Interview с Mob Rules : DARKSIDE.ru

You recorded the DVD in your hometown. Why did you choose this particular location? Was it because you were sure you will have a big and friendly crowd in your hometown?

This is one of the reasons. For us it was obvious that if we wanna do a live DVD, we must film it in a sold-out club, where the circumstances for a live show are perfect. The other reason is that Mob Rules have a tradition of making a release party in our hometown for every album, and we hold it in the biggest club of the town. In this case, we put both together – we filmed the release party for our album “Among The Gods” (2004), the club was absolutely packed, and we used that footage for the first Mob Rules live DVD.

The DVD looks great, but how much does it represent what Mob Rules are about live? Can you say that the captured show is a show that you usually play, or is it more like a special or an outstanding event?

I think it was a regular show. The only thing that is a little bit different from other shows is that we had a bit more light on stage and seven cameras in front of the stage. But what we played onstage and how we acted onstage is similar to any other Mob Rules show.

Wasn’t it making you nervous that there are so many cameras in front of the stage and that what they film will stay with you for the rest of your life?

I don’t want to say that it made us nervous, it made us excited. That’s the perfect word. We knew that it was a special night, we played five or six warm-up shows before the concert in our hometown, so we felt comfortable onstage, and when this night began, we saw all the cameras, the completely packed club and masses of light, we were really excited, but in a positive sense.

Many bands say that it took them more time and efforts to make a DVD than it takes to make a regular studio album. Was that also the case with you? And what were the biggest difficulties that you experienced while working on the DVD?

That’s a good question. To make everything ready for that night, to play and record a typical Mob Rules show was the easiest part of everything. It was much easier than working on a studio album. But the work on the DVD after the show - mixing the sound, editing the material, looking for the perfect mix of pictures, putting together all the bonus material, bringing the 5.1. Surround Sound to work, having all the subtitles – this was much more work that we had expected. We thought that if everything is filmed, it will be a perfect DVD, but the real work started after the show, and it was a new lesson for us to learn.

When you were putting the DVD together, did you have any kind of standard that you wanted to meet? I mean, was there a DVD by some other artists that you watched and said, “I want my DVD to look like this”?

No, not really. The standard was our own taste. The aim was to make a DVD that pleased ourselves. We wanted to have a DVD in our hands and say, “Oh, it’s good to watch, it’s good to look at, it’s a good offer for the fans.” There’s a DVD and a live album for the regular price of a DVD, there’s a thick booklet with a lot of pictures, there’s a lot of bonus material. So the standard for the DVD was what we wanted to have as fans of Mob Rules.

How often do you personally watch DVDs? Do you have a favorite music DVD?

Yeah, I have a few ones. One of them is Rush “Rush In Rio”, which is absolutely great. I like the new Dream Theater DVD, filmed in Japan, and the current Iron Maiden DVD. But I have to tell you that in case of Rush, Dream Theater or Iron Maiden there’s much more money involved than in case of Mob Rules, so you can’t compare our DVD with those. Nevertheless, we are proud of our DVD, we think it’s good value for the fans, they will get a lot of materials for not so much money. And for the budget we had, it’s a really good one.

The DVD comes with a bonus audio CD that has the same tracks. But what is the reason for it? Many musicians are telling me that nobody actually listens to live CDs these days…

When we were thinking about how to use the concert in our hometown, we had two ideas. One of them was to bring out a live album, and the other one was to release a live DVD. Inside the band we couldn’t decide which is better for us and the fans, so in the end we decided, “If we can’t do both, we will put a live album and a live DVD in a special deluxe package.” Anyway, the package is not sold at an extra price, it has the price of a regular DVD, so everybody will be happy with it. The fans who would love to see us will have the DVD, and those who would love to listen to us on their hi-fi in their living room without having to look at the TV screen will have a good product as well.

The bonus section of the DVD contains a lot of materials from Wacken and the Wacken Road Show. Indeed, you have played at Wacken several times…

Three times, yeah.

