Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: February 2008
Hello Lance and welcome to RockNation
With past bands Balance of Power, Pyramaze, The Kings Machine, Gemini, Defyance, Empire, Decibel, Magic Kingdom, Krucible & Shining Star, Mattsson, that you sung for which project not counting Avian did you have the most fun singing for and why?
Well first off, there are a few misconceptions here I need to clear up, first is that I jump around a lot. You must realize that my first recording band was GEMINI and that I started working with that band in 1986. I’ve only been a formal member of 4 recording bands in my career; those in chronological order are GEMINI – KINGS MACHINE – BALANCE OF POWER – PYRAMAZE.
The tenure of those 4 bands span 22 years. And even two of those, I started as a hired vocalist and that position that seemed to morph into more, those being the later two bands. These four bands are the ones I enjoyed musically and professionally the most while I was in them.
I never sang on or with MAGIC KINGDOM, Dushan and I had discussed doing an album together, we had even went as far and working out a deal between us, but when it came time to record the album, it was in the early part of 2006 when I had just released the debut of AVIAN-From the Depths of Time (Oct 2005)
SHINING STAR – Enter Eternity (Nov 2005) and PYRAMAZE – Legend of the Bone Carver (Feb 2006), all work I had done over a period of 3 years sort of all hit the streets around the same time for several different reasons, this was perhaps a bit too much for Magic Kingdoms label Limb Productions, Dushan informed me that Limb wanted a less prolific singer for the new release so the band decided to work with another singer. I have worked with Decibel for the last 7 years, it’s a regional cover band that I enjoy playing with, helps me stay on my game and I like the challenges of singing in many ways/styles. But I would say, I’ve enjoyed all the bands I’ve worked with over the years almost on an equal level.
Pyramaze was such a good band why did you leave?
When I was first asked to listen to the demos of this band by their manager, I liked the tracks; I heard a lot of promise in this new band. Michael was extremely happy to work with a known vocalist. I was at this time basically a hired gun. As the album came together, I became more excited about the band and its possibilities, committed to promoting the band, and did so through Nightmare Records. Being able to promote the band through Nightmare gave me the resources and the time to promote the album. However wearing two hats like this doesn’t always bring unity in a band. Unfortunately, this usually will create a problem in that, other band members will see you as making money when they aren’t, regardless of how much effort and money you’re putting into helping their career.
As time went on, the band wanted to make me a permanent member, with that comes a renegotiation, part of that negotiation was that they expected me to pay a portion of money for our monthly Management fee. I felt this fee was ridiculous for a couple reasons, mainly because every other agreement for management I’d ever seen or been offered was either a flat fee or a set percentage, this deal was both. I didn’t want to pay for something that I had more resources for and was already doing for the band for free. This example and that of just the difference in experience on many levels, probably got in the way of me being an equal member in this band.
The bands manager had originally introduced us, in the end ironically, he may have been the one that put the nail in the coffin, likely because he didn’t appreciate my not wanting the band to continue using his services.
However, from the beginning, this was always Michael’s band, that was clear, and after his confidence grew with the success we were having, I wasn’t so “special” in his eyes anymore.
I will always be proud of what we did together. I was incredibly motivated to make the band work; I traveled to Europe for festivals and tours. I promoted the band continuously with my time and money.
However, because of the rounded amount of experiences I’ve had, and this being the first real band for most of the members of Pyramaze, we were clearly on different levels, but with me now having a more vested interest and wanting to share my ideas. That aspect brought some disagreements between Michael and I on business decisions. Music we always agreed on, but when you add in a third opinion in the mix when there are already issues (the bands manager), it can make things even more complicated, especially when the manager and the rest of the band are living on the other side of the world.
In the long run, what tore me from the band was probably a combination of cultural difference, a variance in our ages in regards to our perspectives and a manager that wanted to justify his role and paycheck by interjecting his opinion when it wasn’t always needed.
But to get to the real heart of it, at a key moment, two days before our set at ProgPowerUSA in 2006, when we were meeting up for our first rehearsal for the show, there was something that came up that was destined to rip us apart. This was facilitated I believe by our manager Claus Jensen of Intromental, but trickled down to each of the other members like a virus.
What was this virus? A misguided belief that something Michael and I had chosen to do for our show was not going to work.
