We had the honor to talk with Megadeth’s legendary bassist David Ellefson before the next leg of his “Basstory Tour”. We discussed his latest book “More Life with Deth” and the structure of the tour that will take him to Europe and Latin America, including a special date in Wolverhampton, where he will be joined by K.K. Downing, Ripper Owens and Les Binks to play a set of Judas Priest classics.
David also told us about the story behind his eclectic compilation album “Sleeping Giants” featuring previously unreleased tracks, including collaborations with John Bush, Chris Poland and David Glen Eisley. Of course, we also talked about the present and future of Megadeth, including the upcoming Megacruise, the recording of the new album and the recovery process of Dave Mustaine.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David (MSF): You’re currently promoting your latest book “More Life with Deth” through a series of bass clinics, signing sessions and shows. The next dates are in the UK, mainland Europe and Latin America. Can you describe a little bit the concept behind these different variations of the “Basstory Tour”?
David Ellefson:
Yeah, everyone is gonna be a little different, you know. The first show, that I’m kicking off with, started originally just as a kind of book signing at KK’s Steel Mill (K.K. Downing’s club) up in Wolverhampton. And K.K. (Downing) being a dear friend, obviously we like to play music, and we’ve never played music together. So, we’re gonna get on stage and fire up a big thing with Tim “Ripper” Owens, Lis Binks, my partner Thom (Hazaert) and A.J. Mill. We’re gonna fire off one show, so that’s kind of a standalone show on November 3rd. And then, November 4th we’ll be down to London in the Underworld. That’s going to be a bit more similar to what I’ve been doing here in America with the Sleeping Giants band, being a full band set, playing some of the classic songs people know me for, as well as material off my own Sleeping Giants album, and book signing afterwards. And I’ll do that same type of thing across Europe, across Italy and one date in Switzerland. And then, when I wrap up in Rome, a couple days later I will be starting the Latin America Basstory. That’s going to be slightly different, I’m going to actually use some local musicians in every city, and part of that is just because I want to involve local musicians as well as fans. There’s a lot of cover bands, tribute bands of various musicians who … I just thought it would be fun for them to get up and to basically play some songs together. So, that’ll be a little bit more like my Basstories were in 2018 and even earlier this year in 2019, when I was doing Basstory across Europe. So, everyone is going to be a little bit different, which I think sets the stage for a unique experience for the fans and everybody who comes to these shows.
David (MSF): Yeah, definitely. This is your second book after 2013’s “My Life with Deth”. Have you found something therapeutic about writing that you couldn’t express through music or what was your motivation to write this second part?
David Ellefson:
You know, I like to write. I found over the years, you know, that probably if there was a word for me, it would be “communicator”. And sometimes, I do that with a bass, sometimes I do it with a guitar, sometimes I do it just like you and me are doing right now talking over the phone, other times it’s writing a book, maybe it’s doing a Basstory masterclass clinic performance, etc. So, it’s all about just communicating, you know. Communicating thoughts, ideas, creative things. Creating it out to your audience. The books are just one of those ways to do that. You can do things in a book you can’t do in a song, and vice versa. I think with “More Life with Deth”, the thing is … I kind of hit a sweet spot on it, because a lot of this stuff with social media, it’s like everything is so immediate. And people kind of know I’ve got a record label, I’ve got a coffee company. So, I talked about those things in the book, some of the backstory to them, got a little deeper into some of the underpinnings and workings of those processes. But I think the one thing that was kind of an unexpected sweet spot in the story for me was, as I started talking about acquiring the rights to Combat Records, and relaunching that record label, it took me way back to the origin of Megadeth, to 1983. When, and how the band started. And I had some of my childhood friends from Minnesota who moved out to California, when we met Dave and got the band started. And I had them weigh in and give some personal testimonies about that. I think those, to me … I had as much fun reading their personal testimonies in my book as I did reading what I wrote about it. So, the Combat events really took me back to the earliest days of Megadeth, and that’s largely been an untold part of the Megadeth history. Kind of “Rust in Peace” onwards it has largely been told and pretty well known. A lot of those artifacts live online, on YouTube and whatnot. But the early days in the 80s, it was really fun to go back and open that chapter up, and really dig deep in and again, get these personal testimonies from other band members and friends who were with me on the journey back then.
David (MSF): Yeah, that’s very interesting. You mentioned the compilation album “Sleeping Giants” and there’s a lot of metal stuff in it, with different musicians. But I was very surprised by your collaboration with David Glen Eisley. What’s the story behind his partnership?
David Ellefson:
With the Sleeping Giants songs you mean?
David (MSF): The one’s with David Glen Eisley, this kind of soft rock tracks …
David Ellefson:
You know, in the “Countdown to Extinction Tour” in 1993 we had a tour break, and I met up with a friend of Nick Menza’s. His name was Pat Schunk, and we used to mountain bike, riding in the hills there in Los Angeles and hang out. Pat and I became fast friends, and we started doing some writing, because he’s also a songwriter, so we began doing some writing together. I put some of those songs on “Sleeping Giants” because there were some demos that we’d written, and I really just loved the songs. One of them “If You Were God”, which features John Bush on vocals, was something I actually did bring in as a consideration to the “Youthanasia” record, and it didn’t really fit the scope of where we were in that record, so it didn’t make the cut. But it’s a great song, and I have always loved it. I wrote the music, Pat wrote the lyrics and John Bush sang it. So, you know, to include that it’s been really fun because John Bush and I, we do stuff with Metal Allegiance and we’ve been friends for many years. So, it’s been fun to really collaborate with him again, even on stage, singing that song when I do Basstory shows. And then some other stuff, some stuff that I did with F5 during the 2000s, you know. That David Glen Eisley stuff, you know he was a friend of Pat Schunk’s, they were in a group together called Dirty White Boy, which featured David Glen Isley, some members of the group called Autograph, who were a pretty popular radio rock band here in America during the 80s. And, you know (we wanted) to write, and have different singers come in. These were really just demos and I thought, these things have been sitting in the vault, literally sleeping in the vault, yet I felt they were pretty cool songs. I mean, I think the title “Sleeping Giants” is not only a good title for the lead off track on the record, but it’s also a good description of the songs that are embodied on the album.
David (MSF): Yeah, exactly. Since we’re slowly running out of time, I don’t know if you’re okay with a couple of Megadeth related questions (David agrees). How’s the process of the new album going on, do we have any potential release date for it?
David Ellefson:
You know, we don’t. I mean, with Dave’s throat cancer treatments, that he has now completed, he’s just going through the recovery now and we’re hopeful and optimistic about a full recovery for him with that. But yeah, once he’s through with that process, and we’re gonna just let that take as much time as it needs, then we will resume with the album. I’d like to hope maybe in 2020 we’ll be able to get a new album out.
David (MSF): Hopefully it works out. Considering Dave’s health situation, the upcoming Megacruise and the dates you have confirmed for the beginning of next year in Europe. How do you see Dave’s recovery in order to perform live?
David Ellefson:
I think with the cruise, we’re really just taking that a day at a time. Me, Dirk and Kiko are gonna be on the boat, holding down the fort and doing some musical stuff ourselves on there, to just kind of keep a celebration of all things Megadeth. But, you know, we’re definitely giving Dave the time and space to heal and recover, that’s first and foremost for this week. And then, moving into the new year with the Five Finger Death Punch + Bad Wolves tour, you know, hopefully Dave will be ready to go. Sometimes, life throws you a card you didn’t expect and you just try to, you know … Megadeth we’ve always been a resilient band, we’ve always just worked around obstacles. Dave is a fighter, as we know, I was just talking to him and he sounds very optimistic about the future for Megadeth.
David (MSF): Yeah, that sounds great, hopefully he recovers soon. Well, thank you David for your time, it was a pleasure to talk with you. Take care, have a great Megacruise and send my best wishes to Dave!
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.” As of some one hardly rocking, rocking at my smart phone. WOLF to reveal some surprise, raven has never told me any lies. Ah, distinctly I remember it was a night in September. Picked up my phone called Nik, Let’s talk, it will be quick….
Swedish heavy metallers, WOLF have recently shocked their fans with their new line up, featuring Johan Koleberg and Pontus Egberg and that was not all. They revealed that they working on their eighth studio album, entitles “Feeding The Machine”. To find out more I conducted an interview with Niklas Stålvind, an excerpt can be read below.
