Interview with Kings Of Modesty´s Samuel Hjelt

Greg Prato of Guitar Site interviewed Kings Of Modesty's guitarist Samuel Hjelt. Below are couple of excerpts from the interview:

"Hammering melodic metal - in the vein of Queensryche, Dream Theater, and Kamelot - is the style that Finland’s Kings of Modesty specialize in, as evidenced their full-length debut, "Hell or Highwater," which will see its US release on May 4th (the album was released earlier in other parts of the world). Comprised of members Jason Flinck (vocals), Samuel Hjelt (guitar), Mikael Hjelt (keyboards), Henrik Tuura (bass), and Raino Simoinen (drums), the group is planning on touring the world once the album drops, and have already supported some top metal names, including dates alongside Michael Schenker last year in Europe. KoM’s guitarist Samuel Hjelt recently talked guitar with Guitarsite.

How and when did you start playing guitar?

I was 6 years old when I became strongly inspired with Stray Cats and Brian Setzer, that got me excited about playing a guitar and hence I went to a conservatory for classical guitar music lessons (there were no rock guitar lessons back then). I really appreciate that time in my life and I still gain influences from there.

Who were your early influences?

Okay, I think I did partly answer to that question already in above but after a few years with classical guitar lessons, heavy music came along to my life and I listened very much bands such as Dio, Kiss, Iron Maiden and many, many other bands in that genre; from there you can find my early influences!

How about some background info on the band?

I´ve had all kinds of line-ups since my very childhood; already in the sandbox I tempted my mates to join in to my bands. But Kings of Modesty was formed in 1994; back then our band´s name was Face of Modesty. In 2005 Jason joined in and hence we decided to change our name to Kings of Modesty."

Read the entire interview at this location.