Global power-metal phenomenon Dragonforce hit the stage at the Engine Shed on Thursday, December 10th. The London-based band headed to Lincoln in the closing days of their worldwide tour, and The Linc‘s Crystal Holmes got a chance to talk to Frédéric Leclercq, the bassist.
A very sleepy Fred, having been roused for the interview by his manager, was more than welcoming and happy to answer all the questions that were fired his way. He voiced his surprise at being interviewed by a girl, and told me that he didn’t generally expect to see them at Dragonforce gigs.
We then discussed the tour, which has taken the band across most continents of the world this year. Fred told me that the band had been to “Europe, Asia, America, and Russia. We did pretty much everything this year. I am looking forward to stopping doing gigs though, and having a rest. We’ve been on tour since July 2008 and are all very tired.”
Having confessed to not yet having seen the venue at Lincoln, Fred admitted that the band hadn’t really done much at all. A day in the life of the Dragonforce bassist equated to “woke up, got here, dropped my stuff, went to buy some video games, and fell asleep again.”
Next year is to be set aside for Dragonforce to do some new tracks and work towards production of the band’s fifth album. “It’s gonna be a lot of work, so I’m looking forward to that. We haven’t started yet, but we have been talking about it every day. It’s gonna sound like Dragonforce, but we are going to try different stuff.”
Talking about roles in the band, the group seem to collaborate really well due to their differences, which all fit together. They also take different jobs, which seem appropriate to their characters. “There’s the geek, which is Herman [Li], who takes care of the computers. I’d be more the PR when we are doing festivals, I’m the one talking to everybody. Sam [Totman] is supposed to be the funny one because he drinks all the time, which is not really funny, but he does. I don’t really know for the others. We are all from different countries, so we all have… different behaviours in life and in the band.”
The future looks bright for both Dragonforce and Fred personally, as he is looking forward to moving around and working with another band with whom he plays guitar and sings. “Next year’s definitely going to be important for my other band, Maladaptive, we are actually mixing the demo right now, so I’m going to be working on it next year. Dragonforce will be in the hands of Sam and Herman really, I’m going to work on some songs, but it’s down to them.”
Listen to the interview with Frédéric Leclercq in our latest Magazine Weeklypodcast.