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The
original Helloween line-up featured Kai Hansen (Vocals/Guitars),
Michael Weikath (Guitars), Markus Grosskopf (Bass) and Ingo
Schwichtenberg (Drums). In 1984 the band signed a deal with Noise
Records. 1985 came around and Helloween recorded their first record ‘Helloween’,
a self-titled EP containing 5 tracks. The EP was successful, and in that
same year they recorded and released their first full-length album
titled ´Walls of Jericho´ which became a critical smash, with its
innovative mixture of speed and melodies redefining heavy metal.
However, during the following tour, it became obvious that Kai had
difficulties singing and playing the guitar at the same time. Helloween
began the search for a new vocalist, and ended up finding an 18-year-old
talent from the local Hamburg band Ill Prophecy, named Michael Kiske.
With their new lead singer they recorded ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part
1’ which was released in 1987 and ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II’ in
1998, their best-known album featuring the classic line-up which
established Helloween as one of the most successful Heavy Metal bands in
Europe. Soon after the European tour for the "Keeper 2" album due to
conflicts within the band as well as troubles with the record company,
and a growing dissatisfaction with life on tour the band had some
problems with several band members. In 1991 after several rumors about
the band breaking up, they released ‘Pink Bubbles Go Ape’ (1991) and
‘Chameleon’ (1993), both albums got bad critics. Soon, tension started
to build up between the band members which cost them most of their
hardcore fans.
Helloween
returned in 1994 with former Pink Cream 69-singer Andi Deris as their
new lead singer, releasing their successful comeback ‘Master Of The
Rings’. Dedicated to the tragic suicide of original drummer Ingo
Schwichtenberg the band recorded ‘The Time Of The Oath’ (1996) and
re-established the band as one of the most popular European metal bands.
In 1998 Helloween released ‘Better Than Raw’, one of the band's heaviest
albums since their full-length debut and 2000 saw the release of ‘The
Dark Ride’, Another studio album titled ‘Rabbit Don't Come Easy’ came in
2003.
2005 saw
yet another line-up change Stefan Schwarzmann no longer shared the same
musical vision with he band. He was replaced by Dani Loeble (Rawhead
Rexx). Helloween's new studio album entitled ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys -
The Legacy’ was released in October 2005.
Late 2006 Helloween filmed and recorded shows in Bulgaria , Tokyo and
São Paulo for their forthcoming DVD. ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The
Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live On 3 Continents’ This will be
accompanied by a new live album; the second to feature Andi Deris as
frontman. The album bears the title ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The
Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live In São Paulo’. These new releases are
scheduled for release on February 23rd 2007.
Recently I
had the chance to ask singer Andi Deris some questions about Helloween’s
new live album, so here we go!!!
Did you
have a certain idea of what you wanted to do on this ‘Live album’ ? Any
elements or songs you definitely wanted to include?
Yeah, we
especially wanted to have those three monumental songs on the DVD and
live CD. “Keeper Of The Seven Keys”, “Halloween” and “King For A
Thousand Years”.
Why did
you choose the Sao Paulo show for this album?
Well, we
have the loudest crowd in South America and all Latin countries as well.
So it makes sense to have this enthusiasm on record, that’s why.
You also
played some songs you haven´t play for a long time, like “Halloween”,
why did you choose to play them this tour, was it for the album or was
there another reason?
Because it
was also a challenge for us as the “new” Helloween band, after recording
the so-called third part of ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys’, to play the
legendary song of the “old” Helloween band during a live show.
For the
DVD you also made the decision to use the recordings of two different
shows for some songs, who came up with this idea and why didn’t you put
these entire shows on an extra DVD for instance?
Our
management Bottom Row decided to have this special feature on DVD, since
it´s most boring on many music DVD´s, to have just a normal concert and
maybe some pictures which you generally can´t save on your hard disk.
It´s a nice feature that will hopefully please the fans as they are
often curious, how songs are performed on different stages. Since we
recorded most of the songs 5 or 6 times during the tour we had an
enormous amount of material to use on the record.
Have you
received any feedback on the new album yet and what do you personally
think about this album – are you satisfied with the outcome or would you
liked to have changed anything in retrospective?
