{"id":10240,"date":"2013-01-22T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T00:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=10240"},"modified":"2013-03-04T03:08:45","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T03:08:45","slug":"feature-helloween-01-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-helloween-01-13\/","title":{"rendered":"HELLOWEEN – Waiting For The Thunder (January 2013) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HELLOWEEN – Waiting For The Thunder<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nJanuary 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

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Helloween (l-r): Michael Weikath, Daniel L\u00f6ble, Andi Deris, Markus Grosskopf
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Members of German power metal outfit Helloween are scattered across Europe, vocalist Andi Deris and guitarist Michael Weikath taking refuge in Tenerife. Rhythm guitarist Sascha Gerstner and drummer Daniel L\u00f6ble live in Berlin, Germany, meanwhile, bassist Markus Grosskopf having always resided in Hamburg. Composing material for potential use isn\u2019t an issue however, digital advances such as virtual servers, emails, Skype and the like removing the barriers that distance once caused. January 2013 studio full-length Straight Out Of Hell<\/em><\/a> \u2013 their 14th overall \u2013 includes songwriting contributions from four of Helloween\u2019s members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually wrote five tracks, co-writing one of those five with Sascha our guitarist,\u201d informs Andi Deris. \u201cI think Sascha has four songs, Markus has four songs, and Michael has three songs, so it\u2019s more or less a collaboration. Everybody brought in as much as possible. At the end of the day, it\u2019s a mere coincidence when you end up with four to five song credits on an album. The songs have to fit the conceptual theme you have in your mind, the type of album you would like to do. This time we actually tried to do a more positive but even more aggressive album, because we thought that after surviving 2012 we should go into the whole thing with a bit more of a positive point of view (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

October 2010\u2019s 7 Sinners<\/em> was a less positive album, perhaps. \u201cYou could say so, yeah,\u201d the frontman agrees. \u201cIt sounds rude when you say less positive. I think it\u2019s a more doomy record. It goes into more of a… I wouldn\u2019t say negative, but more of a doomy direction. It sounds more gothic and darker. It\u2019s not a Dark Ride<\/em> (October 2000) album, but it definitely wasn\u2019t as positive from a melodic point of view. It had less catchy melodies, but there are probably much more catchy melodies on the new album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerning an ancient civilisation, \u2018Nabatea\u2019 inaugurates Straight Out Of Hell<\/em>. \u201cI actually knew as little as you do, because I just accidentally learnt about Nabatea because of the Indiana Jones movie,\u201d Andi confesses. \u201cIn Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade<\/em> (1989), you see this big cathedral carved into a red mountain. I saw this, and the picture looked so real that I thought \u2018This can\u2019t be Hollywood. This can\u2019t have been artificially done for the movie only \u2013 it looks so real.\u2019 When I looked on the internet and realised these scenes were shot in front of the real Nabatea, then I learnt about Nabatea, that this was possibly the first democracy 3,000 years ago and these people managed to live without slaves. <\/p>\n

\u201cI learnt that they managed to live without soldiers, and still they lived wealthy and prosperous. They never brought a war to another land, and they seemed to be the first democracy that we know of. I thought \u2018Wow, what a great story.\u2019 For thousands of years Nabatea was viewed more or less as a legend, like a dream. Like Atlantis, for example. Then the beginning of the 19th century, an area called Petra was accidentally discovered. When Petra was discovered, they knew that Nabatea wasn\u2019t a legend but definitely reality. I thought that this was a great story, because they already had what even us in the 21st century struggle hard to get, like no wars, democracy, wealth. That sounded too good to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Nabatea\u2019\u2019s lyrical content was authored initially, its musical passages penned afterwards. \u201cThere was only the refrain going on,\u201d the singer recalls. \u201cSuddenly I had this Nabatea story behind it, so then I actually tried to write all of the verses, middle parts, bridges in favour of the lyrics of \u2018Nabatea\u2019. So yeah, it was a lot of fun, but most of the time I write the other way around. Most of the time I have a complete idea for a song, and then I try to find the best words for it. This time it was vice versa though; this time I had the majority of the lyrics, or at least the content of the lyrics I wanted to write. It was fun writing music for lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devising lyrics beforehand caused Andi to feel more insecure. \u201cWhen you do something that you don\u2019t do very often, it\u2019s always an experiment so to speak,\u201d he reckons. \u201cWith each and every part that I added though, I thought \u2018Okay, the story is told in the nicest way I can manage.