Andy Howells chats to rock band Diaries of A Hero about their latest album

Diaries Of A Hero released their self-titled second album “Diaries Of Hero” on May 26 via German label Dust On The Tracks. “Diaries of a Hero” was recorded in Croatia last winter and mastered by TesseracT guitarist Acle Kahney.

In 2012 Diaries Of A Hero hit the road with Motörhead and Anthrax touring both the UK and Europe. The band also played at the Rock & Metal Circus Festival and at the Hard Rock Hell Festival, with the likes of The Quireboys, Wolf and Revoker. Andy Howells recently caught up with the band…

Who are you and where do you originate from?

We are Diaries Of A Hero, currently based in London but originating from different countries.

Carlo (lead vocals and guitar) has Italian / Californian roots, Leonard (drums) is from Croatia.

We are very proud to say that we also have a solid Welsh background: John (lead guitar) was born in Newport and brought up in Risca and Mat (bass), born in Italy, regularly visits his granny in Colwyn Bay (!!)

How long have you been together as a band?

The band has been together for 7 years. We met in 2007 in London and there was an immediate musical and human chemistry between us. We started jammin' and wrote some ofour first songs that were the predecessors of our first album 'Behind the mask'.

How would you describe your style of music?

Our music fits into the realm of Metal Rock, although we don't like to limit ourselves musically so if something sounds good we'll just go with it regardless of the style we're supposed to be in.

What's your best live experience so far?

We played pubs, clubs, gay bars (only once, we didn't know, we found out the hard way), festivals, garden party's, house party's and we loved them all. Each of those types of gigs had their own charm. When we toured with Motorhead and Anthrax we played much bigger venues in the UK and Europe from which the best one was Brixton Academy and Zenith Arena in Paris. Although we enjoy the club gigs as they are more intimate and there is a bigger connection with the audience.

Tell us about your new release!

Our new album has been recorded in Croatia, with a great producer Igor Rogovic who works in San Francisco for most of the time. It was mastered by Tesseract's Acle Kahney. It consists of 10 tracks (and an intro). All songs were written and recorded by Diaries of a Hero. The artwork was done by an amazing artist from London, Juan Blanco. The first singleof the album is 'Solitude' and is already out on youtube. The second single will be 'J5' and the video will be live in 2 weeks. The album was released on May 23rd.

In comparison to the first album, the second album is a bit more straight forward where the main focal point is the melody. Although, there are moments where we 'let loose' and play some more intriguing stuff.

Where can we catch you live?

We are having an album launch party at 'Club 229' in London. We are preparing for a tour in November when we're going to tour the album and we have another small surprise for the fans that will see us live.

For more on the band visit diariesofahero.com