IRON MASK INTERVIEW

6th January 2010

Back after a 4.5 year absence, the melodic neo-classical metal outfit Iron Mask have pulled out all the stops for their cracking third album "Shadow Of The Red Baron".  We caught up with main composer and guitarist Dushan Petrossi to get into the making of the album, get the low down on a couple of new band members and find out what is in store for the rest of 2010.  If you like your metal powerful, with great instrumentation, killer melodies and soaring vocals then be sure to check out the new album (review here).

Dushan, many thanks for talking to Virtuosity One again, it has been sometime since the last Iron Mask album.
You’re welcome Andy, my pleasure; thank you very much for your interest in my music for so many years. Yeah, it’s been a while-)

The new album “Shadow Of The Red Baron” is set for release in a couple of weeks time, its an album I have been listening to pretty much none stop since I got a promo copy.  It seems you’ve pulled out all the stops this time.
Great to hear you enjoyed the new stuff, I’ m very pleased with that new album too; I listen to it also quite often, very loud in the car! That’s perfect, when a friend get in the car he can’t stop singing as well -lol

When did you initially start writing for this album?
You know, I never really stop to write songs so new ideas started to grow in my head pretty much after the release of ‘Hordes of the brave’ . I always get lot of riffs and melodies in my head, I ‘m kind of blessed with that I must admit, then I need to record it in my home studio, coz otherwise that’s hell! It happens also when someone talks with me, all of a sudden I ‘m out of this world and I don’t even listen anymore but hear only what’s arriving in my head ,it’s very confusing at times haha.

Did you have a clear concise idea of where you wanted the music to go this time?
Well, not really, I know what I like and what I don’t like, it’s just coming, and of course your personal life and feelings influence that process of creation; that’s a musicians life with  good and bad moments.  When a great song is born ,that’s a mystic thing to me ,almost a miracle, when you get tears out of you when listening to a minor melody, that’s something I look for because it speaks to your heart and soul ,and when I get that, I’m 100% satisfied. When my mother passed away, it was just natural to me to write songs about her and the music which came out was only the reflection of the feelings I had at that moment of my life.

It seems the sound is more focused towards the song, the last IM album had some crushing hooks yet this one is loaded with them in every track.  What tells you something is a good hook and worth working with and developing further?
Thanks Andy. When it grabs me, I know people will be hooked ,coz I’ m very very  hard with myself, if the vocal melody of a chorus isn’t strong enough , I will not keep it .

Is this something that has always come naturally to you or something you have worked at over time?
Yeah, like I said that’s something very natural to me, I don’t know about other way to works or what other artists do, but this is my way to work and I think I will never try another way to write good songs.  To me every vocal note must be memorable ,and everything must turn around that.  The chorus is the sun of a song, the verse and solos are the planets.  I consider myself as I song writer first of all.

How long did the recording process take?
We started with the drums recording in Rotterdam in October 2008 and we finished everything in January 2009.

What led to the choice of Jens Bogren for the mixing?
I heard some of his mixes-Symphony X  and Dionysus  and I really liked his clear and loud sound. Especially on the vocals.  I wanted to hear the choirs loud and he’s the best for that; So I just contacted him ,he’s a cool guy and great mixer.  I’m very happy with the powerful sound on’ Shadow Of The Red Baron’

I have been able to view a few of the interviews that come on the really cool limited edition bonus DVD and it seem the rest of your band mates seem to think you write quite chaotically, with you telling them what is happening on the day of recording.  Is the music in your head and it’s a case of telling others what that music is like? Or is their structure there to you?
Yeah, I don’t like to do hundreds of demos of a song.  I record it basically just to remind me of it later when we all need to  learn the new stuff at our place.  The final test is always  at the rehearsals, sometime I change a part in a song, but in general the song structure doesn’t change anymore -it happened only once this time  for the new album ,I added the Gregorian Latin choirs part in the  ’Forever in the dark’ verses in the studio  when we recorded the drums and told Erik to add some more drumming.  Its’ sometimes difficult for a drummer or a bass player coz we always play new stuff without the singer (he’s lives near Frankfurt and we are in Brussels).  So as they don’t know the vocal melodies; it’s harder for them to get the structure of a song, but I sing the melody then they understand very quickly the basis of a song.  I like new technology and recording with a computer; programming fake drums is now very easy for every musicians but I ‘m kind of  an old school guy ,you know.

