Interview с Dawnrider : DARKSIDE.ru

As far as we understand, “Fate Is Calling” is more of your solo project - you wrote all the songs and recorded most of the instruments for this album. But with your main band Majesty you also write all the music and lyrics, and you are the lead singer, so why didn’t you record “Fate Is Calling” with Majesty?

I came up with the idea of Dawnrider two years ago. I wanted to make a complete concept album, because I had written a story for Dawnrider and it had a lot of characters. In Majesty I only have my vocals, while for Dawnrider I needed a lot of singers to play all the different roles of the characters. That’s what makes the difference.

Most of the instruments were recorded at your own studio, SteelPride, while with Majesty you mostly work in other, more famous studios. What was the reason for choosing SteelPride for Dawnrider?

With Dawnrider it’s impossible to book a studio for five weeks, because all the artists were free in different moments, so I would have had to book a studio for a year or something to get all of them together. The only possibility was to make it on my own. All the singers and instrumentalists involved in the album sent me their performances, and it took a whole year to get all of them done. If I had booked a different studio, it would have required too much time and money, so I did it myself.

As we see, the recording of the album was a long process. But how much time did it take you to write “Fate Is Calling”? What did you create first – the music or the concept?

I started writing my first novel in 2002, when I brought out Majesty’s “Sword And Sorcery” album. And I got the idea of the album about a year ago, when I sat down at the piano at night and started playing some music. Actually the Dawnrider story is a prequel to the actual novel I’m writing.

Was it easy or difficult to get all the guest musicians for the album? For instance, such people as Mark Shelton (Manilla Road) or Ross The Boss (ex-Manowar) very seldom make guest appearances – how did you get in contact with them?

Well, it was cool, because I’m organizing a festival called Keep It True here in Germany. A lot of the artists, like Mark Shelton, for example, played at the festival, and I just asked him whether he wanted to hear the demos of my album. I sent him the demos, he and Bryan (Patrick, Manilla Road vocalist) loved it and said, “We wanna be part of it.” As to Ross The Boss, he played a solo for Majesty as far back as in 2002. When I was recording Dawnrider, he was touring in Germany and he called me to invite me to one of the shows. I said, “Ross, do you have time to come to my studio for one or two days?” He said, “Yeah, I’d love to!”, and we recorded this great solo.

Were there any singers or musicians that you wanted to get, but this didn’t work out? If you could get any musician in the world for your album, who would that be?

You know, one or two names didn’t wanna take part in the first album, but they wanna take part in the second Dawnrider album. I also contacted some other great names, but I’m not allowed to speak about it, because nothing is fixed yet. But you can definitely expect some more great names to be present on the second part.

You must have heard a lot of other concept albums with fantasy themes – did you like any of those? For instance, what do you think of “Avantasia” or “Missa Mercuria”?

I like them both. Especially “Avantasia” was well-done, I think. I have always loved when the music tells a story, and I’m a great fantasy fan, I love Tolkien and other writers. I read a lot of fantasy books, and as I said, I’m writing a fantasy novel of my own. I think metal and a fantasy concept work together perfectly, and it was always my dream to make a concept album. I have fulfilled my dream now!

Great! And when and how did you get interested in fantasy books? And what kind of other literature is interesting to you?

Of course, as every fantasy fan, I started reading “The Lord Of The Rings” by Tolkien years ago, and I go the virus straight ahead. I love reading Raymond Feist, he’s a great writer, and a lot of other people. I think it’s like a virus, because I always loved to escape into a fantasy world, where there’s complete evil and complete good, which we don’t have in the real world. It’s always nice to sit down in the evening and type some words for your own novel or read some novel by other writers. It’s like an escape from reality, and I love that.

As you said, y

ou are writing your own fantasy novel, which also deals with the world of Dawnrider. In what language are you writing it, and when can we expect it to be released?

(laughs) I’m more a musician than a writer, and I don’t even know whether my novel is good, but I will give it to some friends when it’s finished, and if they say it’s good, it will hopefully be released in 2006. I’m writing it in German, but I hope to release it in English too. It’s just a hobby of mine, I love to sit down at my laptop at night and write some words. But hopefully it will be released, it’s a dream of mine.

When can we expect a second chapter of “Fate Is Calling” to be released?

The next thing for us is to release a new Majesty album. The release is set for February, and after it we’re gonna do a European tour, which will take the whole summer. Hopefully in autumn I will be able to start writing the second part of Dawnrider, but now Majesty is the priority, of course.

How many parts will the story of Dawnrider have?

I’m planning three at the moment. And all the three parts will lead to the novel I’m writing, they’re a prequel of the novel.

