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Hey there Syd, how are you? As good as ever! Your debut will be out in a couple of months; you must be really excited, but also relieved in some way I guess? Yes, excited for sure! And the relief is ultimately a release of tension that has inevitably been building up while we anxiously await the release of the album. You've been working really hard with this album, harder than most can imagine I can guess. You where signed to Hollywood Records as early as 2008. Has it taken longer to get the album out than expected? YES. And you have been in the business some time now. Has it been different in some way than you expected? There was no way to anticipate what would eventually happen during my journey, but there were the things that I counted on, such as the forming of a rock band, and the making of a record I am proud of. Those two things have happened, so I guess you could say, it's just what I expected. So you got signed to Hollywood Records that got bands like Breaking Benjamin and Jones Brothers. How was the signing process? Read that you had to do play an acoustic song at the meeting. It was an extremely nerve-wracking situation. I was a solo artist, interested in fronting a band. I did what knew how to do: perform an original song on acoustic guitar in front of the most intimidating group of adults. Thankfully, it was rather successful and I walked out a signed artist. And it was an original song? Is it on the album? I wrote my "audition" song when I was about 15 years old. There's no way I was going to put that on a new album to be released in my early twenties. But got signed as solo artist, not the band, right? When did you realize that you wanted to have a band and not being solo? Yes, I got signed as a solo artist. The only reason I was solo was because I hadn't found the right group of musicians to play in a band with. It was the goal the whole time. It just took a little longer than I expected, and the record deal came first. Was it hard to find the members of the band? Are they from you area? Ok, one is since she's your sister, but rest of band, are they also from LA? It was pretty hard to find the right group of players. It took a lot of trial and error. They're all from Southern Callifornia, but not all from LA. You have been really hyped in press the last year. Do you feel any pressure now that the album must do well etc.? I do expect it to live up to its hype. The album has been delayed a bit; it was actually supposed to be out in 2011 if I'm not wrong. Why was it moved forward? Was it to prepare you, Valora and the market a bit more? What's the point of putting out an album if no one knows you exist? That didn't sound like a good idea, so we worked on establishing a fan base and getting some attention in the press. Have you ever been afraid that it wouldn't be out? No. When I first heard about you last year there was just a mysterious animated video for Chapter One is the Valora story, "Live" and not much info. Was this to create some sort of curiosity and hype? It was just a slow release of the rest of the graphic novel that was to come out later. But the video wasn't the first things with Valora. First there where some comics. Can you tell a bit about this and the concept around Valora? Ahmet wanted to create a graphic novel based on a new band. He loved our record and we partnered up to create the comic. And how looks the future for the character, is it something that you will continue to work with? Valora was a character before she was written into a five part graphic novel. She is the character I, Syd Duran, become when I step on the stage. She will continue to live on through every one of my performances. The first song that we heard you in was the updated version of Breaking Benjamin. How did that happened, was it through Hollywood records? I was a Breaking Benjamin fan before we ever became label mates. I can thank Hollywood Records and the band for the amazing opportunity. How was that experience, a bit unreal in some way I can guess? I viewed it as a duty I had to fulfill to the best of my ability, and that's exactly what I did. So how look the coming months for you and the band? A lot of promotion and radio I guess? Any confirmed tour so far? Yes, there will be a lot of promotion, and surprises in the coming months. I can't say much about the tour, but I'm very excited. Do you have any favorite band that you would love to do a tour with? Muse, Evanescence. That was it Syd, thanks for your time; Any last words to the readers? Thanks for taking the time to get to know me a little better! | 
