Interviews

Audio Interview With Andi Deris From HELLOWEEN: “If everything is going the way I expect, that the chemistry is still up and running, why shouldn’t we do this (the Helloween reunion) for another few years or until the end of our days”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 4, 2019
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

Helloween-2019

Interview by David Araneda

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).

Helloween-live-cover

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!

Audio Interview With SCHMIER From DESTRUCTION: “We’re planning the German Big Four Tour with Kreator, Sodom and Tankard”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on August 13, 2019
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , , . 2 Comments

Destruction-Schmier2019

Interview by David Araneda

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.

Destruction Born To Perish

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.

Destruction2019c

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!

Audio Interview With Oscar Dronjak from HAMMERFALL: “I think ‘Dominion’ will go down as one of HammerFall’s masterpieces”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 28, 2019
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment
Hammerfall

Credit: Robert Tüchi – Picwish Fotodesign

Interview by David Araneda

Since the release of their celebrated debut album “Glory to the Brave” in 1997, HAMMERFALL has remained for over twenty years as one of the most iconic bands in the classic heavy metal field. In a couple of weeks, the Swedes will release their eleventh study album “Dominion”, their second one with Napalm Records and also their second with the current line-up including Oscar Dronjak (guitar), Joacim Cans (voice), Fredrik Larsson (bass), Pontus Norgren (guitar) and David Wallin (drums).

We had the opportunity to talk with Oscar Dronjak, founding member, guitarist and main songwriter of the band. Oscar told us in detail about the creative process of “Dominion” and the tour that will accompany this release and that will take them around the world in a new Metal Crusade. He also shared with us his vision on the Swedish metal scene and some memories of his visits to South America. He even took the time to talk about some of his hobbies, such as wrestling and reading.

We leave you the full transcript of the interview below as well as the original audio version in YouTube.

David: Your eleventh studio album “Dominion” is coming out soon. I listened to the promo and I have to say that I think it’s a very solid album. How would you describe the concept and the sound of the album to your fans?

Oscar: It’s not really a concept or anything, we always try to make the best heavy metal album that we possibly can. And I think for this time, if you compare it to the last album, where the process of songwriting was really stressful, whereas this time we had much more time in our hands. We started earlier, we changed the approach a little bit to the songwriting, try to give us time to put all the details that needed to be in there. I think that’s a really important part of why this album sounds the way it does. To me, right now, it’s very difficult to talk about what does this album sounds like because it’s still so fresh in my mind, but I have a feeling that this album will be remembered for a long time as one of the milestones of HammerFall, that’s a bit what it feels right now.

David: I understood that this time you also wrote some material on the road. Do you think this affected the outcome?

Oscar: I definitely do, because that’s something I’ve always said I can never do, that’s impossible it doesn’t work for me to do it that way. But once I tried it, I realized that you get this adrenaline rush just from being on stage and that lasts you for a couple hours anyway, regardless of what you do after the show. So, I tried to use that energy and that adrenaline just to recreate something, and I found it to be not always easy, but for the most part really easy to get into the mode, when you were already in the performing mode on stage, it was easy to go into the songwriting mode afterwards. And that’s one of the things I didn’t think would work but it worked beyond my belief, beyond my wildest dreams, so I’m very happy with this.

David: I was also very impressed by the artwork. I think HammerFall album covers have always been fascinating and cool, but I think this might one of your best so far. Was there a reason why you decided to work again with Sam Didier?

Oscar: Well, the thing is that since he did his first album cover for us in 2002 he’s been involved one way or another in each album, for the last two obviously he wasn’t the cover artist, but he did do the singles for both “Bushido” and “Hammer High”. This time we decided early we’re gonna use him again for the album art, because you know, he works at Blizzard Entertainment in California, and we went to visit his workplace, I believe it was January of last year, and there they have so many games and there’s so much artwork and stuff on the walls everywhere. It was really cool to go inside and look at all the different stuff that they had, you know they’ve been doing games for overt thirty years I think. So, we saw one of the artwork that was hanging on the walls and I think Sam told us a little bit jokingly “when are we gonna get the Evil Hector” or something like that, you know. And both Joacim and I were like, wait a minute that’s not too bad, you know, that’s a pretty cool idea. So, we sort of based the idea on that artwork, in the end they’re completely different but still that’s where the idea came from. And I think he thought it was really fun to do the album cover this time, and he actually did the “(We Make) Sweden Rock” single cover, and also he will do the next single cover, which is gonna be “Dominion” you know the title track, it’s coming out in two weeks or something like that. He’s done that one too. So, he’s done almost all of the artwork for this release, and I think it’s the perfect fit, this is the way it was meant to be.

