Zur deutschen Version geht es hier.
Apparently, one of the peculiarities of life for me is that I can use my Latin after all: The following interview is translated from Latin exclusively for you! The reason for this? The Tribune of WARKINGS simply doesn’t speak any other language! But the painstaking translation work was worth it and you can now read all about his upcoming battles, the submerged Parisian conquest and the ancient plans for the future. Proceed at your own risk!
Huge thanks to lightinmirror.de for providing the pictures!
Shieldmaiden’s Voice: Who would win in a death match between Tribune, Spartan, Viking and Crusader and why?
Tribune: I would definitely win in the arena because I know my way around there! I practically created the arena. The Tribune would probably be a bit cold in the north, which is why the Viking would win there. In a homosexual orgy, our Greek would certainly win, i.e. our Spartan [we laugh]. If it were a funeral pyre issue, then our Crusader would certainly have the upper hand.
SV: Ok! A clear „it depends“ then!
Tribune: Yes! It depends on the When and Where!
SV: We’re meeting today because of your For King and Crown Tour. How is this tour different from the ones you did before?
Tribune: It’s our first headlining battle and of course we didn’t know beforehand how many warriors and shieldmaidens [get it…?] would show up. But we are very happy that so many followed our battle cry and filled the arenas, especially the ones in Germania, and joined us in such a powerful battle roar!
SV: What has the fans’ feedback been like so far?
Tribune: Spectacular! But you will see that for yourselves, I’m sure!
SV: That’s true! [You can find the battle report here] Unfortunately, you had to cancel your assault on Paris because you didn’t have any battle boats with you….
Tribune: Yes, that’s right, the big problem was that our Roman galley, which was anchored in Gaul, had a lot to cope with in the floods of the Seine and we already know that the French are not the bravest of people. So, unfortunately, they didn’t dare to release this galley for us.
SV: The French were not ready for you…
Tribune: That’s right, the Gauls weren’t ready for it yet… But we wrote a book about it, Bellum Gallicum!
SV: Do you also talk about yourself in the third person throughout several chapters?
Tribune: That’s exactly what I do! „Selfless as he is!“
SV: Your battle cries have reached many corners of the world, but how would you describe your music to someone who has never heard you before?
Tribune: Quite simply, if you’re really looking for true Heavy Metal, even if other „competitors“, who are actually just cheap imitations like MANOWAR, claim to play true Heavy Metal, then that’s simply not true. So if you want to know what it really sounds like, you have to listen to WARKINGS! Then you’ll know what true Heavy Metal is. Where battles are sung about, where orgies are sung about, that’s the real thing. Heavy Metal taken literally!
SV: Your last album Morgana also made a chart entry. Does that put you under pressure to maintain or increase this success?
Tribune: We don’t feel any pressure. If you’ve managed to survive for 2000 years and leave all the battlefields alive, then you don’t have a problem with pressure. As a Roman, for example, you also have a lot of experience with orgies, so you simply have to be able to deal with pressure! That’s no longer a problem for us.
SV: Do you also live by the motto of various speeches from the Roman Senate, where various senators were accused of being under the thumb of their wives because the senators only consorted with their own wives instead of with other men?
Tribune: Of course! We live with this danger, especially me, but I’ve managed to avoid it quite well so far. That’s probably because I’ve mostly taken Germanic female slaves, they were simply easier to control.
SV: It’s always politically difficult when you’re controlled by women, as an ancient Roman! But maybe to get back to the topic: You are on the road a lot. What about a successor for Morgana?
Tribune: The planning is underway, we are already sharpening our weapons, we are forging our iron with our Hephaestus. It’s looking pretty good at the moment that we’ll be launching a new battle concept in mid-2025.
SV: And then it’s off to Kalkriese…?
Tribune: [laughs] Yes, exactly: Varus, Varus, give me back my legions! But as far as the album is concerned, I can’t reveal anything more specific yet, but it will definitely be about us four kings in an explicit way. It won’t be about a specific theme a la Morgana and the Arthus legend, like the last album, but really about the four kings.
SV: Is it always particularly important to you to make concept albums in the context of your historical background?
Tribune: Only Morgana is a concept album in the true sense of the word. The other albums had the variety factor that one time it was about Greek experiences, then another time about the experiences of our Crusader. When we have songs like Deus lo Vult, which is thematically based on the saying of Urban II „God wills it“, then of course it’s about our Crusader. When we play Sparta, it’s logically about our Greek. Ragnar is about the Viking. With Gladiator, I’m in the middle of the Colosseum. In this respect, they are all albums that follow a thread, but they are not albums that start with „A“ and end with „Z“. Morgana is a bit of an exception. The next album will again contain stories from all four WARKINGS!
SV: When you can look back on a history as ancient as yours, what do you wish for the band in 2024 and the years that follow?
Tribune: We will work on filling even bigger festival halls to be able to dine with Odin at one table and we will also try to conquer the big battlefields of northern Germany. I don’t know if you happen to know this battlefield called „Wacken“? Of course we also want to do other festival battles. We don’t have a fixed plan that says when we want to achieve what, because things happen as they happen anyway. Survival isn’t an option either, because we’re already dead anyway.
SV: There are certainly more unfavorable starting situations than being dead! What is still on the agenda for you this year?
Tribun: We’ve already announced via our announcers that we’ll be doing a co-headlining tour of Germany in December together with our brothers and sister from SUBWAY TO SALLY, including a show in Switzerland. We will also do a lot of festival battles and then retreat to our forge to work on the new wrought iron product that will be out mid-2025.
SV: If you had to give your fans a survival tip for the next battle, what would it be?
Tribune: „Survival“ would be a good place to start! Apart from that, there’s not much more to guess… But basically, the smarter and faster you are, the longer you’ll live!
SV: So it’s just „eat or die“?
Tribune: Yes, exactly!
Shieldmaiden's Voice 