Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Helloween singer /guitarist Kai Hansen about his new Solo album BORN WITH A HAMMER which will be released Sept 18, 2026 via EAR MUSIC
He also gave an update on the upcomiing studio album from HELLOWEEN.
Watch the video interview below.
When asked how his new solo album came to be and the influences
“Things progressed during Corona times. I got bored and there was not much to do. So I sat down in my studio, locked myself up and started songwriting just for me myself and I without any purpose and the outcome was nothing that was Helloween or GAMMA Ray. I was not in the mood for power metal or stuff like that. So um I just did whatever I felt like and after a while I had a few songs together and uh I was like okay yeah well where’s this going to go? What I’m going to do with it. Um, because it was just for my personal entertainment at first, but then I say, “Okay, this is too too good to just put on the in the trash can or something like that.” Of course, the obvious thought was then, okay, let’s put this on a solo album. So, I um called the boys. I was like, are you guys in? So um we had my basics of the songs and uh then we did a pre-production we added two songs that were left over from the last production . There was you nobody forcing us. Um which was good. So we could just took all the time in the world to just get to the point when this album was finally finished. And um now bam, it’s going to come out in September. I have a lot of influences and I like Euro Dance if it’s heavy. So you see some influences here, you see some influences there. Reggaie comes from, me hanging out on a hammock in Thailand, which the atmosphere doesn’t fit doesn’t fit heavy metal. So I listen to Bob Marley. I like it. I love it. Everything I consume in terms of music, I chew down. I process this and now I spit it out my own way.”
When asked if HELLOWEEN started working on a new Studio album
“Oh, there is a lot of work in progress. There’s actually a lot already in the in the box. We have already songs that are mixed and yeah, the album is pretty much pretty much already uh let’s say 80% is done.”
With ‘Welcome To Life’, Kai Hansen releases the second single from his upcoming solo album ‘Born With A Hammer’. Following the powerful ‘Feeding The Beast’, the song reveals another side of the musician who, as co-founder of Helloween and founder of Gamma Ray, has played a defining role in European heavy metal, and power metal in particular, for decades.
Driving guitars, striking changes in tempo and strong melodies come together in a direct blend of heavy metal, punk and rock’n’roll. As the second track on the album, ‘Welcome To Life’ makes it clear early on just how diverse ‘Born With A Hammer’ is set to be.
Lyrically, the song is about accepting life as it is, not dwelling on what is missing and making the most of what you have. Hansen combines this outlook with his unmistakable guitar playing, an infectious sense of spontaneity and the spirit of a road trip through life.
The official lyric video brings this idea to life as a Mustang tears through a heightened, hell-tinged world. Its imagery follows the song’s shifting dynamics and puts its sense of freedom firmly on the road.
‘Born With A Hammer’ was produced by Eike Freese, Kai Hansen and Alexander Dietz. The album was recorded with Eike Freese on guitar, Heaven Shall Burn’s Alexander Dietz on bass, Carcass drummer Dan Wilding and Induction guitarist Tim Hansen.
Across ten songs, ‘Born With A Hammer’ combines powerful heavy metal with punk attitude, hard rock drive and strong melodies. ‘Welcome To Life’ represents the album’s more immediate and carefree side, expanding the picture of this new solo chapter following ‘Feeding The Beast’.
Following the worldwide success of Helloween’s recent reunion era and its major international tours, ‘Born With A Hammer’ sees Kai Hansen return his focus to his own musical world. ‘Welcome To Life’ shows that this world is firmly rooted in his history while continuing to forge a path entirely of its own.
“Born Free” has been released as the second song and video from Kai Hansen’s show at last year’s Wacken Open Air. The performance of Hansen and his band can be watched on WackenTV and the song is available as an instant gratification track as part of the iTunes pre order.
Enjoy “Born Free” on WackenTV:
Filmed & recorded on a muddy vibrant summer evening at last year’s Wacken Open Air Festival, ‘Thank You Wacken’ is a unique snapshot in time as this was the first and only performance of Kai Hansen’s band, with whom he recorded and co-wrote his 2016 solo debut “XXX – Three Decades In Metal”. He was joined on stage by Alex Dietz on bass (Heaven Shall Burn), Eike Freese on guitar (Dark Age; and one of the most promising new talents in Germany in the recording studio as producer and engineer) Michael Ehré (Gamma Ray) on drums, Corvin Bahn on keys (Crystal Breed; who has also worked on records by bands such as Neopera, Lord Of The Lost & Beyond The Black), Clémentine Delauney (Visions Of Atlantis) and Frank Beck (Gamma Ray) on backing vocals. A special treat was the performance of Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic) who joined Kai on stage to perform Helloween classics that for a few minutes set Wacken on fire.
This memorable concert will be released on the 23rd of June via earMUSIC and will be available on CD+DVD (Digipak), Blu-ray+CD including exclusive bonus tracks as well as on gatefold 2LP and digital.
