Blind
Guardian
Blind Guardian is a colossal
band with a great history behind them. However, this doesn't make them
relax and simply be content with their career so far. On the contrary it
gives them more strength and inspiration to continue their pioneering and
yet so beautiful musical task. So, we thought it would be a good cahnce
with the occasion of the release of their new single CD to ask marcus a
few interesting questions...
-Hi Marcus, how are you?
-OK, my first question is why did you release
the single now, when the album's release is quite far away?
Originally, the plan was to release the album
in late April. Hansi was finishing some vocal tracks and became sick by
the end of last year with a bad flu. He also got some problems with his
ear again that kept him from the studio for about 4 weeks. We were on a
rather tight time schedule you know and when this happened it was clear
we couldn't keep the line any longer, so we talked to our record company
and we agreed that most likely, this is the best option, to move the release
of the album to August. Because of the World Cup and the summer vacations,
it doesn't make sense to release the album in the middle of summer. And
so we agreed to delay the release of the album until then, but you know
at that time the single was completely finished already. All the tracks
had been recorded, all the tracks had been mixed, so there was no reason
to delay the single as well.
-And I guess you didn't want to make the fans
wait any longer...
Exactly. And the fans could use this chance
to listen to at least some new songs already. It also makes sense because
we will start playing some warm up shows already in May you know and this
way the fans already know a couple of songs that we can play live. It wouldn't
make sense to also delay the release of the single so that's why there
is this gap between the single and the album.
-OK. I noticed that "Skalds and Shadows" is
mentioned as an acoustic version. Do you have an electric version available
somewhere or will it be on the album?
There will be a different version on the album,
but it will just be a different version. The single contains the acoustic
version and on the album there will be a kind of an orchestral or theatrical
version, with lots of orchestration and stuff...
-No electric guitar?
No electric guitar, this is not going to turn
to a heavy song. It's going to be a ballad but a completely different version.
-I see. I'd like to ask you about the lyrics
of both songs. Can you tell us anything about them?
The lyrics of "Fly" are inspired by the movie
"Finding Neverland", you know it?
-Oh yeah, I have seen it, it was great.
Actually, I have to say I didn't see it yet,
I want to see it. I know I'll be prejudiced about this knowing that Hansi
was inspired by the story of that movie and of course of Peter Pan. "Skalds
And Shadows" is based on an ancient story of the nordic bards. "Skalds"
is bards in ancient nordic and the song is about them.
-OK. One thing that bothers me a little is
that the single cover is too similar to "Forgotten Tales". Also, I notice
that you move on musically and it is strange that you insist on the same
kind of artwork.
That's a good point actually (laughs). We
wanted this cover to be like this actually. We were talking about the cover
and about the possible artists who could do this. The guy who did it is
called Anthony Clarkson, a guy from the States. We really liked this cover.
Of course you are right, it's the typical kind of cover you would expect
from us. We're still talking about the album cover, so maybe we're going
to change something completely there.
-I hope so cause I really liked the "A Night
At The Opera" cover.
It's all a matter of taste. We really like
this cover...
-Yes it is beautiful, but...
You're right, it's a typical Blind Guardian
cover. That's definitely true.
-Another question is about the "In A Gadda
Da Vida" cover. Why did you choose this song? I think it has been covered
extensively in the past, a lot of bands have done it, Slayer has done it,
Judas Priest has done it and I was wondering...
I didn't know about Judas Priest, I knew about
Slayer and I think Jag Panzer did it too.
-I'm not completely sure either about Judas
Priest. So, why did you choose it?
We always liked this song. We all like the
music from that time, you know there's some great music from that time.
We always thought about doing this song because we just like it, it has
this heavy riff that it's perfect to make a really heavy song out of it.
We also thought we could come up with an interesting modification of the
song, especially Hansi's vocals, the way he sings this song is very untypical
of the way he would normally sing a Blind Guardian song. It was very interesting
to do it. I'm pretty sure that a lot of our younger fans have never heard
about this song or the band behind it, Iron Butterfly you know and maybe
they can discover a whole new world for them right now.
-I would think most of your younger fans would
be more into power metal.
Sometimes it's funny to see their reactions,
it happened when we covered "The Wizard" from Uriah Heep you know. I've
read opinions about it being a great new Blind Guardian song (laughs).
It was funny to see this.
-Another thing I notice about the single is
that the new drummer is totally in the Blind Guardian spirit. So, how is
it working out with him?
