We caught up with Lions Share mainman Lars Chriss to find out more.

Komodo Rock:For those that haven't heard of the Lions Share before, can you give us a little bit of background?

Lars Chriss: The first album was released 1995, and back then we were more into the progressive stuff and probably sounded like a mix between Black Sabbath (R.J. Dio/ Tony Martin era), Dream Theater and Queensryche? We then signed to Century Media and did “A Touch Of Evil” for “A Tribute To Judas Priest – Legends Of Metal Vol. 1” with Helloween, Testament, Saxon, and Devin Townsend among others.

We did a European tour with Saxon and in early 1997 we released our second album “Two”. Then we toured Europe with Iced Earth and Nevermore, plus did another tour with Saxon at the end of the year. More touring followed with U.D.O., Dee Snider, on our own etc. and we also did our first visit to the Sweden Rock Festival (Manowar, Deep Purple, David Lee Roth, DIO, Motörhead, Hammerfall), before our third album “Fall From Grace” was recorded.

Right before it came out with did a month of arenas opening up for DIO, Manowar & Motörhead in a package called “Monsters Of The Millennium”.

In 2001 we released “Entrance” and at the end of that year I more or less hit rock bottom overnight, feeling totally burnt out so I put the band on hold for six years.

How did the name come about?

In the very beginning, we had an English guy helping us with the lyrics. We asked him for name suggestions and he came up with a full list, but especially suggested Lion’s Share, so we took it.

Your new album "Emotional Coma" was released on the 18th June. How do you feel it compares to the bands previous outings?

It’s more up-tempo, raw, aggressive and in your face. In the past we were pretty influenced by progressive stuff like Dream Theater, Rush and Queensryche. We also used a lot of keyboards and big background vocals.

This time I more or less returned to my roots and the kind of metal I started out playing as a teenager. My main influences have always been bands like Black Sabbath (especially with Dio), Judas Priest, Megadeth, old Metallica, Accept, and Saxon, etc.

After 6 years, what inspired you to work on and release the new album?

After the “Entrance” album I was totally burnt out. We’d been doing the album tour, album tour thing for more than 8 years. During 2002 I was really shocked that a thing like this could happen to me of all people. I was always the engine of the band being on top of everything. Back then, I couldn't understand why other people spent time going on vacation, raising children, caring about their day job, careers etc. I suppose years of doing this back to back finally caught up with me and I had to stop completely.

After a while I bought a home studio and started recording some ideas again. At that point I didn't know what I wanted to do with the songs but during 2003 I heard a sound clip of Patrik Johansson on the net right before the first “Space Odyssey” album came out. We got in touch and he joined Lion’s Share. I still wasn't ready for the big race that releasing an album means with everything from the production to interviews and live shows etc, so we decided to not go public until we were 100% ready. Had we done so, the fans and media would have started requesting a new album and we would have been put under too much pressure.

In 2004 I was hired to do a one off show at Sweden Rocks with Sweden’s best known weather man Pär Holmgren who is a huge hard rock fan as well. The guy in charge musically of the project was Sampo Axelsson, so after hanging out, rehearsing and doing this show we hit it off and he joined Lion’s Share as well, again not officially. I suppose the time off, the new lineup and the great songs we came up with then, together, was the real reason I got the hunger back.

What was the idea behind the album's artwork?

We wanted to come up with a mascot figure like Iron Maiden’s Eddie that we could use on future covers, shirts and other merchandise. We wanted a cover that would attract the kids to check out the music. This cover turned out great and looks fantastic on the posters, shirts and the huge backdrop we use. No deeper meaning than this really.

“Emotional Coma” introduces Patrik Johansson to Lions Share fans. How did he became involved with the band?

Well, as I explained, I heard an mp3 clip on the Internet and got in touch with him through that. He was an old fan and liked the new stuff so we hit it off and he joined in 2003.

Johansson draws comparisons to Ronnie James Dio and Tony Martin from some. Is that fair?

Ronnie James Dio is a huge influence on everybody in this band so I guess we all take that as a compliment. Hopefully Patrik has his own sound, but people always need something to compare to so I suppose singers like Dio, Tony Martin, Jörn Lande, Russell Allen are voices that it would be fair to compare him to, yes.

