Into The Realm of Hammer King

German heavy metal/power metal unit Hammer King has returned with a brand-new bombastic full-length full of true headbanger hits! The new offering, entitled König und Kaiser, continues the storyline of the band paying homage to the mighty Hammer King, and is available now via Napalm Records! Hammer King, led by ex-Ross The Boss vocalist Titan Fox, was formed in 2015 and has captured the scene with their five previous offerings and live performances.  Highwire Daze caught up Titan Fox to find more about the almighty Hammer King and the story behind König und Kaiser!  Read on…

We’re here with Titan Fox from Hammer King. Where is the band based out of and what is the local metal scene like there?
Titan Fox: We live around basically around the area of Ramstein Air Base in the southern part of Germany. Everybody comes from a different place, but it’s all within the reach of, let’s say one and a half hours by car.

So, the metal scene in Germany, I think is still probably a very good one. We have started being on tour with WarKings last week, and so far the tour is going extremely well, so we have clubs like 500, 600, 650, 700 people and most of them are sold out or near to sold out. So it’s happening at the moment.

Let’s talk about the new album. König and Kaiser. Is there any overall story or concept behind that album title and song?
Absolutely. I mean with every Hammer King album. We’ve always had a themed album not truly concept album, but an album that tells you one chapter in The Saga of the Hammer King, and this time the King has made the impossible work becoming even more powerful than ever before.

So, the King has crowned himself being an emperor now, which is the Kaiser of course and the album gives you the impression what he’s about to do with his newfound power going out into the world. Conquering more countries, enlarging the kingdom, which of course is a parallel on to what’s happening for us. As a band we were on tour, we’re going to different cities to different countries, and we were conquering new territory for the Hammer King, for the band at least.

How did Charles Greywolf of Powerwolf become involved with the band?
We’ve always worked with Charles ever since we started and the coincidence is that Charles is basically from the same area – like 45 minutes from here.  And when we started being Hammer King in 2015, we chose somebody who was already very much happening in the scene and as I said, but by coincidence Charles is relatively close to us.

So we talked with him and the chemistry was there and we decided on upon doing this and within the production of the first album in 2015, which was Kingdom of the Hammer King. We immediately clicked and became friends. I mean there is a passion for music. There is a passion for the Ramones for example, and then for sushi and other stuff so there is, the chemistry was there, and we never changed.

You’re now on tour with the WarKings. How did The Tribune of WarKings become involved with this new album?
Basically the album happened because we knew that WarKings weere considered taking us on the tour. So, somebody from the industry said we heard that the WarKings are quite interested in having Hammer King on the tour and therefore it might be helpful. If you have a new album, can you deliver an album for a late March release and we said, yeah, we can do that. Basically, that was, sometimes at some point in June 2023 and we have zero songs by that point.

So we worked like maniacs and within six or seven weeks. We had 14 songs, basically 15, and threw away one. So we recorded 14 tracks and as the tour with WarKings seemed very probable. We also asked The Tribune would you possibly sing on that album because that same person from the industry, also suggested having both kingly vocalists on one track and we have this song called König und Kaiser and that is very much perfect for The Tribune’s vocal style. And he agreed and he did it and therefore we had a very, very nice gimmick to happen alongside the tour having both King bands on the same stage and both vocalists on the same track.  It is very interesting to hear anybody interpretate your music and we couldn’t be happier with what he did. It’s fantastic.

Has The Tribune actually come on stage and performed that song that song with you guys?
Not yet.  I haven’t even asked him because if I were him, I wouldn’t do it. I mean if you, have you ever seen the show from the WarKings, it is a very dramatic entry that they have there is an announcer and every musician every WarKing every God, whatever creature you might find them is announced and they have a big intro.

So, in my opinion I wouldn’t do it if I were him because you can’t be on stage before that. But you never know what happens on a final show of the tour when everybody is playing tricks on the other. Maybe he will just stand next to me and scare the hell out of me and sing with me. You never know.

Hopefully, The Tribune reads this and then the idea goes into his head. Has Hammer King played any show here in the States, or is that something you’d like to do in the future?
Sadly, we have never played the States with Hammer King. I did when I was the vocalist for Ross the Boss of course but not Hammer King so far – and we would absolutely like to do that. I mean for me, it would be wonderful to just return to the United States playing music, and for some in the band that would be their first time.  If there is an offer that at least doable we will certainly be over there.

