Overlord SR Power Metal made in U.S.A

As a heavy metal band hailing from Fayetteville, NC in the mid 80’s, it was pretty much a given that you weren’t going to make a mark within the burgeoning metal scene. But, for the band known then as Overlorde, that’s exactly what happened. Formed in 1980 by guitarist George “Wildman” Koerber and bassist Darrell Collins the quintet unleashed their first demo, entitled ‘Medieval Metal’ in 1985, which immediately caught the attention of the underground metal tape trading faithful. “ Koerber reflects, “To sell over 10,000 copies of that cassette with local store sales, sales at live shows, and tapes trade by mail opened doors for labels to listen to our material.” “Keeper of the Flame” from that very demo found its way onto the highly influential Metal Massacre series of compilation albums two years later when it appeared on Metal Massacre VIII, alongside Sacred Reich and Viking, amongst others. “Being on Metal Massacre gave us status and we were now opening for every Hard Rock/Metal band that came through North Carolina. Suddenly our name was known across the world. ” 1987 also saw the band release their second demo and take to the road, hitting Raleigh, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach and Richmond, VA, and other regional markets with the likes of Kix, Savatage, NC legends Nantucket, Leatherwolf, Ace Frehley and more, often at the request of those bands

MetalMusic – Hi there, first of all, who are Overlord SR?
Wildman George Koerber – I am the founding member of the band, guitarist, song writter. We were the band Overlorde signed to Metal Blade records in 1986 to their Metal Massacre series on Vol. 8 LP with the song “Keeper of the Flame”. We were the featured band on this compilation. Now the band is Overlord SR (Overlord Sovereign Reign) the band is signed to Exitus Stratagem Records now. The band has been around since 1980. The change of the name happened in 2011 when a band in another state trademarked our name and we said well noone pronouces it correctly as Overlorde, they would say Overlord EEE and we would say no Overlord. So we dropped the E of the Old English spelling and now we are Overlord SR.

MetalMusic – Which is the main theme of your album ?
WMG – The theme is we are a band that has a Medieval time period name and theme, with knights, Kings and Queens. We have a castle back drop, with swords, helmets, shields. It is about who ever the King you want, King Arthur, my King is the one with the purple sash. He is the line in our song “The Revelation” “He is the one true King”. This is not a religious album, we are not preching to you, we are not a christian metal band like our friends Styper. We like to write about things that are coming in the future, to tell metal fans that are being dooped by people singing about the devil and giving him glory. Our thought was to have album of positive songs, about things that are coming sometime soon and will happen. We let the fans decide what their view of a song or what a album cover means to them? It is the fans perspective or view.

MetalMusic – What do you think about the possibility of Female voice in your line up ?
WMG – I have had several bands with female vocalist and it is not the sound for Overlord SR, I feel.

MetalMusic – Do you think that the internet is still important for music promotion ?
WMG – Yes, but I think it has made people that are younger not buy CD’s, LP’s, they just want music on their phone, sometimes and most of the time they just stream it for free and do not download the songs. So it makes it hard to make any money on selling your songs. Also noone has ever said hey look at my phone at my download list! But people will say look at my vinyl LP collection or CD music collection. It is a investment in the bands, their music and in yourself. You can then share music with your friends and have them come over and pick out albums to look at and listen to. So the internet makes it easy for people around the world to hear or see you right away, but it also makes people not want to spend any money supporting a band with physcial sales.

MetalMusic – What established musicians would you like to play on your next album ?
WMG – Would be nice to have Steve Harris of Maiden play bass on a album, or have Rob Halford or Biff Byford sing on a few songs.

MetalMusic – Leave a tip for those who want to start making music !
WMG – Write songs that move you to play them, not just hey here is a song that sounds like so and so or hey we have written 50 songs but they are all just ok. Take your time write them and try to be different in your sound and look and make sure you as a band love playing it. If you like it then your friends will like it and then their friends will like it and so on and so on. Then you will have a fan base. Always have fun, people today worry about fame and not about the music, just wanting to be famous. They miss the point of music to have fun, but the music business is a turn on craft. You have to want to turn people on to your music and you. It shows you care about your songs and what you are promoting, or singing about, not just about being famous.