DRAGONFORCE

In between playing videogames, wanking off, and chasing skirts, these potty-mouthed lads are finding the time to record a new collection of bombastic, epic power metal masterpieces.

By Jon Wiederhorn
Photo by Paul Harries

In a nondescript flat in a suburban section of West London, DragonForce are gathered in a makeshift studio in guitarist Herman Li’s home to work on songs for their next record. At the moment, Li is slumped over a computer monitor checking the levels on his audio software, and co-guitarist Sam Totman is groaning a lot and rubbing his aching fingers. The discomfort, which he fears is carpal tunnel syndrome, wasn’t caused by shredding too much or too fast but by weeks of obsessive videogaming.

“I never got into videogames when I was young, but I finally got a new computer for recording that’s actually up to date, so I loaded up on modern games,” Totman explains. “I played for days on end, then suddenly both my hands started tingling all the time and now it even hurts to wank. I can still do it if I swap hands when one gets tired.”

Too bad Totman can’t swap hands to play guitar. Normally, he and Li could trade places, but last week Li hurt his left thumb training in Brazilian jujitsu. “I fell, and my thumb hit my knee hard,” Li explains. “I couldn’t wipe my ass for a couple days. All I can really do now is press the ‘record’ button.”

With two guitarists injured, DragonForce aren’t having a terribly productive time in the studio—and that’s totally cool with them. “Recently, I had a 350-pound guy sitting on top of me beating me up,” says Li in an apparent non sequitur. “He used to work in the studio with us, so I asked him, ‘What’s better, sitting in the studio recording with ProTools or getting your ass kicked?’ And we both agreed getting beaten up is better.”

DragonForce—Li, Totman, singer Z.P. Theart, bassist Frederic Leclercq, keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov, and drummer David Mackintosh—have good reason to hate the studio. Their multifaceted, densely layered songs require countless hours of sober, diligent recording—time they’d rather spend getting hammered and chasing tail. And they know they’re going to have to work especially hard this year if they want to match the grandeur and technicality of their third studio album, 2006’s Inhuman Rampage. A masterfully epic blend of death-metal tempos, jaw-dropping leads, videogame sound effects, nagging hooks, and sugary pop vocals, Rampage captivated North American audiences and earned DragonForce a mainstage spot on Ozzfest and a co-headlining tour with Killswitch Engage. Surely, DragonForce are capable and confident enough to reach such dizzying heights again, but they’re not really looking forward to the challenge. Their only goal is to finish the record by May so they can go back out on the road and party like rock stars.

During one of DragonForce’s many studio breaks, Revolver sat down with Li, Totman, and Theart and listened to them talk shit about each other between comments about the heartaches of home recording, staying sober, obscenity-laden guide vocals, concocting new ways to thrill audiences, and, of course, wanking.

REVOLVER Why don’t you like being in the studio?
HERMAN LI Without the fun of touring, being together is like doing something you don’t want to do with people you don’t always want to see.
SAM TOTMAN We really have to motivate ourselves to get anything done. I’m always saying, “C’mon, let’s just get on with it,” and Herman goes, “Ahh, get fucked.” And then I’ll say, “Well, the faster we do it, the sooner I can get out of your house and you can get back to wanking.”

A lot of bands complain about being on the road.
LI I think those bands are gay. I mean, what’s the point of playing you don’t want to tour? When people have a band that’s just a hobby, all they want to do is go onstage and play. So, once you’re in a position to do that every night, why would you want to be back home?

You’re recording the new album at your house?
LI Yeah, we’ve always done that, and Sam’s gonna be living here for the next week, so I’m a bit pissed off. He came over yesterday, and I’ve already had enough of him.

How do you keep the peace?
LI It’s hard, because you have to discuss everything, and sometimes we don’t agree. On tour, we’ve got the booze and the girls, so everyone’s cool—unless we can’t score.
Z.P. THEART I just try to stay away from everybody in the studio. When we did the first album, everyone was trying to tell me how to sing. And I was like, “Fucking hell, when you’re the singer, you can sing it like that, you cunt.” Now I do it by myself and if they hear something afterwards and they want me to change it, that’s all right, but if I don’t feel like changing it, tough shit.

Do you have beer delivered to the studio, or have escorts drop by?
TOTMAN We’re not that desperate yet. We’ll wait until the girls we know have gotten sick of us, which won’t take long. And then maybe we’ll pick up the phone.
LI And we don’t drink any booze in the studio at all. We wait until we’re on the road.