This part of the show was about my son playing a violin intro from our newest album for our show at ProgPowerUSA, as the character of “the Bone Carver. Playing the intro from “the LEGEND OF THE BONE CARVER” album because by coincidence, Tomy my son (at eleven years old), totally looked like the bone carver character on our album artwork. And since he’d done the voice of the Bone Carver on the album, we wanted to include him into the show somehow. We’d been talking about ways to expound on the story line of the album, make our set something special, and stick out from the rest of the sets at ProgPowerUSA. I discussed with Michael, about my idea to have Tomy, as “The Bone Carver” open the show on the violin playing the main theme that opens the album. Michael loved the idea and we emailed back and forth developing how we wanted it to flow.
This all happened about 40 days before the show, the next month I spent a lot of time and money on an electric violin, a custom made outfit for Tomy, and flights for my family to come to Atlanta.
Also, the band needed a new stage banner, so I designed one and had it made. My label Nightmare was also paying for a “Seven” camera DVD shoot of our set there. So now two days before the PPUSA show in Atlanta (the first day we are to rehearse together) before we even strike a note, the band wants to pull my son’s violin intro… saying their reason for this was simply, “ they thought the crowd would laugh at the band and that this would be reflected poorly later on in the prog power forums.” No other explanation or rationalization was given to me, I tried to reassure the guys that I knew this audience; I’d played this fest and frequented it when I wasn’t an artist playing. I was an American and I knew these people and knew they would not respond the way my foreign friends were thinking…but the band was not budging on it.
I was devastated! I felt extremely let down. After I made it through rehearsal, I spent the next day trying to wrap myself around how I was going to tell my son he couldn’t play, we went out to explore “Underground Atlanta” and my son jumps up on one of the empty street stages, and say’s Hey Dad, check it out, and starts pretending to play the intro on his air violin humming our opening theme. I felt nauseous.
After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that this was a line that shouldn’t have been crossed. What I said to the band after an extremely sleepless night was “…If you pull this intro for this reason, I don’t think I can be emotionally into this band anymore, and if I’m not emotionally into this band, I likely won’t be financially into it either”
Reluctantly the band agreed to this, I knew my time was probably limited by saying this, but they had crossed a line that should not have been crossed by friends or professionals.
We went out and played a great set, and had an incredible response from the audience; everything should have been great right? Wrong…you have to realize I wasn’t the only one upset. My wife who was still sort of in shock with a band that she had really liked until they messed with her son. She felt it was time to deflate their stage high and let them have a little taste of how nasty the last couple days had been for us. That was enough to get me fired, she scared the shit out of those Viking Danes. ( LOL)
Two months later, I received an email from Michael ejecting me from the band, here is probably the reason it took so long…. in this email he clearly asked me to keep the news of my being fired quiet, they didn’t want anyone to know about this until “After” the release of the PPUSA DVD that the band still expected me to spend my money on developing and releasing after just being fired. That was a hard pill to swallow, how was I supposed to move on professionally or artistically when daily I would have to field questions about the band in both personal and business communications, having to pretend I was still in the band. I told Michael I’d get back to him on his letter shortly.
I pondered the situation and decided it was time to move on, I drafted a Press release and sent it out letting the world know we had parted ways and I wished them well, I didn’t want to wait and write one with Michael, it was over and I didn’t think he was going to make that press release a priority.
We had a great response from the audience that final performance; it was truly the best we had EVER seen from a crowd, with BLOODSTOCK being the closest contender. Every nuance of our last show as a band at PPUSA is on raw DVD footage that I have and own the masters of.
I’m proud of the music we made together, I’m proud of our performances we did,
I’m proud of the fact that I promoted this band to the level that a singer like Matt Barlow would want to come out of metal retirement for!
With moving from band to band, would you say that you are difficult to work with, egotistical, perfectionist or a businessman?
Things have a way of changing over time, people’s perspectives, goals, and stations in life. When you’re working with several individuals in a group, it’s sort of akin to being married or at least dating several people all at the same time. There can be a lot of dynamics or drama depending on the people you are working with. I would say, I’m probably a bit anal, a perfectionist to a point, but not so much that I can’t work creatively and play well with others. While I’ve done several recording projects, my longevity with bands I’ve committed to, has actually been fairly long and productive. I would say I’m a businessman and see things clearly from that perspective as well. I would say I’m very much a people person. Having worked for thirteen years as a counselor with developmentally disabled adults, I gained a rather interesting background in social work. I worked with a lot of diverse behaviors and unique personalities to say the least. I would say that is a good thing! It helps me to work through a lot of issues with others. As a business owner, I’ve learned how to make others happy; you need this gift in order to succeed.
Presently Avian will be releasing a new CD shortly called Ashes and Madness which fans can hear a few tracks on the Avian main website www.AvianBand.com and on the bands MySpace www.myspace.com/avianband. What makes this CD any different then past releases you sung on?
