Who is Yasmine Uhlin?
I am an artist and my only purpose in this world is to change it.
I've always been hard to get yet cheerful and tender around my loved ones.
During my early teenage years I discovered the talent I have for understanding, criticize and
questioning this world, my life. I've never loved it but I've never hated it either.
As time went by I started to use this "talent" as a tool. It became a part of my creativity
and my creations, paintings or songs. I embrace my enemy and walk hand in hand
with chance. I guess that describes me pretty well. You see, I'm tired of the answer that goes something like this: I'm 20 years old, I live in sweden and and and..." Gets kind of boring, don't you think dear? *grins*
Your life has really changed alot last few years after signing to “out of line” and the european tour with ashbury heights. If you look back now, what are the most important changes and how do you deal with it?
I don’t know if I would call them changes. I see them as sacrifices and mind twisting turns. I gave up a lot of friends at the very beginning. A lot of people couldn’t understand why I chose to spend time with Anders and when we became a couple, people really started to kind of freak out, I guess. I think that my so called friends had the crazy idea that I wanted to shut them out just because I spent a lot of time in the studio. Apart from that, uhm. My personality took some interesting turns as well. I and Anders forms a great team as musicians but we can really push each other as friends or lovers. Some of my values and principals were compromised and somewhat ignored from time to time but I choose to see the good things that came out of it. All in all there’s been many struggles and heartbreaking nights but I always woke up to find myself thinking that “it’s all worth it”.
When you look back at this period, are the sacrifices you made worth it all or would you have done things differently?
There may be things that I shouldn’t have done but there’s no point in feeling bad or guilty about it. You learn from each experience and I see myself as a stronger person because of what the things I’ve said or done in the past.
Of course, I do have my regrets and I often wish that some things could come undone but since we all know that’s not a possibility, it’s better to just leave them behind.
What is the best memory you have on the european tour?
Oh God. I think that the night in Leipzig leaved a pretty good trace in my memory. There were a lot of fans and I’ve never signed so many autographs in my entire life. People actually screamed my name after the show and begged me to sign their tickets, shirts, our album and one guy actually wanted me to sign his cell phone. That’s just crazy. When Hocico got on stage I hung out in the backstage together with the other bands and André, you know the head of Out of Line. He actually chased me around for 5 minutes, trying to steal the last remaining vodka. Come on. The man just bought a custom painted Mercedes Benz but he can’t afford his own liquor so he steals it from a tiny girl in high heels, running for her life? That’s what you call questionable. In the end, I can’t choose a single memory ‘cause the whole tour was full of some rather crazy sh*t.
It must have been weird that all of a sudden people ask for autographs and so on, what was going through your mind at that moment?
Well, I have to admit that it felt special and somewhat overwhelming but the main feeling was joy. If someone wants your autograph it means that they want to remember you and I like that. If someone finds my art worth remembering, my work seems more and more important.
This tour was also a learning experience, what did you learn?
I learned to take control over my temper. I easily snap and become that famous bitch everyone’s been talking about for the last... no wait, my whole life. Also, I had to learn how to accept others weaknesses and try to understand them instead of just ignoring them since I had nowhere to go basically. I was practically forced to deal with stress and to face my paranoia and I think that I’ve managed to handle them better since the tour. How ironic. An artist that hate being amongst crowds.
So you have a better control over your temper now, how did you manage to do that, people most of the time snap in an instant and forget to count till 10?
Honestly? I have no idea. It may be because of my fiancé. I’d never hurt him or harm him in any way so whenever I feel irritated or frustrated I let him know. Usually I keep those feelings to myself until I snap based on someone else’s actions or words but since I trust Toni (that’s his name) I feel safe around him and I know that he respects my feelings however bad they might be.
You told me you visited a Marilyn Manson concert recently and you felt a bit weird to be a spectator, can you descripe the feelings you had?
I’ve never seen myself as a typical fan when it comes to Marilyn Manson. I’ve admired him for 12 years now (I’m feeling so old saying that) and I’ve always seen him as my source of inspiration, strength and faith. It’s not like I’ve been crying during his concerts and showing my female body parts to him. I’ve just been analysing his art and I’ve always tried to take in the most of it. Of course, I’ve been jumping my sweet ass off to his tunes and head banged like crazy but in a more understanding way than the teenagers right beside me (that always ends up fainting by the way. Never understood that)
But over to the main question. Ever since I stood on stage as an artist myself, singing songs with meaning and trying to reach in to people harts I’ve become an addict. It’s hard to live off the stage and make the bed like everyone else (not that I make my bed but you get my point). When I watched Marilyn Manson the last time I felt misplaced. I know I belong on stage and I too have things to say, messages to send. Of course, I love seeing him each and every time but I felt like I didn’t belong amongst all other people. I was offered a backstage pass but I turned down the offer. Some people called me crazy for that but as an artist I respect the fact that the show and night was his. I didn’t want to bother him after “work well done” and I know how utterly frustrating it can be to find people backstage that you don’t know or didn’t invite personally. I’ll take it some other time instead.