Asked him about the days that Richard and Andy left the band, what was the story, Nik seemed to be not very happy to talk about that era but he answered:
“We still haven’t finished recording. We have date set for mixing, dead line and we have a release date but it’s been very long process this one… Couple of weeks before [UK] tour, Andy called me, we are good friends but he’s not the guy who call you or at least he never called me. So I was really happy when he called me but then he said there’s nothing to be happy about because I’m quitting the band, but I’ll do the tour but the last thing I’ll do because I don’t feel it’s fun for me to be in the band anymore. Also I should say that Andy is playing totally a different kind of music in his other band and he seems really happy there…. I phoned up Richard to discuss the situation with Andi and everything and he told me that he’s also leaving the band…. I felt like let’s just let it go, because it seems to me neither of the guys are happy with the band and in my head I only had to finish the album and then we can sort it out.”
So what’s story of finding new members, now he sounded more excited and he replied:
“I felt a bit chaotic and I had no idea how we’re gonna to release this album with just half of the band…. Then a friend of us Mike Wead from King Diamond, he’s a close friend of Simon. He knew that we’re looking for people, so he asked Pontus the bass player of King Diamond if he knows anyone around Stockholm area for drummer. He said, yes I know a really good guy, my childhood friend, Johan, who I’ve been playing with for a long time. So I checked out Johan and he was really good drummer and seems to be a nice person as well. Mike Weed also told the bass player of King Diamond the they [WOLF] are looking for a bass player as well but I don’t think you’d be interested. But actually he was …. I did a bit of research on the guys of course, I thought they sound great and they seem to be normal nice guys! So we had a meeting with the guys and they are in the band now.”
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last couple of months because it’s not a good way of, I mean people quitting and new members getting in, it’s been really very exhausting to say the least. But I am very happy to have the [new] guys in the band and they wanted to be not just like hired musicians, they really wanted to be in the band for real.”
I asked him what took them so long for a new album, as “Devil Seed” was released in 2014. Nik answered:
“When we were making the “Devil Seed” album I didn’t have a job, I had to quit my job because I was burned out and I took my sick leave and invested on writing music… After the release of the album, I got a new job and start to work full time and that’s what I was doing. I have a family with two kids and also we did more touring on “Devil Seed” than we done with other albums so we were playing more lives… But mostly because I’ve been working, all the WOLF members have been working full time with day jobs but I wrote the first song for this album in 2015…. For this album, I wanted to go deeper into myself, I couldn’t really force it, to me it is just not like any songs….”
What’s the concept and idea behind the title of “Feeding The Machine” album, Nik answered me thoughtfully:
“The idea, I got, I think it was in 2016, I started to noticing that social media has become something very manipulating. When I was unemployed, I used social media to sell my artworks and I was fortunate that people saw them and buy them so I can buy foods for my children, I was very thankful. But around 2016, I started to noticed, what the f*ck is this, it’s not me using Facebook anymore, it’s Facebook using me. It’s so manipulative and it just make people gather in small groups hating each other and I felt something is really wrong there. Whatever. I take Facebook as an example but it’s the same with Google and everything, if you don’t buy service then you are the merchandise! Not only that, they are really manipulating opinions, elections, these companies are not neutral… Some people recognize it and some people don’t…. We are all feeding this machine!”
Nik and I spoke many other things like how the upcoming album would sound like and its production, so you can listen to the whole of this interview on the Audio Player below:
We recently had the chance to talk with the talented singer and songwriter Anna Murphy from CELLAR DARLING. We discussed the creative process of their latest studio record “The Spell”, such as the ideas behind the story and artwork of this concept album. She also shared her experiences in the last Progressive Music Awards, where they won the “Best Video of the Year” award for “Insomnia”.
The Swiss multi-instrumentalist and producer also told us some of the highlights and stories from “The Spell Tour”, which will bring them to Finland In November for two headlining shows in Helsinki and Tampere. Anna commented the experience of meeting their fans all over the world and told us some details about the future plans of the band.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: You released your second album “The Spell” last March, and I have to say that it’s one of my candidates for the album of the year. What inspired you to create the story for the album?
Anna: Thank you very much, that’s really nice to hear! It’s kind of hard to say because with many things, like melodies, things just kind of pop into my head and I don’t really know where they come from, I think it all happens subconsciously somehow. But the motif that the concept album is based on, that is by no means my invention. It’s actually based on a very old motif, that has been depicted in the Renaissance art for a very long time, in poetry and in art, and that is Death and the Maiden. I wanted to create my own story with this motif, and I pretty much immediately came up with the story of a girl that falls in love with Death and cannot reach him because Death casts a spell of eternal life upon her. And that’s kind of how the whole thing came about, we had the story and the tracklist before we wrote the music, and this is something we’ve never done before. So yeah, it was a pretty intense process.
David: I think the audiobook was very enjoyable and helped me to understand better what’s going on behind the lyrics. Where did the idea of recording those introductions come from?
Anna: The thing is like when a band is recording an album in the studio, this kind of terrifying notion comes up from the label asking you “what are you going to do as bonus material”; and it’s something that you never actively think about, because you’re so engrossed in the whole process of creating the album and not with, you know, what are we going to do as bonus material. What I didn’t want to do is just to include some instrumental versions, covers or whatever, because it wouldn’t really fit. And then we thought it might be nice to just have an audiobook, because I wanted to write down the story from A to Z anyways, and this just seemed like a really fitting idea. I think that the people appreciate it for what it is…
David: In addition to the audiobook, you released animated videos for most of the songs on the album. You recently won the “Best Video of the Year” in the Progressive Music Awards. Can you tell us about that experience?
Anna: I think it was the most exciting day of the year, I’m still kind of recovering from it. I mean honestly, we couldn’t really believe that we won, considering people like Devin Townsend were nominated. It was so amazing, and it kind of proved what a supportive fanbase we have. And at the event itself, I was so nervous to go on a stage and have a speech on the same stage as people like John Petrucci or Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. I met the singer from Yes, and it was all so surreal. I still can’t really believe that we were there, and it was an amazing evening. But we drank too much, so I had a two-day hangover after it… (laughs)
David: In addition to creating the animated videos, Costin Chioreanu did the artwork for each of the album’s songs. How closely did you work with Costin for him to get the concept right?
Anna: That was actually a very interesting process, because what I didn’t want to do is to tell him what to do. Because I have no visual talents in that regard, you know. I take care of the music and the lyrics, and that’s already so much work, I wouldn’t really want to decide on anything else. Costin is such an amazing artist, and it would be really a pity to restrain him in any way. I just wanted him to have his vision and do what he feels is right. So, the only thing I actually provided him with was a basic outline of the story, the lyrics and the music. And he just went and did his own thing. Amazingly, it just fits perfectly to the vision that I had, so that was a really amazing collaboration.
David: Compared to your previous band, Cellar Darling showcases more progressive elements. Concept albums are usually linked to prog rock and metal. Do you have any favorite concept albums or prog heroes or something like that?
Anna: I think there’s a lot. I mean, the thing is we never categorized ourselves as progressive, it just somehow happened naturally. I think it’s so hard to pinpoint what is progressive because there’s so many different artists in that genre. I mean, in the end it just means that you don’t really restrain yourself to certain boundaries or keep yourself within the limits of conventional songwriting. And I’ve always really enjoyed that type of music, and I think there’s way too many artists that I could mention. But what I could maybe do is tell you about the first artist that I ever listened to that was a big prog hero, and that is Mike Oldfield. He released the song called “Tubular Bells”, and as a child I just listened to that on repeat, like the whole day. I think in total it lasts like twenty minutes or something, and that influenced me a great deal …
David: Continuing on that same path, you recorded a cover version of “The Prophet’s Song” by Queen. I think you did a great job, and I wanted to ask you about the decision to cover such a complex song that is also not so very well-known song to the casual listeners…
Anna: Actually Merlin, our drummer, he chose that song. We wanted to each pick a song and make a cover of it. Ivo chose “Mad World”, I chose a classical piece “The Cold Song” and Merlin chose “The Prophet’s Song”. We were listening to it and we thought “Wow, this is like the perfect song for us to cover”, because we just kind of see ourselves within that song. It’s very weird, but it also has these dramatic elements, and I think we have that in our music as well. We could just really imagine playing it ourselves, and we could hear how it would sound, and I think that’s the most important thing when making a cover. We also didn’t want to copy it in any way, we wanted to make it our own. And we realized it’s really brave to cover Queen, because you know it can go really wrong, and it’s such an amazing band. But I think so far people really enjoyed what we did.
