It takes hard work to become a master of your chosen instrument. We’re talking hour after hour of ceaseless practising, studying and sacrifice. Your fingertips will bleed for the cause, your sinews will strain with the digit-wrangling solos that you attempt to learn. And at the summit of this mountain of effort, what reward will await you? More work, harder challenges, the pressure to improve still further.
Indeed, any guitarist who manages to produce the kind of pyrotechnic notesmithery that defines the DragonForce sound must surely represent the pinnacle of dedicated, sober ability. Right?
Well, you can chuck the sober bit out for a start.
“I didn’t sleep,” mumbles DragonForce bassist and virtuoso guitarist in his own right, Fred Leclerq, in explanation of his somewhat lacklustre appearance before the iGuitar camera. “I usually sleep three or four hours but I got drunk before the show, and during the show. After I was completely tanked up – or twatted, whatever you say…”
iGuitar is sat backstage at the Download festival with Fred (later on we’ll be joined by Herman Li), and the DragonForce bass player cum frontman and lead guitarist of his own band, Maladaptive, is clearly taking full advantage of all the fun that the festival has to offer. Yesterday, DragonForce performed on the main stage, following Megadeth (an experience which left the band feeling “very proud” according to Fred). By all accounts the performance was yet another triumph for the speed-metal six piece, and it looks and sounds as though Fred has been partying ever since. Not that he waited for the gig to finish before he started celebrating. In fact, he didn’t even wait for it to begin.
“For the last two months I’ve drunk Jack Daniels on stage and I’ve ended up drinking half of the bottle…” he murmurs nonchalantly. “That plus a couple of beers before the show. And then the rest of the Jack Daniels makes my night.” He pauses for a moment’s reflection before adding, “That’s a lot actually…”
Indeed it is, but it’s by no means unusual for a band who have quickly become almost as renowned for their entertainment value as their extraordinary musical chops. In particular, guitarist Sam Totman is famous for playing DragonForce gigs in a state that would have most of the band’s fans ejected from the average pub. Not that it stops him from being hailed as one of the best young technical players in the world. Similarly, Herman Li, widely held up as a hero among fans, is no stranger to onstage mayhem. This year, however, he preferred to play sober, explaining, “I drank before going on last...
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