Hello guys congratulations about Entrance. It's a very good album. Let's move on with the questions. Entrance is your forth album and in my humble opinion is your best work so far. What do you think? Are you satisfied with the final results?
We are exremely happy with the album. Everybody from our label, to journalists to even our old fans think it's our best album so far, so it feels great.
What are the differences and the similarities between Entrance and your previous releases?
We have changed singer and keyboard player. The new CD is not progressive at all, but more direct and in your face metal. We have more up tempo songs on this album as well so the songs have more energy which is always great during the live shows. When I wrote the music I went back to my roots and the kind of stuff I listened to back in 1980-1983. It felt very natural and honest to write this album so I'm really glad people like it as much as I do.
What did happen with Andy ( vocalist) and left the band?
Both Kay and Andy left mainly for family reasons, but there where some other things as well that didn't work out to our satisfaction. It's very demanding to be in a band with rehearsals, touring and recording. As soon as someone in the band starts to do a shitty job, that will affect the rest of the band as well. I think that the old line up were at its peak during the Fall >From Grace sessions and after that it started to get a little bit downhill. To me the only choices were to change things around a bit, or call it a day. Fortunately we found Tony and made our best record so far, so I guess we did the right thing.
How did you pick your new singer and can you compare him with Andy?
Since I wasn't totally happy with everyone in the band I started to think about doing a solo album. I spread the word on our homepage (www.lionsshare.org), that I was looking for a singer. I received a bag full of cd's and tapes, and on one of them I found Tony. Tony is a much better singer technically. Andy's biggest problem was that he didn't pitch very well even though he's got a pretty good voice. This was of course frustrating during live shows and also when we did the records since I had to produce him really hard and it took a lot of time. Tony's voice lasts forever and he's very good at pitching so the new album was a dream to record. Pontus and i just looked at eachother and couldn't believe it was happening since we were just not used to it running so smoothly. If you just compare the sound of their voices I would say Andy is more of a Tony Martin while Tony is more of a Rob Halford or Geoff Tate in style.
I have to admit that the keyboard parts of your album are killer! How come and you worked with Mats Olausson who used to play keys for Yngwie Malmsteen?
He's a great musician and a great person and as you said did a killer job on Entrance. I got hold of him through G?ran Edman who used to sing with Yngwie on Fire and Ice and Eclipse. Mats came in and did the keyboards in 4 or 5 days and then went on tour with Yngwie in the States.
Do you think that Entrance is a step beyond for the band?
It's probably more easy to get into and to understand at a first listen since it's not progressive at all like our older records were to a certain point. However musically I'm very proud of Fall From Grace and the debut as well (first cd on Perspective). The only album that didn't turn out as good as I hoped for is Two which became too experimental and cold.
Are you satisfied with the sales of Perspective and Fall from Grace?
In some countries I'm happy with the sales and in some I'm not. I know it's very hard out there. There are zillions of bands competing and the labels are releasing far to many records so it becomes impossible for the metal fans to keep track of everything that's coming out. It would be much better for everybody if the labels did put more time and money on less bands and releases. By just throwing the records out there no one will get happy and every now and then when there's a really great cd coming out, it will drown in the massive flood of other releases and might not even get into the stores.
How do you plan to promote Entrance ? Any live shows maybe? Are you going on tour?
We have just done our first 3 shows with Tony. This weekend we will play the biggest Rock festival in Scandinavia with bands like Helloween, WASP, Dee Snider, Gary Moore, HammerFall, UDO, Dokken etc. We hope that Massacre will put us on tour in Europe this Fall because we really wanna come down and play for all you guys. If any promoter would like to get in contact with us, they can do so from our homepage www.lionsshare.org Other than that keep bugging Massacre and demand a tour for Lion's Share, since it's more or less up to them since it's their territory.
Why Why should someone pick Entrance among the other recent Power Metal releases. What are the strong points of Entrance?
Good production. Well played musically. Cool doomy heavy metal riffs with strong and catchy melodies. If you're into classic, traditional metal like Judas Priest, Saxon, Queensryche, Black Sabbath etc. you're most likely gonna like it. If you're into Grunge and Rap, you will most likely not.
What is your craziest dream concerning Lion's Share?
A tour with Lion's Share headlining and KISS and Black Sabbath as support bands (crazy enough for you?)
Hahaha! Yeah it is! How can you describe your music in a few words to someone who has never heard a single tune of your albums.
Well played, good sounding traditional heavy metal with doomy riffs and strong, catchy melodies. Or have a listen at http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/156/lions_share.html
Now a few words to your fans out there!
Thanks for supporting Lion's Share! Send emails and faxes to Massacre and DEMAND a tour for Lion's Share so we can come and meet you all soon!!!!
Thanks for the interview guys. Carry on!
Thank you!
