Portrait by Cunene
Links:
www.instagram.com/aydanelvenking/
www.facebook.com/aydan.elvenking
Day of birth?
October 29th
When did you start playing?
At 11 some classical guitars but I hated it. I started with electric guitars at 14.
Why did you start playing?
I wanted to become a metal musician.
Favourite bands?
Helloween, Skyclad, Iron Maiden, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, Cradle of Filth, Dark Tranquillity, Candlemass, Manowar, Rotting Christ …
Favourite musicians?
Adrian Smith, Alexi Lahio, Jeff Waters, Andy LaRoque, Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath, Snowy Shaw, Michael Amott, Loreena McKennith, Ronnie James Dio, Mike Oldfield …
First album bought?
Helloween “Keeper of the 7 keys pt 2” in 1989 for metal albums but I think the first ever was something from Madonna.
Favourite albums?
Helloween “Keeper of the 7 keys pt 2” and all Helloween stuff, Skyclad “A burnt offering for the bone idol”, Iron Maiden “Seventh son of a seventh son”, Children of Bodom “Hatebreeder”, Nightwish “Once”, Annihilator ”Set the world on fire”, Cradle of Filth “Midian”, Dark Tranquillity “The gallery”/ “Damage Done”, In Flames “Subterranean”/“The jester race”, Manowar “Kings of Metal”/“The triumph of steel”, Mercyful Fate “In the shadows”, King Diamond “Abigail”, Blind Guardian “Somewhere Far Beyond” / “Imaginations from the other side”, Savatage “Streets”, Amorphis “Tales from theThousand Lakes”, WASP “The crimson idol”, Black Sabbath “Dehumanizer”, Candlemass “Nightfall”, Dissection “Reinkaos”, My Dying Bride “Turn loose the swans”, Gamma Ray “Somewehre out in space”, Running Wild “Black Hand Inn”, Anathema “Weather Systems”, Meatloaf “Bat out of hell 2”, Loreena McKennith “The mask and mirror”, Mike Oldfield “Return to Ommadawn”/”Songs from a Distant Earth”, Def Leppard “Hysteria”, etc.
First concert (as visitor)?
Iron Maiden + My Dying Bride (X-Factor tour), 1995 (talking about metal concerts).
Best live show you’ve seen / would like to see?
Helloween “Pumpkins United” Prague 2017, Iron Maiden – “Maiden England” tour, Nightwish (+Arch Enemy, Amorphis) 2015, Gods of metal 1997 with Manowar / Queen with Freddie, some huge 80s tours.
Favourite EK songs?
Seasonspeech, Trows Kind, King of the Elves, Draugen’s Maealstrom, Witches Gather, Reader of the Runes – Book I, Conjuring of the 14th, A Poem for the Firmament … but this can change every time.
Favourite EK song to play live?
Silverseal, Neverending Nights, The One we shall follow, The Wanderer, etc.
Which band would you like to open up for?
Helloween, Nightwish, King Diamond.
Highlight of your career on/off stage?
Japan tour 2016, Wacken 2016, South America tour 2017/ First contract signed.
Craziest situation on/off stage?
Last date of the “Your heroes are dead “headlining tour 2017!
RAR Festival 2005 (Germany): everything happened during the gig: the stage was full of people doing stage diving and we stopped the show several times to be sure that nobody was injured. At a certain point one guy was trying to climb the big stage speakers to stage dive from there and he felt off bringing one of the top big speakers with him. This was falling on to my head, and in the very final moment I saw it and had the reflex to move from there. The speakers felt on to the guitar pedalboard and broke it in two. It wasn’t mine, somebody borrowed it to me!
Most embarassing moment of your career?
There was a pretty embarrassing situation at Pestpop 2006 (Gorlan, remember?) but cannot tell more!! Or when I do bad errors on stage!
Favourite drink / smoke?
Coke, IPA beer / No, thank you!!
Favourite movies / actors?
“Silence of the lambs”, “Dead poet society”, “Seven”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Braveheart”, “Lord of the rings”, “Shutter Island”, “Deep Red”, “Suspiria”, “The thing”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “The Others”, “The hours”, “Back to the future”, “The prestige”, “Eyes Wide Shut”, “The wolf of Wall Street”, “Black Swan”, “Army of Darkness”, “Martyrs” in general movies from Tim Burton and David Lynch and an uncountable number of horror movies from the 70s, 80s and 90s being a total horror maniac / Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Johnny Depp, Robert DeNiro, Ryan Gosling, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anya Taylor-Joy, …
Favourite TV series?
Dark, Lost, Twin Peaks, 1899, Friends, X-Files, Sex & the City, Stranger Things, …
Favourite books?
”Lord of the rings” J.R.R. Tolkien, “The name of the rose” U.Eco, “Norwegian wood (Tokio blues)” H. Murakami, “Bilico” and “Mani nude” P. Barbato, “Ten Little Niggers/And then there were none” A.Christie, lots of book from Stephen King, Tiziano Sclavi, Edgar Allan Poe, etc. / Dylan Dog (comics).
Favourite computer/console games?
All Monkey Island series, Tomb Raider, Life is strange.
What do you like to do on your freetime?
Well, basically relaxing with my love since I had not much for this. Going to the cinema, see some live gigs, reading, etc. Obviously writing music and writing stories.
Describe yourself with 3 words:
Determined, calm, reflecting.
Equipment you use?
JACKSON and CHARVEL guitars, Kemper Poweramp