The Blerd13’s keep clogging up your Saturday reading with ANOTHER interview! This time we’ve got Dragonforce’s Herman Li who will be appearing with the rest of the band at The 14th Annual New England Metal And Hardcore Fest at the Worcester Palladium tonight! Li talks all things Dragonforce including their new singer, their new album, and the kick off of their World Tour!
1. You’re back with a new album (The Power Within) and a new singer (Marc Hudson), how important is your latest album within the history of Dragonforce?
Not only is it the first album with our new singer, Marc, but it marks a new era of Dragonforce. The new album is important because it’s very diverse it’s given us the opportunity to put a lot of new ideas on there. At the same time though, the Dragonforce sound is still very much there. Fans will not be disappointed!!!
2. It’s been almost four years since Ultra Beatdown was released, have you continually been writing towards what would become The Power Within?
Absolutely, the writing process has been on-going basically since the end of the Ultra Beatdown tour. We were writing both before and after Marc joined the band.
3. Do you see the gap between The Power Within and the next record being so big or do you already have new songs in the works?
No this gap shouldn’t be anywhere near as big as the gap between Ultra Beatdown and The Power Within. We have actually decided to do some writing while we’re on tour this time round, which is something we haven’t really done before. Also this time obviously we don’t have to search for a new singer in the mean time!!!
4. What was the recording process like for The Power Within?
The recording process this time was much more organic, we jammed out all the songs with Marc before going into the studio. We focused more on the feel of the songs when performing them together. I think this can all really be heard on the album!
5. What does Marc Hudson bring to the table?
Marc has a really great vocal range from the really low stuff up to really high. He’s also able to express a lot of passion in his singing. This is something we really wanted to come across on this album so we spent a lot of time in the studio sculpting the way we wanted him to sing them.
6. How intensive was the search for a new vocalist?
The search was very intensive. We went through a lot of video auditions!!! But in the end we worked out that it was 8 months in total between Marc’s audition and when we finally gave him the job! We made him jump through a lot of hoops first let me tell you!
7. Songs like “Give Me The Night” and “Fallen World” are very much the hyperspeed Dragonforce playing that fans have come to expect but also decidedly more heavy, what pushes the band to evolve from album to album?
Well we don’t want to be known as the band that does the same old trick every time… That’s why we’ve really pushed ourselves in all types of directions on this album. On some songs we’ve gone even faster than ever before, and contrasting that, we’ve got some mid tempo songs! Something we said we’d never done previously! You can hear on “Fallen World” we’ve used 7 string guitars to give it that extra heaviness.
8. You’re kicking off your North American tour on Saturday at the 14th Annual New England Metal And Hardcore fest in Worcester, what can fans expect?
Fans can expect a revitalized Dragonforce for the shows in North America. After all this time off we’re ready to kick some ass again!!! We’ll be playing some stuff off the new album as well as old songs.
9. Are there any bands on the bill that Dragonforce will be checking out?
Well every member of the band has different musical tastes so I’m sure we’ll be checking out many bands at the festival. We all love all kinds of metal!
10. What bands influence Dragonforce?
I think we take so many influences, it’s hard to single out just a few. We’re influenced by everything from speed metal / power metal to thrash / prog / death / black metal. Each member brings something different to the table, that’s how the Dragonforce sound remains so unique.
11. From my experience, your shows and audiences have always been intense to say the least. Boston recently placed a ban on moshing and stage diving in area clubs. How do you feel about your fans being able to express themselves freely at your shows?
Obviously we like our fans to be able to express themselves freely as much as possible! If fans want to mosh, they will. There’s not much people can do to stop that! We have many different types of fans, some like to drink, some simply watch and enjoy the music.
12. Has there ever been thoughts of throwing fans for a loop and doing a ballad? Or better yet, a completely ballad-centric slowed down album.
We’ve almost always played a ballad in the Dragonforce live set to change the pace and break things up a bit, since we have a slow song on every album we have done.
13. Will you ever get sick of playing “Through The Fire And The Flames”?
I am not sick of playing any of our songs live to be honest. Playing a song live is completely different every time.
Dragonforce takes the main stage of The 14th Annual New England Metal And Hardcore Fest at 9 PM this Saturday, April 21st at the Palladium (261 Main St) in Worcester. Tickets are $45. Doors open at noon. The Power Within is out now through Roadrunner Records. Check out the Popblerd review right here.