LOMM: Can you give a little biographical and historical info; who is involved in the band, and how did you guys meet up?
Grimgotts: The band was formed by myself (Andy Barton) and my mate called Fraser Watt – we started as a joke internet project back in 2015, but we ended up releasing an EP called Here be Dragonlords that year. We recruited random people online to play on the EPs up until 2018 – by then, David Hills, a friend from University joined, along with Fabio Garau, Nelson Moreira & Mo Abdelgadir. Since then, we released Dragons of the Ages (2019) and have played several shows. 2020, we’re releasing our 3rd album, Tales, Sagas & Legends – we’re releasing the album in 3 instalments, with Tales have been released already back in May
LOMM: Pandemic has taken an emotional toll on everyone yet the arts have been hit especially hard. The musicians are vulnerable to financial upheaval. How have you guys have been holding up?
Grimgotts: Every member of the band work full time outside of the band, so we’ve managed to keep the band going !
LOMM: Good. You seem to have had a productive time as well. Is that right?
Grimgotts: Huge year! We’ve already released 2 full EPs ,with a 3rd on it’s way on December 11th
LOMM: Modern sounds are my thing J How about you? What does your genre means to you, why did you choose this genre?
Grimgotts: We love having a modern twist on classic sounds – we play Symphonic Power Metal, and it gives us the creative freedom to deliver on all things we deem to be epic and glorious. We play Power Metal simply due to the fact that we love it, it’s our passion.
LOMM: How did the
initial musical and thematic elements evolve?
Grimgotts: We have strong fantasy & nautical themes – for us, it’s
perfect and evolved from our desire to create music that reaches out to the
inner-nerd within all of us!
LOMM: Are you happy
with your product? I mean, what aspects of it do you think you guys
nailed, and what parts do you think you could improve
upon?
Grimgotts: Of course, we put everything we have into every record. We
certainly feel we nail the song writing – we feel the tracks are catchy, epic
and glorious. We may feel we nail it, but we also know there’s always room for
improvement – we’ll strive to make better songs on every record.
LOMM: How has the overall reception
been?
Grimgotts: As a whole, we’ve only received positive feedback – the plays on
Spotify are strong and continue to rack up each month!
LOMM: Have you ever been on a tour?
Given live performances? Is it tough for you not to be able to do so now?
Grimgotts: We’ve never done a full tour, but we’ve played plenty of shows –
we’ve supported Lagerstein as well as Victorius. Given our recording schedule
this year, we didn’t have too many shows planned, so it’s not been too bad.
However, we do have shows next year that we’re a little worried about – we just
have to wait and see.
LOMM: What do you see
for your future? How is it looking?
Grimgotts: More music! We love making more music, and we suspect we’ll
follow up with a new album in 2022 – we have some good shows lined up for next
year, but it’s difficult to get too excited about them as it’s likely they’ll
be canceled.
LOMM: Could you tell us about the lyrics / themes /concepts you focus on or plan to focus on? How did the ideas come about, and how do they influence the writing process? Who is writing the lyrics?
Grimgotts: Our lyrics are based on a fantasy world which we created (called Andria) – the themes and stories of the songs are influenced by video games such as Skyrim & Fable. We also take a huge influence from fantasy authors such as Tolkien & Joe Abercrombie. The music has to complement the theme – it needs to be epic, glorious and incredibly cheesy. Lead singer and chief song writer, Andy Barton, writes all the lyrics and bases them all on adventures in the world of Andria.
LOMM: Which is more exciting? Being on
the road or studio?
Grimgotts: We love making the music, so it has to be the studio – having
said that, the buzz from playing live is unreal.
LOMM: Who is composing the songs?
Grimgotts: Our singer, Andy Barton, writes most of the music but the other
members have all contributed to the song writing on the 2020 albums – Andy does
however write the lyrics, as each track is based on a character or a story from
our fantasy world of Andria. The tracks are about epic battles, noble quests,
fearsome pirates, and mighty Dragons!
LOMM: What bands do you draw your inspiration
from?
Grimgotts: Much of our inspiration comes from the Power Metal giant
bands: Helloween, Rhapsody, Dragonforce & Nightwish. We also take influence
from the likes of Hans Zimmer & Two Steps From Hell. We also play Folk
Metal, with our main influence coming from the British group Bellowhead
(fronted by the singer Jon Boden)
LOMM: What’s more important to you?
Catering to the audience or music for its own sake?
Grimgotts: We’re massive Power Metal fans, so we like to think that if we
like our music, the audience will as well… In that respect, it’s kinda both!
But we write music because we love doing it.
LOMM: When you look
back your music career, what do you consider to be your greatest
accomplishment?
Grimgotts: Our first gig was an exceptionally proud moment – our first
show was at Powe Metal Quest Fest in 2018 . It was a fantastic gig, and we were
all very nervous as some of us hadn’t performed in years, but the crowd were
fantastic! It was such an amazing experience!
LOMM: Anything else you think your fans should know?
Grimgotts: We’re currently working on finishing the final instalment of our album this year – Tales, Sagas & Legends. The whole album will be out this winter!
LOMM: Great. Good luck!
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