KING DIAMOND INTERVIEW
The king of horror metal, Danish-born King Diamond, has unleashed another prime-example of blood, gore, thrills and assorted horror with his latest opus "The Puppet Master". We decided to do a "little" interview with the king himself, to find out who exactly controls the puppets ... as it shows, King is definitely the one pulling the strings here, as what was supposed to just be a small-talk, ended up in quite a big interview.

Interview by Lars F. Larsen
With King Diamond releasing one of this year's highest anticipated albums, I find myself having a chance to talk to THE KING himself. Of course I grab the chance for knowing more of the man and his latest cuttings. Has he finally gotten rid of the "Have to top Abigail" syndrome? Is he still more Danish than American? Will there be presents for Xmas? This is what speed-talking King Diamond had to say: Hi King. How's the weather over there in Texas now?

"We have pretty good weather right now, but it's a mixture of hot and cold. The other day I was walking around in a thin shirt, but today's a little cold. It's not like your shitty December weather back in Denmark, haha."

We definitely have shitty weather here. Ok, can you please begin by letting me and the readers in on the new story in "The Puppetmaster"?

"I'd love to, but I have to disappoint you that I really can't tell you about everything. The story is simply WAY too big to tell in less that half an hour. As shortly as possible, it's taking place in Hungary in the 18th century, and there's this theatre that holds 1500 people, where the dolls are man-high and have been put together of human parts. Some different demons are being summoned through several doorways in time and space, and there are numerous demons for each part of the body of the dolls. A very intriguing story with so much balls in it and a lot more to the story than on the previous 4 - 5 albums. It has an evil ending, a really heart-breaking and sad ending where I suffer a lot."

So you're in the story yourself this time?

"Yeah definitely, and I really get myself tested this time. It's suffering and pain all the way. Very hard-boiled and almost grotesque."

Ok. How has it been to work this long-distance band? I mean, in the old days you were surrounded by the band, but these days, half of the band is living across the Atlantic.

"Well, we had a very different angle to approach things this time. It's usually no problem to work long-distance, but we had to look at studio time and all that shit this time. After Abigail 2, we were supposed to tour, but due to falling sales in the business in general there was just no money for it from the record label and we had to re-negotiate contracts and all that. So we decided - in lack of time and pressure to record the next album - to record the whole thing here in my home. Andy brought all his professional gear over here with the recordings of his things and we began setting up the studio in my living room. You know, it's very big, so we had room for it all. And it's actually pretty cool to have furniture all over the place, coz that's the environment that people are going to listen to the final product in. Not in some kind of mixing room with naked walls and so on. Normally we spend 9 weeks here in Dallas, doing everything in the studio, but we cut it down to 4 weeks this time, as we were able to record day and night and you tend to work better and more concentrated when you're feeling at home. We had a fantastic time with each other. I mean: when we were not touring with Abigail 2, we all thought "Whoa, is this going to end now….less money from the record company, and if there's not enough money to live full-time of it, it's definitely the end, as we can not have other jobs beside it". But we got a hold of ourselves and did it this way in stead, which has improved the product a lot."

Did you write most of it then?

"Well, I wrote approximately 70% and Andy wrote the last 30. Even Matt (Thompson, drums) wrote a riff that he has been accredited for on the album. It wasn't really more than 5 chords, but the man's gotta be credited for what he's doing of course. But it didn't really matter who wrote what, coz the overall feeling of having done one Hell of an album is the important issue here. I have to admit that there's only 2 albums in my entire career - including Mercyful Fate - that I wouldn't change a bit, given the chance today. It's the first Abigail album and this one. I wouldn't turn one single knob or re-do one single volume of one of the instrument. Nothing. That's how good I think this new album is, and that's the kind of fantastic job I believe we have done on "Puppetmaster"."

And you haven't thought about the danger of not having an extra pair of eyes to guide a little bit through the subjectivity of the process. I mean: it's REALLY hard for you to be objective here.

"NO WAY. We tried it once on the "Conspiracy" album, and it was the worst decision in my entire life. We had this outside engineer coming in to do the production. It was a try-out that we had agreed upon with the record label, but after some days of the vocal taking, I simply had enough. He didn't know what the hell he was doing. I mean, I had done my first voice and was planning to do all the choirs afterwards. So he said, "ok, let's open up another track". He did, and I sang the first choir voice, to which he responded: "Ok, let's move on to the next verse". He obviously had no clue about choir arrangements and that I wanted a minimum of 5 voices on top of each other. Well, I wanted to test him, and began singing a little bit out of tune on purpose. He accepted it blindly and said: "Well, that's fantastic…let's move on". Damn! I called the record label the same evening and told them that I was losing my fucking nerve and that either he was out, or then we were. They were totally on my side, and we told him the day after that he was a worthless piece of shit, when it comes to producing vocals. Roberto (Falcao, producer and long-time friend) and I were really upset about all this. Well, we asked the guy to stay on the production as he had done a pretty decent job, producing the guitars. So we kept him in the producing team, and also in the mix, but Roberto and I definitely turned some knobs, when he was out taking a piss, hahaha. And he came back and said: "Well, I think I hit the right levels this time - this sounds fantastic"! What an idiot. So no, I don't want an outside producer never again, making us sound like Nine Inch nails or Pearl Jam. All respect for their sounds, but that is not what King Diamond is supposed to sound like. We have our own sound, and on the new album there are so many different styles of music. We even have a semi-ballad. Can you believe that? Well, it all sounds like us anyway, so that special KD sound is NOT to be ruined by some asshole, who wants to stimulate his career."

