No Kings Allowed was just there, out of nowhere. They suddenly appeared online, and shortly after, released a banger of an album. We had the chance to sit down with these guys and ask them more about their inspiration, how they got together, and of course, the masks.
Read the interview below, or just watch it to see the guys live.
Can you please introduce yourselves?
Well, we’re no kings allowed. A metalcore/deathcore band based in the Netherlands and Belgium. We try to remain anonymous. That’s why we’re wearing the masks. And we’re talking English, you know, because obviously. Otherwise, you’d guess, according to our accent, where we’re from. And who’s on the couch, you can tell by the color of our masks.
Red – Yeah. well, I’m red, basically, and I’m the lead guitar player. And I’m also the mixing mastering engineer. That’s kind of what I do.
Green – And I think, I do more like, the planning stuff. Everything about, arrangements for the video clips, the shows, everything from the planning and I’m the rhythm guitar player for No Kings Allowed.
You already released an album. But your lineup wasn’t complete until, well, after the album or maybe right before. How did your band come together?
Red – so it basically started with just the two of us as a project. We were not actually planning on becoming, like, a full band. We wrote a couple of songs, and then, Green here, he got into contact with our lead singer, Gold, and he kind of, like, put vocals on some of the demo tracks that we just like we made, which was, I think in May, June, like last year.
And, we were like, okay, so this is really cool. Perhaps we could do something with this. In just like two months time, we basically wrote the entire album Dethroned and our vocalist put vocals on it. We thought okay, let’s just start releasing and slowly but steadily, the whole process came together and we decided that we wanted to become a full band.
When we started to get at least some recognition on the internet, we didn’t want to just be a studio project. So then we started to look for band members, which was Green’s thing. So you can tell us more about that.
Green – I just searched the internet for people. And then, eventually, it all came together. I think in two weeks time, we finally found everybody.
I think we’re like a group of guys now that are becoming truly friends. It didn’t take as long as expected. So, now we’re working on a second album with the guys, and everything is going well.
So you two started the band. Do you also write most of the music?
Red – So basically, almost all of the tracks are written by us together, so we just like book studio time. Well, basically it’s just in my studio. We sit down and write the songs, from start to finish. Drums, guitars, samples, synthesizers, like everything. The vocals are done by Gold, so he gets the instrumental track and then it’s up to him. Sometimes we bring up our own ideas as well.
So the album, Dethroned, was written by the two of us. And the vocals were written by Gold. Right now, since we’re a full band now, we want to get everyone’s input. So on the second album you’ll be hearing a lot more of the other guys influences as well. But we’re still the main writers of the songs.
Is the second album going to be really different from the first, or is it still going to be mostly the same stuff?
Red – I think, we wanted to prove something in the second album and we wanted to go a little bit heavier. I think this album is a little bit more going towards metalcore. I think it’s almost the same vibe, but we wanted to go heavier and we wanted to sound a little bit harder. I think especially also for the shows we wanted to bring in some more punch. I think it’s it’s going more to the core side, symphonic deathcore side, something like that.
Your current album Dethroned, it’s more like symphonic metal, melodic death metal maybe than actual, metalcore or deathcore.
Red – There’s definitely some of that as well. I think. It’s always hard because everyone wants to put you in some sort of box. What kind of genre is your band? And we never really thought about that. We were just like, okay, we’re going to write music. This is the music that we come up with and that we like. And we’re not really interested in, like, okay, we want to be a metalcore band or a deathcore band. So it’s I think for the second album it will also be melodic, but everything is a little bit more, darker.
we also dropped a bit in tuning, I think I can say that, so it will be heavier. There’s more technical stuff going on, like, technical breakdowns. And we wrote the second album, keeping in mind that we want to play the songs live. And how would the songs, affect the audience? That’s that’s basically our whole mindset. So we always say, okay, we’re going to write another banger. For the first album, I think we had perhaps 14, 15 songs and 12 made it on the album. Now we’re already at like 20 songs, and we know that they’re not all going to be on the album.
