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Dragonforce with Turisas & Powergolve
MacEwan Hall
Tuesday, December 16 - Tuesday, December 16

More in: Rock / Pop

“I feel like fucking shit,” says Sam Totman, guitarist and main songwriter for London-based power metal progenitors DragonForce. Deep into their umpteenth North American tour, he’s waking up in the back of the tour bus, unsure of what city he’s in or where he’s headed. “It’s the usual routine — I wake up at about 12, lay in bed feeling like shit for a few hours. I get up and eat something, sit around doing nothing, and then get drunk again at about six o’clock. Then I’m happy in my halo!”

With their epic, innovative and highly technical approach to power metal, replete with soaring choruses, lightning-fast guitar, synth solos and a list of influences that include everyone from Rhapsody of Fire through Bon Jovi and Steve Vai, DragonForce have seemingly taken over the world. “Through The Fire and Flames,” a standout track from their excellent third record Inhuman Rampage, brought worldwide attention with its inclusion on Guitar Hero 3.

“I don’t even like playing it,” Totman admits. “Sometimes people will get us to play it for an interview or something, thinking it will be really funny. Oh God — it’s just not my kind of game. I think it’s a cool idea, but personally I find it extremely boring.”

The song’s inclusion in the game became the ultimate viral marketing campaign for the band, as hundreds of competitive guitar heroes posted videos of their performances to YouTube. This momentum continued when Ultra Beatdown, released in August, became a critical and commercial success, even hitting the Billboard Top 20. All of this comes as a shock to the band, which formed for all the right reasons.

“We wanted to do it for fun,” Totman says. “We never thought we were going to be popular or make a living out of it. That was the last thing we expected to do. We just wanted to go on tour, have a laugh and play some music we liked.”

That’s exactly what they’ve done. The band have built a reputation for having an overblown, often hilarious stage show that has involved mini-trampolines, giant fans, jump kicks and a whole lot of alcohol. “We all drink booze and run around and make fun of each other, because that’s how we are offstage,” he says. “I think that if a band is really boring onstage, standing still and staring at their guitars, they’re boring people offstage as well. We’re onstage playing songs, but we’re just as stupid as we are any other day.”

The band’s cardio-pumping performances also have their health benefits, as Totman points out. “For me, it’s the only exercise I do. It’s kind of hard, but it means I don’t get too fat.”

Still, Totman is quick to point out that they treat the music as no laughing matter, tirelessly working to outdo their previous efforts. Where other guitar gods might battle for ultimate greatness, the DragonForce soloists ditch their egos for the collective good.

“We’re trying to make something that sounds good, rather than try to beat the other guy,” he says. “When we finish an album, I listen to it all the time because I think it’s really cool. At the end of the day, we’re making music that we think is the best music anyone can hear. I think your own music is obviously going to be your favourite music… unless you’re a rubbish band.”

DragonForce certainly aren’t rubbish, and they intend to keep it that way. There are still enough laughs to be had, arenas to be filled and epic power metal riffs to be written to keep Totman and company away from real jobs. “It’s still better than working in a coal mine or something.”