Kamelot Interview - The Median Man

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Tommy from Kamelot, about the band, their new album and the future:

EVERYTHING BUT METAL

What were your influences growing up and have they remained the same over time?

I grew up listening listening to a wide variety of styles. Everything but metal actually. I few of my influences over the years have been Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. I had a few years where Michael was the only music I listened too so he was the biggest for me for sure. When I was 12 years old I went to see “The Phantom of the Opera” with my mom and that really made a big impact on me. The childhood years really shapes us so yes, it still remains the foundation. Metal came way later for me but has shaped me as well with stuff like Sonata Arctica, Dream theater, Beyond Twilight, Ark, Symphony X and In Flames.

What was the process behind writing and recording the new album? Were there any themes that you always wanted to explore?

It went down the way if usually does for us. We met in smaller groups to hammer out song ideas and demos. Thomas went to Oliver, me and Oliver worked on Skype and I went down to Sascha to work with him on vocals and final arrangements. Though we are all in close contact all the time. That is the beauty of this modern day and age. It is a loose concept based around the theories of Carl Jung´s “The shadow aspect” where everyone has a shadow and the less we embody it the darker it gets. We use that as a platform to tell a story of a dystopic world where most of the worlds money is in the hands of only a handful of people. These people rule the world behind closed doors and make us believe that they want us to believe, making us think we are making decisions based on what we need or want. There are 3 main elements to the story.

The Shadow Empire being the top layers of Society (The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent) with all the power. The Shadow Key being the growing resistance of enlightened and free thinking people. Connecting the shadow key back to psychological aspect of the overall theme we also want to convey the message that only you possess the key to your own happiness and self growth. No one else can do that for you. It will require work but you can do it. The 3rd one is The Shadow Wall and that is the smoke screen they put in front of our eyes to distract us in favor of their hidden agenda… Social media, commercials, religion and war.

THE SHADOW ASPECT

What was the process behind writing and recording the new album? Were there any themes that you always wanted to explore?

It went down the way if usually does for us. We met in smaller groups to hammer out song ideas and demos. Thomas went to Oliver, me and Oliver worked on Skype and I went down to Sascha to work with him on vocals and final arrangements. Though we are all in close contact all the time. That is the beauty of this modern day and age. It is a loose concept based around the theories of Carl Jung´s “The shadow aspect” where everyone has a shadow and the less we embody it the darker it gets. We use that as a platform to tell a story of a dystopic world where most of the worlds money is in the hands of only a handful of people. These people rule the world behind closed doors and make us believe that they want us to believe, making us think we are making decisions based on what we need or want. There are 3 main elements to the story.

The Shadow Empire being the top layers of Society (The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent) with all the power. The Shadow Key being the growing resistance of enlightened and free thinking people. Connecting the shadow key back to psychological aspect of the overall theme we also want to convey the message that only you possess the key to your own happiness and self growth. No one else can do that for you. It will require work but you can do it. The 3rd one is The Shadow Wall and that is the smoke screen they put in front of our eyes to distract us in favor of their hidden agenda… Social media, commercials, religion and war.

NATURAL EVOLUTION

How does this album compare to other albums such as Haven, Karma, Black Halo in terms of sound, music themes and style?

I think it is a natural evolution of Haven. We still felt we had more to explore with the futuristic and dystopic approach. It is something we all are very interested in. It has a bit more in your face sound with more guitars and vocals up front and maybe a bit more compact and modern song structures at times. At the same time it is probably one of the most diverse Kamelot albums in terms of different styles.

What’s your favourite Kamelot Album?

That is almost impossible to answer being in the middle of it all. They all have something special. I am going to leave that to everyone to decide for their own, but I really like the change in style that happened on the Black Halo and Ghost Opera. That paved the way for the music we are creating today.

IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER

What’s your favourite Kamelot Album?

That is almost impossible to answer being in the middle of it all. They all have something special. I am going to leave that to everyone to decide for their own, but I really like the change in style that happened on the Black Halo and Ghost Opera. That paved the way for the music we are creating today.

WHAT WORKS

TOUGHER CLIMATE

How has the music industry changed since you started out?

The band has been around much longer than I personally have been in the business, but since I started out in the scene I feel that now every band must tour a lot more to keep momentum and even have a chance of surviving. It is a tougher climate for bands to fight over peoples money and attention for sure. It is a digital era where the amount of Youtube and Spotify clicks is becoming how we measure success. Has both pros and cons of course.

What plans do you have for the future?

To tour the world for the next 2 years on “The Shadow Theory” and visit new places where we never played before. Reach out to more people so that we will be able to bring the full production to every show. Kamelot fans deserve that! In September we will record a live DVD in the 013 venue in Tilburg Holland. That will be epic!

TO TOUR

What plans do you have for the future?

To tour the world for the next 2 years on “The Shadow Theory” and visit new places where we never played before. Reach out to more people so that we will be able to bring the full production to every show. Kamelot fans deserve that! In September we will record a live DVD in the 013 venue in Tilburg Holland. That will be epic!