Hammerfall-cover

David: You mentioned the first single “(We Make) Sweden Rock” and I think it’s a phenomenal tribute to the Swedish rock and metal scene. Can you tell us what inspired you guys to write this song?

Oscar: It was Joacim’s idea. I think he outlined everything, from what the idea of the song would be to the video, how that was supposed to be. And I immediately jumped on it, I thought it was a great idea. I think this is something we could definitely make worthy for both for HammerFall and for the bands we make tribute to. The cool thing about the lyrics is that all of the lines in the song are references to either a song title, or an album title, or just like a catch phrase or something that reminds you or describes these artists that are in there. I believe that’s thirteen references to bands sitting in there, but for the video obviously thirteen is not enough, so we decided to put the others as many photos of bands that we could. I’m not sure, we missed a couple of course, but for the most part these are all the great Swedish bands throughout the years. And together, we are the ones who make Sweden rock, all of us. Because we all should be proud of what Sweden has become, what a powerful force Sweden has become in the metal music.

David: It’s truly amazing how a relatively small country like Sweden keeps producing excellent metal bands that achieve international recognition. What do you think is the key to this success?

Oscar: I really have no idea why this happened, but I have a few ideas of things that might have helped. One thing is that we have a strong musical tradition in Sweden, that we’ve have for the last thirty, forty years, maybe even more than that, which comes from both the city government and the national government. They encourage people to play music, which it’s always helpful to get the bands started, you just learn your instrument, whatever it may be, it doesn’t have to be a rock band or you know like your drums or guitar, it could be a trumpet or saxophone or clarinet, whatever it is. People have been encouraged since they were small kids to play music. That’s definitely one thing. But something I also think, and I don’t know why this is, but it seems to me, and this is why I’m so proud of the Swedish bands, not just for creating music and spreading the music worldwide, but for creating individuality in their bands. Because if you look at bands like Steel, Sabaton, HammerFall, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Meshuggah, Backyard Babies, Evergrey, Hardcore Superstar, you know, the list goes on and on. All these bands have one thing in common, that they don’t sound like one another, they sound completely unique, exactly like this band. And I don’t know why that is, but that’s something very important, that people have the individual spirit to create something that is their own, and that doesn’t sound like anything else.

David: I agree with that. While listening to “Dominion”, I could distinguish a lot of influences from classic metal bands in your riffs, even more than in previous records. I don’t know if you agree with that, was it a conscious thing or is it something in your DNA that you do subconsciously.

Oscar: Well, there are very few things that are conscious decisions when it comes to songwriting with HammerFall. Of course, I try to steer the album in a certain direction, when it comes to the fact that you can’t have too many fast songs, or too many slow songs, to get the diversity and the variety to the songs. But, as far as what you’re mentioning about the riffs sounding more like 80’s metal, that’s just a coincidence, that’s just what happens. Maybe because I was on tour, and I was in a good mood, in a great place, when I was writing a lot of the music. Maybe because I just listened to these bands, or maybe mainly because I was in a good place when I was writing this music. I was very unstressed, it was just writing for fun, when you’re writing but you love what you’re doing. With “Built to Last”, for the last couple of months it was just a factory, we had to write the songs and when one was done, you couldn’t really enjoy it, you had to put it aside and go onto the next one, we had a full album to record when we started. But for this one, we were all done with the songs a couple of months before the recording was supposed to start, so it was really stressless in that respect, that I could write songs based on what I was feeling, and that’s always helpful. That’s the way I write my best music.

David: Definitely. I think Joacim’s voice is getting stronger than ever now, even if you’ve been touring for over twenty years. We’ve seen him running marathons while you’re drinking beer on the side (laughs). What about you, what’s your secret to stay fit and creative?