What is your opinion about the development of the festival? Is it getting better or worse over the years?

It’s difficult to say. In some cases I think it’s developing from year to year. The sound on the stage is better with each year, the lights are better, but in some aspects, I think it’s in a kind of stagnation. In my opinion, there are a handful of bands that come every two years, but there are no real surprises on the billing. They have never had Iron Maiden, they have never had Judas Priest, really big bands that could be a surprise for Wacken Open Air. In this sense, there’s a kind of stagnation, but when it comes to the circumstances of the festival, there’s development. To be honest, fans love Wacken Open Air, because it’s much more than just music, it’s a kind of vacation.

Another item in the bonus section is the video for “Black Rain”. First of all, why did you choose this song from the “Among The Gods” album to make a video for? And second, how much TV play has this video got?

“Black Rain” was the single off “Among The Gods”, so that was the reason why we made a video for it as well. As to the amount of TV play, I don’t know, to be honest. I know that in Southern Europe it was played a lot of times. In Germany, unfortunately, not too often, because we only have two music channels, and one of them doesn’t have metal at all. But in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, as well as in Scandinavia, it was played a lot.

So do you think the video did what you expected it to do for the band in terms of promotion?

I hope so, but you never know what makes a band more popular. With the videoclip it was the same as with the DVD – we wanted to make it because we loved to have a videoclip. We didn’t think whether it was worthy of doing, whether it would help us. We always do what we love no matter if it helps us or not. We wanted a videoclip, so we made a videoclip. We wanted to have a DVD, so we did it. It’s the reason for every step that Mob Rules made, and it will remain like this in the future.

Speaking about the “Among The Gods” album, as far as I know, it sold 50 percent better than its predecessor, “Hollowed Be Thy Name” (2002). Has this sales improvement changed your life in any way?

Yeah, we had to tour a lot more than in the years before. In the past year we have played four full tours, and in the past we did only one or two tours for each album. We did a tour last fall, another one last winter, then one more in spring, and a real festival tour in summer. The bigger sales helped us spend more time onstage.

I’ve noticed one big change in the band since this album – you now have a new guitar player, Sven Luedke, and it’s the first time in more than eight years that you change a member. What h

appened with his predecessor Oliver Fuhlhage, and how is it like playing with a new guy in the band?

Oliver decided to leave the band because he had become a father and had changed his dayjob. These two factors taken together were the reasons why he decided that he couldn’t tour as much as Mob Rules wanted to. He wanted to spend more time at home with his family and his little child, he wanted to concentrate on his new job, and Mob Rules are working constantly on new songs or on the live thing, so he wasn’t able to follow our tempo. He asked us whether it’s OK for us if he leaves the band, and we didn’t want that, because we are good friends, but we understood the reasons for him doing so. It was a really friendly departure, we are still friends with Oliver, so everything is alright for us. Sven is an old friend of us, and from the first day he joined the band, it was like we never had another guitar player. When he came in, he knew all the songs, he had visited a lot of Mob Rules show the years before, so he could play all our songs, he loved the band, and he always wanted to be part of the band. When we called him and said, “Listen, Sven, Olli is leaving, would you like to join the band?”, he spontaneously said, “Yes! Tomorrow I will be at the rehearsal room.” It only took three or four days before he could play all Oliver’s parts, and from the very first show with him, my impression was, “We never played with another guy!” It’s a really organic and natural progress. He’s a great guy, a good friend of ours, and he’s a great guitar player. You will hear him on the next studio album.

What about the rest of the guys in Mob Rules – do you also have families and dayjobs, or was it the case only with Oliver?

We all have families, and most of us have children, except me and our drummer. Three of us have dayjobs in addition to Mob Rules.

So is it difficult for the band members to combine their families, dayjobs and music?

