Sierra Veins: Opening A New Chapter

Following a fully packed 2025, which included the release of her second album, In The Name Of Blood, ​​French darkwave, EBM and synthwave artist Sierra Veins returns with her current and lengthy tour. 

We got the pleasure of chatting with Sierra Veins herself ahead of her special dates, which commence this week. 

How has this first part of 2026 been treating you? 

Honestly, really good. I mean, I had a quite intense year in 2025. So, I had a lot of rest in January, which felt really good. Now I'm back to work. 

Before we got into the tour, back in November, you released the second album. How did it feel to get a second body of work out there into the world?

Releasing an album is always weird because you're at home for a long time, searching for many ways to write music for a long time. And suddenly, it's out, and it's not just yours anymore. You share it with the people on stage. People recognise the lyrics.  It feels good, but it's weird. 

What do you think the second record represented about your growth as an artist? 

It represented a lot because I feel that I'm opening a new chapter. First, I changed my name from Sierra to Sierra Veins. This new album is also more industrial. I feel it's more me, actually. I think it's a new direction for me as an artist. 

It's important for me because I really feel that I'm changing a few things in my way of producing music and in my way of being on stage.

How easy or how challenging is it to take a new direction in confidence but also make sure that you're not listening to the doubts? 

It's hard. It's really hard. I'm full of doubts all the time. I'm fighting through moments where I feel so confident and so sure of what I'm doing. I will say to myself, ‘This is amazing', and then the day after I'm like, 'What the… this is so bad.' When you compose music, I don't know what it is like for other producers, but this has been my life for eight months.

I am passing through many phases where I feel super confident. Moments where I feel super lost and depressed, and I feel like I'm a bad artist, a loser. Then I come back, and I'm like, 'Oh no, I'm the best.' So, it's so hard. 

Is there anything you do to help bring yourself back into the room? 

I get all the messy sounds in my head. I want to come back into the room. The best thing for me is to stop doing music when I feel this kind of stuff.

The best way is to stop for a few days or maybe one week to do something totally different. Then you go back to your music; you listen to it in the streets. I do a lot of exports. I do a lot of bounces of my music, and I listen to it on the train, in the streets.

I try to listen to my music outside of my studio. This kind of stuff helps me to reconnect.

I noticed some really cool film posters behind you, including the Jurassic Park one. 

What's your favourite dinosaur?

It's not original, but I love T-Rex for sure. I love the big ones, the scary ones. Also, the Velociraptor is fun because it's so small, but it's also the most powerful and intuitive in a lot of ways.

You are coming over to the UK for three dates, including Edinburgh, Manchester and London. When you do come to bring your music to the UK, or even to a different country, what goes through your head? 

Honestly, nothing special. It's kind of normal for me because I play a lot outside of France.

I love playing outside of France because I love travelling. I love meeting people that I don't meet in my daily life. 

From the times you have come to the UK, is there any particular touristy thing that you must always make time for? 

Yes. Seeing my friends, because I have a lot of friends in London. It's something I have to go to a party a little bit with my friends in London. 

I already played in Bristol and Manchester, but it was three or four years ago with Carpenter Bridge, so I didn't really have the time to enjoy myself. But in London, I have to party with my friends. 

What is it you appreciate about the response and the bond that you are getting with the music fans? 

It depends on where I go, and also it depends on how many times I have already played in the city or not, because the more I play, the more I have people following me there. But right now in London, I feel that people are coming back to my shows, and I feel like there is a connection the more I play in a certain part of the world. The response of the public is really different.

In some countries, they are more expressive. In some countries, they are not expressive, but they are more listening in that way.

Can you pinpoint any specific moment where it felt like, 'OK, people are getting who I am; they're really feeling the vibe of the music'? ’?

My feeling on stage: I know certain parts of my shows where I know I'm going to catch the audience, and there are some things that I'm doing where I'm going to catch them because I know the lights at certain points are really going in a certain way, so I'm going to express myself according to the light. 

Outside of the stage, I really don't know, actually. I cannot know exactly how the people receive my music. I can sometimes feel it in the comments on social networks, but I don't want to be focused too much on those things because I don't like social networks too much. But this is my only way to know if the people like it or if it has an impact or not.

So on the second record, you had some amazing collaborations, including with Carpenter Brut, Health and Gunship. What were those collaborations like, and what did you enjoy about working with these other people? 

I really like working with them because they inspire me a lot. Carpenter Brut, when we composed this track together, we were just coming back from a tour of 50 shows or something like that. It was kind of the continuity of this kind of collaboration.

And Health, I really love what they've been doing for a long time.  I co-composed the track Hateful with them, so they co-composed this track with me. Yeah, it was good to collaborate with people; it was really different. Where the collaboration and the producer are so different, it's always inspiring. It's a good challenge.

When collaboration opportunities come to you, what do you look for to help you say yes or no? 

Depends on the timing. Sometimes I have time, and it helps me to make decisions because I'm always running out of time. Sometimes when people contact me, I'm like, I love what you do, but right now I'm so busy. Then there are other moments where I am free for a few months, and I will be like, 'Let's go for it.'

When I search for the people, it also depends on what I want. For instance, in my last collaboration with Ghost Dance, I knew his skills about production. He's so good, so talented. He is also a really nice guy, so it helped also because I love his artistic work.

I don't look for one thing. There are many ways for me to choose a collaboration. 

When you reflect on your journey so far, what is it that makes you smile that you always feel most grateful for? 

Honestly, maybe my track Unbroken because I don't know why and how, but it's working that well. I know also I was lucky because this track was streamed a lot. Right now this track is still working really well. And right now I just had an advertisement with Yves Saint Laurent two weeks ago. 

So I'm grateful because, thanks to this track, it helps me to produce new tracks because I have money thanks to this track. But I'm grateful for many things, for the people I met. My tour with Carpenter Brut was amazing. Playing at a few festivals, like Le Vieille Charruite, a big festival in France, playing at the Motocultor Hellfest was amazing. I have many things I'm proud of. But honestly, Unbroken is like, really? 

When do you feel most alive creatively? 

In the morning, weirdly, right now.

For a long time my creativity was better at night because I'm a dark woman and everything, but actually, in the morning, after drinking my coffee and enjoying the sun, I don't know why I want to do heavy stuff, heavy baths in the morning, just to wake up. Right now I feel that my creativity is better in the morning with a strong coffee.

As it gets closer to the UK dates, what is on your to-do list? 

Many things. We are right now reworking the show lights. We wanted to change a few things after the first part of my tour. Right now, the to-do list is reworking the show lights.

Also on the list is identifying how to bring my merchandise to the UK because it's hard.

Without giving too much away, what does the next chapter look like for you?

I don't know. Right now, I'm producing new tracks. It's been a long time since I didn't produce music because when you compose an album, after that, you have to work on the promotion, etc.

So right now, this is my first time opening my computer and opening Ableton in six months. I'm like, okay. I need to update all my plugins. This kind of stuff. I need to see what I want to do. Right now, I'm thinking more than producing. I can't share too much because I don't know where I'm going, but I'm thinking about it a lot, and I'm experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.

To every person who's listened to the music, come to your shows, or even picked up the brand new album, what would you like to say to them? 

First, thank you for the support. Honestly, because I am able to do music just thanks to them. I hope that they enjoy my album. I hope that they have a nice time going to my show. I'm trying my best to give a good performance and to produce good music. I'm doing my best. Thank you for the support.

Sierra Veins will be coming to the UK this week, and is guaranteed to be a show not to be missed. Full UK and European Dates Below

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Article By Thushara Chandrasiri