Now let’s talk about Majesty a bit. The band has gone through a lot of line-up changes since the previous album “Reign In Glory” (2003). Three members left and you got two new guys. What was the reason for such a great reshuffle? And how did it influence the music of Majesty?

It was really hard for us, because the band is a real family. But the main problem was that we started to do long tours, and these three guys had jobs and weren’t able to find the time for Majesty anymore. That’s why they decided – and it was a very long decision – to leave the band. But we are still friends. As to the new guys, it’s still great to play live with them, because they’re musicians from the heart. The band works together live, it’s a great feeling when you go onstage, and I love all the guys in the band.

You are the one who is writing all the music and lyrics for both Majesty and Dawnrider. Is it the way you like things to happen, do you prefer doing all the songwriting on your own, or would you like to see contribution from other band members but they never make it?

Well, they do contribute to it. First I write a song, then we do a rehearsal, and everybody is bringing in their own ideas. But I started writing songs when I was 13 years old, I’ve always done it on my own, and I think it’s the only way I can write songs. But of course, if we rehearse a new song, and the drummer says, “I wanna play this beat,” we try it, we work together on the songs. It’s the main concept that comes from me, and the rest is happening in our rehearsal room.

It was quite surprising for us to find out that you started writing “Fate Is Calling” on the piano, not on the guitar…

It actually depends on the song. If it’s a slower song, a ballad, then I’m writing it on the piano. And as to harder songs for Majesty, for instance, on the new album most of the time there’s just the guitar riff, they’re written on the guitar. I don’t have a certain scheme of how I write songs, it differs from time to time. Sometimes I wake up at four in the morning and say, “Oh, I gotta grab a guitar!” It depends on the mood how a new song is gonna be made.

The upcoming Majesty album is called “Hellforces”. Why did you choose such a title for it, and what are the lyrics about this time?

The lyrics are, as it’s always in Majesty, about heavy metal. Of course, we sing about hell and demons and everything, these themes fit to a heavy metal album. Last week we had the first listening session for the German press, and we got some great reactions to the album, they all said that it’s the same Majesty with some great riffing. This time we had a different producer, Stefan Kaufmann from U.D.O., and we had Udo Dirkschneider on guest vocals on one song. Of course, I have to say that I love the album, and I hope you’ll like it too. The promos will go out in January, we’re gonna release a new EP called “Sons Of A New Millenium” at the end of that month, and in February we’re gonna release the album worldwide.

As far as we understand, the notion of being “true” is something that is of great importance to you. But what does being true mean to you? What makes a person true, and what makes him false? Where are the limits?

The most important thing if you wanna be true is just that you gotta do the things that you really like and that reall

y come from your heart. I hate people who are playing music and don’t love it, that’s fake for me. As I said, the most important thing for me is to always be honest and play honest music. There are fans who buy your albums and come to your concerts, and for me it’s important that the fans and the band are family. For me honesty and freedom are the most important issues of being true.

You have a great song called “Into The Stadiums” on the album “Reign In Glory”. In your opinion, how realistic is it to bring metal to the stadiums? What should be done in order to achieve it?

(laughs) I think you should play live as often as possible and just have this dream. You have to have dreams, and it’s a dream of mine to play at stadium. For example, we played as a support act for U.D.O. in 2004, and we played in front of 4,000-5,000 people, and we also played at the Bang Your Head festival with 5,000-6,000 metalheads in front of the stage. Thus, the dream is getting closer, you just have to believe in yourself. “Into The Stadiums” is just the dream of my heart, and hopefully it will happen. I think heavy metal is such a great kind of music that it deserves to be on big stages and have great audiences. That’s what this music was made for, I think.

But don’t you think that it’s more difficult to maintain contact with the audience when you’re playing at the stadiums?

I love both club shows and big venues, I think you have to do both as a band. But the great thing is to play bigger stages, because you can have pyrotechnics, you can have a great light show, you can run around on stage, and you can support the music with visual elements. With a club show, it’s different, because the stage is smaller, you can’t run around, but you have a closer contact with the fans. There are good and bad sides to both of it, and I love both.

Can you recall the very first time you heard heavy metal? And what was the band that made you a fan of this music?

It’s very funny! When I was 10 or 11 years old, my father gave me AC/DC “Highway To Hell”. When I heard it for the first time, I said, “What the fuck is that?” Of course, I didn’t literally say “what the fuck” back then… (everybody laughs) I just loved it! When I was 13, I went to my first Iron Maiden concert here in Germany, and I was totally blown away. Since that, my heart and my mind have always belonged to heavy metal.