David: Given the dark topics that “The Spell” deals with, it is quite a different album compared to “This is the Sound”, which had some brighter moments. Have you already discussed within the band what’s going be the next step in your career, what kind of direction you would like to take?
Anna: We haven’t really talked about it yet, because “The Spell” was a really long and very intense journey for us, and it took a lot of energy. I think it’s going to be hard for us to decide what we’re going to do next. Because, honestly, now that we’ve done a concept album, it’s really hard to imagine doing something that is not a concept album. Because it makes so much sense: every song is connected, it’s not just random eclectic songwriting like we did before. But what we might actually do is, because we had one song that didn’t make it on the album, just because it was too different and it didn’t … well it was in the realm of the story but kind of set loose from the others. So, we actually might release that one at some point next year.
David: Do you have any timeframe or any deal with the record company on when you have to put out a new record, or do you have freedom to work on that?
Anna: We’re actually really free with the timeframe. I mean, I don’t think that we can wait for like five years, and we also wouldn’t want to do that. But there’s no deadline or anything. We can just take our time and work on new music. And I think that’s also really important because music shouldn’t be like factory work, if you know what I mean …
David: Let’s talk about the current tour, which has included so far UK, Ireland, Central Europe, some European summer festivals and Latin America. What have been the highlights of the tour until now?
Anna: I think everything we did so far has been a small highlight in itself, and really positive ones too. We actually went to the UK first because we were received very well over there, and we didn’t really know about this until we went there with “This is the Sound”. We had such amazing crowds there, that we thought it would actually make sense to celebrate the album release there, as opposed to our home country, which is something pretty weird. The summer festivals were a huge surprise for me, personally, because I don’t really like festivals. I always feel kind of uncomfortable and I have a hard time connecting with the audience because it’s not intimate, you know. But the festivals that we did turned out to be really great, and we just did our own thing and it kind of worked. Latin America was just a huge trip, it was a real adventure. It went from pure chaos, like building our own backline out of chairs and suitcases, to not sleeping and having power outages. It was crazy but it was also really great, because we have a very supportive fanbase over there, and we got to see so many countries in such a short time, which was pretty surreal.
David: I noticed one of your posts in Facebook where you said that something went wrong in Peru, if I remember correctly. Everyone was wondering if you were safe, or if it was something very serious …
Anna: In Colombia we had a power outage, the power on the entire street went out for about an hour before our show, and they had to get a generator. But then we could play without a problem, and it actually turned out really great. In Peru the problem was that at the venue they had nothing, we didn’t have a keyboard stand, we didn’t have a drum stool, they didn’t have enough cables. So, our show got postponed for like four hours and we built a lot of the stuff ourselves, to manage to play some kind of show. So, it was very chaotic, but I also enjoy these kinds of shows because they just have something, some weird energy that I like.
David: Based on what you post on social media you seem to be a band that is very approachable to the fans. You have done theses meet and greets without charging money for it, unlike many other bands. What kind of things have you discovered from meeting your fans, any surprises, pleasant or unpleasant?
Anna: We tend to get a lot of presents, which is always very nice. You know, I’m actually not a very approachable person usually. I’m pretty shy, and if I go out in my hometown I don’t really like to party or meet tons of people. So, at first it was weird to present yourself in a different way and meet and hug all people. But in the end, I think it adds to our show, you know. And we would never charge for something like that, because I think it’s great that people go out and they pay for concert tickets. Especially nowadays, you really have to appreciate that as a musician and give an effort, that’s why we do it in the end.
David: Maybe on the same note, since you have probably talked with many of your fans during the tour. Do you think that most of Cellar Darling’s fanbase are people who used to follow you since your days in Eluveitie, or do you think that this new band appeals to a different group of listeners?
Anna: I think it’s both. I think we still have some fans that came with us from Eluveitie, I think there’s also a lot of people who just enjoy both bands, but we’re starting to slowly gather fans from a completely different scene. And me, personally, I’m always excited when I meet people who have never heard of us before, because that kind of proves that they just listened to our new music and they were a fan of that. But I think we still have to work hard on finding our fanbase, because I think there’s a lot of people who don’t know us but would probably enjoy our music. And that’s why what we need to do is just tour and tour …
David: Your first concert in Finland was at the John Smith Rock Festival last summer. How did you perceive the Finnish audience seeing Cellar Darling for the first time, maybe not knowing what they were about to see…?
Anna: I actually loved it there. I thought the festival itself was just amazing, the hospitality was incredible, we jumped in the lake after the show. The show itself I absolutely loved it, there were some fans that were singing along the lyrics which I thought was amazing, because I honestly didn’t know how many people would know us there. And I think for the time of the day there were quite a few people already, so it was absolutely a great journey.
David: What kind of surprises can we expect for the upcoming gigs in November both in Tampere and Helsinki?
Anna: It’s going to be quite a mixed show as far as feelings go, because we’re going to play probably an equal amount of songs from both our albums. There’s a lot of people who haven’t seen us yet, and I think it would be a shame to kind of ignore “This is the Sound”. Our show is going to be divided into two parts, one of them is going to be darker and the other one is going to be a bit lighter and more energetic. So, you can expect that. We’re actually rehearsing some new songs now, I’m not sure if we’ll actually play them, because that will be determined on whether they suck or not (laughs). I’m really looking forward to it, we’re definitely a band where you just have to listen and take it in, you know. We’re not a party band or anything like that, with us it’s all atmosphere …
David: To finish the interview, would you like to send a message to your Finnish fans, maybe invite them to listen to “The Spell” and come to your shows with Forever Still and Oceans?
Anna: Definitely. I absolutely can’t wait to play in Finland, I really love it there, it’s such a beautiful country. We actually know a lot of people from there, because we’ve toured with so many bands from Finland, and I love the humor and the people there. So, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be amazing!
We had the pleasure to talk with Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek, frontman and founding member of death metal legends VADER during their stopover in Helsinki in the context of their “Message to the North tour”, which started last week in Lithuania. The intense evening program included, in addition to Vader, Polish acts Hate and Thy Disease, plus Grimaze from Bulgaria and The Noctambulant from USA.
Being one of the seminal figures in Polish metal, we asked him about his memories from the early years but also his views on the current Polish extreme metal scene and his dedication to pay tribute to the Metal Gods. Peter also discussed about the future plans of the band, which include a brand-new studio album scheduled for early 2020. Last but not least, he shared his opinion on the Star Wars franchise.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: Hi Peter, how are you doing?
Peter: I’m doing good, thank you. Tour just started three days ago. Everything’s all right, good team, good people, good tour, good shows …
David: It’s a killer line up. Three top-notch Polish bands (Vader, Hate and Thy Disease) plus some guests from Bulgaria and USA. Also, Lilla Veneda from Poland joined you in the beginning. What kind of reception have you gathered from the fans so far?
Peter: It’s good, you know. We’re not for the first time in those cities, including Helsinki today. We already have many friends here and they’re definitely going to show up tonight. We have some new songs from the last record included in the setlist, plus we changed some things, so it might be a pretty interesting show, for Vader and all those bands who play with us. It’s going to be definitely an interesting evening for everybody.
David: I saw you guys playing with Annihilator and Testament last year here in Helsinki. Your set was mind-blowing, very brutal yet so technical. How would you compare the experience of performing now as a main act, in contrast to opening for other bands or playing a big festival?
Peter: That tour with Testament and Annihilator was, first of all, a big one. Big tour, so you may expect many fans showing up every day. But honestly, if you want to see Vader with a full-throttle then it’s better to visit us when we are headlining, because then we get more chances, the set list is bigger, so we can just give 120% of the power. When you play as a supporting act, you never get a hundred percent abilities, because that is how it goes. But anyway, that tour was pretty good, so actually last week I was talking to Jeff (Waters, from Annihilator) about making something together in Canada next year. They are working on a new record, we already have a new record coming up, so 2020 would be definitely a busy year for both bands.
David: Sounds cool! You’re currently promoting your latest EP “Thy Messenger” which was released via Nuclear Blast, just like most of your albums during the last decade. I noticed that you have also released some albums through Witching Hour Productions, which is a Polish independent record label. How does that work, how do you choose how to release these different albums?
