From humble South American beginnings in Chile to the great white north of Calgary Alberta Laura Vargas, AKA The Inferno Doll has repackaged and remade herself from her late teen early hardcore punk days and singing early Nightwish tunes to performing in crumbling ruins and creating a later alter-ego.
After punk came symphonic metal, singing Tarja’s tunes (no small feat) with the classic lineup. “I did several shows with that band in Chile.” Vargas remembers. “It was fun.” She could possibly still sing “Nemo” but with a lower register and some growls.
Next was metal outfit Sacramento, releasing a record and two videos, one “Everything to Waste” was shot in the crumbling ruins of a former retail store. It was a legit dangerous but badass and risky experience. “My God, that was so long ago. I remember that day. The place was falling apart like every second, every time we played. Stuff was crumbling and we had to be super careful. It was so much fun shooting.” It was real, on location, no green screen or effects. Every step was treacherous. “It was downtown Santiago, Chile, in an electronics shop that got burned and abandoned.” Director Fernando Orellana Trincado pulled some strings and they shot for a few hours. “We had to leave because it wasn’t safe. We were young and stupid,” she laughs.
The video for “Purple also by Trincado included a young girl meant to represent her. “She’s supposed to be me as a child. The song was about my grandfather. Years ago I lost him and I wrote, thinking about him. The little girl was the young me and the older man was supposed to be my granddad.”
The newest video filmed in a theater basement for the new record, reek’s a familiar scent of tower dweller Renfield with The Doll chained to the wall, growling at the camera. “In “Renfield” there’s a section where I do clean singing but the majority of the song is growling.”
Her solo career began with the genesis of the Inferno Doll concept and story a few years before the release of 2015’s Dollmination . She told her producer she wanted to go solo, explaining the concept. He was interested. This happened at a backyard summer BBQ when she decided to ask, expecting a no. “The next day he sent a song he wrote and never used. We started working on it, getting together. That’s how we wrote the first album, just getting together with ideas. We had riffs, sometimes we had nothing and I’d just go to his place and say, I have this idea in my head.”
The Doll is her dark side coming to life, “Yeah, the story of Dollmination is about a spirit that awakes inside of me and decides it’s her time to live, gets out and locks me up.” Each song lyrically tells the story of this entity and dark alter ego.” The cover art shows the left side of her normal face with the Doll emerging from the right.
The “Sacrifice” video was an elaborate shoot showcasing a fire dancer, “Actually I met The Lady of Fire (Stage name) here. I went to these things my friend was organizing and she was doing fire dance.” She liked her performance asking if she was interested in collaborating.”
To bring back the Inferno Doll post-Dollmination The Lady of Fire posed as a fire dancing priestess conjuring and controlling the flames. With a flame-licked, fiery ritual the Doll was reborn on earth. “We did a few short clips to see the beginning of the new era. She was amazing.”
The video for “Broken Inferno” was shot in snow-filled February, Calgary weather. “It was so cold and I had the great idea of shaving my head, like bald. The next day the director said let’s go make a video, for “Inferno,” my skull was freezing.”
In storyline the Inferno Doll is a character and can be anything. “I say ‘she’ but it’s me.” The alter ego has returned to the mortal realm as this vampiric, ghostly entity expressing emotions through songs and storytelling.
New video “Renfield” gives one of Dracula’s hesitant henchmen the spotlight while “Ghost Waltz” gives a wayward spirit remembrance of mortality. Both were filmed in a theater in Indian Head, Saskatoon. Most of the building was used. “Renfield” was shot in the basement, most of it and Ghost Waltz was shot in the back storage area. Renfield’s red visual effect was to symbolize the transformation of the Doll to the vampiric character.
Renfield spends the video already in chains due to violent attacks and crazed fits. “Ember Belladonna played the flute in the video. She’s a vampire hunter that’s after me to see if she can kill me or not.”
“Ghost Waltz” is about a trapped spirit and one of her favorite songs that’s she’s super proud of. “The video turned out amazing. This lost soul’s been trapped for centuries and the dance is a way for her, not forgetting what it was to be human. Remembering feelings and emotions and she will eventually get out.”
With one song left to record, she has an album in the works, to be released the second half of 2023. A few singles will come out this year, then the album and a lyric video.
She’s read several versions of Bram Stokers novel. The story, music and communication with fellow casual-hardcore Dracula fans put her in a deeply creative, inspired place.
Though not all of Stoker’s characters have lyrical presence on her album, she’s written about several characters and situations inspired by the book. One song is her tribute to Dracula while Renfield’s her favorite character.
A future trip to Transylvania to see Dracula’s castle in on the bucket list, “In Transylvania they have this tour called Experience Transylvania. That’s super related to the book. Where Stoker got inspiration to write the novel and where it took place.”
Stoker’s Dracula is much different than the one we’ve seen on screen. “The physical description’s not the same, from Gary Oldman’s or Bela Lugosi, the most iconic in my opinion. He was more viscous and there was no romance between Mina and Dracula.”
Stokers Dracula’s her favorite movie version. “It had my attention and I fell in love with it the second I watched it. I like the classic Bela Lugosi movie with what he brings to the screen. There’s a fun movie that Leslie Nielson did as Dracula.” She’s seen other independent versions and online movies. “I’ve joined many Dracula and vampire groups on Facebook. They’re always chatting about these strange movies and footage based on Dracula. It’s amazing.” The Lost Boys has a special place in her heart.
There are different and shorter versions of the original story. “There’s an Icelandic version of the novel that’s told to be one of the first drafts Stoker wrote that wasn’t approved by the publisher. It ended up in Iceland translated to Icelandic. Not too long ago someone researched and found this book and started translating to English.” Once released, it was a completely different story. “It’s darker, gorier, I fucking love it. Powers of Darkness (The Lost Version of Dracula) is the English title.”
Vargas and The Inferno Doll will share their collective vampiric vision with the world this year. Renfield will have a new party platter to plunder and The Doll will be released in new nocturnal form and flame. The Doll and Vargas are children of the night, what music they make.
Website – www.theinfernodoll.com
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