An interview with Dragony
An interview with Dragony
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
Originally, the band was planned to be more of a studio-only, rock opera project, which is why it was called “The Dragonslayer Project”. However, we had soon found a full band lineup and decided that we also want to play live, so after a while that long “project” band name just became too cumbersome, so we wanted something shorter. So with the release of our debut album “Legends” in 2012, we decided to change it and after some thoughts, we settled on Dragony, since it is short, typical “Power Metal” if you will, but also captures our sense of humor that is also prevalent on all our albums.
Our main musical influences are Power and True Metal bands from the late 1990s and early 2000s that we grew up listening to: Hammerfall, Stratovarius, Rhapsody of Fire, Sonata Arctica, Edguy/Avantasia or Virgin Steele.
How do you approach songwriting?
Usually, one of us will come up with a very rough draft for a song, like a main chorus melody and chord progression, and then we work together with our producer Frank Pitters in his studio in finalizing the structure and arrangement of each song.
How do you approach songwriting?
Usually, one of us will come up with a very rough draft for a song, like a main chorus melody and chord progression, and then we work together with our producer Frank Pitters in his studio in finalizing the structure and arrangement of each song.
Why did you decide to explore the concept of Crown Prince Rudolf for the new album?
“Viribus Unitis” is a concept album about an “alternate timeline” of the history of the last Habsburg emperors of Austria, notably Emperor Franz Joseph I., his wife Elisabeth and their son Archduke Rudolf. These are all hugely popular figures in Austria, especially in Vienna, but they are often portrayed in a very romanticized and idealized way. So we took an alternative, “darker” and also a bit humoristic approach to the story there, and turned it into a steampunk-action-movie set in the dual monarchy era. In short: Archduke Rudolf, instead of dying by suicide as he did in real life in 1889, becomes mentally unstable and starts dabbling in black magic, in order to bring his assassinated mother Empress Elisabeth back from the dead as WWI starts, in order to boost morale for the Austrian troops. Famous magician Harry Houdini tries to stop him from using this black magic, but to no avail. Rudolf carries out a ritual, but something – of course – goes wrong: Elisabeth comes back from the dead, but is possessed by a demon from the underworld and decides to raise an Army of the Undead herself, and leads that into battle against mankind. Ultimately, only her former husband, the dying Emperor Franz Joseph, can turn the tide of battle as he enters the battlefield outfitted in a steampunk-type mechanical armor designed by Nikola Tesla, becoming “Cyberpunk Joseph”. Pretty obvious, right?
How difficult has it been writing and producing music during the pandemic?
It’s been challenging, to be sure, but especially with modern recording technologies, where it’s not necessary for everyone to be in the studio at the same time, and a lot of stuff can be done at home, it’s still been a pretty decent progress. It was a bit unusual in some instances – like for example, we started to record the vocals first after the pre-production was finished, which is quite unusual! But I think this different approach worked out, and the album turned out great
How difficult has it been writing and producing music during the pandemic?
It’s been challenging, to be sure, but especially with modern recording technologies, where it’s not necessary for everyone to be in the studio at the same time, and a lot of stuff can be done at home, it’s still been a pretty decent progress. It was a bit unusual in some instances – like for example, we started to record the vocals first after the pre-production was finished, which is quite unusual! But I think this different approach worked out, and the album turned out great
What plans do you have to promote the record?
That’s a bit hard to say at the moment – Of course we would want to take the album on the road, but with the current pandemic situation, it’s a bit difficult to say when that could happen. Right now, we are hoping for some summer festival shows this year which we have already confirmed – like Rock Castle festival in Czech Republic or Metal Frenzy in Germany – but we will see if these can happen. Otherwise we are looking at some touring at least in late 2021 or early 2022!
Other than that, we are also planning to do a little live stream show for the release of our new album – so stay tuned!