Peter: Those are, first of all, historical albums. It’s re-releases or something from the old days. Nuclear Blast is not interested in releasing everything, you know. We started re-releasing the very first works, our demo tapes on vinyl, and some nice boxsets. We were following with the first album, so actually we tried to cooperate with Earache Records, which was our original record company. They released “The Ultimate Incantation” album in 1993 but, unfortunately, we couldn’t do it because Earache didn’t let us release even a limited license version. So, the only way to re-release the first album for its 25th anniversary was to record it again. We named the album a little bit different, but we still had the original painting from Dan Seagrave, who made the original cover. We wanted to do something, Earache didn’t want to cooperate with us, so what could we do? The album “Dark Age” was released two years ago, and we also made some special events where we played the album as a whole, fans like this kind of stuff. We have a new album that’s coming up next year, plus our second album “De Profundis”, which is one of the favorite Vader albums for the fans, is going to be 25 years since it was released. It’s going to be 20 years since “Litany” was released, and that’s another favorite album. So, probably we’re going to re-release both of those albums next year, plus a new album. It’s going to be a very good year for Vader.
David: Sounds quite intense, lots of releases coming up. Vader are pioneers when it comes to Polish metal. You started in the early 80s, but released your first album only in 1992. What kind of memories do you hold from those early years before you released your first album?
Peter: It’s a long story, just to say it in a few lines, you know. You just can’t do that. We have this book called “Total War”, which was already released in Polish language, but we’re working in an English edition as well, also Russian. It’s a pretty thick book about the whole story, specially focused in the early days, because that was the most interesting age for everybody from a new generation. Those were absolutely different times for bands playing extreme metal in Eastern countries in the 80s. The band started in the middle of the 80s, we were absolutely parallel to the music business, I mean, metal business was not existing in those days. Actually, we were one of those who started the underground scene in Poland. One of the bands, not the only one, but probably we were one of the few who survived the time. You know, we’re happy to exist for so many years, and we still have fans from new, younger generations, still having fun and enjoying Vader. That’s, I think, the biggest fortune, that makes me the most happy now. We’re still an active band, we still have fans, you know. We’re not just like a dinosaur band who plays for old pricks only (laughs).
David: And talking about Poland, I wanted to ask you about the current state of the Polish extreme metal scene. In addition to the four bands taking part of this tour, acts like Behemoth, Batushka and Mgła have achieved a lot of recognition internationally. What do you think is the key to this success?
Peter: I have no idea. I don’t really have so much time, compared to the past. I’m not following everything, so what I know is from my friends. Most of those bands you mentioned, they are friends of mine, and I’ve known those guys for years. I can say something about Behemoth, because they were going through this thing for years, for decades. Now they have gained a huge success in the world with their performances. I think they deserve it, you know. They get this mix of black metal and death metal, with this spectacle on the stage, so people like that. But you know, Batushka or Mgła it’s something different, it’s a new, modern kind of success. They gained something they didn’t even expect, that they could be so huge after just a few albums released. And, what can I say, I can wish them luck in the future (laughs).
David: My first contact with Vader was in high school. A friend of mine lend me a copy of “Future of the Past”, and I was immediately surprised by your ability to make kick-ass covers of metal classics. How important it is for you to keep paying tribute to the gods at this point in your career, the last example being “Steeler” by Judas Priest?
Peter: I’m a fan, you know. I’ve been a metal fan for years, and every time if I can give some respect, the best respect is just to play covers, you know. Just to remind the new generation what is a classic in metal. If we have the time and if we have a studio ready for that. We did “Future of the Past” with the milestones of death metal, for me and for Vader, including bands like Kreator, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Black Sabbath. People were asking for maybe something more, like part two. It took me years until I decided to release it, but I totally changed my mind, because I focused on the beginnings of the Polish metal scene. I focused on my friends from the past, you know, for the bands who were so much important in Poland, but they were just absolutely forgotten. I tried to bring back those bands who never released something important, they just disappeared in the meantime, but they were very popular and very important in the metal scene in Poland in the 80s. So, we did “Future of the Past – Part II” which we called “Hell in the East”. Sometimes, I add as a bonus when we release EP’s or something, another legend which is important, some song which I like and that we can perform live. It’s in the same vein, just to keep tradition going on, just to keep some songs. Actually, Judas Priest came back with an absolutely great album. Everybody just though that Judas Priest was going to be ended, they even got a tour called The Epitaph. It made me really happy that they released an absolutely great album, and they’re still going on, they’re still active. I love this band, you know. Actually, I think Judas Priest made me a metalhead. I started with Black Sabbath but Judas Priest is the band who made me a metalhead. I started to listen more extreme metal later on, like Slayer, Morbid Angel, Deicide, etc. So that was like, my own, our own respects for this band, you know. I had the chance to meet them personally, we supported Judas Priest twice in Poland on a festival. Very nice guys, like these metal gods from the past. These guys are different, they are not rock stars, they play such great music, and they are huge icons, but they act like normal people, like metalheads, you know. Even if they are like 60 or 70 years-old, they’re just good guys and still enjoying what they’re doing. That’s very important to me, that’s a motivating thing.
David: Definitely! One last question: Based on the name of the band, I assume you’re a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. What do you think about the prequels, sequels, spin-offs and how Disney has handled the franchise?
Peter: Yeah, Disney is a good explanation for everything, I think. Seriously, when we took the name from Star Wars, that was a different movie. We were younger and this cult movie Star Wars was different, you know. Vader was this kind of iconic dark person, on those days nobody had an idea that something like and Anakin Skywalker it’s going to show up in the future. But all in all, I really like the three episodes which we know as the first ones, and then the three following ones. Maybe, I was a little bit disappointed with the first episode “The Phantom Menace”, it was a little bit more made for a younger generation, for kids, so that the whole family can watch it. It’s not as dark as those first three parts, Episodes IV, V and XI, as we know. Only now later this story was smartly made as a whole. So, I liked that. But what was next, after Vader died, that’s different to me. After so many years, Lucas and Disney they’re trying to make absolutely the same that we saw on “A New Hope”, just more Hollywood-style, more effects, you know, bigger. This Death Star thing, just bigger, but I think it’s just too stupid, you know. But we live in different world, and I think the new generations they get something we never had. They get Internet, everybody has mobile phones, the technology gets so high. So, probably the younger generations couldn’t understand what was for us so spectacular about the first Star Wars movies we watched back in the 80s or 70s. Maybe that’s an idea. However, I feel that this is just the same but in Hollywood style, bigger. This is “Star Wars – A New Hope” but made in the 21st century (laughs). That’s just my feelings, of course. But I’m still waiting for the next ones. I really like those little episodes that they’ve made in the meantime. That’s a really good idea, I really like that, I think more than the sequel things.
David: To conclude our interview, would you like to send a message to your fans and invite them to listen to your latest record, or come to see your tour?
Peter: You know I always say we would not exist without our fans. Vader exists for so many years because we have fans, and because fans support us. So, I can’t just say enough good words about how much we love our fans. Actually, what we do, we do for our fans. It’s of course our job, we live from music. But we do it not just for us, when we do music, we do it for the fans. It works both sides, together. What can I promise? We have the EP “Thy Messenger”, but we recorded that just because we knew that the fool album was going to be delayed. At first, we wanted to release the album in December this year, but after a pitch with Nuclear Blast, we thought it’s a little bit better for everybody to release it in the beginning of 2020. The album will be probably released late January or beginning of February. I can’t say the title yet because I’m still thinking, I can’t decide about that. I’m still waiting for the main cover art by Wes Benscoter. But the album was recorded, all the songs and the title of the songs are already done, so probably we’re going to make it public. And what can I say, I’m sure the fans will like it. It’s different than the last album “The Empire”, I think it’s a little more … it’s not the same, because … maybe I shouldn’t say that. Let’s just wait and let the fans decide if they like it or not. It’s going be a very brutal album, it’s probably the most brutal in the whole history of Vader. But that’s Vader, so what can I say?
David: Thank you very much for your time, Peter! Looking forward to seeing your show tonight!
Peter: Thank you!
Here are the tour dates with HATE and THY DISEASE.
