WARLOCK AD are a new band of adventurers from different multiverses. They have unleashed their debut tale Book I: The Resurrection where you can hear about their first lot of quests and adventures. Through a special portal known as Skype to us mortals; Rock Out Stand Out’s Lotty Whittingham spoke to Whiteacre The Mighty Warlock, Quinn Eilianther The Elven Bard and Horace The Alchemist about this tale, influences and mental health. Here’s what happened
Introduce yourselves to us mortals.
Whiteacre: This is Horace the Alchemist. He likes potions, lotions and smoking anything he can get his hands on.
Quin: I am Quin Eilianther the Elven Bard.
Whiteacre: My name is Whiteacre The Mighty Warlock and I am a 10,028 year old sorcerer.
For those who haven’t heard you already, how would you describe your sound?
Whiteacre: We take the tales of the mystical adventures that we have been on throughout all of time and space. We put it together in a mixture of if you had Tenacious D playing with a symphonic orchestra and then also throw in some Powerwolf or Battle Born. Things like that.
Quin: Victorius?
Whiteacre: Yes, Victorius. They are good friends of ours now.
Horace: *grunts*
Whiteacre: Yes Horace and ABBA as well.
I also got some Nanowar Of Steel vibes from your sound.
Whiteacre: We’re kind of sort of friends with those guys too. We got a dialogue with those guys at the moment. We’re planning meeting up with them before or after their set at Bloodstock in the Serpent’s Lair which will be super fun.
Quin: Really, fun.
So your latest tale, is this your debut?
Whiteacre: This is the first book in what we have currently put together. We have so many adventures that happen in so many places.
Quin: It just all went wrong and now we got stories to tell.
Whiteacre: We decided to put our albums in the form of books. So far we have a seven book plan, so this is the first part of how we initially started our multiverse adventure. First there is the tale of the secret history that people don’t know about is where Æfintýr which is fairies, dwarves and all magical were all outlawed by at the time pretty violent Christians and we all got wiped out in the final battle. The battle is called The Fall Of The Æfintýr which is the first track of the album.
Horace: *grunts*
Quin: Horace kind of said his death was really painful and it has left him with no vocal chords so we will be translating for him for the rest of the interview.
Where do your influences for your song writing come from?
Whiteacre: The funny thing is that is the way the multiverse actually works is the moment somebody thinks of something, an idea, a TV show or something like that exists as a piece of fiction; it begins to exist as non-fiction in another universe. So we have been to Tamriel and have seen the rise of the dragonborn, we have seen the battle between a potion seller and a mighty knight. We have seen all of these things like Geralt.
Quin: Yes Geralt is a lovely man.
Whiteacre: A lot of people in this universe call him Geralt Of Riveria but his true title is Geralt Of Labia.
Quin: His bard is lovely as well but we all prefer me.
Question for you Quin, have you told anyone to take a nap?
Quin: Well the last time I did that we were walking down a road for quite some time ago. We were walking past a lovely lake and Whiteacre was going on about his boots hurting and his brace being a bit itchy. I then said he needed to take a sleep and I got zapped.
Whiteacre: I zapped him in the throat hole.
Quin: I made me throw up for a good few hours.
I also see other questers have joined your journey, for example Jack Reynolds from Battle Born.
Whiteacre: That is correct. It was quite funny because it wasn’t long after we visited Tamriel that we heard about this amazing band Battle Born. I mean I listen to those guys on repeat so I thought “you know what? if we’re going to make our tale about the dragonborn into a song, why not invite someone who has such a passion for his tale”.
What chapter of your tale was the most challenging to conquer?
Quin: I think we can all unanimously say The Coming of Bôl-Saïx.
Horace: *grunts*
Quin: Horace agrees, he says it was a pain.
Whiteacre: The tale behind The Coming of Bôl-Saïx is that Bôl-Saïx is the ancient Eldritch being that 10,000 years ago, I kind of took his powers and sealed him away in a cosmic prison. So we moved around the multi-universe having adventures and the fabric of space and time got broken which led to his escape. So it’s about how we fought against him.
Quin: What a tale it was.
What was the most fun chapter? I really liked Mead The Parents.
Quin: It’s got to be Lochnagar.
Whiteacre: OK so it’s not in the album credits but we got our phantom drummer to sing one of the tracks on the album. It is The Golden Halls Of Lochnagar and that was so fun to play because we kind of got his essence in front of the microphone and told him to make up the words as he went along.
Quin: And that’s exactly what he did.
Whiteacre: And everything else was built around that. Mead The Parents is also incredibly fun to play live.
Am I right in thinking the more books you release, the more we learn about you?
Whiteacre: Yes. The second book deals with another place in space and time where the versions of Quin, Horace, Ary and Thorem may not be the same versions you can see right now. The second album is very much a tale of how I try and find my way back to my friends. Book 2 is actually called The Valley Of Vâgené.