Yeah, it’s difficult, but I think it’s difficult for every musician. Every musician who is constantly on tour, who has to leave his family every few weeks, will have a problem with his wife, will have a problem because he misses his children and his home. So it’s always difficult for a musician. But on the other hand, we want to do Mob Rules, we want to go on tour and play live as much as we can, so we have no other choice. We have to combine our private life with the work of Mob Rules.

By the way, you are the one who answers all the interviews. Does it mean that you are the leader of the band?

No, it’s not the case. Me, the bass player and the drummer founded the band 11 years ago, I write a lot of music and lyrics, but to say that I’m the leader wouldn’t be correct. I am one of the leaders, but Mob Rules is a really democratic band, and every decision that we make is approved by every Mob Rules member. But I’m the oldest guy in the band and I’m one of its founders, so that’s maybe the reason why I do most of the interviews. Often there are questions about the whole history of Mob Rules, and of course, I am the right guy to tell everything. I founded the band, and I’ve been with the band from day one.

As you have said that you are writing most of the lyrics for the band, I’d like to ask you a few questions about the lyrical component of your songs. “Hollowed Be Thy Name” could be viewed as a concept album. Is it also the case with “Among The Gods”?

I wouldn’t say that “Among The Gods” is a concept album, but it’s an album that has lyrics about the mankind written from a special prospective. I tried to write the lyrics from the point of view of someone who stands outside the world and looks at what is going on on Earth. Some of the things that I describe are really funny, others are strange or dangerous. It’s an attempt to let somebody from the outside sitting among the gods look on Earth and describe

what he sees on Earth. If you call this a concept, then this is a concept album. But I wouldn’t call it a concept album, it’s rather an album that has songs written from the same prospective.

What is the song “Hydrophobia” about?

(laughs) “Hydrophobia” is one of the funny songs. It’s about a guy who’s really scary, but tries to hide this. He tried to be like a superman, but under the surface, behind his mask, he’s really afraid. He’s afraid of water – that’s the reason for calling the song “Hydrophobia” – he’s afraid of everything, but he still tries to look like a superman.

Yet another question about the lyrics on the latest album – “Invitation Time”. Who is this girl that you’re talking about in this song?

(cracks) It’s a fiction girl, it’s not a real girl. “Invitation Time” is about the dream of every man – to have a girl at the end of the street, who’s making love to him professionally without demanding money. It’s a kind of dream of every man – to go down the street, to meet a nice girl living there, who will let him in and make love to him, and he wouldn’t have to pay for it, it will be a present for his coming. Yeah, it’s the wish-dream of every German man.

Where do the Oriental influences on “The Miracle Dancer” and “Arabia” coming from? Is anybody in the band interested in oriental or world music?

Yeah, me and Sascha, the keyboard player, we both love world music. Not just world music, but we are interested in different cultures from different parts of the world. I’m watching a lot of TV shows and documentaries about different areas around the planet, I’ve always loved to see how people in Asia, Africa or South America live. I like to see how close the connection between their way of living and their traditional music is. And that’s the reason why we are so interested in world music. We love the influences of different cultures, and with “Arabia” and “The Miracle Dancer” we tried to tell the stories which take place in those areas – Arabia and South America respectively.

Another very interesting track is “Meet You In Heaven” that you dedicated to Jacklyne Wenk. I’ve also found her name in the booklet of the latest Holy Moses album. Who was this lady? And what happened to her?

She was our light girl, she was sitting at the light desk and making the lights at our shows. She was with us on tour in 2004, and she was a really nice person. A week after the tour finished, we heard that she was in hospital because they had found cancer in her body. Four weeks later she died, and it was really tragic. We decided to dedicate this song to her, what we wanted to say was, “We will meet again one day. You are not dead, you are still in our hearts and our minds, and one day in heaven we will meet again.”

Judging by some of your songs, such as the title track “Among The Gods”, you are quite critical about the church and its power over the people. But on the same album you have a song like “Meet You In Heaven”, which says that you do believe in a life after death, in heaven and hell. Could you speak a bit about your attitude towards religion and church?

