Andy LaRocque on King Diamond, Mikkey Dee, Timi Hansen, Michael Denner, Abigail, Interview - 2021

This excerpt was taken from a full in bloom interview w/ guitarist Andy La Rocque / LaRocque.
Andy talks about King Diamond's 1987 album, 'Abigail,' joining King Diamond during 'Fatal Portrait,' King Diamond, Mikkey Dee, Michael Denner, and Timi Hansen.
King Diamond 'Abigail' Inside the Album Interview w/ Anday La Rocque:
• King Diamond 'Abigail'...
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Song by FOOL OF FATE
#KingDiamond #Motorhead #MercyfulFate #MikkeyDee #Abigail #Scorpions #Dokken

[@realmchat6665]

One of the best shredders, doesn't get the credit he deserves.

[@Lanisteelerocks]

When I hear people say, "I can't listen to more than a song or two of Yngwie", I turn them towards Andy and Pete's playing on 'Them' and 'Conspiracy'. Those two were so well prepared for those performances. Andy's got it all... chops, phrasing, sequencing and strong rythym playing.

[@timbrown6629]

My favorite guitarist. Andy L. is simply amazing.

[@superdave452]

best Metal shredder on earth

[@louiscsanko3673]

💯% TRUTH, Andy Larocque is a GUITAR HERO 🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@superglou913gomez3]

Very underrated.

[@EsotericallyObvious369]

Abagail is one of my top fave albums easily. Such an amazing album.

[@louiscsanko3673]

Abigail set the Bar very high.🤘🤘🤘🤘 Abigail 2 The Revenge is also a great Album.🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@MrNobody-fk7fc]

Abigail is bar far my fav!

[@saltykrug]

This line up was a great bunch of musicians. Mikkey Dee is a phenomenal drummer, one of my influences growing up. Abigail and Them had some killer songs and man that drum intro to Welcome Home is still one of my favorite drum licks. Andy's solos are killer by any standard, I'd stack him up against anybody. I really love his playing.

[@metalEric69]

Me too. Met him on the bus in aurora colo in 87

[@metalEric69]

After show party at hotel. Met king too. Knocked on his hotel room door. I was 18.

[@metalEric69]

Met mickey...not andy.

[@louiscsanko3673]

@@metalEric69 That is Awesome 🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@j.reveille6815]

Got on the bus ....well almost in the door....in 87 king was drinking warm milk. It was almost sunrise. 4-430 or so moon was still out . Drank a beer and talk guitar with Andy in parking lot behind bus while a witchy woman danced top less on the lift for the equipment truck calling for king to come out. King signed my poster in silver marker right before they pulled off as he caught a quick look at the dancer.

[@angusorvid8840]

Great player, and great band. I bought Abigail back in '87 and it was one of the best albums of the era. It still holds up.

[@kevinkappelman6227]

His solos were/are inventive. One of the best metal shredders for sure!

[@scottward1194]

Love Andy’s playing and tone!

[@razormangaming]

I can sleep with his amazing work. For real. Memorizing

[@corvettebmw]

I saw Mercyful Fate Oath tour in 1984, great show.

[@ItsWhat__]

How cool….

[@ellisonlowrimore7751]

One of my favorite guitarist of all time! The one and only Mr. Andy LaRocque!!🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽

[@louiscsanko3673]

Andy Larocque= Guitar God.

[@themadmattster9647]

Fatal Portrait will always be my fave

[@spaceace4387]

I like Abigail, Melissa and Don’t Break The Oath better but I still love Portrait

[@nonprogrediestregredi1711]

Abigail is easily in my top ten albums of the 80s! It was one of those few that I had on vinyl, cassette and CD. What a timeless classic!

[@frankartale1026]

Unbelievable band. Andy should be more well known. Great player.

[@daroblackheart383]

"Abigail" is a masterpiece. I love this album. Andy's playing is so great and full of passion.

[@kellykasparek8150]

seen the Portrait tour Abigail and opened for him in 89 on conspiracy. incredible lineups !!! you kids will never see that kind of passion again music is too diluted today.

[@christophercheney1006]

Such a great player. His solos on Death's "Individual Though Patterns" are so great!!

[@gerardoneri5115]

Totally. Chuck was a huge fan of him.

[@gloriousking777]

Legendary. LaRocque is in the higher sphere of heavy metal guitarists. Love him.

