Travelling At Warp Speed With SAM TOTMAN From DRAGONFORCE

Interview by Kris Peters
Dragonforce are undoubtedly one of the biggest bands in the world -
or at least the most recognisable.
Allowing their track Through The Fire And Flames to be used on
Guitar Hero 3 proved a masterstroke for the band after the global
success of that game - not to mention the fact how addictive it was
- propelled Dragonforce into the lounge rooms and stereos of gamers
and budding musicians in every corner of the globe.
While many bands would be content with such an achievement in
itself, Dragonforce merely used it as a launching platform on which
to deliver their brand of power metal, and the result has been
devastatingly effective.
Their music has been used on other games, been nominated for a
Grammy and generally taken on a life of its own, with Dragonforce
being considered universally as the fastest band in metal. Which is
not surprising given the twin guitar assault delivered by founding
members Sam Totman and Herman Li, two guitarists worlds apart to
look at, but brothers in arms musically.
After not delivering an album of any sort since 2019s Extreme Power
Metal, Dragonforce are making an almighty return with their tenth
studio album Warp Speed Warriors set for release on March 15.
It has already been labelled as their most ambitious and innovative
album to date, with Dragonforce exploring a variety of musical
styles and textures, expanding their existing sound while still
maintaining their roots.
Guitarist Sam Totman joined HEAVY recently to chat about Warp Speed
Warriors.
"Great," he enthused when we asked how he was feeling about the
upcoming release of Warp Speed Warriors. "It's funny because, like
every band always says, 'we're just so happy to finish it because
we've been working on it for ages', but it's definitely the case. I
started working on that right when lockdown started and because we
had so much time I just worked on it very slowly. In the end
unfortunately I started getting a bit sick of it because I'd heard
it to death and I never got an end to it because it was like 'oh, I
could improve this one' or 'I can improve that one' and I carried
on, never stopping. Normally it's good to have a deadline where you
finish the album and say right, that's that, that's what it is. But
I had so much time to keep improving things and whatever - which is
nice - but it was also kind of a pain in the ass. Now that it's
finished I haven't listened to it for the last few months, but I
put it on the other day when the first Astro Warriors song came on,
and I saw the video and thought I can finally enjoy this song for
what it is instead of thinking there's this little bit here that I
want to change and a little bit there I want to change. Actually,
the chorus of that song was different - it's a bit of a nerdy
musician fact for you (laughs) - but I changed the chorus of that
only two months before we finished the album. Before that it was a
different chorus which I didn't think was as good. It was annoying
me for three years, and I was thinking it's almost amazing but not
quite. And I was like, I'm just going to have to bin it and start
again because I kept trying to adjust it. But in the end it turned
out good. That's a long way to say yes I do like our album, and
it's more heavy and more melodic than all the other ones (laughs).
I'd like to say one day it's actually lighter and less melodic, but
that's not really true (laughs)."
In the full interview, Sam talks more about Warp Speed Warriors
musically, how it is Dragonforce's most ambitious and innovative
release, what kinds of things they did on the album that they
haven't tried before, covering Taylor Swift, the bonus tracks
featuring guest artists, living up to their reputation as the
fastest band in the world, the early days of Dragonforce and where
they fit in, when he looked around and realised that he could make
a career out of music, how the bands sound has changed over the
course of ten albums, touring plans and more.