IronFire
Despite the fact that IronFire
is a quite young band, they have managed to gain a cult status in their
homeland, Denmark, with their first album "Thunderstorm". So consequently
and naturally the rest of the world got the chance to find out about these
incredible newcomers. However, as Mads mentions in this very informative
and honest interview, business is business and this is not always fair...
So, fortune played some tricks on them and forced them to many line up
changes whilst searching for the right label to release their new album.
So, we found them in a period of reconstruction, when they still try to
bring the pieces back together. Read what Mads told us and support this
great band!!!
1. HELLO MADS! I AM REALLY GLAD THAT IRON
FIRE ARE ACTIVE AGAIN. FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED
TO THE BAND AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE SECOND ALBUM “ON THE EDGE” TILL NOW.
CAN WE SAY THAT THIS IS A KIND OF REUNION OR DURING ALL THIS TIME IRON
FIRE WERE JUST INACTIVE?
Shortly after On The Edge was released Morten,
drums, got an injury in his elbow and had to stop his career as drummer.
A few months later Christian Martinsen, who I replaced, dropped out, then
Noise turned our third record down and on top of that Martin Slott quit
the band too. Since then there have been a lot of people in and out, so
we have never really been inactive, we have just been searching for a stabile
lineup.
2. FROM YOUR BIO WHICH IS VERY SINCERE, I READ
THAT AFTER NOISE LABEL CLOSED YOU HAD MANY DIFFICULTIES TO FIND A CONTRACT.
WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? DIDN’T YOU FEEL A LITTLE BIT MISTREATED BY THE LABELS
SINCE OTHER GROUPS LESS TALENTED THAN YOU FOUND MORE EASILY A CONTRACT?
None of us is exactly sure why Noise dropped
the ball on us, but the fact that since then have proved impossible to
find another deal remains a mystery to me. It has been the reason for much
speculation amongst ourselves, but mistreated, I’ve never really felt,
beeing that this is business and business isn’t necessarily always fair.
3. FROM THE RELEASE OF YOUR LAST OFFICIAL ALBUM
THE LINE – UP OF THE GROUP HAS CHANGED A LOT. CAN YOU INTRODUCE US THE
NEW MEMBERS AND TELL US WHERE THEY PLAYED BEFORE?
The lineup will be as follows:
Vocals: Martin Steene – Also in Force Of Evil.
Bass: Martin Lund – ex Morbid Vision.
Drums: Jens Berglid – Also in Sons Of Tomorrow,
Black Succobi.
As for me, the guitar and I´ve never
really been with any one before I joined here.
4. YOU ALREADY HAVE MANY SONGS READY. WHEN DO
YOU PLAN TO RELEASE THEM? DO YOU HAVE ANY PROPOSAL FROM A LABEL FOR A CONTRACT?
For this particular record we have written
a lot of songs, out of which we have chosen the ones describing the style
best and fitted best together. We are looking forward to an early 2006
release.
5. CAN YOU DESCRIBE US IN A FEW WORDS HOW THE
NEW SONGS WILL SOUND?
It will be Power Metal in its purest form:
lots of solos, lots of melodies, lots of power, lots of metal, lots
of every thing. etc.
6. “THUNDERSTORM”, YOUR DEBUT ALBUM WAS ACCEPTED
BY MANY METALHEADS WITH ENTHUSIASM, BUT YOUR SECOND RELEASE DIDN’T HAVE
THE SAME EFFECT - IMPACT TO THE LISTENERS. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THIS HAPPENED?
It all boils down into two factors;
1. promotion: On The Edge was promoted like
it was oldschool power metal, with references to Helloween and Stratovarius,
but this is not the case. It's power metal only in an alternate form and
that’s the way it should have been promoted.
2. The fans: The fans expectations were a
sequal to Thunderstorm, but it was not. - It was different and in no way
a poor record, just different.
7. IF YOU COMPARE THESE 2 ALBUMS OF YOURS, CAN
YOU TELL ME WHICH ARE THE SIMILARITIES AND WHICH ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THEM? DID THE LABEL PUSH YOU IN ANY WAY TO CHANGE YOUR STYLE ON THE SECOND
ALBUM?
Of similarities are the most mentionable:
The songwriting, Kristian's solos and Martin's vocals. Apart from that
it´s two different albums, first and foremost by production, where
Thunderstorm was pretty old-fashioned sounding opposed to On The Edge,
which has a much more dry and modern sound, which makes the atmosphere
surrounding it very differently. Though it was never up to the label to
dictate how the records should sound, they didn’t like the pre production
for what should have been the follow up to On The Edge.
8. SINCE YOU WERE ONE OF THE LAST BANDS THAT NOISE
SIGNED, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? DO YOU KNOW WHICH WAS THE REASON THAT
LED THE PEOPLE OF NOISE TO SELL IT TO THE SANCTUARY GROUP?
Being one of the last bands, I wouldn’t call
my self proud, but I feel kind of sad that we no longer are signed to the
label. For the reason for Noise to sell into Sanctuary, the only thought
that springs to mind is “business as usual”.
9. SINCE NOISE EXISTS NO MORE, IT’S QUITE DIFFICULT
FOR THE NEW LISTENER TO FIND YOUR ALBUMS. SO, DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO
RE - RELEASE THEM IN THE FUTURE?
None that exists at the moment, but we will
work on some kind of plan, that’s for certain.
10. RECENTLY YOU HAVE DONE A LIVE SHOW IN DENMARK.
WHICH WERE YOUR IMPRESSIONS FROM IT? DO PEOPLE THAT STILL REMEMBER IRON
FIRE EXIST?
The show went quite well in fact. The plan
about it, was to test how our new songs got received by the fans and of
course to show that we now have a complete lineup. IronFire has in fact
reached cult status in the Copenhagen underground and my impression is
that the rest of the world still has interest in what we are doing.
11. YOUR SINGER MARTIN STEENE IS ALSO A MEMBER
OF THE BAND FORCE OF EVIL. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS FACT WILL HELP YOU ATTRACT
THE ATTENTION OF THE LABELS EASIER? DO YOU KNOW IF AND WHEN FORCE OF EVIL
WILL RELEASE A SECOND ALBUM?
It`s most certainly in our expectations that
it will draw some kind of interest, but it was never Martin's purpose for
joining F:O:E. Their second album “Evil Empire” has already been released,
I think it was date: Mar. 24. 2005.
12. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO MAKE
A VERY PROFESSIONAL VIDEO – CLIP. WHICH SONG OF IRON FIRE WOULD YOU CHOOSE
AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
It would most likely be a song of the forth
comming album. Which one I`m not exactly sure, but it would most certainly
be involving an orignal concept based around it.
13. CAN YOU TELL ME WHICH OTHER BANDS FROM DENMARK
YOU LIKE AND WHY?
I am not really into any bands in particular,
but there are definitely some great ones around, just to mention a few:
Royal Hunt, D_A_D, Mercenary, Pretty Maids.
14. IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WAS A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
It would be a feeling of strength and positivity.
To put it all down into a painting is impossible, `cause the picture would
be ever changing, depending on which person, what mood and which situation
it is displayed at, it would even change just by being looked at...
15. I WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR
NEW BEGINNING… THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU AND PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE
TO THE READERS OF BEHIND THE VEIL WEBZINE…
I really hope that you are looking as much
forward to the release of the new album as I am. It’s gonna be killer!
And just feel free to drop by our website: www.ironfire.dk
where any news regarding the album situaton will be available. Hope
to see you soon, somewhere out there...
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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