Originating from Ukraine, Dragonforce keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov later moved to London where he discovered rock music and decided to pursue it as a full time career. Vadim started playing Piano by the age of eight and went on to study at an exclusive music school which he found boring, quitting three years later continuing teaching himself instead. Apart from Vadim's amazing skills behind the keyboard he is also a very capable guitar player, drawing influences from bands and artists such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Pantera, and Strapping Young Lad. Vadim 26 has already achieved so much; touring the world many times over and releasing amazing rockin' albums with the hard hitting London metallers Dragonforce. Joining the power metallers in 2001 Vadim was on board in time to contribute to the bandís debut album 'Valley Of The Damned' which was released in the fall of 2003. Almost instantly a buzz was surrounding the band which created fantastic, catchy melodies and played at a speed not many bands were at that time playing. After a short tour the band returned to the studio to record their follow up album 'Sonic Firestorm' which certainly put the band on the world map with tracks such as 'Prepare for War' and 'My Spirit Will Go On'. Prestige metal magazines such as Kerrang! and Metal Hammer was now featuring Dragonforce on their front covers and the world was standing up and taking notice. Dragonforce once again hit the road touring extensively throughout Europe and were now building up a reputation for being such a powerful, extravagant, exciting live act. By January 2006 Dragonforce had released their third studio album 'Inhuman Rampage' which to this date has been the bands most successful album featuring the blistering songs 'Storming the Burning Fields' and 'Body Breakdown'. The success of 'Inhuman rampage' sent the band out on the road for almost two years taking in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and The United States. Dragonforce were invited to be a part of the 2006 Ozzfest shows and also toured alongside Helloween and Iron Maiden. Since the release of 'Inhuman Rampage' fans have been longing to see what the band would do next, and the wait is finally over. This week marks the release of the bands fourth studio album 'Ultra Beatdown'. The album which is fast, powerful and full of melodic sing along choruses will have fans jumping with excitement and the band also recently announced that they would return to Australia this October for another series of headlining shows which has overjoyed the Australian Dragonforce fans. I recently caught up with the bands Keyboardist Vadim to discuss the upcoming Australian tour, the bands songwriting process and Vadim's first encounter with Dragonforce. The time has come to get the 'Ultra Beatdown' with Dragonforce's Vadim Pruzhanov. Metal Fanatix: Hi Vadim, how are you mate? Vadim Pruzhanov: I’m really good just hanging out! Metal Fanatix: That’s great dude! Firstly mate; it’s a real pleasure speaking with you today and congratulations of the new album ‘Ultra Beatdown’. I was really impressed with the new songs that I recently heard, I would assume you guys were happy with the overall outcome? Vadim Pruzhanov: Oh definitely… with this album, we were really pleased with the overall package one hundred percent. A couple of days ago we finished mastering it and it sounds awesome, we can’t wait for the fans to hear it, we are really proud of what we’ve done! Metal Fanatix: Mate it’s been two years since ‘Inhuman Rampage’ was released, and following that there was some extensive touring. How hard is it to get motivated to enter a studio after so much time on the road? Vadim Pruzhanov: After a long period of time touring you just want to do something else! Write new songs, record etc. We toured so much and we learned a lot of things. We always get new ideas and we had a lot of material. It was so cool working on the new album; it has so much more depth to it. I think the song writing has improved since ‘Inhuman Rampage’ and the songs are catchier. This album isn’t as intense or as brutal as ‘inhuman rampage’ it’s a much more balanced album. We were pretty motivated to make this album, it took us eleven months but we finally got there [laughs].
Vadim Pruzhanov: Yeah it did! We started writing for it last summer, and then we went into the studio and started laying down tracks, adding the basics and started watching the songs grow! Even up until the last day of mastering we were playing around with the record, taking little things out and putting things back in we thought wouldn’t work so many months earlier. . You have heard the demo versions to some of the songs but when you hear the final versions you will be amazed, we worked really hard on these songs and we’d add things to improve the songs. Metal Fanatix: Vadim, as a keyboard player… what do you try to achieve in the studio? Vadim Pruzhanov: I try to give the songs more character and make them stand out! I recorded over thirty tracks for each song on this album but you can’t really hear it cause I try to bring out different frequencies to give each song a different feeling. You don’t necessarily always hear these sounds but they are there, and when you listen to these songs in headphones or with a 5.1 surround system you will realize that there are so many things happening within the songs. I used a lot of different instruments on this album, flashy effects and so on, there are much more keyboards on this album too; not over the top but in all the right places. I am really happy with everything on this album! Metal Fanatix: Does the variety of sounds available help with the creativity in the studio; or is it something you look at later on? Vadim Pruzhanov: At first when we start recording all I do is concentrate on the melody lines and arranging. I would try and leave it until the last couple of weeks of recording to worry about adding the sounds as the vocal lines would remain the same and not change by that stage and I would have to adopt to the vocal melody lines. Everything is always changing, we’d write a melody line and every single day that melody would change and evolve up until the last day. Metal Fanatix: Mate, a couple of songs that stood out for me on ‘Ultra Beatdown’ are ‘Heartbreak Armageddon’ and ‘Heroes Of Our Time’ is it too early for you to have a favorite song yet? Vadim Pruzhanov: I’ve had this question before and it’s really hard to answer! Every song is like a movie with characters, every one of them is different! I think that every single song on the album stands out in its own way! When you listen to it, there are different kinds of songs, there are different songs for different moods and that’s why I think this album is so cool! They’re not all super fast songs basically we were concentrating on making the best melodies that we could, and the catchiest songs ever. I really think we have done that on this one! Metal Fanatix: ‘Ultra Beatdown’ is due to be released shortly, can you tell us if there will be any extra things added to the album, bonus tracks or a DVD? Vadim Pruzhanov: I can’t really say much about it right now but there will be extra stuff. There could be a DVD feature for the fans to look but nothing has been confirmed 100%. but there will be something extra most defiantly for the fans!