We have a few more history questions, if you don’t mind. Can you tell us a bit about the formation of Majesty, how did you and guitarist Udo Keppner first get together?

We went to school together, we were in the same class. One evening we were sitting around, drinking some beer, and because Udo didn’t know how to play a guitar, I said, “Udo, do you want to learn to play?” He said, “Yeah, why not?” So we formed a band, we bought a guitar the next day, and Udo started learning the first riff. We started playing cover songs of Judas Priest and everything, but then very quickly I started having my own songs ready. We made some advertisements in a newspaper, and we met our first drummer. Thus, it started off in a typical way – first playing “Breaking The Law” and other cover songs, then playing your own songs. I can recall the first Majesty gig, it was very cool! It was a school party in the evening, they built a two-meter stage outside the school, we went out and started to play, it was just a great party.

Your first album “Keep It True” (2001) was a self-release and it’s still available on your website. But have you considered re-releasing on a bigger label, for instance, on Massacre, so that more people would be able to listen to it?

The good thing is that we sold almost as many copies of “Keep It True” as we did of the other stuff. (laughs) I don’t know if it makes sense to re-release it, because most of the fans already have it. Maybe in the future with some bonus songs, but not at the moment.

By the way, how did you get the deal with Russian label Irond Records for that album? It’s not every day that Irond releases an album of an unsigned band from Germany…

We had some underground success here in Germany, and we played at the warm-up show of the Bang Your Head festival. I think the Russian people got to know that there’s a new band coming from Germany, and it’s very popular in the underground. They just called me and said, “Are you interested in releasing your album in Russia?” I said, “Of course I am!” (laughs) That was basically the deal.

Why d

id you stop playing guitar and how did you get Rolf Munkes in the band?

I was never the best lead guitar player, I was just able to play small lead parts. But the main reason was live activity. I have to run around, get in contact with the people, touch the people with my hands and everything, and when you play guitar, especially lead guitar, and have to sing at the same time, it’s too much, I think. So we decided to get Rolf in the band. We got to know him, because we played some shows with the band Vanize, it was the first metal band where he played. We made some advertisements in Germany that we’re searching for a lead guitar player, Rolf called me, and the chemistry was just right from the first second we met.

Doesn’t it make any problems for Majesty that he’s involved in a great number of other projects (Razorback, Empire, etc.)?

No, because I think Majesty is the priority for him. Most of his other things are just projects, they are not live bands, so he’s got time for Majesty.

By the way, you also have a lot of occupations – Majesty, Dawnrider, your own studio, your own record label, the Keep It True festival. How do you manage to find time for everything? Do you ever sleep at night, or are you at work 24 hours every day?

(laughs) You know, it’s sometimes very hard, but I hate sitting around and doing nothing, it’s the thing I hate the most. I always have to do things, play music, organize the festival and everything. If you love doing these things, it doesn’t matter if it takes a long time, because you’re doing it from your heart. For me, I just love it, and I put all my energy in what I’m doing.

We’ve noticed that most of your cover artworks for both Majesty and Dawnrider have been done by the same artist – Ferenc Regos. Why did you choose this guy? Is it your intention to retain the same style in cover artworks?

As I said, I read a lot of fantasy novels, and I love some of their covers. Once I wondered, “Wow, who has done this?” There was a telephone number in the book, so I called him, and he was such a nice guy on the telephone. “Yeah, I’d love to do something for heavy metal music!” (everybody laughs) I said, “Well, we are Majesty, I’m sending you a record, and that will be the deal.” But on the new Majesty album there will be a different painter. Ferenc will continue doing Dawnrider, but Majesty will take a different style this time.

By the way, how important is the visual side of music for you – I mean the album covers, the band’s image, etc.? When you personally buy a CD, how much attention do you pay to it?

Honestly, when you go to a store, the first thing you see is the cover of an album. And if the cover is shitty, it’s harder to get to listen to the music. There are so many releases every month, so it’s quite hard to pick out of them. Sometimes when an album cover is shitty, the album sucks as well. (laughs) For me it’s very important that the album transposes the music in a visual way. And as I said before, for me it’s not an image, it’s just being true. I don’t like the word “image”, because the image is something you pretend to be. And when I write songs, it really comes from my heart, these lyrics mean something to me, and the fans should know that. If you listen to us, you know that the compositions are honest, and we are honest.

We also have some questions about your festival Keep It True. First of all, how did you first get an idea of having your own festival? Were you dissatisfied with all the other festivals in Germany?