It's perfect. He is a Blind Guardian fan since
ever, so he perfectly knows our style and Thomen's style, of course he
has a lot of experience out of our music too so he can compete on the stage
and our but he also brings his own influences so we didn't lose anything,
we just gained you know. He's not just a very good drummer, he's also a
great musician generally, he plays the piano, he studies electric guitar
and he plays other musical instruments. You will hear him playing some
other instruments on the album too...
-Really?
Yes, he plays some flutes, he plays some bagpipes...
-That will be interesting.
Yeah, it is. And on top of this, he's a really
nice guy so that's perfect.
-That's good. "Fly" is a song that I think
is in the same direction as "A Night At The Opera". Are we going to be
surprised by anything in the album, will there be anything different?
There are a lot of different things. I agree
that "Fly" is...I wouldn't say it's the same as we did at "Night at the
Opera", I'd say it's continuing what we started at "Night at the Opera"
but for example it's much more straight compared to most of the songs there...
-It's not as much orchestrated...
We thought that at "A Night at the Opera"
we reached the limit of what we can do in this direction, it just doesn't
make sense to add even more choirs...
-Yes, even more would be too much!
Yeah it would be a little over the top, so
we decided to go in a completely different direction this time and "Fly"
is one of the results, it's much more compact, it's straighter to the point,
it's less orchestrated, not only about classical instrumentation but also
about guitar harmonies, also about choirs and vocal harmonies. This is
something we did on purpose, because the music couldn't go on like we did
our last couple of albums. We have reached the limit of what can be done
in this direction, so it's time to turn to another direction.
-Will there be a videoclip for the song?
Ah...I don't think so. We talked about it
for a while and we said no, we won't do it, and then yes, we will do it
and then no again and at the moment we are thinking again. (laughs) It's
not confirmed yet.
-Is it because it is too expensive or that
it's just doesn't do anything for the band?
That's the big question that we are asking.
You know that MTV doesn't play any metal at all, the other music TV station
in Germany, VIVA also doesn't play any metal at all so if we're gonna do
a video clip it will only be for the fans and not for TV stations. It could
be a video track on an album or CD or whatever, I don't know...
-Or for a new DVD.
Something like that. But I don't think we
would get much TV exposure because Blind Guardian is a metal band and we
would get no play.
-OK, I suppose you have many of the new songs
completed for the new album.
I think Hansi is finishing the last vocal
tracks today and the recording will be done.
-So I would like to ask you if you made all
the decisions in the band yourself, what song would you choose for the
first single? Would it be "Fly" or something else?
I think "Fly" was a good choice. It was a
choice that was made by the whole band and we pretty much agreed on this.
We wanted to choose this on purpose as a statement to what Blind Guardian
is about on 2006 and what they can expect from the album. Not that "Fly"
is representing the whole album, there's so much different stuff going
on in the album and "Fly" is a very good example of that. I think I wouldn't
change the decision.
-I read some opinions on some forums about
the guitar sound being too digital, that it's not right for a metal band,
do you think that's right?
No, I don't think that's right. (laughs) I
heard this question before, not that it's too digital but I was asked about
people considering it to be unusual or different. This is not the guitar
sound that we used in the whole album, every song has a more or less different
guitar sound because the songs are so different that they demanded different
sounds...
-So we can expect the variety on the album
to be really high.
Yes, it is. Other songs are gonna sound different,
you know there are songs that are very, very heavy and have really heavy
guitars and the sound we used on "Fly" is in a variety of songs because
that's what we have, a variety of songs.
-OK, so what are you doing right now? Are you
going to join the internet for some time, visit tavern [Blind Guardian's
official chat channel on IRC] or something?
I don't know, we've been extremely busy over
the last month, at the moment we're doing a lot of interviews and we have
to start preparing for the tour. We're talking about the setlist, the design
of lights and what we want the stage to look like and then we will definitely
have to start rehearsing because obviously we have new material and also
a new drummer and we have to get used to each other while playing live.
Also, we didn't play live, I think since our last concert in Athens in
2003.
-That was a great concert.
Yes, it was! So, we do have to prepare ourselves.
-OK, but you should know there are people who
are expecting you in tavern, especially Deliverance, you know?
-I have this message about you stop being such
a stranger and visit sometimes.
(laughs) It might be that we should visit
but at the moment we're extremely busy. We'll be on tavern when the time
comes again!
-OK, I will deliver the message to Deliverance!
(laughs) That's all I have for you. Do you have something to add, or a
message to the readers?
As I said our last concert we played was in
Athens and it was a great concert we had there. We are looking forward
to returning to Greece and it's gonna be a great time I think! Everybody
will come and...
-We will be waiting!
-OK, thank you very much Marcus!
-Bye
Paschalis "Elfstone"
Mirmigakis
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