Well, the
album has gone down great so far, and possibly much better than we
thought it would. Because if you do a record, you always try to do the
best job you can. But you can never expect anything. Neither in fame nor
in sales.
Helloween has a long history, You recorded several live albums and you
also did a dozen studio albums. How do you see the future for the band
and what can we expect from Helloween in the near future?
First we
want to keep on making good music and sta in the music business as long
as we can and as long as our fans want us out there. And we would like
to achieve a certain stable level of success with the upcoming records
and live shows, if possible.
Have you
already launched into writing material for your next album?
We have
already started with the songwriting process, yes.
Did
ideas come easily so that you just had to write them down or was it more
of a careful composing thing?
It´s always
different. Sometimes you get an idea for a song within 5 minutes and
sometimes you just write a part and wait for the rest for 5 months.
That´s what it´s like with creativity, you never know what´s coming
next.
What´s
the process of preparing a new album like for you guys? (do you write
songs when you’re on the road, do you make demo´s or do you just book a
studio and play?)
It depends
on the situation. Most of the time we go through all those steps.
Everybody collects ideas. On the road, in bed, on the toilet. Whenever
something comes up we record our stuff on mobiles, computers or the
answering machine. Later on, everybody does demos and before we record
the album we rehearse them together. But maybe this time we´ll try
something different. Who knows…
How do
you write the lyrics, where do you find your inspiration?
During
every day life you can find a lot of themes. Since we are all deep
thinking persons, we try always to get the thoughts and humor or
whatever into our lyrics.
Have you
decided on the studio and producer yet?
Well,
Charlie Bauerfeind will produce the next record as well, since he did a
perfect job on the last album.
Do you
have any further plans, can we expect any live shows this year?
During the
summer we will record the album but we might go on tour in November,
maybe.
Ok, now some questions to enable our readers to
get to know you a little better.
How did
you get involved in the music business?
When I was
a kid, some people found out about me playing guitar and got me some
good jobs in studios and with live cover bands. That was my first touch
with the professional music business.
What
songs and bands do you listen to yourself these days?
At the
moment I listen a lot to 30 seconds to mars, Disturbed and The Start.
What
kind of stuff do you like to do besides Helloween?
At the
moment I work a lot in my own recording studio, I´m producing a number
of young talented artists. That’s what I like to do most of the time
besides Helloween.
What is
your opinion about the Power metal scene these days, is there anything
you miss?
I sometimes
miss a bit of wide range in taste, since most people who are into power
metal are not very open minded when it comes to new elements and ideas
in music. And sometimes a double bass drum is not really necessary to
make a good song.
Is there
anything you want to tell us after these questions?
Well, I
want to see the Heavy Metal scene growing bigger in the future… Very
good questions, thanks for the interest and stay heavy ;-), Andi Deris.
Current Members
Andi Deris
- Vocals (1994-present)
Michael
Weikath - Guitars (1982-present)
Sascha
Gerstner - Guitars (2002-present)
Markus
Grosskopf - Bass (1981-present)
Daniel "Dani"
Loeble - Drums (2005-present)
Former members
Kai Hansen
- Vocals (1978-1986) - Guitars (1978-1988)
Michael
Kiske - Vocals (1987-1993)
Roland
Grapow - Guitars (1988-2001)
Ingo Schwichtenberg -
Drums (1981-1993)
Uli Kusch - Drums
(1994-2001)
Mark Cross
- Drums (2001-2003)
Stefan
Schwarzmann - Drums (2003-2005)
Albums
Helloween
(1985)
Walls Of
Jericho (1985)
Keeper Of
The Seven Keys Part 1 (1987)
Keeper Of
The Seven Keys Part 2 (1988)
Pink
Bubbles Go Ape (1991)
Chameleon
(1993)
Master Of
Rings (1994)
The Time Of
The Oath (1996)
Better Than
Raw (1998)
The Dark
Ride (2000)
Rabbit
Don't Come Easy (2003)
Keeper of
the Seven Keys - The Legacy (2005)
Live
I Want Out
Live (1989) - America only
Keepers
Live (1989) - Japan only
Live In The
UK (1989)
High Live
(1996)
The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live In Sao
Paulo (2007) |
