Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How was the band formed? The band was formed by vocalist David Marcelis. He started by writing the songs for the debut album 'Beast Of Thunder' and recording the album with his brother Paul Marcelis (guitars) and studio producer Yuma van Eekelen. In 2010 when the album recordings were nearly completed the touring band was formed which also became the studio band for later albums.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Lord Volture consists of vocalist David Marcelis, guitarists Paul Marcelis and Leon Hermans, bassist Simon Geurts and drummer Frank Wintermans. All the band members are Dutch. The band is based near the cities of Tilburg and Eindhoven.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To play heavy metal straight from the heart and the bring it to all metal fans in the world.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Lord Volture play traditional heavy metal in the style of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Iced Earth. Soaring high-pitched vocals, heavy riffing and shredding guitar solos, and pounding bass and drum section.

Where was your first gig? Our first live show was at  the Queen's Day Open-Air Festival in Boxtel, the Netherlands. We mainly played shows in the Netherlands in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 onwards we started touring in the rest of Europe.

Where was the latest gig? That was a couple of weeks ago in Het Podium, Hoogeveen, the Netherlands. In October we toured in Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Our singer David Marcelis writes all songs and lyrics. He gets his inspiration from bands like Judas Priest and from historical and science fiction novels. When we rehearse songs before recordings, adjustments and enrichments are made by all band members, but let’s say 95% of the written material comes from David’s initial compositions.

Who has the best since of humor in the band? Everyone in the band has a lot of humor and we have a lot of fun on tour, only David is mostly serious while managing the band.

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? We play traditional heavy metal the way it was developed in the '70s and '80s. Our influences range from NWOBHM bands like Iron Maiden and Saxon to Bay Area thrash like Exodus and Megadeth and to power metal bands like Gamma Ray and Iced Earth. Some reviewers call us power metal or US/American power metal, but the general genre we play is heavy metal.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? It's the best music and it comes naturally to play heavy metal. It's just primal instinct driving us. The topics covered in our lyrics have a lot to do with historical battles, but also science fiction, horror and some more personal songs.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Original material only.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?

Beast Of Thunder - self-release, 2010

Never Cry Wolf - self-release, 2011

Will To Power - Mausoleum Records, 2014

Do you have any clips on YouTube?

Minutes to Madness (OFFICIAL): http://youtu.be/0RAwvyqD9DE Hearts of Steel (OFFICIAL): http://youtu.be/7kk7h2jhwG4

And many other videos and podcasts on www.lordvolture.com/video

How old are you?/What got you started in music? Our ages range between 25-32.

At what age did you start playing? We all started playing music as high school kids, influenced by the established metal acts such as Metallica. Slayer, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? With Lord Volture, between 21-28. With earlier bands, between 14-18.

What year was the band started? 2010

Best/worst gig you've played? Amongst the best gigs are SOS Festival Manchester, Festival Zeeltje, Very 'Eavy Festival, Tallinn Estonia, Blatná Czech Republic, Ponferrada Spain with Tim Ripper Owens, Roadgrill Festival with Primal Fear and Firewind, Occultfest and many more. There have been a couple of gigs where we were disappointed by the efforts of the local promotor to promote the show or in some places where the technique was insufficient, but we didn't play any really bad gigs.

What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? We have several shows coming in Holland, as well as Summer festivals in Belgium, England and Scotland. Several other dates have been confirmed already in Germany, Poland and the UK and will be announced shortly.

Where have you played from then till now? Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, England, Northern-Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia.

Witch band is the best you´ve seen? Judas Priest, Absolva, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Sanctuary, Saxon, Primal Fear

Is it always the same songs live? No, with three albums of material we always vary a couple of songs from time to time. Mostly for one tour the setlist is almost the same. 

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? We toured Spain, France and Belgium with Tim Ripper Owens and we did a 2-week headliner tour in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia and Estonia in 2013. Besides that we played many mini-tours across Europe.

How big crowds do you usually play for? 50-200 People for club shows, 150-1000 for festivals.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? To book shows and tours for 2015. We have no more shows in 2014.

Where do you usually play? Clubs and festivals all over Europe.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? If there are many people in that's pretty exiting. But in general we are quite relaxed and confident because of the 130+ shows we did together in this line-up. Also it is matter of focus, to take a moment of concentration before the show begins.

