"We're a horror-entertainment band. What we do is fiction."

A conversation with the Swedish guitarist, keyboard player and songwriter Anders Allhage a.k.a. Andy LaRocque about King Diamond's latest full-length studio album, "Give Me Your Soul... Please", unleashed in late June 2007 via Metal Blade...

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Mr. LaRocque, how are you?

Andy LaRocque: Everything is fine over here, thank you!

V. V.: What are you up to now?

A. L.: We released the latest King Diamond album, "Give Me Your Soul... Please", about a month ago, so we still do a lot of interviews and stuff like that. We were planning to go on a European tour in October and November, but everything was postponed because of King's back problems. Actually, we try to postpone everything until next fall.

V. V.: Is it that bad?

A. L.: It started in March, while we were mixing the album, and he still has those problems, so yes. You know, it takes a lot of time to recover from this. Hopefully we'll be able to do the planned US tour in April and May...

V. V.: Let's talk about the album now. Many American bands do albums against the war and George W. Bush nowadays, and that's obviously not the case with "Give Me Your Soul... Please". Is it because you're a European band?

A. L.: Well, our drummer Matt Thompson is American and King lives in the USA... Anyway, we've never been a political band and that's the main reason. We're more of a horror-entertainment band. What we do is fiction.

V. V.: You have 13 tracks on the new CD, half of them written by you, half by King. Why didn't you write a song together?

A. L.: Ha-ha-ha! Well, I live in Sweden and King is in Dallas, Texas, so it's kind of hard to sit down and do things together. It works the way we do it - by sending our ideas on CD-Rs to each other - so there's no need to change that.

V. V.: So you're still sending CD-Rs and not using ftp servers!?

A. L.: No, King's connection is too slow, he-he!

V. V.: You've been around for quite a while now, so what's the big challenge for you today? Is it still pure entertainment and making good music or there's something more?

A. L.: The big thing is making music, having fun, writing good songs, going on tour, and the fans - that's what keeps us alive and wanting to do more. Being on the road is fantastic... and, as you probably know, last year we played in Bulgaria for the first time ever, and it was fantastic, too.

V. V.: Back to "Give Me Your Soul... Please" now. Out of the 13 tracks, it was one of the songs written by you, "Never Ending Hill", that was put for free download on Metal Blade's website. Does it mean it's the best one on the CD?

A. L.: I wouldn't say so, because we didn't have anything to do with the choice of Metal Blade. Anyway, I think it's a good representative song for the album.

V. V.: Where did you record the CD?

A. L.: In different places. We started with the preproduction at my studio in Sweden, Los Angered Recordings... Actually, I just changed its name, since I moved from Gothenburg to a smaller city in the south called Varberg, so now the studio's name is Sonic Train Studios. I bought a house and moved here with my entire family. It's a nice city, close to the ocean and the beach, with a much more healthy environment...
So after finishing work at my studio, I went over to Dallas and we recorded the drums, and then the rhythm guitars and the bass at King's place - I had brought a lot of equipment from my studio. Then I went back home, and King started writing the lyrics and recording vocals while I was doing solos and stuff. Then, in March 2007, we met and mixed the album.

V. V.: If it was up to you, which song would you pick up as the best one off the album?

A. L.: I think "Give Me Your Soul" is a very good one.

V. V.: Finally, except for working with King Diamond, what else are you up to now?

A. L.: I have another band called The X-World, where I play together with Magnus from HammerFall, Nils from Pagan's Mind on vocals and Reeves Gabrels from David Bowie's band on guitar. We are going to be signed with AFM Records and release our debut album in February 2008.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock