Watch DragonForce’s Herman Li shred underwater
The guitarist gives “dive-bomb” a whole new meaning.
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There’s never a dull moment with DragonForce. The British power metal band’s guitarist Herman Li proved that recently when he ripped through a solo while snorkeling in a swimming pool at the Full Metal Cruise VII earlier this month.
Towards the end of his set, the 41-year-old walked off the stage wearing a mask and snorkel—while still playing his modded Ibanez EGEN18 DRG—and edged towards the pool where a circle pit of fans had formed. He slipped into the water and, mostly submerged, powered through the solo of “Valley of the Damned.”
The guitarist had tried something similar in 2015, but because he didn’t have a snorkel at the time, couldn’t stay underwater for long. “[That] underwater guitar solo was cool, but I didn’t play in the water long enough because there’s only so [long] I can hold my breath for,” Li told WackenTV before the Full Metal Cruise show, referencing the stunt he tried to pull three years ago.
“So this time we’re going to do an underwater snorkeling guitar solo, which 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 the Ibanez custom shop built for me.”
Check it out here:
Herman Li plays the Ibanez EGEN18 DRG in this video.