Oscar: I don’t know. I think it’s because, you know, I started the band in 1993 based on one thing: I wanted to play the music that I love. It’s as simple as that, really. I’ve had the luxury and the opportunity to be able to play the music that I love, to have creative freedom for twenty-two years or even more, if you count when we wrote “Glory to the Brave”. So, for me, it’s just, I do what I love, and as long as I’m having as much fun as I have, and I love it as much as I do, I will always have the drive to create new music.

David: “Dominion” is your second release with Napalm Records, but your back catalog is currently being reissued by Nuclear Blast. I wanted to know how involved you are in those reissues …

Oscar: Sometimes they don’t ask us at all, you know I just got a package a couple months ago with the first five albums re-released on vinyl in the Back on Black label. I didn’t know about that, it was completely news to me. But when they do the 20th anniversary thing, which we have done on “Glory to the Brave” and “Legacy of Kings”, and we will do for “Renegade” next year, then we’re heavily involved in everything of course.

David: So, you’re working with Nuclear Blast only for those special editions of your back catalogue.

Oscar: Yeah, I mean they still have all our back catalogue under contract, and I like the fact that they want to do something with it. If there’s something you could definitely say for them is that they are very creative in finding new things to go. And I think the re-releases that we did on “Glory to the Brave” and “Legacy of Kings”, we tried to make them for the fans who have been fans since those albums came out, or close to it, the people who were there and supported us from the very beginning. We tried to give them something extra special, not just here’s another re-release, we remastered it and whatever. We tried to put on stuff that they could not find anywhere else, stuff that we had in our own archives, just to make it worthwhile for them to buy. And from our side, of course, a thank you to you guys for being such loyal fans over the years.

David: Yeah, that’s great from a fan’s perspective. Let’s talk about the “Dominion tour”. You’re currently playing some European summer festivals, then you’re heading to Colombia, touring North America with Sabaton and coming back to Central Europe. Is there any chance to see you guys in the rest of South America or in Scandinavia anytime soon?

Oscar: I’m a hundred percent sure there will be back in South America but not together with the Colombian dates. Those were isolated and also book about a year ago, I think it was a really long time ago. So, those are a one-off thing. We will go back to South America for sure, most likely the next fall or something. I have no idea when, we have to start discussing it, but it will happen for sure. As far as Scandinavia goes, we have plans for early next year. The European tour is in February, so most likely it will happen in March or April. But that’s where we are at right now, we have plans and ideas but nothing is confirmed or booked.

Hammerfall-DominionAdmatEuU2020_band

David: With eleven studio albums and so many classic songs it must be really hard to build a setlist nowadays, especially when you play a shorter set at a festival. What kind of criteria do you use to decide which songs to play live?

Oscar: It depends on what festival it is. We played at Graspop for example in Belgium, we played only forty five minutes, quite earlier in the day too, and in that case we were figuring most of the people who are there haven’t seen us before, or at least aren’t as familiar with HammerFall to go to every show that we do. So, we decided that we would only play the important ones so to speak, but when it comes to putting together a ninety-minute setlist for a headliner slot at a festival, that’s totally different. Then we can have some fun with it as well and play around a little bit. But generally, we have a setlist for ninety minutes and then whatever amount of time we have for each festival, we just scale it down. And you’re right, it gets harder and harder and more and more difficult to choose, but I’d have it rather that way than the other way round.

David: Back in 2014 you played “Glory to the Brave” in its entirety for the 25th anniversary of Wacken. Have you considered to do this again in the future with any other album?

Oscar: No, not really. Back then we came from a long lay-off. We wanted to do something special for the Wacken show, of course, but also because we didn’t have such a solid ground to stand on, we’d be coming off a long break. This was also before “(r)Evolution” was released, so we couldn’t play any songs from that album either. So, that was why it was a bit special that show. But as far as right now, the way I see is that HammerFall has so much more to offer musically, I’m in such a good place songwriting wise, we have a momentum that we want to want to keep going. And for us it’s about the future, not about the past. I mean, eventually, yeah, sure we could do that, we could play “Legacy of Kings” in its entirety or whatever it is, you know. But it would have to be for a very special thing, and it’s not gonna happen for a lot of years.

