Female Voices Of Metal And Rock - Interview with Pamtera and Lezzy Osbourne. Saturday Aug 19, 2023

We ask 8 Questions to Get the Real Stories Behind the Artists of Female Voices of Metal and Rock!

This week we have two talented artists in the hot seat. They are Pamtera Cunningham, vocalist/guitarist and Lezzy Osbourne, bassist for Canadian Melodic Metal Band Boneyard. Pamtera’s gritty rock vocals and old school style riffs made Boneyard’s 2020 debut album “Oathbreaker” a real standout album in this genre. Lezzy is a recent addition to the band and her energy is sure to help propel Boneyard to even greater things in the future . If you haven’t already checked Boneyard out, then make sure you do, as they absolutely rock!

How did it all begin for Boneyard?

Pamtera - We started as a cover band in 2015 and moved to writing our own songs around 2019. We went in to record our first album in May of 2019 and then had to wait out most of the Pandemic to finish it off. “Oathbreaker” was released October of 2020. We are super excited to be moving forward with our newest members Gary Ursulak on lead guitar and Lezzy Osbourne as bassist.  

What bands or artists have influenced you the most?

Pamtera - Annihilator, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden.  

Lezzy - I started listening to Green Day when I was around 8 years old, which was the biggest influence in awakening my inner rocker chick at a very young age. More recently, the growing prominence of female-fronted bands like The Pretty Reckless and Halestorm have been greatly inspiring to me.

Who is currently on your playlist?

Pamtera - Annihilator, Thundermother, and Blacktop Mojo 

Lezzy - There are far too many to name, but the above-mentioned bands for sure, plus The Warning, NOFX, Gob, Devilskin, Hands Off Gretel, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Gina and the Eastern Block, Seether, Mad Caddies, The Creepshow, System of a Down, Dorothy, The Dirty Youth, and so on. Some of them are quite well known, but I also listen to a lot of artists that don't have a massive following because there's such a significant amount of undiscovered talent out there!

What was the last gig you went to?

Pamtera - Just saw Quiet Riot and Aldo Nova at the local Exhibition a couple of weeks ago. 

Lezzy - 96 Bitter Beings! 2 former CKY members (Deron Miller, the original frontman along with Matthew Janaitis) are touring with their new project where they're performing a playthrough of the entire CKY album, Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild, along with some new 96BB tunes. They put on a great show! We were actually invited to be the supporting band for their stop here in Edmonton, so we played a set before they took the stage and it was an incredible night, through and through. Pamtera and I did a livestream interview with Matthew a few weeks before the show, which is on our YouTube channel, and was a great way to bridge the gap and get to know each other a bit before meeting in person to play a kickass show together.

What would you do if you weren’t a musician?

Pamtera - Oh, ya know, I’d probably be involved with music in some way lighting, stage design. Or some other type of art like dancing or video/movie production. All of these things interest me!  

Lezzy - Write lyrics for musicians to bring to life! At least I'd still be sharing my passions for the love of music, just in a different way.

Where do you call home and what is the best thing about living there?

Pamtera - I live in Edmonton Alberta, we have thriving music scene, musicians who support and look out for each other.  We have lots of stores and malls for shopping and coffee shops, you are never far from a coffee or a donut!  

Lezzy - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our summers are generally quite nice, we have access to plenty of lakes, forests and hiking trails, including North America's largest stretch of urban parkland right at our feet! I've also heard from multiple people that Edmonton's music scene is one of the best in Canada, which is pretty amazing to be a part of.

What is next for Boneyard?

Lezzy - Pamtera can take that one!

Pamtera - We are currently finishing up our recording of some our newest songs at Rattleshock studios. We just added Lezzy Osbourne as our new bass player and we will continue writing songs for our sophomore album and having fun spreading our music live to everyone with some gigs in the fall.  Stay tuned for a new single this year!  

Who is best cats or dogs?

Pamtera - Meow!  

Lezzy - They each bring so much to the table in unique ways, I love them both for different reasons. But on a practical level due to my extremely busy lifestyle, I can appreciate the independence of cats in how they require only a fraction of the time and attention that dogs need to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Finally, please tell us an interesting or funny fact or story about yourselves.

Pamtera - When I was about 14, I snuck into a concert in my home town of Yellowknife, way up in the Northwest Territories. The drinking age was 19 so I wore all of the makeup and did everything to obtain a ticket and sneak in by myself to see The Payolas. We had 1 radio station of adult contemporary music and no way to listen to any new music until a couple years later when Much Music (Canadian MTV) came on the TV. I was so excited! My cousin found me and helped hide me (it was a small town) and bought me a beer. I had to sneak out to the bathroom and so I chose a time when the band was starting again. I ran out to the washroom and there was one guy there in the hallway, it was the guitar player! OMG, I ran up to shake his hand. I was so excited to meet a musician! It was Bob Rock!  That was a concert I’ll never forget, my first ever!  

Lezzy - I'm actually an extremely introverted person who spends most of my time in solitude and have primarily been known as the "shy and quiet girl" most of my life. For that reason, I NEVER thought I'd ever be able to be in a band and perform on stage, but opportunities arose within the last 2 years that inspired me to take gigantic leaps out of my comfort zone, and... here we are!  Haha.

Special Thanks to Mark and The Female Voices of Metal and Rock!