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Interview With Thom Youngblood - Kamelot
Thom seemed in a good mood when he called me, and after we assured each other that we both were doing fine the interview could begin.
First of all I must congratulate you with the new album, it sounds great once again.
Thank you very much, we are very happy with the result. So far the reviews have been great, and we are looking foreword to the fans get a hold on it.
Well it's January 13 so it is coming up soon.
Yeah can't wait.
How did you come up with the idea for the new concept album, and can you tell a little bit what it is about?
Yeah, the idea of doing a concept was first spoken about, I guess right around the time The Fourth Legacy came out. We wanted to do a concept album, and the idea of Epica really started just as conservations between myself and some of the other band members, and talking about life and the universe you know all of our places, the human beings on the planet.
And the singer, Khan was talked to me about the story of Faust from Goethe, how it had a little bit of similarity to this character searching for this knowledge about life. So we really wanted to kind of touch on that subject and that was what inspired the idea of Epica, which is about a character who really is searching for his place in the universe.
To me it seems like your most complex work to date, was it difficult to make?
I would say that from each record we are getting better and better in writing, it wasn't really anymore difficult. It was a little bit harder because you have to really stick to the story line, you know. So that is important that the music is supporting the whole concept to the end, so that makes it a bit more difficult.
It is your first concept album, is it something you are going to do in the future. Are you satisfied with the result?
It is possible, we'll see. There is a story already written for Epica II. If we will release it right away or not we are not sure, so will see what happens. We are going to wait and see what happens with the first release, and then we can think about the next one after that.
On the album Roy's voice seems to be very much in front. To me it is his best performance. Was it important for you that the album had such a high profile concerning the voice?
That was more the mixing done by Sascha, but even if Roy's voice wasn't more in the front, he still did a fantastic job and I think it is his best performance on record to date, yeah.
You achieved a great step forward with the release of The Fourth Legacy and also Karma. Are there any plans for a big tour this time?
Probably, we are working on the different countries and things like that. Right now all confirmed is the Sweden Rock Festival, at the moment we are talking to promoters about really putting together a great tour, and it is even going to be in the spring or in the fall off course. In the summer we are going to work on doing some festivals other than Sweden Rock.
There are many great festivals in Germany; Maybe you have some of those in planning?
Yeah that would be great and that is kind of were we are at right now, we are talking to different people and different festivals, and yeah I'm sure we have much more to add than what we already have.
If you look back to your back catalogue you got a lot of great songs to pick from. Songs from your earlier works, Heaven, Song Of Roland, Eternity and We Are Not Separate they are pretty fantastic. Are there any chances that you will include some of them on this new tour?
Yeah definable, we are going to play at least one song from the first three records, maybe two from each record. We Are Not Separate is one of them, I think we might do Fire Within. We are going through the old songs you know, and the hard part of it is that there is a different singer on those records, so we kind of leave those older songs up to Roy Khan to pick, because he has to sing them, and we want to make sure that he feels comfortable with singing the old songs.
You have worked with Günter Werno from Vanden Plas before; He also features on your live record. What is your relationship with him and are there plans for future cooperation?
We are really good friends, and he is really busy right now doing different things other than Vanden Plas. He is also working in the theatre, doing like musical productions.
He might do the Epica tour, we are not sure, we have to look at his schedule. There are some other keyboard players we are talking to, but Günter is a good friend. I can see us working with him in the future; he also played on the bonustrack for the limited edition of Epica that will be out. You know the first edition will be this limited edition, and there is a song on there called Snow, which is the bonustrack song that he played the keyboards on.
Kamelot has a quite unique style and many of your songs seem pretty complex. On Karma (like it sounds to me) there are different layers, keyboards and guitar working together. Is that a style that comes naturally to you as you compose it?
I think so yeah. We don't have this formula you know; I would say it is definable natural. It is sort of a sound and a style that we have come up with.
Could you define your own style?
The style of Kamelot?
Yeah you know there are so many forms: Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal... it is kind of a jungle, Do you have a favourite one ha ha
Ha ha I think for Kamelot we are a Melodic Power Metal band with progressive influences, and also new age influences, but I think on the surface and on the backbone of Kamelot it is Melodic Metal.
I was wondering about the name Kamelot, can you tell me a bit about how that came up?
Yeah sure, when the band was originally formed, basically myself and the drummer Richard Warner were very interested in Medieval tales and we went to all the Medieval fairs that were in the town every year, where the guys come and they set up this big Medieval city in the woods somewhere and there is gallantries and things like that. So we were very interested in this Medieval way of life, and we wanted the band to kind of represent that. For us Kamelot was the most famous tale. We had seen the movie Excalibur, that was really the idea of the band, yeah. I think that my Mom came up with the name cause we very talking about different names and we were talking to my Mom about it and she's like; why don't you call it Kamelot, ha ha.
You are at Noise Records/Sanctuary Records right now, is that a good place to be?
Yeah defininitely, the cool thing is that we have sort of risen to the top of their label, so the priority is definable on Kamelot right now, and we are very exited about that.
So the future looks really good for us, and if it is Noise it is one thing, and for another label you know ahh, but for the moment we are happy with Noise Records.
It is a great label with other great bands like Virgin Steele which is my favourite, could there be a tour with those guys, or is it just a thought in my mind?
Yeah there is always possibilities, you know it hasn't really come up, but I couldn't see why not. I guess the thing with Virgin Steele and Kamelot is that we are kind of in some countries at the same level, so we would have to do a co-headliner kind of thing.
Unique bands both, but I guess the same people would go to see the show.
Yeah I think that would be a good package for fans. There are
all kinds of different scenarios that can come up, so we will see, I don't know when they are doing a new record; most bands are only on a tour when they have a new record out.
I noticed that the theme of spirituality is very important for Kamelot, can you tell a bit about that.
Well I think both myself and Khan really thinks a lot about the role of spirituality in our own life, also the role of religion in everybody's life. You kind of look around and see all these wars and things that come from organised religion, and you really have to start questioning what is that all about you know.
Isn't religion supposed to bring people together, not to divide people. I think that is an important theme on Epica, the most important thing is not really the religion you belong to, but the fact that you treat yourself and other people, and the environment and the world with respect, and that's the most you can really ask of anybody; to treat others like you want to be treated. I think that is an important message on Epica.
Ok. On the new tour are you going to new places, new countries?
Yeah I think we are probably going to Japan for the first time, hopefully Australia. We want to play in South America. We have to see what happens there and of course it would be great to come to Scandinavia. Other than the Sweden Rock Festival we are going to really try to organise at least four or five shows in Scandinavia, so yeah there are a lot of new worlds to visit, so we are really exited about 2003 and the Epica new year.
Last question. I was thinking about the band right now, you have had the same line-up for some time now, is it working well with the guys in the band right now?
Yeah yeah everybody are really good friends and we all have a good time on tour, a good time recording. So it is a good feeling. If there was ever any kind of changes it would be more because one person or another couldn't for fill the commitments that it takes to be a successful band you know. But in general we are all really good friends and that is a cool thing.
Well I want to thank you for the interview and wish you all the best of luck in the future.
Yeah my pleasure and hope to see you guys soon. Ok Tommy take care.
You too. Bye
Interview done by Tommy on December 16, 2002
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Written by Tommy - 12/19/2002 |
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