Hammer King

Your stage world — kings, coronations, symbols of power — has become an important part of your identity. Was there a moment when this artistic imagery unexpectedly influenced the band’s real decisions or your personal view of creativity?

Titan: In a positive way, yes. When we started upping the “royal aspect” of our shows, it got some sort of a life of its own: First we only did a few speeches and had the hammer on stage, later we also got a royal robe, flags, the “welcome gold”, golden chandeliers and part of our crew is dressed up as characters of the kingly estate. We are very eager to find out, where else it may take us!

“Welcome Gold” has already become a distinctive feature of your concerts. How did the idea of your own “currency” come about? And was there a case when this symbol played an unexpected role in communication with fans?

Titan: When we play shows, we intend to take over the city and country that we play — making them fans of our music and thus making them part of the kingdom. We declare the city “Hoheitsgebiet” (which means sovereign territory) and being that, they need to have our currency for sure!

It is a great connection with the fans, which sometimes has strange consequences: We have had fans come to the merchandise stand after the show with the gold they collected asking what they get for the gold now… I mean, that’s quite some spirit! First, we donate them gold and then they want to get merch for free. What a concept!

Titan, your musical biography includes different projects. What professional principles or habits did you consciously carry over into Hammer King, and which ones — on the contrary — did you decide to abandon in order to shape the band’s current style?

Titan: That’s a great question indeed! I am a rather unconscious person and musician mostly, which means, I work and function from the subconscious collection of experiences. One aspect was of major importance though: The Hammer King songs and albums always needed to be “understandable” for the fan. No overly intellectual complexity, no over-laden arrangements, no search for the reinvention of the wheel — it would have to be on-the-spot songs with big choruses. I think we nailed that pretty damn well!

Ross The Boss once said “When you are on stage, you have to make everything 20 times more extreme than you think”. I believe that is the core of it all, you have to be far more focused, far clearer and far more polarizing than you think you are.

You worked with Charles Greywolf on producing your recordings. Was there a moment in the studio when his idea noticeably changed the direction of a song — its structure, mood, or vocal delivery?

Titan: This time for the first time ever — yes! Usually, we hit the studio with every little detail worked out and we would only reproduce the demos of the songs. This time, we were on tour right before the studio time and we had three songs that we had not fully finished — or let’s say, they were finished, they just were not as good as we had thought they should be. Therefore, we asked Charles about his thoughts on these songs and we finalized the arrangements in the studio, which made the songs probably the most exciting songs on the album! One of them is the opening track “King For A Day”, which is amongst our strongest work ever.

Hammer King’s history has seen lineup changes. Can you recall a song that gained new energy or even changed precisely because of a new member joining? What became different in it?

Titan: Basically, we are a band that sticks quite a lot to the original arrangements when playing live, so there is not much of liberties for new members to impact on the existing songs. I believe that Günt’s and Count’s very powerful playing very much influenced the songwriting, once they joined the band. We would not have had a song like “King For A Day” or “Kneel Before The Throne” back in the early days, I guess.
But through the power they have brought to the table, some of the older songs have got more intense, probably. Especially “Kingdom Of The Hammer King” and “Hammerschlag” are beefed up quite a tad now.

In the process of working on albums, experiments that never make it to release are inevitable. Tell us about some unusual or bold fragment that remained beyond the albums. Why didn’t it come out — and why did it stay with you?

Titan: Hahaha, you are so right here! We have had quite some of them as well! I remember, when recording “King Is Rising” in 2016, we had a very epic track called “Bridge Of Srah”, which we never mixed as it was so tricky to sing that it never sounded right, honestly. And then again, it would have been such an un-catchy track anyway that it would absolutely have ruined the flow of the album.

Therefore, it remained in the closet. This time, when we wrote MMRA, we experimented with a rather Kreator-influenced song, which did not work with my melodic vocals, so we shelfed it. We also worked on a rather poppy thing, which got nowhere — just like the epic track, we attempted. We always work on many more songs than we end up recording. I believe, it takes the pressure of succeeding with every idea off you. It feels healthy to let loose of up to 50% of all ideas!

You have concerts in Spain coming up. What expectations are connected with this tour? And is there something in Spanish culture — visual, historical, musical — that already inspires you or might be reflected in future material?

