ERIC ADAMS On Why MANOWAR DVDs Have Outnumbered CDs: 'It's What The Fans Want'

Sweden's CriticalMass.se recently conducted an interview with MANOWAR frontman Eric Adams. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

CriticalMass.se: Tell us something about the [new] album. How will it sound?

Eric: Have you heard the EP yet? That's a glimpse of what's going on with the MANOWAR sound, that's what it is. It's gonna be powerful. It's more orchestral, but still has the power chords that go along with it. It's a marriage of orchestra and metal that you wouldn't believe. It is powerful. The tracks on the EP will be on the album, but in different versions. And then, next month, on November 11th, we release a new DVD, six and a half hours long. Pretty cool! It shows the Earthshaker gig. I think it will be called, but don't quote me on this... I think it's gonna be called 'The Day that Earth Shook'. It's the Earthshaker Festival we did, from beginning to end. It shows the fan thing we had going there, it shows rehearsals, it's really really cool. It's a cool set-up. It's the first and only time that we'll ever have all eight members of MANOWAR on stage at the same time. That's pretty cool. It was filmed with 26 cameras, all in high definition. We had a helicopter cam up there, and at the end we had six minutes of 4th of July fireworks blowing off the roof of the stage. I mean, it was all an incredible show — the 100-piece orchestra and a 100-piece choir with us. Man, it was too cool! Then, after that, the album gets released and we get released!

CriticalMass.se: In recent years, do you think it would be fair to say that there has been "more DVDs" and "less albums" coming from MANOWAR? Why is that?

Eric: Yes. It's because it's what the fans want. The fans that can't ever get to a MANOWAR show, that's what they have been asking for. So we try to do what the fans want. I mean, look at this DVD from Earthshaker. This is a once-in-a-lifetime DVD — that's never gonna happen again, and if you were there, then you can re-witness it again, and if you weren't there, you can see what the other fans saw and you can see it in high definition. The quality and camera work — you know, it's something that I think the fans demanded, not wanted — they demanded it. And that's why. You're right, there has been a few DVDs, but I think it's important. And the fans have a choice. They can either buy the DVD and see the show again, or if they think it's too many — don't buy it! You can't please everybody, you know.

CriticalMass.se: Back to the album... Where was it recorded?

Eric: We record the album in our own studio, at Magic Circle Music. We have our own studio in New York where all recordings are done. It gets mixed and mastered in Belgium, actually. Then back to Magic Circle for final approval. And that's it man, ready to go!

CriticalMass.se: Is the recording finished yet?

Eric: Most of it is. My vocals aren't done yet. So I'll have to wait until I get back home, hear what's going on and start out on those a little more. Most of it is done, and it's really cool. It's powerful, brother. The album is called 'Gods of War', the title song tells a tale and the whole album will be our first concept album where we're gonna be writing songs about the Gods of war from the beginning at time, mythological time, roman time up to recent time. The story can't be told in one album so this is gonna be a concept thing, it's gonna be as many albums as it takes to finish the story and I don't know what that's gonna be — two? It might be four, it might be five. This album is gonna be the first couple of chapters in music of a story that's gonna have a beginning and an end. It's a pretty good idea; it's much like you'd listen to a trilogy or something, you have to follow all three stories. It's very similar. It's gonna be one massive story-line of music.

CriticalMass.se: It's pretty strange in a way that after 25 years you have never thought of doing a conceptual album?

Eric: Never. And, it's our first EP in 25 years. Get ready for this brother — I want you to write this down, tell all your readers this, OK? The Earthshaker Festival was a once in a lifetime thing we did, right. We've got more shows coming up in March ok, and if anybody from any other country wants to come to Germany in March; bring your passport to merchandise and we're gonna give you a t-shirt. And I want you to know also, that when you buy the Earthshaker DVD, you're gonna be automatically registered, there's a registration number on the DVD. Your send that registration number in to Manowar.com and you're gonna be automatically registered to possibly win one of two choppers that are being built. Made for European roads, brother. We're talking a total of 40,000 dollars worth of machinery here, that are given to two lucky fans. I think it's cool. It's a cool year for MANOWAR, it's a cool year for the fans. Like you said earlier, it's massive.

Read the entire interview at CriticalMass.se.