Interview с Pyracanda : DARKSIDE.ru

It's nice to see that Pyracanda has returned with a new and killer album, I must say. But when we did our previous interview, there were no plans for the reunion. So what made you change your mind?

It was a long story, you know, it was a process. I was living in Bavaria at that time, very close to Munich, and it was like another life for me. It was far, far beside the music and heavy metal and all that. I lived with my ex-wife in the house, everything was good. And suddenly something came up. The first thing was that there was a guy from Southeast Asia, a merchandise guy, who asked if he could use our cover of the first album for t-shirts and long sleeves. And I said, "Hey, it was so long ago, so use it, no problem. You don't have to pay for that". Which is funny, because this guy has sold about 600 shirts. But okay, good. And then our second record company approached me on Facebook and said, "We want to re-release your second album, the "Thorns" album, in Russia and Ukraine (The re-issue came out on Blacksmith Prods in 2018. — Author.). And I said, "Okay, do so. If you make a new reissue, send us some copies, and you don't have to pay for that". I was convinced that no one would buy this album. It was going well, and I think the album in Russia and Ukraine was very welcome. And then we received an offer from a record company in the USA, Divebomb Records.They made a completely new issue of "Two Sides of a Coin" with that re-recorded and remixed stuff from the streaming platforms, with an interview in it, and a really luxury edition. And then I called my bandmates, and said, "Hey, there's something going on with Divebomb Records, and I think we should ask for money". And they said, of course. And we were thinking about how much it can be, right? Because this is so long ago, and we didn't expect that anyone would be interested in that. And then I told him a number. I think we had a phone call with Matt Rudzinski who owns Divebomb Records, and he directly said yes. And I was like "Oh, shit. Maybe I should ask for more!", but it was too late. I think it was in 2017, something. And I asked my bandmates about doing a one-off show in 2020. And we met in Koblenz. I flew from Bavaria to Koblenz, and we met in a friend's rehearsal room. And we played "Top Gun" after decades. We have always played this song first during rehearsals because this is an easy song to come in and to get groovy and to get warm. It was not perfect, but it was okay. And then we said, "Okay, let us do a reunion".

- Two original members are missing right now in your lineup. The drummer Elmar Gehenzig decided not to participate in this reunion because of some other commitments but he kept writing songs for you. Is he done with performing entirely?

Elmar left the band because he doesn't want to play on stage. This is really his feeling. I don't understand that, but it's his life, it's his decision. But this was already long ago, we had Patrick, Patrick Grün. He joined Pyracanda when he was 17 years old. And he's now playing for Caliban, too. But for this record I asked Elmar to re-join. Because Elmar, you have to understand, he's a genius when it comes to arranging songs. He's really unbelievable. So, I got two six-packs of beer, and I drove to his house, and I rang the bell, and he saw me standing there with the two six-packs in front of his door. And he told me, "I know exactly what you want". This is what he told me. And I said, "Yes, can I come in?" And then we killed this two six-packs of beer. And the outcome was that he desided to support us with songwriting. And he even made the recordings in the studio. So, yes, he was playing the drums in the studio. But he doesn't want to play live.

- Did he record all drum tracks or just certain songs?

For the new album he recorded everything.

- And did he use his old flute to write some tunes?

Yes. a lot. You know, when we are in the rehearsal room, and we are there writing new songs, the main thing is to have the foundation of a song, and this is up to Dennis and Elmar. Dennis is a riff machine. He has so many thousands of riffs in his head. So it is just very easy when there is a first riff as a basis to build on it. It is very easy to say, “Dennis, we need something like bap, bap, bap, bap”. And then he has another riff in his head. And so we build that up. And the main arranger for this is Elmar. He's always saying, "Okay, we are playing this four times. And then we have a gap. And then we play something like this". That was the reason why I asked him to join us.

- In one interview, you mentioned that Sven Fischer is still an active musician, therefore he couldn't participate in this reunion. So what he's up to musically these days?

No one knows that. This is really completely crazy. No one knows what he's doing. We are assuming that he's writing songs for other artists. But he never told us. Once I was in the living room with Peavy from Rage. And then I suddenly asked, "Do you know what Sven is doing?" Because Sven went to Rage from Pyracanda, right? And Peavy said, "I have no idea what he's doing". But he's earning money. Anyhow, he has to survive. And we assume that he's writing songs for other bands. This is what we think. But we don't know. Maybe he's not allowed to tell this. This is the situation with Sven. But we still see him twice a year. But he's not as close to the band as Elmar. He's got more distance from the band.

