Interview с Edguy : DARKSIDE.ru

Let’s begin with questions about your new album “Rocket Ride”. First of all, some people say the album has the sound of the 1970s – but how would you describe the sound of the record? Was it your intention to make an album that would sound so different from its predecessor “Hellfire Club” (2004)?

No, not at all. And I don’t think it sounds so much different. We wrote songs as always, and we arranged the songs as always, and I think it was typical Edguy material. The difference is that this time we worked with a producer who had an influence on the album as well. When we had songs with a strong 1970s influence, they were produced that way, we were working with the right sounds and we were treating each song very individually in terms of production. Thanks to it, the songs went in extremely different directions – if there was a song like “Rocket Ride” or “Catch Of The Century”, classic hard rock songs with 1970s elements, we were producing them that way. And if you take a look at “Hellfire Club”, we had such songs as well – “The Piper Never Dies” had a lot of 1970s elements, and “Navigator” had early 1980s Dio elements. I think we have always had elements of this kind, it was just that this time we produced each song in the direction that it needed to be produced to sound authentic. In fact, the overall sound, the mastering of the album sounds even more modern, up-to-date and state-of-the-art than “Hellfire Club” or “Mandrake” (2001), for example.

Speaking about the producer – why did you decide to bring in Sasha Paeth to handle the production? You produced a few previous albums yourself…

It’s because we wanted to move on. “Hellfire Club” was, in my opinion, a very strong album that we were really happy with. And we thought, “Where can we go from here without pushing it too hard and without forcing the band in a certain direction?” In my opinion, forcing and pushing too hard is a very unhealthy way of development. So we said, “Let’s just naturally write songs as we have always done, but this time let’s take somebody from outside to bring in his own opinion and influence.” And it was Sascha Paeth, because we had known Sascha for years and we trust him. We knew that, on the one hand, he understands that kind of music, but on the other hand, he has a much wider horizon in terms of production. He is very much familiar with modern sound elements as well, and he’s familiar with big rock sounds as well. We knew that he knows both sides, he knows a lot of different styles of music, he knows how to produce a state-of-the-art album, but he knows heavy metal as well. We wrote normal songs, as we had always done, and then let him look on them. On some songs such as “Matrix” or “Save Me” he had a big influence and changed a lot. On other songs he didn’t have so much influence. He made suggestions, and most of his suggestions were great and acceptable for us.

What do you now think of “Hellfire Club”? Do you still like it as much as you did back in 2004, or do you think, “We should have done this and this and that differently…”

First of all, I really don’t think there’s anything bad about “Hellfire Club” that I should change now. Maybe some things you would do differently, if you would do them nowadays. For example, my vocal performance on “The Spirit Will Remain” is a bit too theatrical, it’s a little bit too much pushed and forced. But on the other hand, it doesn’t really make sense to want to change things in the past, it’s very childish to say, “Oh, we should have done it in a different way.” Whatever you have done makes you the one that you are nowadays, whatever you have done makes you do things differently nowadays. If you touch just one thing in the past… You know these science fiction movies, when they travel back in time and change a little thing, it affects the whole future as well. So I’m really happy with everything that happened in our past, and I wouldn’t change anything about “Hellfire Club”, because whatever we did right or whatever we did wrong, it made us who we are nowadays. And I’m very happy with who I am nowadays and what we do nowadays.

How many songs do you usually write for a CD? Do you ever use songs that are left over from previous albums?

Not really. Of course, we sometimes do a bonus track or something. This time we recorded and even mixed an extra song that we haven’t used. It was very strong, but it was finished after the whole album was already mastered. So we have one song left over from this production and one cover version as well, but usually we write just as many songs as we need. It doesn’t make sense to write 40 songs and then pick 12 and have 28 songs left over. Once I realize that a song is not usable or a song is not good, I just don’t continue writing it. Or if it’s not good enough, I try to improve it until it’s good enough to be on the album.

Now a very obvious question about the album title – why did you decide to name the record “Rocket Ride”? And have you ever considered covering a song called “Rocket Ride” by the band Kiss?

