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Crescent Shield is a new band in the metal world, but if you take a closer look you'll find some familiar names. Time to talk to guitarist Dan DeLucie - by email - to learn more about this American band.
Why do you choose Crescent Shield as the band name? What does the name mean to you?
I wanted to use the word 'shield' somehow in the name because I though it sounded really cool and it was not overused in metal. We liked how 'crescent' sounded in front of it and there you go. Turns out a crescent shield is a real weapon from the 4th century used by the Persians.
Tell us a bit about the beginning of Crescent Shield! You all have a history in the metal scene... So how did everything start?
Originally, I think in 2000, I wrote a few tunes that I thought weren't really suitable for the darker speed metal of Destiny's End, so I called up Mike and said "let's make some metal". He was into it and we thought it would be fun to make this a sort of true metal project in the sense of the lyrics being the Manowar/'glory of metal' type lyrics. Well that got boring, as far as the lyrics were concerned, after about two songs. So we just continued writing and basically wrote whatever we wanted to. Since we were in other bands we had limited time, but that changed obviously when Destiny's End and Onward ended.
How long does it took you gathering songs, recording demos and getting a deal?
It took forever. When we started this was a side-project so we were casual with the songwriting and took our time. We were shopping demos all along. We eventually gave up trying to get a recording budget from a label and set up our own studio and recorded it ourselves. After the final recording was complete, Cruz del Sur offered us a deal right away.
Does someone comes up with an ideas? Finished Song? Or is the music written by the band?
Normally I come up with the riffs and Mike does the lyrics and vocal melodies. Mike is very strong with lyrics. He’s a poet. And he's super strong with vocal melodies. Amazing really. Sometimes Mike will write an entire song, like The Passing, or I will write an entire song, like the title track. The rest of the band embellishes the tunes with their playing style.
Why did you choose The Last Of My Kind as the title? Because you think the song represents the album best?
Yeah, I guess we decided it would be cool to have the most epic track as the title track. That song tells a story and the cover ties in with it so it works out nicely. The lyrics are based on a science fiction story from the 1930's called In the World's Dusk written by Edmond Hamilton. Read it if you get the chance. It's very cool.
Who had the idea for the cover artwork? And how did you get Marvel artist Gerry Alanguilan for the job?
One word - internet! I searched and emailed many comic book artists until I found one willing to work with us. I've loved comics for a long, long time and I really like that style of art. I wanted a cover that was unique in style for the heavy metal field. but still very metal. I also did not want something modern looking or obvious computer graphics. Gerry was so cool and great to work with and talented. He achieved better results than I ever expected.
Also Travis Smith was involved in the design of the booklet... How came?
Internet again. I simply emailed him and he was willing to work with us.
I think you already got the first reaction about The Last Of My Kind, are you satisfied?
Yes! It’s getting many, many great reviews and the fan response has been super!
Internet is getting more and more important. I know that you have a MySpace site. Do you think that the internet can help a young band? Or due to the possibilities the internet gives there are too many bands? That it gets harder?
The internet is a tremendous help. Many people are taking advantage of our free promo download of our entire album that's available on our website www.crescentshield.com. Without that, much fewer metaheads would be able to hear our stuff. I don't think the internet is causing the huge number of bands that are out there. People just love music, especially metal people. Metal fans are passionate so often times they learn how to play and form a band. The internet just exposes them easier than ever before.
Any plans to tour? Any chances that we'll see you in Europe? Germany? Or is it too early to tell?
I'm hoping. We will be doing the Cruz del Sur festival in June in Chicago.
Dan
Let's hope that this is just the first of many shows and that they will make it to Europe and other parts of the world sooner or later.
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