For me religion and church are two different pairs of shoes. I am a believer, for me it’s obvious that there’s a god or whatever you would call it, I believe in a bigger might on earth. So I am a religious guy, but I don’t believe in church. In my opinion, the church doesn’t represent my belief. There are so many bad stories about the church over the whole history of mankind, especially in Germany – during World War II the church was on the side of the Nazis, and in the Middle Ages the church was making crusades. I’m really critical about the church, but I’m not critical about believing.

As a bonus on the DVD you have a very interesting cover – “All That I Bleed” by Savatage. I know that Sav

atage is one of your favorite bands, but why did you choose this particular track? It is not among the most famous Savatage songs…

That’s the reason for it! It’s not among the famous ones, but one of my absolutely favorite ones. My opinion has always been that this is one of the greatest songs that Savatage ever wrote, and I couldn’t understand why it’s not so popular. And that’s the reason why we chose it – it’s a great song, it has the potential for being a classic, but a lot of Savatage fans don’t even know this song. So we played it to make it better known for the fans.

You toured with Savatage two years ago. What impressions did you have from that tour?

It was perfect for us, because the audience that likes Savatage is quite similar to the audience of Mob Rules, we fit very well together. When we opened the shows, we could see that the fans of Savatage love the music of Mob Rules as well. It was the perfect combination for both us and the audience.

On the past two albums you had very interesting guest musicians. I know that you are friends with Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween), and I know why you got Peavy Wagner (Rage) to sing a few lines in the song “How The Gypsy Was Born”. But how did you get to know Ian Parry from Elegy? How did it happen that he is singing background vocals on “Among The Gods”?

Our producer Markus Teske is a good friend of him. When we were looking for somebody who has a really charismatic voice for the background vocals, he suggested asking Ian. I had him on the phone, I said, “Listen, Ian, we have a new album, we need somebody for the background choir, we need somebody who has a strong and really unique voice, do you think you can do that?” And he said, “Yeah, Mob Rules is one of my favorite bands, I would love to do that!” He came to the studio, he sang a few choirs, we had a beer together, and it was great fun for everybody.

I know that you started playing guitar when you were 23 or something. Why so late? And what band inspired you to become a musician?

Why so late – this is one of the questions that I ask myself every day. (laughs) I wanted to be a musician from my 10th birthday on, and I don’t know why I wouldn’t start earlier. At the age of 23 I was really suffering from not being a musician, just being a fan, so I decided, “OK, it’s never too late to learn to play guitar,” and so I started. It was the most important decision in my life, when I bought a guitar and started playing it. As to inspirations, I’m a fan of different kinds of music. I love a lot of bands from the 1970s, I love bands from the 1980s, I love bands like Dokken and Aerosmith, I was always a fan of Savatage. But I’m not a guy who has his focus on one or two bands. I love rock music in general, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Queensryche, Dream Theater or Helloween. I love every good rock song, this is my main influence.

When you were beginning to play guitar, what ambitions did you have? How much of them have you realized so far?

I had no ambitions, I just wanted to make music and play in a band. It took just a year to have my first own band, so my original ambition to play guitar and be part of a band was fulfilled. Everything that happened after that was much more than I ever expected. I never dreamed that I would be part of a band that’s really famous in Germany, that I would have a contract with a record company, that I would make four studio albums and a live DVD, that I could go on a European tour several times. (laughs) I’m in a good mood!

Then I have a question about the future. When shall we expect a new studio album from Mob Rules? How will it sound like?

Because of a change of the guitar player, I think there will be a bit more guitar influences. Oliver was really into hard rock, while Sven is a big fan of bands like In Flames,

he’s a real metal guitar player. Thus, the new album will be a bit more edgy, a bit more guitar-based than the records before. The plan right now is to enter the studio in April 2006, bring out an EP or a single right before the summer festivals, then play a lot of festivals and then bring out the full album right after the summer.

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
October 19, 2005
30 дек 2005 the End

Mob Rules

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