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Interviews : “We can finally start a tour with Australia…” – An Interview with Herman Li (Dragonforce)

By on May 27, 2017

Dragonforce – Herman Li

For the second time this year, the opportunity to chat to Herman Li, guitarist par excellence for UK based metal horde, DragonForce, was presented.

For this interview, given the album Reaching into Infinity was released the day of our chat I thought it wise to ask for a quote from Li about the new album.

“The new album is a continuation, I guess evolution of DragonForce. We always try to add new elements in to the music especially since the album The Power Within in 2012, we have expanded and gone more diverse in terms of our sound, we are carrying on that tradition on the new album pretty much”

In what I will refer to as “Chapter 1” of our discussion, Li spoke enthusiastically of the upcoming Australian tour. “I am so happy that we can finally start a tour with Australia at the beginning instead of first going to Europe, America and everywhere else first”, he shared a unique on-stage episode. “You could hear me just swearing on the stage ‘argghhh… that is not working, who the hell did that, who kicked my stuff?’The whole area could hear my conversation on stage”) and as much to satisfy my own curiosity as that of the readership, given Li’s astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, I asked him for a quote or two regarding many famed guitarists.

To reprise the interview subject matter from Chapter 1, I thought it would be a treat to dig deeper and obtain Li’s perspective on some more excellent guitarists. As I explained to Li, I will do so here: There are some prominent names in this mix yet I hope the comments of a guitarist as notable as Li will inspire budding musicians and guitarists to become curious and broaden their 6 (or 7, 8 or even 9!) string horizons. So, here they are!

Jeff Hanneman (Slayer): I think one of the main things about him is he has really inspired a lot of people with the heavy riffing and back then you could say that stuff was extremely heavy if you first heard it at that time. Now metal music has gone in so many directions but Slayer has always been kind of intense fast thrashy aggressive band. So, he has definitely inspired a lot of players with their approach of the solos, its not like Megadeth or Metallica. Slayers approach is much more aggressive sounding.

Dave Mustaine (Megadeth, MD.45): I always like Dave Mustaine’s playing since the beginning. He is a rhythm player that can play solos as well, of course he is strongest in the rhythm department and one of my favorite albums for that kind of music is definitely Rust in Peace (’90). That album is just out of this world. I also like Countdown to Extinction (’92) a lot as well and all that but Rust in Peace really stands out… from the opening riffs all the way to the end.

Kirk Hammett (Metallica): Kirk Hammett is one of the guys that I always hear people say bad things about funny enough but he is a great player. One of the ways that he shows this is through his solos, they are memorable. It’s not about how many notes you can play but if you can sing those solos, that makes a great solo. The solos in “Creeping Death” (from Ride the Lightning ’84) and of course the Black Album (’91), the solos you remember really well… The Unforgiven and all that stuff. Kirk Hammett really is a great player that I think people underrated him because he was in a massive band, but I always liked Kirk Hammett.

Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel): Yes, I was never a big Morbid Angel fan unlike Sam and Fred in the band. I remember when I first heard them on Covenant (’93), they had a weird production and stuff but I guess that was meant to be a different kind of way. So, I can’t say too much about him but I do remember that he was a big martial arts guy, into Bruce Lee and stuff.

Alex Skolnick (Testament and a bunch of other bands): Alex Skolnick was a big influence for me when I first started playing the guitar. I remember he was playing an Ibanez S series at that time. One thing that set Testament apart from the other thrash bands was I think Alex Skolnick was one of the main points with his incredibly guitar playing, the solos were just really cool. From the early stuff, I would say the fast songs like “Over the Wall”  (The Legacy ’87) and stuff like that. Then The New Order (’88), that is a really cool album, great guitar playing on that. One of my favorite solo’s of his is on “Return to Serenity” from the album The Ritual (’92)

Vernon Reid (Living Colour): He has got a different kind of sound completely different from all the players we have mentioned already. So, he is actually a good player to look at if you want to hear something different.

Ty Tabor (Kings X): You know what I never got in to them that much. I had a few albums but I never listened to enough Kings X to really comment on his playing I am afraid.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai: They are some of my favorite guitar players. I still listen to their albums now. Our new album is called Reaching into Infinity and what we were trying to say with the new album title was some of the music is just timeless, you can just listen to it forever and I think those guys made albums that I can listen to pretty much until I die. The instrumental albums are just so special that you will never be bored of listening to Passion and Warfare (Vai- ’90) or The Extremist (Satriani- ’92), Surfing with the Alien (Satriani- ’87), songs like “One Big Rush” from Flying the Blue Dream (Satriani- ’89).

I also like their new stuff, people don’t mention the new stuff so much but I can listen to all their albums. Pretty much every single one.

Orianthi (Michael Jackson, Solo artist) Yes, I heard her album, she has got really catchy songs on that album actually. I can’t remember what is the name of it. I believe she played with Santana before, something like that. So, she is a great player. I don’t know what she is doing now but she is definitely one of the great modern female rock guitar players, one of the best ones now.

‘Reaching Into Infinity’ out now via earMUSIC/Sony.

Finally, I ask for Li’s thoughts on the upcoming Australian tour.

“We haven’t done a headlining tour in Australia since 2009. I know we came a couple of times for Soundwave, but it is a full on DragonForce show now.

So, we are going to play a lot of new songs of course but also the old classic DragonForce will be there too. “

If you are a disciple of great guitar playing I highly recommend that you catch DragonForce at your nearest venue in June!

TOUR DATES
June 20: Capitol, Perth 18+
June 21: 170 Russell, Melbourne 18+
June 22: The Basement, Canberra 18+
June 24: Manning Bar, Sydney 18+
June 25: The Triffid, Brisbane 18+

Click here to secure your tickets from Destroy All Lines.

About

Andrew is a musician who has spent many years performing on the stages of the pubs and clubs of Queensland. A devotee of the broad church that is rock, punk, funk, jazz and of course all genres of metal... he now shares his enthusiasm via a burgeoning pursuit of music journalism. Follow him on twitter @andymckaysmith