HardcoreSounds: What’s the current status of MERCYFUL FATE?
King Diamond: If my back had been fine, I don’t know if I would have done anything with MERCY as KING DIAMOND would have been very busy. It’s a long story, you know, and it goes back to when the downloading went nuts. "Abigail II" was about to come out and we lost tour support for the first time ever and had to re-negotiate our contracts. We ended up finding a new way to record and keep the same quality and that was by using Andy’s [La Rocque, guitar] pro studio in Sweden. That way KING DIAMOND’s recording costs went down, and if we hadn’t had found that solution, we would have had to stop. MERCY is a different scenario. You know, Andy is not part of MERCY so he is not going to put his equipment at the disposal of MERCYFUL FATE for free. MERCY has never sold or done the same big tours as KING DIAMOND — it was always smaller. Therefore MERCY has a smaller budget than KING DIAMOND and always has, and in this scenario, right now, MERCY has a much smaller budget but with higher recording costs. That means that doing a MERCY album, you are not going to make a penny. I love doing what I do and certainly I am so blessed to live off my hobby. But you still have to pay your bills, since this is your job as well as your hobby. You just can’t take a year off the calendar and say "Let’s do a MERCY album" and tour knowing you are not going to make a dime. If I was financially independent, I would love to do it. You just can’t, you couldn’t, for instance, stop working for a year and say, "I am going to ride my bike for a year just because I love it." You probably wouldn’t have a home to come back, you have to pay your bills but that’s just life. That’s why MERCY is in a dilemma, but who knows if there was suddenly a time where KING DIAMOND was off. If by chance some of the guys said "Hey, man, let’s take a year off to work on other things," and everyone agreed. Then I might say, "Hey, I want to do something with MERCY", because then the time would be there. I would have no money coming in anyway and it was okay with everyone then I would love to do it. Because as it is, MERCYFUL FATE wouldn’t have to work with our lawyers to get a deal because we do have a deal. We are signed with Metal Blade for the U.S. and Massacre for Europe with MERCYFUL FATE so there is a deal and it’s done but no albums have been done on that deal. We didn’t take any advances because we weren’t sure whether we are going to release a new album or not and then end up not doing it. So nothing has been done; it’s just laying, but it’s ready and we did that exactly for that reason. If suddenly the situation presented itself six months from now, then let’s do it, but if we don’t have a deal then it’s impossible to do it. Because then you have to search for a deal and that could take forever. By then the opportunity to do it could be gone, so we got the deals done so can do it when the time is right. Let’s just say that downloading put MERCYFUL FATE into hibernation for awhile. But if the right opportunity arose, then yes, let’s do it. I can guarantee you that it won’t be one of those reunion deals because we never broke up. I see it as hibernating for a while but we will see what the future brings. It’s definitely not finished, at least in my book.

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There is hope yet for a new MF tour/album!

That reminds me, I got a cool KD patch at Download, it was on the only good stall at the entire festival

Reunite and play at Wacken for god's sake.

Is there actually any difference between Mercyful Fate and King Diamond?

So basically it's all down to MONEY.

James wrote:So basically it's all down to MONEY.

He's getting on and has a gammy back, think of all those ramps, rails and starlifts he'll need in his home/crypt.

He should basically beg to be in Kiss.

All that writing made my screen look like the matrix.

Mcbain - I am here to lead, not to read.

McBain: "My EYES! Ze goggles do nothing!!!"

ICE to see you!

I know I've said it on here before but by far and away the best McBain line is when his colleague gets shot in the diner by the guy who takes the Uzi out of the roast chicken.

Black Guy - McBain
McBain - Yes...

P.S. Was it not Schwarzenegger rather than McBain that said 'I am here to lead, not to read'?

Yeah it was, I didn't want to go too abstract.

MENDOSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAA.

Too abstract?

This UK Thrash, you fool!

Metal Iain wrote:This UK Thrash, you fool!

Is*

Thank you, Thomas.

You're the second person to correct my syntax tonight.

*shakes head at McEwan's Champion bottles*

EDIT: I could have claimed to have been speaking in some kind of new, verb-less street slang but I acknowledged my error.