Latest / Classic Metal Show / Guitarist Thomas Youngblood: Why Kamelot Refuses To Repeat The Same Album

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Guitarist Thomas Youngblood: Why Kamelot Refuses To Repeat The Same Album · Classic Metal Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, this is Thomas from Camelot and you're watching CMS-TV.
• 0:03
  [music]
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: It is Chris Aiken Presents, and I, of course, am Chris Aiken.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: And today on the show,
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: if you're into symphonic metal or,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: you know, prog metal, you know who these guys are.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: The band is Camelot.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: They have a killer new record out.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's called Dark Asylum.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually out on August 28th.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: I already have it.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: It is fantastic.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: And here is the guy that's going to tell us why it's fantastic.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: It is the main man of the band himself, Mr. Thomas Youngblood.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thomas, how are you, man?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great, Chris.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: How are you guys doing today?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Real good, man.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Glad to be talking to you.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: Glad to be talking to you about Dark Asylum.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: I have questions.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely have questions with this.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: But why don't we start with you telling me first.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us about the creation of this release and where the story and stuff is coming
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: from, because this is very deep.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, for me,
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: the dark asylum kind of represents not just metaphorically this place,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: which is this cathedral that's kind of abandoned,
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: turned into an asylum, but also kind of it's a metaphor for our minds.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: each individual that's reading this or listening to the songs,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: it's sort of a metaphor for getting captured or lost inside your own mind.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think nowadays with everything going on with a lot of mental health issues,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: it was just a good kind of thing to touch on for me personally and the band.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: we have 12 different stories on this record that are kind of all encapsulated
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: within this asylum.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And we hope the listener finds something and one or two of them or all of them
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: to kind of relate to and share.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of it, we want people to also see there's just some kind of exit ramp.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's some kind of sanctuary for any kind of issues they might have.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Is it hard for you to write on a level of kind of realism where so much
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: of what you do is based on forcing the user or the user,
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: the listener to use their mind to, you know, to grow with the story?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think over the years we've learned our fans,
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: our fans are,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: they kind of understand the approach that we have when it comes to lyrics and
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: the way we kind of wrap a lot of metaphoric things in real life with fantasy or,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: you know, like this record is kind of based Victorian age, but it's still relatable.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's still gothic romance, there's darkness, there's light at the end of the tunnel.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just something that we've kind of gotten akin to in a way.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think our fans expect that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, too,
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: we've added a lot of twists and turns on this record that our fans also kind of hope
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: to hear something different and new.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things going into this record,
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to bring back some of the Gothic elements we had with Silverthorne
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: and Ghost Opera.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Also, I was listening to our very first album, which was, I don't know, 30 plus years ago.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: It has some like acoustic folk influences stuff on it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I brought some of that back on this record.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really fun to actually kind of go back,
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: listen to some of the old stuff and then create something new and also include some
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: of the older elements into the record.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: For you creatively,
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: where is that line between giving the fans what they expect
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: and being creatively growing?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because I know how you guys are.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: You artists,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: A, you're never satisfied with anything you do more than 10 minutes after you do it.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: And B, you guys always want to stretch out.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: As successful as a band like an ACDC is,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: most artists don't want to stretch Play, repeat, play, repeat.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Especially you with what you've done with Camelot.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's such an expansive sound.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Where is that line for you between satisfying what people want and feeling creatively fulfilled?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think that, you know, doing this 30 years, this is our 14th album.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: We hope that the fans trust us at this point to not only give them something
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: that they expect, you know, the Camelot DNA.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So to speak, but create new music, new art.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the reasons I think the band is still growing in a crazy sense
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: that we have new fans with each record.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of look at each album as our first instead of just being like a legacy band
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: where, hey, let's put an album just to tour, right?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our bands do that.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: But we put everything into each new record and we play four to five new songs with
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: the new album.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which is crucial for us as artists,
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: and so I think that that whole philosophy of not resting on the laurels of the past,
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: focusing on today and the future,
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: still playing songs from the past,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: but it's always about like, you know, the here and the now, so to speak.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's one of the reasons the bands maintain relevancy.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious for you,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously being in the At least labeled into the progressive metal world.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: In one respect,
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: you would think that that opens the door to do whatever you want to do,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: you know, because that's kind of the nature of what that's supposed to be.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: But in 2026, people are expecting the exact same sound.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Across the board from almost all, they're expecting some sort of like a dream theater knockoff.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think the definition has changed.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Does it,
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: is it still wide open for interpretation of fans or do you find that fans are kind
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: of closing off what they're willing to listen to and gravitate to?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's really no single kind of quote unquote fan.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: we can put out an album that's just like the one before and we'll get blasted for it
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: or we'll put out an album that's completely different.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't think about that.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: We make sure there's songs on the record that have the Camelot DNA.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then we're also experimenting and creating new worlds,
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: new kind of experiences that we know we can kind of emulate on the stage too,
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: which is huge for us because we love touring.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: We love meeting the fans and...