We, we heard like, we were metalcore, we were progressive, progressive deathcore. We were progressive. I think it’s a good thing about the music that we write that you cannot place it in like one corner? I think that is something that we really like about our music. It’s just the riffs that we write and the and the drum parts and the and the bass line. It’s not about like, let’s stay in that genre or go with that. We’re just going like from a vibe. And it’s a vibe that we want to push through to the podium.
You haven’t actually performed as No Kings Allowed yet. Do you have any stage experience as individuals or maybe in some other, projects without spoiling, any names?
Red – We do have we do have some experience. But also, this entire year we are really focusing on rehearsals to make surein 2025, we’re going to hit the stage that the whole show will be, I wouldn’t say perfect, but, we want to make a damn good show. So, we don’t have the stage experience in this group, but each band member has been on stage in the past. and it’s also a reason why we do a lot of live rehearsals and all that just to, you know, get used to, the fact that people are, watching you. Stage presence is will be a very important thing for us.
We really want to make a show that people can go to and think holy shit, this band is crazy. And they’re just so high energy on the stage. We think it’s really important and we’re going to be working really hard to achieve that this year.
I can see, I can see in the videos that you posted online that there is quite a lot of energy with you guys.
Red – He’s got ADHD. Like this guy is all over the place. I’m the calm one.
Green – This is just, where I put all my energy. And I think that, like, now that we are getting to know each other, us as guys, it’s not always just like playing music together. It’s also when we meet and, we do other things together. I think we are starting to feel like a true band, like mates from each other. And I feel like in the last rehearsal that we had, the energy was just fucking going. And I think that’s what we want, and that’s what we want to create on stage as well. We want to keep it going. It should be like a whirlwind on the stage.
What bands are you inspired by both musically and maybe, like stage presence and stuff like that?
Red – so, for me personally, I’d say, I grew up listening a lot to Trivium and As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, and even some Children of Bodom. Also, Parkway Drive is one of one of my biggest influences. But also deathcore bands like Suicide Silence. And currently I’m listening a lot to bands like Shadow of Intent, sometimes stoner. I think you can hear that, in the music. Oh and Slipknot, before I forget. And with the stage performance, I don’t know. I think it’s Parkway Drive. because I also have the high energy vibe.
And you were asking where the symphonic influence came from, I’d say Shadow of Intent. When I was a little boy, I was listening to Within Temptation and Delain. You know, like those bands perhaps.
Green – For me it’s something else because I started listening more to power metal, Masterplan. Stratovarius and all that kind of stuff. And then I went more to In Flames, the old stuff from In Flames. And then I got to know this guy and he just put me down and told me what to listen to haha. So, I think, my influences were mostly because of this guy. Parkway Drive is our common love.
Have you ever seen them live?
Red – So you actually have a funny story about that.
Green – We wer at Graspop last year. Ans we were watching some shows together. And then I met a girl. And then we separate but we never found each other again until, after Slipknot. So we never saw it together.
Red – And that’s the last time you’ll ever do that.
Why the mystery? Why the masks? Why the secret? Why, why keep the mystery going?
Red – How did we come up with this again? I think it was Blue and Gold. We decided to to wear the masks, so I think I think it’s more like an influence of, know Slipknot. I think being anonymous on stage also gives you more freedom to do whatever you want on stage.
I think, that that was the main factor to do it.
Green – yeah, maybe also a little bit Sleep Token vibes, to keep the mystery. I think that was the two main reasons to to keep on the masks.
In earlier stuff you put out on Instagram, we really couldn’t see you guys at all. Not even your eyes. And you had your hands covered with black stuff. And then I saw, I think, in your most recent video, I’m not sure which one it was, but, at least one of you with the black glass out of the mask, and then you could see the eyes. Was that an accident, or is that on purpose?