05.09.2019 – Vilnus / LEGENDOS 06.09.2019 – Riga / REPUBLIKA 07.09.2019 – Tallinn / TAPPER 08.09.2019 – Helsinki / ON THE ROCKS 09.09.2019 – Tampere / YO-TALO
10.09.2019 – Jyvaskyla / ILOKIVI
11.09.2019 – Oulu / 45 SPECIAL
12.09.2019 – Umea / DROSKAN
13.09.2019 – Trondheim / HJORTEN SCENE
14.09.2019 – Sundsvall / DESTROYER
15.09.2019 – Stockholm / SLAKTKYRKAN
17.09.2019 – Copenhagen / HOTEL CECIL
18.09.2019 – Goteborg / STICKY FINGERS
19.09.2019 – Oslo / RØVERSTADEN
20.09.2019 – Malmo / PLAN B
21.09.2019 – Erfurt / CLUB FROM HELL
22.09.2019 – Cottbus / MUGGEFUG
Nine months after the end of the successful “Pumpkins United World Tour” and a month prior to the release of their newest live album “United Alive”, we had the chance to talk extensively with Andy Deris about the current chapter in the history of the legendary German pumpkins HELLOWEEN. The always-friendly frontman told us in detail his impressions from the tour, which took them all around the world, including three concerts in Finland and which proved to be an unforgettable experience for heavy metal fans.
From his residence in the Canary Islands, the lead vocalist discussed openly about the chemistry between the members of the current line-up and the reasons why Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch were not part of this historic reunion. In addition, he gave us some details about the progress of the studio album they are preparing, the tour that will accompany that release and some possible surprises on the setlist. Of course, we asked him about the future of the band once the next touring cycle ends.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: The new Helloween live album is coming out soon and I assume you have seen and listened to the final product. How would you describe the visual and sonic experience of “United Alive” in a nutshell?
Andi: Honestly, I haven’t seen the finished product yet, I’ve seen bits and pieces to say yes or no, if it’s good or bad, if we do have to overdo anything here and there. But what I’ve seen was great, at least it looked great on my television, sound was good, so I’m definitely satisfied. The finished product, I have to say, I haven’t seen, because I’m on a remote island here on the Atlantic Ocean, so everything takes definitely a week or two longer until it finally arrives here.
David: Okay, I see. The tour was very long, 14 months and 70 shows. How did the chemistry within the band and the “new members” evolved during the different legs of the tour?
Andi: Fortunately, it stayed cool (laughs). Even after the first three or four months there was no tour stress or something going on, and the chemistry just kept up. Maybe we partied a little bit too long here and there, the singers should actually say goodbye after a few hours and not stay until five or six o’clock in the morning. Sometimes we did that, yeah (laughs). So, it’s great, maybe too good sometimes. But I’m definitely looking forward to the next tour. We always told the people that if the tour went well, and at the end of the day the chemistry was great, then we’re going to do an album in that constellation, which we will do now. So, it’ll be a lot of stress, I think, because we have two and a half singers now, which means each and every one has to sing probably the whole album, and then we switch and swap and change things. We will hopefully have a final solution on who sings what song and what things together. And yeah, it’s challenge but I’m looking forward to that, even though I know it’ll be a lot of stress.
David: You had toured previously with Gamma Ray and shared the stage with Kai Hansen, but I wanted to ask you about the experience of sharing lead vocals with Michael Kiske. Specially, how did it feel to hear him singing parts of your songs, the songs that you have written and performed originally?
Andi: Well, it was quite challenging as well, because suddenly it’s Michael singing my own songs and vice-versa. So, I learned to love certain things when he sang my songs. I thought “Oh, that’s great”, because when it comes to songwriting I now can write for Michael, not only for myself. So, suddenly you’re thinking in different dimensions which open up for the new upcoming album. We suddenly have the chance to bring on all that Keeper stuff, which Michael sang so greatly, and mix it with the stuff we have nowadays. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I already have written two songs especially for Michael and yesterday the first vocals from Michael on the songs I’ve written for him arrived, and it sounds fantastic.
David: I’m really glad to heat that! What about the highlights of the tour, of course you did a lot of shows in big places like Wacken. But on a personal level, what was the most special part of the tour for you?
Andi: For me, honestly, it was I think mainly the shows in Europe, which suddenly were so big. Normally we played in front of two or three thousand people and suddenly you had like, fifteen to eighteen thousand people in the concert hall, which was fantastic. So, playing on the biggest scale in Europe was a dream come true. Nevertheless, the whole world was actually freaking out. Even the US shows were great. I mean, this was a dream come true for everybody. We always hoped for something like that, but honestly, you should not expect it to be the way it was. So, it was much bigger than we anticipated. You mentioned Wacken, which is always a highlight. Another dream come true, headlining Wacken for the first time in our lives was definitely “Wow!” But overall, it was fourteen months of “Wow!”, you could say so. We started out in South America and it was crazy, and it just went on being crazy.
David: What about any critical points? I remember Michael Kiske got sick in the beginning of the tour. Did you feel that this thing would turn into a chaos or something like that, or where there any other problems you had to face during the tour?
Andi: Yeah, well, it was not an easy start for Michael. And there were even people who thought he was singing completely playback, which wasn’t the case because I was singing lots of his stuff. Vice versa, when I got sick in Japan, for example, he was overtaking lots of lines of my singing and helped me out. So yeah, you realize it’s actually great being two singers on tour, because when one is not feeling as good, then the other could jump in and help him as much as possible, which is great. I would say that for the singers it became much easier, even though there’s like two hours forty five minutes or even three hours in our set. But because we share vocals, Michael and I don’t have to sing longer than an hour twenty or something. It’s not a walk in the park, but at the end of the day one hour twenty is doable. It’s not such a challenge as being on stage and singing a two-hour show without interruptions, without breaks. So here, you have always a chance after one or two songs to go off stage and then the other singer is singing, when he goes off stage then the other singer is singing again but, you know, at the end of the day it’s much easier.
David: I’m originally from Chile. You mentioned that in Europe you got to play in bigger venues, but you also played in Chile in two parts of the tour. First, two sold-out shows in a smaller venue like Teatro Caupolicán but then you did the big Halloween night with Arch Enemy and Kreator in Movistar Arena, which is a lot bigger venue that it’s usually reserved for massive, international acts. It was a big achievement for a power metal band to play there. What do you think about that?
Andi: Well, that’s something like being knighted, you know (laughs). You always dream, when you start to make music, you dream about having success and stuff like that. There are always certain places, and festivals, or concert halls you want to play. And you think, when I’m playing there, that would be like the prime of your life. That would be the occasion you are being knighted and you’re being there, where you ever dreamt of being. So, this is actually happened a lot of times. The whole world tour was picked with concert halls that you only might have dreamed of playing once in your life. And we did them all now. Just for example now, for the next tour we’ve even planned to play in Tokyo the Budokan, which is for me the biggest challenge you can have as a band nowadays, playing Budokan in Tokyo. It’s like how far can you climb, because there’s nothing over that, I mean that’s top-notch. So, this is definitely a dream come true. And everybody in the band, I’m speaking for everybody, I’m quite sure, it’s so grateful that we may have that. After thirty years of career, which were always great, I mean you had always packed clubs or midsize concert halls and great tours. But now, playing the top concert halls and the top festivals. This is a dream come true, well and what can I say, we all very thankful.
David: Yeah, I’m very happy for you guys. And what about Finland. I attended your headlining show Helsinki, then you played a summer festival in Kuopio, where there were also Finnish hip hop and pop artists. How do you think the Helloween live show works for an audience where we’re not everyone is a metalhead?
Andi: Well, a lot of people who later came backstage said: “We’ve never had a chance to watch a heavy metal show” and they’ve been completely knocked out. I mean they were suddenly metal fans, so to say. Because, then again, there are a lot of hip-hop fans who tell me nowadays hip-hop has so much influence from the metal scene. When you look at the rhythms, well you don’t have electric guitars but then there are like synthesizers that are really hard and distorted. And sometimes I see a parallel world there growing up. But even though, I have to admit I don’t like hip-hop (laughs).
David: Yeah me neither, but it’s an interesting mix. Spain seems to be a very special country for Helloween. You recorded most of High Live there in the 90s. What made you choose now the Madrid show for the audio version of “United Alive”?