- And once we touched this topic of writing songs for "Losing Faith": how long did it take to write everything? Do you have some leftovers from writing sessions? And what songs were the hardest

to complete?

It took us about more than one year. I think one year and two months. Something like this. And the hardest song was "Misanthrope". Because... When you are listening to that song, it is very clear in the beginning. And suddenly it makes a cut. And a completely different topic comes up. We just thought in the middle, "It can't go on like this because that will be too boring". But it took us very long to find the real break and to add the missing part.

- And what was the easiest song to write?

"Hellfire". Because this riff is simple. It was important for us to make this song not so complicated. Everyone should understand this song from the first hearing. And "Hellfire" is perfect for this. You listen to this song and when you hear it for the second time you already sing along to the refrain. And this is exactly what we wanted. And another very easy song was "We Are More". It is from Ilex era. The song was originally called "Godfather". But it was never finished. This is such a good song. This is not real heavy metal, this is more a hard rock song. But there are a lot of different songs on our latest album, so we decided to give it a try. And even all the hardcore heavy metal fans like that song. Because it is so groovy. This is really nice. And for us it was very important that every song has its own character. I hate new records. I have some examples in my head, but I will not tell you. I was so frustrated. It was one of my favorite bands. So I heard their new album, and the first song was good. But the second song was similar to the first one. And the third one was similar to that. And all the songs were in a nutshell the same. I hate that. This is so boring. And this is happening more and more. I think that was one of the major reasons why it took us so long to complete the album — we wanted every song to be different.

- And what was your personal contribution to the songwriting? Did you contribute any riffs, arrangements or Ideas?

Hansi and I are more passive in that field. The main job on songwriting is really up to Dennis and Elmar. But of course we have our influence. Hansi iwrites the lyrics of course. But it is not the big part. Sometimes I say, “Okay let us shorten this part or should we try something like this". But the biggest contribution really comes from Dennis and Elmar. This is the truth. Of course you always have influence and you can say what you don't like.

- Didn't you want to record something like a bass solo like Cliff Burton did with Metallica or something like this?

Not in this case. I had that on the second album. There was "The Dragon's Cult" where I made a bass intro. And I think there is a lot of bass on "We Are More" for example. But no I am not that Ego guy who has to play a bass solo or something. I think there are better bass men on the planet than me.

- Okay, maybe not a bass solo but something like an instrumental track based on bass. I really liked what Jens Baker did when he was in Running Wild and there was always an instrumental track with a lot of bass playing.

Maybe. When you listen to "We Are More" it is based on the bass. The main groove comes from the bass. But I am not the guy who says I need to play a solo. I don't need to play "Flight of the Bumblebee".

- By the way, how do Elmar and Dennis take the criticism when you say, "Drop off this part, cut this part"? Do they take this easily or do you need to fight a bit around this?

Absolutely. This belongs to the process. When we are in the rehearsal room and we are writing songs, this is really hard work. There are a lot of discussions. A lot of ego things maybe even. Especially for Elmar and Dennis. But this belongs to the process. I think this is very important. This is very important for us to discuss all this.

- Okay, I see. Could you introduce your new guitarist Frank Pelkowski? As far as I am aware he played in a grunge band called Soul Receiver. How did you understand that this guy with such a background was the right member for Pyracanda?

At first we had Dennis Schmidt from Caliban on the second guitar, but the problem with him is that he lives very far away. So we just met one day before shows. And this is too less for a real band life, right? When you really have a band life, you should say, "Hey, we meet next monday" and everyone is there. And he was never there for the rehearsals. He was only there one day before a show because he lives really far away. And so we decided to ramp him down and to look for a new guitar man. And yeah, we had a very small affair with the former guitar man from Metal Inquisitor, T.P. (Thomas Pohren), He's an old friend because he lives in Koblenz. We have known each other for ages. But that was not a good choice because his way of playing guitar was so different from how we play our instruments, right? We play that much harder, much faster, much more complicated. And that was not a good fit, but we are still friends. And then suddenly Dennis came around with Frank. So I asked Frank, "Okay, what have you done before?" And he told me, he was in a band like this and blah, blah, blah, with completely different music. But we decided to try him anyway. And it turned out that he knew our music for many years and had our records. And I said, “Liking this music and playing it are two completely different things because you really have to be fast on the guitar. Especially when it comes to that typical Pyacanda stuff". This is not everyone's thing, right? But he's a very good guitar player and he practices a lot at home. And with every rehearsal it was getting b

etter and better. And Frank is a very nice person, with a nice sense of humor. He fits well into the band. He plays our stuff very well, even live. We played together at the Headbangers Festival and he made a good show.

