Spanish guitarist Manuel Seoane recently announced that he has teamed up with Danny Vaughn (Tyketto/Waysted/Illegal Eagles etc). We sent him a few questions to find out more...

Burning Kingdom has already recorded two albums, toured rather extensively and I guess you've gained a following in Spain at least. Now you've taken the name, relocated to Sweden and hired a completely new line-up... so... did you fire the rest of the old band or what? How did they take it?

Hi folks! Well, like you say the band has gained a good fan base after these two first albums and their respective tours. I didn’t fire my last band mates; in fact I have a good relationship with some of them. The problem was that Music never was the main job for them and yes for me. They have other jobs and as you can guess, it can generate troubles when you have to go out on tour for some weeks. When I started to think about this new album I thought that this situation could be a problem for Burning Kingdom because the expectations about the new release are high so I talked with them and they understood it. Everyone chooses his way and I’m respectful with it but I can’t stop…ya know, Music doesn’t stop and show must go on. I guess that this is what happens when you want to grow up in this business and the others not.

Onto more positive things. You've managed to get one of RockUnited's favourite vocalists and a superb frontman to your band - Danny Vaughn of Tyketto fame. How did that happen?

When I started to look for the new line up for the band I had clear that I needed the best possible musicians in order to work on a great new album. Danny is an excellent singer and better person. He worked with Tyketto and his Vaughn solo band with Krea Productions in Spain. Jose Herrera and Mario Ruiz from Krea Productions (the promoter agency) are good friends of me. They have worked with a lot of bands like Jeff Scott Soto, TNT, Gotthard…and they have a good relationship with Danny. I talked with them about the possibility and later they provided me the Danny’s contact. So I talked with him, he listened some new demos and they liked it a lot. Now we are working together in the studio and it is being a really great experience. I feel like we are a great team working. He is very involved on the new album and counting on him is an honor for me. Definitively Danny is a great person and I love his voice and his hard work!

The rest of the band are Swedes, and they've been around the block too. Can you tell us something about their recruiting process?

Yeah, I knew Johnny Benson, the drummer, when he was touring in Spain with Bai Bang. Another Spanish promoter called Raul from Vicalvarock Productions introduced us. I was impressed with his skills and his attitude so I decided to talk with him in order to be aboard of Burning Kingdom and he accepted from the first second. He and the guitarist talked to me about TosiGalen, the bassist, and it happened exactly the same. Mikkel Henderson, on keyboards, is from Denmark and he is playing with Fate. We played some shows together in Spain and it was how we knew us. We had the first rehearsals in Malmoe, Sweden, in last November and the band sounded like a tank!! It was like “WOW!!!” To be honest I’m very satisfied with everyone. We are a great band and a great team and all we are really exited. There are a lot of hopes on this new release and I’m sure that it will be awesome.

I'm not really familiar with Burning Kingdom's music, but a quick search on youtube provided us some samples. Some of the songs seem to be bluesy hard rock (the video song "Hoochie" for example), while some of the others are more in the melodic rock vein with plenty of keyboards. Now that you're working on the new album, do you have a special direction in mind?

The Burning Kingdom natural songs are like the second way that you say; more melodic but of course we have some bluesy hard rock songs because we like it. The new album will sound more powerful and more modern than the old stuff. Eighties were gone and we are focused in to have fresh songs for “today”. We have included some samplers and loops into the songs in order to do it more commercial and more modern. But of course the main essence you will have is pure hard rock with good melodies and good choruses. Danny Vaughn is having an excellent work on this way.

How involved are the new guys in the songwriting? Is Danny writing the lyrics? I thought some of the old ones didn't quite work... there was that one song, "Shot In The Dark" I believe, where the second verse started with "Now I'm going to have a cup of tea" or something like that... huh?

Yeah I understand what you want to say. This time all the lyrics will be done by Danny. He is a fantastic songwriter and he has a lot of deep ideas and I really love it because each song will make you think about this world where we live for a while. Of course we’ll have space to make some references to our heroes too like Keith Richards, Deep Purple or Hendrix. Also I think the album will be very dynamic because all the instrumental parts add more realism to the lyrics so the mixture is perfect.

How are the recordings going in general? You're working in several countries?

We are recording the whole album at M20 Studios in Spain and some keys were recorded in Denmark. We will finish all the voices in the end of April because Danny is on tour in Europe with The Ultimate Eagles now. We are recording it there because we have all the time that we want and we need to do it. We really feel like at home at Avispa Music building where the studio is.

With Danny being a rather busy man, what are the chances of seeing this line-up of Burning Kingdom on stage somewhere in the world?

Well, the album will be available worldwide after the summer. Our planning is starting the tour around November but it’s soon to know all the details yet. Our managers are talking with different promoters in these months. The thing we know is that we want to start it in the north of Europe. For the moment we have a little acoustic show in Spain next March 21 th with the great Eric Martin from Mr. Big. It will be the first time that people will see Danny and me together on stage and there is a lot of expectation about it. It will be a beautiful night.

As you say, Danny’s schedule is “crazy” (hehehe) and also the schedule of the rest of the guys but you know, the only one thing you must do is talk in theses cases. A good communication makes it easy everything and there will be no troubles with that.

When can we expect to hear the new BK album and on which label will it be released?

Probably the release will be after the summer as I said before. Maybe September, but I’m not sure yet. The first single and video clip will be available a couple of months before. Our label is Avispa Music. They are located in Spain and they have famous partners worldwide so the album will be edited and distributed in Europe, UK, Canada and USA. Also there’ll be a special edition for Japan and they are working on the distribution in South America now where we have a lot of fans. As you can see we’ll have a lot of cities to see, ya know (haha). We are looking forward to be on tour with you!

Let's talk about you for a while... who are your biggest influences or heroes?

Good question…haha…I grew up listening bands like Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin. Later I started listening Whitesnake, Deff Lepard…I don’t know, all the bands. But to be honest and talking about my instrument, all the players from the end of eighties changed my point of view on the guitar world. I’m talking about Tony Macalpine or Vinnie Moore. Anyway I can say that I always fed on different kind of bands and styles like classical music, specially Dvorak. I love Music well done!

Has anyone ever mentioned that you could be mistaken for Yngwie Malmsteen on stage - you share some stage moves...

Haha, It’s a funny question because sometimes people talked about my seemed physicist with him but never for my stage moves. All I can say is that I have my own style on stage and it is how I feel there: totally free. I only can be myself. In fact I lost track of Yngwie some years ago.

Which would be your three "desert island albums"?

Ok, the first one could be “JailBreak” of Thin Lizzy. Next the first Skid Row album, “Skid Row”. I never feel bored or tired with it. The third last could be “In Step” of Mr. Stevie Ray Vaughan. I always loved this guy and his music.

Interview by Kimmo Toivonen
Photos provided by Manuel Seoane, www.manuelseoane.com, Danny Vaughn live shot from RockUnited archives.

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