Exclusive interview with Lankester Merrin

1-Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the band? Where is the band from?

Hey there, thanks very much for having us. Well, Lankester Merrin is a melodic metal band of five members from Germany/ Lower Saxony founded by Flo Schulz (lead guitar) and Cat Rogers (lead vocals). Shawn Layer (drums), Jan-Philipp Merten (bass) and Chris Müller (rhythm guitar) completed the band. 

2- “Dark Mother Rises” is your new album, how long did it take to write it?

Good question…  Actually the songwriting progress by Flo and Cat, mainly Flo, had started years ago before even Lankester Merrin was founded. They were so many ideas, riffs and lyrics that, in time, were creating our songs. So you can be sure that the songs for our third album are already in the “making of”. 

3- What musical influences inspired the songwriting?

Here we go… One of the biggest influences are the “oldies but goldies” like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Running Wild, Iced Earth etc. and more modern stuff like In Flames for example.

4- When the band started? Can you tells us more?

We started in the end of 2019, the best start ever because straight after founding, Covid-19 entered the world and we couldn’t do what we love to do…performing live on stage! BUT instead of whining, we concentrated on our rehearsals, recorded our first album and shot our first video…so we were busy busy busy.

5- The album title is “Dark Mother Rises”, can you give us details about the content and more in depth meaning to this title?

First of all the title has actually nothing to do with the songs on the album. As simple as it is with the Dark Mother we created a band mascot, like Maiden´s Eddie or Motörhead´s War Pig. You can see the Dark Mother on the first, second and all the albums to come.

Our songs on the album are very individual stories from historical content (i.e. Sweet Lizzie)  to literary themes (i.e. Medusa) and stories from daily life (i.e. Perfect Illusion). 

6- Have you performed any shows in your area? If so, how receptive and supportive are the people to your music?

We performed as many shows as we could since the pandemic restrictions were abandoned in our area and my lord, the people are so amazing and supportive, it´s unbelievable!  There is nothing better than perfoming in front of headbangers, seeing them cheering and rocking with us. 

7- Are there any upcoming shows or tours you can tell us about?

Oh yes, there are already several shows confirmed, including our release show on Sat, 18th of March 2023, mainly in our region, but we hope for more to come when the album is released. Tour support? We are still waiting to get booked… 

8- Thanks for your participation, finally, what is the best way to get a hold of the band, in case someone wants to book or promote you? Any final words?

Thank YOU again, it was a pleasure to answer the questions. The best way to get a hold of us is via Facebook, Backstage Pro or Email (schulz.bodenwerder@gmx.de). 

We wish our heavy fans and friends from all over the world lots of fun with our new album Dark Mother rises, subscribe to our channel on YouTube and enjoy a live concert of us if you are nearby. We are worth it!  

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