INTERVIEW: British rockers Lionheart are back with ‘The Grace of a Dragonfly’
Photo: Lionheart’s new album will be released March 15 on Metalville Records. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Metalville with permission.
Lionheart, the hard rock supergroup, last released an album in 2020, and now the band members are back with a concept record centered on an anti-war message. The Grace of a Dragonfly will be released in the United States Friday, March 15 on Metalville Records. This recording effort is the culmination of a years-long project featuring Lee Small on lead vocals, Dennis Stratton on lead guitar, Steve Mann on lead guitar, Rocky Newton on bass guitar and Clive Edwards on drums.
“When we finished the last album, which was The Reality of Miracles, I’m not one of those that looks back over a work that I’ve done,” Mann said in a recent Zoom interview. “I like to push forward, so we started writing immediately for a new album. I just had this thought in my head: How can we take one step forward from here, from what we’ve done so far?”
The answer for Mann and the band was to look to the influential concept albums of the 1970s and 1980s. He pitched the idea to Small, who offered the idea of a set of songs focused on World War II (Small is an apparent history buff). Mann further refined the idea by suggesting war in general, in particular an anti-war message.
“None of us agree with any form of violence being the answer to the problems in the world,” Mann said. “We decided that we would make sure the message of the album was very much anti-war. Lee’s lyrics concentrated very much on the humane side, how war affects people in their day-to-day lives, how young’uns and men will get called up, conscripted and sent out to the front line, the grief and the sorrow that all goes with it. We tried to convey that, but at the same time still keep respect for the people who fought for our freedom because obviously they had no choice. … But the general message that we’re trying to bring across with this album is that war is not the way to do things.”
Some of the new songs include “Declaration,” “This Is a Woman’s War,” “The Longest Night” and “UXB,” among others. At first, Mann thought developing a concept album would be more difficult endeavor than writing a traditional set of songs, but, in fact, his initial thinking was proved wrong.
“I thought we’re limiting ourselves here within a certain framework that we had to work in, but having to work in that framework actually was quite inspirational,” he said. “And both Lee and I found that as we were writing, we had this thing [constantly] in the back of our heads, especially Lee with the lyrics, so as it turned out in the end, it was actually probably easier to do it that way, to be honest.”
Mann, who is a current member of the Michael Schenker Group (MSG) and former member of Liar, has an impressive team of players by his side to bring this vision to life. Small is known for The Sweet, and he’s a former member of Shy. Stratton is formerly of Iron Maiden. Newton is in Grand Slam and used to be in MSG. Edwards is known for his work with Uli Jon Roth, Wild Horses and Pat Travers.
“We’re all very, very similar in the way we think and what our values are,” Mann said. “When the band first got together back in late-1980, the three of us, Dennis Stratton and Rocky Newton and myself, formed a very strong bond, and then soon after that Clive came into the fold and became a part of that bond. We’ve just stuck with it over the years. We kept in touch even when Lionheart wasn’t doing so much, and then when we properly came back together again in 2016, we got Lee Small in. We had no idea what he was going to be like. We met him for the first time two days before we played the festival, and we were a bit nervous because we thought, well, what if we don’t like him. He walks in the door and says, ‘Hi guys,’ and we liked him straight away. Again, he really fits into the mold of Lionheart, so in that sense, we’re very, very lucky that we all get on incredibly well in this band.”
The hope with the new Dragonfly album is that Lionheart will start spreading their music around the world, including a possible tour of the United States.
“I think we’re looking at taking it a step forward now because we’ve all been so busy in other projects,” Mann said. “I’ve been with MSG with Michael Schenker, and the other guys have all been doing their own project. It’s been very difficult to think about doing live shows with Lionheart. This year, for some reason, we all seem to have more time. MSG aren’t on the road anyway near as much this year. There’s a lot of spare time. For this album, we were so proud of the way this album came out that we’re really trying hard to push it and promote it as much as we possibly can, so I think this is the time for us to actually take that step forward. I can see us during 2024 probably doing some live shows. It would be great to come to America; it really would. Obviously I was last there with MSG. It would be great to take Lionheart out there.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Lionheart, featuring Steve Mann, will release its new album, The Grace of a Dragonfly, Friday, March 15 on Metalville Records. Click here for more information.