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So with this record,
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: we even stepped a little bit further,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: not just with the concept,
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: but adding,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: we have a song that's sung completely in Icelandic,
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: for example, which we've never done before.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of cool new things, but...
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you worry too much about catering to a certain demographic of your fan base,
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: then you really lose all artistic integrity.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think after 30 years, we've earned the ability to just do what we think is right.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so far, the philosophy's worked.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this is a long-term question,
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: but I guess it was 10 years ago when I chatted with you,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: which that's amazing all by itself.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: But 10 years ago when I chatted with you was right when Tommy was coming into
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: the band And at the time,
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: I remember asking you, Are you writing toward his voice since he was the new guy?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: And you told me no.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: You said you write the songs and then it's almost like an expectation
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: that he's going to find his way to match those.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, now he's been in the band 10 years.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know exactly what his skill set is.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to ask you the same question 10 years later.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: With that experience,
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: do you write toward his voice or do you still just write and Tommy's piece is
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: to fit it?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been actually almost 14 years now, believe it or not.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: So he's been the longest vocalist for Camelot.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, we approached everything the same way with writing Camelot songs.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously with Silverthorne, the first album, it was basically written already.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the vocal stuff was kind of already written.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: So he stepped in.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And did an amazing job.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: But since that record, you know, he's basically had reign to do whatever he wants.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think even on this album,
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: you know, he's expanded his own kind of style and ability to a whole nother level.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the vocals on Dark Asylum to me are the best he's ever done.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just really fortunate to have a really super cool dude that's also
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: an amazing singer, amazing front man in the band.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: But no, I mean, he actually writes Camelot's song.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: He wrote God Like Alchemy.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: He wrote Ivy, My Dear.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So he's a full-on songwriter for Camelot and totally assimilated into the band.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Now, Thomas, with Dark Asylum, as well as Tommy, you've got quite a few guests on here.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: the one that jumped out at me was on Sanctuary when you had Clementine Delancey,
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: who I absolutely love.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: She's just the best.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: But tell me about not only her,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: but the various guests that you have, and how do you approach them?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: Do you approach them saying, hey, I have a song that fits you?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Or do you just approach them and say,
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'd like you to be on the record and send them the record?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then they say, well, I hear this and I'd like to do this one.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: Or how does that interplay work?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's pretty organic, to be honest with you.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's been like that from day one,
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: like even on, well,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: like on the Fourth Legacy we brought in,
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: actually the girl that's singing on Beneath the Moon was on
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: the Fourth Legacy record 20 something years ago,
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: but we'll have a song and I'll think,
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: okay, this will be cool to have maybe a growl vocal.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been talking to Ignazia Fernandez, who's on the record.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: She fronts a band called Decesis out of Chile.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've known her for 10 years,
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: and for the last couple of years,
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: we've been talking about finding a way to get her as part of
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: the whole Camelot family.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a perfect kind of segue into having her on the record.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then with Clementine,
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: We had planned to do the North America tour with Visions of Atlantis
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: and also Exceed Eden in Europe.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to find a perfect spot for her and Sanctuary fit her voice perfectly.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And she just did an amazing job.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And she's going to be in the video with that as well.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, she's super cool.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: She's toured with us in the past.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of that's kind of organic.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit's planned, like with Clementine was definitely planned.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it's always fun to kind of be able to include some of your friends and just have
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: a little bit of a icing on the cake, so to speak.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 11:29
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• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Not that you need advice,
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: because obviously you've 30 years running,
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: you know how to run Camelot,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: but when you work with,
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: like Toby Samet,
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: as an example,
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: when you work with him, I mean,
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: that guy,
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: in my opinion,
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: from chatting with him 15 times over the years, that's a smart guy in this world.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, he really...
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: He understands this in a deeper way than most do.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: Do you pick a guy like that's brain as far as when you're putting this together
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: and maybe have him say, well,
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: maybe if you twisted this this way or this that way,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: it could create a better flow or a better vibe?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Or are you just confident in what you do that you don't need to reach out to
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: the various guys anymore?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Sasha Peth is our producer,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: but he's also one of the members of Aventasia,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: which is Tobias Samet's band project, so to speak.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we had this song,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: One Last Masquerade,
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: that had a bit of a kind of Camelot, little Aventasia kind of edge to it, I thought.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Sasha also wrote that with us, so...
