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.
UpTheVolume – Tell us about your latest release?
Wildman George Koerber – This seven song studio album is one of the best ones I feel we have put out in awhile. The songs are all strong and everyone seems to like the whole album, but they have their favs. Men like certain songs and woman like others but there are only two songs that overlap between both sexes. Very diverse songs but it is still Overlord SR, we have a sound and a style. Someone wrote it seems we got in a time machine went back to the 80’s wrote these songs and then brought them back to the future. Our sound is NWOBHM, or Traditional Metal.
UpTheVolume – How did the idea for the cover come about?
WMG – I got the idea for the King I believe in to be represented by the purple sash, but since we are a band with castle backdrop, wear leather armor on stage. That it should have a sword and a crown as well. I like to tell Metal fans about what is coming in the future and my King will be returning anytime now, this could be your King as well or could be a King about to take the throne, in the world stage. It is up to your interpretation or your view.
UpTheVolume – What is your favorite song and why?
WMG – I like them all but my favorite song to play is “The Revelation”. I love the meaning of what we are trying to tell people about, and it is such a great song to play live. It really kicks, when we play it live and to me it sounds even better live, has a bunch of great changes and dynamics to the song.
UpTheVolume – Which bands influenced your style?
WMG – Foghat, RUSH, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Deep Purple.
UpTheVolume – Which cover would you like to include in your next release ?
WMG – I have always wanted to do Neil Youngs “Out of the Blue and Into the Black” but the way we do it, is different and we make it our own.
UpTheVolume – How do you consider the Metal scene in your country?
WMG – Not too great. Not like Europe or the UK, where Metal Festivals draw hundreds of thousands of fans out. We played some Metal festivals last year opening for bands like Megadeth, Seether, Five Finger Death Punch, COC, Lamb of God, Hatebreed to name a few and yes the crowds were over 40,000. In Europe or South America the Metal crowds are 150,000 to 300,000 people in one place for a festival.
UpTheVolume – Which musician would you like to put as a guest for a record?
WMG – Rob Halford, or Bruce Dickinson or Steve Harris, or Biff Byford.
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