Titan: It will mark the first time in the history of Hammer King to play Spain and my first time since fronting Ross The Boss' band in 2008. So you can believe that we are very much looking forward to it!

I remember the fans in Spain being very passionate and very connected with Heavy Metal, so we will sing together as much as possible and have some real celebration at the shows!

Gino and I are very much in love with architecture, so Spain has some very moving architecture for sure. The usual problem on tour will surely be that there is no time to go anywhere…

Your songs and visual style often draw on heroism and mythology. To what extent is your real background built into this imagery — the cities where you grew up, nature, local legends? Are there songs directly inspired by a specific place?

Titan: Actually, most of the time we are fully inside the Hammer King lore. So everything that happens, comes from inside of this world. I believe, given the state that the outside world is in at the moment, it is best to stay inside the Hammer King cosmos. There were a few exceptions over the years, the album “Kingdemonium” was influenced by the impressions we all had during this COVID thing and that turned into a rather dark album. But other than that, we are most happy if we are in our Kingdom’s own reality.

Every band has crises that remain behind the scenes. Can you tell us about a moment when Hammer King faced a serious challenge — creative, organizational, or human — and what decision helped you get through it?

Titan: Hahaha, gladly we only had one. We made a total wrong personal decision and allowed a person into the band for a rather short and still far too long period who got credited for performing on albums he never played a single note on. He brought lots of chaos and very little talent beyond hiding that. Once it became obvious that he was far below the level requirement, we ask him to leave and he sued us. I believe, that is where his talent really lies.

All other obstacles we ever faced were the usual financial hurdles that everyone has to take in order to grow. So we have been pretty lucky, I guess!

The music industry is changing rapidly: streaming, collectible editions, direct communication with fans. How do you define your “royal legacy” under these conditions? What practical steps are you taking to strengthen Hammer King’s own world?

Titan: We always look for the best possible product and the best possible package for our fans. I have been thinking of a card game or some board game for a while. Our Major Domus, who is part of the road crew, has been working on a script for a book. So, there are plenty of options and directions.

But honestly, music always comes first and second are the live shows. Everything else has to be meaningful and worthy — as there is no need for another band putting out bullshit just to have more output.

Your recordings show a love for choirs and guest voices. How do you choose performers for such parts? Give an example of a guest participation that particularly strongly influenced the sound or meaning of a song.

Titan: At first, we always thought, we would never utilize outside people at all! Then, when we met Gerre from Tankard, we knew we would have to do something with him. As “Hammerschlag” turned out to be such a great experience, we have changed our view on guests. We want to work with people if the song fits and if the person fits. So it has to make sense musically — and the people have to be friends or connected to us in spirit. So there are a few people whom I’d like to see as guests on our albums, let’s see what happens in the future :)

The choir is a real mainstay for our sound and we are happy to have the same people who are always on our albums. The choir day is a long and stressful, but very spirited tradition for us. The last day of recording — and it also feels like a high-school reunion in a way, as some of these people we just don’t see between the sessions.

And a brief personal question: what professional fear, doubt, or creative difficulty did you overcome this year — and how did it affect your work in the band?

Titan: The only heavy issue was the finishing stage of the “Make Metal Royal Again” album. We came off the tour with Dominum and still needed to put so much work into the songs to get them to the level we wanted to have them. It was the only time in my career so far where I had worked so much that I almost dropped with exhaustion in the studio. The night after the second recording day, I fell asleep at around 6:30 PM and slept for 14 straight hours. I still looked half-dead thereafter, but felt much better!

I believe that sometimes, you have to really give it everything you’ve got if you believe in it. It turned out, we did everything right and MMRA might be our strongest album so far.

FOTKAI is a visual guide to Spanish culture and cities that captures the atmosphere of the moment. If we were creating a visual story about Hammer King, what shot or moment would you want to make its centre so that the viewer understands your world without words?

Titan: It would have to be a shot for a show in Spain for sure! We are so looking forward to finally playing Spain — and the stage is our natural habitat, so we never look more significant anywhere else!

Of course, we would equally feel blessed to stand in front of the Sagrada Família as a whole band, but I am not sure if we will have the time to go there. So, the stage it shall be! Muchas gracias por la entrevista, see you in Spain soon!