Of course, everybody knows “Rocket Ride” by Kiss! (laughs) But it was just a good title, I don’t remember why, but it was like, “Hey, let’s call the album “Rocket Ride”!”. In the beginning we were not sure that we would name the album this way, but the title was flying around for quite a while, and the more we thought about it, the more we thought that it was a good title. “Rocket Ride” to me sounds like something very exciting, like an adventure, like a fast and really crazy trip. And that is what the album is, I think – it’s very entertaining, it’s like a rollercoaster ride, it’s something that happens fast and is exciting and adventurous. So we said, “OK, “Rocket Ride” fits the music of the album very well, let’s just call the album “Rocket Ride.”

Some of the songs on “Rocket Ride” are very unusual for Edguy – for instance, “Trinidad” with its Latino elements. Was it your intention to recreate a Latino party atmosphere in this track? Or did you try to somehow broaden the boundaries of heavy metal?

Actually “Trinidad” was planned to be a bonus track. (laughs) It was just me playing around with funny sounds on the keyboards and having funny ideas. We said, “OK, we’re gonna record this one as a joke.” But in the end, if you call the song a bonus track, it’s just an excuse. A lot of bands do bonus tracks and call them bonus tracks, because they are afraid that the press and the fans will judge it in the wrong way and bash the band for the songs. But on the other hand, this is what heavy metal is all about – sometimes you have to offend people or take the risk of some people not liking what you do. And we were not afraid of it, we thought that “Trinidad” is a funny song, but it’s a great song, so we decided to put it on the album. The same was with “Fucking With Fire” – it was planned to be a bonus track, too, but we thought that it’s a great song and that we want to play it live, and as we can’t play a bonus track live, so we have to make it a real track.

What is the song “Matrix” about? And what do you think about the movie with the same name?

(pause) Now I’m probably gonna look like somebody from the Stone Age, but I haven’t seen this movie. (laughs) The song is not about the movie, “matrix” for me is a metaphor for the origin of my personality. “Matrix” is about discovering two contrary sides to your personality – one of them is that I’m a very easy-going, profane guy giving in to certain temptations being on the road, everybody who is a musician knows what I’m talking about now, and the other one is that I’m a very self-controlled family guy. Everybody who is self-controlled and trying to stay aware of what is doing knows exactly the feeling when you just give in to partying and enjoying the other sides of life. And then you wake up in the morning and say, “Oh my god, yesterday you turned into something that you really aren’t in reality.” These are just two different perceptions of your personality, and that’s what “Matrix” is about.

Speaking about the connection between movies and your music – is it true that “Judas At The Opera” from the “Superheroes” EP (2005) was inspired by David Lynch movies?

No, I don’t even know David Lynch. I’m not a cinema freak, as you can see. (everybody laug

hs) The song was inspired by my own feelings – when you’re a band doing things differently, a lot of people who love you in the beginning for doing things differently will turn their backs on you once they don’t want you to do the things you’re doing. Oh, it sounds very complicated now! (everybody laughs) In other words, in the beginning people love you for being in a heavy metal band, for being rebels, for going your own way, for making no compromises. But once you go onstage and do something that people can’t comprehend or don’t want to comprehend, they start to bash you for exactly that attitude they loved you for. They say, “Oh, you’re a Judas, you’re not wearing heavy metal pants onstage! You are not a heavy metal band, because you’re wearing strange clothes, and you’re saying wrong things!” As soon as you get successful, some people turn their backs on you and start to bash you, and that’s what “Judas At The Opera” is about.

Another interesting track on the new album is “Fucking With Fire”. What is this song about?

This song is a homage to the great 1980s cock rock bands (laughs) - Warrant or Poison or whatever… Once I talked to Sascha and said, “I’m gonna write a typical hairspray heavy metal songs of the 1980s, and I’ll call it “Fucking With Fire”!” Then I wrote the song and it was so funny that we had to record it. Actually it’s got no deep meaning, it’s just full of cliches and stereotypes of the 1980s cock rock bands. (cracks)

Speaking about lyrics, what song do you consider your biggest achievement lyrically-wise?