Vadim Pruzhanov: The Last Journey Home: it’s a really good song; it speaks for itself and stands out on the album! I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the song when they listen to it. That last journey home, after being on tour, or coming home from that long day at work, it can be interpreted in many ways! We wrote the lyrics so that people could relate to it no matter what the circumstances. Scars of Yesterday: I can’t really tell you what the song’s about because we always leave that up to the fans to interpret in their own way. It could be anything! Metal Fanatix: I find it really interesting that when you are putting a song together the lyrical content of the track is something that you leave open to interpretation rather than picking a subject matter to write about whether it be horror, politics, relationships or something completely off the planet! That seems awesome to me but make me wonder how the songwriting process work for you guys, I mean when a song is going together surely you have some idea in your mind on what you want it to be about, the direction you want to take it and so on? Vadim Pruzhanov: Every song on the album is definitely about something, when we write the lyrics it’s definitely about something but we don’t want to say “okay well this one is about this or that”! We don’t want to force opinions on to our fans and audience by saying that a song is about this! The songs can be about anything; every time I listen to the lyrics I think about different things, we always pick the right words to fit the melody lines. A lot of European bands sometimes write their lyrics and they don’t fit the melody lines and you find it hard to understand what the vocalist is singing about. Metal Fanatix: Mate, I want to talk to you a little about life on the road. Do you do anything specific to warm up and prepare for a show? Vadim Pruzhanov: Not really, I just have a few beers [laughs]. I’m one of these people who needs someone to look after me, not so much to tell me when to go onstage but to tell me when to start drinking [laughs]. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Vadim Pruzhanov: “There’s three hours before the show starts”… it’s time to start drinking [laughs]. I used to do some exercises before the show to warm me up, these days I do a little stretching but mostly I drink beers! Metal Fanatix: It’s no secret that you are returning to Australia very soon, for some more shows which is fantastic news! Vadim Pruzhanov: Oh yeah, we are definitely coming back, and it’s going to be so awesome I can’t wait for it! The Australian audiences have been so great to us and all the people there are so nice, we’re really looking forward to it! Metal Fanatix: What comes to mind when you look back on your last Australian tour? Vadim Pruzhanov: It was amazing, I think of the great times we had, the food was amazing, the people we met, and the weather was beautiful. We had a few after show parties and we are hoping to do the same thing this time around!
Vadim Pruzhanov: We try to bring out all the hit songs as well as the new songs. We always try to include songs in our set that will please the new fans as well as the older fans. There will be a lot of new songs in the set which I’m excited about! Metal Fanatix: Vadim, over the years you have shared the stage with so many great bands. Who have you enjoyed touring with the most? Vadim Pruzhanov: All the bands have been really great, obviously huge bands that we look up to such as Iron Maiden and Metallica were amazing. These days we don’t really care how big the band is as long as they’re nice when we tour with them! All That Remains were good guys to tour with, we’ve made a lot of friends on the road, and it’s rare that we actually come across a band that is bad to play with! Metal Fanatix: Which funny enough brings me to my next question…. Who has been the worst band to hit the road with? Vadim Pruzhanov: I couldn’t say that! There hasn’t been really, we have had some problems with bands but there was never any huge problems where we couldn’t compromise or where we have needed to decline a tour! Metal Fanatix: Out on the road you have been surrounded by some of the greatest players on earth, who has given you the best advice, whilst on the road? Vadim Pruzhanov: We learned a lot from Iron Maiden when we toured with them, every single tour we do and every single band we hang out with we learn something. I can’t really pin point one thing though! Metal Fanatix: Mate we have hit the part of the interview where our readers want to find out more about the real you… Before joining Dragonforce what were your impressions of the band? Vadim Pruzhanov: I didn’t really like the band that much to be honest. I wasn’t into that style of music. The first time I saw them I had gone to see Halford, I watched the band and thought it was something different, bands didn’t really play this style of music when I saw them, I was impressed on how they played and thought they were brave for trying something different. I kept running into them at every show I went to and eventually they asked me to help them out with a gig and it just worked out. Metal Fanatix: And as they say the rest is history! What was the very first concert you attended and how much of an impact did that have on you musically? Vadim Pruzhanov: I went to see Ozzfest 1998, I went there with my dad when I was seventeen, and the line-up had Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Pantera, and Fear Factory. I was really impressed with the line-up and getting to see Pantera play together and their energy was crazy! Metal Fanatix: What have your parents thought about the music you played? Vadim Pruzhanov: They’re pretty pleased with it, they’re happy and they support me in every way!
