Exclusive Interview with Inner Siege (Melodic Power Metal) from USA

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Interviewed by Gabor Kleinbloesem (Senior Staff Writer) Myglobalmind Webzine

The American band INNER SIEGE might have delivered one of the strongest Metal releases of 2012, although it was released in December 2012 and therefore probably missed a lot Year-End Lists, so they are not discovered by the mass media yet. Before they eventually have their major break it was time for me to interview this sensational new Melodic Power Metalband. Here’s what they had to share with us…

From out of nowhere your band delivers one of Metal’s strongest albums released in ages, please tell me more about you guys, when did it all start?

InnerSiege is from Peoria, Illinois USA. We started the band in 2008. Five friends with a love for Power Metal and Traditional Heavy Metal wanted to form a band in that music genre. We had been introduced to the Euro Power Metal genre and immediately fell in love with it. We knew we had to be a part of that movement. Several of our members had been to the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta , Georgia USA so we had seen the Euro bands up close and first hand and we loved it !

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How did you get Fredrik Nordstrom on board?

We discovered Fredrik through his band Dream Evil and we had always LOVED the way the Dream Evil albums sounded. We wanted to put out an album with that kind of quality production. As we got to researching Mr. Nordstrom’s credits, we found that he, himself was the guy behind the “Sound” he made so famous in Euro Power Metal. We knew we had to work with him. We spent some time emailing with him and we convinced him he needed to work with us. We are glad he accepted our project. We love the quality he gives our album.

Although European Metal influenced, I feel that the album is closer to Classic US Melodic Metal? Influences could be CRIMSON GLORY, QUEENSRYCHE, FIFTH ANGEL, SIRUS and such I think.

First off, Thank you for the comparison. You are very observant ! We have been told that by almost every reviewer. We know we don’t “Sound Like” Kamelot, but we are influenced by them greatly. Same with Dream Evil, though we probably sound more like them that any of the Euro bands. We probably didn’t choose our words as carefully as we should have. I think we confused some people when describing our music and describing the band. That was an accident. We tried creating the best metal album we could, pulling from all of our influences from Europe and the USA. We learned a lot of lessons with our debut album and using confusing terms to describe our music was one of them. We wont make that mistake again.

You have an exceptionally sensational singer JEREMY RAY, please fill me in on him?

Jeremy comes from a musical family. He has been surrounded by music and singing since birth. He was with a traveling choir for many of his teenage years and has been trained by some very good vocal coaches. He enjoys singing metal and tries to bring the best action packed live show he can. He really does spend time on creating a good live show.

Let’s talk about the stories behind some of the best songs on the new record:

“Warrior”,

Warrior was co-written by a few people. Jeremy and Kevin being two of the three writers. Warrior is one of those standard Power Metal anthem type songs that gets your fist pumping in the air. Warrior is also our crowd participation song in our live shows. It gets the audience involved and it’s just a lot of fun to play.

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“Fight On”,

Jeremy wrote “Fight On” from a political and personal stance. It speaks of being overwhelmed with your circumstances, but as the lyrics say, “ I find strength in the ashes, I raise my head , I hear the call,” and you pick up whatever pieces you have left of yourself, your pride, your dignity and you “Fight On”. It’s a song of encouragement too. Dust yourself off and Fight !

“Dragon Rider”

Dragon Rider is again, one of those Ronnie James Dio / Dream Evil type power metal songs. It paints a picture with words and lays out a pretty cool story. If there was a theme to that song, it would be along the lines of, when something bad catches up with you, by the time you know it, its too late. So be on guard. Protect your self and always be on watch. As the lyrics say, “It’s too late when it’s over”.

“Children of Winter”

Children of Winter is another song that’s beautifully painted with words. It’s also a song of oppression. It is where the album title “Kingdom of Shadows” comes from. It labels the oppressive forces we face in life and puts it all in story form.

The winter is cold and barren of beauty with shortened days of sunshine. Winter can be interpreted as dark and even depressing. That pretty much sums up many world events, therefore, We are the Children of Winter. We wanted to connect the current events of our world with the determination that we will give all or we will have nothing, so, we will stand. Children of Winter and Fight On both go together nicely.

Although there is a lot of competition out there, do you feel that your band has got something that might take you to higher places?

Possibly. I would say we don’t have all the pieces yet. The album was written by mostly Kevin and Jeremy. J.L. and Ravn are also a good song writers but we were not able to use their talents for “ Kingdom of Shadows”. The next album will really tell the tale. InnerSiege will be writing in full force for album #2. Album #2 should give us all a better idea of how high InnerSiege will go.

Are you able to make a living with music or do you have regular jobs to stay alive?

Kevin and Jeremy are self employed and have the most free time. Ravn, Wade and J.L. all have day jobs, though J.L. plays more music during the week and gets paid for it than the rest of us. We would have to reach the level of Kamelot , FireWind , etc before we would not have to work day jobs. I have been told that even bands that have had really good success, still have to work every day to survive. I don’t think we will be any different.

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What are the plans for the future, touring? Where do you go from here?

We are keeping many options open. There’s a few tours being talked about, but nothing I can discuss right now. Our album came out a weird time of the year and we missed alot of the Summer 2013 bookings. We are seeing that our Fall and Winter 2013 is filling up really fast. We will see how it all goes.

As a die-hard vinyl collector, any chance your music will be released on Vinyl?

We are open to a vinyl release. We will have to see what the future holds. I bet at some point we’ll have “Kingdom of Shadows” on vinyl. We just didn’t think about it this time around.

Thanks for the interview!

You got it ! Thank you for the opportunity !

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