(pause) It’s really hard to say, but I think “Catch Of The Century” has a lot of impact. “Catch Of The Century” is to me the song that everybody will be able to comprehend, it’s a very international language. It’s about being turned down by a person of the other sex, and that’s something that everybody knows. Everybody knows the feeling when you’re falling in love with somebody who obviously doesn’t want to fall in love with you. (laughs) This song is speaking about that in a funny tongue-in-cheek way, but on the other hand, in a very serious and aggressive way as well. I think that’s the best way to treat situations like that – to say, “If you don’t want me, you don’t deserve me!” The music and lyrics that melt together in “Catch Of The Century” are very unique, and I’m very proud of this one. It’s got such a strong attitude and a strong impact.

Many Edguy fans mostly love the band for the fun songs such as “Lavatory Love Machine” or “Save Us Now” or optimistic tracks such as “Fairytale” or “Babylon”. Don’t you think that the really serious songs that you write, such as “The Spirit Will Remain” or “Holy Water” are a bit overlooked?

I don’t really make up my mind about it, I try not to think too much about it, because whatever we do, we enjoy doing it. If people overlook some of our qualities, it’s very sad, but on the other hand, it doesn’t affect me. Whatever I do, I’m so happy about it, and if I’m killed in a car accident tomorrow, I will be happy until the end. (laughs) I think life is too short to worry about this kind of things. Everybody who pays attention to Edguy will discover all our qualities, and every real Edguy fan knows that there’s much more to Edguy than just funny songs.

I remember that on the promo version of “Hellfire Club” you were commenting on all of the tracks, which was a really great idea. On the promo copies of the new record there is only a voice announcing the name of the album. Why didn’t you continue with comments this time?

It’s because everybody complained about it! Everybody was really pissed off about this little German guy destroying their listening copy by talking and talking and talking. (laughs) So we decided to make just a short copy protection message this time only to remind the people of which album they are listening to. (laughs)

I personally think the comments were a really great idea!

I think so too, it was actually my idea, but a lot of people said this sucks. OK, we don’t wanna kiss ass, but it’s not a good idea to offend 80 percent of the press. (everybody laughs)

I have heard that the new videoclip for “Superheroes” is very seldom shown in Germany on TV. What do you think is the reason? Do you think you should have done it differently to get it on TV?

(sighs) It’s hard to say, I don’t know. We did it that way, we were convinced about it, and in my mind, everything was OK. It’s a good video, I know it’s a good video, and if some idiots don’t understand that, I won’t take the blame. (laughs) I think it’s more of a station politics thing – Edguy are just not cool and hip enough. I mean, we are cool as hell, but they just don’t understand it! (everybody cracks) We’re just not fashionable enough, we are an old-fashioned, heavy rock or heavy metal band, some leftovers from the 1980s, and that’s not cool enough for them. I accept their opinion, I know that they are wrong, but it doesn’t really help. I’m happy with the video, I like it, our fans like it, and that’s the most important thing.

In general, who comes up with ideas for your video clips – the band or the video director? And are you personally satisfied with all the videos you have made?

The idea of the video for “Superheroes” comes from the video director. But it proves that he had studied the Edguy humor pretty well, because it fits our humor so good. (laughs) Well, hell no, I’m not satisfied with most of the videos!” I think in “King Of Fools” we look like a couple of drag queens, it is really disgusting! (giggles) “Lavatory Love Machine” was a good idea, but a bad way of doing it. The video had a great story behind it, but the budget was not enough to do it big time. Everybody can see that it’s not a Hollywood production. “All The Clowns” was, I think, quite a decent video. It’s not a very funny story, but at least it looks quite professional. “Superheroes” is a very good video, too. These are the four clips we have done, and I’m satisfied with 50 percent of them.

And which one do you like the most?

“Superheroes”, definitely! Not only it’s the funniest to watch, but also because it was the funniest to shoot. (laughs) And everybody knows why!

A related question – where do you get the clothes for videos and promo shoots? For instance, is it possible to buy the “I Eat Pussy” T-shirt anywhere?

