Impera have just released their third and possibly best album to date ‘Empire Of Sin’ on Escape Music. Here we catch-up with mainman and drummer JK Impera…

What have you got planned for the next few months music wise? e.g. tour plans, recording etc.

No tour planned for the moment, the other guys are busy with other projects but I´m writing songs and recording for the next IMPERA album. I´m also working on two other albums that will raise some eyebrows! I´m always working on something, as soon as a record are done and out for release I don´t like to take a break I just start working right away. I´m not happy unless I have something going on.

Could you take us through the songs on ‘Empire Of Sin’ e.g. stories behind the songs, songwriting process etc.

Like the two first albums Legacy Of Life and Pieces Of Eden Tommy and I start to write the music directly after the release, and we wrote all the music for Empire Of Sin within a month except for Thunder In Your Heart that I co-wrote with John Levén from Europe, we did that one at John´s house in august. After the music is done I´ll write lyrics for most of the songs and then Matti writes the melodies and the lyrics using the stuff I wrote as a starting point but he´s free to use what he think will work, then he send it back to me for approval, we have been working like this on all three Impera albums and it works for us.

The Beast is dead is part two of Beast Within from our last CD and it´s about my favourite movie ALIEN I like to write about movies I like. Lights in the sky is about the final scene in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, I also write about things that gets me angry like Lost Boy witch is about a looser called Justin Bieber. But mostly I write about things that gets me exited like Darling that I wrote for my wife. Oh what a nice guy I am, hahaha.

How did you get Europe’s John Leven involved and how come he ended up playing lead guitar?

I´ve been friends with John and the guys from Europe for almost 20 years and John and I where neighbours for about 10 years and last summer I just asked John if he wanted to co-write a song for the next Impera album and he agreed. I went to John´s house and we pretty much wrote the song within an hour. Later when we listen to it, John was playing around with his guitar, playing liks and stuff and I just said… You should play solo on this one and he was like, ok. First guitarsolo by Mr. Levén on a album ever and on an Impera album, that´s pretty cool in my book. We plan to write some more stuff together for the next Impera album too, I´ve also talked to Ian and Mic to do guest appearances!

How did you come up with the distinctive face make-up you wear on stage/in promo shots?

It´s my homage to KISS and I also thought that we needed a mascot like Eddie in Iron Maiden and as a drummer your always in the back and I wanted to stand out from the rest of the guys and I for one thinks it looks good. I do a lot of interviews and everybody asks about the make up and that´s a good thing, everything you do that makes people talk is a good thing. Today in the music buisness you have to stand out to get notesed. It´s hard to get your stuff out there so anything that get a buzz helps a lot. As for the design, I saw a cool picture on some site and me and our make-up artist design it right before a photosession.

All the band are big KISS fans. Have you played live yet and if given the chance would you like to put on sort of live spectacle KISS do?

We have done some shows but only festivals and there have not been enough time and money to put on a big show but when we do it the right way there will be a lot of pyro and stuff, that´s what I like with KISS, they put on the greatest rock show on earth and if I get a chance to do that, I´m all for it. Nowdays most bands use pyro and not just rockbands but KISS started it all.

Apart from Impera the band, who have you enjoyed playing with the most?

It was really cool to play live with Vinnie Vincent from KISS, it was so unreal when Vinnie turned to me at the end of every song waiting for me the hit that final cymbal, as a KISS fan that was huge, I´ve also played with Bruce and Bob Kulick. Other fun moments where with guys like Graham Bonnet (Rainbow) and John Corabi (Mötley Crue).

Message for your fans…

Thanks for the support and please check out our new CD “Empire Of Sin” and www.impera.org for more Impera news and updates. All the best, JK

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