- Now lets talk about the “Losing Faith" album itself. I really like it! But when I heard "Hellfire" for the first time, I was like, “”Wow, now this is close to Megadeth, but with a better singer!"

This is interesting. I thought that "Mouth Warrior" sounds like Megadeth, but "Hellfire"... Okay, good. We love Megadeth. And a lot of people have already said that Hansi sings much better on this record than on the old records. So "Hellfire", you say,. The first time I played this song to the lady from a record company, she said, "Do you always listen to Metallica?" Of course we love Metallica. Of course we love Megadeth, right? I think everyone has his own experience. And you can hear that, right?

- The intro of "Don't Wait For" sounds like it's played on a cello or a string instrument. Is it really like this?

The intro is played on a keyboard. This intro we play during our live shows. That means when we're coming on stage, we run this intro.

- Got it. And what about the lyrics for "Don't Wait For"? Don't wait for what?

This is the command to all people like me, Hansi and Dennis, to stand up from the couch, go to festivals, live their life, party, live now. This is what it is about. Because you know how it is, a lot of people my age especially, they're just sitting on the couch, they're living their boring life, but they have the ability to stand up and go to the next metal festival, why not? And this is just a signal for the people: stand up, do something, whatever you want, right? If you're going to a dance festival or you're going to a techno festival or a metal festival or you're going to cinema or whatever, do something. Because who knows. If there's a second life, you will not remember the first one. This is the point. So this is the background of "Don't Wait For".

- Such a strong message! And is "Mouth Warrior" about a certain person?

I think it is important to understand that Hansi is very critical of some people's behavior. There are a lot of people getting on his nerves. For example, on social media. And I think "Mouth Warrior" is exactly about these people who are sitting on a couch with a mobile phone in their hand and just typing bullshit like "I'm the greatest, I'm the hero". But all what this guy is doing is sitting on the couch, right? This is the Mouth Warrior. That means he is a warrior in his mind, but he's more of a warrior with his mouth and not in real life.

- Yeah, in Russia, we call these people the sofa division.

Exactly, exactly like this.

- And who is the "History Twister" for you?

You know, the problem in Germany is, maybe you've heard about this already, that slowly but very critically, the Nazis are coming up again. I think it's a worldwide problem these days.

- I heard that this right-wing party, Alternative für Deutschland, is really popular among people in Germany.

Yeah, this is really bad. And I would like to ask these people, “Have you been in school? Have you read some books about our history? Do you know what the Germans have done to the world?" Just simple questions. And some people are ignoring that and they're turning the history upside down, right? They say, “Hey, all that story with the jewish people in the camps and all that, this is not true. This didn't happen". So, yeah, they're turning the history, they're twisting the history, these are the history twisters. I say they're just assholes, that's it. But Hansi is more polite in that case.

- There is a song called "What Build My Pride". I know Hansi wrote these lyrics, but how would you answer the question?

It is a good question. You're the first one who's asking that. Most people, to be honest, ask about "Hellfire". I'm proud of the person who I am. I always try to be the best person I can. This is what I do, this is what I try. Sometimes it is not possible, but at least I try. And I think I have no problem looking in the mirror in the morning. Of course, sometimes I make mistakes or do the wrong things, but I always come back. This is what I learned from my parents. That I'm responsible for what I'm doing and I'm responsible for my person. And so I always reflect on myself. Before I go to bed or before I fall asleep, I ask myself "What happened today? Did you react the right way and have you been the best guy you can be?" And I'm proud of my band. This band was away for so many years, and here we are with our first album after 32 years. Can you imagine that, 32 years? Once I talked to a person who is 31. And I told him, "You know, the gap between these two records is as old as you". This is unbelievable. And it was no problem for us to get a record deal after all this time, right? So that is really something you can be proud of, that the people remember this name of this band.

- Yeah.

I remember one situation. I've been backstage at the Keep It True Festival and saw Götz Kühnemund from Deaf Forever and Rock Hard magazines. And he saw me and said, "Hi Dieter, we have you in the next issue of the magazine". I haven't seen this guy for about 30 years and he recognized me directly. This is something which makes me proud after all these years.

- Yes, this is impressive! And is it correct that during the recording of the album, you got sick and you had to go to the hospital or somet

hing like this?

How do you know that? Wow. This is really good work.

I can't remember. I probably read about it in one interview on the Internet.

