Dragonforce - Herman Li
Questions: Stuart Millen
British power metal band Dragonforce are finally making it back to Australia for Soundwave. Due here for last year's festival, the band were forced to cancel due to delays in finishing their latest release, the Power Within.
Since forming in 1999, the sextet have released five albums and played to thousands of fans around the world. With new vocalist Marc Hudson in tow, it's time for Australian audiences to feel the 'force.
Phoning in from Los Angeles, Caught in the Mosh spoke to Herman Li about recording the latest album, digital music and the disadvantages of having long hair.
Dragonforce was in Australia in 2006, 2007 and 2008. You were due here for Soundwave 2012 but had to cancel. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. Are you looking forward to finally returning?
Yeah, yeah… We were really looking forward to last year but unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’d been talking about doing it (Soundwave) for a number of years but unfortunately we couldn’t fit it into our schedule. And last year we though ahh, we can do it finally, cool. But we couldn’t. But now we get to finally do it and that’s really exciting, because I know it’s sold out already, a long time ago, so it’s gong to be really fun.
Your latest album, the Power Within was released last year. Did your approach to writing it differ from previous albums?
Yes, because of Marc, the new singer in the band, we pretty much changed the dynamic of how we work together. With the previous few albums, we would just write the music, go straight into the studio and record it. This time we spent a lot of time jamming, rehearsing the songs, playing it together before we even started recording. So there was a kind of organic playing, recording approach to the whole album. It’s actually been a lot of fun making the last album. Apart from things being delayed.
Can you see yourself following the same procedure for the next recording?
It’s hard to say. You kind of have to go with the times. And you can’t continue to use the same kind of techniques either. You have to discover and try out different techniques. I think that’s the only way you can learn. You can’t sit in a comfort zone all the time. So I’m sure this approach will be part of how we record in the future, but it wouldn’t be exactly the same.
Marc has an amazing voice, with great vocal range, but he wasn’t a professional musician prior to joining Dragonforce. What was he doing before joining the band?
When we first me him he had a day job. He was working as an electronics engineer for BMW and he played in a band, just for fun. Playing gigs at a pub. That’s kind of where he’s from. At the same time, he’s really interesting, so he’s learning the technical aspects of vocals. Not like just singing in the shower. You know, your taking lessons, learning to work the voice, so approaching singing like an instrument.
Since forming in 1999, the sextet have released five albums and played to thousands of fans around the world. With new vocalist Marc Hudson in tow, it's time for Australian audiences to feel the 'force.
Phoning in from Los Angeles, Caught in the Mosh spoke to Herman Li about recording the latest album, digital music and the disadvantages of having long hair.
Dragonforce was in Australia in 2006, 2007 and 2008. You were due here for Soundwave 2012 but had to cancel. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. Are you looking forward to finally returning?
Yeah, yeah… We were really looking forward to last year but unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’d been talking about doing it (Soundwave) for a number of years but unfortunately we couldn’t fit it into our schedule. And last year we though ahh, we can do it finally, cool. But we couldn’t. But now we get to finally do it and that’s really exciting, because I know it’s sold out already, a long time ago, so it’s gong to be really fun.
Your latest album, the Power Within was released last year. Did your approach to writing it differ from previous albums?
Yes, because of Marc, the new singer in the band, we pretty much changed the dynamic of how we work together. With the previous few albums, we would just write the music, go straight into the studio and record it. This time we spent a lot of time jamming, rehearsing the songs, playing it together before we even started recording. So there was a kind of organic playing, recording approach to the whole album. It’s actually been a lot of fun making the last album. Apart from things being delayed.
Can you see yourself following the same procedure for the next recording?
It’s hard to say. You kind of have to go with the times. And you can’t continue to use the same kind of techniques either. You have to discover and try out different techniques. I think that’s the only way you can learn. You can’t sit in a comfort zone all the time. So I’m sure this approach will be part of how we record in the future, but it wouldn’t be exactly the same.
