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KeyDragon has been pounding out the metal tunes for over 8 years now.  Working with various forms of metal and musicians, KeyDragon has evolved into a Dragon Metal band.  Dragon Metal is a form of Gothic metal that combines traits of Doom and Power metal.  The songs are all about Dragons and are sung by the angelic Tamara Venus Star and Ron Langford who provides the “Dragon Vocals”, or screaming vocals, which adds the element of aggression, power, and strength to the lyrics.  Holly Rains adds a powerful rhythm and groove with her dynamic drumming.  Andrew Grant provides a grooving bass.  Roger Rains dials it in with relentless, riffing guitar. Jake DeMarco backs Ron up on many of the new songs from the new album to be released in the summer of 2010.  Ben Blackmon adds some guitar on 2 tracks from the new album.  Ron Langford uses many real and virtual synthesizers to produce rich textures and dreamscapes.  He also works intensely to get the "sound" for the band.

 

KeyDragon takes you on a mythical journey through time to explore the many legends of the Dragon.  The songs are about Dragon legends from around the world and from the time of 60 BC to 1900’s AD.  The Dragon legends contained in these songs have been thoroughly researched and are the most accurate legends of our time.  You will explore Dragon tales from biblical times, the Crusades, the Romantic Era, The Renaissance, The 1700’s, 1800’s, and the 1900’s.  These legends come from around the world.  There are legends from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.  These legends come from people of all walks of life.  These legends exist among the tribesmen, native Indians, peasants, nobles, merchants, crusaders, warriors, and priests.

 

The music of KeyDragon combines the power of the metal guitar, the angelic female voice, the growling scream of a warrior, and the modern technologies of synthesis to form a unique style of metal/rock/alternative music.  KeyDragon has many influences and has many bands that it “sounds” like.  Here is a list of other bands that have similarities to KeyDragon: 

Evanescence

Lacuna Coil

Leaves Eyes

Within Temptation

Darkwell

The Crest

Stream of Passion

Trail of Tears

Fear Factory

Static-X

SlipKnot

Midnattsol

 

 

 

  KeyDragon came about many years ago from the mind of Ron Langford.  The fascination with the Dragons has been with Ron since 1982 when he and his brother Dave first met Gary Gygax's cousin in the hills of North San Juan.  Gary Gygax is the creator of TSR and Dungeons & Dragons.  When Gary's cousin first introduced the game, they were extremely interested.  They played all night long and later Ron re-created the game to play with his friends at school.  The fascination turned into an obsession when Ron discovered Dragons.  The creative combined with power, strength, and intelligence appealed to the very core of Ron.  He quickly studied everything there was on Dragons and found that he was forever transformed by their existence.  Ron became the keyboard Dragon in 1986 and soon created the identity of KeyDragon, keyboardist and screamer for hire.  Many years later, KeyDragon came to the realization that he would have to create his own band in order to write songs about Dragons.  In 1998, KeyDragon was formed and their first album was released on Halloween in the year 2000.  Below is a current interview with the publisher of Neo-Zine and Ron Langford.


Neo-zine:  Please introduce the members of the band, and tell us how each contributes to your unique sound?
KeyDragon: The band is constantly changing members and sound. Currently, we are moving to a more female driven lead vocal sound.

Ron Langford, otherwise known as KeyDragon, writes all of the songs, plays bass and rhythm keyboards, programs the drums, and records everyone else in the band. Ron Langford also acts as the leads screamer of the band and will play less of a role in singing vocals. The vocals will be left to the vocalists.

Bobby Blackmon has been with the band from the beginning as rhythm guitar player. He writes all of his guitar parts and influences the band towards power metal. He also adds black metal guitar parts from time to time.

VSL (Venus, Starlaiit, and Laughter Medicine) are three tribal vocalists that added onto KeyDragon near the completion of KeyDragons fourth album – Uncontrollable Forces. Venus will do most of the lead vocals on the 5th album and will be backed by Starlaiit and Laughter. They bring a gothic/tribal feel to KeyDragon as well as increasing the vocal sound of the band.

Dan Marshall is a bass vocalist that has worked on previous songs for KeyDragon. He will be the bass vocalist for the band. His bass vocals are lower and stronger than KeyDragon. He will also improve the vocals for KeyDragon.

Mississippi Bud and Lily White have been released from the band. They have been part of KeyDragon for the first 4 albums. They have always disagreed with many of the styles that KeyDragon plays and have put little effort into learning the material. One of our biggest complaints is about the Sax playing and the off-tune vocals of Lily White. This major problem will be eliminated from the fifth KeyDragon album.

The Future Warrior (Dave Baxley) is one of the most important members in the band. He provides free form synthesis, lead synthesis, and masters the final product. He has perfect pitch and a great ear for sound.