Yes, this is true. Last year was very hard for me and believe me, there was a lot of shit. Because I, to be honest, almost died last year. I was really, really sick, deep sick. And I remember one situation because I've been to hospital before with the same issue. And I know that I have to go again because not everything was fixed. So I was in the studio recording "Misanthrope" and during the recording process I said to Rene — Rene is the owner of the studio — "Ŗene, I cannot play anymore. I have to go to the hospital tomorrow. I have to go very urgently." And I stopped recording in the middle of the song. Then I went to the hospital, and two and a half weeks later I was in the studio again recording the second half of "Misanthrope”, like there was nothing in between.This was so funny. And I can't exactly tell you where that cut was. That was last year. You know, when you're in such a situation and the doctors tell you your chance to survive is 50-50. That makes you think about a lot of things. But I'm still there. It was a painful experience, believe me, it was really so painful. After the first operation, I remember that night from this Monday to Tuesday, I really wanted to die that night. It was so painful. But I'm still there. You don't die so fast. This is what I learned.

- I hope everything is well right now.

Yeah, all good now. Really good. Now everything is out of my body, which doesn't belong to be in. And now I'm completely pain-free. And I love that.

- You mentioned Rene Anlauff, your producer, and you also mentioned that you and Rene played a lot of music together.

Wow, this is true.

- What kind of music was it?

That was the Ilex time, because Hansi left that band, and we had a little tour. Rene is an old friend, he's a very good singer, he's a very good drummer. And now he's a singer of, I don't know if you know, Heldmaschine, the band?

- Yes, it's a kind of a Neue Deutsche Harte band.

Exactly, something like this. And he's a singer and a founder of this band, he's doing everything there. And, you know, for us it was important, how can I explain that... When we made our old records, we had a record deal, and were sent to a studio to work with people we'd never seen before, right? And the artwork came from a guy we didn't know. This time for us it was important to do this record only with people we know, only with friends. Of course, we wrote songs ourselves, without strangers. Then we recorded everything in Rene's studio. He's an old friend, that was like recording at home, but in a professional studio. As for the record company, Frank Hirnschal is an old friend, he's an old Pyracanba fan. Okay, he has got FHM Records, and he sign only the bands he loves. But he made some reissues of our old records, and we know each other. And suddenly he said, "Hey, I'm doing new records now." So I asked him, "Okay, what is your first new record?" It turned out to be the new Nasty Savage album. So I offered him to release our new album together with Nasty Savage. So doing everything with friends, right? Even the T-shirt maker, the video guy — all people we know. And this is a completely different way of working. It was more familiar, more good feeling. And how did I come to that? I don't know if this was an answer to your question, but...

- Not really. The question was, "What kind of music did you play with Rene"?

You know that Ilex stuff? It was something like German metal, right? This is what we have done. And even that was Dennis, Patrick on drums, Rene and me. And then I think Patrick left to a hardcore band. So Rene played the drums and sang. I was on the bass and Dennis was on the guitar. And it was metal with German lyrics at that time. We did that for a few years. Just some shows and fun. By the way, I texted Hansi asking about "What Builds my Pride". Greetings to you from Hansi. He said, I was completely right. It is just about being the best man you can, right?

- Great! Thank you very much! So back to Rene Anlauff. He's in a modern metal type of band. Didn't you want to use his experience to refresh the sound of Pyracanda and to add some Rammstein-esque elements?

I don't know. I think the sound of "Losing Faith" is still Pyracanda's sound. Of course, we recorded everything with new techniques, but we didn't use any drum computers or loops or something, So, this is all natural. This is very important for us because you know that maybe a lot of bands, just to save money or time or I don't know why, they use drum computers, even in heavy metal, right? And this is what we don't like. So, it was important for us. Yes, Rene does completely other music. I don't even know if this is metal music. It goes a little bit into the Rammstein direction, you know. So, and of course, he has modern equipment and maybe a little bit modern sound, but before we started recording, he was listening to "Two Sides of a Coin" and "Thorns", and he was completely into that sound already. You have to understand Rene, he has the perfect hearing. He hears every single failure. I remember one situation when I was recording "Spoke On the Wheel". I was standing there with my bass in the studio and started to play. Rene waited for one minute, and said, "Wittbecker, you cannot play this". I asked why. And then we started from scratch, because he had a completely different picture of the bass line in his head. And this is what I expect from a producer. Because when you play one song all the time, you think it is the best part you can play. But that's not true, because a producer hears everything with fresh ears, right? And he maybe says, "Hey, stop! Play it like this", right? And this is his job. And this is what Rene is really, really good at. So we really had the perfect combination between Elmar and Dennis in songwriting, and Rene’s way of listening and seeing things differently. That was really important.

