Interview with:Thomas Youngblood
Kamelot is on the road to promote their new record ‘The Black Halo’. The American guys are busy to win new fans and with part II of the concept album with which they really impressed a lot of people. When the part I; ‘Epica’ was released the band couldn’t play their gigs in the Netherlands, so many fans had to wait for some years to see them. The evening in Zoetemeer was a great show and the fans were satisfied. When the whole tour goes this well Kamelot will grow even more. They have been at the top of the power metal scene for ages. Before their show songwriter and guitarist Thomas Youngblood had time to update us about the new record.
Of course we have to talk about the new record. The media and the fans are very positive, so first of all I wanted to know if Thomas had any expectations when the album was released.
“We always hope the best, but we never expect anything. We just do an album and hope that the hard work we put into it is appreciated. Of course we want the best with years and fans who love the album, but we don’t feel too bad about it when someone doesn’t like it for example. We are very pleased with the results.”
“We always hope the best, but we never expect anything. We just do an album and hope that the hard work we put into it is appreciated. Of course we want the best with years and fans who love the album, but we don’t feel too bad about it when someone doesn’t like it for example. We are very pleased with the results.”
With ‘Epica’ the band showed that it pushed the music to a higher level. It seems with this record that the band has grown a lot in those years. Thomas agrees and explains why: “Definitely, I mean with each album we are able to take another step. That’s important for any band to get more out of it; with recording, what you do, the time you put into it and writing. Of course it is rewarding to be able to have the concerts and more people every year. It’s really nice because our fan base is growing quit a bit now and that’s a cool thing, because I think everybody gets a bit of the spirit we tried to put into the album; a sort of spiritual thing that everybody tries to relate to.”
The first part of the concept album was the battle between good and evil, now the band used that main theme again: “The second part is more the continuation and the final of the story where the main character, Ariel, dies. It’s sort of a romantic tragedy in a sense, but the darker part of the whole story is more relevant in ‘The Black Halo’. We are happy that both records, although they are one part, both are very different from each other."
A concept album is a lot of work and I didn’t expect the other part of the concept album this soon. Thomas tells me that the band talked about to do ‘The Black Halo’ later, but they had the idea for the story: “We wanted to put it aside, so we always had something, but it’s important to do it now. I am glad we did it, because it was very successful. So the next record will be a normal album, not a concept. Of course it will have general themes, musically and lyrically that we always use, but not a part of a story. All the songs have their own sort of stories. “
The band is a bit exhausted due to the format of a concept album, because it’s more work: “Especially lyrically, but also with the music you want to support that. In a way when we did the concept album we tried to make a movie: special guests who played a part in the movie. So it’s more difficult, because more people get involved. Also you have to stay within the frame. With a normal album there is no frame: you can do a song about religion or history, they don’t need a red line. I really look forward to that, because a concept album takes a lot of effort.”
When you listen to both albums the songs surprised me, because it doesn’t sound like there was no motivation anymore. Thomas, sitting next to me on the couch in the backstage office, starts to smile: “Thank you. We really try to push ourselves to develop and come up with new techniques and textures. So we add new elements with each album, challenge ourselves; it’s important for us to keep it interesting. When we would do the same sort of songs on every record we would run out of motivation, ideas and inspiration. So for us to grow we have to do those things each record. I think we have the kind of fans who appreciate that."
It’s not an easy process, is it?
“It is a balance. You have to understand that old fans expect something and there are fans who never heard us, you have to add new elements. We all like different types of music, so it always fun to inject those elements from outside heavy metal.”
“It is a balance. You have to understand that old fans expect something and there are fans who never heard us, you have to add new elements. We all like different types of music, so it always fun to inject those elements from outside heavy metal.”
The last record turned out to be a bit more progressive or not?
“Well it’s a little bit of everything: more melodic, more progressive, more basic in other songs like; ‘The Haunting’, for example, is the most basic we ever done, but ‘The Black Halo’ is the most progressive song we ever done. To put it on a higher level you can say.”
