Kamelot
Kamelot is one of the most
quality and best melodic power/progressive metal bands nowadays. Recently
they visited Greece for the second time after around 5 years of absence,
so a short interview just before the live show with the band's mainman
Thomas Youngblood sounded really appealing to us. Here is what he told
us...
1.FIRST OF ALL TELL US WHAT HAPPENED TO KAMELOT
FROM THE RELEASE OF “EPICA” TILL THE RECORDINGS OF BLACK HALO”.
Well, after the release of “Epica” we did
some touring and went to Japan for the first time. Yeah we did a lot of
shows, then we went back home, took a little break and after that we started
working on the “Black Halo”, which took us about 6 months of writing and
other 2-3 months of recording. So, here we are again on tour and 2 years
have gone by…
2.PERSONALLY I THINK THIS IS PERHAPS YOUR DARKEST
AND MOST MELANCHOLIC RELEASE TO DATE. YOU HAVE PROGRESSED AND MOVED A STEP
FORWARD WITHOUT MAKING EXTREME ALTERATIONS TO YOUR SOUND. WHAT DO YOU THINK
ON THAT?
I think it’s a very good description of what
the new record is all about. It’s still Kamelot but a little darker and
lyrically the songs are darker and we have some more progressive influences.
You know it’s important we don’t change too much, because we want to maintain
our sound and the fan base we have.
3.ONCE AGAIN YOU USED SASCHA PAETH AS THE PRODUCER.
SO DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU?
Yeah…I mean we basically have the option to
use almost anyone we want so…
-AND THAT’S WHY WE’RE ASKING…WOULDN’T YOU BE CURIOUS
TO LISTEN TO HOW KAMELOT WOULD SOUND WITH A DIFFERENT PRODUCER?
What we were thinking about is perhaps the
experience of working and meeting with new people or even working in a
new studio, a new location. These kind of things are interesting to us.
It’s not the sound because the sound is not gonna change that drastically!
Most of the times we know how we want the songs to sound and how they should
sound!
4.OK “BLACK HALO” CONTINUES THE STORY OF “EPICA”
AND THIS IS OF COURSE AN ADAPTATION OF THE FAMOUS GOETHE STORY OF FAUST
EEN THROUGH YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVE. CAN YOU TELL US A FEW MORE THINGS ABOUT
THE CONCEPT AND THE LYRICS?
Yeah this is the second part of the “Epica”
saga so to speak, which is also based on Faust and on this album our main
character dies being deep into his self indulgence and the devil’s more
present on this record and in the end the character Ariel finally dies,
so it’s more of a romantic tragedy you could say… But without getting into
much detail, it’s a sort of a darker side of the story and basically the
whole album is sad until the very end where the song “Serenade” is something
like a hymn to hope and to life and things like that.
5.YOU ALSO SAY IN YOUR BIOGRAPHY THAT YOU STATE
YOUR PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THIS WAR AGAINST IRAQ. SO CAN WE HEAR THEM OUT?
Oh, well they are very subtle and hidden in
the songs…
-SO THIS MEANS THAT WE CAN’T MAKE THEM MORE OBVIOUS?
No, I wanted it to be something that people
would discover on their own… But if you’re asking for my personal opinion,
I’m against this war, if that means anything…
-WELL IT MEANS A LOT TO THE PEOPLE, BUT I SUPPOSE
IT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING TO THE GOVERNMENTS…
6.YOUR VIDEO CLIP IS SIMPLY AMAZING! IT HAS A
REALLY DARK ATMOSPHERE AND IT MADE ME FEEL AS IF I WAS WATCHING AN OLD
CULT MOVIE. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT. WHO HAD THE IDEA AND WHO WAS
THE DIRECTOR?
Yeah cool! Which one have you seen?
-“MARCH OF MEPHISTO”. I HAVEN’T SEEN “THE HAUNTING”
YET…
Oh, ok! The idea was a mixture between the
band and the director Patric Ullaeus and we did basically everything on
green screen, so almost everything was done on computers, so I was really
amazed when I saw the final result. Very cool!