Andi: Well, the first thing that came up in mind it’s that we would record six or seven shows, what we wanted to avoid is to record one or two particular shows completely and then go into the studio and turn a live album into a studio album. This is something we tried to avoid. So, what we tried to do is to pick out the best pieces of the recorded shows, and these pieces should be as good as that you don’t have to do much in the studio. So far, I know the biggest challenge was the Sao Paulo show, as far as I remember there was one kick drum not recorded, so you only listened to that kick drum from the room microphones, but the microphone directly at the kick had not been working. That was the biggest challenge actually, to replace that, and this you can only do in the studio. But the rest of the guitars, vocals and shit, we did not have to do that much actually. But this is because we only took out the best songs of certain concerts, and then you have a real live thing going on. I hate to go into the studio and rerecord a live album in the studio. That’s not a live album anymore …
David: I had understood that the audio version is mostly from Spain, and then the DVD/Blu-Ray is taken from different cities. But what you mentioned about taking pieces of the shows from different countries, was it hard to come to an agreement on which bits to use, or was there someone in charge of choosing them?
Andi: Yeah, at the end of the day this is management and business. They give us the suggestions and then we listen to it, or watch it, and then the band is like pitching “this not in here, this is bullshit, I don’t want this, I don’t want that”. I mean, the typical stereotype behavior of a band (laughs). You just try to satisfy everybody and yeah, there you go again. You can imagine this takes at least a month or two, just to find all the bits and pieces that you would like to have on the video, but everybody is more or less satisfied. Honestly, I don’t want to see myself on stage when I just pull out something of my nose (laughs). You know, if there’s footage of Andi with a finger in his nose, I would rather not have it in the video. So, there you go, “I don’t like my face here, I don’t like my expression there” and the same goes for all the boys, so it already sounds like a lot of work, to find footage that everybody is happy with.
David: Yeah, exactly. So, it was mostly like you just accept or decline the bits and parts that were suggested …
Andi: Yeah, I mean you always have to do compromises. Everybody knows what is being filmed, or when you see a photograph of yourself sometimes you just don’t like it. I mean, even if your friend says it’s cool, it’s great, but you don’t like it. I mean, why would you have to live with it if you don’t like it? So, that’s the challenge mainly, and when you finally have the footage where everybody goes like “Okay, thumbs up, let’s go with it, it’s compromise, I can live with”, then it comes to the audio side. It’s the audio good enough or do you have do like bullshit in the studio to replace certain guitars, or did you fuck up your vocals here and you have to do it in the studio again. So, at the end of the day if it’s too much work, you just look for another scene and another shot where you’re still happy with, and where the audio is good. I mean, it’s like a big puzzle and believe me, it’s definitely two months of hard work to find the puzzle pieces that make up a good product.
David: Yeah, it’s such a long show also. You announced that the recording of the studio album would be postponed due to these Brazilian dates where you will replace Megadeth in a couple of months. Does this affect the schedule of the release date of the studio album?
Andi: Well, the release date itself probably will not be affected, because we have a lot of headroom and gave ourselves the freedom to even write more songs if necessary. Because, as you know, you may have thirty songs on the table to choose from, and you find out it’s maybe too trashy or it’s too speedy or too poppy or whatever. So, at the end of the day you have maybe thirty great songs on the table, but the mixture would not be right for an album. Maybe you have to go back into your own studio and try to bring up some good new songs in a certain style that you are missing. This probably will not happen because we already have tons of ideas and it looks like a great mixture, what we already have. Personally, I don’t see the necessity to rewrite or go back into the studio and write. On the other hand, I do that like a hobby, I’m sitting up in the living room in front of the television and always fiddling with a guitar, so I don’t see myself stopping writing songs because it’s an automatic thing I always do. Probably in the next two or three months I’ll bring another two, three, four or five songs, I don’t know. That would be typical Andi, and speaking for the rest of the boys probably as well. There’s always the chance that you’re in the middle of the night and have “the” idea, and you stand up at three o’clock in the morning, stumble down into the studio and try to record your idea, or you may not sleep then. Because, if you don’t, you can’t sleep anyway, because the melody won’t let you sleep. That’s the fate of a musician, when you have song ideas in your mind you’re not gonna sleep, it doesn’t let you sleep. So, you’d rather go down in the studio, record it, and then you might sleep.
David: But do you have an estimation, is it coming in the big first or second half of next year …
Andi: Well, it is scheduled and as I said, there’s nothing rescheduled. I mean, it’s still the same setup, same schedule which says late summer next year …
David: How do you see the future of the band beyond that album and tour cycle, or is it something that you’ll just going to reassess after that?
Andi: Step by step. As we mentioned to the people when we did the Pumpkins United, we thought it’s a great idea, let’s see how it works out. That’s what we said in the beginning, and it turned out great. We told everybody we are doing a tour, and when the tour is great, and the chemistry, that’s the most important thing, I think. We’re really too old for that shit, that you go on stage with people you don’t like. Well, why would you do that, I mean. We had a lot of success with the five-piece Helloween, without the old members. So now the old members are back, the success is there, but the main thing is the chemistry. Honestly, I definitely know that for example Michael Kiske would never be with us on tour if he would not enjoy it. So, this is for me the proof that the chemistry is really working greatly. And we are definitely very thankful for that we enjoyed a lot of common adventures here and everybody is happy with each other. So, that’s the main point. The chemistry is there, we like each other, maybe sometimes even a bit too much as I said, because when you’re partying up to five or six o’clock in the morning, it really damages the upcoming shows (laughs). But what can you do, if it’s a great night, everybody knows it and you just keep sitting and drinking. You should not do that too much, but that shows that the chemistry is just right. And we take it from there, and now the album is coming because the tour was great, and if this album, the studio work is in the same vibe, that you like each other, that you’re having a good time, that you’re having a laugh, that’s rock and roll and then you keep going. If that would not be the case, I would say we do that album, we would do another world tour and call it a day with the Pumpkins United. But if everything is going the way I expect, that the chemistry is still up and running, why shouldn’t we do that for another few years or until the end of our days, you know. I mean, if the setup is working, why not?
David: Yeah, exactly. And with such a vast catalog, there’s plenty of room for changes in the setlist, specially from the era with you as the lead singer. Are there any particular songs that you would like to include in the setlist in the future?
Andi: Well, from my time I definitely would love to sing for the first time songs like “Kill it” or a song that I always love to sing and we haven’t played for at least twelve years is “Push” from “Better than Raw”. There are so many songs to choose from, “Hey Lord” it’s always a great sing-along for the people. So, from my era there’s definitely another six, seven songs I really love to death that I would definitely like to sing on stage. But, will it fit with the mixture of everything, I don’t know. So, I would reckon fifty-sixty percent of the next upcoming tour will completely be a change of setup, new songs plus the “must-play” songs. As you know, there’s always the demand that we will play like “Future World”, “I Want Out” or “Power”. These songs have to be played, otherwise they probably will kick you off stage (laughs). So, there are certain songs you have to play, and we want to play them, we will play them. But I would reckon sixty percent of everything you heard is definitely going to change, and different songs. There’s a lot to choose from anyway, so we shouldn’t have a problem.
David: Yeah, and I’m glad that you mentioned songs from “Better Than Raw”, one of my favorite Helloween albums, because that was something I missed in the last tour …
Andi: We definitely have to pick the raisins of the others, I mean the last tour was a great mixture, but you can only play three hours. I mean, more would be super tiring for the people, not talking of the band. I mean, you have to see our drummer Danny, he has to play three hours, there’s no second drummer. Or Markus on the bass guitar, he is definitely three hours constantly playing bass guitar. For the guitarists, they could easily say, you know what, I’m feeling tired, I’m off. It’s still enough to play a song with two guitars, as it used to be. But for the bass and for the drums they don’t have any other chance than to fiddle three hours. So, that’s heavy, I mean the drummer Danny, sometimes he really worried me, because backstage he was completely breaking down, and needed ice to get his muscles working again. Then you know you have another show tomorrow, then you’re definitely feeling very sorry for that guy. Well, he did the job, I mean however he does it, I don’t know. He’s a miracle, he always plays great, even if the last show was very demanding and you really thought the next concert he can’t play, and he played greatly. But as I say, I mean this is something you always have to keep in the back of your mind. It’s not as easy for the rest of the boys as it is for Michael and myself, you know.
David: Yeah, and maybe a little bit linked to that, and without wanting to be controversial, but since the reunion was announced some people pointed out the fact that Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch were not part of it. Did you discuss this thing at some point or what are the reasons for that, what’s the state of your relationship with them?
