I gave Pyramaze's debut album, Melancholy Beast my first ever Album of the Year award and it was rightfully deserved. I have yet to hear an album this year that has completely dominated my stereo as much as this. The songs are simply amazing in every fashion, from the heavy and hard hitting riffs, to the intricate and demanding melodies, this is music that me makes me proud to be a metalhead. I figured it was time to do a followup interview and this time I had the pleasure of speaking to the founder and guitarist of this band, Michael Kammeyer.
So, Claus (Intromental manager) tells me you’re heading off for Wacken tomorrow.
That’s true, yeah.
Who are you most stoked to see?
Well I don’t know really. If you ask me there are not too many good bands this year, for my taste. I definitely want to catch Kotipelto and Nevermore and stuff like that. Otherwise I’m mainly going to discover new bands this year.
Yea, the bigger bands like Stratovarius, Edguy, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, none of them are gonna be there are they?
No, not at all. I think that this year will be mostly good for the black metal, death metal and thrash / speed fans, there’s lots of those groups there this year but nothing really melodic so hopefully I’ll find something!
Has Pyramaze been offered lucrative offers for any of these European festivals?
Only in France, we’re going to play the Raismes Festival. That’s a medium sized festival down there, otherwise I’d say we’re just too new yet to be offered anything really good. We tried getting onto the Wacken Festival but our cd has only been out for two months now, so I think we are too new still. Hopefully next year something really nice will come up.
I’m sure you will dude, Joacim Cans solo cd, that’s been out since April and he’s already playing these festivals.
He’s a big name though so that would probably help.
That’s true but I remember when the cd came out and the promoters for all these festivals wanted to book him but were hesitant and waited to see if the album would sell enough, he had to reach some certain quota.
I think his name helped very much too because he’s really known here from Hammerfall already. Just the fact that you can put Joacim Cans on the billing list is enough to draw an audience, so I think that’s a good reason for any festival to hire him.
One thing about Pyramaze I’ve always been intrigued about, is that you guys have taken a very different approach to the whole band process. I mean you usually here these stories about Iron Maiden and whatnot, a bunch of guys that jam together for years, tour the dive bar circuits and then put out some demos before breaking it, whereas you guys went straight ahead and signed with Intromental, recorded the album and now here it is a year and a half later since the album was recorded and Pyramaze is already a known band and you were able to skip a bunch of bullshit that goes with a new band. What made you decide to go on this course with Intromental?
It all started with I had the idea of just making this album, of course getting a record deal was a goal all along too, but I’ve been financing everything myself since the beginning. I had found the right musicians and booked the studio and we started recording. The way we ended up with Intromental was after we had recorded all the instrumental parts of the album, they got a hold of some mp3’s sent by our producer, Jacob Hansen. They just basically fell in love with the music and that’s how our cooperation started, they are our management and they take care of our record deals.
Do you feel lucky in the sense that you were able to bypass a big chunk of what so many bands seem to go through nowadays when they start off?
No, I wouldn’t say that we bypassed that. All of us have played in bands before Pyramaze, working our butts out of our pants to get somewhere, so we have been in those circles for quite some years. You’re right about Pyramaze as a band has skipped over some years of playing small local places and stuff, but before Pyramaze we had all been through that process so I don’t see it really as skipping it completely.
Did you always have it in your mind to form your own band or did you ever, maybe in the early stages of your life, think about joining an already established act?
I always wanted to form my own band because I like to be the one who decides what to do and pull the strings and write the songs. That tends to be impossible if you join an already established band, so its pretty much always been my dream to create my own band. Damion was my band too and I was singing in it before I created Pyramaze but it just didn’t take off, us guys got tired of each other and started drifting away from each other in musical taste. With Pyramaze, it just seemed like the right time to create my own material. I was getting better and better with my instrument and it was just the right time to move forward so I put a boatload of money into it and hoped for the best.
I know that the original plan before Lance joined was that you were going to record vocals and I was wondering, what would you say your voice is like compared to Lance’s?
First of all, Lance is a much better singer than me no doubt about it, he is an absolute pro. My voice is more rockish, I don’t sing so high pitched and tend to sing more like a rock band would sound. Getting Lance on board was definitely a huge plus for the quality of Pyramaze. The music itself was always very good, we could hear that from all the responses we got. When they (Intromental) suggested to go find a pro singer I thought, “Well, let’s try it out,” and it turned out to be the right decision.
I heard that your voice was very Dave Mustaineish.
Yea, some people have said that. I guess in some spots I tend to sound a little like Dave Mustaine but not so much that I would compare myself to him. Also he is a better singer than me too, but yea in some spots I would say that I sound like him.