You’ve pulled a blinding performance out of Valhalla Jr this time around, the guy is stunning, how much guidance do you need to give in the vocal department or is Valhalla free to work around the lyrics with his own melodies?
Cool to hear that.  No, I always write the melodies first and that’s impossible to change coz otherwise it’s chaos, it doesn’t’ t fit to a minor or major chord.  He’s always doing his best to keep my melodies, he of course does it in his range ,an octave higher or lower ,depending on  the song, he wrote lyrics this time but he always followed the initial melody as much as possible, of course he has his style of singing and  breathing and he sometimes change the timing of a word ,but just to feel more comfortable  while singing; Oliver Hartmann also did some amazing work on the choirs.

The album is a little more fluid and streamlined than the last two, with a greater emphasis on the song as opposed to instrumental workouts.  Is the song more important to you in the 2010 than it was say a decade ago?
Yeah definitely, and it will be even more in the future, but I still like instrumental stuff, we still have one on the new record “Ghost of the Tzar”.

What do you feel is better about “Shadow Of The Red Baron” in comparison to its predecessor “Hordes Of The Brave”?
I think both albums are great in their own ways, ‘Shadow Of The Red Baron’ will maybe please  to a larger mass and not only guitar fanatics because of the shorter  and catchier songs, it could bring more kids into metal too ,especially in the USA ,where the album gets great feedback.  We just hope to be programmed on a TV metal show and the Iron Mask invasion could start as hell -)))

The band has a couple of new members, Erik Stout on drums who delivers a thunderous backing, I know Erik has played live with Joe Stump but how did you hook up with him?
Well Joe invited me to one of his show in Belgium early January 08 I liked his show and his drummer as well.  So when we separated ways with our former drummer we just contacted Erik, he’s a hell of a cool guy and  a professional drummer too. He’s from Holland.

Andreas Lindahl delivers some fine keyboard solos which might surprise that only hear him in The Murder Of My Sweet, how did you hook up with Andreas?
When Richard Andersson decided to stop his musical activities ;I thought it was time to find a permanent band member on the keys;  I asked for some help from Claus at Intromental agency,-who did my Iron mask new web site- , and he introduced me to Andreas.  He‘s from Sweden too.  The funny thing is that he was a student of Richard’s when he was younger and you can definitely hear it in his virtuoso playing, he’s a great keyboardist, and real humble and  funny guy ,we had great times at the hotel and the restaurant in Frankfurt, while shooting the video clip.

Speaking of which, the video for “Forever In The Dark” is a very nice production, are you pleased with how it came out?
Yeah ,considering we shoot it in only one day ,with photos of the new album shooting also scheduled the same day.  I think Thomas Neuman did a pretty decent job, but as he said its only for the web, he will do another clip for us this time  in HD ,which will be even greater.

Is this available on the limited edition bonus DVD as well?
Yeah it is ;it’s also on a better format on the Bonus DVD-)

What else is on the DVD?
There’s  also long interviews with me and most of the band members and  some guitar riffs  featured on the new album played by me  in the Frankfurt studio.  I think our fans will enjoy those little extras, and its  a good collector thing.

Any plans for some live shows in support of the album?  What can you fan base help and do in this regards?
Well, that’s the hardest  part ,we hope to play as much as possible ,but this depends on promoters and bookers, if you wanna see Iron Mask live just contact the festivals organisers all over the world and request Iron Mask.  On our side we’ll try to organise a tour with two other bands but that’s too early to speak about it ,when we get confirmation ,we’ll let everyone know!  We have many fans on this planet and we need to play for all of them, we get lot of emails from South America, East European countries, Japan and the USA, UK as well and I’ m very eager to perform live.  We’ve get strong songs made for live gigs first of all.

You also run Magic Kingdom in parallel to Iron Mask, what’s the state of play with the new album there?
After some delays it’s finally in the mixing process; and hopefully will be released in the middle of 2010.  I cant’ wait to release that album ,it’s very epic, symphonic and speedy ,the long metal opera is almost 30min long.

Any other plans for 2010 and any final messages for our readers?
We really hope to play live as much as possible in 2010 and we hope to meet you all.  Thanks so much for the GREAT support ; wherever you are ,and we hope you enjoy the new album, the red baron is ready for attack!!!

Dushan, thank you very much for you time. We wish you all the best.
Andy, thanks a lot  for that cool interview! Good bless you all.

OFFICIAL WEBSITES
www.iron-mask.com
www.dushanpetrossi.com