Talking with . . . Iron Fire
Interviewed 4/23/2006 by Brett VanPut
Interview with drummer Jens Berglid and guitarist Kirk Backarach
Back in the late nineties, Denmark power metallers Iron Fire were on their way to the top. They had a deal with Noise Records and two albums (2000's Thunderstorm and 2001's On the Edge) of quality power metal with a talented vocalist (Martin Steene) who would later hook up with members of Mercyful Fate in Force Of Evil. Then Iron Fire split up. A few years later, Martin decided to put together a new version of Iron Fire and the band has now surprisingly signed a new deal with Napalm Records for their new album, Revenge. We sent some questions to the band's seventh and latest drummer, Jens Berglid and guitarist Kirk Backarch
Welcome back, tell me about the long journey between On the Edge and Revenge.
Jens: It has been a long time with lots of pain, sweat and blood. We just knew that we had a great album in us and kept on fighting. When we got together and started to rehearse we felt a joy that had been missing for some time. We just want to play music and have fun.
Kirk: Like you said, it’s been a long journey. After On The Edge was released, the band slowly started to drift apart. Mainly due to lack of interest from our previous label, and when they chose not to pick up their option for a follow up album for On the Edge, the consequences was fatal. Then immediately after, we started auditioning for new members, constantly struggling to fill in the open places, Martin even played the bass for more than a year, and at last we arrived at a point where we had a complete line-up. From there we went out and recorded a demo, which we shopped around. The turn out wasn’t what we’d expected and this spread some confusion and gave rise to some disagreements amongst our selves. This resulted in a complete parting of the line-up which left Iron Fire with only two members, (Steene and Kirk B.), so once again we had to put almost an entire band together. This time it turned out in favour of Iron Fire, and we recorded Revenge, as soon as we were ready.
Why did you keep the band together druing this time and not give up?
Jens: Iron Fire is Martin's band and he loves to write, play and live the music, but the end was not so far away in the end.
Kirk: It may be so, that Iron Fire got a quick but short-lived success, but we never saw quitting as an option. And even more so, this band has been Steene’s main focus for his entire youth, why he in this case would have considered it a personal defeat, to stop doing Iron Fire. The thought of pulling the plug and starting all over with a completely new project, with no existing fan base seemed to demand an overwhelming effort.
Line up changes have occurred, why were the changes necessary to take place?
Jens: It has been a series of bad luck strikes and some didn't have the heart in it anymore.
Kirk: The line-up hasn’t been changed by necessity. The changes that have been occurring was caused for the reason that the involved members chose to leave the band solely by their own choice, except for the latest, which was caused by difference in opinion and ambition. And who can really blame anybody for not being willing to spend almost all of their spare time and tons of money, in a band with an uncertain future? It takes faith and conviction just to keep going against all odds, and that is the only reason for the line-up changes, between On the Edge and Revenge.
What can you tell me about the new members and what they add to Iron Fire?
Jens: I would say that the line up today is the best ever for more reasons than one. We have known each other for many years and have played together in different bands. We have matured as musicians plus that we are great friends outside the music scene.
Kirk: Mainly they differ in background; it is completely different from when we started. Back then the band consisted of a bunch of high school friends, learning as they went along. Now a day the band altogether is much more experienced, in a number of different directions, in which they all do their best, to contribute and shape things to the benefit of the band.
How is Iron Fire different in 2006 than 2001?
Jens: Again we have matured we know what we want and have a better understanding for life.
Kirk: It differs at many points: the way we work, the way we record, the way we sound, and the most important part is that all in all the band is much stronger today than it has ever been.
You have a tour coming up with Demon and Seven Witches- what are your expectations for the tour?
Jens: It is always fun to get out there and play some rock 'n roll, and we want to prove that we are worthy of this second chance.
Kirk: This is actually the first tour Iron Fire have ever done, so it’s more kind of excitement rather than expectations that is occupying our minds, cause even before we left home we knew that it wasn’t going to something with a great attendance, but I think we got across to quite a lot of new people out and around, which was one of the only expectations we were in our right minds to have, other than a fun and entertaining trip, which it has been. Both the bands, Demon and Seven Witches have been very nice to us and that, the personal relationships, has been what I feel was the greatest success about the whole tour. It could easily have ended with everybody being on each others nerves, and hating each others guts, but luckily it turned out to be a most joyful trip, with only minor complications.
Your sound has changed (though it's always been metal) with each album- do you feel it's a reflection of your diverse interests or the line up changes?
Jens: That's just a normal thing i think, you change some of your influences and when you get a new member the playing technique varies which can alter the sound.
Kirk The sound of any album is contrived from a number of certain things. We all play our instruments differently, so if only one member is changed the overall sound will differ, mostly by his amount of personal influence in the band. In the Revenge case the entire line-up has been changed, so what we did was to define what Iron Fire is all about and what it was going to be all about, and then worked from there. So what we’ve arrived at is the approximate sound blueprint, which will to some extend last for our next record and on. Except of course, if the line up is changed again.
What were the most difficult things you faced during the past five years?
Jens: The burning wish to get back to the top and the constant line up changes.
Kirk: It has been deciding what to do and how to do it, to make Iron Fire survive. Some time around 2003 the band went down from being five to only two members. In that period we just released an unsuccessful demo and on top of that, the band was split almost completely up. Martin and I (Kirk) was sitting around discussing what to do with this whole situation and had to come up with a salvage plan and a completely new concept for Iron Fire. It was at that point that the simplest thing would be to let the whole thing go, instead of starting all over again, which we luckily did.
What's new with Force Of Evil these days? I always thought your
participation in Force Of Evil would help make Iron Fire more popular.
Kirk: Too some extent it might have brought some focus on to Iron Fire, but I don’t feel it has brought that big of a following along, since the scene for Force Of Evil is kind of different from what Iron Fire is into. For the moment Force Of Evil is on stand by, cause Martin has devoted all his time to Iron Fire at the moment and Hal Patino is touring with King Diamond.
How was your tenure with Noise Records? Do you feel they helped or hurt Iron Fire?
Jens: In the start everything was great but it changed during a two year period and when On the Edge came out there was no one to back Iron Fire up left on Noise. These things happen but they are never funny.
Kirk: I feel that they’ve done a great job for us, by creating a strong brand and a good reputation. Though it was most unfortunate, that they chose to resolve our partnership, at such an early point. This is fortunately no longer any of our concerns, while we’ve signed with Napalm, who I think is doing an outstanding job for us.
Final comments?
Jens: We are of course very happy to be back and this time we won't wait five years to release a new album that's a promise.
Kirk: I hope that the Revenge album will fulfill any Iron Fire fan’s craving for new material and I also hope you will enjoy it, as much as we did making it. And here is my promise to you our fans; it won’t take five years again, before we are back with another album of pure heavy metal. If anyone out there might have any comments, or words that they want to share with us, just feel free to drop us a line at our website.
Discography:
2006... Revenge (Napalm)
2001... On The Edge (Noise)
2000... Thunderstorm (Noise)
Current line-up:
Martin Steene... vocals
Kirk Backarach... guitars
J.J.... guitars
Martin Lund... bass
Jens Berglid... drums
www.ironfire.dk
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