12/12/2024

Overlord SR, Overlord Sovereign Reign

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.
 
Musicwebzine – Hi there, first of all, tell us something about the band?
Wildman George Koerber:
I am the founding member of the band, guitarist, song writter. We were the band Overlorde signed to Metal Blade records in 1986 to their Metal Massacre series on Vol. 8 LP with the song “Keeper of the Flame”. We were the featured band on this compilation. Now the band is Overlord SR (Overlord Sovereign Reign) the band is signed to Exitus Stratagem Records now. The band has been around since 1980. The change of the name happened in 2011 when a band in another state trademarked our name and we said well noone pronouces it correctly as Overlorde, they would say Overlord EEE and we would say no Overlord. So we dropped the E of the Old English spelling and now we are Overlord SR.

Musicwebzine – Which is the main theme of your album ?
WMG:
The theme is we are a band that has a Medieval time period name and theme, with knights, Kings and Queens. We have a castle back drop, with swords, helmets, shields. It is about who ever the King you want, King Arthur, my King is the one with the purple sash. He is the line in our song “The Revelation” “He is the one true King”. This is not a religious album, we are not preching to you, we are not a christian metal band like our friends Styper. We like to write about things that are coming in the future, to tell metal fans that are being dooped by bands talking about the devil and giving him glory. Our thought was to have album of positive songs, about things that are coming sometime soon and will happen. We let the fans decide what their view of a song or what a album cover means to them?

Musicwebzine – What about the cover and the title of your album ?
WMG:
Our name and stage show is all about knights, swords and some of this was covered in the question above. So be prepared for whoever your King is or who you believe the King is,that you need to be prepared for his arrival on the scene.

Musicwebzine – Which bands have influenced your sound ?
WMG:
Foghat, RUSH, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin.

Musicwebzine – Do you think you can still live only on music?
WMG:
No it is hard here in the USA, to live on music in the south doing Metal music. We are in the Bible belt and they do not want metal music here or support it. The USA has Metal fans but a bunch of them want the flavor of the month, or who is on top now then next week they want someone else. We play Metal festivals here but not in our state of North Carolina. The band has opened for bands last year, Megadeth, Five Finger Death Punch, Seether, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Corrision Of Conformity, Trivium, Hatebreed, Anthrax to name just a few. These festivals were in other states, not here in NC. Crowds numbered over 40,000, per show. The crowds sang the words to our songs, even the new ones which they had not heard until the first verse and chorus, then sang after hearing the words to those parts. Very nice.

Musicwebzine – That’s all!! greet our readers with a message!
WMG:
Overlord SR readers we hope to play a festival near you in the near future. If you are overseas, bug the promoter and tell them you want to hear and see us live, in person. With your help you can bring us over to Europe, the UK, to play festivals over there. Thank you and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. New videos for the new album we are recording now, so follow us and find out when they will release.

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