The "Nine Kinds Of Hell" new album was finally released at the end of 2001.
As it is fantastic epic metal, I wanted an interview with POWERS COURT for
this issue. Guitarist / vocalist Danie Powers answered my questions.
Can you tell about the history of POWERS COURT ? When the band was formed,
which are your goals, the demo tapes.
We formed in 1990 under the name EQUINOX and released
our first demo in 1993. Our first full length cd came out in 1996 and now
in 2001/2002 comes the release "Nine Kinds Of Hell" on Dragonheart Records.
As far as the band name goes, POWERS COURT was taken from the castle and
gardens of the same name in Ireland (Powerscourt). My ancestors are from
Ireland, County Waterford, where all the famous crystal comes from. My grandfather
was directly from Ireland, so I'm second generation 'American'-Irish on my
father's side. Steve (bassist) is also of Irish descent. Part of his ancestors
are from County Cork which is right next to County Waterford, wild coincidence
no ? We also met for the first time on St Patrick's Day, we thought maybe
our ancestors had brought us together. Regarding the castle, from my understanding
it was originally an important strategic site for the Anglo-Normans who came
to Ireland in the late 12th century. By the year 1300 a castle had been built
there and was in the possession of the le Poer (Powers) family from
which it takes its name. Originally my ancestors were from France and they
migrated to Ireland, they were 'Norman'. Bit of history for your readers.
In '96, you released your first album as a self-financed cd. I still think
"Powers Court" is a masterpiece of epic metal, with highlights as "Spellbinder",
"High Priestless", "Master Plan" or "Season Of The Witch". What are your
thoughts about this album ? How was the response in the metal scene?
I think the debut album still has vast signifiance.
It has classic heavy metal material and is the perfect prelude to "Nine Kinds
Of Hell". The response from the metal community was great! We were very happily
surprised at how well received it was.
How did you get in touch with Dragonheart ? How many albums is the deal
?
We weren't label shopping, we fought it as long
as we could. We were afraid of losing artistic control. We were approached
by Dragonheart (Italy), Sentinel Steel (Usa) and Underground Symphony (Italy),
and Dragonheart offered us the best deal and assured us that we would be
able to maintain artistic control. They had read several reviews and interviews
in various metal publications and then got in contact with us. We have a
three album deal with Dragonheart.
Are you friend with Domine as you did the narration part of "Dawn Of a
New Day" on their last album ?
Yes, Enrico from Domine is our friend and also is
the label executive for Dragonheart Records. He asked me to do the narrative
and I was happy to oblige.
Why did it take five years to release your second album ? Don't you think
it can be a dangerous delay for a band between album one and album two ?
We realize there's a five years gap there, but something
that people sometimes don't understand is that when you are an independent
band, meaning "you're not signed to a label", it's extremely difficult to
come up with a cd per year or even one every other year. It takes a LOT of
money to put out a good quality cd. We're not rich. We have always wanted
to release cd's of quality vs. just slapping together some crappy recording
with shoddy artwork just to say we'd released a cd per year like a lot of
bands do. We ran out of funds during the making of "Nine Kinds Of Hell" and
then the labels came courting. Dragonheart came to our aid so that we were
able to complete the project. Several things happened during the making of
this cd, personnel changes, contract negociations, etc... And in reality
if you look at bands like Iced Earth, they releasing something "new" more
like every three years. In between times there are re-masters, re-releases,
box sets, etc... I mean if you have a bigger label backing you, they can
supply the fans with something each year making it appear as though they
are getting something "new" every year. When you're an independent band paying
for everything yourself it's just financially impossible to keep up with
bands that are on labels.
"Nine Kinds Of Hell" is the second POWERS COURT masterpiece. The songs
sound more powerful, and all of them are first class epic metal. How is the
album received until now ?
The feedback on "Nine Kinds Of Hell" has been very
favorable. There are a lot of people that are hungry for something original
and there's not a lot of that lately it seems, so those type of listeners
are very into it naturally. This is not your typical paint-by-numbers power
metal.
Your music is often compared with Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol... Your
vocals are often compared with King Diamond and Chris Logue... What do you
think of these comparisons ?
We're deeply flattered!
What is your opinion about the current metal scene ?
My opinion of the "momentary" metal scene ? (laughs).
Yeah and here in America don't blink cos it will probably change in the next
few minutes. I hate nu-metal that's dominating America with an unbridled
passion. I think it's pure crap, there's no musicianship, they are all alike,
it's trendy shite, they dress like wannabe small-time convicts. I just represent
the hell out the fact they call that crap metal ok ? If someone is into that,
fine... it needs to have a completely different moniker however. The only
thing metal about is the fact they're using a fucking distortion pedal. The
vocals are crap, there's no leads to speak of, the lyrics are completely
moronic from what I've heard. Apparently sounding "tough" in their world
means having to come across like you're completely devoid of any class, talent
or intellect. Call it "hard core" but it's not metal. In order to be labeled
metal I feel a genre should be steeped in some kind of tradition that IS
metal, not rap music. I find it embarrassing to be lumped in the category
"metal" with these people. The Euro power metal scene is great, but I wish
they'd welcome more originality and variety, so many bands tend to sound
alike at times.
Name your ten favorite albums...
Mercyful Fate "Don't Break The Oath", Iced Earth
"Burnt Offerings", Iced Earth "Dark Saga", Emerson Lake And Palmer "Tarkus",
Iron Maiden "Piece Of Mind", King Diamond "Fatal Portrait", King Diamond
"Abigail", King Diamond "Conspiracy", Slayer "Hell Awaits", Slayer "Show
No Mercy".
Is there any plan to release POWERS COURT albums on vinyl ?
No, Dragonheart doesn't release vinyl.
Will you tour for supporting "Nine Kinds Of Hell" ?
We've played locally for quite some time. We did
a show in Texas awhile back that went over really well. We've been asked
to play in Kansas City as an opener for Manilla Road. We've had several great
offers, but right now we're in the process of writing and recording our third
cd which should be released around winter 2002 / spring 2003 and we're infamous
for our aggravating perfectionism and that really doesn't leave a lot of
time between now and then to get it all done and on our label exec's desk
before deadline, so we're concentrating on that at the moment. As far as
overseas goes, we've discussed it, but after the September 11th thing (terrorist
attacks) we've put those plans aside and decided to concentrate on finishing
up cd 3. If we get that squared away and something promising arises it's
a possibility.
Sorry for that, but will the third album be out before 2006 ?
Should be out sometime in 2003, we're under contract
now, we don't have to worry about coming up with the money to make the cd's,
so there won't be long delays between albums.
Thank you very much for your answers. Last words are yours...
Tell all fans interested to come visit us on our
website
. There are soundclips, photos, bios, news, contest occasionally, anything
you'd want to know about POWERS COURT. Thanks Iron Wolf for your interest
and support, we really appreciate you! Everyone, stay heavy and keep your
rock hard!!
Interview by Patrick Lefevre
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