Do you know anything about the Danish metal scene these days. Do you know any new bands or don't you concentrate about that at all?

"Hehehe…I don't even concentrate about the international up and coming artists. I simply have no time for all that. I don't even have time for taking out all the old stuff from the 70'ies that I have in my home and which I'd love to listen to sometimes. Some old DVD and other film stuff, that I simply have to wait with for other times. You know, we have recorded, toured, produced, mixed etc, for so long that I can't remember. I came home and the person who was looking after my house had to stay for 4 days because of flight plans. And then I have had to clean this whole place, removing all the stuff, to make it look like a home again. That was 3 days ago, and I have done interviews ever since. This Friday, I began doing intie's at 9.00 in the morning. I had one hour of lunch break and then on, till 7 in the evening. That's 9 hours, doing 18 interviews. I mean, you almost forget what you say to people. It's like: "Did I remember to tell you about the tour production?….Oh, I said that once already…hmm ok"! So as you see, I don't really have time for anything. I'm not complaining, coz I love what I'm doing, and I'm so enthutiastic about it all (You can say that again, King!!!!)."

Can we expect a Euro tour? On my info sheet it says March/April, but I guess you can't trust those sheets?

"OOOH. You got more info than I do then. We'll definitely not come in the spring. I believe they are right now working on something for the late summer/early fall. You know, we have just been on our US tour, where we recorded the whole thing, and right now Hal (Patino, Bass) and Mike (Wead, guitars) are in Gothenburg, sitting there listening through the whole thing, to get the best shot of each song. If nothing interferes, we are going to make a special double live DVD for all our fans, who have been waiting faithfully for so many years for something like this. We are doing a special on both King Diamond as well as on Mercyful Fate. I talked to Hank Shermann, and he has a lot of old stuff lying around in his place of old MF stuff. Even our 5th show ever with that band. It will be pretty cool to see again. But it will only be made if we ourselves are satisfied with the material - if WE feel it would be something for the fans. With King Diamond, I have even more material here, and it's just a matter of having the time to put it together. We expect to have it done throughout the spring, so no Euro tour there. But you really have something coming for you. You know, on the new album we use a female singer as a break from my constant falsetto voices. To try something new and exciting. So when we went on tour, I thought "Why the hell not bring her on the tour, to make some choir voices"? She agreed and we spent some hours rehearsing the stuff that she has to sing - not only her parts on the album, but as an overall choirgirl. On my albums, there are almost always 3 different voices on top of each other, so I'd take the lower voice and she'll sing the middle voice. Second time we repeat the sentence or sequence, I'll go up and take the high pitch in stead, to make it sound extra aggressive and grandiose. It really gives some of the songs a boost and makes the skin crawl. At the same time, she's also performing as Grandma, Abigail or one of all the other characters we have on the set. I have no idea how she manages to change that fast in between the songs, but she does and I'm very happy to have her on the production. Just wait and see…"

I do believe you King, and I'm looking very much forward to join your dark universe again next time you'll arrive in concert in Copenhagen. Tell me: how does it actually feel to have done something as a Dane, that no one else but you have done (except for Lars Ulrich and Pretty Maids)? I mean, getting famous, living of the music and all that. Has it been worth it, or would you rather be a laboratory engineer on Novo now (Kings education).???

"I regret nothing! Even though it has been a very long road and it has its ups and downs, being stressing all the time with deadlines, new recordings, touring, never being home I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world. I have had so many good experiences with King Diamond and Mercyful Fate that I have enough for 3 lifetimes."

I grew up in the same city as you did…

"Ooooh, a Hvidovre boy….that's cool!"

Yeah actually. I was visiting your home, when I was a kid…seeing your alter and all that in your apartment. Do you still have that alter?

"Nope. I have to stress that all this Satanism is highly exaggerated. I mean, I don't pray to Satan or something like that, and I don't put black curses on people, making them into frogs or some crazy fucking thing like that. I just had my normal Danish upbringing, and I was a very self-conscious human being when I was young. One day, I saw the satanic bible, and I thought that this was actually the way I was already living my life. So I began studying it some more. I have been to San Francisco to see the Satan church and I also know LaVey's daughters personally, but that still doesn't mean that I am cursing people or praying to Satan. You know - it was more of a publicity thing of the 80'ies."

What is your opinion about MTV, and the fact that they refuse to show Iron Maidens new videos because their audience is considered too old? And what about King Diamond and MTV?

"I don't really know if I have any kind of opinion about it, as I don't watch the shit. I don't know if they had a heavy metal program since the 90'ies or what? I can tell you though: at the King Diamond concerts we see a lot of 13 - 17 year old kids down there in the crowd, so it's not like we have an old audience. Of course we also have the guys and girls of my own age and I like them too. All fans are the same, no matter what age they may be, but no one should say that the young kids don't like heavy metal. I don't know about videos and all that. It was good promotion in the old days, but since they removed Headbanger's Ball, I don't think there's need for a video."

Last question King: What's your favourite beer?

"That will be 2 different beers, namely Carlsberg and Tuborg. They are equally good and there's nothing like drinking one of those 2 beers. I can't get them over here though, so in Texas I normally drink Corona. It is pretty good, but a little thin compared to the 2 others mentioned."

Thanks for the interview King, and Merry Xmas & Happy New Year (let's hope there'll be presents).

"Thanks Lars, and say Merry Xmas to all your readers, friends and related people over there."