|
A
Twist of Fate
An
interview with Hank Sherman and Michael Denner of Force of Evil
By Bob
Ignizio |
Although Force of Evil will be making their live debut
at The Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend on Friday June 13th,
the musicians who make up the band are no strangers to the metal scene. The
band consists of vocalist Martin Steene (Iron Fire), bass player Hal Patino
(King Diamond), drummer Bjarne T. Holme (Mercyful Fate), and guitarists Hank
Sherman and Michael Denner (Mercyful Fate). I recently had a chance to
correspond with Hank and to a lesser degree Michael about both their latest
musical endeavor and the “fate” of Fate. Here’s what was said.
Utter Trash: Is Force of Evil a "side project", or do
you consider it a full on serious band?
Hank Sherman: FORCE OF EVIL IS CERTAINLY a very
serious band.
UT: Somewhat related to the above, what's the current status of Mercyful
Fate? I know King's put out a couple solo albums since '9', but nothing new
from Mercyful Fate since then.
HS: The main thing right now for
KING DIAMOND is his band; therefore Mercyful Fate is having a little break,
hard to say when the next output will be.
UT: It's good to see one of my favorite guitar teams back in action again.
I had heard in the past Michael had bowed out of Mercyful Fate due to
family commitments and what not, so I'm wondering what made him decide to
get back into a band.
Michael Denner: I took a two year absence from music
due to complications during the birth of my son, but have been playing on
various smaller projects in the last couple of years. I got divorced two
years ago, and that gave me the time and need to go back playing Heavy Metal
and fortunately with my favorite musicians and closest friends.
UT: How would you describe the specific style of metal
Force of Evil fits into, and
what are the biggest differences between FoE and Mercyful Fate? What sort
of
vocal style does Martin have?
HS: Well it's classic metal. Biggest difference is
the singer. Martin has a big span
ranging from low pitched vocals to full screaming high pitched vox.
UT: Obviously the instrument playing members of the band knew each other
from
Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. How did you hook up with your vocalist?
How long has the full lineup been together?
HS: We carefully chose Martin
because we liked his personal way of singing, he has a sound. The line-up
was complete September last year.
UT: I'm guessing by the name of the band FoE will still be somewhat
concerned with
the darker side of life. Specifically what sort of topics are you dealing
with lyrically?
Will there be "satanic" elements ala Mercyful Fate or is that strictly
King's area?
HS: We are writing about the
classic occult/satanic elements, sometimes inspired from horror movies.
UT: The last time Hank did a band other than Mercyful Fate (just plain
Fate) he went
for a more commercial sound. How do you feel about that record in
retrospect, and
does it bother you that some fans don't want you to stray to far from what
they
expect from you?
HS: Those days with Fate were
some of my best times. The records we did I feel are pretty OK within that
style of music. Of course fans want you to play the same kind of material ,
but sometimes you need to take a little "walk" to somewhere else...but don’t
panic I’m still here :-)
UT: With all the summer metal festivals you could have chosen for your
debut, why
did you decide on the Brave Words show? Also, do you feel any more stress
making your live debut at a festival versus just doing a few club shows
first?
HS: We thought Brave Words
Festival would be perfect for our first worldwide performance. Lots of good
bands there so this should be very cool and yes there will probably be some
pressure, but that just makes things even more focused..
UT: When can fans expect to see an album from Force of Evil, and what label
will be
releasing it?
HS: So far we have set a date
for June, Friday 13th - but it will probably take a month or so before we
have a deal for the US. It´s released on Diamond records.
UT: Michael and Hank have been playing long enough now to be considered
"elder
statesmen" of metal. How do you feel about that and what do you think of
the
bands that name Mercyful Fate as an influence, especially the newer black
metal
bands?
HS: We both feel strong and
aggressive enough to make loud and raw metal,
so until those elements starts to fade we will be there. It´s always a nice
compliment to get, and if we can inspire others to start playing that’s even
better, because that’s how we started ourselves...
UT: In the past with Mercyful Fate, Hank tended to write the majority of
the music.
Is that still the case with Force of Evil, or was there more collaboration
on the
writing?
HS: Most songs are written by
Shermann and Steene but Denner did 2 songs on
this album. So it´s kind of like the old MF days... you will hear....
UT: Anything I didn't cover that you wanted to comment on?
HS: FORCE OF EVIL is exited to play our first concert
in Cleveland, Ohio and hope to meet a lot of our fans there.
Visit Force of Evil’s
website.
 |
