Intervju - Felix Bohnke & Jens Ludwig, Edguy Metalshrine´s Linus Jansson fick en pratstund med Felix Bohnke & Jens Ludwig under bandets senaste besök i Stockholm. How are you and the rest of the band? J.L: We're fine. And I think the rest of the band is aswell. That's great. So, how was the show in Gothenburg yesterday? F.B: Great! The audience was really good, although it was a little cold on stage. But otherwise, really good. J.L: Sweden is pretty cold, hehe. Yeah, but does it feel good to be back in Sweden? F.B: Definitely! J.L: Yeah, we really like Sweden. F.B: I mean, all three shows were outsold, a very warm welcome. Sweden obviously likes you aswell. "Rocket Ride" peaked at 6th place on the album list and "Superheroes" 10th on the singles list. Why are you so popular in Sweden? J.L: I don't know. First of all, I think people like that kind of music here. Sweden is also the country where we've done the most touring. We did a headline tour in '98 and then a huge support tour with Hammerfall. That may be it. How has this tour turned out so far? J.L: Very good, really good! I mean, nowadays you're lucky if you have the same attendance on the show as you had on the previous tour, because concerts are really going a bit down. But we had more than on the previous tour which is a big success nowadays. And what's your next stop on the tour? J.L: After Sweden, we go home and do a show before we take a little brake. And then we got a couple of shows in Asia. Hopefully everything will work out pretty well. How are you treating your support acts? F.B: There are regular whippings three times a day and we only feed them bread and water. They are not allowed to sleep or say anything and of course they are not allowed to look at us. J.L: And they never speak to us. They should know they are just support acts! J.L: Yeah, haha! Seriously, we have experienced that we have been treated very well, supporting bands like Gamma Ray or Hammerfall. We don't need to treat them bad. If they are a good support and really light the audience during their show, it's a challenge for us to get out there and do even better. So there's no reason to treat anyone bad - as long as they behave. What do you think of your support otherwise, their music and such? J.L: I like Sabaton. Dragonforce is a little hectic for my taste. You know, too much of everything. Yeah, I know what you mean. Right, how come you've never toured in America? J.L & F.B: We did. You did? F.B: Yeah, with Hammerfall, for four or five weeks I think. J.L: Yes, it was a cross-country tour. I see. Well, I should get my story straight... J.L: Yep, haha! Alright, but would you consider yourselves popular in the U.S.? J.L: Not yet. You always go to some country where your music is now well-known. You have to start somewhere, you know. We never headlined over there, but I got the impression, talking to people after the show, that if we got back there on our own, they would come see us. We are actually looking to put together a U.S. tour. Nothing is confirmed yet but, it's such a huge country so you just have to go back there to play and to play and to play. Soundwise you have come a long way since "Savage Poetry". Do you think you've found your own style with "Rocket Ride"? Or will you develop yourselves even more? F.B: Hopefully, hehe. I think every record reflects the present state of... well... um... J.L: Mind? F.B: Yeah, haha. Of course we try to progress even further in the next few years so who knows what the next album. It's not like we try to copy ourselves but on the other hand we don't want to create something new just to do something new. J.L: Especially in the beginning when you start a band you have to follow your idols. When we started a very big influence were, of course, Helloween and Iron Maiden. But it's just a natural progression. With every album we moved a little bit away and eventually found our own style. I'm pretty curious how the next record is going to sound. We never set a direction to go. On the promo version of "Hellfire Club", Tobi layed some comments on what he thought about the tracks. This was not the case with "Rocket Ride", and I was a little bit disappointed about that... J.L: Haha, well, then you're the only one. Really? Well, I was sort of hoping you could comment the songs now... J.L: Yeah, of course we could do that. "Sacrifice"... F.B: The first one on the record. J.L: Yeah, I agree! Haha! Nah, "Sacrifice" was the song that took the longest time to arrange. When Tobi came into the rehearsal room with the idea we rehearsed and arranged it a little bit. We put it away for a couple of weeks because we weren't satisified with it. Later we re-arranged it and, well, it took pretty long until the song was sounding like it sounds on the album. It was a very interesting development. "Rocket Ride"... J.L: The title track, haha. A more typical up-tempo Edguy song. I especially like the chorus alot. "Wasted Time"... J.L: Actually the first song we wrote for the album. I remember the cryptic guitars in the first verse. They were not planned, but we fooled with Sascha (Paeth) in the studio and he came up with the idea that I could try a little Rammstein-like accoustic guitar. We checked it out and it worked, I think. F.B: Most of the songs change from when we rehearse and then go to the studio with Miro and Sascha. In the end, I guess there's not one song that sounds exactly like we planned it in the rehearsal room. "Matrix"... F.B: That sounded completely different in the rehearsal room, maybe even a bit modern, at least for us. J.L: It was actually a song that we told Sascha that "do whatever you think is rigth with it". It was very interesting because he is a very good guitar player but he's got a very different style from me. When he first presented the song it was hard to get used to, because I would never have play the song like that. But when you got into it, it was really cool playing it. "Return To The Tribe"... J.L: A very innovative song with the first singing guitar solo. The first world wide sung guitar solo, we were very inovative there, haha! "The Asylum"... J.L: A song in the tradition of "The Pharaoh" or "The Piper Never Dies", and we like that kind of mid-tempo song. "Save Me"... J.L: Romantic ballad, haha. There has to be one, we like ballads. F.B: And the girls demand so what are you going to do? J.L: Yeah. "Catch Of The Century"... J.L: Lyrically a very funny track I think. It reminds a bit of Pink Cream 69. You can hear at the end of this song that we are really enthusiastic in the studio aswell. "Out Of Vogue"... J.L: That's really out of vogue, haha! Up-tempo track. In the beginning it had a little more guitars and less keyboards, but when Tobi corrected it, it came back with more keyboards and less guitars. Too bad for you then? J.L: Yes, it was no fun, haha! "Superheroes"... J.L: An autobiographical song. Not to be taken too seriously. F.B: We're a very serious Heavy Metal band so we don't cry at all. If we do we would never admit it. "Trinidad"... J.K: "Carribean Metal", at least that's what a German magazine wrote about the song, and certainly a funny track to play live. "Fucking With Fire (Hair Force One)"... F.B: We didn't even rehearse that one. It was written in the studio. Tobi had the idea with the lyrics and the title. J.L: Well, the title already exists, or at least existed. We had a song called "Fucking With Fire" in the year 1993, although the song is now completely different. It's an omage to the 80s' Metal, but not in a negative way because we all like the 80s' Hair Metal, and this is how we pay tribute to that. About the cover art, the joker from "Mandrake" has returned. Is he to you what Eddie is to Iron Maiden? J.L: Yes, of course. I don't know where he was on "Hellfire Club" but... F.B: He took a brake, he was on vacation. J.L: Haha! Tobi does most of the song writing. How much saying do you have in that? J.L: It works in the way that Tobi comes rehearsing room and present the basic song structures and vocal lines, and then we arrange the songs so it fits everybody. I know that your bass player (Tobias Exxel) is involved in Hard Rock band called Everleaf. Is anyone else involved in some other projects? F.B: Not at the moment. J.L: No, unfortunately we don't have time. The limited edition of "Hellfire Club" features Mille Petrozza (Kreator) with some shouting on the new version of "Mysteria". What led to that arrangement? F.B: We played a couple of shows with Kreator and we have an established contact and get along very well. Secretley, Mille is into Poser Rock and all that stuff, though he would never admit that. He his not that evil and mean. We share the same rehearsing room with Kreator and there we got the idea that would make the song ignite extra for everybody. J.L: I think it's really interesting to see how the voice can change a song. If you listen to the part where Mille sings it sounds like it could have been a Kreator song. What do you think of the German Metal scene? J.L: Well, we are a part of it, haha! No, but you know, lately in Germany, more and more Metal bands appear on the charts, but that's not because Metal music has become bigger, but pop and mainstream music has gone down. About illegal downloading and stuff, pop bands are more effected by that than the Metal bands, and that way it seems that the scene grows bigger but it doesn't. What do you think of downloading and file-sharing? F.B: Not much. I think it's sad that an album can be found on the internet before the official release. I don't think it's so extreme with the Rock and Metal market because many people who download the album still go and buy it. J.L: They've actually started with a music shop where you can buy songs, from Europe for example. You know, it's a two-sided thing, because you can spread your music and have more and more people listen to it, on the other hand when it comes to illegal downloading I don't think people see the consequences. I mean, making a production costs money. To us it's still ok because we sell enough records to make a living out of music. For younger bands that are just about to take the step a professional level, downloading can really fuck up their career. F.B: I think most people think that the bands are famous and rich and it doesn't make a difference, but hey, it's bullshit. Our job is like any other job, we have to spend money so we try to earn money again. You can't go to the supermarket and just take what you need and then say "I don't like it so I don't have to pay for it". Stealing is stealing. In Seden we have elections later this year and there is a party called Piratpartiet, or the Pirate Party. Their only principal is to completely legalize all downloading and sharing. There will be no copywrighting and such. What do you think of that? F.B: Bullshit! Are you serious? But hey, sure, that would work. Right. J.L: Yeah, they will get a lot of support from the music and movie industry, haha! Do they get support? Do they have followers? Yeah, but I think most of them are like 14 years old so they can't vote. J.L: Well, that's good. So, after the tour, what will happen then? J.L: The next tour, haha! F.B: We have an Asia tour coming up in about two weeks and then I think we're going to Russia...? J.L: Yes, after the tour we do what we call weekend shows in places like Russia, Norway, places that we couldn't visit during the tour. We will play in Greece and in the summer there are festivals, maybe Sweden Rock Festival, that will be great. After that we are hoping for an Americantour. We will be busy for the entire year I think. Right, that's that then. Anything we missed out that you would like to add? J.L: Well, I could add two and two which makes four, haha! F.B: I am a drummer so I can only count to four, like one-two-three-four-many. J.L: Thank you, Sweden! F.B: And we'll be back. Thanks to you, gentlemen... J.L: You're welcome! And good luck tonight... J.L: Thanks, it will be great! Edguy - Official website

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