[@awesomewelles9174]

Dressed in White is one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded.

[@mickeylilly6057]

Fact !

[@Beelzebubba2823]

My most favorite King Diamond song.

[@brentalanadamlandgrave7635]

Andy Larocque is fucking incredible. He's been nothing but a blessing for King Diamond.

[@uncleremus5046]

Andy’s work with Death is also legendary!

[@louiscsanko3673]

Andy Larocque is one of the greatest guitarists in metal.

[@tomwhittaker9461]

For sure man. He's an amazing musician.

[@louiscsanko3673]

@@tomwhittaker9461 🤘🤘 Awesome.

[@Monsterdrumma]

Abigail and THEM! Are my favorite metal records of all time! Amazing songs and monstrous band! Mikkey was my absolute hero and I obsessed for months and learned these records verbatim. Most drummers in metal at the time I could cop right away but man Mikkey is so unique and advanced he threw me for a serious loop and challenged the shit out of me!

[@chriszaferes5984]

One of the BEST metal guitarist ever!

[@johnjablonski553]

"THEM" is still one of the best albums... it still gives me goose bumps from the first track to the last \m/-l-\m/

[@michaelbryan6552]

Great clip. Andy is totally one of the brilliant European metal shredders. Glad that I got to see him with King Diamond on the Puppet Master tour here in the States.

[@brianm9282]

King Diamond is my all time favorite band.

[@guittarwizzrd]

Thinks for posting this Andy is one of my biggest influences. Between this and your Chris Holmes and former members of wasp interviews I've been listening to you a lot .

[@rubenreza]

My old dad opened up for King Diamond on the Abigail tour back in 1987. Will never forget that. Great memories.

[@saltpeter7429]

Did great work for/ with the late Chuck Schuldiner. The two of them together is like an alignment of the stars or some equivocal portent of cosmic enlightenment, lol. Went cheeseball on my description, but I stand by the point. Andy is up in the top list of the best in the game, would love to hear the new King Diamond release.

[@zakkirk223]

Abigail is so fun to listen to. If stranded on an island and could only have 1 cd to listen to it would be Abigail

[@poop-ex1qf]

good stuff man, i like hearing these kind of stories!

[@troytromwell]

Excellent, insightful. I love hearing these guys talk...especially Mr. La Rocque. I finally got to see him play about 3 years ago. It was a dream come true. He did not disappoint.

[@stuartewoldt1513]

Those guitar parts from the 1st 4 albums are amazing. I know those albums so well from listening when I was 7 or 8 yrs old from my friends older brother.

[@Fo-Flats]

This man is a God among men. He's had a hand in so many eras & genres of metal. It's amazing. He's definitely up there on the hero tier list. (My favorite performances of his are the albums Them and Individual Thought Patters) 🤘

[@mostlycrazyallthetime]

Full in bloom never disappoints .. Andy is a GOD

[@jaimeandujar487]

Andy La Rocque!! For me the Best!!! The Master!!

[@agony664]

The most underrated guitarist ever!

[@heavybrett-al4082]

Such a great interview,love Andy and his work🤘🎸🙏

[@BSPVMD]

I'm not sure why multiple sites list the release of Abigail as October 1987. The album definitely was released (at least in the US) in June '87, because when I saw them live in July of '87 in PA, I had already become a massive fan of the record.

[@timbates6309]

I agree. It definitely came out in the U.S. in the summer of 1987. I thought was late June, but could have been early July when I first heard "Omens" on Z-ROCK. I bought the Abigail album the next day. Edit; I just checked my Billboard Album Charts book, and Abigail debuted on the U.S. album charts on July 11, 1987, which means it probably was released late June, so it was obviously way before October.

[@stuartewoldt1513]

​@@timbates6309i won tickets to see the conspiracy tour off of Z-Rock. I was 14 and my mom bless her soul, ran and got my Abigail record and showed my dad and pleaded with him to not let me go. I was mad but I got over it. My friends got to go

[@timbates6309]

@@stuartewoldt1513 I saw them on the Conspiracy tour. It was a great show. It's a shame you didn't get to see them.

[@raduandrei5867]

Yeah,Andy LaRoque ,the Best!🎼🎸🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵

[@davidbarnich9436]

Top ten of killer metal albums, great writing and some sweet ass riffs ...