\u2019 I was more or less satisfied, and then the boys came into the studio and put their gold and glimmer onto my ideas with their playing, with that style of playing, and with their arrangements. They rearrange a little bit to their flavour, because Sascha should definitely play his guitar in his style and Michael should definitely play his guitar in his style. On the demo it\u2019s only my guitar though, so certainly the guitars on the production are much better than my demo. At the end of the day when I listened to the final production, I was really proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The guitar is the vocalist\u2019s favourite instrument. \u201cI started out as a guitarist,\u201d he remembers. \u201cBecause I was the only guy who was able to sing my own song ideas though, my friends in my first band told me that I should put the guitar away and concentrate on singing because there are lots of guitarists out there, but only a few singers. That was the misery I went through. I actually wanted to be a guitarist but I ended up as a singer, but it\u2019s okay (laughs). That started with my first school band, and I went through my first three to four bands like that. There was always a singer when I joined the band, but all of them weren\u2019t good enough to sing the song ideas that I brought in. I was probably the bad guy, because I would consciously or purposely ask or demand it. I would join the band as a guitarist, and then sooner or later the singer would be kicked out and I would have to sing (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Andi was a fan of hard rock outfit Kiss. \u201cI definitely looked up to Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley, which was probably a very good thing to do,\u201d he observes. \u201cTheir guitar playing is so easy rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, and not difficult at all to learn and copy. I very quickly had some good results with my guitar playing, because the stuff that they played was so easy. I had a good time actually learning guitar with Kiss, because it was easy. Then there were certainly much more complicated things that I actually tried to play along with, like Deep Purple, Judas Priest. Then came Van Halen, and then it became a bit more difficult for me to actually play all that great stuff from Eddie Van Halen. I have to admit that I was never able to play them as good as Eddie Van Halen, and I probably never will (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand though, at a very early stage I had to quit hours of playing guitar because I had to write more and more songs. As you may imagine, when you have to write songs you have no time to rehearse. All my capabilities were more or less stuck, so I couldn\u2019t evolve any more, because songwriting means you don\u2019t have time to rehearse. The guitarists out there rehearse every day, rehearsing their playing style and playing technique. I had to come up with new songs, which means I got stuck with my guitar playing more or less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albeit a guitarist originally, the lyricist wasn\u2019t initially hesitant to step behind the microphone. \u201cIt\u2019s a very strange story,\u201d he comments. \u201cI like singing. I love singing, but I don\u2019t like singing more than playing guitar. Sometimes I\u2019m really asking for my guitar because that\u2019s the main thing I want to do, but yeah, it\u2019s cool the way it is because I would rather see myself as a musician than a singer or guitarist or something. I like to play piano a little bit. I love my guitar, I love to sing. At the end of the day though, I would rather see myself as an okay musician who\u2019s happy and very fortunate to do what he wants. I dreamt of playing guitar or at least standing on stage with a great band travelling the world, so I achieved that. I should be very happy with what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vocalist first and foremost, an opportunity to play the guitar further has nonetheless arisen. \u201cFor years I\u2019ve had little bands where I play a little bit in the rehearsal room, or a small club,\u201d Andi shares. \u201cThis time I\u2019m just about to record something like a solo album, where I hopefully will be able to play little clubs somewhere, where I will definitely want to play the guitar and sing obviously (laughs). I can\u2019t avoid that. I think if I go out with a solo album, they\u2019ll want to hear me singing. That\u2019s something I have to do, but I try to play the guitar as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

A music video for \u2018Nabatea\u2019 was filmed in Heidelberg, Germany. \u201cNobody actually gets permission to do music videos inside Nabatea,\u201d the composer notes. \u201cThey\u2019ve only done some filming outside of the cathedrals and stone-cast buildings, so we decided to find a solution. We decided to film in Heidelberg, in a Roman building that is 2,500 years old. They built it and it looks ancient, so we put in some figures that appear a little bit Mayan or Inca style. That isn\u2019t really Nabatea, but it was stuff we could get hold of that was closest to the story. Unfortunately we didn\u2019t go to Jordan directly because as I told you, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to get permission to film inside Nabatea. That\u2019s possibly good, otherwise the whole shit would be destroyed in no time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Helloween (l-r): Michael Weikath, Daniel L\u00f6ble (top row), Andi Deris, Sascha
