Dungeon: Power Age.

Dungeon launch A Rise To Power at the QUT Club, Gardens Point on Saturday.

Sydney based power metal acts Dungeon are in town to launch their new long player A Rise To Power this weekend. While it’s only the band’s second full-length release, they’ve been together for near 13 years in one form or another. Drummer Stevo took some time to answer a few questions about the band’s shows and the making of their new album.

Dungeon have been around in various forms for 13 years now. What has kept you motivated to make music through this length of time?

“Even though I haven’t been in Dungeon for the 13 years (I joined in ’96), for me, it’d have to be the power of playing live. There’s a power that is produced in a live performance that cannot be emulated anywhere else. It’s a powerful energy. I’m constantly asked why I put myself through such physical abuse, but it’s a personal thing. Hahaha!!!”

Your new album sounds awesome, how do you think Resurrection stands up against its successor?

“It doesn’t. Resurrection was an album of a specific period of Dungeon. It contains some great songs, but the production severely let it down. We’re a different band now with a new guitarist & bass player, so A Rise To Power sort of represents this current era.”

Where do you draw your lyrical inspiration?

“From lots of things. Everyday life, fantasy novels, sci-fi, all that stuff. We realise that our style of metal tends to draw the ‘sword and sorcery’ type connotation, so we’ve made an effort NOT to do that. Although there are some ‘swords of steel and fire’ sounding songs on the album, we also chose to use topics a little more intelligently. For example, The Other Side is about a rockstar peering into the non-glamorous side of music, Lost In The Light is about society in general, and Traumatised is about a woman giving birth to an alien. That sorta thing… make songs a little more topical.”

Is the album going to find it’s way overseas, and what sort of feedback are you getting? Are there possibilities of an overseas tour at any point?

“Absolutely. Europe is our biggest market, and it’s the one we’ve chosen to tackle. It’ll definitely be a tough market to crack. Feedback so far has been positive, and we’re talking with people right now. If we’re taken up in Europe, obviously we’ll choose to tour there. But at the same time, not only will we be promoting ourselves, we’ll also be promoting Australian Metal. We have some of the best bands in the world here in Australia, and hopefully our efforts will also turn overseas attention in Australia’s direction.”

The ARIA awards are being held in a couple of weeks time, but after all these years, and despite the popularity of heavier sounds, still have no category for hard rock or heavy metal acts. What can be done to change this?

“More punters need to buy and request more CDs by Australian metal artists. ARIA is judged by sales alone, and it’s only by product purchases that metal can ever get a look in. Just think… having a metal band on stage accepting an award. Ha ha ha, that’d be awesome!”

You cover Queensryche and Iron Maiden on A Rise To Power, but you haven’t gone for obvious tracks with either. What drew you to the tracks you’ve covered?

“Firstly, we wanted to put our stamp on songs that we hoped had not been done by anyone else before. Secondly, we like playing them. As I said previously, Dungeon are fans of metal… we basically grew up on these tunes, and it’s an honour to play them.”

What’s one thing in the world you would change and why?

“We have a lot of problems in the world, don’t we? The problem I see the most every day are people taking advantage of each other for all the wrong reasons. People selfishly exploit their brothers, their sisters, their friends, their colleagues, their family. Personally, and with all that’s currently going on in the world, a little help and understanding wouldn’t go astray. What a powerful world this would be if everyone chose to work together for all the right reasons. To answer your question… I’d like to change peoples attitudes. Attitude is the first step in reasoning. If we all learned to reason, we wouldn’t have all the problems we have now.”