DRAGONFORCE's HERMAN LI Explains How His Interaction With Fans On Social Media Affects His Work

In a new interview with São Paulo, Brazil's 89 FM A Rádio Rock radio station, DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li was asked if the connection he creates with the band's fans through social media impacts his work as a musician. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "With Twitch, it's really just to show who I am and open the window to the world of what I do. So not this album, but the previous album, 'Extreme Power Metal', I recorded a lot of the guitar parts live on Twitch in front of fans to show them what the process is like. And it was great because, to be honest, sometimes I don't even know if something is good enough when I record and I'll do it like a whole day and I'm, like, 'Oh, it sounds all the same. It's not that good.' Having the fans that listen to it and say, 'You know what? That's good enough, Herman. You can move on' was really helpful. I doubt myself too."

He continued: "So we really have a really special community on Twitch with the fans where they get, I guess, a preview of everything before. It's kind of cool. Actually, they know better than me about the albums. It's, like, when we released the new album, they said, 'Oh, you guys already played that on Twitch years ago, four years before.' I didn't know we did it, the demo version of it. So they got better memory than me. So they're helping me archive my life at the same time."

Asked if he has ever had to deal with a lot of trolls online, Herman said: "Oh, we always get a few of those guys, but it's okay. I'm used to it. It's still more pleasant than over on YouTube. You open YouTube, and it's a different kind of level — in the past. Now it's actually much more positive. I think, I hope I'm right, that the general population, at least the younger fans of music, and more accepting of different styles now. They're not so like in the old days, 'I hate everything else. I only like one style. I only like black metal and that's it,' or something."

This past May, DRAGONFORCE teamed up with "Brawl Stars", a hit multiplayer mobile game with over one billion downloads, to celebrate a brand new character entering the game with a new song, "A Draco Tale", and music video.

DRAGONFORCE's latest album, "Warp Speed Warriors", was released in March via Napalm Records.

On "Warp Speed Warriors", DRAGONFORCE — composed of of guitar virtuosos and founding members Li and Sam Totman, singer Marc Hudson, bassist Alicia Vigil and drummer Gee Anzalone — explore a wider range of varying musical styles than ever before, evolving their sound throughout the exciting musical journey while still staying true to their roots.

"Warp Speed Warriors" was produced, mixed and mastered by Damien Rainaud at Mix Unlimited in Los Angeles, California with Sam Totman and Herman Li.

DRAGONFORCE's platinum-selling single "Through The Fire And Flames" brought the London-based Grammy-nominated extreme power metal group international acclaim and was featured as the most challenging song on "Guitar Hero III".

In March 2019, the "Through The Fire And Flames" music video reached a new milestone: it surpassed one hundred million views on YouTube — DRAGONFORCE's first music video to do so.

"Through The Fire And Flames" is the leadoff track from 2006's "Inhuman Rampage" album, which was officially certified gold in July 2017 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of half a million copies.