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: When we went to the final mix, I was like, is there any chance Tobias could sing on this?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: It would be amazing, you know?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so Sasha contacted Tobias, who's been a friend of ours for years.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: They had a tour with Camelot.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Probably 12 years ago in North America.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we've known Toby and the band and the guys.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, he graciously accepted to do it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: We had vocal parts.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: He changed some parts to fit his own style.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we're just so happy he did it because I think it came out great.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: But a guy like that, he's also super humble, even though he's a mega rock star.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right on, man.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let me ask you about one or two other songs.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: We're touching on the ones that I was going to hit,
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Sanctuary being my easy favorite on this album.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's just, that is just such a, that's made for commercial radio, prog radio.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: That one fits across a lot of, checks a lot of boxes.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Another one that I love is I really, really like Enigma.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's just a, just has like a cool vibe to it.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: What can you tell me about that one?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was some...
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we have two ballads on the record.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: One is called Enigma,
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: which is the one you're asking about,
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: another called Ivy,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: My Dear,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: which we normally don't have two ballads,
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: but they were both so special and different, I think, we decided to include them.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: But Enigma was originally written by our keyboard player,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oliver Palatai, and we kind of turned it into more of a power ballad, so to speak.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit more kind of...
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: A modern sort of ballad, I guess you could say.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the original part was more like all piano and these things.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it was cool to kind of make a different variation of that and also to make it
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: a contrast between the other ballad.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the vocals came out amazing on that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, it's going to be hard to figure out which one we're going to play live.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe at some point we'll play Ivy,
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: My Dear one tour and then bring in Enigma, a different one.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: Right on, definitely.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then the other one I wanted to ask you about is the title track,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: which is another just stellar song.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: I love that, man.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um...
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that song started with a riff that I had on the Awakening sound checks.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: I had this riff in my head, and I just would grab my phone and record it.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then when it came time to make the new record,
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I went back to all my little ideas on my phone.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that one just stood out to me.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then we kind of made it like kind of a proggy, kind of 6'8 version of the timing.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the chorus is just a super melodic chorus.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's going to be one of the songs we definitely play on the tour.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to be really fun to play.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little tricky because it's got some prog stuff in it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's done in a way where you don't have to be a prog fan to follow it
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: and to understand it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Thomas, you mentioned the tour.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the touring.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you have a release that you're ready to put out.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: You want people to hear it.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us about the tour, which,
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: if I'm not mistaken, starts right at the release day and then goes through, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of worked out cool in a way.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: We had done that before, like years ago with Ghost Upper.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: The album came out on the first day of the tour.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and sometimes the fans, they don't know all the songs we're going to play live.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we're excited.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: August 28th is the release date.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: The first show is in Orlando at the Hard Rock Live,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: which is one of my favorite venues on the planet.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's right there in City Walk.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we're excited.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's more of like a hometown show to start the tour off.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right on.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then we go for like four weeks all throughout the U.S. We have four Canadian dates, I think.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll be going to Europe about a month later doing a lot of the countries in Europe.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll come back probably in May of 27 for a second leg of a North American soar.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, excellent.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Do you foresee beyond that, like next summer, the whole festival thing?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: Do you see that as a piece of what you're going to be doing?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it depends.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like with North America,
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: the festival seems a little different than Europe,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: but we definitely do a lot of European festivals in the summer.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot to mention on the North American tour,
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: we have Visions of Atlantis with Clementine,
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: and she'll be probably joining us on stage every night.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have a band called Frozen Crown from Italy, which are super cool.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: People got to check them out.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a great package.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really excited.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've toured with both of them before, and they're all great bands.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: They do a great job putting on a great show.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure you get tickets for that.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: Is it still – and I know the immediate answer is,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: of course it is, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: Is it still exciting – To get out there and tour.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: What I mean specifically is I know you guys enjoy when you're on the stage,
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: but 30 years of those other 23 hours when you're not on the stage,
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: you know, I know that's tough and it's tough to, you know, train your mind to do it.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Is it still exciting for you to go do it or does it feel almost jobby on some level
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: because of, you know, 30 years of Get in the bus, wait, you know, then get on.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's the thing is, Chris, like we don't tour as much as a lot of different bands.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a reason for that.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's a balance that that I've learned over the last 20 years.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, work and touring life and home life.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of bands,
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: they just tour,
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: they get burnt out or they lose their relationships at home,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: all these kind of things.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: it's a conscious effort that I've made is to tour where it makes sense,
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: to play shows that are meaningful and do it in a way where you have a balance,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: right?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that way, when you do see the band on stage, we're energized, we want to be there.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: The conditions are,
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: I look at all the venues,
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I look at the days off,
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: I look at everything when it comes to the tour, the type of bus we have, the hotels.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, you want to enjoy the whole process.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just about making money and saying I played in this city or this city.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about the full experience.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So from that aspect, we've been really good at kind of being able to balance all those things.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, there is...
