Marc Hudson: Reach For The Stars!
As far as baptisms of fire go, opening for IRON MAIDEN at the O2 Arena is up there. But that’s where British power metal legends DRAGONFORCE properly introduced the world to singer Marc Hudson in July of 2011, a shade over four months after he was confirmed as the band’s new vocalist. Twelve years down the line and Marc Hudson is readying himself for a new christening, this time with his first solo album Starbound Stories that appears at the end of August.
“DRAGONFORCE were on tour in 2020 and had to cut it short because of COVID,” he explains. “And a few tunes I had in the works between Shaz [Dudhia, keyboards] and myself were sounding really good. We were thinking about what to do with them – video game music was one option – but the more we jammed and fleshed out the demos we realised the material was probably good enough to make an album out of what we’d done, so we decided to make it a proper thing.”
The dynamics for Starbound Stories were very similar to Marc’s experience in his main outfit, with Shaz writing a lot of the music and himself contributing the bulk of the lyrics. When it came time to record the record, they enlisted friends in high places – ex-bandmate and current KREATOR bassist Frederic Leclercq and former POWER QUEST drummer Rich Smith.
“I’ve obviously known Fred for a long time and knew he was more than capable of playing any crap, demo guitar better than me,” jokes Marc. “But I also knew he was the sort of musician who could be sent something and return it perfectly without the need for any sort of second take. As for Rich, I watched him play every night when DRAGONFORCE toured with POWER QUEST and knew his talents, but also being English it wasn’t that hard for us to meet up and record either, so that helped a lot as well.”
The nucleus of the band might have been set in stone, but the plethora of guest appearances to help bring Starbound Stories to life was still to come – names include ex-FALLING IN REVERSE shredder Jacky Vincent, SEVEN SPIRES vocalist Adrienne Cowan and YouTuber Stevie T, at one point earmarked as a touring member for DRAGONFORCE. “In most of these cases, I had a good idea of who I wanted to bring in,” reveals Marc. “Take the song Jacky appears on as an example (the soaring Dracula X!); when working out who was going to play what on the track, he was one of the first people I thought of; he’s got a (Yngwie) Malmsteen technique of alternate picking that’s going to sound really good on this. Adrienne is also on the track, and I felt it needed a screamer. I could hear the song being on a SEVEN SPIRES album and knew she was the one to ask.”
Heavily influenced by Japanese pop culture – albeit in more general terms than anything specific – and featuring a jaw dropping, Final Fantasy-esque cover from celebrated artist Shilin, Starbound Stories isn’t a million miles away in feel from Marc’s main outlet, but it’s definitely not a cut-and-paste job masquerading as his own work. While tracks like lead single Astralive show the power metal apple does not fall far from the tree, the harsher vocals from the likes of Adrienne on Dracula X! and Ryoji Shinomoto on the pacey, main album opener Freedom Heart are certainly something you wouldn’t expect DRAGONFORCE to fully embrace, while The Siren steps into J-pop territory, especially within its melodies. Album closer One More Sight of the Sun With You is a particular talking point because, unlike anything else, it’s sung entirely in Japanese, which leads to one big question – does Marc speak it?
“I’d love to say yes!” He laughs. “I know enough to impress people for about five seconds and that’s it; the lyrics involved a lot of translating, making it rhyme in Japanese, have someone WhatsApp me vocal messages, phonetically write it down and then sing it! But there’s something really cool about hearing a song back and not really knowing what it’s about; you buy into it from the melody and can make up your own story from the lyrics!”
Although Marc would like to tour Starbound Stories, he admits it might be a while – things in the DRAGONFORCE camp are about to get very busy. “I think you’ll be hearing something pretty soon,” he reveals, although remains tight-lipped on everything else surrounding what is likely to be the band’s ninth studio album. Nevertheless, until then we have his first body of solo work to indulge and enjoy: a love letter to a culture he loves so much, delivered with as much impact as the infamous right fist of One-Punch Man.
Starbound Stories is out now via Napalm Records.
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