Neo-zine:   Who’s the guy on the cover insert with the keyboard? He looks big. Can he press a small car?
KeyDragon: The guy on the cover is Ron Langford (KeyDragon). He’s big. He’s 250 pounds and can bench press over 300 lbs. He has picked up the back end of a colt and moved it 3 feet so that he could get his car out of the lot. The CD has a picture of all the band members. The insert is an 8 page color booklet. Let me know if you want to get it and I’ll send it to you right away.


Neo-zine:   Tell us why you chose to call the band KeyDragon?
KeyDragon: When I (Ron Langford) was 14 years old, I came up with a Keyboard Dragon. Over time, this turned into KeyDragon. I eventually took the name for myself as a stage name. When I broke off from my last project (Dry Rot), I formed KeyDragon. I dedicated myself to the project and whatever happens to other members, KeyDragon remains at the heart of the project.

Neo-zine:   Who does the song writing? What is the writing process like for you?
KeyDragon: KeyDragon writes all of the songs. I come up with songs often and easily. The motives usually pop into my head and then I work them out on the Keyboard.

Neo-zine:   How would you explain your sound to those who have not heard your music?
KeyDragon: Our sound is original. It is what I call Gothic/Power/Doom metal. I have gothic or dark influences in my song writing and my thoughts. I often use power or doom metal styled progressions and guitar riffs. I use female vocals for lead (as of now). It’s hard to compare us to others. I often put in names of our influences but I don’t think I’ve properly identified who we really sound like.

Neo-zine:   What really separates your music from that of other people playing similar styles? Have you even heard anyone playing music that sounds like yours?
KeyDragon: There are lots of things that separate us from others. I’ve never heard the vocal diversity that we have from any other band. The bass is done with several keyboards, which makes it a little thicker than most bass sounds. Both keyboarders use the Korg Prophecy to produce a moving feel to the sounds. We have three female vocalists and 2 male vocalists that help to create different moods and emotions within the songs.

Neo-zine:   Tell us about the new CD “Uncontrollable Forces”
KeyDragon: The CD was named this for two reasons. First, the songs are all about forces that exist within and around us that we can'’ control. Second, it was the band members influences within the band that became uncontrollable. This is why Mississippi Bud and Lily White are no longer with us. A band must be united to succeed. With all of our loose ends tied up, we can now proceed with a more unified band and sound.

Neo-zine:   Are you satisfied with the recording, or are there things that you would change now that it is done?
KeyDragon: Now that those loose ends are gone, it would have been nice to complete the album without them. Also, given more time, I would have liked to train the three female vocalists to the level of performance that they now possess.

Neo-zine:   Is “Uncontrollable Forces” a completely DIY effort?
KeyDragon: All of our albums have been completed by KeyDragon and members within KeyDragon Studios. Final mixing is done at the Future Warriors studio.

Neo-zine:  What sorts of things do you like to write about? Any lyric examples you’d care to share?
KeyDragon: Dragons, Dragons, DRAGONS!!!!
I love Dragons and all they represent. To me, a Dragon is a giant beast that is incredibly strong and intelligent. Strength combined with intelligence is a powerful combination. Dragons also represent creativity. Like a Dragon, I try to be strong, intelligent, and creative. I also like to write about perception. What one person sees as the truth, another person can see as a lie. No one sees everything the same way.

Neo-zine:   Since a lot of your work is “fantasy” related, any of the band members ever into the fantasy games, movies, literature that they care to talk about?
KeyDragon: KeyDragon was and is interested in all things fantasy related. Back in 1982, Ron Langford met Gary Gygax's (inventor of TSR – makers of D&D) cousin, who had an early version of D&D. I’ve played this game and many others ever since.

Neo-zine:   Who does your cover art?
KeyDragon: A number of people work on the art. I (Ron Langford) usually do the front cover. I have some of my students compete for the right to do the back cover. I have also had some of my tattoo artists work on the CD tops and logos. We just got a new KeyDragon logo that we’ll put in place soon.

Neo-zine:  How have the reviewers been treating the new CD? Any best/ worst reviews?
KeyDragon: I always get mixed reviews. Many have reviewed this album as well as previous albums. Some rave about the diversity, others doom us for it. We write diverse songs, which has also given us mixed reviews.

Neo-zine:   Do you play much live? What’s the show like?
KeyDragon: We only play a few shows a year. The shows are well organized and have a lot going on. All of KeyDragons members have other projects that open up for KeyDragon. At our last show, we had a guest from the audience receive a tattoo on stage while we performed.

Neo-zine:   Are you a very image conscious band?
KeyDragon: Not really. We want to be better accepted in the Gothic metal genre. We make our image to suite this purpose. Otherwise, we are all very different than each other. We are alike in that we are all creative and productive.

Neo-zine:   Are you getting some radio play?
KeyDragon: Yes. There are several stations locally and nationwide (and world wide) that play our music. What’s most amazing is all of the coverage that we have on the internet. Type in “KeyDragon” into any search engine and you’ll get page after page of links back to KeyDragon. We are Everywhere!!!