(laughs) Like with all of my clothes, that was one of my ideas, and it was made for me. I designed it myself and I got it made by a T-shirt company. A lot of clothes I wear are custom-made, because usually you can’t find them. Everybody’s wearing these doggy pants that people are wearing in these disgusting hip hop videos. (laughs) What else can you do than just have your clothes tailored for you? That’s what I do most of the time. But probably we’re gonna take the “I eat pussy” T-shirt as an Edguy item in our merchandise collection…

Oh great! Do this!

Yeah, so many people have been asking for it. So we’re probably gonna put the Edguy logo on the back and you will have this funny cat in the front!

Your voice has improved a lot over the years. Did you ever have any vocal lessons at some point in time? And what do you do to keep your voice in good shape?

Well, I try not to thing too much about it, that keeps my voice in shape. I try not to smoke, I do it very rarely, most of the time when I’m drunk. (everybody laughs) The most things you do vocally you learn by doing when you’re on tour. When you do something in the wrong way, you will be hoarse the next day. So you have to make sure you don’t do things that hurt your voice, and that’s something that no teacher in the world can tell you. They can try, but in the end, that happens inside. It’s nothing where you can say, “OK, you have to move your finger that way,” there’s nothing you can look at. It’s just a matter of feeling, so the best thing is trying to sound good not feeling any pain. When you achieve that, then you’re a good singer! (cracks)

Over the years you have met and worked w

ith a lot of famous musicians – Hansi Kuersh, Timo Tolkki, Sascha Paeth, and many others. How much did they live up to your expectations? Who of them turned out exactly as you expected, and who was the complete opposite of what you expected?

(sighs) That’s very hard to say. I think I’ve never met a real asshole, they’ve always been great people. The most people treat you the way you treat them, and I’m very respectful to people, and they’re rewarding that behavior with their respect. It was very interesting meeting Bruce Dickinson, for example – he’s a very nice guy and his wife is a pretty nice woman, they were very friendly. We once were at a dinner together, because we’re using the same microphones, and it was the microphone company that arranged that. Working with Eric Singer of Kiss on the “Avantasia” album was very nice, he’s a very easy-going and nice guy, and he was not behaving like a rock star at all. There’s a lot of prejudice against these big American musicians, but he’s just a nice person, very down to earth. I have recently met Herman Rarebell from the Scorpions, and he’s an Edguy fan, and I’m, of course, a Scorpions fan. I have met so many great musicians, and I’m really thankful to be able to work with these people, just to talk to these people and learn from them. Whoever you meet, it will definitely leave an impression on you, and if you open your eyes and walk through life with open eyes, you can learn a lot from anybody you’re talking to. I think it’s just arrogant to believe that you can’t learn anything anymore and to be very self-confident. It’s good to be self-confident, but nobody of us is without mistakes, and everybody can learn from other people. That’s why it’s a real gift for me to be able to meet, talk to and work with successful musicians with great personalities.

Is it easy to work with Michael Kiske? He says in many interviews that he hates metal, but “Judas At The Opera” is still pretty much a metal song…

It wasn’t really difficult to work with him. I asked him, he listened to the song and liked it, and we never discussed whether it’s heavy metal or not. I think many people misunderstand him, and he’s having fun by offending some of the metal people. But to me he has always been respectful, and it was no problem to work with him.

You appear on the latest album by Rob Rock, “Holy Hell” (2005), where you sing on a cover version of “Move On” by ABBA. How did you end up singing this track? Are the two of you ABBA fans?

Oh, Rob Rock and me are friends. By the way, he’s got a boy, he’s just become a father and he e-mailed me about that. We are friends and fans of each other. I was his fan before he became my fan. So I invited him to join the “Avantasia” album, where he sings one part. And three years ago, when I was in L.A., Rob asked me if I wanna sing something for his album. He had this cover version of “Move On”, and I said, “Sure, why not?” We went to Roy Z’s place - Roy Z is Rob’s producer and friend and he also produced the latest Judas Priest album – and so we sang it, it was no big deal. The only problem we had was that I had a bad cold, and you can hear that my nose is stuffed. (laughs) But Rob’s a friend, and of course, it was no question that I would help him out.

In the past you sometimes worked as a producer, for instance, with the band Dionysus. How did you like this experience? And do you have any plans to produce somebody else in the future?

