KAMELOT Guitarist Talks Split With Singer ROY KHAN, Next Album In New Video Interview

Metal-Trails.com conducted an interview with KAMELOT guitarist Thomas Youngblood on May 11, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow.

On the new KAMELOT album:

Youngblood: "There's gonna be some new twists and turns, of course, with the vocals and stuff like that. I think what we're gonna do is kind of go back a little bit to what we did with 'The Black Halo' and 'Ghost Opera', but then, of course, add new elements, more theatrical things. We've got about two songs already written, and after the U.S. tour in September, we're gonna be full force into writing the new album.

On a possible release date for the next KAMELOT CD:

Youngblood: "We're shooting for the end of 2012, but realistically, it will probably be 2013. That's when we'll do a whole new world tour in support of that record."

On longtime KAMELOT singer Roy Khan's recent announcement that he was leaving the band after taking several months off to recover from a "burnout":

Youngblood: "I thought it was premature, because when you're burned out, you don't wanna make those kinds of decisions. We'd been working together for 10-plus years, and I've heard about this burnout syndrome taking time to get through it. There was really no reason to make that decision now; we're not gonna make a new record 'till next year. But it was something that I guess he felt compelled to have to do. I'm not totally sure why, but it is what it is."

On possible candidates for the singer position in KAMELOT and what the band will be looking for in a new vocalist:

Youngblood: "I definitely don't wanna say any names right now, but we've gotten a lot of e-mails from people that are known, people that are unknown. Obviously they have to have a certain charisma, they have to understand the dynamics of what KAMELOT is and also what we're gonna be on the next record. Vocally, they have to be a master at what they're doing. So there's a lot of elements. There's also a social part of it making sure they have no religious restrictions, no addiction issues, they don't have a girlfriend or a wife that says, 'You can't tour,' or something like that. All I can say is that so far a lot of the e-mails I've gotten have been very encouraging."

On whether KAMELOT wants someone who will sound very similar to Roy or a singer with his own style:

Youngblood: "The new guy should have his own thing going on. Of course, he has to be able to sing the old songs and do it properly give it justice and respect. But to bring in a clone makes no sense; that's not our goal."

On KAMELOT's current touring vocalist, Fabio Lione of RHAPSODY OF FIRE:

Youngblood: "Our producer, Sascha Paeth, he also does RHAPSODY's records and he suggested Fabio because he knows the guy can sing anything. He sings totally different than he does with RHAPSODY with us. He's an amazing singer. I mean, technically, he's probably the best singer that I've ever worked with. So I think he was the perfect choice to finish this tour, to fulfill our obligations to ourselves and the fans. And he's actually a new dynamic to the show, which I think is really cool."

On whether there is a possibility that Fabio will be the new permanent lead singer of KAMELOT:

Youngblood: "There's always possibilities, you know?! He's got his band, but I think what I wanna do is do this big audition process where we have as many people as possible to choose from and then we'll make a decision."

Fan-filmed video footage of KAMELOT's May 12, 2011 performance at Trdgr'n in Gothenburg, Sweden during the band's "Pandemonium Over Europe 2011" headlining tour with support from EVERGREY, AMARANTHE and SONS OF SEASONS can be viewed below.

Interview:

Performance footage (Gothenburg):