David: The current line-up has worked together for about five years, and if you don’t count the replacement of your drummer it’s been over ten years. You mentioned that the mood in the band is currently better than ever, so can we consider this to be the definite incarnation of HammerFall?

Oscar: I think if you asked the fans, they would say that the line-up that we had with Anders, Stefan and Magnus would be the classic line-up. But as far as the way HammerFall sounds, you know, the way we are as a live band right now, I don’t think any other incarnation of HammerFall can touch this. Where we are right now it’s the very best live act of HammerFall that we have ever seen. And I think you’re right, if we keep going like this for a while, this will be the definite line-up.

David: A couple of questions about wrestling if you’re up for it. We know you’re a big fan of pro-wrestling and we saw Eric Rowan wearing a HammerFall T-shirt in a WWE show in Stockholm. What was your reaction when you saw this, and do you think there’s any connection between wrestling and your music?

Oscar: I absolutely do. It’s been a while since I got this question, but for sure I think there’s a connection. Not least, the way it is performing live in front of fans, reacting and interacting with fans. I think that’s really important and as a good way of comparing the two things. Obviously, what they do is very physical, I guess we do a little bit of physicality too, it’s quite taxing cardio-wise to run around the stage for two hours or whatever it is, but for sure there are similarities in that, absolutely.

David: But what was your reaction when you saw Eric’s T-shirt, did you know beforehand?

Oscar: I was ecstatic! I immediately retweeted it, put it on Facebook and send it to all my friends that I know who like wrestling, because I’m a big wrestling fan myself, so it was beautiful.

David: We have a very special question from our editor. You have to think your answers very carefully and justify them: If you were a pro-wrestler, what would be your stage name, your finishing move, and your entrance theme?

Oscar: (Laughs) You know, when I formed HammerFall in the 90’s I was thinking about this a lot. I was playing in a fantasy wrestling league. This was probably 1994 or maybe 1995, and then my wrestler’s name was “Chains”, because I was wearing chains, I liked it, you know on my stage clothes. And my finishing move, one of them was “The HammerFall”, which was a fireman’s carry from the second rope into a pinning combination I think, and I also had another one which was the “Raw Ride’s pin”, which if you follow WWE nowadays that’s been the finishing move of Cesaro for quite a few years. But like I said, this was in the middle of the 90’s, early 90’s even. But “Raw Ride’s Pin” obviously came from Running Wild’s Raw Ride, the song. So yes, I’ve thought about this a lot, I had an answer for you, and I think it’s a always fun to talk about wrestling in interviews because it’s a passion of mine.

David: What about the entrance theme for a special event, you have a lot of songs to choose from …

Oscar: Yeah, it gets difficult. I think it would be “Last Man Standing” would be close, I think. Because it’s such a catchy one, it goes along really well. But also “Hammer High” would actually be almost perfect for that part. Yeah, “Hammer High” might be the best one, actually.

David: Moving on to other geeky things. You have written “Game of Thrones”-inspired songs in the past, even before the TV show was aired. I don’t know if you watched the TV-series, and what do you think about the finale?

Oscar: I did watch it. For the longest time, I didn’t want to watch it because I’m reading the books, and that’s how I discovered the “Game of Thrones” or “A Song of Ice and Fire” so I wanted to wait for the books, I didn’t want to get any impressions from what the television producers thought about where the story should go. But I couldn’t hold out any longer, so I watched the last three seasons just after the final season was done. I like the show very much, I think it was a great show, but the books have so much more meat on them and so many more layers so you can’t get through in the television screen. This is why I read a lot of books, because that’s the only way you can get that experience, you know, to be fully immersed in something like a book. You can’t compare that to a movie, the movie can be as great as you want, and still it will never be as good as the book. When it comes to the finale, or what they did with the story, the final season felt very rushed to me. I felt like they had to tie things together. It was great actually, and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but the further away you got from the books, the less impressed or shall we say the less enthusiastic I was about it. Because it felt like they were rushing into something and just had to finish it off and oh here we go, now the question everybody’s waiting been waiting for, who’s sitting on the Iron Throne at the end of the series. But having said that, I did like it very much.