How many times do I have to answer this type of question? *laughs*
Well. It started out as a fun project and it turned out to be something very serious. Anders, as we all know, have been involved with music for many years and I have always been an artist so when we decided to try some creating together, we gave birth to Ashbury Heights. We released a demo in 2005 and some people actually came to worship us just because of it. Personally I can’t understand why but I won’t dig any deeper into it. When we became a bit more serious we decided to make a label-friendly demo and it ended up as “Parliament of Rooks”. Our cover photographer told us that we should strip me down “’cause that’s what label people like” and god, was he right. Out of Line called us two days after we sent it out and wanted to sign us. That covers up the history pretty good I think. The music is about ourselves and the world around us. Some songs are more personal than others but we always makes sure that we have something to say, something of importance. It may not be very political or perhaps religious but we want people to find themselves inside our art and I think that we’ve succeeded pretty well.
The cover certainly looks great and results are known, guess the saying: “Sex sells” does still counts. Some people might say you got the deal because of the cover, how does this make you feel?
I’ve actually been quite caught up in such disputes the last month’s so it’s amusing that you ask a question like that. I’ve never said I like people or the human kind. I never tried to prove their intelligence or compassion so when I get such comments; they’re not only proving their stupidity but also that I am right. Seeing the fact that I am attractive, young and talented seems to be some sort of trigger for certain people. If I were to namedrop every insult I’ve received we’d have to make this more of a book than an interview.
To conclude this, I honestly don’t care. People can be as immature as they please and I sure hope they get some sort of kick out of it because they know how I despise them. It’s just a shame that they can’t understand that no matter what they say; I’ll never sink to their level nor doubt myself or my ego. Can I be nasty? Just fuck them.
What is your dream, your goal you want to reach with Ashbury heights?
Sex drugs and rock’n’roll? Okay, perhaps not but I don’t know. I try not to have that big dreams since dreams can easily be destroyed but if I am to tell you one of them I’d have to say that I want Ashbury Heights to reach out to the masses. I want more people to share our thoughts, emotions and opinions. As you may have figured out, it is my dream occupation to be an artist in any form so it’s only natural that I want to make some money and sell a lot of records but the main bullet is to contribute with something to the world, something that will last.
Mostly myself since I have a very versatile mind. There’s more to me than anyone can possible know and sometimes I feel like even I can find new things if I dig deeper. I’ve been through more than the average 20 year old person have and sometimes it can be found in my lyrics. I chose to reserve myself from writing for the “Three Cheers for the Newlydeads” since I wasn’t sure of myself, nor my creative capability. Not saying that I didn’t try but I could never publish anything that I wasn’t sure with. Anyways, if I’m not inspired by myself it’s the world around me. The way people treats each other, love, hate, sex and so on. The world is mine for the taking.
Is it hard to write lyrics that come close to you as a person or your experiences or is it easier for you to write about things you see around you?
If I were to write a song based upon me and me alone, I’d know how it would end. Writing a song about one self is not very interesting. It can be hard in the way that I rarely like to share, no matter what it is, so exploiting my inner most feelings does not appeal to me. Writing about others is more of a challenge and you’re free to make up your own story that may not fit in to the real version, so to speak. Hmm. Thinking about it makes me realise that I nearly never write anything nice about someone else but we’ve been over that part several times; people makes me sick and I wouldn’t try make Judas look like Jesus, now would I?
We know you love cars.........What is the ultimate car for you and why?
Oh my. I think you know the answer to that question. A Ford Mustang Shelby GT-500, there’s no doubt about it. I saw one in a magazine when I was about 7 years old I knew that I just had to get my hands on one when I got older. Little did I know that I have be a millionaire to afford it but yes, those are the wheels that makes my head spin. Why I want it? Well, the car is utterly good looking, fast and it’s got a disgustingly good roar but in the same time, it stands for grace and beauty. I can see myself in it. Brutal, rough and edgy but that’s only the surface.
You are also a fetish model, don’t you ever fear that it can’t be combined with music in the future?
I know that I won’t be able to combine those two in the future if our label have their way *grins*
Our music is supposed to be about glamour and all that so some modelling jobs may go in the other direction which wouldn’t be good for Ashbury Heights in some ways but I guess time will tell. It’s also a question of time (how suitable, haha) and priorities. The music is of greater importance and a lot more time consuming but we’ll see.
If you could have the ultimate photoshoot, how would it look like?
Haha, I have no idea. I guess I’d like to have a really good make-up artist by my side and some really edgy clothes on top of it. Perhaps a stage and some animals plus my fiancé? Yeah. That sums it up pretty good.
Well, apart from singing there’s really no big difference. I have my eyes on me and I do some posing for the photographers so I guess it’s just the same type of work but in a different way. Even if modelling is about standing still and looking good, I always try to fit some meaning into it so it’s just not something I do to please my vain side. I get to move around a bit more though *grins*
Everybody has an addiction, what is yours?
Sex and nicotine. They can both be bad but I’ve managed to get them in control even though I’m the one being controlled during the acts of the first admitted addiction *laughs*
If you could ask a fortuneteller one thing about your future, what would it be?
I wouldn’t ask him/her anything since the future is only thing I don’t know anything about in my life and I’d like to keep it that way.
Nothing really. If I’m in a bad mood or anything I tend to stay that way for quite some time. The only thing that usually helps is my fiancés smooth talk or gentle touch. If he’s not around I blast the hell out of my speakers and just stay mad until I can focus my thoughts on something else. My temper is not to be toyed with.
What was the first though in your head this morning?
“Damn, it’s early”
Any last words for the readers?
Don’t download our music ‘cause if you do, you’ll force me to live on spaghetti for the rest of my life. Okay, no, that wasn’t serious but still. Don’t. Just make sure you make your life something worthwhile and if you were to fail, fail with style.
A head can be held high even if the world is coming to an end, no matter who’s world it is.