MANILLA ROAD frontman Mark "The Shark" Shelton is featured in a new interview with Greece's Rock Overdose. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Your latest release,Playground Of The Damned, is a little bit different from previous albums..Did you want a change or did it come out naturally?

Shark: "I am always looking for and experimenting with new ways to fuse different styles of music into Manilla Road's sound. I have always been proud of the fact that none of Manilla Road's albums have sounded exactly like the other. Playground Of The Damned is no different, as you pointed out. It was most certainly on purpose, this change in direction. But I would like to say that it is not a permanent direction change. The next Manilla Road project will most likely sound completely different again. Even though we do a lot of experimenting with different styles, the roots of the Manilla Road sound never seem to get totally lost. In the beginning I was determined to be different and represent my own style of music and not just follow the trends of the industry. I think I have achieved that so far in my career, and I hope to continue the quest for the lost chord in this same manner until nobody wants to listen anymore or I die."

Q: The opinions of the fans for this album are different. Some of them love it, but some are not satisfied. How much the fansÄ opinion counts about your music direction?

Shark: "You know that difference of opinion has been something we deal with for every release that we put out. Some of our fans think that the era with Rick Fisher and Scott Park was the days of our best music. Others think it was with Randy Foxe and Scott Park. Some say that Open The Gates was our best. Some say The Deluge. Our newer fans seem to appreciate Atlantis Rising and Gates Of Fire or Voyager as our best works. It is different for everyone. Let's face it, we have ventured into so many realms of different styles with our albums that all of them may not appeal to everyone, but there always seems to be at least one album that does appeal or maybe even more. It's hard to make everyone happy all at once and since we have been doing this for so long. I think a lot of people expect us to pull off miracles every album.

We try to do our very best on every project but at the same time I will always follow my instincts and not change my music because of reviews or the opinions of a few people. I am sure that everyone can tell by now that Manilla Road does not exist just to make money. As a matter of fact, if that was the case Manilla Road would not still be around because I don't have a mansion or a million dollars in my bank account. It"s all about the music and the brotherhood of metal and nothing more. Yes, it would be nice to have the mansion and the million dollars, but for me I am rich in the way that it really matters. That is I am rich because of the fans and supporters that have shared so many fantastic times with us when we play live and the love of our supporters is the greatest wealth that one could ever experience. There will always be differing opinions about our music and our new releases but that is just the nature of the beast. As long as I have anything to do with the music and the production Manilla Road will always sound different from any other band on the planet and I think that is how it should be. Why the hell would I want to sound like everyone else?"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

For information on Manilla Road and audio samples go to this location.