Interview с Vanize : DARKSIDE.ru

It’s been a long time since Vanize released its previous album “High Proof” (2000). What happened to the band after that? Why did everybody, except you, leave Vanize?

We had some differences with most of my musicians over the past few years, so in the end I went back to my old guitarist Markus Becker, and we made a new album together. After the release of “High Proof” we had some differences with Markus, bass player Marcus Bielenberg, and drummer Pierre Fienhold, so we went through the split. A new guitar player, Rolf Munkes, came, but it was not so good working together. That’s why I went back to my old guitar player.

How did you persuade Markus Becker and Carsten Hensel to return after being away from Vanize for several years?

Carsten left the band in 1993 or 1994 due to some private stuff – his family and wife. He didn’t want to continue making music, it was not so easy for him to combine going to work and playing in the band. Markus left the band also for private reasons – family and blah blah blah. He had strange experience with his family, that’s why he left Vanize.

How did it happen that Russia is the first country where your new album “Raw” is released? When can we expect a worldwide release?

It’s when we find a deal. We’ve been making music since 1989, it’s been 16 years, and we are looking for a deal that’s in our line. In the early years, when record companies told us that they could offer us a deal, we said, “Yeah, great!” But now we do it the other way. When some label says, “Yeah, we can do it, but the conditions are this and that,” over the years we have learned that it’s better to read between the lines. The Russian label was the first to offer us a contract that was OK for us. As to a worldwide release, we are still looking for a deal. It’s not so easy, they always say, “You can have this, but we want that.” And when a musician says, “Look, Paragraph 8 in this contract is not so OK,” the company says, “OK, then go and look for another deal.” They don’t make concessions. And Markus and I said that for the new album we’re gonna find a really good deal, not the bad deals that we had in the last few years.

The new album was recorded in MC-Audio Studios, and we have never heard about this studio before. How did you like working there?

I started my own studi

o in 1995, and after Markus left the band, he started a small studio as well. So we put the two studios together, and the result is the MC-Audio Studios. This record was made totally by ourselves.

But why didn’t you continue recording at Stefan Kaufmann’s ROXX studio?

We made two albums with Stefan, and we learned a lot from him. Now we know enough about recording music in the studio, and Markus and I have the possibility to make our own music. When you have Stefan Kaufmann or Kai Hansen or whoever with you in the studio, he says, “Do this and change that.” But Markus and I wanted to do an album by ourselves, and that is the reason.

Your website says that you had some technical problems with mixing the record. Are you satisfied with the sound that you achieved in the end?

We did have technical problems with the mixdown. We don’t have such a big studio, and it was not so easy to find the right way to make the mix. But in the end we were satisfied.

On the cover of the album there are twins again, just like on the cover of the first Vanize record. What is the meaning of this cover? Did you want to underline the connection between all periods in the history of the band?

The cover depicts the old mask, it’s been the Vanize mascot all through the years. And the wire is depicted to illustrate the word “raw”. If you look at the title through a mirror, it will read like “war”, and some lyrics on the album deal with the issue of war. This is the reason why we put wires on our mask. Our new drummer Marin Pfeiffer is working with some record companies in Germany, he’s doing graphic design, and it is he who made the layout for the album.

Let’s now go back a little bit and speak about the early days of your career. Being a brother of Udo Dirkschneider, when did you first hear heavy metal?

(sighs) I think it was in 1976 or 1977, but it was not called heavy metal back then. They called it glam rock or hard rock – Sweet, Slade, Status Quo and all this stuff. And of course, Accept - I grew up with it.

Was Udo a big influence on you when you were a kid?

I’m 13 years younger than Udo, and when he started with Accept and got to play to huge crowds in big venues here in Germany and I saw it, it influenced me a lot. I’m v

ery proud of Udo, he’s my brother, so when he played for 3,000 or 4,000 people, it was a big thing.

Being a brother of Udo – is it a blessing or a curse?

For me as a musician it’s bad. Everyone who hears my name, reads my name on the records and then hears my voice, says, “Oh, it’s the same like Udo! That’s his little brother, and that’s it.” It’s difficult for us to do marketing and stuff, because Udo is always on the run, and no one wants to pay attention to his little brother. That was a big problem for us for many years, especially here in Germany. The whole scene said, “That’s Udo’s brother, so it’s the same as UDO.” But I think it’s not the same, that’s my line and that’s what I enjoy doing. It’s not so easy to be a brother of a rock star.

Have you ever thought about using a stage name?

It’s too late. (laughs) When I started to make music, I never thought about it. I was then playing in small rehearsal rooms with many PAs, then we went on stage to play loud music, and I never thought about what would happen with that stuff later. Also when I started to make music, I never wanted to sing, I was more of an engineer, I searched for bands in my area who needed front-of-house engineering. The reason why I started to sing is that I was once making the front-of-house engineering for a band called Danton, and their singer quit. So the guys asked me, “Can you help us a little bit? You are the brother of Udo, and you also sing. Why don’t you sing with us for a while until we find a new guy, and then you will continue with front-of-house engineering.” I said “yes”, and that’s how I became a singer. I never thought my name could be a problem. And today a change of name is not possible – the press and the fans all know my name.

