Conquest of Steel was one of Room Thirteen's favourite bands at the recent Hammerfest II festival. We couldn't wait to catch up with lead singer Dan Durrant to find out more about the band.
R13: In your own words, can you tell me what Conquest of Steel is all about?
CoS: Conquest of Steel was formed to combat the nu-metal scene and the lack of fun and entertainment in metal. As a band we felt metal had taken a serious turn with some seriously awful bands who we wouldn’t even label metal. Far too many bands were standing around on stage without giving a performance and we wanted to bring back true manic live metal shows. We also wanted to be at the vanguard of a new, new wave of British Heavy Metal ready to take the flag on from the likes of Maiden and Priest.
R13: What’s going on with Conquest of Steel right now?
CoS: We’re just about to embark on a European tour of Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and oh yeah Brighton??? It was en route heading back up north. Very early work has begun on material for the next album which will be a seriously balls-to-the-wall metal album after our concept album. However, there will be a concept piece on it as we really enjoyed writing the last album. Also the constant aim to be more metal than metal!
R13: What has been Conquest of Steel's biggest achievement to date?
CoS: Our festival appearances at Bloodstock, Damnation, Hammerfest, Freaktal (Switzerland), Heavy Metal Maniacs (Holland) and Swordbrothers (Germany) have all been great achievements for us as a band. We’re a completely self managed, DIY band so everything we’ve achieved we’ve done for ourselves without representation which we’re very proud of. We were all very chuffed to meet and personally hand a CD to Krusher at Hammerfest, but probably biggest of all is being labelled Britain’s finest Heavy Metal Warriors.
R13: Talking of Hammerfest, how was that for you?
CoS: Fantastic! The crowd were great and proved themselves true metal warriors. The crew backstage were highly professional and really helpful, we were well looked after. We enjoyed the rest of the weekend drinking far too much in the free VIP bar and watching some great metal acts with a special mention to White Wizzard who we’ve never seen before and thought truly metal. Also although we weren’t there on the Thurs, special mention should be made of Gentleman’s Pistols from Leeds who we’ve played with before and highly recommend people check out as they play seriously impressive 70’s rock.
R13: What were your best bits off-stage?
CoS: The free VIP bar!
R13: Who was your band of the festival?
CoS: White Wizzard/Sabaton
R13: What does the future hold for Conquest of Steel?
CoS: Preaching metal to the unconverted and bringing back the true wave of Heavy Metal to these once truly metal shores. A 30 year reunion tour when the time comes.
R13: Can you tell me something random about Conquest of Steel that not many people will know.
CoS: Vic (bass) makes weapons, DD (guitar) once arm wrestled Joey Demaio and won, Claymore (guitar) consumes vodka shots via his eyes, The Destroyer (drums) is officially a giant and I sang Aces High 395 times in 1 day while completing the 3 peaks walk
R13: Are there any closing remarks you wish to make?
CoS: If you haven’t seen us live you haven’t lived so check our gig guide at www.conquestofsteel.co.uk. Thanks for the interview and keep it more metal than metal!