Andi: Honestly, we never made a big secret out of it. They had to leave the band because they betrayed the band. This is sad, but that’s the truth. And I would not like to stand on stage with some foul pumpkins, if you know what I mean. So, these boys have proved me to be not cool, and they really were starting intrigues and betrayed the band back in the day. They had to leave, because the trust was gone. And why would I invite foul vegetable on stage, so I’m very sorry. It hurt a lot, because Roland was a supposed friend of mine, and I really thought he was. For me, it was like the world breaking apart, when I realized that he betrayed the band, and he betrayed myself. So, why would I invite people that had to leave the band because they were no good pumpkins.
David: Yeah, it’s really sad to hear that. But I’m really glad that the guys who are touring now and recording this album are getting along very well and enjoying what you’re doing. And I want to thank you, because this was a real gift for all the Helloween fans. I’ve been a Helloween fan since high school and I never thought I will see you guys together, although I loved seeing the shows from your era, but this was a dream come true for many fans. So, I wanted to thank you on behalf of all the Helloween fans around the world.
Andi: Very much appreciated, thank you very much, and the whole thing back to you people, because you made the dream come true for us as well. Because, we only hoped that we may join generations, but you never know if it works out or not. But it did, so suddenly you had my generation in the concert hall, you have my son’s generation in the concert hall, and this is like a dream come true for everybody. So, it looks like we all did the right thing (laughs).
David: Definitely. So, I think I have all my questions covered. I don’t know if you want to add any message or just say hi to your fans …
Andi: Yeah, just say hello to all the big Pumpkin-fans out there. I’m definitely very much looking forward, I can’t wait for the next tour because touring is always great. Now comes the boring studio time (laughs), it’s always the same thing. You start out writing songs, which is your hobby, and you’re really like into it, and when you have a great idea, it’s really fun. But then, you have to take that very song that you just love and rerecord it in the studio. Every bit and piece and every atom is being double-checked, and then it becomes work. That’s the sad thing about it. I would love to be back in the 60s where you just walk in the studio and recorded live and that’s it, you know.
David: Yeah, I see. Well thank you very much for this opportunity, take care and good luck with the future projects of Helloween …
Andi: Thank you very much! I hope to see you somewhere there in Finland or wherever. Cheers, bye!
The German Thrash Legends DESTRUCTION have recently released their newest studio album entitled “Born to Perish” via Nuclear Blast. After the replacement of long-term drummer Vaaver by Randy Black (ex-Primal Fear, ex-Annihilator) and the addition of second guitarist Damir Eskic, this is their first record to feature them as a four-piece since their comeback in 1999. The album has received instant appraisal from fans and critics in the last few days.
We had the opportunity to discuss in detail with the always charming bassist/vocalist and songwriter Schmier about the line-up changes, the current state of the band, and his views of the world and the metal scene. Schmier also shared some stories from his travels to South America, the upcoming Destruction tour, and his plans to go on the road with the Big Four of German Thrash Metal in the near future.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube.
David: Hi Schmier, I’m David from Metal Shock Finland and Powermetal.cl. How are you doing today?
Schmier: I’m doing good. We’ve had a busy week, you know, the album just came out. Last weekend we played in festivals and today we had a bass playthrough release, and there’s a lot of stuff to do at the moment. So, it’s a little overwhelming at one point, so many reactions in a moment. But the album is doing fantastic, so it couldn’t be any better.
David: What kind of feedback have you gotten from the fans over this weekend?
Schmier: We’ve had amazing feedback. We’ve been on two big festivals and people reacted amazingly, the CDs were sold out, the vinyls were sold out. People really dig the album, they love it. It’s the best reactions we’ve had in 20 years or so. It’s actually crazy, I just got the news that on release day we were on the Trendcharts place number twelve in Germany. We haven’t been that high ever in history, that’s like the highest we have been entering Trendcharts. It’s also a very good sign that people are really excited about the album. I mean, of course, nowadays you also have Instagram and Facebook, where people post pictures with the album, and it shows the excitement, you know. It’s nice to see that.
David: One of the main differences of the album is, of course, the new lineup with two guitars and a new drummer. Can you discuss a little bit the contribution of Randy and Damir to the sound of Destruction?
Schmier: We made a mistake once in 1986, when we had two new members. We gave the two new members too much space and it ruined the band basically. It sounds bad, but that’s what the way it was, you know. So, it took us a long time to find trust in the idea of bringing a second guitar player. But this time we brought people that we know, people that we like, people that didn’t wanna put themselves in the position of being a songwriter or something right away, you know. We have one clear thing, and it’s that Mike and I are the songwriters of the band. We write the songs, the other guys are open to contribute, you know. We keep some space, we don’t tell them what to play, they can be themselves on this album, and I think it worked pretty well. For two songs, Randy wrote all drum patterns in advance and we kind of made songs out of drum patterns basically, so it was a different approach to songwriting, so that was very interesting. And Damir had a lot of space for his solos, leads, overdubs, extra guitar harmonies. We were pushing him, you know, he was actually the one who was afraid to play too much. But we wanted the new guys to be a part of this, and that happens only when they get the freedom to play, and that’s what we did.
David: Yeah, but although they don’t write songs, Damir is a more technical guitar player, and maybe Randy comes from a more technical school. Do you think that this could affect the overall sound of the band?
Schmier: I don’t think so, no. Vaaver was a much more technical player than Randy, he was more into Jazz and stuff. Randy is very much a rock player, he’s played many different rock and metal styles. Damir’s style of soloing is what we were looking for, somebody who can shred, because we already have a riff master in Mike. What we needed was somebody that can do something extra on the solos, and that’s what Damir does. And this, mixed together with very solid songs, the songs are really catchy this time, they were thought for the live situation. I think that’s a big difference with the last albums, something we already learned in “Under Attack”, that sometimes less is more. It’s all about the song at the end, it’s not about every musician showing off. It’s about writing good songs that people want to hear live, you know. And that’s something I think “Born to Perish” really has. All of those ten songs would be great live songs, I think.
David: Definitely. Do you have any favorite ones in the new album?
Schmier: It’s very difficult, you know. The way the album starts, I think we put some favorites at the beginning but also at the end there’s some very strong material. So, for me it’s very difficult to say. I have a special bond with certain songs that I wrote, or special lyrics, you know. The lyrics for “Inspired by Death” are about some friends that died last year or beginning of this year also, so it’s a very personal song, it means a lot to me. I think also that song turned out very cool, because it’s very old-school, very easy, so it’s a special song. But I also like “Betrayal”, it’s maybe my favorite from the songs I wrote. And I like “Butchered for Life”, because it’s a different song, you know. It has this “Reject Emotions” feeling with the acoustic guitars, something we hadn’t done for more than twenty years, this is something special for me again. We could do the whole twist with two guitars, being a little bit more progressive, so it sticks out of the rest of the record. But I also like a song like “Rotten”, because of the triplet feeling, it has a different kind of vibe than the rest of the album, which is more like trashy in-your-face and offbeat style. And I think there’s a lot of little things in the album that you may not hear when you listen to it for the first time, but they show off by later listening. It’s very difficult for me to say which is my favorite song. Of course, the title track “Born to Perish” sticks out too, because it stands for the album basically.
David: You mentioned your lyrics, and they’re very important to you. Since the beginning of Destruction you’ve been very critical towards politicians, powerful people and religion. Have you seen any change happen during this 30 plus years of your career, or are we basically facing the same problems?
Schmier: It’s gotten worse, you know (laughs), it’s such a bad thing. When we wrote “Curse the Gods”, all this religious bullshit was not as bad as it is today, now we have religious wars again. And as you can see, the politicians got worse too, because we have more wars in the world now than in the last 50 years. We have a lot of critical situations of world economies, we have a lot of crazy politics in office now. Look at America, look at Hungary. In many countries, the conservative right-wing parties are leading the country, so it actually got worse. But it’s coming to an end, you know. What I realized with this album, when I wrote the lyrics and when I watch the world, is that the capitalistic system is coming to an end. People more and more start to realize it’s not working, and even big world economists are actually improving that by now. And I don’t know if I will still be able to witness this with my own eyes, but this capitalistic system will fail. It has failed already, and it will come to an end in the next years. People have to find something new, I like progressive ideas. I think Finland is a country that’s actually very progressive in that way, one of the first countries in the world to start this kind of minimum wage type of thing, where people get a certain payment from the government to have enough money to survive and then be maybe independent in their jobs, they don’t have to live on the street. I think it’s very interesting, and that’s the stuff I’m writing about basically.