I don’t have any plans like that. I really liked working with these guys, because they were really nice, but I don’t have the time to produce other bands. I really know how hard it is sometimes to produce our own band, to convince people that I’ve been working with for many years to do certain things and to play certain things in certain ways. I’m really aware that this is a difficult thing, and I don’t wanna waste the energy on trying to convince other musicians to do certain things. The Dionysus guys were really nice, it was easy to work with them, but I’m much too impatient to be the producer of other bands. (laughs)

And what about a continuation of “Avantasia”? Shall we expect anything like that some day?

(laughs) I don’t know actually, I don’t plan it. But of course, when we did “Judas At The Opera”, I felt quite home with it, I felt quite excited. You never know what exactly will happen, I don’t plan anything like that right now, but probably I will do something like that one day.

The last song on “Avantasia Pt.2” – “Into The Unknown” features quite a different line-up – there’s Eric Singer playing drums and you playing bass. Was it recorded separately from the rest of the material?

It was the last song that we finished, and the other stuff had already been recorded. I said, “OK, I can take the same line-up, but I can find somebody different to play it.” I just met Eric Singer, and I said, “Eric, do you wanna play on one song of mine?” He said, “Yes, sure, why not?”, he played it, and that was the thing. Then I thought, “Now we can call Markus (Grosskopf, of Helloween, who played bass on the rest of “Avantasia” – ed.), we can set it up and make him come to the studio, which is 400 km away from his place.” But I was already in the studio, I was a bass player at earlier times, so I decided that I’d rather take the bass and play it myself. Norman Meiritz, the producer, was in the studio, and Henjo (Richter, of Gamma Ray, who played most of other guitar parts on “Avantasia” – ed.) wasn’t there, and so Norman played the guitar. It was not a political decision, we didn’t say, “Oh, we have to do something different.” It was just because it was easier to do it that way.

What’s your opinion about other metal operas that have been released recently? Have you heard “Missa Mercuria”, “Genius” or Ayreon?

I’ve heard Ayreon, and I think it’s quite different from what I do. I think it’s OK, everybody’s got the right to do whatever they want to do. I can’t say anything in general about metal operas, it’s like with every kind of music – there are good things and there are bad things, at least in my opinion. Just because it’s a concept album, it doesn’t necessarily make the album good or bad. Of course, there’s a lot of shit being released, but I’m not the person to judge what is good and what is not good. Everybody’s got the right to release whatever they want to release, and if they think it’s good, they shall go on, and I wish them all the best.

The current Edguy line-up has been together since 1998. Is it easy or difficult to keep the unity of the band for so many years? Do you ever have quarrels with each other, and if yes, how do you cope with them?

I think it’s like between good friends. Of course, you sometimes have different opinions, and when you have different opinions about things, you talk. Sometimes you’re pissed off about it and about each other, but you don’t go to somebody and say, “You’re an asshole,” you rather go to him and say, “I have a problem when you do things like that” or “I don’t like this guitar solo” or “I don’t like your vocal performance here.” We just talk, we talk like adults, we talk like friends, and that’s why we’ve never had any serious problems.

What are the best and worst part of touring? And what do you enjoy more – playing live or recording in the studio?

I think it’s like with different seasons. When you have summer, you’re really looking forward to go skiing and have winter. And when winter is drawing to an end, you’re really looking forward to have summer again. The same thing is with recording and playing live – now I really can’t wait to hit the stage, because I think Edguy has always been a live band, and we are best at stage. But when you have done a world tour of 85 shows, and you have some new song ideas, you’re really excited about going to the studio, recording them and showing them to the people. There are two different things and I like them both equally. But if you’re a singer, you get used to being in the spotlight all the time. I think it’s the case with every singer. (laughs) For me it’s even better to be onstage.

OK, then when can we expect you back in Russia?

I think it’s gonna be this year. We don’t have a date yet, but I’m quite sure we’re gonna play in Russia.

Special thanks to Markus Wosgien (Nuclear Blast Records) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
Questions also composed by Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
January 16, 2006
22 мар 2006 the End


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