| INTERNET
We are gonna publish this interview in the internet magazine but do you basically surf a lot on the net looking for some things and information written about you and Gamma Ray ?!
K : There is quite a lot of pages.. I am always checking them out for example developments, news and the other stuff. There is a connection to the Helloween pages too and the Blind Guardian pages and they are all together in a way that's interesting.
How much does it bother you as almost every Gamma Ray album can easily be found on the net in this mp3 files ?!?
K : Yeah everything is available, I don't like it of course. I mean I don't like the piracy stuff. I think it is ok to make an official release, but on the other hand it can be on sale as some kind of promotion if people can actually listen to a song. The downloading is another story cos what does bother really bother me it's MP3 that hasn't got the quality offer of CDs, so if you wanna have a real thing you still gotta get a CD I think. But in the old days people did the tape trading it was the same thing.
NEW ALBUM AND RALPH'S DEPARTURE
I was under the impression that you were supposed to have some kind of sabbath year taking the whole year off from everything and by focusing on your family life as your second child was born, but instead you have been more or less busy during the whole year, right ?
K : Seems like yes? The double album actually took a lot of time of time to produce and record and arrange everything and then mixing and promotion now and some gigs now. So we are quite busy but at the moment it is pretty easy, it's not like a real tour when you are on the road all the time. We have this gig here today and then fly home tomorrow and will be there for a week and then the next weekend we have three days to spend in Hungary and Czechia Republic and so it's easy now. It's not too stressful, but still the time in-between of course is a lot organized and future plans have to be made.
Speaking of this Blast From The Past anniversary album, it is pretty interesting that you have re-done a bunch of tracks especially the ones sung by Ralf Scheeper, but how come I mean it might have a little bit easier to pick up the original versions and then add some unreleased or rare Gamma Ray tracks to this "Best of?" album ?
K : That's way everyone does. Well these best of..comp albums are done by record labels of the remaining tracks. We wanted to make a document of the last ten years of Gamma Ray which is different from anything else. I mean it ain't a new idea to re-record the stuff, we don't claim that, but that way this album represents over the last 10 years with having the sound of the 90's and we present by a band as it is nowadays therefore it makes sense. Of course it would have been easier, but we don't wanna take it easy.
Weren't you basically pleased with the stuff in terms of production etc of old tracks or Ralf's voice or did you wanna put the updated touch to the older material ?
K : Ralf did a good job no doubt about that, but it is different when I sing the stuff and it is more closer to what we are nowadays and some of songs we had already played live with this new current line-up and we know how it sounds and it sounds different that we would say. It's much better if you wanna play songs like "Last before the storm", "Changes" it is much closer even for Daniel and Henjo to record them again, because now these songs have become their own songs as well, because they put their own kind of spirit into the songs as well and they sound different and sound more like Gamma Ray nowadays and it really made sense absolutely I think.
Is it true that Ralph Scheeper left because he found it difficult to travel to Hamburg for rehearsals or what is actually the main reason for his departure ?
K : It is a little different
D : His wife lives in Stuttgart which is about 700 kilometres from Hamburg, but that wasn't the main reason, instead the main reason for why we fire him is that we wanted to started to rehearse for the recording of Land of the Free. We asked him to come to the rehearsals which wasn't normally a problem for Ralf, but he has a normal job and he said he can't do that and we should have waited 2-3 months, but we didn't want to and he was still one of the candidates for the vocalist job of Judas Priest back then and he was still waiting for an answer from them and we couldn't wait 2-3 months.
K : We wanted him to move to Hamburg and we had been talking about that like even two years before that and he was like "Yeah I would like to do that", but he wasn't able to make his mind and finally we set for the Land of the Free album. We wanted to do a real good album something that gives a real kick to the band, therefore we needed to rehearse together because normally was like that I was singing on the demotapes and in the rehearsals, when Ralf wasn't there. It was more or less fairest to sing whatever I had come up before and Ralf wasn't maybe that spontaneous enough to go for quick changes in the production and I wanted to sing that different so I was sticking to what I did therefore it didn't really? I mean there was a problem, Ralf sang great, but it didn't really come from the heart. If you develop own stuff it comes from the heart and it is much more natural, but to develop your own stuff you need to be with a band and in rehearsals. He couldn't do that and wasn't really willing to? So we said this isn't gonna work out if we do an album and the Judas Priest would call and say "you are invented to be our new singer" what will we do then ?! He couldn't say and that's the point and we decided to have the split ways.
Is that a reason for why Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) teamed up with you by doing a track on the album?