David: Going back to HammerFall. I’m originally from Chile, and you’ve visited our country in seven occasions if I remember correctly. You have shared the stage with bands like Arch Enemy, Kreator and Edguy, as well as the only main act. What kind of memories do you have from the Chilean audience?

Oscar: Mostly insane, man. I mean, the audiences in South America, and Chile is certainly no exception from that, they are always unbelievable. When you come there you get blown away, it’s always the same, even if we’ve been there many times, you still aren’t really prepared for how it goes. It’s always such a pleasure to play live in Chile. One thing I remember the most is when, this probably was on the first time we went there, it was 1999 on the “Legacy of Kings Tour”. We have this song called “Stronger than All”, the riff has sort of a melody in it, you know, and I never realized you could sing it, but people in the audience were singing that riff the whole night, and I was just blown away and I will never forget that. I mean, that thing has happened several times since then, but that was the first time I ever experienced it. It was just beautiful.

David: I think I have most of my questions covered now. To end this interview, would you like to send a message to your fans around the world?

Oscar: Watch out for Dominion, August 16th! Like I said before, I think this one will go down as one of HammerFall’s masterpieces. That’s the way I feel right now, and I don’t see that changing. If it actually does that or not, that’s out for everybody else to decide. But everybody in the band are super excited about the release and really proud of what we accomplished, so hopefully people will see that. But we’ll find out on the tours after August 16th, and even if you don’t like the album you should come see us live because it’s a whole different experience now. I can strongly recommend it, we’re having fun, the audience is having fun. It’s one big heavy metal party every night!

David: Thank you so much for your time, Oscar. I will see you next week in Wacken!

Oscar: Cool! Take care man, have a nice day!

 

Interview with ANGELES: “The new Cd will be heavier but still delivers in the ANGELES fashion, there are some very interesting twist and turns in the music.”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on June 25, 2019
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Angeles-promo-June19-2019

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Just recently Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a huge pleasure to interview the legendary LA rockers ANGELES‘ Dale Lytle and his wife, Connie, talking about the new 2019 line-up, the band’s emerging to Dark Star Records/Sony, furthermore Connie and Dale talked about “Time of Truth – Special Edition”, the new single “Freedom” and of course ANGELES‘ Summer/Fall tour and new album, coming out on October 1st, via Dark Star/Sony and more. Please join the chat below.

1. Hello Connie and Dale and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! How are you doing?

Great Thank you

2. We’d have so much to talk about, but let’s concentrate to the present and what’s happening now in the Angeles camp! You just recently announced your long-time bassist, Cal, coming back to the line-up. What do you want to tell me about this reunion?

We are very happy to have Cal Back with Angeles. Cal took a few months off and is now back and ready to go.

Angeles-promo-June2019-2

3. And right after Cal, you announced your new singer, Gwendolyn! How did you find her? and what is her input both in the band and songwriting?

As you know Daniel was not able to continue being in Angeles because of health issues and could not perform. So we put a post up on facebook and one night around 10pm Gwendolyn private messaged and asked if we would consider a front woman and of course we said yes. Gwendolyn is a very positive and energetic person we now feel like we have a Bamily. She is in the process of writing Lyrics for our forth coming cd due out in October.

4. In February 2019, you emerged to Dark Star Records/Sony. What can you tell me about this collaboration?

We were looking for a Record label that featured Rock Music We Had released “Time of Time” on Bongo Boy Record we sent “Time of Truth” to Dark Star Records/ Sony they really liked it and decided to release it as a special edition.

ANGELES-TimeOfTruth-SpecialEdition

5. On April 12th 2019, Dark Star/Sony released worldwide the new ANGELES’ “Time of Truth – Special Edition”. How has it been welcomed by your fans?

”Time of Truth” is a great Cd So our fans are happy with the special Edition release and doing very well on Dark Star Records/ Sony..

6. Your new single “Freedom” is now out June 14th (on Dark Star Records /Sony), featuring your new singer Gwen. What can you tell me about the song?

There is a lot of meaning to the song everyone can relate it’s about living your life being free and we owe that to everyone that gave their all for freedom and all that has contributed to our being free to be who and what we strive to be.

