Hi 7 Thorns. First of all, please tell the readers a little about your self… where you’re from and how you got your name
7 Thorns.
Thomas: We’re a six piece band with a big love for fast melodic rock/metal. The road to this debut CD has been a bit of a bumpy ride. It all really began when Munk and Lars (ex. drummer) met and decided to give it a shot. After several line-up changes we finally ended up with Thomas-vocal, Pete-guitar, Kenneth-bass, Munk-guitar, Tyr-keyboards and newly Benjamin-drums. We all come from different places in Denmark, but ended up in Copenhagen for different reasons. The name goes way back to Lars and another guitarist, original spelled “Seven Thorns” but after some time we changed it to 7thorns, because it looks cool and the band comes first when alphabetic ordered.
You have just released a CD called “Glow of Dawn”. Where did you record “Glow of Dawn” and did you produce and mix it yourself?
Thomas: We recorded Glow Of Dawn at Stonelab in Hedehusene. The studio belongs to Steen Mogensen, bass player of Cornerstones, ex Royal Hunt. It took about two weeks to record the tracks and when we had finished we took it to Media Sound Studio at Amager where Peter Brander mixed and produced it together with us. We ended up really happy with the result! It had probably become a little better than we had hoped. Peter Brander is a good producer and a nice person to work with.
How would you describe 7 Thorns music, and your album “Glow of Dawn”, to any of our readers who may not have heard of 7 Thorns before?
Thomas: Some would say it’s a lot like Stratovarius and probably Helloween. It’s Melodic Power Metal. We strive to make good melodies for people to remember. Actually many people who don’t know Power Metal told me it sounded like Queen… and I said thanx!!!!
Who has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have a great cover?
Thomas: The art work was done by a guy named Mathias Norén who has done a lot of covers for different bands. I (Thomas) painted a bad sketch of our idea and he understood exactly what we had in mind. It was important to us to get a cover that somehow matched the mood and the energy of the music, and I think we got that. But judge for your selves...
Where do you rehearse and how intense is your rehearsal schedule?
Thomas: We rehearse at a farm in Tølløse. And that is actually a hell of a long way from Copenhagen. But we have our own facilities and we don’t have to share the room with other bands! That’s nice. And we can rehearse at any time we want, and make home recordings and such... have a few bears maybe... But for the time being we don’t rehearse a lot. We don’t have any concerts scheduled at the moment but we are planning a tour in the fall 2007 at venues in Denmark.
Who is the main songwriter in 7 Thorns?
Thomas: Pete comes up with the ideas, melodies and riffs of the songs and Thomas writes the lyrics and additional melodies. We normally arrange the songs all together when rehearsing and most of us come up with new ideas an inputs.
What are your influences and which CDs are in your player at the moment?
Thomas: I think the main musical influence of the people in 7thorns is bands like Helloween and Iron Maiden because there are melodic bands that write good tunes. Personally my favourite is Queen, and Europe is not so bad either. And the singers were/are awesome.
What tasks presently lie ahead for 7 Thorns?
Thomas: We have got contact with 2 specific labels out side of Denmark that have given us offers on a record deal but we have not yet decided. Perhaps we are hoping for something better than what they can offer us. But it is our goal to have Glow Of Dawn released in the rest of Europe, USA and Japan. As soon as we sign a contract we will make some kind of concert event in Copenhagen... public... so keep an eye on 7thorns.dk. As a told earlier we are planning a tour in Denmark in the fall. And then we plan on writing some new songs as soon as the inspiration is there… perhaps a heavy metal Christmas hit!!! J But we miss playing live and are looking forward to doing that again...
Let’s speculate – you have been granted a free slot on a tour of your own choice – who would be your ideal touring partners?
Thomas: Iron Maiden & Hammerfall