You mentioned Ross the Boss. When you look back on your time spent with Ross the Boss. What do you think of it now in retrospect?
TI think I made one mistake back then. I should have enjoyed it more because I was so determined on the job, on the opportunity, on delivering the best that I can. That sometimes, for I simply forgot to enjoy it and it’s something that I change and it was enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong. It was totally enjoyable.

But I mean other guys in my position would have probably lived the rock and roll dream to death and I really, really cared about my musical capabilities about the vocal performance. About everything that I could learn. So in my book that was the right decision but looking back. I mean we played with Judas Priest and so on it should have been something to go a little bit more crazy about but I was very focused on making my job in the end.

I still to this day and I mean it has been over for 12 years old 13 years already. I still feel the impact that it has on my career, on the career of Hammer Kings and what’s even more important about it is that I learned such a lot about guitar playing, leaving away everything unnecessary. Only focusing on the melodies, on the expression that you have as a player, on your identity when you are playing. Not getting lost in effects and whatever, and on the same level of importance.

I still love Ross the Boss, the person to death and that is probably the most important thing about it. He was a wonderful, wonderful person with a big heart and every good thing that you might have heard about him is absolutely true. So he’s an incredible player and an incredible man. So, Ross is a very important person for me, will ever be an important person for me until the end of my musical days.

Looking back on that first album Kingdom of the Hammer which was released nearly 10 years ago. What do you think of that album now in retrospect?
I think I have three most favorite albums of Hammer King and that would be the new one and I would not say that if it weren’t. I will not say it about every new album. That this time the newest one is one of my favorite albums. The ’21 album Hammer King is one of my favorite albums and the third one is the first album because it was totally unplanned therefore in my opinion with the naive approach about it, is unmatched. We can never duplicate that because we have expectations now we didn’t have any when we did that album and I mean, it sounds like a very different Beast.

I was still more like the screaming vocalists who just gave power and not a very much healthy approach to the singing when we did that album.  We sound slightly different nowadays, I think but, it’s still an album that I enjoy to the fullest and it still cracks me up hearing all these gazillions of Hammer and King references in the lyrics. “I am the King. I am the Hammer King. We are the Hammer…” and all that. I mean, you can do that once in your life and we did it and it’s fantastic and it’s will always remain a very important album.

You’ve done a total of three albums since the pandemic. What do you think has kept you so creative and prolific during this time?
There are two very different answers. The one is romantic. We are very creative and we like creating new music and the other is absolutely sober. Every album had a purpose, link to some business reasons. When we did the Hammer King album that was the one that we did out of its duration and then the pandemic came and we put it out directly when we could play any show again, but then when the festivals came back one year later. We had an album that was already one year old and so the industry said I should have a new album for the festivals.

No problem, and we had Kingdemonium and then when WarKings said they might take us on tour again, Kingdemonium would have been one and a half years or so and you need a new album and bam there’s König und Kaiser. So basically, it’s almost been equally a business decision and in musical motivation to have the albums; but me personally I think the more albums you can make, the better it is.

If you look at the old classic bands be it Motorhead, Judas Priest, early Maiden – they all had an album every year sometimes two albums a year and then they were on that two-year circuit. I mean, that’s the classic days, and for us having an album roughly every one and a half or two years feels very natural actually.

Do you have any messages for your fans out here in the States who are reading this now?
Absolutely. We can’t wait to come over and play in the United States. It is, I mean for us from Europe and especially being a German-based band. When you play Germany you go from one city to the next city by bus and it takes you like four to four and a half hours and nobody from City 1 would ever come to City 2 and if you compare that to the United States.

How far the places are apart? What a gigantic country. This is, I mean for us that’s a whole different world and we are very, very ready to experience touring the United States and therefore my promise is as soon as it’s possible. We will be over and play because we absolutely would love to play the United States!

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Lineup:
Vocals/Guitar – Titan Fox V
Guitar – Gino Wilde
Bass – Günt von Schratenau
Drums – Dolph Aidan Macallan

Hammer King Official Home Page