KAMELOT do not tour like a band trying to be everywhere, and guitarist Thomas Youngblood says that is a decision rather than an accident.
Asked by Chris Akin of The CMS Metal Show whether the road still holds the same appeal it did two or three decades ago, Youngblood explained the trade he made. "We don't tour as much as a lot of different bands, and there's a reason for that. There's a balance that I've learned over the last 20 years of work and touring life and home life. And a lot of bands that just tour, they get burnt out or they lose their relationships at home, all these kind of things."
The alternative is to be selective. "It's a conscious effort that I've made is to tour where it makes sense, to play shows that are meaningful and do it in a way where you have a balance. So that way when you do see the band on stage, we're energized, we wanna be there. I look at all the venues, I look at the days off, I look at everything when it comes to the tour — the type of bus we have, the hotels — because at the end of the day, you wanna enjoy the whole process. It's not just about making money and saying I played in this city or this city."
He was also asked about "blue dot fever" — the industry nickname for the sea of unsold seats visible on ticketing maps, and for the tour cancellations that get attributed to anything except poor sales.
"It comes off of your track record, the previous tours, really, where the promoters kind of gauge what room they're gonna put you in," Youngblood said. "I have to say for this [upcoming North American] tour, the pre-sales have been fantastic. I don't know what the psychology is now with buying tickets. The fact that people wait till it's closer to the show kind of makes sense, I guess. But we've never canceled a tour except for 15 years ago when someone quit the whole band and we had to cancel a tour. That's the first time and it's the last time we've ever had to do that. And people can trust when KAMELOT's coming."
KAMELOT release their new album, "Dark Asylum", on August 28 via Napalm Records, with singles "Ashen World" and "Godlike Alchemy" already out. Longtime producer Sascha Paeth returned, with Jacob Hansen mixing and mastering. Ignacia Fernández, crowned Miss World Chile 2025, guests on "Ashen World" and "Sanctuary".
The album runs fifteen interconnected songs that extend the band's RavenHill narrative.
Source: blabbermouth.net