Did you just say that Dave Mustaine is a better singer? I dunno man, technically he is just so bad…
Yea, you’re right about that, but he has his own style though and that’s just like a brand you know, it’s not something you’ll find again except for in him. I think that’s a very great asset for a band.
When you were in Denmark recording the album, did you record any vocal tracks with your own voice or did you have in your mind and with Intromental at that point to go with another singer?
We didn’t record any vocal tracks at all because when we were finished recording the instruments we ran out of studio time so I had to rebook before I could record my vocals. In that period, Intromental got a hold of the music only so they had never heard my voice. They told me on the phone how much they loved the music and that we should join forces and then they asked me how I sounded since I wanted to do the vocals myself, and I told them that they would hear it when I was finished with the album but they said, “What if that isn’t good enough? We have a real shot of getting you guys big and we don’t want to blow it if your voice cant pull the tracks.” I asked them what they would suggest then and they told me that they had a bunch of quick contacts with very big singers so I told them to send me some promo cds and I would listen to them and afterwards decide if we were going to go with a different vocalist or if I would pull the strings myself. I received five or six promo cds and Lance was on one of them and he just blew me away. I could hear that he was the one, his voice would be a big plus for Pyramaze. I decided to quit singing and concentrate on writing songs and playing my instrument and we hired Lance and well, it’s the right decision I think (laughs).
At first Lance was just going to be a session vocalist. What prompted the decision to make him a permanent member? I mean, after hearing Melancholy Beast and the performance he gave, I really can’t imagine anyone else, not even Tobias Sammet pulling it off as good.
You’re right about that, and that was part of the reason we decided to make him a full time member. We spent a few months figuring out how he was going to sing it. Obviously Lance has his very own style and even though I had already completed all the vocal melodies I told Lance to sing them the way he wanted and we could always take a discussion on it as we went along. At the end, the results were just so good, we all thought that he should be a permanent member. One night I called him on the phone and I wanted to suggest this to him but before I could say anything he suggested it himself, “Hey Michael. Can I become more involved with the band than just a session musician?” (laughs) I was just like, “Dude I was going to ask you the same thing!” So that was great, we were all thinking the same thing so we all just agreed to make him a permanent member.
If you don’t mind me asking, who else was on those promo cd’s you got? Were there any other big names on ‘em?
Big names, no. I got them… oh it was so long ago… I got one from a band called Persuader, and another one from a band from Sweden, Elsfear, and a few others but I can't remember their names anymore, they weren’t what I was looking for.
Lance also has helped out a great deal considering that he runs and operates Nightmare Records. Did you guys look for another distributor beforehand or since Lance was in the band was it already a given?
We were looking for another label because of the fact that Lance likes to keep his record label and musicianship apart. He doesn’t want to be in a band and handle the business part of it. I understood that very good, it’s a matter of interest and conflict but it turned out that the labels that wanted us for the US also wanted us for Europe. Since we already had a deal with NTS in Europe we couldn’t do that. After a few months of struggling with that, we decided to go ahead and let Nightmare Records run the show. It would be a shame to not have the album out over there just because Lance runs Nightmare Records and also sings for Pyramaze. We agreed that we trusted each other enough to pull this off so he got all the rights for the publishing of Melancholy Beast in the US.
Pyramaze played two shows in the US back in April, which I missed unfortunately, and I read in an interview that there was a very early, tentative, in the first stages, booking plan to have you guys do a few shows with W.A.S.P. this year in the States, has that been worked out yet?
We definitely want to come back to the US as soon as possible but we also have a problem that we all have daytime jobs over here to survive. It’s all a matter of getting everything together, we can’t just leave our work for like two or three weeks to tour and that’s how long it would take to get the money recouped to pay for such a tour. The whole trip over there and in between cities would cost a boatload of money and if we only come for five dates, it’s just not enough shows to recoup that money. What we are doing right now is waiting for that perfect opportunity, maybe as a support act for a bigger band so that we can say, “Ok we will come for five days or so,” then play three or so shows as a support act so everything can fit together.
I take it that it’s safe to assume the W.A.S.P. tour isn’t gonna happen anymore?
No, I don’t think so. It was in the planning a few months ago with a guy named Nathan Black, a very nice person we met in Minneapolis, he definitely wants to bring us back for a few shows but when he found out that we could only come for so and so many dates, it turned out to be very bad business for him. We decided we’d rather wait and we don’t want to fuck him over and have him standing there with a big debt or something.
Speaking of the shows in April, I find it a bit unusual that a band who is half Danish would play their first gig in the US. How did that come about?
