Camren Cruz – Yeah, that was the orange one, self-titled…No wait, 2012, that is The Fire Is Mine.

CC – No. I'm just the guitar player, we collectively write everything.

CC – Yeah, Sabrina (Valentine) and I are married and Keith and Kevin (Byrd) are brothers. So, we're just kind of a union.

CC – (Laughs) Yeah.

CC – Brittney is Keith's fiancee.

CC – Yeah, she's our rock.

CC – Yeah.

CC – Yeah, I was just getting out of high school. I was in a Christian metalcore band called THE SOLEMN VOW, and I had just discovered power metal, and I thought that was so cool. SEVEN KINGDOMS started as a project and it was half power metal and half death metal. I wanted to combine the two, but then as we added Sabrina in the band, we just went more power metal.

CC – STRATOVARIUS, BLIND GUARDIAN, HELLOWEEN, HAMMERFALL… all if the major ones.

CC – I haven't listened to it too much, just because I haven't had the time to digest it. Keith has, he's our HELLOWEEN guy. If you listen, he's really into their drums.

CC – (Laughs) Yeah, he really likes, not the current drummer. He loves them all, but he…

CC – I think so.

CC – Yeah, yeah.

CC – Oh, that's cool.

CC – I'd love to see that Pumpkins United thing.

CC – Oh, on the records definitely. I mean the next record is probably not going to have a lick of screaming on it.

CC – Yeah, definitely.

CC – (Laughs) Maybe. I guess we would call that "true metal." For our side, it's that kind of MANOWAR, HAMMERFALL, ACCEPT-ness. I mean we get that a bunch, but we don't really listen to a ton of it.

CC – Oh, I see that!

CC – It's funny, because we don't listen to a ton of IRON MAIDEN at all. So, we just got the dual lead thing just because, Kevin and I… actually, it was more of a METALLICA thing. For us, I think the first harmonized guitars we heard are METALLICA.

CC – Definitely thrash for sure.

CC – Maybe.

CC – You mean like a concept record?

CC – Actually, Brothers Of The Night, which the lyrics were written by our old vocalist Bryan (Edwards), I think that was considered a concept record, because it was kind of like a Game Of Thrones story. When we moved on, actually, AETHER REALM (another band on this tour) calls them an album of non-like bangers. So every song has a completely different story. We like that, but the new record in the spring, has a couple of songs loosely connected that's our own little sci-fi/fantasy thing.

CC – Kevin did the lyrics for that. It's an H. P. Lovecraft inspired story.

CC – Yeah, kind of. The older we get, the more personal life stuff comes into the music. We try to keep that kind of power metal tendency. I hate to say it like that, but sometimes you just have to sprinkle in the fantasy words, not to sell records, but to keep it cool for the listeners. We try to still put that fantasy vibe on the songs, but at the same time, the older we get, we're doing more of like a personal experience kind of story. Like "Neverending" or "Fragile Minds Collapse."

CC –  Oh yeah, the personal experience allows you to connect with someone who's gone through the same thing, and that's going to connect you with them, not like a fantasy song. So, we definitely tried to do that and branch off into that kind of thing. We get messages all the time, even on songs where we didn't mean it to come across that way, but it still comes across like that.

CC – Yeah, yeah.

CC – We already recorded the drums for it, so that's done.

CC – We recorded the drums and Sabrina did some of the scratch vocals. So, as soon as we get home, we have to do the guitars and bass and synth stuff, then Sabrina actually goes to track the final vocals in the middle of November. Then we go to mix and master the album right after she gets done with that. I'll have the record at the end of November-ish. Then we're going to sit on it to do the videos and the Kickstarter process. We're going to drop it in the spring.

CC – Just get it from John.

CC – Yes!

CC – Yeah, we did "The Great Goat Rodeo" (single released in 2020) while we had a break during COVID. That was a fun kind of little project. We also got "The Boys Of Summer" done as well, and got some vinyl copies of records.

CC – Yes. UNLEASH THE ARCHERS did not come in when originally planned. It's a long story, too much to get into here.

CC – We made like $3000 on that. We also got a ton of donations. We did a little over $6000 and split it evenly with AETHER REALM. We just split everything. That one stream got us back to what we lost on the shows we missed.

CC – That was our lowest projection on what we would have made from merch and all that. Still, that was my bottom line that we needed to do to break even on the tour. So, going from zero to that was awesome.

CC – And they are starved for it right now.

CC – I have to thank Ty and LORDS OF THE TRIDENT for that. That was really a spectacular thing they let us do. It really helped us and I just appreciate it so much.

CC – If you want to chat more, we're sharing equipment with AETHER REALM, so we don't have to do a major shift after our set. Maybe we talk more then.

CC – Yeah, sometimes the support acts share stuff. We set up a show in front of their stuff to save time and space. It really helps make the night better. I have to unplug four things and we're done.

CC – Cool, we can talk more later, but I can also bring in another SEVEN KINGDOMS member right now.

Brief pause while he gets Kevin, the second guitarist… man this guy is busy. He's even the tour photographer for some of the crowd shots. Much respect to him and how hard he works to make this a reality.

