Lords of Black – II

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) Well, my as a guitarist I am really a lover of all the guitar heroes like Eddie Van Halen and all those guys. I got into guitar very early, when I was nine or ten years old. Obviously, in rock I like those progressive bands like RAINBOW and maybe a bit of Iron Maiden. All those classic bands from the 70’s and 80’s. Then, I got into more progressive bands like Queensryche and Sabbath Age. I guess I’m very much influenced by those types of bands. So, Lords of Black has a little bit of that. Maybe a classic metal meets classic rock with a little bit of progressive, but not too much. Just a good balance between complexity and melody.

Q) Your song “Merciless” is out now. What is it about that song that you think fans are really connecting with?

A) It has been just released, the video clip for that song. It is a definitely not one of the most commercial ones because it is fast, powerful and very long. It has a very long instrumental part in the middle. As far as I’ve seen from people, they are loving that. This one is the opener of the album. It is very powerful – power metal, straight up. Lyrically, it can be about vampires actually and that kind of “I love you. You love me, but I’m going to kill you anyway.” I love that kind of stuff when it is about feelings like love and hate. They are very universal feelings so many people can relate to that or they even use their imagination to complete the lyrics the way they want.

Q) Talk about the decision to add that instrumental portion to the song. Not often do you hear such a long break within a song.

A) As I told you, I love the progressive bands and those long songs are well constructed and aren’t afraid of going different places throughout the ride. I love complexity and depth in songs. As a fan, I really love that in songs. In Lords of Black, I tried to put just the right amount of complexity and commerciality because I don’t want to only get musicians and people who are guitarists. Obviously, the guitar players out there are going to love this song. They are going to be freaking out about the guitar solo and even trying to get the song note for note. They will all ask me for tablatures of every note. That’s not my point. Because for that, I also have solo albums where I play instrumental stuff. For me, Lords of Black is more about the music. The song comes first. All the arrangements and all the stuff…Obviously, I like classic stuff. As a musician and artist, I want to be proud of what I do. As I told you, though, in the right amount.

Q) Is there a song on the album that you feel is a favorite?

A) It changes. It depends. Maybe this week my favorite is “Tears I Will Be” because I love the chorus of the song. I love the solo on that song because it is so melodic. It is one of the songs that was premiered a few weeks ago and the lyrics are pretty personal, maybe even without knowing I’m talking about myself. I know the title is not correct English. I’ve gotten some funny comments about that, but I knew I’d have to give myself some permission with English like you would with poetry. I also had limitations with the chorus for the words I could put on so it has to be like that. It sounded fine by me! Europeans are not naturally born speaking English. I guess other bands like Scorpions sound a little bit funny, too.

Q) The songs on the album all have such power behind them. How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) I am the producer of the album and my friend Roland Grapow (who is the guitarist for MASTERPLAN) is the man I trust personally and professionally one hundred percent. He definitely has a word or two in the final decision on the arrangements, sounds and everything. I guess I am very much influenced by him about his song writing and guitar playing. We go for this powerful, modern sounding production, but with classic melodic elements. Maybe Lords of Black has these dark, modern sounds that are very punchy and powerful because it is what people want right now. It’s the way music sounds now not from a hi-fi system, but form a laptop or smartphone. That’s the way we listen to music now, for better or for worse. So, you have to sound this way – very powerful, very punchy. But I think we are much more melodic than the rest of the bands of our time just because we have this singer who is a world class different kind of guy. He sounds like Ronnie James Dio and I love that because I’m the biggest Ronnie James Dio fan that you could find. It was for me like destiny! Working with this guy has been very inspirational for me. I always wanted to write and now I can do it because I have this guy with me.

Q) What do you hope fans take away from listening to Lords of Black’s new album II?

A) The album is not conceptual or anything, but it happened with the first album…It has a cinematic approach. Even the songs are not connected between them, lyrically or whatever. But it is that kind of album that it is better if you listen to it from the beginning to the end. It’s the old way of listening, like when I was young and just listening to an Iron Maiden album – you played the album from the beginning to the end. I guess I am old school in that and I like those kind of albums. Not like EP’s with 4 or five songs or maybe just one song on iTunes or Spotify. That, for me, it is not an album. With the beginning of rock music in the 50’s it was about singles in the first place. It was releasing singles like every week or whatever. But since the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s (what I think is the height of rock music and rock music culture) the concept of whole albums is really important to me. So, Lords of Black I and Lords of Black II I think are strong and solid as individual units.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) We are getting a very strong fanbase by now. And we are very surprised and very happy to get new fans every day from the US, Germany and Japan. In Japan, they are crazy about the band right now and we are so happy about that. We really want to play Japan sometime in the near future. I would really love to go to the US to play. I used to go every year to Los Angeles and I still have a lot of friends all over the place. But I have never played there with Lords of Black. I played with my former band Saratoga in New York, New Jersey and some other places, but I would love to go to the states and play with Lords of Black. So, the fanbase is growing every day everywhere from Brazil to the US to the UK to Germany. I think it looks very promising!

All Questions Answered By Guitarist Tony Hernando