That was because of Lance actually. He was contacted one day by the promoter and they wanted to know if he had any bands on his label that could attend the fest to play a gig. He told them about Pyramaze and that’s how that came about. We sent the promoter a cd and he liked it so he booked us.
I kinda figured that he had something to do with that because the fest was in Minneapolis and he’s from around there as well. Do you have any cool rock star metal stories from those two shows? Kind of like crazy wild groupies throwing their panties on stage?
(laughs) No, not really! We were screwed a bit considering the audience. We were headlining on the second stage and when it came for our time to play we were already an hour late because there was a very short time to change between bands, like ten minutes. Morbid Angel was playing on the stage below on the first floor and when they finished we thought, “Oh shit this is cool, now a lot of people are gonna come up here,” but it turned out that no one came. Only thirty people that were already waiting were there to see us. After the show we learned why. After the Minneapolis Mayhem fest they had planned a techno fest in the same club so when Morbid Angel finished the gig they started throwing people out the doors and cleaned up the floors so no one was allowed to go upstairs and see us. That sucked pretty bad, we only had an audience of thirty people and we were the main act of the second stage. But, we gave those thirty people a good show and we got a very good response, signed autographs and gave away pictures. It was still a pretty fun experience even though it was a shame about the audience.
Oh man, that does suck! That’s not as bad as what happened to Angra though. After Prog Power III they did an impromptu tour of the Mid West and the audience ranged from like, thirty five people to one show I think had around seven total. Would you even really do a show if only seven people showed up?
If we were there and booked for the show we would do it if there was only one person there. That one person who came would get his ass kicked by heavy metal! But no, I would never cancel a show just because there is not enough audience that is just unfair to the fans.
Also, the Minneapolis Mayhem was the debut of Toke on guitar. Where did this guy come from?
He plays in another band here in Denmark, Dhiman. They are a pretty big hard rock band over here. Over here they won the first prize in the Grand Prix (big music competition in Denmark) in our capitol, and besides that Toke was voted as best guitarist of the night, he has a pretty nice reputation here already. The way we hired Toke was our bassist Niels knows him, they’re buddies. When Toke heard our cd he told us, “Oh man, if you guys ever need a second guitarist I’m gonna be there for sure!” As it turns out we needed one for live shows so we approached him and that’s how he came on board.
When is he going to be put up on the website under the band section?
Not until after our gigs in Europe. We want to take some new band photos when we’re all gathered. We’ve already posted that he’s now in the band on our website and in the band pictures section we’ve put him in there too. He doesn’t have a solo site yet as the rest of us have but that will be added this fall.
You’re doing a mini run of dates in September, and I have two questions. Why is the gig in Haderslav being billed as a release party seeing as the album will have been out for so long? And second, is Pyramaze going solo or are you part of some awesome package?
To answer the first question, it is because we haven’t had an official release party yet. Since the cd has been out we haven’t been able to approach the media here and invite our friends and family to celebrate the success that we have had from the start and that is what we want to do now when we are all gathered in Denmark, which we consider as our base since most of us are Danes. We’re just calling it a release party combined with a concert, we’re going to play all the songs off the album plus the Japanese bonus track. It’s just going to be a nice night with lots of friends and family and hopefully lots of fans that we’ve gained here and media people. The last rumors I heard is that the local television station is going to be there too so that’s basically why, to put focus on Pyramaze and celebrate that the cd is out. In Hamburg, we are going to play solo as in Denmark but when we get to France, as far as I have understood we will be warming up for Blaze Bailey (Editors note: at the time of press Blaze has cancelled these shows. The lineup will now be in this order, KOB, Pyramaze, and Primal Fear). I’m not sure if this is only going to be in Paris which is the day after the Raismes Festival or if it is only going to be in Raismes otherwise we will just solo in Raismes but I am pretty sure we are going to warm up for Blaze at the Locomotive.
While I find this next set of questions here’s one that Jonah told me to ask you. Do you like ribs, chicken wings, and lesbians?
(laughs) I like chicken wings, that’s for sure.
Alright, (laughs) I don’t know if you remember that from the old interview I did with him.
Haha, oh yea.
See I personally, don’t see what the big deal is about lesbians because they have twice the chance of leaving you. Instead of just leaving you for another guy they’ll also go after another chick.
Exactly, what’s the point of lesbians anyway man they don’t want to fuck you anyway.
I’m going to head back to the album now for a minute. I’ve noticed that there are some recurring themes in several of the songs. The usage of the words maze and dreamspace show themselves in about three or four songs. What is the significance of these two words for you?