“Well it’s a little bit of everything: more melodic, more progressive, more basic in other songs like; ‘The Haunting’, for example, is the most basic we ever done, but ‘The Black Halo’ is the most progressive song we ever done. To put it on a higher level you can say.”
And that all went very natural?
“Definitely! We weren’t going for this progressive thing at all, but in the end we listened to it and said: ‘Ok I can see what people think, maybe it’s more progressive. But it never was the intention when we did the writing. It just happened a bit.”
“Definitely! We weren’t going for this progressive thing at all, but in the end we listened to it and said: ‘Ok I can see what people think, maybe it’s more progressive. But it never was the intention when we did the writing. It just happened a bit.”
The openings song ‘March of Mephisto’ is very heavy, with aggressive grunts. The band wanted to do things differently: “We didn’t want to do it like typical melodic metal bands always do: the double bass. We wanted to challenge the press and the fans to accept the song; a bit slower, a bit more melodic. For me it’s the coolest song live: everybody banging their heads and the groove is hypnotic.”
Writing process
“We have two writers in the band so that makes it simpler, in terms of not having a lot of people who want to add or change things. I think that is one of the reasons that we’re able to make an album like this: it doesn’t take two years to do it. There are not a lot of changes in that way. Between me and Khan (the singer – SD), we always change things together and then with the producer who can change things before we record the album."
“We have two writers in the band so that makes it simpler, in terms of not having a lot of people who want to add or change things. I think that is one of the reasons that we’re able to make an album like this: it doesn’t take two years to do it. There are not a lot of changes in that way. Between me and Khan (the singer – SD), we always change things together and then with the producer who can change things before we record the album."
“When I compare the albums today with the first two or three it’s totally different level of quality of writing songs: I kind of understand structure and musical theory. When you can combine that, a creative thing, with different music elements that’s a growing process.”
“When we write a song we build it up: start with a main theme or a melody and then we build everything around that and it grows. We know we have a couple of verses or choirs and need to find a verse. When you have choirs first it’s a sort of dictates how the other part going to be ‘cause there has to be a certain key, atmosphere, or a riff. Sometimes the music sets the tone for the lyrics. Like in ‘Abanned’ the music was written for it but the lyrics were done at last with the melancholic piano parts. So with that structure the lyrics had to be very melancholic. Khan writes all the lyrics himself and I think that’s important as a singer; feel those emotions in the lyrics. Sometimes I help him out with some lines, but I think writing lyrics is one of his strongest points”.
The band has a lot of diversity, so that’s why I asked Thomas to tell me what the ‘trademarks’ of the band are. He needed no time to think about that: “Every band tries to find the typical Halloween sound and one thing that sets us apart is Khan’s voice and the musical structure. There is always a melodic signature. Of course with bands the identity comes first with the vocals. You see that with bands I’ve grown up with: Queenriche and Iron Maiden have that.”
American Scene
During the conversation Thomas is very enthusiastic about the audience in Europe, but he is not very interested in his home country: “The American scene is not much to talk about. It’s growing: coming back a little bit, but still it’s not to the point it is in Europe. Because we come from there it’s not the main thing we focus on, not at all. Europe and Japan are doing very well. Next week we go to Japan for a second headliner tour. We want to go where we have a fan base. That’s most important and being big in the US is not a goal of us. When it happens that would be cool. The fans in Europe have always been our base, so we never loose sight of that loyalty. We hope that we can do a tour with this album in the US. We talked with Timo (former of Kotipelto and front man from Stratovarius – SD) and maybe we can go out with Stratovarius when they are going on tour. We have some opportunities to look at and see what happens.”
During the conversation Thomas is very enthusiastic about the audience in Europe, but he is not very interested in his home country: “The American scene is not much to talk about. It’s growing: coming back a little bit, but still it’s not to the point it is in Europe. Because we come from there it’s not the main thing we focus on, not at all. Europe and Japan are doing very well. Next week we go to Japan for a second headliner tour. We want to go where we have a fan base. That’s most important and being big in the US is not a goal of us. When it happens that would be cool. The fans in Europe have always been our base, so we never loose sight of that loyalty. We hope that we can do a tour with this album in the US. We talked with Timo (former of Kotipelto and front man from Stratovarius – SD) and maybe we can go out with Stratovarius when they are going on tour. We have some opportunities to look at and see what happens.”