Angeles-Freedom-cover-web

7. Just recently you revealed that you’re working on your new album, set to be released on October 1st 2019 (on Dark Star Records/Sony). Can you already reveal some details? Topics?

We’ve got the Title and cd cover artwork already Dale , Cal and Danny are going in to the studio on June 29th to record the music on the last 3 songs Gwendolyn heads to the Studio on July 3rd to record vocals so the cd is coming along and we are looking forward to it’s completion we are very excited about this release..

8. How does the new album differ to your latest effort “Time of Truth”?

The new Cd will be heavier but still delivers in the ANGELES fashion, there are some very interesting twist and turns in the music.

9. You’re going to tour USA this Summer and Fall. The tour trek includes also a show (October 4th) with the legendary ANGEL! The show will also be the release party of your upcoming album! What can your fans expect to see and hear on that stage?

We will be performing our new songs from our forth coming Cd and throw in a few from “Time of Truth”.

10. Besides the new single, new album and Summer/Fall tour, what other plans do you have for the near future?

Tour the world play Europe, Italy, Germany, England, Australia, South America. Tour, Tour, Tour.

Angeles-tour-flyer-updated-June9th2019

11. You were formed in 1977! after 40+ years in music business and on stages, what are your highlights, so far?

Playing with Ronnie James Dio and Rought Cutt in San Diego also Co Headlined with Motley Crue and being the first band to open for Bon Jovi on the west coast , playing with Metallica and Guns N Roses we have had some great show in the last few years as well Stephen Pearcy, Quiet Riot, Michael Schenker, Dokken, Edgar Winter, Jack Russell’s Great White is always a blast to play with we’ve played with them 4 times. Getting signed to Dark Star Records /Sony. Our Current Line up and heading straight ahead featuring our new singer Gwendolyn Casella.

12. What is your source of inspiration to rock’n’roll, after all these years?

Our Fans are our inspiration Can’t do this without them and leaving music behind for generations to come and the world to enjoy..

13. Is there anything in your past that today you would do differently?

Loaded Question back in 1983-84 we got the wrong producer Michael Lloyd after working with us for 3 months he took us into the legendary Cherokee Studios and being a Rock Band we were drinking, smoking some pot, and cussing just being a normal rock band we went against all his rules who produced Pat Boone, Debbie Boone, Leif Garret, Donny and Marie Osmond just to name a few he had never worked with a Rock Band. If we would have gotten a rock producer like Roy Thomas Baker things would have been way different.

14. Now the word is yours, what is your message to your fans and Metal Shock Finland readers?

We are like a race horse biting at the bit at the starting gate ready to rock this world.

“Freedom” is available worldwide, here: http://bit.ly/AngelesFreedom.

ANGELES Summer/Fall tour dates:
July 14th – Chili Cook Off and Car Show – Private Fundraiser event – Garden Grove
July 20th – Petie’s Place – Tarzana, CA
August 16th – Universal Bar And Grill, North Hollywood, CA
September 1st – Backyard Bash – Rainbow Bar – West Hollywood, CA
September 6th – Backstage Bar & Billards – Las Vegas, CA
September 7th – Barbary Coast Saloon – Murray, Utah
September 20th – Whisky A Go Go – w/TBA
October 4th – Whisky A Go Go w/ ANGEL
More dates TBA.

ANGELES Merchandise – New articles available, here!

ANGELES line-up 2019:
Demon Dale aka Dale Lytle – Guitar
Gwendolyn Casella – Vocals
Cal Shelton – Bass Guitar
Danny Basulto – Drums

More information at:
BAND: https://www.facebook.com/TheAngelesBand | http://www.angelesband.com
Dark Star Records/Sony here: http://www.darkstarrecords.com

Watch “Freedom” video here:

Interview with SOULS OF DIOTIMA: “The music will be more powerful, more metal”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on June 10, 2019
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Interview by Alison Booth

Italian metal quartet SOULS OF DIOTIMA are currently in the studio, recording the follow-up to their last album “The Sorceress Reveals – Atlantis”, which was released in 2016.

The band are recording the new album, their fourth release, at Crehate Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer Oscar Nilsson and I caught up with  vocalist Claudia Barsi and drummer Giorgio Pinna just before they headed to Sweden. To find out more about what to expect, you can listen to the full interview on the audio player below.

