Interview of IRON KINGDOM
by MONKEYMETAL aka Troll / ODYMETAL,
19th October 2023.
Answers by Chris Osterman (guitar, vocal)
Photos sent by Chris Osterman
I am calling on your memories concerning the period from 2004 to 2011 when the group was called TWISTED. How was the group formed, why did you choose the name TWISTED and can you give us a summary of this period?
Oh man, well, I was about 14 years old, and I decided that I’d ask every one of my friends which instruments they owned… Yes this wasn’t about talent, but if you had access to the instruments hahaha ! Needless to say we werent very good… And about 11 members later I finally found a more solid lineup that stuck around for the majority of the time, many of which learned their instruments during their stay with the band. The name ‘Twisted’, was our first drummers idea, he was a skater, and he drew up the name in graffiti, and we were like, ‘woah, that’s awesome ! Thats our logo right there,’ and so, that was our name. I never really cared for the name, we just sorta took it. We were kids, we played for fun, and we were mostly playing community centres and highschools.
To summarize the ‘Twisted’ years, go listen to our debut album ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ this was a collection of songs we wrote under the name ‘Twisted’ and decided why not just release the songs, it was a kick start with some tunes, and we can write new ones for the second album. In-fact even the lineup was essentially the main members of ‘Twisted’. Jordan, the second guitarist was the only person who was there with me when we were 14, just naming the band. I think he left because we were ready to take things a lot more seriously and he wasn’t,
In 2011, the group changed its name, can you explain to us the reasons and why you chose IRON KINGDOM?
Well, essentially over the years, growing up as ‘Twisted’, we wrote some tunes, started to get into actual club and bar shows, and we started to realize we wanted to take this a little more seriously.
We also realized that there were a lot of ties to the name ‘Twisted’ (Website’s were taken, other artists had the name, etc…) and we also didn’t ever really feel connected to that name, so we figured. Lets start fresh, a new name and a new direction for the band, let’s play festivals, let’s get on the world stage, let’s release actual albums, let’s tour, all of these ideas meant this band was going to give this a real shot. A new name came with a new beginning. ‘Gates Of Eternity’ was in my opinion the first ‘real’ Iron Kingdom album.
About current musicians, do you have activities other than music and which ones?
Yes of course,
-Megan has a masters in Kineseology, she also does Pole Dancing as a fitness hobby.
-Max works in government handling funding for people with disabilities, he also is a competative ‘Street Fighter’ contender, he’s played at some world tournaments in Japan, USA and Canada.
-Leighton is a hard-scaper, working with stone and brick work for patios, etc... He also absolutely loves reading books.
-I myself work in the event industry, I do lighting, rigging, audio, you name it, I also enjoy wood working on the side from time to time.
For those who don't know you yet, can you best describe your style and tell us your main influences?
Imagine Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and the Scorpions all ground up into one band haha that’s essentially what we do. I’d say we have one of the more unique sounds in the current Traditional Metal scene, because we were never following trends, we did this purely on our own, before we even knew there were other people playing the same style. So, I think we created our own sound that wasn’t as affected by other artists in the scene. Yes, of course over time, we were exposed to other bands in the scene, but I think inherently our sound originated out of our own notion of what we wanted to do.
Can you give us a summary of your “Blood And Steel” over Europe 2023 tour?
Our 2023 tour of Europe was incredible, we finally got to bring Max (Our drummer) to Europe, this was our 3rd time on the continent, but this time we felt like we finally had a solid footing. We also got the chance to tour with some of our amazing friends in the band ‘Steel Shock’ (NL), and what a class act they were too. We’ve only strengthened our friendships and we hope to see them again soon!!
Overall, it was just amazing, we got to bring our strongest lineup, performing some of the most challenging music we ever wrote, and we got to play 15 shows across 5 countries. We didn’t have a whole lot of time off, but we made use of it, seeing the Herculies in Kassel, DE, the old town in Warsaw, PL, and Check point Charlie in Berlin, DE. It was really great getting back out to Europe and we can’t wait to return in 2024! We’ve already got 5 shows booked, and we’re working on a whole lot more!
Tell us how you got the opportunity to come and play Rising fest X in 2023?
Yes, so this was really cool actually, so this tour was made possible by two things, that was Rising Fest and British Steel Fest, both in France. We started the process by speaking with our long time promoter in Paris, (Doro from ‘Extreme Factory’) and she connected us with Sylvain at British Steel Fest, he offered us a slot, and then quickly came back saying he connected us at Rising Fest as well, so it all happened really fast and we couldn’t be more pleased with our time in France, every show was truly amazing. It was only 4 days, but man I can’t wait to come back! Once we got the anchor of the two festivals, we started booking around them and making a real tour out of it.
Among the groups that played on the same bill as you at RISING FEST X, which one(s) did you like? Were you able to establish contact with the groups?
I think there were a lot of fantastic acts that played that stage with us at Rising Fest, I think I was mostly excited for Iron Fate myself, and man did they deliver, not only that but we became good friends too, we drank beers for most of the night with them back at the hotel and we actually played British Steel Festival in Fismes together the next day, so that was a truly fantastic experience. We also chatted with Girlschool a bit backstage, they were hilarious, and truly brought good vibes, they also killed it onstage, so huge props to them as well!
Since the group existed, can you tell us any positive or negative anecdotes and/or situations that have had an impact on you?
Before we named ourselves ‘Iron Kingdom’ (this was only shortly before this point), we played a show with ‘Skull Fist’ and I was chatting with their singer, just saying how stoked I was for them to be on tour and all that, and it looked like things were going well for them. Zach at that point just told me, well, we just kinda did it, if you want to tour, just go for it, book the shows and see what happens ! A switch was flicked in my head that day, because I think we’re somewhat told, you are supposed to get signed, and some booking agent will hire you for a tour or something like that, but no, that time is long gone. We gotta do this ourselves, nobody is going to hold your hand along the way, just go for it, and see what happens. I think that was the best (and maybe worst) advice I ever got... because now I’m a touring musician hahaha
You have the chance to play in the same group with your wife Megan who also shares your life and the same passion, isn't that sometimes complicated to manage?
Yea, at times it can certainly add some extra stress in the relationship, but I think we’re both adults about it all, we understand as well that if we get to do this together it’s far better than apart, because we both love playing music, and ultimately we will both play in a band, we just got lucky that we had similar enough ideas that this band can work and in fact thrive with both of us in it.
What are your plans for the coming months?
To start, we’ve got one final show for 2023, we’re playing with some good friends in ‘GateKeeper’ in Canada and ‘Greyhawk’ in USA together in our hometown on Nov 17th. Then the plan is to book more shows in Europe for 2024, and begin writing our 6th album! So, I think most of the winter will be some good writing sessions, and we’ll see where that takes us, perhaps we’ll begin recording in 2024 as well if all goes well!
Before I go, I just wanted to say a quick, thank you for having this interview with us, and in doing so, help us spread our story! To the readers, we truly hope if you have not heard of us that you’ll give us a shot, we’re a completely independent act and we’re always happy to connect with our fans, we’ve also got a Youtube page, Facebook, Instagram, and an official website that can link you wherever you want to go. So check it out! www.iron-kingdom.com and as always… Keep It Steel!
Cheers,
Chris Osterman.
IRON KINGDOM
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