-SO WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS SPECIFIC SONG “MARCH
OF MEPHISTO”?
Hmm… when you do a video you want to get airplay
and reach new audiences that don’t know anything about the band and for
us to do a double bass song would make sense. So, we wanted to do a song
to appeal to other fans as well apart from the melodic metal fans.
7.YOU’VE ALSO SHOT ANOTHER VIDEO CLIP, THIS TIME
FOR THE SONG “THE HAUNTING”. SINCE I DIDN’T HAVE THE CHANCE TO SEE THIS
ONE, PLEASE TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT AND DESCRIBE IT…
Yeah! Most of the shots were done in a church
and it’s mostly about the character that’s haunting the love of the main
character and it also has Simone Simons on it. She is also here with us
tonight. It has a bit of a contrast compared to the “March Of Mephisto”
video. It’s more romantic in a way and “March Of Mephisto” is darker and
more gothic.
8.HOW DO YOU FEEL WATCHING “BLACK HALO” ENTERING
THE CHARTS IN GOOD POSITIONS? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THIS RELEASE? COOL!
Yeah, it’s great! We always try to do the
best we can and hope for the best. We never make big expectations you know.
Of course we hope everyone does their job the best, the record label, the
promoters, the distributors… So, if everybody does a good job and you have
a good record, then things will work out…
9.YOU HAVE A NEW KEYBOARDIST. WILL HE BE A STABLE
MEMBER OR NOT?
I don’t know!!! He’s done a great work and
he’s fantastic live and he is also a great guitarist so you never know!
-WHAT HAPPENED WITH MIRO?
Miro doesn’t do tours, but Miro did all the
keyboards on “Black Halo”…
-EXCEPT FOR THE GUEST APPEARANCE OF JENS JOHANSSON
OF COURSE…
Right, right! He did a couple of solos. Yeah
Miro doesn’t tour and to add a permanent member they have to be able to
do everything, tour and of course replace Miro in the studio and that’s
not easy! He’s the best!
10.ONCE AGAIN YOU HAVE MANY GUEST APPEARANCES.
WHY DO YOU LIKE DOING THAT? IT’S OBVIOUS OF COURSE THAT YOU DON’T DO IT
FOR THE EXPOSURE OR TO WIN MORE FANS… SO WHY?
Well, we have the vision of a certain part
or theme and if we can have someone do that and play that role, then we
do it! Like for example in “Black Halo” which we wanted to make it like
a movie, we wanted to have characters and we were able to do that… In the
past we had guests that weren’t famous. On that record we wanted to have
Shagrath and Simone, because they are very talented on what they do! It
didn’t matter to us that much that we had Dimmu Borgir’s singer it’s just
the fact that he is one of the best out there and he could fulfil our vision
for the specific role.
11.SO, WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER OF ADDING MORE
BLACK METAL ELEMENTS JUST TO ENRICH YOUR SOUND?
Maybe! I wouldn’t want to make it something
like that people would expect to listen to you know!
12.I’VE ALSO READ SOME EXCELLENT BUT WEIRD NEWS
ON YOUR DRUMMER CASEY GRILLO. HE HAS BEEN CHOSEN TO PLAY THE FAMOUS DRUMMER
BUDDY RICH. SO, WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE AUDITIONS AND STUFF? WAS HE SELECTED?
Well, we’re still waiting to hear! We’ve been
on the road so long… I think one of the drum companies contacted him and
he took some photos and I guess they sort of know his style and suits them.
When we saw the photos we said “Wow! That’s weird!!”. (laughter)
13.WHAT ESSENCE AND FEELINGS DO YOU WANT TO CREATE
TO THOSE WHO LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC?
I guess it’s some sort of escape in a way
from the everyday life, whether this is sad or happy. We try to touch the
people’s hearts in some way you know…
14.THANK YOU! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO ALL THE KAMELOT
FANS AROUND THE WORLD!
Ok! Thank you for your support and thanks
for this interview tonight! We look forward to playing again here in Greece
and we hope we’ll have a good night!!!
Christine Parastatidou
Special Help: Dimitris Pantsiopoulos
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