With Wacken XXX looming up to stomp its big metal footprint on again this summer, we’re taking a look at a bunch of the bands who are hitting its iconic stages for the first time. Today we thank Jens from Gloryful for telling us a bit more about one of his two bands who are on the bill this year…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are from the Ruhr-Area in Nordrhein-Westfalen, . This is where elementary 80s acts like Kreator and Sodom were born as well. The scene is still strong here, hundreds of bands and many places to play.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Oh that’s a quite funny story. I really had a dream back then, in that I experienced the band name and lyrical concept as well. I woke up and suddenly knew exactly what to do.
Describe your music. Who are your musical influences?
Gloryful was formed to give honour and respect to the great old ones. The bands that are responsible for that we and most of the metal people out there listen and play heavy metal. These bands are Iron Maiden, Manowar and Judas Priest. Of course there are more influencers playing a role, like Thin Lizzy, Accept, Running Wild, Helloween, but also thrash like Sacred Reich, Kreator or M.O.D.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Yes, since the first EP it’s all about Sedna, the Inuit´s goddess of the sea and other referred Inuit-mythology topics. This Sedna-stuff is framed in more or less persistent concept stories for each album, and of course there is plenty of battle/brotherhood/glory and steel stuff, as these themes fit best to our classic true metal music.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Gloryful is a hard rocking band that has fun on stage and goes off as if it were the last show. The fun always spills over into the audience and from the middle of the set people sing along loudly. The secret to this is, I really think, that the chemistry in the band is just flawlessly awesome and that the songs just go nuts. Not to forget the stand-up comedy-like stuff our singer Johnny la Bomba is doin´ during the breaks! We’ve released four albums since 2013 and played around 200 shows since then.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
There was that (tranny?) professional pole dancer coming on stage right after we started our set at a nightclub. It was a show of the “End Of The Night Tour” in early 2017. She was clearly high and entered the stage suddenly as we played our evergreen “Heavy Metal – more than meets the eye” and came dancing right by my side, made special moves in front of me. It was quite funny in a way but felt strange the same time.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We are promoting our new album called Cult Of Sedna. This album is our heaviest so far and it just came out as Japan-release with a bonus track sung in the Japanese language! Next is the vinyl release of our second album Ocean Blade (2014). It will be pressed in two or three nice colours and it will be sold first at Wacken Open Air exclusively.
Other than Wacken, what are your plans for 2019?
Well, as we did a large and successful European tour with Brainstorm and Mob Rules earlier this year already, we are just playing a bunch of shows and start writing album number five. This one should be released in 2020 hopefully.
What are you most looking forward to at Wacken this year?
To play the shows with Gloryful and my other band Night In Gales, and of course Slayer!!!
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