Danton’s only album “Way Of Destiny” (1988) was recently re-released by your Russian label Mystic Empire together with the latest Vanize album. Can you tell us a bit about this record?

It was my first visit to the studio and our first record deal. We recorded it in our area in Germany, and even though the record company liked our music, the album never got good promotion. But Eugene from Mystic Empire is an old fan of Danton. When I was with Udo in Russia, I met him at the airport, and he was the only one with the Danton LP, and he came to me, not to Udo. He said, “Hey, I know you

’re the brother of Udo, and this is your album!” And it happened in Russia! (laughs) It was unbelievable for me. Eugene asked me if it was possible for him to release this album on CD, and I said, “Why not?” It’s old stuff, and it’s my stuff, it’s free from any company, so it’s no problem.

How did it happen that “Way Of Destiny” had never been released on CD before? Wasn’t there any interest from other record labels?

At the time when “Way Of Destiny” was originally released, it was not so common to make CDs. It was the time when CDs only started to appear on the market. The record company promised us to make CDs when winter comes, but when the winter came, the record company said, “You can go! There will be no CDs!” This is the reason why the album was never released on CD. The rights to the music and lyrics on this album are mine, but I was never interested in releasing it, because when Danton was splitting in 1989, I started a new band called Vanize right after that. And Vanize for me was more important than Danton. The first songs we played with Vanize were Danton’s stuff, but we didn’t have any songs of our own. And the bass player from Danton was also with Vanize.

The album was obviously remastered from vinyl, you can hear it on the recording. But what happened to the master tapes? And what do you think of that record from today’s point of view?

Today the mastering is very simple. We don’t have the old tapes, they are lost somewhere, and we remastered the album from the vinyl. We brought it in the studio, set some index points, and made a very simple master. What do I think about the music? (laughs) It was my first crime. I was 20 years old, and I screamed as loud as I could without any notes. There was much beer in the studio. (laughs) Those were my first days as a musician. When I listen to it today, eeeh, it’s nice. This was 20 years ago, I’m turning 40 this year.

There’s a very interesting song “Stalingrad” on that album. What inspired you to write this one? Are you interested in history in general or in World War II in particular?

Oh, it’s the first Danton song ever. The band was formed in 1982, and I had nothing to do with Danton at that time. It was the stuff written by the first singer, and I only sang it, I never wrote the lyrics for it. Other songs on this album were

written together by the band, I wrote some lines for them and came up with some music. But I don’t know what the old singer meant in “Stalingrad”, I was just screaming the song.

How did you come up with the name Vanize for the new band? The English dictionary doesn’t have such a word…

I know! (laughs) One day Markus and me were sitting together in a rehearsal room and searching for a band name, and we came up with the name “Venice”. Venice is a beach somewhere in the U.S., I think so. We wanted to use this name, but there was already a band called Venice on the rock scene. Then we saw a shoe box that bore the inscription “Vanize”, and we said, “Yeah, that’s our name!” We didn’t invent this word, we found it on a shoe box.

The first Vanize album “Twins?” (1995) is a rarity nowadays. It’s very difficult to get hold of this CD. Are there any chances of re-releasing it?

Yeah, it’s sold out. The record company printed 2,000 copies, and all of them were sold from 1995 to 1999. I only have one copy left, and it’s no longer to get the originals. Maybe you will find a used copy on E-bay. Markus and I are working to get the stuff remastered and arrange a new release. But it’s not so easy, because the rights to this album belong to the record company, not to us. If the record company says “no”, we can do nothing. We only play this material live.

As you said, you came to Russia with Udo few years ago. What were your impressions of the country?

It was great and a little bit strange. When you go on tour in Europe, you travel in a big nightliner with beds, and when you go to Russia, you do the whole tour by train. It was strange for me, it was a totally new experience. And the trains were not so fast – when you go by train here in Germany, it runs at about 200 kmph, but the trains in Russia were very very slow. But the crowds in the clubs and big venues were excellent, it was great!

Are there any chances of seeing you here with Vanize?

(sighs) Maybe, if we are offered good conditions, it will happen. But Markus, me and the other guys have dayjobs, we’re not only musicians. And it’s not so easy for us to say, “Hey Boss, I’m going to Russia for two or three weeks and then I will come back again.” Maybe the boss will say, “You needn’t come back at all.” Russia is very big, I know it by my own experience, and one week is not enough to cover it. Another problem is money, because we cannot pay by ourselves to cover the travel costs. But I’ll talk to Eugene, and if the conditions are OK, why not?

Special thanks to Eugene Silin (Mystic Empire) for arranging this interview.

Interview by Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina, Natalie “Lynx” Khorina
Questions also composed by Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
March 23, 2006
28 апр 2006 the End

Vanize

Exception To The Rule