Yan Leviathan, has a gift for writing great metal songs. This is by far the most classic Power Metal album I’ve ever done, and yet, there is something different to this album than others. Like the last album we did, “From the Depths of Time” I’m singing harder, and this time playing keyboards as well. This album is an amalgam of metal and melody, it’s epic and yet catchy, it’s heavy yet accessible, it’s just a great album!
I was listening to the new track “Beyond The Hallowed” it has a Iron Maiden feel but a little more progressive & melodic. I liked it because it’s catchy yet the guitars are very heavy. Can you give us a short critique on the other tracks?
I would say that is a good summation of the album as a whole, while this track is more catchy than some, perhaps sugary sweet by some metal heads standards, other tracks will kick them strait in the face with a vengeance.
Are you singing on any other upcoming releases as special guest?
I’ll be working on the new KRUCIBLE material in the near future, there are other projects that have been offered, and things seem to come up all the time, but I only have so much time.
Avian will co-headliners March 22 at this year’s Nightmare Metal Fest in Florida being held March 21st & 22nd. Is it possible there will be another Nightmare Metal Fest in a different location this year also?
Indeed am looking forward to future shows, I would like to start doing them in other parts of the Country and ultimately the world. Since many of our artists are from Europe, that would be the next natural target.
Do you know if Nightmare Metal Fest 2008 will be filmed for DVD release so others who cannot attend get the pleasure of seeing what they missed?
There are no plans for this as of yet, however we will be broadcasting this event live via internet radio, and perhaps there will be rebroadcasts, this is something that all bands will need to sign off on for rebroadcasts, but the first live show will go out to everyone in cyberspace. That information will be posted in our FestForum from the main page of the fest site! www.NightmareMetalFest.com Our myspace is www.Myspace.com/NightmareMetalfestival
I read countless reviews and the one thing I read a lot is that other vocalists are being compared to you, how does that make you feel?
To be an influence to others is a great feeling! That is the ultimate compliment, the greatest benefit I could receive for doing what I do. It’s akin to winning an award or the lottery. This also pushes me harder to bring something new to the table each album.
In 1990 you founded Nightmare Records and have a variety of artist from hard rock to thrash, mainstream to Christian, with a special focus on progressive and Power Metal. What does a band have to do to get signed to Nightmare records?
I like well-crafted lyrics that are thought provoking, I’m not into processed cheese or “ the velveta of metal,” or any other aspect of the creative process, so class counts. Originality of style counts, artwork is always a plus, great artwork I feel is very important to an album.
Stuff I sign has to connect with me personally as a listener. it has to be well written, heavy and melodic. The material needs to be recorded & produced well, and avoiding the cliché need to be EVIL. Showing the horns of Metal is one thing, it’s all in fun, but many artists create a ridiculous façade of evil just to be cool, and some bands are true believers of promoting evil. Neither is something I have any interest in promoting, one being lame and the other being a paradox to my own believes.
Picking only one band from Nightmare records not counting Avian, which band most excites you and why?
Can’t pick one, if I did any given day I would give you a different answer! Each album has a place in my heart, or I wouldn’t bother putting it out there. Some of my all time WOW factor albums though I would have to say are BEYOND TWILIGHT’S “Section X”, SUSPYRE’s “A great divide” and MINDFLOW’s “Mind Over Body” or CEA SERIN “Where Memories Combine” for the more progressive metal stuff. And for the more power metal/thrash side of what Nightmare releases, I like LANFEAR “The Art Effect” and PROTOTYPE’s “Continuum” CLOUDSCAPE’s albums.
Does Lance King have any goal?
Every day presents new opportunities, I have many goals, some small and short term, some larger and longer term. My professional career and Nightmare Records keep evolving.
I’ve started a new festival this year and I will likely start a solo career in the near future.
Has there been any disappointment looking back on your music career?
I feel very good about my career, I’ve been able to do what I love and support my family doing it, I’ve been extremely fortunate in meeting many people that have been very supportive of what I’m doing. It’s very satisfying to look or listen back on the work I’ve done.
Music is such a huge part of my life, all aspects of it. I foresee my being in music a very long time, It’s a force all unto itself, music is life, music is energy, music is a conduit to the soul, I will do it until I die!
Lance it’s always good talking to you and RockNation thanks you
Would you like to say anything in conclusion?
Thank you Brian for the interview and the interesting questions, it’s allowed me to say some things that I think have been unsaid in past interviews. Rage on Metal friends, thanks for taking the time to read this saga of an interview, I hope you will make time to check out the new Avian album, and the new festival at the links above. Also stop by my myspace page and say hello! www.Myspace.com/lancekingvox
| 
