Interview with:
Kral from Mercenary
"Creating music is the real beauty...
I love that process and it makes my flesh creep"
,, I think people started to realise that a Danish band can make some good metal. A lot of things started to happen for us, also because of Century Media. So we played some gigs and did the tour with the Brainstorm guys, which just ended today. It was great: the response of the audience was amazing. The last nine months were very hectic: lot of interviews, reviews and exposure. It’s amazing.”
It isn’t hard that you can’t see what you doing?
,, It is weird, because I was the founder of the band in 1991. So I have been in the band for 13 years. In the last nine months there have been more things happening than in the last ten years. It is surreal to me, like ‘what is going on?’, because many things have happened that I dreamed of. Suddenly it is happening. I heard ten years ago from the Dynamo festival and ever since I was dreaming of it.”
Kral still sounds a bit amazed, sitting on the wooden table in the backstage canteen. The other band members are relaxing on the other side of the room. He is very open and easy to talk with. Sometimes he is focused on his hands when he needs time to think, but soon he looks up and with passion he continues his story.
Eleven Dreams
,, Finally somebody noticed that what we do is good and I think we have a good band for the last five years, but it is only last year that we started to be noticed. It has to deal with the label and the record ‘Eleven Dreams.’ We tried to make the album as good as we could at that moment. It is almost 1,5 years ago that we made that record. There are no short cuts; we wanted to make sure that every detail was perfect and I think we succeeded in that. The album is pretty big: aggressive and melodic - that is new in comparison with our other records."
Kral needs some water and full of power he continues: ,, We did all we could. We looked it over in the studio, so I don’t look back and say that I wish that I did it differently. For those songs are eleven dream songs. The lyrics are very personal, where I was five years ago. Now I am on another level and I am very exited to see what happens next. We’ll take the good stuff from ‘11 Dreams’ and build further on that. We found our path and don’t want to cross that. There are a lot of ways: from ‘World Hate Centre,’ ‘Sharpen The Edges’ and ‘Time Without Changes.’ It is different, but all comes together. We will explore a bit more: more aggressive, but you will always hear the trademark: the vocals.”
What is the typical Mercenary sound?
Kral: ,, That is very difficult to describe. It is everything: power metal, classical, and also heavy and death metal. There is something for everybody in it. It builds a bridge between genres.“
Has the band grown a lot?
Kral: ,, I think that Morten (keybords) and Mikkel (vocals) changed our sound. It is cool to have some more guys in the band. In the old days we were only four. I had some ideas, but couldn’t perform them. I couldn’t do the clean vocals and also do all the harmonies. Now I have the people and still I write the same way as seven years ago. Mikkel has a great voice and on this album he does a lot more then on ‘Ever Black.’ For me it is a new thing and it is exiting to sing along with him. It gives us a new dimension."
He smiles and he is so enthusiastic that it’s hard to follow: ,,I think the two vocalists sets us apart from a lot of other bands. Everybody gives all they have and they are talented. Mike on the drums is more heavy metal: more straight into the face. Martin on the lead guitar seems so young but he is amazing.
Is that also what comes across on stage, you see that you all enjoy it very much?
Kral: ,, We are very united and there is a lot of chemistry on stage, but off stage as well. We hang out together and are really good friends. That is very important because when we are only together when we have to rehearse or play, then it seems to be too professional. So we spent some time together, bowling, to get to know each other. Also we have meetings about ‘what do you want to do’ and what everyone’s goal is. Everybody can say what he wants and there are no hard feelings.”
When it goes that fast I can imagine that there is a sudden pressure, do you have that also?
Kral: ,, Yes exactly. Everybody has their own life behind the music: work, study or children and every one of us has to explain how much they can do and want to put into the band. Are you willing to go the whole way? We are ready to go for it.”
The other members heard that and they all start to laugh. It is good to see that they all have the motivation and passion to go on.
Then it’s silent and Kral is serious again: ,, My son became four last week and I missed his birthday. The other guys were really sheering me up. That means a lot: six different people just being a part from each other.”
Did you get the sound you were working towards in your last record?
,, With this album we went really far, it is not over yet. We’re gonna do another tour I think and it is still alive. I am really proud and I feel that it has to be explored more. There are still a lot of people who haven’t heard from us.”
‘11 Dreams’ was on the top of the yearlist in many magazines: did that help you a lot?
Kral: “The press discovered Mercenary, but the audience is still behind on that: waiting and checking out stuff. We did Dynamo now, Roskilde and then in august the Wacken festival.
After that I think that there will be more people who are familiar with us. Maybe then another European and then we have to focus on a new record.”
Attitude
Kral still has a lot to tell and is he is excited about all those things: ,, We have three songs or sketches. We are working on it. I think in July we will have some more time. We don’t want to do an album in six months. ‘11 Dreams’ was hard: everything was put into that and needed a lot of time. We don’t want to make a record that is not as good as that one. That would be a way down. I want the same level or even higher. I think that it’s almost impossible, because the press gave us 10 out 10, but just a little bit would be great. So maybe we can push it a bit more. I hope so. It is only a matter of having the time to do it: to make the songs perfect. No compromises: not in the past and not in the future.”
The Record is the end of a long process. There is a lot of diversity in it, how did you build up all those lines? Kral sounds almost shy when he gives an answer:
,, I spend a lot of time on writing lyrics, because in the back of my mind I was writing for two vocalists. In the old days it was just me and I knew how to sing things. This time I had to know what melodies we should do and which harmonies: it was so hard. Also in the studio I had some ideas. Michel tried it and we could check some different styles.
After that my voice came on top of the mix: sometimes it blew my mind.. ”Wow this is really cool!’ So many things are written spontaneously in the back of my mind. Sometimes we almost had tears in our eyes because it was so catchy.”
Emotions
Kral moves his hands, replaces his beer and smiles: ,, When I went to bed I heard the recordings in my head and couldn’t sleep. I really had some sleepless nights. I never thought that the press could be so kind and really listen to it. I think the album deserves to be heard at least five times before you get all the details. We spent so much time building it up.”
The lead vocalist and frontman is very open, but needs some time before he can tell what drives him:
,, Jakob came with some great riffs for this record and also the drum player, Mike, helped a lot. Morten does some great things on the keyboards: that inspires me to do new things. It is a bit chaotic, but everyone inspires each other. I don’t want to sit down and write an album. It has to come naturally and that is what you hear on the album. We are not that critical about what we play. When I hear a good riff we build it up from that. Every idea and every riff was on ‘11 Dreams.’
Inspiration
Because we both don’t want to talk about the band all time, I ask him to tell more about his home city. Kral lives in a small city: ,, I have a house near the lake with a big garden. I can write my lyrics in peace and the environment is also an inspiration. I lived in the city, but when I went out I had to talk about the band all the time. After ‘Ever Black’ it became too much for me. It is all for the music, but I don’t want to be a rockstar myself.”
Finally we get to hear what really drives him:
,, The process of creating music is the real beauty. I love that process and it makes my flesh creep. Sometimes I have that feeling ‘this is gonna be great’ and I still have that when I play the music. My favourite song ‘Firesoul’ where I sing in the end ‘As I swim to you my firesoul’ (He really starts to sing now – SD) that still makes me shiver. When we recorded it in the studio it totally took me by surprise how great the sound was. I had it in my mind, but I never thought that it would so good.”
I want to thank Kral and the rest of the Mercenary guys and Ron from Century Media.
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