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\u2018Live Now!\u2019\u2019s message lies in the number\u2019s title. \u201cThe title says it all, actually,\u201d Andi emphasizes. \u201cWe felt that we desperately needed a title that makes a statement, so there are lots of bitchy lyrics on it which actually damn a lot of stupid people out there in the world. Nevertheless though, even though there\u2019s a lot of shit going on in the world we should not forget our own lives. Even if you change systems and politics and whatever completely, it probably wouldn\u2019t affect your daily life. That\u2019s what we actually meant with \u2018Live Now!\u2019 Whatever happens around you, the message is you shouldn\u2019t forget to enjoy every second of every moment. If you\u2019re sitting down and having a beer, enjoy your beer. If you\u2019re lighting your cigarette, enjoy that moment, enjoy your cigarette. Just live now. It doesn\u2019t matter what happens out there in the world. The only important thing is that you like this very moment, and enjoy this very moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Live Now!\u2019 was originally written as a solo cut. \u201c\u2018Live Now!\u2019 was a hard rock \/ pop metal song, and Sascha liked it very much,\u201d the frontman explains. \u201cThe way I presented it, it wouldn\u2019t have been a Helloween compatible song. Sascha said that he had some ideas concerning the arrangements though, ideas which would make the song more metal than hard rock. I told him to try it, to put down his ideas. At the end of the day, we all liked the song so we put it onto the album, mainly because of the positive message. It was a very important message we felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Wanna Be God\u2019 is dedicated to late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury. \u201cThat song came along accidentally,\u201d Andi imparts. \u201cI wanted to listen to the drums solo in the studio, because I thought there was a mistake. I muted everything, and I thought I had muted the vocals, guitars, keyboards, and everything. I just wanted to listen to the drums, but accidentally the vocals were on solo-in-place. That means whatever you mute or whatever you want to hear solo, the vocals are always solo too as well. I listened to the drums and vocals, and I thought \u2018Hmm… That doesn\u2019t sound bad at all. This song doesn\u2019t need guitars at all.\u2019 It suddenly appeared to be a Helloween version of \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019 (from October 1977\u2019s News Of The World<\/em>) or something, because of the drums and vocals and the arrangement, verse, refrain, verse, refrain. I loved it. I thought \u2018Okay, this is finally a chance to do a dedication to Freddie Mercury.\u2019 For years, I wanted to do that. On the last album I dedicated a song to Ronnie James Dio, which was easy because Ronnie James Dio\u2019s singing style is more compatible for Helloween than Queen and Freddie Mercury. With \u2018Wanna Be God\u2019 though, I thought that people would probably realise why the song is dedicated to Freddie Mercury, because the arrangement is reminiscent of \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019. The boys loved it, and we just made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Waiting For The Thunder\u2019 \u201cwas another poppy song that the boys loved very much, and thought we should metal-ize completely. They felt it would be something like a 2013 version of \u2018If I Could Fly\u2019, the song from The Dark Ride<\/em>. The boys loved it. They all said \u2018Let\u2019s make a new version of \u2018If I Could Fly\u2019 from that,\u2019 and this was \u2018Waiting For The Thunder\u2019. It\u2019s got that piano going on, more or less a very similar vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its demo version reminded the singer of old Pink Cream 69 tunes. \u201cIt was very Pink Cream, the demo,\u201d he reiterates. \u201cThe boys liked it very much though, so they said \u2018Okay, if we completely metal-ize it then it\u2019s compatible for Helloween because it would more or less sound like \u2018If I Could Fly\u2019.\u2019 They recorded it, and it was certainly metal. It was definitely a follow-up to \u2018If I Could Fly\u2019. We put it on the album because it bridges a lot of the songs, which is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018Waiting For The Thunder\u2019 concerns the mistakes one makes in life. \u201cYou know that you did something bad or something wrong, but it\u2019s your own personality and you had to follow your personality,\u201d Andi reasons. \u201cYou know you did wrong, but you tell everybody \u2018That\u2019s me. Take me the way I am, or leave me. You have to accept it because that\u2019s me, that\u2019s my personality.\u2019 You know that the thunder will come, but you don\u2019t give a shit. You live with it, and take responsibility for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music for the composition \u2018Make Fire Catch The Fly\u2019 was written during touring commitments for 7 Sinners<\/em>. \u201cThe main riff and everything I recorded on the tour bus during the tour,\u201d the vocalist divulges. \u201cThe funny thing was that everybody said \u2018Hey, that sounds like a metal version of \u2018Livin\u2019 My Life For You\u2019 (from February 1991\u2019s One Size Fits All<\/em>) by Pink Cream 69,\u2019 and I said \u2018Eh? Really?\u2019 I then listened to \u2018Livin\u2019 My Life For You\u2019, and I said \u2018Yeah… Looks like I\u2019m copying myself here but in a metal way.\u2019 We just arranged it, and yeah, here we are. Most men and boys know what I\u2019m talking about. Even though you fall in love and burn your wings, you\u2019ll always probably fly into the next light or the next girl or woman. Again you\u2019ll burn your wings, and you\u2019ll probably never learn to stay away from it. Men and boys are like flies; we like the fire, so it\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andi tried hard to make his voice fit the theme of Straight Out Of Hell<\/em>. \u201cSometimes you have little bits and pieces where you may actually sing a little bit different,\u201d he recognises. \u201cWhen possible I try to do that, but most of the time I try to sing it as good as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

