Tommy: Heavenly have in short time taking enormous steps, and are now in my eyes belonging to the utter elite of the powermetal scene. Things has certainly changed fast in a few years, since Heavenly started back in 1994 with B.Sotto and M.Pilo under the name Satan's Lawyer, listening to The Doors, and played covers.What do you think is the secret behind Heavenly's great success today, and what was it that made you join the band - did you then believe that they had the potential that later made you release one of the best powermetalalbums ever in the history?

• F. Leclercq: Well, first of all, thank you!!! the fact is that I first joined the band as a keyboard player for their tour with Stratovarius, but I wasn't supposed to stay in the band forever (and that was ok, cos i'm not a talented keyboarder anyway)...then the former guitarist left the band, and as Ben knew that I was a "good" guitarist, at least better than the former one :-P, and so he called and told me "now you have to work, we're gonna start record-sessions in 2 weeks"...and when we started recording "Sign of the Winner", I realized this album had something special...I like it :-)

Tommy: Tell us a little bit about this winter's tour with Edguy and Nostradameus. How was the response from the fans - cause this sounds like a killerconcert - and what is your reflections over the tour with them?

• F. Leclercq: This tour was brilliant! together with Edguy, Nostradameus and Lullacry (you forgot them, bad boy :)) we played in Spain, France, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and even one gig in London with Gamma Ray!!! During almost 6 weeks...it was like a dream!
  I spent a lot of time with the Edguys, and actually with everybody, partying and laughing, that was really cool...the fans were incredible, we received fantastic response every fuckin' day!!! we were a bit afraid cos some guys told us "in Sweden or in Finland the crowd doesn't react that much, don't be afraid, blablabla" but the kids went crazy everytime we played!!!!yes, it was like a dream...

Tommy: Was the work with Piet Sielck, Kai Hansen and Thomas Nack on Coming From
The Sky an isolated event, or will there be other cooperations with them - or
similar artists - in the future? What made you choose them as workingpartners
at that time?

• F. Leclercq: Ben and Max found the opportunity to work with Piet because of Noise...and he knows Kai and Thomas, they ask him if it was possible, and that was it!!! for Sign of the Winner, Alex Beyrodt from Silent Force is playing solos on 2 songs, just for fun, because he's a real friend (as we met him on the Strato-tour)....for the next album.....I don't know, why not..it's always cool to play with other people, and always a great honour to receive known people on your album, so....we will see!
  

Tommy: How is your music being looked upon in your homecountry France? The album went into the french chart as number 132 the first week of release, but how does the scene in general look down there?
France hasn't in the name of honesty been a big name when it comes to highquality metal earlier......and do you think your success may make way for new, good bands from France?

• F. Leclercq: Well, one more time, we'll see...I know that France is suffering from a bad image, which is to say that everybody's thinking "what?a band from France?? I won't even try to listen to it, it should be a piece of shit"...even on tour, some people came after the shows and told me "I can't believe you're from France....are you sure?you're not german??oo, ok" hahahaha) but yes, if you think that we have a kind of success, then maybe it can help other french bands to be known!

Tommy: How does the plans for the next fullength album look? Anything you can tell us in that area already?

• F. Leclercq: mmmm....Ben has already composed 3 songs, i've got a ton of ideas we have to work on, and this album should sound more symphonic but also more heavy metal...more everything!!!!a concept album? I don't know...;-)

Tommy: The line-up in that band has been - to put it gently - a little messy before, with guitarists and bassists that have come and gone, and you who joined the band 2(!) days before the first concert ever in late 2000.
Do you believe that you have a somewhat steady line-up nowadays, and that we will see no more changes for a long while now?

• F. Leclercq: We are at the moment thinking about having an other guitarplayer, cos we did the tour with 2 guitars and it fits perfectly with our idea of stage sound, so yes, a second guitarist..but otherwise we all love each other, so you have to like this line-up cos you'll see it for a long time...I hope :-)

Tommy: And finally - any words of wisdom or funny facts about the nearest future you want to share with the readers?

• F. Leclercq: mmm....you can contact me at LECLERCQFRED@aol.com, it always a pleasure to receive e-mails from the fans...and especially if there's some blond girls...I love blond girls...what?hey, I'm single, and i don't wanna have a french girlfriend...so that's what I share with the readers, the female-readers!!! hahahahah I'm going crazy!!! but anyway don't hesitate to contact me, girls, and for the boys, don't drink too much, buy more Heavy, black, death, thrash, grind, poser metal, support the underground, go to school, find a job, buy a dog, cut your hairs, and gimme your blond sister!!!
  hahahahahahahaseriously, hum hum...thanx for all the fans for their support, thanx to the readers of your webzine...and to the girls...aaaa I don't know haw to write it but...Du er so jevla vakier, jo elska dei...hahahaha, normally it means "you are so fuckin' beautiful, I love you" Freddy from Nostradameus taught me how to tell it, but not how to write it...and if those crazy guys from Nostradameus and their friends read it, hello! Bori!!!! ok that's it now I have to sleep! :-P
  
  

That was all I had for now, Frédéric - the staff at metalcovenant.com wish you all the very best for the future, and we sincerely want to thank you for keeping the spirit of Metal alive!

F. Leclercq:
tak so mickey! :-)
hope you'll like it
take care
byyyyyyyyyyyyye

Links of interest:

www.heavenly.fr.st