- I think a lot of bands, experienced bands, miss this type of producer today. They say, "We don't need producers. We have experience, like 35 years of playing this music. So we don't need anyone to tell us how to do it, how to do it". And then they release lame albums with the same riffs.

Exactly. They all sound the same.

- I must say that the new Pyracanda album sounds stunning, very clear, very powerful. But I believe that wasn't just that easy to achieve. There could be some arguments maybe during the mixing process or something like this. Could you give me some inner information about this process?

I think very important in the end is the guitar sound because Dennis' guitar defines the Pyacanda sound. That means you can listen to Dennis closing your eyes and you realise that this is Pyracanda, because he uses not so much effects. He plays the guitar directly into the Marshall, right? I think this is a very important pillar in our sound. And then we try to have the same drum sound all the time. Sometimes this is not possible, but I think we are very close to the original sound that we had 32 years ago. In the end, it was Rene because he was listening to the "Two Sides of a Coin" and "Thorns" albums, which are different in sound. "Two Sides of a Coin" is more precise, there is more volume when you're listening to that record. The “Thorns" album is a little bit more flat. But Rene was listening to that and I think he said, "OK, this stuff is 32 years old and we have to transform that a little bit into our time". But that was important for us. There is a band that rehearses near to us, and they try to imitate the sound of the 80s. I asked why they do this in 2024. But they really want to sound like a band from the 80s. But for us, it was important to sound fresh.

- Yes, I see. And can you explain how the cover artwork of "Losing Faith" relates to the title and the cover?

The title itself is clear, right?

- I think you mean losing faith in humanity.

Yes. Everyone is talking about how we have to look more for nature. Everyone is talking about how we don't need to drive super huge cars which require a lot of gasoline etc. But when it comes to an individual, everyone wants to have a luxurious life, which always costs a lot of energy. And this is why Hansi said, "I'm starting to lose faith in the people". Because they don't understand what is going on with nature, and no one wants to see that change. And there are really people who say, “No, there is no climate change, it is not happening", which is completely stupid, right? And we are even electing these people as a president, you know who I mean, right? And this is why Hansi said, "I'm starting to lose faith". And this figure on the cover in the beginning was a lady soldier. I know, you cannot see if it is a lady or not, but I don't care. The soldier has the machine gun in the right hand, and that means he's still ready to fight. But on the other hand he is losing another gun, but still raising the fist. So that means, “Okay, I'm starting to lose faith, but let us try it again". And one wing is already burning, so that means that a lot of things happened in the past. So this is what we want to say with that picture.

- Yeah, this is very deep, I must say.

When we had that title, "Losing Faith", I was sitting there with Hansi, and we were discussing what the cover should look like. And the hardest part was to find an artist who translates your thoughts and your ideas into a real picture. At first it was an ordinary soldier lady with these machine guns and all that. But I think you already noticed, that now the soldier has the head of this guy from our first album. And this was important for us. So we spent a lot of time on this picture.

- I also saw that your new t-shirts had this slogan, "Shut the fuck up!" And it's kind of a slogan of your new album. So why is that?

It is a sentence from "Mouth Warrior". Hansi is so tired of these people. And he just said "Shut the fuck up", right? So when I was designing our t-shirts, I thought that we needed something on the back, because people like t-shirts with prints on both sides. And I said to Hansi, "We need a very strong sentence we can print on the back". And Hansi said, "This is completely clear — shut the fuck up". All these Nazi people, all these assholes in the world, now have a platform on the internet. 32 years ago not every idiot could tell all the people his bullshit, right? But in our time every idiot can loudly speak their bullshit out.

- Okay. One last question. I found information that you and Peavy Wagner from Rage recorded a Savatage song "Of Rage and War". Is it really correct?

We didn't record that. That was live. We played in "Juz" club in Andernach. This is a very small location that fits only about 100 people. But a lot of big bands played there, like Toto and Blind Guardian. And that was a very special concert because we had our rehearsal room in this location. And our rent to pay was to play for them once a year in this room. So we were standing there on that really little stage. And Peavy Wagner was in the audience. And, you know, he's a friend, right? We have known each other for a very long time. So before we started playing "Of Rage and War" from Savatage, we asked Peavy to come on stage because he is from Rage. So we performed the song together. The funny thing was that I didn't remember the situation. And I was asking Hansi, is that really true? And Hansi said, “Yes, you were on stage, but you were completely drunk”. This is what he told me.

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31 окт 2025 the End

Pyracanda

What builds our pride