TRACKLIST
1. Born Free
2. Ride The Sky
3. Contract Song
4. Victim Of Fate
5. Enemies Of Fun
6. Fire And Ice
7. Burning Bridges
8. Follow The Sun
9. I Want Out
10. Future World
11. All Or Nothing
12. Save Us
Power metal legends HELLOWEEN have announced the sensational news that they will be embarking on an epic tour starting next year, joined by past members Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen. The band stated on their official website:
“Here comes the sensation for all HELLOWEEN fans: You believed in it for years and con-tinued to ask for it – now is the time: In fall 2017, Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen will once again mount a HELLOWEEN stage together and resurrect the band’s legendary original line-up. Yes, it’s official: Weikath, Kiske, Hansen, Grosskopf are going to play HELLOWEEN classics live and on a joint tour. Massive news. Awesome. But you might want to sit down again, because that’s not all of it! Under the flag PUMPKINS UNITED all pumpkin heads will step up – meaning Andi & Michi on vocals, Kai & Weiki & Sascha on guitars, and Markus & Dani in the rhythm section.
PUMPKINS UNITED WORLD TOUR 2017/2018: GOOD. AS. IT. GETS.“
The band go on to explain further details:
THE IDEA.
Undisputedly, HELLOWEEN are one of Germany’s most respected metal exports and considered the founders of German melodic speed metal. As godfathers of the genre, they have grown to become one of the most influential metal bands of the planet. In an unbelievable career reaching back as far as 1984, HELLOWEEN have performed at innumerable metal festivals around the globe such as Rock in Rio, Loudpark in Tokyo, Wacken, or the Woodstock in Poland, which they headlined in front of over 500,000 fans.
The band has delivered countless headliner world tours, spectacular shows with the likes of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Dio, Slayer, or Ozzy Osbourne to name just a few, and played at exotic locations in Borneo, Indonesia, Manaus, Brazil, or, at over 10,600 ft in the world’s highest capital, La Paz, Bolivia. The band’s spectacular show at the »Monsters Of Rock« festival in Castle Donington in front of over 100,000 metal heads in 1988 was just as memorable as the massive MTV »Headbanger’s Ball« US tour with Anthrax and Exodus. Including genre masterpieces »Keeper of the Seven Keys« Part I & II, they’ve released 15 studio- and three live albums to date, selling over eight million records and earning fourteen gold and six platinum awards. For 30 years, HELLOWEEN have been delighting their fans with fantastic riffs, great songs, and haunting melodies – three decades of a global career they officially celebrated with the »Hellbook« in 2015. This is when the idea for PUMPKINS UNITED was born: The ‘Anniversary Bible’ as well as touring with Kai made them realize that this band’s story is demanding its next chapter. Or, as Michael Kiske describes it: »Playing an original HELLOWEEN track with Unisonic was quite a flashback already, but rocking with the original line-up and Andi will be something really special. The time has come!« The chemistry between Kiske, Hansen, Weikath, and Grosskopf is singular – and sees its revival not least because of you: You’ve never stopped asking for it – now the mega event is coming up live, with the complete cast, and heavily wired!
IN DETAIL.
The super tour’s first confirmed date is October 28, 2017 in Sao Paulo and takes the full PUMPKINS entourage across selected cities and venues in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the US. An extremely big deal, which, including a few secret surprises, will present almost three hours of the biggest hits from three decades of HELLOWEEN as the band will obviously insist on performing a full-speed trip through the HELLOWEEN repertoire. »We already had an awesome time on the Hellish Rock part 1 & 2, but this time we’ll definitely double down on it« says Kai Hansen, and Markus Grosskopf adds: »There’ll for sure be songs that we haven’t played in a very long time or even ever before.« Whoever doesn’t secure tickets for this tour, probably doesn’t have all their pumpkins in a row: The original line-up wants to celebrate a global party with you, which is also going to be highly emotional because this SPECIAL WORLD TOUR is actually not a reunion and most probably won’t happen again. Andi channels our metal hearts when he says: »I’m so much looking forward to playing Michi’s and my tunes together with him live on stage. It’s going to be absolutely exceptional.«
Coinciding with the exclusive one-time performance at this year’s Wacken Open Air Festival, Kai Hansen has premiered the official music video for his first single “Born Free”.
It is the first time fans are able to listen to a song from Hansen’s solo debut “XXX – Three Decades In Metal”.
The album will be released as 1CD, 2CD Special Edition incl. all 11 songs with Hansen on vocals, 2LP and digital on September 16th on earMUSIC.
Shot at Chameleon Studio in Hamburg where the album also was recorded, the video for “Born Free” perfectly captures the essence of the song. Starting with the line “Born in the city of Hamburg, in 1963…,” Kai sets the direction for his solo debut – a reference, a bow to his home town which is also represented in the images. Hansen roars into the mic like his life depends on it – like a wild, unleashed beast – and breaks free with liberating screams. Add explosive guitar solos, heavy riffs and the stellar line up that is Alex Dietz (guitar player of Heaven Shall Burn) on bass, Eike Freese on guitar and phenomenal drummer Daniel Wilding (Carcass) to the mix, and you get everything you ever searched for in metal/hard rock. Or as Hansen puts it in “Born Free”: “It made me feel so groovy – it gave me instant heat.” And thus a new metal hymn is born. A hymn that will get fans all over the globe to stand up proud and shout “I am BORN FREE – NO LIMITS IN THE SKY”.
