LEPRECHAUN is the new Folk-metal project of Damnagoras, singer and composer of ELVENKING, featuring Francesco Bucci, bass player of the black metal act STORMLORD.
1998 - 2001 - All started in March 1998 when Damnagoras, after some years of guitar training and experience in a cover band, joined Elvenking, a young group that was starting to write its own material and whose main goal was to record a promotional cd to be sent to the record companies.
After a long period of rehearsals and occasional gigs, Elvenking recorded "To Oak Woods Bestowed" at New Sin Studios (Labyrinth, Secret Sphere, etc.), with Damnagoras in the double role of vocalist/bass player. In this first studio experience you can hear the singer's first compositions: "To Oak Woods Bestowed" and the famous "White Willow".
As soon as the demo was sent worldwide, AFM-Records decided to offer the band a record deal and the year after, Elvenking was sent once again to New Sin Studios to record the debut album. "Heathenreel" (2001) was recorded in Italy and eventually mixed in Sweden at the Fredman Studios (Dimmu Borgir, Dream Evil, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, etc.) by Fredrik Nordstrom.
If the first things Damnagoras wrote, were very power metal influenced and a little naive, for Heathenreel, the singer himself and the band wrote their best material ever, giving to the songs a particular feeling and leaving the passion for folkloristic tunes and legends influence the whole process. Songs like HOBS AN' FEATHERS, SKYWARDS and the "remake" of WHITE WILLOW are Damnagoras' pride and even lots of pieces he wrote for PAGAN PURITY, THE REGALITY DANCE and the beautiful SEASONSPEECH are really worth a check!
After finishing the recording session, the band made some gigs together with acts like DEATH SS and EDGUY and even contacted SKYCLAD's legendary vocalist and lirycist MARTIN WALKYIER with whom they even played some old Skyclad tunes at a Metal Festival in Italy, featuring Stormlord, Beholder and others. That night was wonderful, and who was there, had the opportunity to see Elvenking sharing the stage with Martin.
In the meantime the compositions for the Wyrd album started and Damnagoras wrote a bunch of new numbers (including parts on THE LOSERS' BALL and MOONCHARIOT). Unfortunately, due to many reasons the vocalist had lost his interest in the band and he preferred to concentrate on his temporary health problems leaving Elvenking permanently.
2002 - This is when LEPRECHAUN was born! After months of mental and physical "reabilitation", Damnagoras thought it was time to raise all the material and finally start to play metal again! Some of the songs that were written for "Wyrd" are ROOK BLACK CROW (for which Martin Walkyier originally wrote the lyrics, but since Damna left the band, this could not happen and the collaboration didn't take place), THE ELEMENTS' WEAVING, and the celtic ballad DISILLUSION'S REEL.
In 2002, other songs like THE ULTIMATE DANCE, KNOCKGRAFTON, RUSALKA, THE VIOLIN AND THE NIGHTINGALE and THE COMET were written.
With all this material in hand, Damna called some friends and asked if they could ever be intereseted in this project. FRANCESCO BUCCI of STORMLORD immediately accepted and so he did FIRESCREAM (the lead guitar player who also played with Elvenking for a short period). The friends RAINDANCER and SOILMASTER (who both play for the power metal band Raintime) accepted as well, and to this line-up, WHISPERWIND, female vocalist and keyboard player was added, giving a particular celtic touch to the songs with her lovely voice.
2003 - early 2004 - This was a very busy year, in fact Leprechaun entered Sherpa Studios and recorded the long awaited "THE ULTIMATE DANCE" promotional cd, including seven songs. The cover was painted by Pascal Moguerou (artist who made several books of folkloristic illustrations) and the logo was made by JP Fournier (Edguy, Avantasia, Immortal, Stormlord, etc.). In the beginning of 2004, the works for the promo finally ended and in June the cd was sent to the record companies.
2004 - After the realisation of the promo-cd, Damnagoras, Francesco and Whisperwind, completed the songwriting process for the debut album and many things happened for Leprechaun. The line-up seemed to be solid and well bound, but with time, the fact that everything was on Damna, Francesco and Whisperwind's shoulders became so evident that the three decided to clear-up the situation. Looking forward to record the long-awaited debut album, while discussing with some record companies, the band stopped thinking about live dates for the moment and wanted to concentrate on the material and arrangements. Now, all this could have been carried out by Damnagoras (playing in studio, in any case all the vocals and all the guitars), Francesco (playing the bass and taking care of some of the songwriting and arrangements) and Whisperwind (playing vocals, keyboards, songwriting and arranging).
July 2004 - During this month, the most important thing took place as Damnagoras and Aydan of Elvenking cleared-up all the misunderstandings and bad attitudes that happened in the past. After weeks of meetings and after taking under account many different options, both of them decided to work again together.and so it finally happened: Damnagoras back with Elvenking!
Now the band started to rehearse together again and to work on the songwriting process of the new album.
Present day - A lot of people are asking if Leprechaun is going to split-up or something, but this is not going to happen! The first album is on its way and a lot of ideas are ready for the future! Some things may change now that Damnagoras is back with Elvenking, but Leprechaun is here to stay and to give to the audience some HEAVY FOLK MUSIC!
After taking care of the recordings of the debut album, the band will try to find a way to make some gigs around, probably by calling some guests on stage. It is so difficult to find a solid line-up that believes in this band as much as its masterminds, so there's no point in losing time for this! Everything will be carried out by Damnagoras, Francesco, Whisperwind and Enrico Fabris for the moment and that's enough for Leprechaun!
So, this is the new line-up (from Summer '04):
DAMNAGORAS - vocals, guitars
FRANCESCO BUCCI - bass
WHISPERWIND - vocals and keyboards
ENRICO - drums
On the album, some guests will take care of guitar solos, violin, choirs, etc.
The style of LEPRECHAUN cannot be described properly only by one or two simple words, 'cause the different moods and influences that characterize the songs are many, but the FOLK METAL description can at least tell that the main features in the songs are folk tunes, fiddles and acoustic instruments. But this is not all about Leprechaun. With time Damnagoras has improved his songwriting and he has certainly raised "Heathenreel" material to a upper level, still continuing what he had started in 2001, but completing it with new features and ideas. The new material is pure headbanging metal, influenced by folklore both as the music and the lyrics are concerned. The lyrics may go from folkloristic topics, to pagan and personal philosophy. So, expect fiddles, acoustic guitars, ermetic and pungent lyrics (in the vein of SKYCLAD), killer riffs and deadly drums (in the vein of swedish power/thrash and death melodic metal), clean and melodic vocals one one side, harsh and death metal voices on the occasions and great tunes and fast melodies on which you can sing along and dance!
If with ELVENKING, the singer is going to carry on the concept that was started with "Heathnreel" and then with "Wyrd", composing high-quality material, with LEPRECHAUN Damnagoras will focus on the heavy side, still mixing it with folkloristic parts, dedicating the lyrics to themes that link directly to folklore and legends from all over the world.
This is the ULTIMATE DANCE!
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