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Hi
Michael, first off I just want to congratulate you on a great album,
what's the background?
Michael
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Thanks
man ! Well, the background for all of this is basically an idea and
a dream. I love writing music and stories, and one day I just
decided to try composing an entire album. It took me around 5-7
months to finish the song writing, and then it was time to find some
great musicians. Morten and Niels where the first two persons which
I approached with my ideas, and they both liked it, so they jumped
on the wagon.
They
are both from DK, and live close to my town, so this was brilliant.
I already knew Morten before I approached him with the material, so
we go way back before Pyramaze was created. He is a fantastic
drummer, and a great person, so it was obvious for me to choose him.
The reason for why I approached Niels was, that I heard him perform
at a local festival once, and his skills just blew me away. I
managed to get his phone number from a friend, and called him to
make my offer. He said yes at once, without any questioning and
stuff, so that was quite easy :-) And now for the guys from USA. I
found Jonah because he had made an advertisement on the Wacken Open
Air homepage, where he offered his skills to bands out there. I
mailed him, telling him about my ideas, and he was in to it from the
beginning. We exchanged some promo material, to see if our skills
where matching, and so they where. I loved his style, and he liked
what I was doing too, so we agreed to do this. Jonah flew to Denmark
in January 2003, and the four of us (Lance was not onboard yet)
spent 12 days in the studio recording all the instruments. Actually
from the beginning I wanted to do the vocals myself, but after the
12 days in the studio I had to re-book for the recording of the
vocals, since there was no more time left for that. But before this
happened Intromental Management got to hear the material, and they
loved it. We decided to join forces, and this opened a whole new
world for us. Suddenly I was able to choose a vocalist which was
better than me, because of Intromental's great contacts, so I
decided to do this. They sent me 5 or 6 promos with different
vocalists, and Lance was the only one who really stood out. We then
contacted him to hear if he was available, and sent him the material.
He loved it and agreed to become a part of this. So all the music
was burned down to 6 cdr's, and sent to Lance's own studio in St.
Paul USA, together with the lyrics - and he then spent the next few
months finishing the vocals. After that he sent it all back to
Denmark again, and we mixed and mastered the whole deal in 5 days
back in the studio in Ribe. So, that's basically the whole
background story.
How did you end up being a
band with 3 Danes and 2 Americans?
Michael
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Well,
basically it was a matter of finding the most fitting persons. This
often brings a band to cross some country borders, and that's just
what happened here. I feel that we have a perfect line-up right now,
and if the price is to live far apart, then that's just the way it
is.
Lance King is a well-known
singer, how did he end up doing the vocals for an unknown Danish
metal act?
Michael
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Just
because we are so damn good !!!!.. :-)) ha-ha, sorry - I just had to
say that. Well, Lance just really liked the material. I have often
heard him say that it just blew him away when he heard it the first
time. So it don't really matter if we are a new -and to begin with
unknown band, as long as the music is good, then hopefully the rest
will come as we go along.
Is this more of a project
than a regular band?
Michael
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In
my mind, this started as a project - I even wanted to use my own
name on the cover. But when I started finding the right line-up, I
decided to make this a real band. So now Pyramaze is a permanent
band, and the members are permanent too. We have a fantastic common
understanding of where we want Pyramaze to go, so this is a
beautiful thing.
With 2 members living in
the US and 3 living in Denmark - is there any chance for you to go
on tour?
Michael
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Yes,
definitely. Although we are not talking about a 3 months tour or
anything, but we will be out there and playing as much as possible.
Most of us have jobs besides our music, and we cant pay all of our
bills just by being a metal band, so this will be a balance act
between the musician life and the "real work". We just
take a few days of rehearsing all together, before a concert or tour,
so this will work out just nice.
I know artists are not
happy to categorize their music, but how would you describe your
music to an outsider?
Michael
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Well,
I would say Melodic Heavy Metal with lots of hard hitting riffs and
an epic thing going on. We are somewhere between real power metal,
prog and just regular heavy metal.
What topics do you deal
with in your lyrics and why?
Michael
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It's
a blend of fantasy, nature and personal experiences. But I would say
that my main influence is the fantasy genre. It just has so much to
pick from and to dive into, so I think this is a great inspiration
source for interesting lyrics.
Jacob Hansen has done a
great job with the production and mix - how was it to work with him
and how do think about the production?
Michael
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It
was great working with Jacob, it always is. I have worked with him a
few times before I created Pyramaze. We always have lots of fun
working together, and there's always a down to earth mood in his
studio. I know how Jacob works, and he knows what I want - so it's a
pretty good match.
The internet is a very
important source for many metal fans - how do you use the internet
and how important is it for you and other new bands?
Michael
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I
think that the internet is a fantastic way to approach the fans, and
communicate with them - through the building of a homepage. After
all, the homepage is mainly for the fans - although it's also for
promotional purposes of course. There are pictures, personal bio's,
news, sound clips and lots of other stuff - it's a treasure chest
for a Pyramaze fan :-) So I think the internet is a very important
tool for any band who wants some good promotion.
Intromental is doing a
great job for the Danish underground, what has it meant for you to
be signed with them and how important is it for a new band to have a
management?
Michael
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First
of all, I think it's very important for a new band to have a good
management, and Intromental are good, baby ! :-) Basically what
Intromental has meant for us (and still means) is that they provide
a very good contact to the important media around the world. Also
they do lots of practical stuff for us, provide the interviews, help
with layout for booklet and posters, reading through contracts and
basically they just take very good care of us when it comes to
building us a name out there. That's what a management is good for
:-)
How do you see the Danish
metal scene at the moment?
Michael
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It's
pretty poor if you ask me ! It's very much underground here in
Denmark, but at least the fans here are very loyal to the music.
To finish things off -
could you pls. make an all-time Top 5 or sort of the 5 most
important albums in your opinion?
Michael
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Okay
- I'll try:
- Nightwish
- Wishmaster
- Iron
Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
- Blind
Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
- Iced
Earth - Something Wicked
- Stratovarius
- Episode
Thanks
for the opportunity of this interview - see you guys out there
-cheerz !!
A
bit thanx to Michael Kammeyer for taking the time to do this interview and all
the best for him and Pyramaze. Also a big thanx to
Claus (Intromental) for setting up the interview.
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