As has been the case since The Dark Ride<\/em>, Charlie Bauerfeind participated in production duties. \u201cYou should look at him more or less as a sixth member,\u201d the wordsmith believes. \u201cHe is definitely part of the team. I wouldn\u2019t like to lose him at all, because I don\u2019t need to explain anything anymore. Everything has been settled and clear for years, so you don\u2019t need to explain yourself. He knows the boys and he knows me, so that makes all of the things absolutely easy. You don\u2019t need to actually spend that much time having discussions as we did in the very first years of working with him, when it was so important that he got to know the people in the band. From that point of view, it\u2019s easier to actually talk to a friend \u2013 which he definitely is now \u2013 rather than work with a producer who actually doesn\u2019t know anything about you. That definitely makes a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be a bit afraid and scared to have a new producer, simply because of the things I just mentioned. You have to get along with a completely new person who may understand or may not understand the band, who may understand the vision of the band when it comes to the next album or may not understand. We\u2019ve all had that experience in the past; there were certain producers the band worked with in the past who didn\u2019t get the band, who didn\u2019t get the music, and who didn\u2019t get the vibe and the vision of the band. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had several producers when it came to B-sides and bonus tracks because we wanted to check out different producers. There were several producers we wanted to give a chance to to actually prove themselves to be the right people for the band, but for me it was sometimes a disaster and didn\u2019t work out at all because they had a certain picture of the band. It\u2019s very difficult to actually make them know and realise that the band now has a new focus, a new record to make. They all look back to the history of Helloween; they listen to maybe seven or eight albums from the band, and think they understand the band. That\u2019s the problem. Production becomes hard work then and you really struggle hard in the studio, because you actually don\u2019t feel good when you come into the recording room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always trying to change a little bit in the favour of time, so I personally and I think everybody in the band loves it very much, and likes to actually write music now, today, and with today\u2019s problems. You don\u2019t want to get stuck in your early days, which was a completely different time. During the 80s we still had the Iron Curtain and the big enemy was still Russia, and all that shit. From that point of view, bands wrote about completely different themes and completely different subjects than they do nowadays, and this is also reflected in the music. A producer would always only listen to the music though, and wouldn\u2019t understand when the band would suddenly implement or add new spices. You\u2019d always have to explain. Yeah, this was painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Michael Weikath, Daniel L\u00f6ble (top row), Andi Deris, Sascha Gerstner (top row)
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New lyrical spices are present on Straight Out Of Hell<\/em>, Andi maintains. \u201cIt\u2019s very important that we reflect the music in the lyrics,\u201d he stresses. \u201cThe whole album actually bitches and yells, and even uses swear words against all these stupid managers, bankers, and stock holdings, blah blah blah. In our eyes, that actually completely destroys the whole planet. When it comes to democracy and capitalism, it all seems to be a good idea but only as long as people who are members of that system are more or less acting legally with ethics and morals. This is something that definitely isn\u2019t taking place at the moment, otherwise we would not all be in this deep crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the songwriter feels that the same can be said of Straight Out Of Hell<\/em>\u2019s musical content. \u201cThe music itself definitely always tries to combine little new spices which appear from new bands,\u201d he submits. \u201cThere are always new, great bands out there bringing fresh wind into the whole rock and metal scene, and I\u2019m glad to have a son of 21 who\u2019s always listening to the new shit. I\u2019m happy to learn what\u2019s great from the new bands, what\u2019s coming up next, and so on. I listen and try to learn what it is that makes a band so outstanding, and why a new band is having success. Most of the time I understand, and most of the time I like what they stand