Watch the official music video for “Born Free” here:
KAI HANSEN, earMUSIC and WACKEN Foundation are happy to announce the release of “XXX“, the first “solo project” album by Kai Hansen, one of the most influential guitarists and singers to emerge from Germany during the first part of the 80s. First with ground-breaking band HELLOWEEN (of which Hansen is one of the founding members) and later with GAMMA RAY, one of the bands that contributed to define the genre power metal, bringing it to generation of devoted fans worldwide since its first album.
“XXX” is, in pure Hansen tongue-in-cheek style, a reference to over 30 years of involvement in the world of heavy rock, as explained with the album’s sub-title “Three Decades In Metal“.
The album will be released in August 2016 on earMUSIC with further news to be shared soon.
“XXX” is a magical journey. It is the story of how powerful dreams can be.
Dreams and passions big enough to bring a teenager from Hamburg who is in love with rock music, glam rock and the first heavy metal sounds from the practicing space in his bedroom and rehearsal rooms to the biggest stages in the world practicing, and ending up influencing and sharing the stage with the very same bands he admired in the first place.
Not strictly autobiographical, “XXX” is without doubt the story of Kai Hansen but it could very well represent the story of anybody who is not afraid to believe in dreams, with passion and dedication. It is the story of the ups and downs that everybody faces at some point during the journey of life: the lost and found-again friends, the glory, the tragedies and the joys.
After the achievements enjoyed by Hansen lately with Unisonic and especially Gamma Ray’s recent work “Empire Of The Undead”, Kai Hansen has started working on the album with no precise commercial masterplan. Just playing music with the same spirit as in the very beginning.
This certainly was the reason for Hansen to communicate to his label the intention of donating the first advance payment he will receive for XXX – which in the meantime was shaping into a proper album – to the Wacken Foundation. A foundation which helps and supports young hard rock and heavy metal bands for over seven years now: Musicians full of hopes and dreams, exactly as Hansen had in the beginning of the 30 years story told on this album… in the hope that one day, somebody could tell another 30 years long magic story, also thanks to this album.
Together with Hansen, a stellar band of musicians gravitating around the Chameleon Studio in Hamburg has formed spontaneously: Alex Dietz (guitar player of Heaven Shall Burn) on bass, Eike Freese (who already worked as engineer and co-producer with Hansen on the last Gamma Ray album) on guitar and phenomenal drummer Daniel Wilding (Carcass). The four will be joined by various guests, ranging from friends to followers to heroes – some having played a significant part in Kai’s career, some who have expressed the wish to join the project with the same spirit that is leading Kai, Alex, Eike and Daniel to create loud music with joy, freedom and determination.
Kai & friends will do an exclusive one-time performance at this year’s Wacken Open Air Festival, introducing the songs from the album to the audience for the first and only time.
Watch the video of Kai Hansen and Eike Freese discussing “XXX” here:
Talking about XXX (while in the studio, recording guitars) KAI HANSEN has declared: “30 years in metal, that’s a damn long time. Over the course of all these years, I never recorded a solo album. It is quite nice and a hell lot of fun to create something without any boundaries and to get a fresh view on music. I am celebrating 30 years of being able to do what I like best… On ‘XXX’ I am reflecting on my roots, where I come from, how it all started for me. I believe you need a certain drive, passion and of course a bit of luck and coincidence to make it in the music world – and of course some financial support. This is where the Wacken Foundation came to my mind. They are helping people, musicians just like me, who want to make it. And I remember having had help myself, from my family, the families from the other band members – and by doing a paper round. So hopefully, with my donation, young musicians are given the same chance that I was given a long time ago, too. And who knows, maybe we all will be playing together at Wacken in 20 years…”
Wacken Foundation’s Thomas Jensen adds: “This is really generous donation to the Wacken Foundation. Heavy metal is a way of life – and with this this amazing gesture Kai showed what it stands for: selflessness, thoughtfulness and most of all the passion and love for music. The goal of the foundation is to keep this kind of spirit going. With Kais doing we are one step closer to this goal.”
About Wacken Foundation:
The Wacken Foundation was founded in 2009 and is a non-profit foundation which dedicates itself to the support of hard rock and heavy metal music. Basically every artist and every band from the heavy metal scene can be supported by the Wacken Foundation. More information about which requirements have to be fulfilled can be found here. If the name Wacken Foundation is a bit misleading, the promoters of the Wacken Open Air do not receive a single cent of the donations. The entire assets of the foundation are solely used to support artists from the metal scene.
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