Right after her set at Tuska Festival in Helsinki, we had the chance to sit down with Charlotte Wessels—a truly amazing artist and a genuinely kind soul. Charlotte isn’t just a girls’ girl in words; she shows it in her actions. Case in point: right after our chat, she went searching for the festival’s official photographer just to personally thank her for the stunning shots of her performance. Our interview with her was a great fun also – we talked about all things festival: tips, stories, and moments on and off stage.

-What are your top five festival survival tips?

–Stay hydrated—very important. Eat well—also very important. Make a schedule of everything you want to see, and make a playlist beforehand. Make a playlist of bands you might not know that are playing at the festival. Because one thing that really sucks is finding out after the festival that there was a band you missed—especially if they were small at the time and later became huge. And you’re like, “Oh, I could’ve seen them, but I was busy eating a bratwurst or something.” So yes—prepare. Prepare very well in advance, so that on the day itself, you can be loosey-goosey. And then, that’s the last one:

be kind to the people around you.

-Do you have any unexpected items you always bring to festivals that people wouldn’t think of?

-Tampons. Even if you don’t need them yourself. You want to be a girl’s girl if you’re in the bathroom and someone needs one. And you know, guys could bring them too—because girls around you might actually need one. So yeah, it’s a good thing to have. They’re almost never provided. I think that’s something that should be provided.

-Has your list of festival essentials changed over time?

–Over the years, I’ve become more like, “Okay, I’ll just buy my food at the site.” I’ve become less self-sufficient, in a way—but that’s okay. It’s okay, especially because catering at festivals has gotten so much better. There are way more veggie and vegan options now. So what changed for me… the festivals kind of made up for it.

I’ve really looked forward to returning to Tuska. We’ve been here a couple of times before, and—I still remember—I saw Heilung here for the very first time. That was kind of a core memory for me. – Charlotte Wessels on Tuska

-Could you share some memorable things what went wrong on stage? And did any of these experiences change how you prepare for shows?

See, whenever something really goes wrong on stage, I kind of try to banish it from my memory. I got food poisoning once—which is why I don’t really eat before the show anymore. That was very not fun.

Other memorable things? I’ve also fallen a couple of times—really hard—on stage. So I tend to prefer just flat boots now. Sometimes I still wear heels, though—even if it’s just a short set.

And then there are the technical issues… Those are probably the worst. And what do you change to catch those? More technical things. I’m not sure I’d call those super memorable, though.

-What daily habits help you stay balanced while touring?

-So, I drink a lot of water. If you think it’s a lot—no, it’s a lot of water. I try to drink a liter before I even speak in the morning. No meat, no dairy. It’s good for a lot of things, but it’s especially good for singing.

I do proper warm-ups—very proper. I used to skip them back in the day, but now I really do them… preferably for 20 minutes. I love Cheryl Porter. She’s an American vocal instructor. She has these really happy warm-ups that, as I recently found out, everyone uses. They’re really cool. So that’s three.

No alcohol whatsoever on tour. After a show—if we don’t have anything coming up—I might have a sip of beer, maybe a little more. But while touring, I don’t drink at all. I try to sleep as much as possible. I have a little humidifier in my booth—a small, personal one. It’s amazing.

We also always have this tiny, tiny moment before the show where we hug each other and shout something stupid. And it’s very nice. Sometimes it feels like, “We just do this every show because we do this every show,” but honestly, in the past when we skipped it, the show felt disconnected.

So even if everyone’s in their own head, focused or stressed, I think it’s really important to just huddle together for a few seconds. Because you’re doing it together.

-Which songs have influenced you the most as an artist and what makes each of these songs special to you?

-The first one that comes to mind is probably “Pyramid Song” by Radiohead—because it was so different from everything I knew. It has this really uncommon time signature, and the chord progression is unusual too. The chords themselves are beautiful—just not standard. The whole album it’s on was really impactful for me. It made me so sad, and I loved it so much at the same time.

And then… Probably something by Within Temptation—anything off Mother Earth, really. That album opened a door for me.

I remember thinking, Wait—what’s this? I loved Sharon’s voice. At the time, I was doing classical vocal training, and I already really liked heavy music, so it was like, oh my god—this is my world coming together. It was so cool.

Another song? There have been several by artists like Nick Cave or Amanda Palmer—people who really practice storytelling through their songs.

If you start out listening mostly to stuff on the radio, you’ll notice that a lot of songs don’t really tell a story. They hover around a feeling, and then they repeat that feeling in the chorus—and that’s kind of it. Of course, that’s not true for everyone—like, Eminem told entire stories in his songs. But I love a song that actually tells something, regardless of the genre. So yeah, anything from Murder Ballads and similar albums—that’s been hugely influential for me too.

-Have any of these songs or artists inspired your own songwriting and performances?

-Well, I think a lot of artists have—like, especially lately, I try to go to more shows myself. You know, there’s this thing that once you are performing, you start looking at other people’s performances through a different perspective. And there are moments where it’s hard to just enjoy it as someone in the audience.

But I really try to do that as much as I can. I try to go to more concerts, and I try to go to more different concerts—not just in the genre I visit most often. Like, not just heavy music. Also classical music.

And I feel like everything that you see and hear inspires you in one way or another. Even if you hate something, you’re like, “I’m never gonna do that.” That can be a valuable lesson as well.

It would be nice, of course, if I could now point to one thing that I found inspirational… Well, you know, sometimes I feel like—especially when there are songs that I sing that are more politically charged, and I want to tell more about what they’re about—I get intimidated to do that. Yesterday, we saw Bambi Thug here, and she was giving it. And that, for example—that was inspiring to me.

Interview: Péter Tepliczky, Ditty
Photo: Sandra Ludewig