Dragonforce are the only band of their kind playing at Soundwave ’15. But that doesn’t mean they stand alone by any means.
DragonForce fans, Australia-wide, will gather as a legion to witness, in fascination and wonderment, the intricately composed technical guitar solos which look like this: Twin/Sam/Twin/Herman/Twin/Herman/Sam/Herman/Sam—at lightning speeds.
DragonForce's softly spoken lead vocalist, Marc Hudson, illustrates how it's been on tour recently and how he’s looking forward to coming back to Australia again. “Things have been going smooth since we started this tour. We have been touring country to country with Epica all through Europe and now's time that things start to get interesting. We are in Indonesia now; we have two shows here; then we go to New Zealand, Australia and then South America.
"This is about the time when shit starts to get quite unusual for us. [Laughing] In fact, we just got to the hotel just a couple of minutes ago, and we had to change rooms because there was a big yellow gecko on the bed. I had a gnarly encounter with a spider in my room as well. So I’ve got one eye looking around the room.” he jokingly laughs.
"We can’t wait to be back at Soundwave again. DragonForce has been on the road playing our new album "Maximum Overload” and we are ready and raring to go and can’t wait to play in front of the Australian fans, hang out and have a good time at Soundwave again just like we did last year. It’s going to be cool.
"The thing about Australian’s is that they are not shy of a few beers once you come off the stage that’s for sure", he reflects for a moment and cheerfully continues on, "Hopefully on this tour we can get all of the fans jumping at the same time. When we were in Europe, with Epica, we would try and get the whole room co-ordinated and jumping at the same time so we could see that. It’s cool when that sort of thing happens—I like it when it all comes together, it’s extremely cool."
DragonForce are a big bright star amongst a sea of darkness composed of revenge and mongering hatred that bitterly exposes all that is wrong with the world. DragonForce propounds a brighter future for all and portray, often in a fantastical concept, strength and courage to fight on through the dark days. For example, in their words:
"My Spirit Will Go On"
One more time to escape from all this madness
One more time to be set free from all this sadness
And one last time to be the one who understands
My soul and my spirit will go on, for all of eternity.
and;
“The Valley of The Damned"
On the black wind forever we ride on together
Destroying your evil with freedom our guide
When the master will storm us
He'll stand high before us
Our hearts filled with splendour
Our swords will shine over the light
How is it that one genre of metal can be so profoundly different than the rest? The answer is in the last line of this quote by Mark: "The string that holds this whole thing [DragonForce] together is the melodic nature of Powermetal. We, I’m speaking on behalf of the band here, we listen to it in any kind of music, it’s the melody. Power Metal is one of those examples of music where melody is a huge part of it, and that’s thing we care about the most. It gives us an excuse to play catchy songs but at the same time technical virtuosity. We are all fans of technical and catchy music so we put the both together.
"To be honest, I like the uplifting feel that Power Metal has. I don’t think you get that a lot from a lot of music these days, and I think if you can evoke a positive emotion in someone through music then that is extremely cool. That’s why were are doing it—we’ll stick to what we know best I think. We just want to make music that makes people happy.
That there is what makes the difference between Power Metal and other darker shades of metal. It’s in the attitude. DragonForce has the intention to help people feel good and create an effect that is uplifting rather than being smashed in the face and pulled down by a proverbial pickaxe of hate.
Let’s hope we see more Power Metal at Soundwave ’16. Personally, I think it needs it.
Brighten up your Soundwave day with DragonForce on Stage 4 at 4:20pm:
Adelaide/Sydney Day 1; Melbourne/Brisbane Day 2.
They are also sharing the stage with Judas Priest during a couple of Sidewaves:
Tuesday 24 February - The Enmore, Sydney – Licensed All Ages
Thursday 26 February - Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane – Licensed All Ages
