Dead Rhetoric: It seems like striking visual artwork not only for the cover art of records but also in various merchandise items appears to be a hallmark of the band. Who handles most of your artwork, and do you believe your fans enjoy the variety of items you offer – that choices matter?
Cruz: Most definitely. Trying to get away from the ‘hey- we just have this one shirt that we came out with, a single color front and back’ (laughs). We are trying to offer what you would see a band like Blind Guardian offer, or Evergrey. If you go see these bands on tour, they have five-seven different types of shirts, a hoodie, CD’s, vinyl, everything you could possibly imagine. That’s the level that we are trying to shoot with, with this. When you see us on tour in May, the merch booths for both Evergrey and us should be plentiful. That’s part of it, you want people to have these shirts and be a part of the band, part of the story and the growth. You want to sell something that somebody wants to buy, you want them to be proud to put it up on Facebook. That ‘Take My Money’ meme that comes up on social media, you want to offer something that has a purpose to it – with this you get to support great artists. Everything that we have is original, we have Bo (Bradshaw) who does some merch stuff, we had Dushan who did the covers for the album and our EP- he’s a great artist. My dad has done some stuff, I have a friend who is a Marvel artist – he does a ton of stuff for them, he’s going to probably do some upcoming art for us at some point. It’s all about art- art is music, music is art. If it’s cool looking, people will want it.
Dead Rhetoric: You also developed the Deland Rock & Metal Festival – discuss the history of the festival, the types of bands you book, and how you think things have gone through the years? What do you see as some of the biggest challenges and obstacles that you’ve overcome? And how did you come up with the specialized wrestling style promos that you included with the bands?
Cruz: (laughs). Oh man. Let me see… basically I can start with the obstacles because there is still one looming. We have an issue with the sound ordinance here. I had to can the 2015 festival and move it a city away because Tina had an issue with one house of a sub-division behind the venue- they had pull with the city because they were basically retired circuit judges. Small town politics, she’s gotten things taken care of per se, but something like a 14 hour, double stage metal festival for three days is still not cleared up enough to do that again. I just don’t want to put my time and effort into something and get shut down- I’ve had 200 hours into that every time plus, every time I choose to do the festival.
Honestly the last couple of years I didn’t do it, I put that focus into Seven Kingdoms. Those 200 hours went somewhere else. As far as the bands, I did hit another snag because it is Deland. I hit the market cap for metal- unless you are booking Cannibal Corpse, it would be really tough to get them because they would be playing Deland outside. The market would take several years at an in house venue in Deland to put that on the map with several different things other than metal. Going into the national scene was a little tough- we just stuck to more of a regional band approach, that was what it was modeled for.
I always had the idea to do some over the top ring announcers, like you would see on WWE. I am a huge wrestling fan, and most of my friends are huge wrestling fans, the sarcastic, you know it’s ridiculous, and that’s the point kind of thing. It’s just funny. We had a really good time cutting those promos, so it hardly seemed like work. You had brief little moments that are classic, maybe we will look back at them in ten years and laugh at it the same.
Dead Rhetoric: Discuss the importance of friendships and relationships within Seven Kingdoms – do you believe it’s why you’ve made such strong connections to your fans, because of the genuine love, support, and respect you have as a quintet?
Cruz: Most of all, we are just a family. I only grew up in family businesses, so I don’t really know anything different. It takes… the thing you have to have is a group of guys, and girls, who enjoy what they do, want to do it, and continue to want to move forward. Once you find that right combination, it’s inevitable that you will grow together if it’s woven right. Luckily we started out very young, with parental support and guidance. We stay humble, and we are still working hard. We haven’t made a dime, we still have to pay ourselves back for a bunch of things. It’s a really glorified hobby right now- but at this point I am seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. And that after that, a slow tunnel to get to the daytime (laughs). It’s continual grinding and pushing, and that’s all that you can do in one of the worst industries to try to make yourself successful in. I love it, I like it- Steve Jobs had a quote that talks about you really have to love what you do, because that’s the only way you will put up with something that other people would think is ridiculous. That’s the attitude that everybody has to have.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you look at the art of guitar playing today? Have your views changed in the decade plus time with Seven Kingdoms?
Cruz: Man, I would say I’ve grown into appreciating good guitar playing. Rather than thinking the way I did when I was 18, where it was like ‘man, that guy doesn’t shred fast enough!’. You are just that kid- now I can listen to anything and I can tell you if it’s a good guitar player. I can appreciate everything a little better. It’s not necessarily how crazy the leads are, it’s more about being memorable.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your views on the state of the current heavy metal scene? Where would you like to see improvements, changes, or modifications if possible?
Cruz: I don’t know. It’s pretty good, it’s not super bad. I would say it is what it is. I would like to see more bands do what we do. I would like to see some new bands do power metal. You get what you put into it.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you think it’s hard to sustain attention because of the sheer amount of releases that flood the market now?
Cruz: Downloading, you have people that will tell you they downloaded 15 albums in one day, just munching like it’s a buffet. Back in the 80’s, it cost you money to buy a record, and you had to sit there, look at it, appreciate it, and enjoy it. Let your friends borrow things as well.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you see the rest of 2017 shaping up? Will there be another conceptual video release for another song off Decennium? And are you planning on hitting Europe again following the spring North American tour with Evergrey?
Cruz: I’m sure we will head back to Europe at some point- I’m thinking it will be probably next year. I have a couple of things that we are working on right now which will answer all of those questions, hopefully soon (laughs).