Red – actually, speaking to you right now, everything is just condensed. We cannot see anything on the guitar or stuff. So what we wanted to do is we wanted to take out the glasses. Are we going to schmink our eyes for on stage. Because it’s absolutely not possible to play with the glasses, because everything gets so condensed in here that you cannot see anything.
It’s just like practical reasons. And also, during video shoots, we always put the glasses in during rehearsals. We want to get used to the idea of, okay, how is it to play with a mask on? And we just so like after two songs, it’s so foggy you can’t see shit, basically. We might upgrade to other type of masks that will be more practical for on stage, but because obviously it’s very cool if you wear a mask and all that, but you have to be able to perform.
You’re actually doing things like the other way round, because normally, bands get together, they start rehearsing, they start putting maybe one song out, play some gigs, and then, yeah, grow like that. You actually came out of nowhere with a banger of an album, with no shows yet. How is that working for you? Because I saw you have quite some streams on Spotify with the album as well. How’s your fan base growing without playing any, shows?
Green – I can answer that. Because we had a strategy. We’ve had some experience in other bands and we did the usual thing, as you said. And usually it would lead to playing shows for like 10 to 20 or 30 people. And it was all great fun. But our goal is obviously to hit the bigger audience and we’re like, okay, how are we going to do that? And we thought, if we succeed to put out an album and build an audience online already, that’s a great start. Obviously, we still have to, I’d say start from the bottom and, you know, like, work your way up from there, hopefully.
But, yeah, we just thought it made sense. And also because we write really quickly, we were able to write the album and yeah, we did everything ourselves. So I kind of think this is just what works for us. And I think it’s also very important to get known on the internet before you play shows, because if you’re just a band and you don’t put out the content, I don’t think people will start to know.
And I think we also want to show a little bit of ourselves in our content. And we want to do some stupid things and some funny things also. But nowadays, you have to get a little bit more known on the internet before you go live.
You’re partly Dutch and partly from, Belgium. Is there, a big difference in the metal scene in both countries, or is it more or less the same?
Red – I think it’s more or less the same. We’re both known somehow in the local communities. And I think in the metal community is usually, you need to have the connection. But mostly people are pretty supportive. We both sometimes go out and see local bands, and I think it’s very important to support your local scene and then go to the bands that are playing in your local community. But in 2025 we have shows planned in the Netherlands and Belgium. I hope people will be supportive.
I’m doing an interview with Inherited as well. They won the Metal Battle and they got, I think a touring car of 90 kids from from Zeeland to go to their shows. So there probably is a large metal crowd around here?
Red – Yeah there is in Zeeland and Belgium. We’re thinking about also playing the metal battle maybe next year, if we’re allowed. And also, well done Inherited.
Back to Dethroned, your first album. Can you explain a little bit what the album is about or what the inspiration behind the Dethroned was?
Red – This should be a question for our lead singer, Gold. But, the whole idea came from, our band’s name. I’d say No Kings Allowed. We wanted it to feel like a medieval story. When we were searching for the name, I wanted to mix the more modern with the more medieval stuff. And then Gold took that inspiration and made it really awesome.
So final question. what’s in store for No Kings Allowed in the coming year?
Red – I’m going to start off by saying that in November, think 22nd of this year, we will be releasing our new album, which is not official announced yet. We haven’t decided what name it will be. So, 2025, we’re gonna, hit the stages. We’re gonna play shows. Hopefully, we’ll be playing a lot of shows.
So if you’re a venue, you want to book us, just go to our website, look on our contact details to send us information. I think the main goal after releasing our album will be playing live. I think that will be our main goal. We’re also doing a big investment in, materials that we need and stuff that we need to to play live. And we want, really want to put down a big show for you guys. So let’s go buy the album. And there will be merch soon.
So basically conquer the world. That’s our goal, that’s basically every band’s goal. Rise to conquer the world.
Check out No Kings Allowed
You can find No Kings Allowed on Facebook. You can also find the video interview here.