Vadim Pruzhanov: I actually play guitar as well as keyboards. I studied the piano when I was younger and then carried on as you said. At the age of sixteen I picked up the guitar and I was playing it all the time, every day for about five years. I went back to the keyboards partly because of Dragonforce and partly because I just realized… no offense to other guitarists but there are just some boundaries that haven’t been broken with keyboards yet and there were so many places where you could improve with keyboard playing. To me it is more of a unique instrument that you can take to another level. With a guitar there are so many things you can do but in the end it still sounds like a guitar! Metal Fanatix: Vadim there is no doubt that Dragonforce will have a large influence of metal music of today! Who have you been surprised to learn is a fan of you work? Vadim Pruzhanov: Oh that’s a good question, when we did the Ozzfest tour Strapping Young Lad were joining us, and we were hanging out with all of these other bands and Devin Townsend came out and paid us a compliment. I look up to Devin Townsend as one of my main influences and that was insane! Bands have come up to us and said they enjoy our music, or really love what we’re playing, Dave Mustaine [Megadeth] came up to us and said he liked what we were doing. When someone you have liked all of your life comes up to you and tells you they like what you are doing it’s just crazy! Metal Fanatix: What’s the craziest rumor you had ever heard about yourself and or the band? Vadim Pruzhanov: I remember that people were saying that we were aliens that came back from some planet and that we were inhuman because we were playing so fast! The craziest and untrue rumor I heard was that I was doing speed or some other drug that was making me play faster which is completely untrue. I don’t do drugs! I drink, but drugs I don’t touch! Metal Fanatix: Mate to be totally honest with you, I’d imagine that at the speed you all play, it would be near impossible to do it on any kind of drug anyways! I’m amazed that you can get up there and do it after a few drinks as it is [laughs]. Vadim Pruzhanov: It comes back to the songwriting; we’ve always been playing at this speed. I think that there are other artists that are faster than us but we have never made it a concentrated effort to be the fastest band. Metal Fanatix: There has been so many highlights in your career, what would you say have been your greatest achievements to date? Vadim Pruzhanov: I think the greatest achievement is what I’m doing now! People dream about the things we are doing and we are so grateful to be able to do this. Having our first full album out and having people come and see you play just amazes me. It really depends on what you want to call achievements… we’ve played the Download Festival which was seventy five thousand people which on it’s on is a great achievement. I think everything we’ve done as a band to this point has been all highs. I think the new record ‘Ultra Beatdown’ is the best thing that we’ve done so far! I never usually listen to my own records when they come out. You put yourself in the mindset of “okay, the new DragonForce record is coming out and we will be playing these songs everyday for the next couple of years”, so I would tend not to listen to them so much, but this one, I like it so much that I am really happy to listen to it over and over. We are such perfectionists and when we have done albums we go back and dissect them and we always find things that could have been improved. With ‘Ultra Beatdown’ we’re so happy that every time we listen to it we are really pleased and satisfied with the results.
Vadim Pruzhanov: To be honest there is no bands that I really hate! There’s a lot of bands that are really popular and I’m not going to mention any names, but these bands are popular and not because there music is great but more because of how they look. Magazines push certain bands and it’s really sad because magazines should be getting the music across to the nation rather than promoting someone because they look good. Obviously if it’s a music magazine then they should be promoting music not fashions in my opinion. I know there are some bands that are really big but they’re not that great. If I don’t like a band, I just won’t listen to them. I listen to music that I want to listen to. Metal Fanatix: Vadim, unfortunately we are out of time but before we wrap it up I want to thank you again for taking the time out to speak with me tonight and wish you all the best with the upcoming tour and album release! Do you have any last words for our readers? Vadim Pruzhanov: Thanks for having me; I hope to see you at one of our shows some day! I want to thank all the fans and all the people who have supported myself and the band over the years, I invite all fans of metal to come down and see us play cause I’m sure you will enjoy the shows. We can’t wait to come back to Australia, it’s gonna rock! The brand new Dragonforce album ‘Ultra Beatdown’ is out now via Roadrunner Records. Grab your copy where all kick ass metal albums are sold! To keep up with all the latest news & much more on Joey & any of the bands he works with check out the following websites: http://www.dragonforce.com - Official Dragonforce Site http://www.myspace.com/dragonforce - Dragonforce MySpace Site http://www.myspace.com/insideout666ints - Inside Out 666 Don’t miss Dragonforce giving Australia the ‘Ultra Beatdown’ in October. 22nd October Metropolis Concert Club Fremantle, Perth 24th October HQ, Adelaide 25th October The Forum Theatre, Melbourne 27th October The Tivoli, Brisbane 28th October Metro Theatre, Sydney Tix are selling fast so make sure you don’t miss out on this amazing live experience. © Cameron Edney August, September 2008 Not to be re-printed in any form without written permission. |