You've managed to assemble quite a list of guest appearances on the album. What was it like working with Bruce Kulick, Glen Drover and Mats Leven?

Awesome! All of them are great talents and fantastic musicians. Bruce Kulick was in Stockholm to do a KISS Expo and the studio we worked in was co owned by the former Swedish KISS Army president. He suggested we invite Bruce to the studio and apparently he liked what he heard and did a guest solo.

Glen I’ve known for a couple of years after working with his other band Eidolon. Since then he’s obviously moved on to Megadeth, but he was kind enough to find some free time while recording their new album to do a guest solo for our title track. Mats Levén did the backing vocals for our first two albums as well so we’ve been friends for many years and he lives in the same city as we do. Very nice and professional guy.

You've recorded a video for 'The Edge of the Razor'. What can you tell us about the making of it?

We were discussing back and forth for months what song to do. AFM really wanted “The Edge Of The Razor“, so finally we agreed and actually shot it the day after our listening session for European press here in Stockholm. It felt kinda weird for me since I didn’t play the guitar solo on the actual track. But, I guess our budget wasn’t big enough to fly Bruce Kulick over …? It turned out great and is quite unusual compared to other “rock videos”. It was done by a film maker / teacher, so he had quite another mind set to most, which was to our benefit I think.

Can we expect a full tour to promote the album in the near future?

That’s what we are working on right now. In this business it’s all about timing and finding the right package to go out with though. We just turned down an offer for the reasons above. We will continue to do Summer festivals for now and hopefully a full European tour will follow in September-October?

You played Sweden Rock a few weeks back. How was it?

We had a blast! Great big crowd at our show and many in line for our signing session. Of course I got to see Heaven & Hell as well. What a killer concert! The god of riffs and my favourite singer of all time together again! “Mob Rules” is the best album ever so I was like a kid in a candy store. We did a lot of press and got to see many other great bands! We had a really great time there.

You signed with AFM for 'Emotional Coma'. How has the new relationship been working for you?

Absolutely great! Feels like I’ve knows these guys forever. We feel we are a high priority with them which of course is very important to us.

You've toured with Saxon, Dio, Manowar and Motorhead in the past. What was it like touring with such legendary bands?

Awesome! As you probably know by now, Ronnie James Dio is like a god to me and to become friends and hang out with him every day for a month was of course beyond anything I could dream of as a teenager blasting my Rainbow, Sabbath and Dio records out in the bedroom? All those bands were absolutely great to us. For some reason it seems to be the bigger the band, the better they treat the support act?

We’ve toured with other bands that were just about our size that were not very cool. In many ways I’ve already topped my dreams, so everything from now on is just a bonus.

What's the biggest show you've played and how did it come about?

I think it’s still to come - the biggest show I think we’ll do will be on July 7th in Germany with Manowar at the Magic Circle Festival where they expect 20, 000 people in front of the main stage we’re playing. When we did the “Monsters Of The Millennium” tour, we played ice hockey arenas so that were pretty big too, but this one is huge.

If you could put together your dream 3 band tour, who'd you pick?

Black Sabbath with Dio, KISS and then Rainbow with Dio on vocals.

Where would you like the band to be in 12 months time?

Hopefully in the studio recording our next album. Would be cool to not have more than 18 months between this and the next album.

What's the highest point of your career so far?

The tour with Ronnie James Dio, definitely!

And the lowest?

Any trouble with band members that are tied up in family bullshit all the time. I mean the business and competition is hard enough anyway…. If we get a great tour in competition with a zillion other bands, I don’t wanna have it scrapped by someone’s wife…!

Who do you rate as the best up and coming metal band right now?

I think Symphony X will take that final step with this record. They’ve got on board one of my favourite singers and are a really great band that deserves all the success they can get.

Throw us some links where people can get hold of your cd's/merch, please….

Check out our official homepage at www.lionsshare.org – myspace at www.myspace.com/lionsshare and fan club at www.lionssharearmy.com.

Thanks !

A big thankyou to Lars for taking the time to talk to us, and some great Dio comments coming out of this too. You can check out our review of Emotional Coma in the reviews section of the site right now. 

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