Ville Krannila of JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing's Steel Mill web
site recently conducted an interview with KING DIAMOND
guitarist/producer Andy La Rocque. A couple of excerpts from the chat
follow.

Q: Can you describe your creative relationship with King? When
composing a new album does he come up with the concept first and then
you write music around that or the other way around?

La Rocque: "It usually starts with the music even though King might
have a vague idea of a story, but making the music first and when he
has a more detailed version of the story he puts the songs in sequence
to get the right expression, to make the music support the story, and
the lyrics to enhance the modes of the music."

Q: When MERCYFUL FATE reunited in early 1990s, did you ever think that
would spell the end of KING DIAMOND band, or was it clear from the
beginning both groups would continue to co-exist?

La Rocque: "The strange thing is that I didn't hear it straight from
King himself at first, I just heard rumours about the MF reunion and
it actually crossed my mind that maybe there was an end to the era of
KING DIAMOND. At that time we were still looking for a record deal,
things went really slow and it took almost four years from the release
of 'The Eye' until we started to record 'The Spider's Lullaby', and it
gave me some time to work with DEATH, and also write some songs for
the band ILLWILL, that featured Sharlee D'Angelo and Snowy Shaw — even
though the album wasn't released until 1998. But the KD fans screamed
for more from the band, albums and concerts, so after that period we
got pretty active again. 'The Graveyard', 'Voodoo', 'House Of God',
'Abigail 2' etc. were released with not too long time in between."

Q: You worked with DEATH on their classic "Individual Through
Patterns" album? How was the experience and how do you remember the
late, great Chuck Schuldiner?

La Rocque: "Well, people always ask me that question regarding Chuck,
I thought he was a great person to work with, very friendly,
respectful and cool! I thought we got along great during the recording
of the album, which was a really cool experience for me, everyone was
really friendly at the Morrissound too! The music was somewhat
different to what I was used to playing, but when Monte [Conner] from
Roadrunner Records called me up and asked me if I wanted to go to
Florida to record with DEATH, I said to myself, 'Sure! Why not?' Just
for the great experience! So I had a great time with the music and the
guys and I thought the album turned out good too! After that session
Chuck called me up every New Year's Eve just to say hi and chat. I met
him the last time on a KING DIAMOND show in Florida '98 right after he
had a surgery and you couldn't even tell he was that ill, he was in a
great shape, it was really cool to see him."

Read the entire interview at:
http://www.kkdowning.net/Interviews/larocque.htm

Stay Heavy!
Phil