio Salvucci of Wildthorn Productions, who has been a huge part of everything I do musically since about 2017 from songwriting to guitar-work to production to mixing/mastering to video and photography. He has an immense dedication and creative talent, and is an amazing life partner. There is truly nothing better in the world than to be able to create music with the person you love most.

What do you tell your fans?

Jessica:

Thank you for your support in listening and watching! Thank you for joining me on my journey. I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to share your thoughts by messaging me or commenting on my social media posts. Suggestions are always welcome!

Thank you very much for your time for this interview for Darkzen Dragon metal angels!

Info

https://www.jessicamercy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thejessicamercy

https://www.instagram.com/mercymakesmusic/

https://www.instagram.com/thejessicamercy/

https://www.instagram.com/anariaband/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBENmbPwWPHh0KhPqGEvlA

https://twitter.com/thejessicamercy/