K : No no, it was just a thing that came up. It was kind of reunion thing between Michael and me personally cos we haven't talked for some years when you were still in Helloween after got out. His mind was maybe free to talk about the past and we came a lot of conclusions that I had come before? We just got together and talked about the stuff and so therefore it was?I don't know? It just came up that we said we are doing a new album and got song "Time to break Free"? Dirk didn't like my vocals?
How come Dirk?
D : I just didn't like it cos it sounded too much Kiske?(Laughter?)
K : Yeah he thought it sounded like Michael Kiske, so let him sing. Of course it was a big confusion rumor that Kiske would join Gamma Ray as a new singer and we tried to fight against that rumor, cos it was just a rumor and there was nothing behind cos Michael is pretty far away from what we are doing you know metal-wise and besides he isn't into metal anymore.
RECORD COMPANIES
Speaking of Noise?.Well several bands for example Voivod, Kreator and Celtic Frost used to have a lot of problems in legal aspects with them in the past and left the whole label, but what kind of relationship do you have with them anyway?
K : Well of course I think as a band you are always having problems with your label. It's just a natural thing that everything doesn't go that smoothly all the time. But in general I am pretty happy with Noise. Of course we have to say we have certain standards and special treatment, maybe better than other bands have. Maybe some bands just overrate their own standard and maybe they want some things from a label which a label is not willing to pay for. Just because they think that a band doesn't sell enough, then it is worth of it. But a band wants to have this, so they want the big money and huge promotion. And Noise is the label that they are not spending the money like this you know. Get to fight for this it. If you can't do that I mean if you have to work to achieve that standard. Well to say if you want this and this and that and if you are worth of it , then you get it. But if they think you are not they won't give it to you at all. So that pissed a lot of bands off and there was something going for some bands that was the worst which was really not sounding too fair I think, you know contract wise or whatever.. Anyway if a band hasn't been pleased with the expected success always, they blame the label for that.. It's not their playing, not their songs, it's the label and the promotion or whatever else. So therefore a lot of bands left Noise and so far I didn't see any reason to go?
But I guess Noise does a good promotion especially in central European countries like in your home country and invest a lot of money on Gamma Ray I mean when Powerplant came out I was in Germany there were huge posters in record stores and you could listen to the album for free and things like that?
K : For the last album they did a real killer job? Actually there is a new contract with Noise, cos the old one was running out?.
What do you actually think bands usually end up on Nuclear Blast for example Stratovarius went there?
K : Everybody goes to Nuclear Blast. They can offer big things, big money, they have a big power and they are a big label? I mean everybody is there that's really what I didn't like. I don't like to be a number whatever under many, I rather want to be number one on Noise. Well I don't like to howl the wolf?
By the way .. Michael Kiske was just signed by Noise and he promised to get back to metal music?.
K : I don't think so, I pretty much know so?
So there is no chance or any other way to see the Helloween reunion with the classic line-up (apart from the drummer!)
K : Yeah I don't think so
NORTH AMERICA
What about U.S or Canada as Gamma Ray haven't toured there at all? Why is it so difficult for European Power metal bands to tour in North America?! Is it just a lack of promotion, bad record sales or what?
K : It's just money thing, there is a big underground scene? We could go to the States to play for at least 3-500 people a night?
D : Everyone is "Yeah come to play here", but the band, the crew, the bus.. They all cost? They say there that we can, but?But after all they can't pay anything?
K : There are not promoters to those shows, because in The States they have to pay to certain clubs in order to play, so you can't be lucky. I mean we could consider ourself lucky to get paid, let's say 1000 US dollars for a show, but that won't even cover the flight cost, neither the crew nor the equipment shipping? Otherwise it really does make sense to do a tour there, because it's not like that we don't go to tours with big profits, but we don't wanna spend all the money for the tour? So far it is not really worth of it?
Well for example US band Danger Danger supported UFO on their Euro tour, they said that we usually can't get to Europe because of a lack of promotional issues and the stuff like that?.
K : ?And it didn't bring anything for?
Well maybe sold a few albums more, but that's all?
K : Yeah that's it, there isn't enough press coverage
When listening to power/heavy metal albums of nowadays which are absolutely razor sharp and high skilled played and produced in every inch, but instead the most interesting point is, in my opinion, they are very progressive and symphonic including a lot of classic music elements which Stratovarius, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian and companies usually have on their albums, whereas I find the Gamma Ray stuff has been focused more on the straightforward heavy metal delivery, how do you share this standpoint?
K : Everyone does what he likes and we have some symphony stuff too, but I think? Well a song should be like that it can be produced with two guitars and that's base of our song writing..
D : In the production maybe we say about some song that this would need big orchestra arrangements and if fits so we do it, but we don't use that kind of concept for every one after all. |
