Arto Lehtinen from Metal-rules.com spoke with legendary KING DIAMOND guitarist and producer Andy LaRocque recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal-rules.com: Was it obvious that it (your return to the stage) was going to be Sweden Rock and Hellfest?

LaRocque: "No, we didn't know that at the time, but we started talking about maybe doing a few things around Halloween as for last Halloween I believe. So we started talking about the possibilities about doing some things, but then again what stopped us was King's health, you know. He had problems with his back and also some problems with the heart. He did like a triple bypass surgery a year and a half ago. So we didn't really know, I mean we were waiting for him to get recovered until we could say anything. But we actually started talking about it maybe about a year ago, something like that."

Metal-rules.com: As you said it was a test for King Diamond how he was able to survive. But I guess it was really encouraging because he sounded really good and the band sounded really tight. I assume you are going to continue in the next summer right?

LaRocque: "Yes, next summer we're actually, we are electing promoters for festivals letting them know that we are actually available for next summer's festivals. So we'll see how many festivals we can get. But that's our goal to do as many festivals as we can within the timeframe here to next summer."

Metal-rules.com: It's about five years since the Give Me Your Soul album. You must have started checking out some new songs, new riffs. Can you tell a little bit more, if you have started talking about making new songs?

LaRocque: "Yeah we did and we were actually talking about starting writing songs this fall, but I started many years ago. So I think I already have like five or maybe six songs already for the next album, more or less ready I would say. I don't really think that King has come that far in the writing process, but he has got a lot of ideas in his head about the next album, I know that."

Metal-rules.com: How do you usually start creating a riff and new songs in general for the Diamond albums? 153503.jpg

LaRocque: "Usually it's like a riff that could be formed into a second riff and then you build it up from there. It could actually be some kind of atmospheric stuff. It doesn't really have to be a good riff it can also be a chain of chords that sounds very cool together. So it's really hard to say a specific thing about that, but usually it's a riff and then we build it up from there and I've got my own studio. So I usually go put on the computer and try to record the riff as soon as I have a chance to do that. So I got a few really good riffs in the computer that's for sure. And then what we do is like we started with like a click track or a tempo, BPM, like let's say just for example it's 120 or whatever and then we just record it with that click track for a few minutes. And then for me for example I got like a sequence drum like the easy drummer for example, like a drum machine in the computer. So I put on a few loops of drums and I start to build up the song from there and then when I'm finished with that whole thing for like three or four minutes or whatever how long that song is usually two guitar tracks, drums all the way through even though it's kind of simple drums to leave it open for Matt (Thompson), when he's doing the real drums in the studio. Then I also put some bass on it and possibly some keyboards and then I burn it down to a CD and send it away to the guys."

Metal-rules.com: Do you ever miss the old school writing process that each member makes their own things at home then you get together in the rehearsal room and start rehearsing? Or is this the normal way to work nowadays?

LaRocque: "Yeah that's the normal to work nowadays like sitting in front of the computer writing riffs and sending them to each other I believe. But sometimes you miss the charm with being in the rehearsal room, but for us it's not possible since we live all the world, we've got the bass player in Denmark, we've got Michael in Stockholm, we've got King and Matt they live in Texas. So it's like impossible to do it that way nowadays. So we just send it to them, the guys rehearse their stuff and then when we get to the studio, they all know what to do."

Read more at Metal-rules.com.

King Diamond made his return to the live stage (after recovering from open-heart triple-bypass surgery in November 2010) at the Sweden Rock Festival 2012, held in Sölvesborg on June 9th and June 15th at Hellfest in Clisson, France.

At Sweden Rock, the band performed 'Halloween' off of his 1986 debut album Fatal Portrait. King was joined by Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner and MOTÖRHEAD (and former King Diamond) drummer Mikkey Dee for this song. Check out footage below: