INFERNAL
MAJESTY
To tell you the truth the
reunions of known metal bands of the 80's doesnt surprise me any longer.
Many of those just reunite for the money and release poor albums that have
no respect for their history and their fans. INFERNAL MAJESTY, however,
is a different story. They released an album that not only respect their
past story, but it is equal to their past releases. Yes INFERNAL MAJESTY,
still have the metal virus and deny to submit to the reunion trend. A band
that still has many things to give to the Thrash Metal genre...
1.HELLO! YOUR NEW ALBUM IS VERY
GOOD! TELL US FEW THINGS ABOUT IT... DID YOU HAVE ADEQUATE TIME TO ACHIEVE
THE RESULT YOU WANTED? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
Kenny: I'm glad that you like the
new CD. We are also happy with the way it turned out. Steve Teror and I
paid for the recording so we made it sound the best that we could with
our budget. If we had $50,000 then sure we could have made it better but
I think that it turned out fine.
2.YOU EXIST AS A BAND FROM 1986 AND
DESPITE THESE MANY YEARS OF EXISTENCE YOUR STUDIO RELEASES ARE ONLY 3.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN US WHAT HAPPENED AND INFERNAL MAJESTY DIDN'T MANAGE TO
RELEASE MORE ALBUMS IN THEIR LONG-TIME CAREER? WHICH WERE THE REASONS THAT
MADE YOU DEPART FROM A BIG LABEL LIKE ROADRUNNER AFTER RELASING YOUR FIRST
ALBUM?
Kenny: We wish that we had 10 albums
out by now but that's not the case. We've always had something happen that
would screw things up but we are still here. We had major problems with
Rick, our first drummer at the time - he just didn't want to tour and our
label at that time (Roadrunner) was not happy about it, this is why we
had to replace him as Roadrunner were not going to support Infernal Majesty
if we didn't tour. We did tour but most of it was done in Canada. We all
had jobs and to tour constantly with no label support was not really a
good idea for us at that time. We had a really hard time finding a great
drummer after Kevin Harrison left Infernal Majesty, we found guys that
could play our songs but that just wasn't enough for us. It was really
frustrating getting someone and spending so much time on songs and then
find out that it wasn't going to work. We wanted to have a drummer that
was innovative in his playing style and coming up with great drum parts
and we know that we found it with Kris Deboer. Kris and our bass player
Eric Dubreuil were good friends so the transition was smooth. It was really
frustrating getting someone and spending so much time on songs and then
find out that it wasn't going to work.
3.IT'S A FACT THAT INFERNAL MAJESTY
IS ONE OF THE BANDS THAT HAD A HUGE INFLUENCE ON A LOT OF NEW BANDS, ESPECIALLY
IN THE EXTREME METAL SOUND. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? DOES THIS MAKE YOU
FELL MORE ANXIOUS EVERY TIME YOU RELEASE A NEW ALBUM?
Kenny: We hear that all the time
and we are honored by it, I appreciate the fact that bands have recorded
our songs as well, it really makes you feel good when you hear that. We
are just glad that people still follow Infernal Majesty after all these
years.
4.LET ME NOW BECOME THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
AND ASK YOU: WHAT DO YOU THINK INFERNAL MAJESTY REALLY HAVE TO OFFER IN
THE CONTEMPORARY METAL SCENE, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT THRASH METAL HAS
PROGRESSED A LOT THESE PAST FEW YEARS. AREN'T YOU AFRAID THAT SOME MIGHT
“ACCUSE” YOU OF BEIING TOO OLD FASHIONED?
Kenny: No... It never really
bothered me. Trends are just that trends. We never followed one and never
will. We'll wear what we want, look the way we want, because that's us,
I don't need to have people tell us how to sound or look. People couldn't
figure us out at the beginning, but in the end it's the music that counts.
5.WHICH WERE THE REASONS THAT “FORCED“
CHRIS BAILEY, THE BAND'S SINGER, TO DEPART FROM THE BAND IN THE PAST? HOW
DID THIS AFFECT T?? ???D? FINALLY, WHICH WERE THE REASONS THAT BROUGHT
HIM BACK?
Kenny: That was a weird time for
us. We had to replace Rick and Psycopath and that wasn't easy but it had
to be done and Chris was having some personal issues that he had to deal
with so we had to get another singer. That singer turned out to be Vince
and he's the one you hear on the "Creation of Chaos" demo. We always knew
that Chris was going to be back and in the end everything worked out fine.
6.THE LINE UP OF INFERNAL MAJESTY HAS
2 NEW MEMBERS. PLEASE INTRODUCE THEM TO US. WHERE WERE THEY PLAYING OR
WHAT WERE THEY DOING BEFORE JOINING INFERNAL MAJESTY?
Kenny: We had placed ads and held
auditions - we'd give them 2 songs to learn and if they couldn't do that
then don't bother wasting our time. Kris played with a few bands
in the Vancouver area for years but none of those bands really went anywhere.
