DragonForce kicked off the year by sailing aboard this the 2016 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise. On the boat we caught up with the very talented and very logical guitarist Herman Li, who played a game of ‘Would You Rather?’ with us. He expressed his enthusiasm for touring, making music that fulfills him as well as why he’s scared of Steve Vai. Check out our game of ‘Would You Rather?’ with Herman Li of DragonForce below:

Would you rather be really late for the show or mess up onstage?

Oh f--- up onstage I guess. It’s art, it’s music, there’s no such thing as a f--- up right? Actually no it’s a very different thing, on the cruise, I rather go on late and play a good show than go on perfect timing and sucking, so depends on the situation. I’m a logical person, you can’t have one answer for everything.

Would you rather be in the studio or on tour?

On tour, well on tour is after the studio work is done, your job is done so now we can play this music and have fun. Playing the music onstage is much more fun than playing it in the studio, no doubt. I know some people might think studio is more fun but it’s work. You have a different kind of mindset when you’re in the studio, you’re trying to make everything perfect and your brain wants to explode sometime. Live show, you play it and it disappears, unless people put their stupid phones up! Stop bothering the person in the back trying to watch the show!

Would you rather have a massive bank account or a massive fan base?

A massive bank account and the reason is – it’s interesting – fans come and go, they’re here and there, a bank account you can always do something with it, right? Not that I want to be rich or anything. The logical thing is, if I have a massive bank account, I can keep making this music that I like. I don’t care if fans like it or not, then you just satisfy yourself making these albums.

Would you rather have lunch with a music icon who has passed or a present day music icon? And who would it be?

Forget about a guy who’s dead, who cares? It would never happen. I don’t know, I’m scared of musicians that I really like. I still feel like a fanboy when I meet certain musicians even if I’ve met them so many times and played with someone that’s been my hero. Steve Vai, I’ve met him a number of times, played with him onstage, I’m still scared when I see him. This is Steve Vai, man, and I know you shouldn’t think that way. I always tell fans not to think that way about me, if we have any fans. [Laughs] But I still do it, I can’t understand it. It’s just something when you grew up and you remember that person and a certain thing about them, for me you just remember them young in their prime. You think you can shake out of the nerves but you don’t.

Our thanks to Herman Li of DragonForce for playing ‘Would You Rather?’

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