ROCKSTARS MAGAZINE

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With her long raven hair, alabaster skin and mysterious aura, Betty Moon is often mislabelled as a 'Goth Queen'.

A stereotype only exacerbated by her aforementioned moniker, which is derived from 'The Witches Bible'. This inaccuracy began during the promotion of her previous album Stir, released in 1997, when the press quickly branded her as 'goth', something that Betty says became "annoying to have more focus on the name rather than the music." Despite these frustrating comparisons, she never felt the need to change neither her hair colour nor the heaviness of her music. However, her latest offering, Doll Machine , does reveal a lighter side. While she continues to maintain the heavier riffs and ethereal sound she is known for, gone are the morose lyrics as well as the talk of blood and vampires.

Musically speaking, Moon is Canada's answer to Courtney Love; hard rocking, strong and fiercely resolute in her approach to the music she wants to make. Unlike Love, she controls her voice during aggressive songs like "The Next Hit" yet manages to achieve a vulnerable and near angelic quality while singing softer tunes such as "Older". There is a notably huge, in music industry terms, gap between her last two releases Doll Machine and previously Stir . During her absence of nearly six years most bands would have churned out roughly three albums! Although, Betty never strayed far from her musical passion throughout that period, accepting a partnership with a friend at his recording studio.

The arrangement seemed ideal by continuing to allow Betty time for her music but she exclaims "(it was) during that period that I did the least amount of writing or recording in my life!" Consequently, she was able to meet a lot of musicians and make some contacts along the way, a few of which she asked to collaborate with her if she felt they "might be suitable for the musical style of a certain song." Some of these collaborators include Bruce Gordon (I Mother Earth), Dave Hodge (Bran Van 3000, Smoother, Dahmnait Doyle) and Randy Cooke (Edwin and the Pressure, Six Foot Daisy).

In spite of having created most of Doll Machine on her own with the help of bassist/boyfriend, Chris Bates, with whom she met when the album was 50% complete, don't mistake Betty Moon as a solo artist.

This past January she finally found a permanent drummer and guitarist; Matt Dowd and Travis Cardinal of the now defunct band Sea of Green. All parties involved are very eager and excited about their future together and are already planning their next album, possibly set for a release as early as September! Until then Betty will be wishing she has magical powers with a busy schedule ahead of her consisting of a yet-to-be- determined single and possible video as well as a cross- Canada tour in the summer.