Marc has an amazing voice, with great vocal range, but he wasn’t a professional musician prior to joining Dragonforce. What was he doing before joining the band?
When we first me him he had a day job. He was working as an electronics engineer for BMW and he played in a band, just for fun. Playing gigs at a pub. That’s kind of where he’s from. At the same time, he’s really interesting, so he’s learning the technical aspects of vocals. Not like just singing in the shower. You know, your taking lessons, learning to work the voice, so approaching singing like an instrument.
You’ve released Power Within as a digital download, as well as regular formats. What prompted the digital option? How do you see digital music and downloading affecting the future of music?
I personally like to have a physical copy of things. But a lot of people prefer quick delivery of things, of the album. They don’t want to wait. It’s just the way the whole music scene is going. And funnily enough, I don’t think there are any major record stores left in the UK. HMV just closed down. There’s nothing left. Even online stores are closing. It’s just the way times are changing. But I don’t think anyone can predict what’s going to happen. But I’m sure the music will carry on. I think the biggest money makers will be the people making the product to play the music, not really the musicians. But it doesn’t really make any difference to us because we make music because we like it, not to make money.
There are two versions of Seasons on the Power Within. What was the reasoning behind including an acoustic version?
Well, originally we were going to do an acoustic version of Cry Thunder but it turned out that it wasn’t really going to work that well. We tried Seasons and it worked better. So that’s kind of how it went. The reason for the acoustic version is that we just wanted to try something different. It wasn’t even meant to be on the album. It was supposed to be a bonus track or something. And then the record label really liked it, so they wanted us to have it on the album. So it became the last song on the album.
You have show in the Philippines and Indonesia in April. Do you often get to non-traditional locations?
Yeah, I’ve done guitar clinic in all these places, in Asia. Like the Philippines, Indonesia, China. I tell you, they’re one of the best markets for metal at the moment. For going there, playing shows. I do guitar clinics in Indonesia for about 2000 people. Just me and a backing track and you get 2000 people. So when you do a show there, you get at least 5000 people in the open air. They’re really fun. The show in the Philippines is in a stadium. It’s going to be pretty insane. They really love their music. Really appreciate the musicianship of metal and rock.
You have six weeks or so between your Australian shows and the gig in the Philippines. What do you have planned for the time in between? Do you have any new material you might be working on?
There are possibly some shows that may pop up in that time and we’re always working on new music now. We’ll be practicing our instruments. We’ll be busy. I’ll pretty much tell you I’m never bored.
I personally like to have a physical copy of things. But a lot of people prefer quick delivery of things, of the album. They don’t want to wait. It’s just the way the whole music scene is going. And funnily enough, I don’t think there are any major record stores left in the UK. HMV just closed down. There’s nothing left. Even online stores are closing. It’s just the way times are changing. But I don’t think anyone can predict what’s going to happen. But I’m sure the music will carry on. I think the biggest money makers will be the people making the product to play the music, not really the musicians. But it doesn’t really make any difference to us because we make music because we like it, not to make money.
There are two versions of Seasons on the Power Within. What was the reasoning behind including an acoustic version?
Well, originally we were going to do an acoustic version of Cry Thunder but it turned out that it wasn’t really going to work that well. We tried Seasons and it worked better. So that’s kind of how it went. The reason for the acoustic version is that we just wanted to try something different. It wasn’t even meant to be on the album. It was supposed to be a bonus track or something. And then the record label really liked it, so they wanted us to have it on the album. So it became the last song on the album.
You have show in the Philippines and Indonesia in April. Do you often get to non-traditional locations?
Yeah, I’ve done guitar clinic in all these places, in Asia. Like the Philippines, Indonesia, China. I tell you, they’re one of the best markets for metal at the moment. For going there, playing shows. I do guitar clinics in Indonesia for about 2000 people. Just me and a backing track and you get 2000 people. So when you do a show there, you get at least 5000 people in the open air. They’re really fun. The show in the Philippines is in a stadium. It’s going to be pretty insane. They really love their music. Really appreciate the musicianship of metal and rock.
