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Some people truly shine from within and I have rarely met people that this applies to as well as it does to THE GEMS. Singer Guernica Mancini and Drummer Emlee Johansson took some time out of their busy schedule to talk to me about their music, what inspires them and what upcoming plans they have. While talking, we also invented the new genre Heavy Glam Rock (Trademark pending), so have fun reading about these amazingly talented women!
Huge shoutout to lightinmirror.de for the awesome pictures!
Shieldmaiden’s Voice: If you had to describe your musical style in three words, which would you choose?
Emlee Johansson: Classic Rock! No, wait! Those are two words!
Guernica Mancini: Glam, maybe? Groovy… and modern! But I feel like it’s heavier than that…
Emlee: Uhm… maybe Glam Hard Rock? Noooo! Heavy Glam Rock!
Guernica: That’s actually a great term!
SV: And there is the title for an upcoming album! Apart from inventing new genre descriptions, what does music mean to you?
Guernica: It’s life, it’s happiness! I don’t know if I would have a purpose in life if I didn’t have music…
Emlee: For me, it’s the same! Music has always been a part of me. Without music, I wouldn’t be complete. It’s a big part of my life and it has always been that way.
Guernica: To sum it up, it means a lot!
SV: What would you say inspires you the most?
Emlee: Life! Of course, we have our different inspirations musically and those are super important. When I was 15, IRON MAIDEN were lighting this light inside of me, that was almost like a flame and that made me want to get up that stage too and do what they do. When we write music, we get inspired by everything or every day life.
Guernica: As a creative person, you need to experience life, the bad, the good, everything! That’s what gives you the creative fuel to create your music.
SV: Let’s just say we have a person that has never heard of you before. What can this person expect from you when they listen to you for the first time?
Emlee: They are going to hear the new genre, Heavy Glam Rock! [we laugh] We write our songs about stuff that we love and that is empowering self-love. We want people to feel that and also be inspired by the positive vibes.
Guernica: All the feelings need to be felt and that’s important. Whoever listens to us, will get the modern version of Classic Rock. We’re heavily inspired by Classic Rock, but our production is modern, so it’s a fresh take on everything that we love, like the 70s and 80s and even the 90s! Especially on this upcoming record, there will be a lot of 90s vibes!
SV: Your band’s history has not been without challenge, let’s put it this way. What is something you learned in the whole process that you are now able to apply to the music?
Emlee: First of, we started our own company for THE GEMS together. We’re not making the same mistakes that we did in the past.
Guernica: We’re really trying to learn from our mistakes and we’re taking everything from our past in order to make sure that it will be better in the future. Especially the business side of things. We do these workshops in Sweden for young musicians where we try to inspire them to take these things seriously. I understand that this isn’t sexy, but we want to make them understand that being a musician nowadays is being an entrepreneur. You’re basically starting a business and you need to see it as such and deal with it accordingly. That’s what we do with THE GEMS.
SV: A bit earlier, you also teased that there will be a new album. What can you already tell me about that?
Emlee: We will release it in early 2026 and most of it is already recorded and done. We’re super excited and we’re already on the next chapter with this. Needless to say, we’re very happy. There will be a little wait until we can show it to the world, but we’re very excited!
SV: What can fans expect from this new chapter then?
Guernica: When I think about the inspirations for the songs, the first chapter was more about going through the motions of what happened to us and on this new record, we’re free, we’re happy and it’s a lot about empowerment and coming into our own. It sounds so cheesy, but it is so important to actually be true to yourself and to respect your own path. I don’t know if it’s common in Rock to write stuff like that, but to us it’s very important to be that positive light. We can growl and rock the shit out of a place, but we want to have a positive message with lots of light. Sounds like I’m starting a cult, but it’s the truth!
Emlee: Before we started THE GEMS, we had a couple of years where we didn’t feel well mentally. Having all these positive feelings while writing music means so much, because of the baggage we used to have.
Guernica: We do have three angrier songs…
Emlee: [singing]… because life happens!
SV: Maybe writing new songs doesn’t feel as much like a chore as it did before?
Guernica: When we did the first album, we felt like teenagers tasting all the freedom life had to offer and now we feel like we’re here, we know who we are and we are going to share that with the world.
SV: Speaking of shaking the house down: You played Rockharz as THE GEMS for the first time today. What is your takeaway?
Emlee: The last time we played here, with our previous band, there was a strike at the airport so when we landed in Berlin, we had no gear. It took us weeks to get everything back. The festival then provided everything to us, I could even borrow drum sticks. While that was cool, it was a whole different feeling of being here without stress and just taking everything in.
Guernica: It’s such a nice festival and it’s amazing that we get to experience everything with THE GEMS again. We can now take it in in a good way. I had a total blast!
SV: The set was a lot of fun! Speaking about live: Is there maybe a tour you have planned that you can share some insights on?
Emlee: Sure! Somewhere around the release of the album…
Guernica: …in March! We’re going to tour Germany for two weeks.
SV: Hopefully, you’ll come to a place near me!
Emlee: We’re planning on it! Together with Sweden, Germany is our main market and we really feel like it’s our second home. We even have a German bass player!
SV: Why should anyone see you live?
Emlee: Because of our unique genre Heavy Glam Rock! [We laugh] We have so much fun when we play and the audience is always a fifth band member for us. When you play live, you just give so much to the audience and when this energy comes back, it’s just amazing and we love it. That is what we always want to achieve when we get on stage.
Guernica: My wish, for anyone who attends our shows, is that they leave our show with really good energy: They should have a good time and leave with recharged batteries because they had so much fun at our show! That is my goal!
Emlee: Also, when they listen to our lyrics, we hope that they find value in them and that they love themselves! Life is too short to not believe in yourself. Go for your dreams and realize that you’re valuable. You deserve to be loved!
Guernica: In one of our upcoming songs we quoted something from a podcast that I listen to and it says „We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!“ and that needs to be said!
SV: That is actually a good introduction to my last question! If you could give your fans one message, what would it be?
Guernica: We love you guys, we appreciate you and we wouldn’t be here without you! You guys mean the world to us and we give our utmost to give you the best music possible!
If you are curious about the genre of Heavy Glam Rock, then you should definitely check out THE GEMS! It’s worth it! Stay tuned for more content on Rockharz 2025 and let me tell you this much: It’s going to be epic!
Shieldmaiden's Voice 