When we first met Kris we knew right away that he would be the new drummer
for Infernal Majesty, of course it's important to be a good musican but
personality is just as important, I mean we could have the greatest drummer
on the world but if he's a complete asshole then what's the point of having
him in the band? We were really lucky with Eric as well. He lives with
Kris so once Kris joined the band Eric would always come down to rehearsal,
next thing you he was replacing Kiel Wilson (the bass player we had at
that time), it worked out great for all of us. I can honestly say that
this is the happiest this band has every been.
7.SINCE THE PROMO CD DOESN'T INCLUDE
ANY LYRICS, CAN YOU TELL ME THE MAIN TOPICS OF THE ALBUM? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE LYRICAL CONTENT OF THE SONGS AND WHERE FROM DO YOU DRAW INFLUENCES?
Kenny: We try to write about interesting
subjects most of them about real events that have happened in the past.
We get all kinds of ideas from movies and books as well. It would be pointless
for us to just write about Satan all the time.
8.I AM INTERESTED INTO LEARNING HOW
COME AND A BIG BAND LIKE YOU SIGNED WITH A VERY PROMISING GREEK LABEL LIKE
BLACK LOTUS. HOW DID THE CONTACTS START AND HOW DID YOU END UP IN AN AGREEMENT?
TO PUT IT BETTER, WITH WHAT CRITERIA DID YOU SELECT THEM? HOW MANY ALBUMS
WILL YOU RELEASE UNDER BLACK LOTUS?
Kenny: We signed first with Galy
Records and gave them the rights to North America only and they knew that
we wanted to have a different label with bigger distribution to handle
Europe and the rest of the world and that's why we signed with Black Lotus.
Both labels have been good so far and both labels know of the troubles
that Infernal Majesty have had with labels in the past. Steve and I paid
for the recording of "One Who Points To Death" as we did with "Unholier
Than Thou" so if there should be a problem we still own the rights to the
album. We will be doing a new CD for Black Lotus in 2005.
9.OK! WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK DID YOU
RECEIVE FROM THE ZINES AND FANS FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM? ARE YOU SATISFIED FROM
THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE? WHAT KIND OF COMMENTS DO YOU RECEIVE MORE OR
LESS?
Kenny: The response has been over-whelming.
Our management is getting tons of request for tours and shows. It's great
to have fans behind us for all these years and we really appreciate all
the support that people have been giving Infernal Majesty.
10.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE APPEARANCES
OR FOR A TOUR? NOW THAT YOU ARE SIGNED FROM A GREEK LABEL I SUPPOSE WE
WILL SEE YOU IN GREECE, RIGHT?
Kenny: Of course we will be there.
That's what its all about, playing live.
11.IF YOU COULD INVITE SOME MUSICIANS
TO PARTICIPATE IN “ONE WHO POINTS TO DEATH”, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Kenny: Wow... thats tough, I can
think of a million people but I would love to have had Slayer do something
with us, that would have been great.
12.BY THE WAY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH
THE ALBUM'S TITLE, “ONE WHO POINTS TO DEATH”? IS THERE ANYTHING IN SPECIFIC
YOU'D LIKE TO SUGGEST?
Kenny: At first we were going
to call it "The History of Hell" but in the end decided to call it "One
Who Points To Death", we just liked the way it sounded.
13.NOW, EXPLAIN THE COVER ARTWORK...
IS THIS WINGED DEMON THE ONE WHO POINTS TO DEATH? THE FACES AROUND HIS
ARE SOULDS OF DEATH PEOPLE? WHAT'S THE MAIN CONCEPT OF THIS COVER ARTWORK?
Kenny: We just hired an artist
and told her basicaly what we wanted her to do. She listened to the songs
on the cd and started to draw what she thought the songs described. I think
that eveyone will have their own interpetation of the cover and what it
means but there is no hidden meaning to it.
14.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK CAN DESCRIBE
YOUR MUSIC BETTER AND WHICH PHRASE CAN SUM UP THE WHOLE INFERNAL MAJESTY
HISTORY?
Kenny: Oh I don't know, but we
have always stuck to our roots, Steve and I have been together for close
to 20 years now, we both have the same musical ideas and write what we
like to play. I don't think after all this time we will change our style
now. I truly think this is going to be our year. I can feel it, we've been
getting so many positive responses from everyone. Our management company
is swamped with offers for tours so I really think that this could the
begining for "Infernal Majesty" in a big way.
15.THANK YOU! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE
READERS AND TO THE INFERNAL MAJESTY FANS...
Kenny: Just want to thank
everyone that has supported us over the years and don't think that we are
going away anytime soon. Thanks for the interview, if anyone would like
any further info on Infernal Majesty just go to our web site at http://www.infernalmajesty.com
Nikos "William_Kidd" Parastatidis
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