KAMELOT’s Thomas Youngblood On Writing Lyrics – “It’s Really Important (They) Have A Certain ‘Moral Compass’ So To Speak”
June 5, 2015, 9 years ago
Greg Prato from Songfacts has posted a new interview with guitarist Thomas Youngblood. An excerpt below:
Songfacts: Do you prefer the whole band to be in one place to collaborate on songs, or at this point, it doesn't matter due to modern technology?
Youngblood: “For me, there's no substitute for sitting in the room together and bouncing ideas back and forth. I will probably always want to do that. And to some extent, we probably will always do that. Of course, people's time gets smaller and smaller, since we're touring a lot and everybody's got families. Your personal time gets a little bit more crushed.
“But the initial songwriting for me always has to be getting together in the same room, bouncing ideas back and forth. That's the way we've always done it, from day one. The little things, like maybe an idea I come up with after I get home, I'll send it over - that's easy to just discuss over the phone. But the initial creation, I think it's really important to be together.”Songfacts: As far as writing lyrics for the band, do you have any input?
Youngblood: “I go over all the lyrics with the singer, who's basically been writing all the lyrics. But we discuss what each song is going to be about. For me, it's really important that the lyrics have a certain "moral compass," so to speak. I don't want to have any kind of lyrics that borderline on things like suicide and stuff like that. For the most part, we discuss all the songs' subjects and the lyrical content, but Tommy, the singer, he's writing the lyrics. And so far, there's never been any issues. Sometimes there's some grammar stuff, but being from Sweden, he probably speaks English better than half of the Americans I know! So it's not really a problem.”
Read the rest of the interview at Songfacts.com.
Kamelot will be taking their new album, Haven, to Europe for a headline tour this fall. Additional shows have added to the schedule, and new summer dates have been announced. The band's updated European schedule is as follows:
July
2 - Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany
4 - I Am The Rocker Festival - Bucharest, Romania
7 - Rock By The River Festival - Budapest, Hungary
September
19 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
25 - Trädgårn - Goteborg, Sweden
26 - Sentrum Scene - Oslo, Norway
27 - Debaser Medis - Stockholm, Sweden
29 - Lutakko - Jyvaskyla, Finland
October
2 - Rytmikorjaamo - Seinajoki, Finland
3 - The Circus - Helsinki, Finland
5 - Forum Palace - Vilnius, Lithuania
6 - Klub Progresja - Warsaw, Poland
8 - Live Music Club - Milan, Italy
13 - La Laiterie - Strasbourg, France
14 - Ninkasi Kao - Lyon, France
16 - 013 - Tilburg, Netherlands
Kamelot have massively hit the worldwide charts with their brand new album, Haven, out now via Napalm Records. A stunning release of a monumental record - going straight up to the #1 position on Billboard Hard Rock Album Charts as well as #1 CMJ Loud Rock Charts, selling 7,900 units in the first week in the US.
According to an update from the band, Haven charted #1 again this week on the CMJ Loud Rock Charts. The album debuted on CMJ at #14 as #1 Most Added, going straight to the #1 position in only one week. It has now maintained its #1 position for 3 weeks in a row."
Official CMJ Loud Rock Chart:
Week of 5/12: #1 Kamelot - Haven Week of 5/19: #1 Kamelot - Haven Week of 5/26: #1 Kamelot - Haven
Guitarist Thomas Youngblood recently issued the following statement:
“This is a first in Kamelot’s history and we’re obviously very proud and happy about it. I’d like to thank all the fans for your amazing support, thanks for your great feedback on Haven and the Insomnia video as well – stay tuned as we have more of these coming up in the next months! See you somewhere on tour in 2015!”All chart entries read as follows:
#1 - US Top Hard Rock Albums*
#3 - US Top Hard Music Albums
#3 - Sweden Rock / Metal
#4 - Canada Hard Music Charts
#4 - Finland Indie Charts
#5 - UK Rock & Metal Album
#12 - Finland*
#14 - Germany*
#18 - UK Indie Album
#23 - Netherlands*
#24 - Switzerland
#28 - Japan*
#41 - Austria*
#43 - Norway
#44 - Sweden
#68 - Canada*
#73 - Spain
#73 - Belgium
#75 - US Top 200 Billboard (7900 units)
#119 - UK Official*
#150 - France
*highest ever
Tracklisting:
“Fallen Star”“Insomnia”
“Citizen Zero”
“Veil Of Elysium”
“Under Grey Skies"
“My Therapy”
“Ecclesia”
“End Of Innocence”
“Beautiful Apocalypse”
“Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)”
“Here's To The Fall”
“Revolution"
“Haven”
Kamelot recently wrapped up the first leg of their North American tour in support of their new album, Haven. The band has posted the following update:
"North America ROCKED!! Now home after the last show of the Haven North American Tour 2015 Part 1. It was a cinematic, epic wonderment of a tour! Some of our biggest Kamelot Nation crowds ever and such a great welcome in every city, wow. Also great to play some new songs from the Haven and get such an amazing reaction already. Thank you for rocking with us every night!Special thanks to Dragonforce for joining us on this journey, great people and super fun. Our amazing crew: Rich, Achim, Chris, Tommy, Linda and TM Beau. Our driver Jason for keeping us safe on the road. Linnéa Vikström for crushing it every night. All the promoters in every city for bringing this circus to your town. And of course our amazing, fantastic, inspiring fans!! You are the reason for the season! Thank you and get ready for round 2, the ride just gets wilder!"
Check out footage from the North American tour below:
