Rock Hard Interview (English Translation)

For all the non-german Metalheads, wondering about the October-Issue of Rock Hard: Kai Hansen, Tobias Sammet and Hansi Kürsch met with Holger Stratmann (Rock Hard Magazine) and they had a lenghty conversation about the german Metal scene; it´s origin and how to define the term of „German Metal“. Since I´m practicing my english-skills anyway (especially translation) I´ve decided to share this with you guys. I made a rough translation of the Interview. Certain parts of it are summarized in my own words, others are translated 1:1... I was mostly trying to capture those charming anecdotes you´d expect when these 3 get together. Enjoy:

Kai, living up to the „master of confusion“ was a little late and the first question asked was this: „How did you get in touch with each other?“

The first time Kai met Hansi was during the Recording-Sessions of Follow the Blind where he appeared as a guest-singer. Charly Rinne, the Boss of Blind Guardian´s record company contacted him; told him that Blind Guardian were heavily influenced by Helloween and that Kai should have a look at their material. It was a great time according to Kai.
Tobi on the other hand was trying to catch his attention. In another section he talks about the Keeper of the Seven Keys Record, what a huge impact it had on him and that he was even trying to find out Kai Hansens Telephone Number. He gave up on it since both Kai and Hansen are pretty common german names and so he was wasting a lot of money into random-phone calls (chances are, if your family name is Hansen and your Familiy has lived anywhere near Hamburg in the late 80s, they have probably received a call from a very disappointed, young Mr Sammet). The first Time he actually met Kai was on a music-convention named „Popkomm“. Where he offered him the first Edguy Tapes. Kai recalls his first impression: „ Edguy – that name is not going to work out!“
They laugh and Kai goes on, jokingly: „My sense of taste is brilliant. When Karl Walterbach hired Kreator I said: you´re going to fail with that band. I never had what it takes to work at a record company.“
The first time Hansi saw Kai was at a Helloween Concert. Hansi: „having Kai visit our Studio felt like some kind of accolade. Kai was my idol!“
Tobi: „Emphasis is placed on WAS!“ - (they laugh)
Hansi: „Kai was so down to earth, I think that kind of attitude was a huge influence on Blind Guardian. That´s something special about german Metal-Bands, also if you look at Doro Pesch or Peavy from Rage.
Tobi: „We really got in touch with Hansi in 1997 when our Label-Boss suggested to let him have a look at our choirs, which was a kind way of saying: guys, they suck! Hansi joined us immediately and the following record, for the first time in our career, was reasonably successful.
They indulge in reminiscences about Tours, features on each others Albums and at some point Kai asks that one question: „I´m going to do a Hansen-Anniversary Record; will you Join me?
Hansi: „Of course!“
Tobi: „I´d love to!“

The Next question: „What complications did you face, when you started with your Bands?“

They tell a few stories about their record-companies and the (in terms of metal) difficult 90s. Hansi can´t understand Hammerfall´s status as „the Band who resurrected Heavy Metal“ since Blind Guardian did very well throughout the 90s. Kai goes into a little rant about Grunge and Nirvana, but shows some understanding aswell: „Imagine watching the 50th Mad Max Action-Movie where everyone is styled and there´s an explosion every few seconds. Suddenly there´s another movie where everything´s more down to earth; and it becomes a cult.“
Tobi compares Grunge to an old black/white movie, with a guy staring out of a window for 90 minutes: „That´s what grunge is to me!“
Hansi to Tobi: „But you´ve always had this pop-element in your music, quite like Alphaville. That´s what made Edguy so different from other Speed-Metal Bands. It was great! But that would´ve been a no-go for Blind Guardian; you´ve seen Grunge as the Enemy, but for us it was this late 80s New-Wave Stuff.“
Kai interrupts: „“I want out“ is pop aswell.“
They go on, analyzing the melodious side of their Music and ultimately Kai concludes that, although they have been influenced by early Thrash-Bands such as Metallica, adding heaviness to their music, they have also been: „Bombarded with Schlagermusik“
Schlagermusik (if you´re lucky and haven´t heard of it yet) is the worst of the worst our country has to offer. It´s old-people music. Extremely simple and extremely melodic in the most repetitive way. It´s horrible and as children, we usually get a good dose of it hammered into our heads by our (tasteless) parents. According to Kai Hansen, the mixture of being a Metalhead who was also exposed to a lot of „Schlager“ has led to the typical melodious German Metal-Sound:

„It´s in our blood!“
- Kai Hansen

They talk about many more topics along the lines of German Metal. Just a few Statements:

Hansi: „In Australia, there´s a Tour Manager eager to show you all the German Restaurants.“
Kai: „I´ve been served Bratwurst & Sauerkraut in Japan aswell.“
Tobi (sarcastically): „Of course! That´s what you want while visiting foreign countries; a cheap imitation of the stuff you can´t even stand about your own food culture.“
Kai: „You can be assured that in Japan it´s significantly better. The best italian meal I ever ate, I ate in Japan.“

Question: „What else do they Expect of you (germans)? Punctuality?“

Kai: „Not from me; I made them give up on it“ (gales of laughter)
Hansi: „In Japan, they give you timetables like: Departure 08:32. It´s amusing at first, but then we missed a Train from Tokio to Osaka, expecting the next one to come within minutes but all the seats were reserved. We had to wait for 4 hours.“
Tobi: „The Japanese have had so many Gamma Ray Tours, they don´t expect punctuality from germans anymore!“
Kai: „European carelessness is on the rise in Japan!“
Tobi: „It´s so much worse in southern europe. It drives me insane when you get instructions and in the end: things don´t work out. You´d like to buy something for the show and, since it´s so hot, people already tell you: at this time of the year they usually close. Then you end up before closed doors, although the opening hours say otherwise. That´s very unhealthy for a choleric person like me.“

The next question is about experiences in eastern europe.

They seem to agree that, although things may be a little chaotic, the people are very pleasant. Kai about Russia: „The people are a bit simple, but in the best way possible. They´re not as driven; like Machines as we are.“
Tobi: „Certain Areas aren´t as developed. I like that, because somewhere else it has already gone too far, you know what I mean? When something is broken in germany, it will be replaced immediately while in England they´ll rather keep it (for sentimental reasons). In England I don´t care if the Hotel is falling apart. Rooms of 8 Meters height, 2 Meters wide, the Windows don´t close but it´s awesome! It has 4 Stars anyway!“
Hansi: „I think in terms of hospitality the differences between Russia and America are remarkable."
Tobi: „Unless you´re gay!“
Hansi: „I´m not even sure about that. Russia is very open, but despite the difficulties we talked about, my favourite place to tour is still southern europe. It´s true, you have to improvise a lot, but I love the people´s vibrancy.

Question: „How about South America, since they´re totally crazy for German Metal?“

Hansi: „It´s the same thing as Southern Europe, just a bit more extreme. Almost too much for me, but nothing compares to their audiences. They´re absolutely overwhelming.“

Question: „How about Israel?“

Tobi: „The entry was complicated, but it´s our own fault. I don´t remember why but we all arrived at different times and each one of us told a different story: We´ve been invited; We´re students; We´re a Band, but we don´t play; We´re just visiting a friend – Without knowing his name of course. It doesn´t get any more stupid, so ultimately they just let us in because: No terrorist would come up with something like that.“

Question: „What´s your Impression of Japan, Kai? Gamma Ray have been pioneers over there.“

Kai: „To us, it felt a bit like Tokyo Tapes and Made in Japan and there were indeed 300 – 400 Japanese at the airport.“
Tobi: „Holidays, right?“
Kai: „Exactly, so no fans! (laughs) There were 800 People in the Hotel.“
Tobi: „Travelling businessmen...“
Kai: „... with banners and gifts. Policemen with white gloves, holding tape barriers. We felt like Deep Purple. It was huge!“
Hansi: „It was a culture clash in the early 90s. You couldn´t read anything and you were also younger and unexperienced. Lost in Translation, the Movie with Bill Murray; that´s how I experienced the first visits in Japan. It was beautiful and crazy.“

The next question is about homour: „What was the first time on Tour when you realized that your sense of humour is different from US-Bands?“

Kai: „With Overkill.“
Hansi: „Nevermore; they were strange, but not as bad as Vicious Rumors. I do like the music, but interpersonally there was no common ground. We couldn´t laugh about their jokes and they couldn´t laugh about ours.“
Kai: „Maybe it´s more about personality than nationality. Dennis Ward (Unisonic) for example is american too, but we´re like reading each others minds.“
Tobi: „He´s a funny guy. Humour has a lot to do with intelligence, as proven by me. Looking back at what I used to think was funny is just awkward. Anyway, I like brits!“
Kai: „Exactly – you can always agree on Monthy Python. Is there even such a thing as american humour?“
Hansi „There is, but it´s quite radical.“

Question: „Do you know the highest German Chart-Entries of your latest Albums?“

Kai: „13.“
Hansi: „4.“
Tobi: „2, but it was a very bad week. (laughter) Well, it´s all relative. The record company strives for something like that and brags with it, but it depends on wether or not Depeche Mode (he also mentions a few German Stars you wouldn´t recognize) release their stuff around the same time.“
Kai: „Exactly! Cause if it weren´t for them, it would´ve been 11! (laughter). To hell with the charts, it´s all about the music. I think the charts only represent the stupid masses, right?“
Tobi: „You only say so because we were on 2! Let´s say: They can represent the supid masses.“
Kai: „Besides; every Band that has toured with us has become famous: Edguy, Sonata Arctica, Powerwolf, Hammerfall. All of them have been our support-Bands.
Tobi: „In a way, that´s the blessing of the Godfather of German Metal rubbing off.“

Question: „What do you think about Powerwolf and Orden Ogan; the next generation of german Metalbands?“

Kai: „My Son listens to Orden Ogan. They´re going to be big.“
Hansi: „They get younger people into this kind of music, which is very positive. Still they will realize that there has to be some kind of progress in your music, or at some point you´ll run out of fans.
Tobi: „We did a Tour with Sabaton and suddenly one of their Songs reminded me of Gamma Ray. But I´ve stolen from Kai aswell. Nonsense Kai, it´s not stolen; it´s all filed under seperate GEMA-Numbers. You don´t do that consciously, that would be embarrassing. That kind of posturing by some musicians: I can´t listen to any music for a year or else it will influence my songwriting. - It´s total bullshit. You´ll just remember a song you heard 2 years ago.“
Kai: „With Sabaton, many songs have this Battle-Hymn-Vibe; its always a little simple to me. It´s a part of metal for sure, but there´s this trend to do nothing else anymore.“
Tobi: „I´m glad you just said that!“
Kai: „I´m a non-conformist, but everything goes. It´s all a matter of taste. I think that for our bands it would be easier to explore new areas, even though it probably wouldn´t sell as good whereas for Sabaton, making a progressive record might be very difficult.“

Question: „There´s a Blind Guardian Promo-Picture from the 90s where you´re wearing sweaters...“

Kai: „Holy crap!“
Hansi: „It was modern back then. Once we went to a Sodom-Anniversary, all clad in denim jackets and sweaters; by accident. It wasn´t arranged. Then we met Peavy from Rage, wearing the same kind of outfit.“
Kai: „In front of the Tour-Bus, ok, but in a Promo-Picture! That´s hardcore! It has always been one of your greatest strenghts; you come across so naturally. (laughter) You never gave a fuck, the fans loved it.“

Question (To Hansi): „Once we had a photoshooting with you (Blind Guardian) in medieval clothes. They came from a costume rental. That was before Pagan- and Medieval-Metal became a thing.“

Hansi: „Yes, the Virgin (another Magazine) did the same thing to us before. You saw that and wanted to expand upon it. I think the sweaters weren´t as bad. Medieval-robes were quite treacherous. The same thing happened when they put us into jackets. Mass-produced crap from C&A (A german clothing company). Nothing would fit; at all!“

Question (to Kai): „Remember the Helloween-EP. Your clothes were insane!“

Kai: „Everything from the 80s was insane! Cyan-Jackets, pink suspenders, suede leather-boots, mullets... Weiki was wearing yellow ladies´ tights, a yellow jacket, and a muscle-shirt. Ingo: Sweaters, white sneakers and a fimbriated leather-jacket in brown.“
Tobi: „I was always on top! (laughter) Sometimes, something seems right at the moment and a while later you realize how stupid it was. So what? It´s pointless to get worked up about it. We (Edguy) once did a photosession, with a famous Heavy-Metal-Magazine in a brothel.“

Question: „That was a dance-club, er... table dance.“

Tobi: „the Owner came running like: if I had known this before, I would´ve organized a Ferrari. Apperantly they promised him to get his bar onto the front page. The photographer and I exchanged looks and thought to ourselfes: what are we doing here? I couldn´t stand it and ordered a Vodka. Then she (the stripper) got naked and the rest is history. Despite the cowboy-hat and sunglasses, my parents still recognized me on the cover and called me to account. That was quite awkward, I have to say, but I stand behind everything I´ve done.
Kai: „The cow-pants were awesome too!“
Tobi: „But it wears off at some point and people will only reduce you to your pants.
Kai: „Tobias Sammet: The singing cow-pants!“

Question: „Kai, you were planning to do a german-metal allstars project. What has become of it?“

Kai: „It somehow faded away, because I was so busy with the Band (Gamma Ray).Then this rascal (to Tobi) came along, founding Avantasia. Did I ever tell you about it?“
Tobi: „At least you invented it, like pretty much everything in german Metal. No, I don´t remember Kai talking about something like that. We were on tour and I had this Idea to do a Musical and Concept-Album. Back then I didn´t really think about it as an allstar project, but there are these different Characters in a play like this. So it´s obvious that you should use diffrerent singers, but at first I thought about the people surrounding me. There was no reason to believe it would grow so big or end up live on stage. It was meant to be a one-off project and a double-album. However, I absolutely wanted Michael Kiske to be a part of it, since I´m a huge fan of the Keeper of the Seven Keys Albums. Also because Kiske had done nothing like this for quite some time. When he agreed, I could slightly shift the music in his direction. I only knew Rob Rock and David DeFeis from my record collection, but I knew Kai personally. We´ve been on Tour with André Matos and Alex Holzwarth has helped us with Edguy. That reminds me, once we needed a drummer for a Wacken-show, and I called you (Hansi) in the rehearsal room. I asked if Thomen could help us out. You said that wouldn´t work out because you were playing a show the same day, but Alex, the brother of your Bassist Oliver could do that. Then I asked if he can play double-bass und you passed it on to the entire Band who would just burst out laughing. That was like a scene from a bad Western where you enter the Saloon, asking a stupid question. Well, and Markus Großkopf ended up on the Album because I had practiced with his bass-tracks. It was a book called Heavy-Metal-Bass-Guitar. So this whole thing was pretty underground. Except for Michi. He saved the day, but didn´t want to be mentioned.
Kai: „But now you´ve made it public!“
Tobi: „Fuck! He can sue me now!“

THE END

Furthermore they were asked about their own personal German-Metal Classics, mentioning the following Records:

Kai Hansen
Band: Warrant / Album(s): First Strike & The Enforcer

Hansi Kürsch
Band: Grinder / Album: Dead End

Tobias Sammet
Band: Helloween / Album: Keeper of the seven Keys (Part II)

Thank you for taking the time! Have a nice day! \m/