Interview with Kieran Helmore

While reviewing the "Death & Thrash Metal Night @ The Lewisham" we were able to catch up with Anno Domini's frontman and vocalist Kieran Helmore to discuss about the band, how they are progressing and the upcoming album.

How are you going Kieran?

Good man, Good!

Talking about Anno Domini and the band how did it first start?

We first started in high school originally it was Danny our guitarist Ian the long blonde hair swiss style looking guy and Amir the drummer those 3 are the original members, then we have Miles who quit the band to do electronic music and Dan our bassist who we got after the first gig.

I was a good friends with the rest of the band and was helping them load there gear to gigs and shows and eventually decided they needed a keyboardist and I was right there so they where saying you play piano once so you should play. I then started doing backup vocals as well and when Miles quit they said Kieran you can scream let's get rid of the clean vocals all together and we'll go pure scream vocals.

What bands have influenced you to play music?

First ever metal bands that I ever listened to was Nevermore, Children of Bodom, Slipknot, Behemoth, Amenta who are one of my favourite bands, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse and other death metal bands that are way way heavier and It's the same way we're going as well.

So you've got a new album coming out very soon what's the progression so far with it?

We've been into the studio so far and recorded drums and bass, currently in the pre-production stage of guitars so we're going to spend a lot of time really getting a nice guitar tone after that's done we'll do vocals, Amir our drummer is also getting into the electronic production with reason and synths and all the orchestral stuff for the album.

How will your old sound differentiate from the new sound and how are you working towards the new sound?

When we first started we wanted to be like a doom metal band and was massively influenced by bands like Swallow The Sun, Novembers Doom, My Dying Bride and all that type of thing then we moved to pure screaming vocals and more of a mighty death metal sound. Our first EP was more melodic death metal hate to say it but was kind of like Killswitch Engage.

With the new album coming out soon what sort of gigs or shows are we going to see, or is there a planned tour that you will be doing?

No tour has been planned as of yet our main concentration now is to get the album finished then we'll be mailing it off and getting reviews, once the album is done we'll then be planning a tour for it so in that period while we're sending it around we'll be planning the tour which is going to kick off late this year early next year, East Coast Australia, Perth and other cities.

So what's the best way for people to get in touch with Anno Domini, or hear your music?

Main place right now to contact us is our myspace page, we keep it updated mostly and we do have a website but It's quite out of date. You should visit our myspace at www.myspace.com/annodomini

What advise would you give to other up coming musicians that would be following in your footsteps?

I definately recommend getting into audio production, get a member of your band into it because with that you'll be able to record demos and be able to get your sound out without having to just go to a show.

If you look at bands like Dred (OUROBOROS) who just did there album by themselves, releasing it for free and look at them now supporting Cannibal Corpse at The Roundhouse.

Home production is where It's at now and will be in the future for sure.