Describing the new album, Claudia revealed:

“This time we are working on the more dark Sardinian legends with mysteries, so practically the second part of “The Sorceress Reveals – Atlantis”. It will be a more direct album. The music will be more powerful, this time it’s different – more metal.”

Check out a couple of shots from the studio:

For all the up to date SOULS OF DIOTIMA news, check out the band’s Facebook Page here. Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show recently aired the interview along with the band’s music, which will soon be available to listen to again here.

SOULS OF DIOTIMA are:

Claudia Barsi: Lead Vocals
Giorgio Pinna: Drums
Gianmaria Puledda: Guitar
Antonio Doro: Bass, Vocals

Official Facebook Page

Official Website

Interview: BREAKING LARSEN THEORY Want To “Break the belief that the underground scene is dead!”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on May 24, 2019
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

BreakingLarsenTheory-2019

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Just recently, Italian alternative metallers BREAKING LARSEN THEORY premiered their new video ”Dream in Colour” exclusively on Metal Shock Finland, taken from the band’s debut album “Wasted Words”, released on May 23rd, 2017, on Volcano Records.

Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to interview the guys, so let’s learn more about the band and video, and what will happen next? BREAKING LARSEN THEORY will take a hiatus to see what the future will bring along? Let’s hope to see the band active again, delivering the need to break the belief that the underground scene is dead! Please join the chat below.

1. Hello BREAKING LARSEN THEORY and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! How are you doing?

Hi, Metal Shock Finland !!! Thanks a lot guys for your support!

2. Please, introduce your band and band members to our readers.

We are Phil (the voice) and Teo (guitarist) of BLT from Milan (Italy)

3. Your band name, BREAKING LARSEN THEORY, brings us to my next question, what’s the story behind it?

The BLT project stems from the need to “break” the belief that the underground scene is dead, it’s like a noises voice that return and return as a feedback and we want bring people to go out and share their love for music, having fun and reviving their interest. It is also born to encourage young artists to create their own vision of music, going beyond covers and obstacles, so turn up the volume and start to play!!!

4. What are your musical influences?

BLT’s music is a mix of Modern Hard Rock and Alternative Metal with electronic influences but we’re also inspired by classic progressive rock and Post Grunge sounds.

5. Just a couple of days ago we had a pleasure to premiere your new official video “Dream In Colour”! What can you tell me about it? As a video and song and its message?

”Dream in Colour” is the last track of our record and is like the end of a trip inside ourselves when we realize that even if life is hard we can find the strength to stand up and move on the road to our objectives.

6. The song “Dream In Colour” is taken from your debut album “Wasted Words”, which came out on Volcano Records in 2017. Would you like to tell me more about the album and its topics?

”Wasted Words” like i’ve said before, is a trip inside ourselves but it’s seen with the eyes of an artist and every track is like a stage of the route. Basically this Album would like to say to all those people that think to waste their feelings and time believing in their dreams, are wrong.

7. How it was received among your fans? 

It’s been great to see the emotion in the eyes of those who listen to your music and have fun when you’re on stage. Many people have also written to us to ask for a copy of the album or to organize a show in their city, even from Japan, and we feel very happy and honored.

8. Two years have passed since then. What have you been doing in the meantime?

Meanwhile we started to write new songs. unfortunately, we have to separate again from a person who left the band while the project began to materialize, when we were starting to reap the rewards of hard work and money invested but musicans with we have collaborated ’till today have turn this band in an inconclusive journey. So now we’re gonna take a break to dedicate us to our solo projects and to looking for somebody want to work with us seriously as we always try to do from the beginning, hoping to find somebody that love this band as us.

9. Now the word is yours, what is your message to your fans and Metal Shock Finland readers?

So we want to thank all those people that supports us and we hope that you guys will keep to listen our music and believe in us, ’cause we don’t wanna stop and someday our hardwork will give its fruits and we will enjoyn’ it toghether. We love you all.

Watch the video “Dream In Colour” here:

More information at
BAND: http://www.facebook.com/breakinglarsentheory
LABEL: http://www.volcanopromotion.com