KING DIAMOND: 'I Certainly Won't Say That The Book Has Been Closed On MERCYFUL FATE'

Nick Green of Decibel magazine (web site) recently conducted an interview with KING DIAMOND/MERCYFUL FATE frontman King Diamond. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Decibel: Is it true that you're an American citizen now?

King Diamond: I've lived in Texas for the last 15 years, but I just became an American citizen in 2005. It was lengthy process — you have to go through the whole thing with a lawyer and wait until you're called in for fingerprinting and fill out this form and sign your name to that one. With the fallout from 9/11, I'm sure it takes a lot longer to conduct background checks and ensure that the authorities aren't making mistakes. I think it took about nine months before my number came up the first time, but it was right before we started the first "Puppet Master" tour. So I had to cancel and reschedule, and that pushed me to the back of the line. It took another nine months before I got called into the place again, and I was forbidden from postponing a second time. We were planning on touring in Europe, but I didn't dare leave American soil — the idea of letting that opportunity slip away just to perform in Greece was too painful to consider.

Decibel: What did you think of the song that Matt Heafy of TRIVIUM wrote for you for the "Roadrunner United" project?

King Diamond: Oh, I like it a lot! Matt wrote a great song and everyone who played on it did a great job. When I first heard it, I could sense a little bit of KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE in there. It made me want to do something really cool with it. I don't know if Matt was too familiar with our style before he wrote that song, but someone else in his band definitely was. I know that he got at least one or two of our albums and listened to them for a couple of days. I can kind of hear some of our element in there, that's for sure.

Decibel: Will there ever be another MERCYFUL FATE reunion?

King Diamond: It's very difficult to predict. I certainly won't say that the book has been closed on the band, since MERCYFUL FATE has a deal with Metal Blade for another album. Downloading has really hurt the labels and it has had some major implications on how artist contracts are structured. The fact of the matter is that KING DIAMOND has always outsold MERCYFUL FATE. KING DIAMOND always had more people coming to shows, bigger tours, better contracts, and better record sales. The way we have to do things now is to keep an eye on costs, and we record a lot of the KING DIAMOND material on our own equipment in our own studio. MERCYFUL FATE has a contract that is much less lucrative than KING DIAMOND, but there would be much higher costs associated with doing a record. There was a time when I could put the KING DIAMOND stuff down for six months and do a MERCYFUL FATE album and not have to subsist on bread and water. The long answer to your question: There would have to be a healthy chunk of time where KING DIAMOND was not busy with other commitments. For me, it would be something of a sacrifice.