It's interesting being the most hated person in a thread, haven't experienced that before, but ah well...
caveat clickor.
It was Thomas Youngblood's post at kamelot.com that gave me a lot of perspective.
He stated that 99% of their revenue comes from touring. I knew it was a large chunk, but 99% was an eye-opener. In short... no tour, no money. No money? No Kamelot.
Looks like supporting the band with a different vocalist has become a matter of
survival for Kamelot. I think Thomas' comment drove that home to me.
As a Rhapsody fan it intrigues me that they chose Fabio to replace Roy over the next tour.
I know most of you are very familiar with Kamelot, but to me, they were new, I've only known of them over the past 18 months or so. And yes, fell under the spell of Roy's voice, part of the Church o' Khan, Khangrrl, Khanfan, whatever you want to call it. I do tend to be very passionate about the things I like.
After the dust has settled and I've gotten over my disappointment, I think honestly? My disappointment is in Roy himself. Not just because he canceled a show I was to attend, but because he's left the band, its fans, and the entire machinery of the Kamelot brand and its products and tours in complete limbo with not a hint of direction towards the future.
I had this naive expectation that the great show I got on the One Cold Winter's Night DVD was the experience I had to look forward to. But since I discovered Kamelot, it seems everything has started to fall apart. It's weird to get into a band, them seem fresh, new, and exciting to you, only to realize you're standing on the edge of a cliff, and showed up just in time to see things disintegrate. Bewildering... not something I've ever experienced before.
PftP was too dark of an album, and I'm not surprised he's had issues since putting it out. That video was hellish and maybe, if Roy's found religion, the Lord took him all the way down before lifting him back up. Who's to say...
I just know that
you become what you surround yourself with.
I couldn't live with myself if my surroundings were that video for "The Great Pandemonium". It seemed wrong for Kamelot, and maybe, that push towards much darker imagery ended up being wrong for Khan. The album kind of gave me the creeps, though I did my best to "support" them and try to convince myself that it was
good, in reality I only liked 2 songs on PftP.
At that point I was forced to ask myself, "Are you a Kamelot fan or just a Khan fan?" At this point, I don't know what to think. Just kind of weird the way everything went down. I feel sad for Thomas and the guys because their business partner just flaked out and left. Having been in bands myself before, I have experienced this too (on a much more amateur level).
I found myself thinking that too much darkness was maybe some of the problem here. Roy finding religion might be the best possible news.
For me, the spell is broken now. I see things differently. I had this view of Roy as this charismatic "metal elvis" type character. Now, I think of him as more of the troubled "jim Morrison" type frontman.
I wish them the best with whatever singer they tour with.
A lot of these bands are new to me. Just became acquainted with Seventh Wonder recently. Man... I'm blown away by them. Time to move on I suppose.