What are your goals with your music? To have a bigger impact on the global metal scene with each album and to play in all countries for all people in the world.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? Since we were kids music has been our main driver.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Older. They have more heart and soul and aren't so much under pressure to make catchy superficial songs without (muisical) content.

What's the first step when making a new song? Start with the main riff or the chorus. Then develop the rest of the song around it. Usually the vocals and/or lyrics come last. The guitar riffs and rhythm section are the foundation of the songs.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? We prefer fans to buy our CD albums at our concerts or through our web shop. But if it is hard for them to get access to our music or they cannot afford it we are happy that they can still listen to our tunes and spread the word amongst friends by downloading or streaming.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Our drummer Frank Wintermans listens a lot to jazz and pop music. Leon (guitars) also has a broad taste for music, for example Elvis Presley. Our bassist Simon Geurts listens to all genres of metal, but David and Paul mostly to traditional metal (including 80's thrash/speed) and sometimes classical music.

What do you hold most dear? Our freedom to play the music we love and to tour wherever and whenever we want.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? That it will become even more difficult for talented bands with real musicians in underground genres to compete against DJ's and popular genres and other types of entertainment/leisure.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Technical failures. 

Have you been part of any other projects? / Have you been in any other bands? All band members have been in various other metal bands such as Burn, Methusalem, Conquestador and Judas Rising. At the moment David only appears as a guest singer in some other bands like ZiX (Lebanon) and Winter’s Edge (UK), but he is not a band member of any other bands than Lord Volture. The other guys mainly play tribute bands besides Lord Volture. Guitarist Paul Marcelis plays in Up The Irons (Iron Maiden tribute band) and together with bass player Simon Geurts in Mercyful Fake (Mercyful Fate tribute band). The other guitarist Leon Hermans plays in Calling Elvis, a tribute to the King. Our drummer Frank Wintermans plays a lot of jazz and musicals but all temporary music groups.

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Leon and Frank are professional musicians, Simon is a consultant, Paul a lawyer and David a scientist.

What would you do if there was no music? We would burn, because a world without music sounds like hell.

How important are your fans? Fans are very important. Not only they make it viable to tour and travel, but making music without people to listen to it, to comment on it and to share the energy and joy from and passion for music, it’s simply not even half the fun.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? The most important thing is fans who travel many hundreds of kilometres to see Lord Volture play. That is pure appreciation. Much respect for those guys and girls.

How often do you rehearse? No, never, unless we are preparing for studio recordings or adding new songs to our live set.

Where do you rehearse? Different rehearsal studios in Holland.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Badajoz (1812) and Where The Enemy Sleep

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? I wouldn’t know. We play music for fun and out of passion, not for money.

Do you have any webpages? Check out our homepage www.lordvolture.com and Facebook www.facebook.com/lordvolture. We’re also on all the other social media like Reverb Nation, iTunes, Twitter, Soundcloud, Youtube, Spotify, etc.

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Play live always and everywhere. Take chances to play outside your home region/country. Be nice and social so you can come back and people will spread the word for you. And most of all, stay true to the music that you want to play. Don’t play false metal.

Describe your show, visually and musically High-energy vibe, rock ‘n roll and 100% band-audience interaction.

How do you view the music industry of today? Not bad, but you have to work hard for it and you have to be willing to sacrifice other things in your life. Also you have to be flexible and search for alternative sources of income and recordings and touring budget. For underground music such as metal it will always be difficult though, and competition is murderous.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Money, competition for the spare time of fans with other bands and other forms of entertainment (e.g. gaming, social media, DJ’s, etc.).

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? The best is the close contact with the fans in the crowd, the worst is that often facilities are poor, like technique, dressing rooms, parking, etc.

How would you describe your sound in one sentence Traditional heavy metal with a good mixture of NWOBHM and American power metal and thrash.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Doing 3 shows in 3 countries in 24 hours and touring with one show per day, 3-4 hours of sleep each night and 800-1100 km of driving per day.

Whats your Pre-show ritual? We have no special pre-show ritual. We try to get some relaxing time, a good meal and some beers before the show. We do our warming up, change and hit the stage.