What do you do to vent steam when you’re working on an album?
TOTMAN I’ll stop for a while and play videogames, watch some porn, and maybe have a wank. It’s kind of weird, because when we’re on tour I actually do get completely plastered every single night. But in the studio I don’t drink, because I can’t focus when I’m drunk. People might think I’m some stupid alcoholic, but I’m quite sensible for six months of the year.

You’re self-producing again?
LI Always. When you buy DragonForce, you get DragonForce. You’re paying for the musicianship of the band, not for some guy making the band do something. We’re too stubborn to listen to anyone, anyway.

Sam, you wrote five of these songs during a three-month hiatus in Australia. Did that change the way you write?
TOTMAN No, I’m just sick of England, and most of my friends have moved to Australia, so this gave me a chance to go over there. It’s just more pleasant, which is why I’m bummed out now being at Herman’s. A week ago I was sitting on the beach getting drunk every day looking at chicks I couldn’t score, and now I have to look at him.

Z.P., what did you do when your bandmates were writing songs?
THEART I had three months off and did absolutely fucking jack shit.
TOTMAN He grew a beard, that’s all he did, and we think he looks old and horrible.
THEART I don’t care. Some of these guys are losing their hair and I can’t say anything about that. I’m growing some and they bitch about it. I think they’re a bit jealous.
TOTMAN Well, if he’s not gonna shave it, I hope you airbrush it out in the magazine.
THEART Yeah, and then you can airbrush some proper clothes on them.

Let’s change the subject. How will this album will differ from Inhuman Rampage?
TOTMAN It’s not going to be majorly different. But hopefully the melodies will be nicer, the guitar solos will be better, the production will be better. You just try to improve in every area.
THEART There isn’t much to change, but yet there is. The last three albums have been very much guitar orientated, and this one probably will be as well, but I want to try to do some extra coloring in with the vocals.

Will the songs be faster?
LI Bands always say, “Our new album is faster and heavier,” and then it’s never true, so we’re not gonna say that. But playing fast just works for us. People who say we play too fast are probably right, but guess what? There’s a million other bands that play slow. People listen to DragonForce and go to the show because they know that we’re doing something other bands aren’t doing.

Who writes the vocal melodies?
TOTMAN I pretty much get them down 90 percent. That’s what takes most of my time. There are certain phrases of notes and words that can send shivers down your spine if you write them the right way.

Z.P., what do you think of the vocal parts Sam wrote for this record?
THEART Ehhh, some of them are a bit crap, I reckon. I told him that yesterday, but we went and done them anyway. We’ll see how it comes out later on. But the majority of them are really catchy and quite strong.

Do you compose lyrics when you write songs?
TOTMAN I’ll write bullshit words that just sound good together and suit the melody line so I’ll know where we need a three-syllable word and where we need one with two syllables.

What are the guide lyrics about?
TOTMAN They’re about, like, Grandad’s hairy ass and stuff like that. We just sing about people we don’t like and make fun of them.
THEART It’s all like, “This one’s gay and that one’s got a cock stuck up his ass” sort of shit. I go in and sing it line for line, and it’s a real laugh when you realize what the fuck you’ve just been saying.

Who comes up with the final lyrics?
THEART After we decide on the vocals, I’ll go home and start writing proper lyrics.
TOTMAN Well, no. I usually write everything, and then if a song needs an extra verse, he’ll do it because I can’t be bothered. But the lyrics are mostly mine.

When you write, do you think about whether you’ll be able to recreate something live?
LI Not really. Basically, if we can play it on the album, we can do it onstage. Maybe we just need to practice it a lot. That’s why we never play eight new songs when we start a tour, because we can’t. We only do, like, four in the beginning. Then the second time around, we do the other four because it takes quite a long time to re-practice them as a whole band.

On the Inhuman Rampage tour, you bounded across the stage on mini-trampolines. Do you have any new tricks up your sleeves?
THEART If we have the budget, I’d love to have pyro.
LI Fuck, no. If we do fireworks, somebody’s gonna get burned, because we run around too much. Sam hasn’t got that much hair left, so if it gets set on fire, all of it’s gone.
THEART Good, I can’t wait. It might just wake him up a little.
LI One of the most important things for us is to have a show that comes from the band members and not just to rely on fireworks or some painted backdrop. That stuff has been done a billion times and usually works for bands that want to stand still. We’d rather run around.

Might you have bigger and better trampolines?
TOTMAN I don’t know. You don’t want to overdo gags. People have seen that now for three tours, so we’ll try to think of something new. We’ve talked about getting a skateboard rail going along the stage so we can jump on it and skate along. That probably won’t happen though, because we’d just end up killing ourselves.