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: there's always,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: things you got to consider and being away from home or being in an off town
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: or something where it's like nothing to do, those kind of things.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: But we are the last people to complain about situations and touring and stuff.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, the costs have gotten crazy.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's got everything costs more for everybody, not just us.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: So so long answer to your question.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we still love doing it.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Is it, you know, is it different now in the fact that people don't advance by tickets anymore?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's gotten so burned,
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: I guess, burned out on the market that they just, you know, what do they call that?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: Blue Dot Fever, where, you know, nobody buys the tickets until two days before now.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Is that,
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: I have to imagine for a band like you guys that's not selling tickets You know,
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: a hundred thousand tickets in a city,
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: you're not Metallica,
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: you know, I, I mean, I have to imagine that that makes it incredibly hard to tour.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it comes off of your track record.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: The previous tour is really where the promoters kind of gauge what they're going to,
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: what room they're going to put you in, these kind of things.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I have to say for this tour, the pre-sales have been fantastic.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not the typical like kind of concert goer.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: I go to concerts, but...
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know what the psychology is now with buying tickets.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the fact that people wait until it's closer to the show kind of makes sense, I guess.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: But we've never canceled a tour except for 15 years ago when someone quit
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: the whole band and we had to cancel a tour.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: But that's the first time and it's the last time we've ever had to do that.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right on.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And people can trust when Camelot's coming.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: No doubt, man.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Thomas,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: on this show,
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: we tell everybody in every interview,
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: I tell them,
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: if you're going to stream something,
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: go ahead, stream it once, twice, maybe even three times.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: But if you like it, go buy something.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to buy an old album, but buy something.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: A hat, a shirt, a keychain, whatever it is.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: Where do we tell people to go to buy something from Camelot?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Camelot.com, we have merch stores in Europe, the U.S., or you can go to Napalm Records.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: They have a whole Camelot webpage just,
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: you know, with all the new pre-sales and merchandise, box sets, everything.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, those things are really crucial.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I will say, Chris,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: we have a great fan base that still supports the band with buying physical product.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: You'll never hear me say no one buys, you know, music anymore because...
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe there's people are streaming music more than ever, right?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Which makes sense.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: But we still have fans that support us.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's so crucial for us to be able to do this.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to thank all the guys out there that do that for us.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for kind of reminding people that this is...
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is an important factor for any artist.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're at the shows, we always try to bring cool stuff for the fans.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: We make the pricing fair and make sense for everybody.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm a consumer as well, and I think about all these things.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and the thing that gets lost,
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: I think, with people, and tell me if you think I'm wrong, but...
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think people,
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: they think they're helping the band when they're on Spotify because, oh,
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: I listened to that album 23 times,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: and they don't realize, well,
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: that made maybe half of a cent,
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: you know, that doesn't, I was going to say that doesn't help you.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: As much as somebody just buying a $5 keychain or something helps you
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: a whole lot more as a band.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it's unfortunate that it's that way,
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: but the industry has kind of let you guys down as far as convincing people that,
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: hey, it's still important to own this stuff.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's interesting how everything's changed over the years.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the way I look at it is when MP3s first came out, That was the start of all of this.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: We've always adjusted.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: We've always rolled with the tide and figured out ways to work within the kind
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: of structure that we've been given.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: Nowadays, bands do VIP meet and greets.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Some bands get a lot of shit for that.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Me personally, I think it's a cool way to meet some of the people.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to buy a ticket for it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: They can just come to the show like normal, but it definitely helps the tour.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: It helps support the tour.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And we do it in a way where it's like maybe 20 people.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: We cap it so that the time that we spend with the people is quality.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just a handshake and get out of here.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: and it's like,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: but it's,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: it's all,
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: it's just part of the way everything's changing, but, um,
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: there's not much you can do as we,
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: you know, uh, I think the whole vinyl resurgence has been great.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which I love, you know, we have like this blood vinyl, which is like super cool.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's, it's sold out almost immediately.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's basically vinyl with like red liquid in the, in the inside of the two things.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And, So little cool things like that are unique,
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: and fans come to the shows, we sign them, whatever.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's still fun for me,
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: and we always find different ways to kind of make things work,
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: and that's how life is.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: Right on, man.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's definitely working right now.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: The new release is Dark Asylum.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: It, as well as the tour, comes to you on August the 28th.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: You definitely want to get it.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: Pre-order it, people.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_03: Don't be lame.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Buy it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: And again, of course, the band is Camelot.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: And Thomas, thanks so much for joining me here on Chris Aker Presents.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Chris.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: So good to see you.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: See you guys.
• 26:24
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