Hmm. Good question. When I wrote the lyrics they just happened to fit the story. Our band name is Pyramaze but it was just a part of the story I was writing at the time. Dreamspace, you said that it occurs in more places?
Yea about two or three songs. I know Forsaken Kingdom is one of them… Shit, hold on…
Forsaken Kingdom and Power of Imagination that’s true, dreamspace appears in both of those.
Yeah that’s it, just those two. Sorry about that I could have sworn there was three songs.
I’ve never even noticed that before now! (laughs) You must have been listening to the album very carefully man! I don’t really know what to say though, when I write a story I don’t think about the other songs which have been written, it is just whatever fits the story I am writing at that particular time, that’s what goes into the lyrics, so that’s my only explanation for it.
: So I didn’t tap into some secret, underground, mystical connection of a meaning?
No, the stories are all isolated from one another so there is no big X File anything there.
I was thinking that maybe there was a loose concept going through the album and on the next album there would be a thirty minute epic song about the labyrinthine maze of doom or something.
(laughs) That’s a good idea, maybe I’ll go ahead and use that.
Actually I think that would be pretty cool, most of the songs on Melancholy Beast are long in the first place, and Mighty Abyss tops out at around eight minutes, but I would love to hear this really huge big ass epic of a song.
Well that might just happen, you can never know…
(when I was switching sides of my tape I asked Michael about his day job and how he combines everyman work and being a metal musician. The responses were very interesting but the first question was cut off due to me switching sides so we come in at this right here) So when your album came out did you just go up to work and make them listen to it and inform them that if they didn’t buy it you would fire them?
No I don’t really tend to mix those two things. My colleagues know what I do and they know that it’s my life but I don’t really bring the cd and make them listen to it. If anyone asks to hear it then of course, but otherwise no.
You’re a lot more humble person than me, if I made an album like that I would just come to my job, put it on the speakers and point at everyone and go, “Ha bitch, that’s ME what do you think of that?!!?!”
(laughs)You have to consider that most people at my work are like, forty year old housewives (laughs) and dudes who just tend to listen to pop or soft rock. If I ever were to play this cd to them they would just be like “Oh what the fuck is that noise!” (laughs)
Ok tapes rewound and recording again now, so here we go. Other than Nature of Triumph which was written by Jonah, you’re credited with composing every single song. On the next album do you see this being the same trend or will say Lance, Niels, or Jonah come in with more input than on the debut?
I’m quite convinced that Jonah will have a little bit of a bigger epic this time, he has written a two minute song already, and I don’t want to say too much, but we’re going to have it on the next album and combine it with some sweet guitar harmonies; it’s going to be another instrumental. His solo part, his composing part on this song is bigger this time with this song but other than that it is still going to be me who writes all the stuff and that’s how it’s going to stay.
Pyramaze is made up of members from many different bands, you played in Damion, Morten plays for Wuthering Heights and Aurora, Niels is in Aurora, Jonah was in a group from Australia, Infernal Method, and we all know where Lance is from, and I know that Jonah isn’t in Infernal Method anymore but with Morten and Niels still in Aurora and Lance who has multiple projects, do you feel that this lineup is THE definitive Pyramaze lineup and also how important to you is it that a band has a stable lineup?
It is very, very important that a band maintains a stable lineup because those are the people that the fans will identify themselves with over the years and if someone suddenly quits the band for whatever reason it is always a big loss. Bands will survive though, look at Iced Earth or Stratovarius, but it is always a sad thing to lose a member of the band who's been a part of it for years. Also I tend to think that since I started all of this and that I write every main part of everything that the soul and spirit of Pyramaze will never be lost no matter what happens. If we say one day that maybe Lance would say that he’s through with the music business or something we would survive and the style of Pyramaze would stay the same because it’s basically my style. Of course the other musicians have been adding their own bits and pieces, that’s true no doubt about it, and it would be a shame to lose any of them. I think it’s safe to say that they all see Pyramaze as their main band now without having said too much.
There are a few people out there that might not know that Melancholy Beast was recorded about a year and a half ago (January of 2003), to them this album has only been out for three or four months now, since the album was recorded so long ago do you already have any ideas for the follow up?
I am writing a song right now and it’s turning out pretty sweet if you ask me, and after the mini tour in September I am going to commence the serious songwriting for the second album and hope to have it out by late summer or early fall next year.
Well, I’m sad to say that our little conversation here is coming to and end. Thanks for doing the interview man, I mean you read my review and I really do hold Melancholy Beast in a very high regard. So, thanks again for the interview and thanks for making the music!
Thank you too, it’s been pretty cool, I’ll talk to you later on AOL. Bye!
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