You have six weeks or so between your Australian shows and the gig in the Philippines. What do you have planned for the time in between? Do you have any new material you might be working on?
There are possibly some shows that may pop up in that time and we’re always working on new music now. We’ll be practicing our instruments. We’ll be busy. I’ll pretty much tell you I’m never bored.
Your European shows last year were quite hectic, with shows on consecutive days. In Australia, you’ll have a number of days off between your festival shows; what are you looking forward to doing while you’re here?
I hope there are some shows that are still to be announced. Some sideshows. Because I know the festival shows are all sold out and there are some fans who couldn’t get tickets in time. It’s not often we get to Australia. It’s been many years now. So I hope there’ll be some of them. That’s more important to me than just going and getting drunk on my day off. If there aren’t any shows, then we’ll just hang out, relax.
Your song Through the Fire and Flames is featured on various Guitar Hero styled games. Have you played it? Can you get 100% on hard difficulty?
I’ve played the game. I actually played Guitar Hero when it came out on Playstation 2, so I was fully aware of the game when they asked us to have the song on there. I’ve played it on easy and medium years ago, back in 2007 when it first came out. But I’m no expert. It’s just a fun thing. I can see the fun in it. I’m not really into musical games that much.
You’ve played plenty of live shows over the years, with many great bands, to thousands of fans. Do you have any favourite live moments?
I’ve got one that I remember. There was one time where I stage dived in Canada somewhere. It was a packed out show and I thought it would be a good chance to do a stage dive because there were so many people there. But guess what? They moved out of the way! I jumped in and fell flat on my back. That was interesting. But that wasn’t really the problem. The pain was from when everyone was trying to pull me up while people were standing on my hair! Arrgh! That was pretty brutal. That’ll be something I remember. That was funny.
When was that?
It was, umm… 2008 I believe. 2008. The Ultra Beatdown tour. I can’t remember where it was. Maybe Winnipeg, Quebec...
Is stage diving something you do often?
I don’t do it often. Sometimes it’s just cool. So I did it recently, somewhere in Eastern Europe. I think Poland or somewhere like that. I was crowd surfing and playing the guitar solo all the way through. That was fun.
Dragonforce will be performing at the sold out Soundwave festival this February/March.
I hope there are some shows that are still to be announced. Some sideshows. Because I know the festival shows are all sold out and there are some fans who couldn’t get tickets in time. It’s not often we get to Australia. It’s been many years now. So I hope there’ll be some of them. That’s more important to me than just going and getting drunk on my day off. If there aren’t any shows, then we’ll just hang out, relax.
Your song Through the Fire and Flames is featured on various Guitar Hero styled games. Have you played it? Can you get 100% on hard difficulty?
I’ve played the game. I actually played Guitar Hero when it came out on Playstation 2, so I was fully aware of the game when they asked us to have the song on there. I’ve played it on easy and medium years ago, back in 2007 when it first came out. But I’m no expert. It’s just a fun thing. I can see the fun in it. I’m not really into musical games that much.
You’ve played plenty of live shows over the years, with many great bands, to thousands of fans. Do you have any favourite live moments?
I’ve got one that I remember. There was one time where I stage dived in Canada somewhere. It was a packed out show and I thought it would be a good chance to do a stage dive because there were so many people there. But guess what? They moved out of the way! I jumped in and fell flat on my back. That was interesting. But that wasn’t really the problem. The pain was from when everyone was trying to pull me up while people were standing on my hair! Arrgh! That was pretty brutal. That’ll be something I remember. That was funny.
When was that?
It was, umm… 2008 I believe. 2008. The Ultra Beatdown tour. I can’t remember where it was. Maybe Winnipeg, Quebec...
Is stage diving something you do often?
I don’t do it often. Sometimes it’s just cool. So I did it recently, somewhere in Eastern Europe. I think Poland or somewhere like that. I was crowd surfing and playing the guitar solo all the way through. That was fun.
Dragonforce will be performing at the sold out Soundwave festival this February/March.