One of our missions at Rock Out Stand Out is help spread awareness and the message of looking after your mental health, letting you know it’s OK not to be OK. Is there an awareness in your multi-universes?
Whiteacre: We actually all have seen doctors ourselves, we all struggle with our own mental health issues. The main way that we deal with that is that we are brothers in quest but we are also brothers in everything else. These people here and Ary, we are all brothers and love each other. If one of us is down, the others pick each other up and that’s the way it goes. We make a point at all of our shows to make sure that people are having fun, that they are safe and people are enjoying the night because that’s what’s important to us.
What does mental health mean to you?
Quin: Everything really.
Whiteacre: We have so many issues in the band, quirks. Not that’s a bad thing. We have various things that I won’t mention here but we have issues. Obviously when it came to putting the album together, none of us could afford to get into a studio or having someone mix the album. So, a lot of the mixing, mastering and everything else fell onto me. There were a few times I really struggled and I was in a low place, didn’t feel like I could do any work but I really could not have done it without these guys [points to Horace and Quin] and without Ary. We don’t let it define us I wouldn’t say but we are definitely aware of it between each other and support each other in any way we can.
Quin: But we also use these as super powers as well.
Whiteacre: Oh yes they are also definitely super powers, the hyper focusing.
Quin: So much hyper focusing.
What do you think we could do more so people feel comfortable talking about their mental health, particularly when they’re struggling?
Whiteacre: I’m a firm believer that if you are open yourself, if you talk about your own struggles and things you find difficult then other people will relate and open up. We have made so many friends, we have one who we have become a support for and said if there is anything you need, we’re here.
We also have Aeliana The Eternal, who is our narrator, she has been assigned to keep an eye on Warlock AD and our multiverse adventures; making sure nothing goes wrong. First and foremost, she is the first person to ask if we’re OK and what can we do. Some of us have got partners and we seek support in them and our families.
Honestly people outside the process don’t realise how much stress goes into putting things together for a band, some people say “oh so you turn up at a venue and play gigs, then go home”. It’s not like that at all, there’s a lot more to it than that.
So you could say Aeliana is your soothsayer.
Whiteacre: After our first bunch of adventures around the multiverse, the council of Elders caught up with us and from that point on she kind of has to stick with us and help us document our adventures. Keeping all the paperwork in line otherwise we get removed from every timeline.
Quin: With the help the tiny wizard Liam.
Whiteacre: Yes, another member of our council is our manager the Tiny Wizard Liam.
What does an Elven Bard, an Alchemist and a 10,000 year old Warlock like to do to unwind?
Quin: So for the Elven Bard, I paint which I find very therapeutic and it calms me down. I like hanging out with these guys, we do it every Tuesday. Tuesday is our day if we’re not working on band stuff’ we’re chilling, talking and watching films because we found that’s what works in this reality that we’re currently in. Movies, media and just having a good time with each other.
Whiteacre: Video games. The easy way of going on a quest without having to leave your bed or put anything on other than your underwear, it’s so great. I also workout quite a lot. That’s a big on for Ary too, he pumps so much iron. The main thing is that every Tuesday we get together, we may run through a setlist for a live show or do anything we have got to get done. After that it’s shoes off, back to back cuddled on the sofa and watching memes on YouTube.
Is there is a plan for a medley cover in the near future?
Quin: We have already done ABBA.
Whiteacre: A couple of ideas that we floated around; a big one was Girls Aloud at one point. We thought about Sound Of The Underground. Obviously ABBA are an iconic band for us to do a medley around and weirdly a lot of their stuff translates super easily into power metal. More so I wanted to float the idea of Kate Bush.
Quin: As long as we have Babooshka in there, I’m happy.
Who is favourite Warlock, Magician or Witch?
Whiteacre: What’s that movie where Tim Curry plays a warlock and sings about Halloween? I would say him.
What enchantments would like to showcase at your debut performance at Bloodstock?
Whiteacre: One we usually take to shows is inflatable quest weapons so probably those.
Quin: A safe way to get knarly.
Whiteacre: Metephorically speaking, we have some tricks up our sleeves. We kept it guarded at the Metal 2 Masses Final about what we were doing. The day after that, we were saying “OK what if we do this for Bloodstock as it’s going to be three times bigger.”
You also have your Meadhall Tour coming up after that.
Whiteacre: The fall of Æfintýr, it’s funny that we have a song titled that and it’s Fall where our tour will be taking place. We are super excited about that, we’ve been all over the multiverse but to be on Earth Prime and go on a tour; none of us have ever done that.
Do you have a message for your fans?
Whiteacre: I think a big for our fans and anyone else would be give things that may seem a little strange to you at first, give it a chance. Always go into things with an open mind.
Quin: Stay safe, have fun and as our tiny wizard Liam says “get fun-key”
Thank you all for speaking with Rock Out Stand Out today and best of luck with the album, Bloodstock and upcoming tour.