Dreams
“I try to take things day by day and appreciate things. Of course you dream about winning a Grammy or selling a million records, but we try to do the best we can, live and in the studio, and hope that the record company does their job. The rest is sort of up to faith. We are really happy with the progress of the band, the way things are going on this tour and it was a good package.”
“I try to take things day by day and appreciate things. Of course you dream about winning a Grammy or selling a million records, but we try to do the best we can, live and in the studio, and hope that the record company does their job. The rest is sort of up to faith. We are really happy with the progress of the band, the way things are going on this tour and it was a good package.”
Besides the dreams the guitar player still has a goal:”The goal has always been to embrace our fan base and sell more records, but we never had a specific goal: that’s not something you achieve by planning. It is just some of those things what just happen by working.”
Isn’t it hard sometimes to find the energy to play so many shows in a short time? “Not really, because the tour is not that long and we had a day off here and there to reload the batteries. Tonight it is the last show with Epica, so that is another level of motivation. Guys are going to play tricks with each other. I heard there will be 600 people so that’s enough motivation to play the best show we can. Sometimes you have to lay back a bit, when you know that you are getting tired, but we only had to do that once in this tour."
"The hard part is always being away from home. Basically we don’t do anything until we go on stage for one hour and a half. Most people have to work more than 8 hours a day: so we are very fortunate. There are people who can’t relate, like friends I grown up with, they don’t understand your job. One day you are in Italy and the next day in Holland. There are downsides like sleeping in the tour bus, but in general it’s nice when you not doing it all the time. You have to find a balance.”
What do you guys have in common?
Thomas: “Good question.”
Glenn (guitars): “We’ve known each other for more than 10 years."
Thomas: “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Glenn: “We try to avoid conflicts. When it comes to the music; if there is more power live than on the CD, the chemistry was great. We have been together for such a long time.”
Thomas: “We are friends first and then colleagues. I think you also can see it on stage: we play the same songs as on the record but the dynamics are totally different than anything you put on a record. When you do a record the basis is there, but live you see it when the drummer hits harder. We try to have fun on stage and in the end of the night it’s totally stressed”.
Thomas: “Good question.”
Glenn (guitars): “We’ve known each other for more than 10 years."
Thomas: “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Glenn: “We try to avoid conflicts. When it comes to the music; if there is more power live than on the CD, the chemistry was great. We have been together for such a long time.”
Thomas: “We are friends first and then colleagues. I think you also can see it on stage: we play the same songs as on the record but the dynamics are totally different than anything you put on a record. When you do a record the basis is there, but live you see it when the drummer hits harder. We try to have fun on stage and in the end of the night it’s totally stressed”.
Glenn came in and helped Thomas with the answer, but now he has to hurry because he wants a shower. Thomas explains to me that they don’t think about how a song sounds live when they start to compose new material. “You think about it when you are done with the song. Like ‘March of Mafisto’ it’s a strong song live”. It is the first time that the band made a video and the guitar player is very exited about it: “The other record company didn’t believe in making videos and we did. That is one of the reasons that we left. ‘The Haunting’ is no.2 on The Rocks and yesterday we were on MBC in Germany and that definitely helps. It’s a different fan base: not typical heavy metal. I am excited because I really like the videos and I hope it came out great!”
Then he looks on his watch and he has no more time left, but he want to say one last thing about the future: “I expect that in the future we still grown with every record. A few more songs like ‘March of Maphisto’ or ‘The Haunting’ and a bit more double bass and more power. Well we will see. For sure things are going up! I see no reason why that would change. I don’t want to disappoint the fans."
With those positive words he says goodbye to warm-up for the show.
With those positive words he says goodbye to warm-up for the show.
We want to thank Thomas Yongblood and Kamelot, the crew and Dirk.
More articles about Kamelot
Concert Review - Zoetermeer 2005
Concert Review - Bochum 2005
CD Review - The Black Halo
Comments powered by CComment