“We’re trying to preserve a certain kind of music that doesn’t get played anymore, ” guitarist Chris Henry of Dragonknite said.
The band was formed in late 2013 by Henry and bassist Robert Contreras, a geology major at Cerritos College.
Contreras and Henry knew each other in high school and crossed paths again at Cerritos and decided that they would start jamming again.
Their influences vary but Contreras states, “We’re a genre of both power metal mixed with black metal and death metal influences.”
Guitarist Erik Sobek said, “The influences come from anywhere and everyone,” Henry added, “We can listen to the most brutal heavy metal that could be to like, jazz, it doesn’t matter to us, we just like what sounds good.”
Some of the bands and guitarists that influence the band are Death, Cynic, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, AC/DC, The Killers, Mayhem, Deftones, Kreator, Stratovarius, Foster the People and many more.
Alongside their metal thrashing riffs and semi-death metal vocals, their lyrics conjure inspiration from mythology, comic books, anime and manga, as well as life experiences and fantasies.
“It tends to be, you know, whatever sparks our interest. A main topic for me is basic humanity […] the way things are perceived by different people,” Henry said.
Dragonknite has a couple songs on YouTube, but due to software malfunctions they’re not as great as the band would like them to be, so they’d like to do some retakes and hopefully have a demo out within the next couple of months.
They recently played at the Cerritos College Commercial Music’s Battle of the Bands in April, which was probably their biggest come out and they have a few upcoming backyard shows.
“Basically for the last couple of years we’ve been trying to hone and refine exactly what we’re trying to do, so the picture is still blurry to us. We still don’t know exactly what we’re trying to go for but we’re hoping that it gets well received,” Henry said.
Sobek’s advice to aspiring musicians is, “You have to play from the heart, you have to get your emotions and translate them through the strings that you’re [playing]. Every sort of technique that is involved in [an instrument] takes time, but you can’t really invest that time unless you have the heart.”
Contreras added, “In order to be in a band, I just say have fun. You’re with friends, [so] even if you do suck, you suck with your friends. That’s what I think is the most important in a band, to just have fun.”
“No matter what you do, as long as you’re playing with friends, you’re bettering yourself as a musician,” Henry said.
Future plans for Dragonknite are looking forward to playing more shows and working on more songs to hopefully put a demo or an album out.
They have an upcoming backyard show on May 30 and will be playing at the Commercial Music Program’s fair on June 23 through 24.
For more information and upcoming shows check out their Facebook page.