[@jasondb3031]

Awesome to listen to..

[@marcoricciardi250]

One of my greatest influences as a guitar player I love his awkward style but yet he sounds like he totally knows what he's doing at the same time

[@seagullpoet]

Martin Popoff has a book out “ Black Funeral “. It covers Mercyful Fate only. Wild book.

[@richardsanderson6460]

Got it.. great book!! 🤘🤘🤘 I like all his books actually.. the ones I've read anyways.. Mercyful Fate, Saxon, Maiden, Priest etc.. Still need to get my hands on the Accept book of his though!!

[@V3ntilator]

I watched King Diamond live in 2019, and Andy is extremely good on guitar.

[@nwojason]

andy is a guitar god period glad he still together with king diamond

[@grimpr]

A Great Metal Guitar Master

[@0713dm]

Finally some KD!! \,,/

[@zim1966]

Abigail tour in Detroit, Denner had left they had Micheal Moon and Andy on guitars

[@brigham2250]

LaRocque is one of my favorite players. King Diamond's voice is not everyone's cup of tea which has kept LaRocque from becoming a household name. A tasteful player who I think could have fit nicely in Ozzy's band after Randy Rhoads died. Rhoads is the benchmark for me, so saying that he could have filled Randy's shoes is high praise. Edit: After writing the above I looked up Andy LaRocque on Google and read that his favorite guitar player is Randy Rhoads. Well, I guess I was onto something with the wishful Ozzy connection. Of course, at this point in time, it will never happen. I think Jake was okay with Ozzy, his masterpiece being the song Bark at the Moon. A lot of his guitar is drowned out on that album with the keyboards taking more of the centerstage. The Ultimate Sin has some good riffs but it was too glam oriented to fit in with the times and some of the songs a bit too poppy. Again, I think LaRocque would have been an excellent choice, if not after Diary of a Madman, then after Bark at the Moon.

[@daveg4236]

Bingo. Had he been in a more ear pleasing band, he’d be very well known

[@nathanlansford1882]

Ozzy Osbourne's voice is not everyone's cup of tea, either.

[@stevemtc1]

Andy LaRacque is better than Randy Rhoads and Randy is fabulous

[@nathanlansford1882]

Andy LaRocque might not have been given proper songwriting credits & royalties for any of his musical contributions had he joined Ozzy's band & with Sharon as their manager.

[@timbuk1126]

Abigail came out in the summer of 1987 and I know because I bought it.

[@stevemtc1]

Mercyful Fate and King Diamond has five albums in the top ten metal albums of all time

[@ItsWhat__]

True that ….

[@genebrohan2401]

Merciful fate awesomeness

[@ehecatlnineninenine3488]

Dressed in white! Abigail!

[@gipsyavenger9829]

Mikkey and Andy a dynamic duo. Sucks Mikkey would not want to come back to KD. "Abigail" and "Them" are masterpieces.

[@michaelgarner387]

Fatal Portrait and Conspiracy are the best works of these guys.

[@michaelgarner387]

But it’s spiritually EVIL!! I had to let go of this stuff.

[@michaelgarner387]

Jesus Christ can save you from this evil !! 🙏🏻

[@michaelgarner387]

Minus the lyrics. The music is intense

[@tims6141]

Where are the new albums???? 14 years is long enough!

[@eternalhalloween1]

This was how Andy rated his CDs on a scale of 1-10. "Fatal Portrait" 7, "Abigail" 9, "Them" 8, "Conspiracy" 9, "The Eye" 8, "Spider's Lullabye" 4, "Graveyard" 6, "Voodoo" 8, and "House of God" 10. That's as far as that interview went. Does not necessarily reflect my opinion.

[@gmanhirt8818]

Has anybody ever watched footage of King Diamond playing the guitar.?

[@AdrianJeffreys-fj2fv]

Mercyful fate fates warning early queensryche rising force big influences those types of bands are long gone though i love adagio thy majestie pagans mind sympony x fairyland

[@love4steel]

those earlier KD albums man I will NVR stop listening to them. they should be millionaires for those records

[@janetmobilia8200]

Chiraq loves The King

[@quakecity]

Wild. I had the 666th “like”.👀 🤘🏽🔥🤘🏽

[@ellamcclanahan9811]

If he wasn't in king diamond he would have king diamond was a joke