Well, I wasn’t exactly dissatisfied, but I think a festival for the underground and for the old U.S. bands was missing. My good friend Oliver Weinsheimer from the Heavy Oder Was?! Magazine and I sat together one night and told each other, “Do you wanna do it?” And we said, “Yeah, just right!” We made it locally in our area, and Majesty played there, because we already got some people to come to our shows. Then we contacted Omen, and it went from there. One evening we got this idea, and then we realized it.

How difficult is it to arrange a festival in Germany? Is it difficult to find understanding among local authorities, police, security, sponsors, etc.?

For the first time it was a tough job to get them going, because they all said, “Oh, we live in a very rural area with a lot of small villages, and all these long-haired guys are coming…” But after the festival they realized that all the local hotels had been booked out, and all the stores in town had been full o

f people. So the second time it was much easier, and now they’re really supporting us. Of course, there are still some assholes in the town hall who say, “I don’t want these rock’n’roll people here!” But we still get a lot of support.

And how tough is the competition among metal festivals? You have so many of them in your country…

Actually we have too many festivals! (everybody laughs) The thing is that Keep Is True is really different, because at the other festivals you only see the same gang of bands. If you go to big festivals, there are three or four names who play every one or two years, and the bands you see at the Keep It True festival, you don’t see anywhere else. This year we were sold out, the whole hall of 1,500 people, it was such a great thing! The biggest thing is that we don’t make the festival for money - our T-shirts cost 12 euros, the entrance is always under 20 euros, a beer is 1.5 or 2 euros. I think it’s the most important thing – to make a festival from the fans for the fans. At bigger festivals if you buy a beer you pay 3.5 euros for a little glass, and that’s the biggest difference between us and them.

You are an organizer of the festival, so you naturally have to take care about organization matters. But do you still find the time to watch the performances of the bands?

Actually no, not too much. (laughs) I tried to watch one or two songs of Jag Panzer, and I tried to watch Virgin Steele this year, but most of the time I’m just running around, organizing things, traveling around with bands, etc. But the good thing is that we’re always making a festival DVD, and I’m mixing it in my studio, so I got used to listening to the songs for the first time in the studio afterwards. (laughs) And I go, “Ah, that’s what I missed! Cool!”

Is it real for a band from Russia to play at Keep It True? What requirements do you have for bands appearing at your festival?

Every band that would like to come to the festival is welcome, of course. There are some great Russian bands, and we are already in contact with them. Hopefully next time some of these bands will play. But it’s Oliver, the other guy, who’s handling the booking issues, because I don’t have the time to get in contact with all the bands. Oliver is writing for the Heavy Oder Was?! magazine, and he’s got better contacts with bands. If you know a band from Russia, tell them to write to Oliver (the e-mail is at the festival’s official website www.keep-it-true.de – ed.), and hopefully they will be able to play.

Have you considered performing with Dawnrider at Keep It True?

Of course, it’s a dream! (laughs) But I think it would be very difficult to get all these people together, because there are people not only from Germany, but also from the United States and Italy. What we try to do is when we go on tour with Majesty, and if some of the guys are there, we might play one or two songs from the album together with Majesty. As I said, it’s a dream of mine to get all these people together. Maybe it will happen some day, but not in the near future.

How do you see the future of Keep It True? Will it be expanding and eventually turning into huge event, or would you prefer to keep it at the current cult level?

We’re gonna keep it at the cult level, because, as I said, the venue was sold out, and we don’t want to make it bigger. We have so many big festivals here in Germany, and I think it’s nice to also have a small festival with some cult bands. If you want to get bigger, you’ll have to get bands that play at every other festival. Moreover, it won’t be possible for two people to organize a bigger festival, we would have to hire some more guys, and we don’t want that. We just love what we’re doing, and that’s why we chose to make just one festival in 2006. We did two in the past few years, but it was too much work, so in 2006 we’re doing a big one and a small one.

You have achieved quite a lot in the world of music. But what is the achievement that you are most proud of? And is there a general goal that you would like to achieve in your life?

The thing I’m most proud of is that people from all over the world have got to know my music and sing along with my lyrics. It’s such a great feeling, I hope you can imagine that. Last week we had a listening session, and five guys from our fan-club were there, and it was such a great thing when I saw them hearing my music and getting into it. For a composer it’s the greatest thing when other people listen to your music and love your music. And when it comes to future goals, what we’d love to do is to play all around the world. We would like to come to Russia one time, and to all other countries from which we’re receiving mails. Hopefully it will happen during the next tour.

Special thanks to Stephan Treu (True Music Promotion) for arranging this interview

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov, Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
December 24, 2005
22 фев 2006 the End

Dawnrider

Dreams Come True