Kevin Byrd – Yeah, no problem.

KB – Yeah, that's what we got for.

KB – Oh yeah, that's my brothers favorite band.

KB – I haven't gotten to experience that yet. I'm dying to, though. Especially now, with that lineup.

KB – They're just doing everything at this point.

KB – No, we haven't really. We might eventually touch on something like that. For the most part, we do individual stories or experiences. That's just personal, for us.

KB – I actually wrote that. It is based off an H. P. Lovecraft story called Rats In The Walls. It's a really awesome short story and I highly recommend it. There's just something about that inner turmoil, on the brink of insanity that fascinates me. You know, the human mind.

KB – Me, too! I love poetry and classic literature.

KB – For guitar, honestly, I love Paul Gilbert. He's one of my favorite guitarists. I'm not sure if you're familiar with him.

KB – He is old school. I love his feel though. I love shredding, but I also love a big vibrato and big bends. Harmonies and melodies, you know. I love Paul Gilbert. The guitarists in HELLOWEEN were a big influence for me. André Olbrich from BLIND GUARDIAN, I love his creative vibe and how he layers in so many different guitars and harmonies. I love those big, bombastic sounding melodies.

KB – Yeah, I think we touch on that from time to time.

KB – 5-7 minutes is our sticking point, but I am totally for doing a big, epic song one of these days. I love that stuff, too. You know, like BLIND GUARDIAN "And Then There Was Silence," a 14-minute song that's huge and constantly taking you through different ranges of emotion. I love that type of stuff, and one day I hope we will get to that.

KB – We usually have the music first, the basic structure of a song or a riff or something. We'll write it individually or come together as a group and collaborate. Usually, it starts with the music. If I'm writing something in particular, I'll have an idea of what I want to do lyrically. I try to think of the chords for personal experience songs. What will tug on the heartstrings. Which chord progression will give you goosebumps. The music often comes first, but we know what the song is going to feel like emotionally.

KB – We don't really use different tuning; we tend to just use darker chords. Some of the darker, more emotional stuff just go to darker, lower chords. We actually stay in the same tuning; we just use creative ways to make it sound different from song to song. We just play in a lower key or something.

KB – Was it the whole song or just a certain part?

KB – Some of our newer stuff, we've kind of dipped into that territory for like a bridge or something. We used like a half-time, kind of slower, heavier riff.

KB – I personally like that. I kind of like a song to take me different places, especially at the midway point. You have a song that's really upbeat, and maybe halfway through we'll change it. We'll go a little harder, a little heavier. When I'm writing a song, I try to write for myself and what I like. I'm sure some other people like it as well, but I like a song that is going to kind of bring me up, then bring me down. I like to feel the whole spectrum of music as far as emotions and all that. So, that is definitely a conscious effort. We try to take songs all over the place. It's fun for us.

Here, we take a break to let them play their show, then check in with them afterwards.

Sabrina Valentine – (Laughs)

CC – It was hard to see because there were no backlights.

SV – They made me shorter, so I figured I'd wear a slight bit of heel for tonight, but all I could see is the top of someone's head.

SV – Well, thank you for noticing that! Originally, we had a lot of growls with Bryan, the original singer, but when Camren asked me to be the lead, I told him, "you realize I'm not going to do that, right?' I really appreciate everybody who can so that, but if I can just add a little bit of grit throughout, on my own, that's cool. We're down to four people now, and no one really knows how to do that.
CC – Nor do we really care.

CC – Of course it's something we aim for (everyone laughs).

SV – I've been learning to do harmonies since I was three years old, so it's just something that I naturally do. As soon as they start playing something, I automatically go for the harmonies. We like to incorporate those.

SV – well, in the studio it was a happy little accident. Now I just do it because that's the way it was recorded.

CC – With "Valonqar," the slow one?

CC – There's nothing different with that. Actually, it's the same key as the chorus for "Rats In The Wall.," but the way it's played is very doomy.

SV – Yeah, "Valonqar."

SV – Wow! Thank you.

CC – Thank you!

SEVEN KINGDOMS is a band you want on your tour. They have a very high energy show and give 100% from the first note to the final bow. They know how to amp a crowd up and get them involved. Vocalist Sabrina hangs out near the merch booth, greeting new and old fans alike, taking selfies and being a cool person. Camren acts as ambassador, photographer, manager, PR and lots more. The Byrd Brothers do the rest. But when on stage, their focus is right where you want it. The guitarists sing along, getting the crowd hyped when the singer isn't throwing her fist up and encouraging a sing along. The drummer lays down a killer beat. The guitars weave and bob and chase each other around the stage physically and musically. They work in tandem to build a platform that supports the vocals. Sabrina adds more grit live than on the record, giving the songs even more depth and emotion. My highlights? "Stargazer," "Valonqar" and "In The Walls." Those two songs give you a great feel for who this band is and what they are capable of doing. The songs sound good on the record, and on the stage. If they are coming to a club near you, GO SEE THEM! You won't regret it.