Herman Li of DRAGONFORCE performed the world's first snorkeling underwater guitar solo on the Full Metal Cruise VII on September 6.
The cruise ship, which set sail on September 2 from Bremerhaven, Germany to Invergordon, Scotland, had to change path and go back around to avoid the storm, just so DRAGONFORCE could perform on the pool deck while all the other bands were moved indoors.
Prior to taking the stage, Li, who previously performed what was at the time believed to be the first-ever underwater guitar solo on the 2015 edition of the Full Metal Cruise, commented: "It's not a trick that I have practiced for over a year. I tried it in my own pool at home, but that was a year ago, and I haven't had a chance on this tour to practice it. And the idea came… You know, the underwater guitar solo was cool, but I didn't play in the water long enough, because there's only how much long I can hold my breath for. So this time we're gonna do an underwater snorkeling guitar solo, [where] I'll play over a minute of a guitar solo in the water, breathing through a snorkel, with just my hands coming above the water, with my special customized waterproof guitar that Ibanez Custom Shop built for me."
Watch the videos of the performance here and here.
Info and tickets for Full Metal Cruise VIII, which sets sail in the Mediterranean Sea in April 2019, can be found here.
DRAGONFORCE has spent the last few months working on material for its next studio album, tentatively due in September 2019. The band has also made a number of European festival appearances this summer, including at the Download festival in the U.K. back in June.
Li recently launched his own Twitch channel where he is giving away his personal Ibanez signature guitars, and will be livestreaming recording sessions of the brand new DRAGONFORCE album.
DRAGONFORCE's latest album, "Reaching Into Infinity", was released in May 2017 via earMUSIC on CD, LP and a special-edition CD and DVD. The follow-up to 2014's "Maximum Overload" marked DRAGONFORCE's third full-length studio release with singer Marc Hudson, who joined the group in 2011 following the departure of original frontman ZP Theart (now in SKID ROW).
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)