David: You also wrote “Eternal Ban” back in 1986, and metal bands are still banned for playing in certain countries due to conservative regulations. How do you think this is still possible in 2019?
Schmier: It’s actually crazy to see this in a modern world, that people can be so conservative. The conservatives are leading this planet and it will never change, I guess. Today I just heard in Germany that CBD oil was now banned from a big market or a big chain, you know. CBD oil is proven to help people when they have cancer, depression and stuff. It’s a thing that’s legal and allowed, but it gets off a store because conservative people complained about it, because it’s made from marijuana. It shows how conservative and two-faced those people are. Look at America and Canada, they have legalized marijuana, because it makes a lot of money for them, for their economy, and this will come hopefully one day too here. All these uptight people will go and fucking die, and the new generation will be an open one, a generation of peace who sees the world as a whole, as a planet that is our survival, our future, the future for your kids. But mankind is too stupid to understand, so songs like “Eternal Ban”, about oppression and the unity of metalheads, will always be an important part of Destruction’s lyrics. Because for me, heavy metal is a thing to break out of the routine, it was like this when I was 16 years old, and it’s like this when I’m fifty, it’s no difference. For me, metal is unity, a community of different people who tries to break out, tries to look over the horizon. And that’s why I’m proud to be a metalhead.
David: It’s really strange for me when I read in the media that they’re still blaming videogames and metal music for inciting to violence, when it’s actually probably the system that makes people go crazy…
Schmier: Yeah, exactly. It’s the system, and it’s the wrong rules of the system that make people go crazy. But you know, they always look for the weak link to accuse and of course that’s the obvious weak link. It’s the easiest solution, so they go for it, you know.
David: Well, moving on to happier things. I’m looking forward to seeing the new lineup live. How has the chemistry onstage worked between you guys so far?
Schmier: You know we’ve been going through a lot of tests. I was scared at the first show, like are we going to bump into each other, how is this going to work because I’m still using three microphones live, so everybody needs certain coordination on stage. Mike and me, we’ve been doing this for a long time together, and Damir understood the band really well, he’s a professional musician. It wasn’t easy because we went from playing only small stages co-headlining with Overkill, where we didn’t have so much space because Overkill had the main setup, then to headlining shows ourselves where we had a whole theater stage for us, and now two huge big stages of the festivals which is like amazing space of course. So, we had to go through all those stages now to find ourselves, but it actually worked out really well, you know we’re all professional. We have a very good chemistry within in the band, it worked great. Prior to the album, when we rehearsed the songs and we wrote the songs, it worked very good too, so this is a very strong line-up and I’m very proud that I can play with those guys. I think it’s the strongest Destruction we’ve had in many years, and I wish we would have gotten a second guitarist earlier but you know, time wasn’t right yet. Now we have done something that was necessary for the future of the band and I’m very glad that the fans also appreciate it.
David: What about the tour. You have announced some dates around Europe for the next few months. Are you planning to tour America, Latin America for example?
Schmier: Yeah, you look like you’re Latin American, aren’t you? I can tell by your name and by your accent that you’re from Latin America …
David: Yeah, I’m from Chile actually, I was going to tell you later… (laughs)
Schmier: Chile, of course. Chile has one of the best metal scenes in the world. Of course we’re gonna go back to Latin America. Actually, we will start this touring schedule right after the summer with Overkill and Flotsam and Jetsam for a second part of the Killfest, because the first Killfest was sold out everywhere, now there’s going to be a second round. Then we’re going to do festivals, we’re coming to Finland playing the Steel Chaos festival in November, which is very exciting for us to come back finally to Finland again. And then next year we’re going to start a whole touring schedule, we will have three parts of a European tour. First will be I think Southern Europe, then we do Central Europe, and then we do East Europe and Scandinavia. And in between those tours we will do Asia, United States and Canada. So, the whole first six months next year we’re gonna be on tour, supporting our new record. And then we will see what’s the next plan, because we’re also holding it back a little bit with the timeframe for next year and 2021, because we still want to do the German Big Four Tour with Kreator, Sodom and Tankard. So, that’s also on the list of priorities for the next year, and hopefully we’re gonna have some good news about this soon. And Latin America is maybe one of the parts of the world where this tour could start, because there’s a lot of thrash fans down there.
David: I was just going to ask you about the German Big Four, if there is any chance to do that as a tour…
Schmier: Yeah, that’s what we want to do. We want to do touring of selected countries, big venues and everybody has to get their timeframe right. We’ve been talking about when it could start, and we all agreed that it’s at the end of 2020. We could do the first shows to test everything, and then in 2021 go full force with this package. Of course, first of all we have to get our touring schedules right but Destruction is ready, basically it’s up to Kreator and up to Mille because they’re doing a new album of Kreator that will come in the beginning of next year, and hopefully we can get this all under one umbrella and make it happen.
David: Cool man, that’s really great news. I’m sure everybody’s gonna be very happy about it…
Schmier: Everybody is excited about it so it will happen. It’s just a matter of time, when and how fast. I try to push everybody because we’re not getting any younger, now we’re all still in good shape, we all did great albums, you know. There will be a new Kreator album coming, a new Sodom album coming next year also, so the time will be right for doing that.
David: As you discovered I’m originally from Chile. You have played many times in Chile, in different cities, not only in Santiago …
Schmier: Yeah, we’ve played all over the country, actually. We’ve played in Copiapó and played crazy places (Valparaiso, Concepción, Temuco). Chile has so much dedication for metal and there’s so many crazy metal fans there, so it’s always amazing to come there and play. We’ll never forget our first time in Chile in 2000, when we came with The Haunted and Immortal, it was total chaos. We had a signing session at this record store, and it was mayhem on the street, you know, the people were freaking out. It’s something we all remember when we look back at the history of Chilean concerts.
David: I understood that you’re still interested in the current metal scene. Could you name a couple of bands that you’re into that you could recommend, or that you think will grow big in the future?
Schmier: That’s very difficult, I think everyone should build their own opinion. I’m interested in the scene. I’m following especially the young thrash bands because that’s the music I dig, the music I play myself, this music I’m good at. I’m following what’s coming out of the young and fresh thrash bands in the last years. Basically, we have played with many of those bands, so I saw all those young age bands on tour with us, so it’s kind of interesting to see their development. Bands like Warbringer, Headlock and Evile, that I’ve seen now for a couple of years already, where are they going, are they gonna try to go away from their style. I mean, Warbringer already tried that and it wasn’t an album that the fans liked so much. It’s interesting for me to see what the young guys are doing now. I’m also producing a young band at the moment, Burning Witches, which is a female heavy metal band from Switzerland that I’m managing and producing also. So, I’m trying to keep up with the young bands, but it’s difficult to say what’s the newest thing of the day because, at the moment, a lot of the pop metal is very famous, you know. Stuff with loads of keyboards and backing tracks, and that’s actually not my kind of metal, neither that metalcore stuff, it’s not my kind of music. So, I’m trying to stick to the old school and see what young bands are supporting and playing the old school, and it’s very interesting to see. But I’m not very influenced by newer bands, I think that would be a big mistake. This has happened to other bands, that you change your own sound and do something new, and the fans will hate it. That’s not my idea, my idea is to defend what we have reached and keep our own style, which Destruction has, and that’s a great gift, of course.
David: I think we covered all my questions. Would you like to send a message to your fans and invite them to listen to “Born to Perish”?
Schmier: Yeah, I hope you like this record, reactions so far have been fantastic. Of course, every record is a new baby, but this one is a very special one for us because we have had a tough last year when Vaaver left, it wasn’t easy for us to continue, we had to find strength in the future of the band. But I’m glad we pulled ourselves together and found two great people to continue this journey, hopefully for another ten plus years, or as long as we can, because we love what we do. And I think you can hear this on the new album, Destruction doesn’t sound like an old band, it sounds like a band that still has fun. And we’re looking forward to coming back on tour, we’re going to be in Finland of course in Steel Chaos Festival, but we will also have shows all over the world in the next couple of months, so we’re looking forward to see you.
David: Thank you so much for your time, it’s been a lot of fun to talk with you. Congratulations on the album!
Schmier: My pleasure, thank you very much my friend. Have a nice week!
