♦ Most of the Gloryful members come from Death, Black and Thrash bands. Does this have any influence in your sound?
Johnny: I think that we have some influences from there, but not primarily. Mostly our influences are from classic Heavy Metal Bands like Iron Maiden, Manowar, Dio, Judas Priest, etc., but to be honest, many Death Bands have their influences from Iron Maiden, too. A vicious circle (laughs).
♦ Unlike other heavy metal bands, you don’t try to bring the 80’s back, do you? Why?
Johnny: We love the 80`s sound, but we didn`t want to copy it just to do a retro thing, although it seems to be quite successful. Our sound is more modern with a little dirtiness in it, without playing sloppy. Dan Swanö did a great job. We gave him just some sound examples for orientation and he did the rest.
♦ Your artwork makes us think that you are a Power Metal band. Why did you chose this cover? Is from Kris Verwimp, right?
Johnny: Yes, that`s Kris. During the recording session we found some cover artworks from Kris and contacted him, if he`d like to develop the concept. He received our ideas and the result is awesome. We send Kris a commercial poster from an alcoholic drink showing an ice bear riding warrior princess. We wanted to have Sedna from our EP cover in it and he just combined it. Like I said, we are satisfied and we already in discussion for the second cover together with Kris.
♦ Now that you have released The Warrior’s Code, have you noticed details that you’d like to change or you´re completely satisfied?
Johnny: Sure, there are always things that you could do better. We are satisfied with “The Warrior`s Code”, but there will be defiantly some things that we`d like to avoid for the second album. For example we are in much closer communication to all studios that we are recording with.
♦ About your compositions. Do you want the people sing along with you? Your chorus makes me think that. Do you have any plan about touring outside Europe?
Johnny: Yes precisely. We are a live band and we want to have a good time with the audience and the best way is to involve them. Before the album we already played several shows and had people on the show singing along without knowing the lyrics. We keep the songs simple and catchy. At the moment it seems that we`ll have to wait till 2014 with touring, but nothing is really decided yet. We`ll see.
♦ Are you already composing new material or you’re focusing on the tour?
Johnny: Most of the album is already finished and we`ve just started recordings for the second album named “Ocean Blade”. Release date is 28th March 2014 and we can`t wait to perform the songs live. Because of the album we focus most of our time in it.
♦ Do you have any final comment for your Mexican fans?
Johnny: Thank you for your support and hopefully we`ll meet up on a show. Just give us a call or a message if you want us around. Stay metal!!!!