KAMELOT INTERVIEW |
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Over the past decade Kamelot has been a consistent force on the power metal scene with one great album after each other. With their latest disc "Ghost Opera" out on the streets it was time to hook up with vocalist Roy Khan for a little chat about the band, their releases, touring and future plans.
Interview by Claus Jensen |
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Hello Khan, Congratz on "Ghost Opera", yet another disc with all the classic Kamelot trademarks present. I've seen on lots of webzines and in magazines that it's been getting really great reviews. I'm sure that makes you proud? :-)
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Khan: Thanx! Life is very good right now ;-)
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SPV is really pushing the disc with tons of advertisements everywhere, and on your recent tour you've handed out free promo CDs with the title-song to all the fans. How does that make you feel, seeing a label believing 100% in you? Aren't you curious to see the sales-results of this massive promotion campaign? :-)
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Khan: SPV has done a great job since we joined them and represent a turning point for us (from The Black Halo). We have good budgets to work with, they do great promotion and last but not least; they believe in videos for their bands. As an artist you never really feel you get the total sales figures, but I'm sure it is a lot.
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Where do you, as one of the 2 songwriters in the band, feel the difference lies between "Ghost Opera" and your previous discs?
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Khan: Thomas and I write all music together (mainly on guitars and keyboards) and I do most of the lyrics. The difference lies in a more conscious link between music and lyrics (at least for a non-concept record), at the same time Ghost Opera is more melancholy and monotonous than previous works. Some people will also perceive it as more mid-tempo which is as much a result of the album being shorter.
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I must admit as a longtime Kamelot fan myself (ever since the debut), for the first time ever I feel that the disc lacks something in the "energy-departement" and you're not as "adventurous" as on "The Black Halo" where you took everything over the top and tried out lots of new things. Do you agree with me on that?
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Khan: Not really ;-) The energy thing is debatable in the sense that Ghost Opera has less super-fast songs like When the Lights are Down and Nothing Ever Dies etc., but that doesn't mean there's less energy...it's just a different kind of energy. It's hard to top an album like The Black Halo as far as "grandioseness" goes with the overall story, the different characters, the interludes etc., but we are for sure trying out new things on Ghost Opera; the orchestra has way more horns (basically deep trombones), Rule the World has an Indian feel to it and the song itself is not comparable to any other Kamelot track with it's harsh and monotounous chorus line and long drum/guitar solo in the middle, Ghost Opera itself is the most over-orchestrated song we've ever done, on The Human Stain we use industrial elements and tune everything down to low C which gives the riff a very heavy & dark sound...and the list goes on ;-)
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Is there a danger in getting to know your audience and in the fact that people have come to expect a certain sound from your side? Does it sometimes stop you in threading outside of the box, so to speak?
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Khan: No...at least it doesn't feel like that. Of course we have our arguments over these matters, but we never let what we have done in the past come in the way for trying out something new. All development comes very natural to us however.
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Where do you plan to go with the next Kamelot album? You've (besides parts of "The Black Halo") stuck to the melodic power metal sound - do you plan on building further on that sound or do you feel it's possible to take Kamelot in new directions?
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Khan: Not even we know that yet ;-)
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You've, for the first time in Kamelot's career, integrated a keyboardist in the band - what made you decide to make Oliver a part of the band, and not just use guest keyboardists on the album? What does he contribute with to the music and to the band?
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Khan: The keyboarder situation for live settings has been very unstable since I joined the band (and since Miro has been doing keys on all records). He plays a some piano and key solo'son Ghost Opera, but first and foremost he's a nice addition to our live show. he's a very talented pianist/keyboardplayer, he's a great performer and he works socially with the rest of us (which is important when you spend that much time together I assure you). In the future he'll take more part in songwriting and recordings I'm sure.
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The cover of "Ghost Opera" was done by Mattias Norén from ProgArt Media. It's a great cover, and fits the music very well. Who came up with the idea for it?
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Khan: Thomas found a picture on the internet of a violin player in a really frantic and virtuous move. We gave it to Mattias, and he turned it into what you see on the cover today. He did a great job, and we'll for sure work with him again.
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Once again you have (although slighty turned down) used the deep-blue/purple colours for your artwork and photographs … I guess it's safe to say that Kamelot is known as "the purple band" within power metal, hehe. What does that specific colour symbolize to you?
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Khan: Huh...is the purple still in there? ...didn't know that ;-)
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You've already been on tour once in support of the disc around release date, and you're going on tour with the album again in early spring 2008. That's a lot of touring for 1 album … how do you feel when on the road, compared to being in the studio? What's the best thing about being in a band like Kamelot?
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Khan: There's two things that makes this worth doing; 1) making the songs & 2) performing the songs! Being in the studio can be both exciting and boring. The best things about being in Kamelot are the above mentioned (though making videos is also a lot of fun).
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Speaking of touring, you finally made it to Copenhagen for the first time in your career with Kamelot. As I've been following you ever since the debut it was a huge thing for me to finally see you here in my hometown at The Rock. And, since I (through my job at The Rock) got to spend the day with you, I felt very privileged. Unfortunately power metal isn't as big in Denmark as it is in many of our surrounding countries, but I think the fans that showed up enjoyed the show, and you guys put on a great performance. I've got to ask you what you think of the gig and the Danish audience?
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Khan: It was great!!! I knew that this kind of music is not commonly digged like in some other countries around Denmark, but that made the experience all the more amusing. Looking forward to come back next Spring on our 2008 tour!
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You've been touring with a lot of different bands over the years, either as headliner or in the supporting role (mostly in the early stages of your career). I'm sure you see everyday how the young power metal bands are struggling to reach it to the next level. What advice would you give to them in order to make it to the same level of success as you have now with Kamelot?
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Khan: You just gotta believe in yourself and what you do...that combined with a good portion of luck may take you somewhere.
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As Kamelot you're one of the bands using the new media to the fullest - both by having a great website(www.kamelot.com), a really nice myspace site with more than 27.000 friends right now(www.myspace.com/kamelot), a new website dedicated to each new release you do (www.ghostopera.com), and videos up at youtube. Is it important for a modern-day rock band to be part of the internet-society?
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Khan: Internet is a good thing for us (especially with the cross-Atlantic co-operation Kamelot actually is). I think it gives artists and bands that are good a fair chance to be heard all over the world.
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The download issue - with all it's good and bad things - are of course a re-occuring theme in any conversation with musicians nowadays. What's your take on it?
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Khan: I don't have a problem with it as long as you buy the album if you like it. Not a whole lot we can do about this anyway except making products worth buying, but I hope people understand that if everybody started downloading we would be left with a lot of "hobby artists" and mainstream music sponsored by companies and corporations.
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You (Khan) of course used to be in Conception, who actually have been doing a few re-union gigs in the past 2 years - and I know some of the other guys have done some guest appearances on the Consortium Project albums. Have any of you thought about doing some more serious side-projects?
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Khan: Thomas did Monarque with the old Kamelot singer Mark Vanderbilt and has had (and still has) some plans, but I don't know too much about it. I will also eventually do a solo record.
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I wish you all the best of luck with Kamelot, and I'm looking forward to seeing you back in Denmark in the future. The last words of this interview are yours …
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Khan: See you in Copenhagen next Spring!!!
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