for. I then have new little spices that I may add to the classic, typical Helloween picture, which is hopefully the little secret which attracts new generations. Maybe even three generations in a few years will be in the audience, so that makes us proud. We aren\u2019t standing still; we\u2019re not stuck in the past, and this is something that is very important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andi\u2019s son has introduced him to a wide variety of artists. \u201cThe most popular would probably be Korn, Deftones, or The White Stripes, stuff like that,\u201d he cites. \u201cFor example, The White Stripes is a great example of a band showing everybody out there that you don\u2019t actually need to be super-complicated all the time. For a band like Helloween which normally plays complex twin solos and stuff like that, it\u2019s good to see there is a way to calm down the song and maybe even put in some dynamics. Maybe we can just play with one guitar for a few minutes, and then you have all of the brutality of two guitars back for the next part which probably demands it. You just open your ears. It\u2019s stuff that you know, but seem to have forgotten sometimes. Bands like The White Stripes for example show you that you\u2019re definitely able to make great music with only two or three instruments \u2013 guitar, vocals, and drums. You don\u2019t necessarily need five or six instruments, so this is something you learn again so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments exist in the back catalogues of certain groups where tracks have become overcomplicated by using a superfluous amount of instruments. \u201cWhen we produce, the way we do things seems to be right at the time,\u201d the frontman reflects. \u201cWhen you listen to an album a year later or years later, you\u2019ll probably always find things which you wouldn\u2019t have changed at the time. I have to protect ourselves then though, and say \u2018Well, at the time we did it it seemed right.\u2019 I think you have to live with it and not actually bitch about it, like \u2018Why did we do this?\u2019 or \u2018Why did we do that?\u2019 You did it because during that time you felt like doing so, so it\u2019s alright. You shouldn\u2019t actually yell and cry, and regret it later on. That\u2019s what you have to learn. This is Helloween\u2019s 14th studio album, so this is something you have to live with. You just try your best, and try to have as much fun as possible. You do everything which seems to be right at the time. It may be wrong in a year or two, but that\u2019s something that you shouldn\u2019t actually try to predict. You shouldn\u2019t plan an album because this style or that style could be more successful or less successful. This is something we don\u2019t want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bassist Markus Grosskopf contends that Straight Out Of Hell<\/em> contains some of Helloween\u2019s quickest tracks. \u201cI really don\u2019t know, because I would have to measure the tempos of the songs,\u201d Andi ponders. \u201cI know the tempos of the songs, so I should look at them and compare them to the rest of the albums. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s the fastest, but it\u2019s definitely one of the fastest because of the sound, which appears to be a bit more aggressive, a bit more rough. It probably appears more aggressive to the listener, so automatically you would consider the album to be faster or whatever. I honestly cannot answer that question though, because I would have to compare the song tempos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover artwork duties fell to Martin H\u00e4usler. \u201cThe Mayan calendar told us that only a few would survive,\u201d the singer tells. \u201cMarkus our bass player said \u2018Well, if we all survive 2012 then we\u2019ve all come straight out of Hell.\u2019 That was the idea for the album title, but we didn\u2019t actually want to connect it completely with the Mayan calendar. We said \u2018Okay, let\u2019s build a scenario straight out of Hell that\u2019s really metal, and shows some stupid shit which is still going on in the world. What could that be?\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously it\u2019s always war, senseless war. At the end of the day, as we\u2019ve seen in the history books and even nowadays… The French have gone into Africa now, but probably it won\u2019t help at all. When a country is at war or suffering from civil war even, then they have to solve the problems inside the country and I don\u2019t think you can solve problems with soldiers. Nevertheless, we always do it again and again. Let\u2019s wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

November 2012 full-length The Sniper by Brazilian assortment Scelerata includes the number \u2018Must Be Dreaming\u2019, penned by Andi. \u201cThey worked with Charlie, so they asked me to write a song for them,\u201d he discloses. \u201cI said \u2018Okay, I\u2019m going to write a song for you, but this song might be recorded later on for my solo album.\u2019 They were fine with that though, and they did a good job. I hope to do a better job on my solo album (laughs). There are some back-up guest vocals on it by me, but it isn\u2019t a lead vocal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vocalist\u2019s third solo outing is gradually taking shape. \u201cI hope to be ready somewhere in May or June, and take it from there,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI will probably release it through JVC in Asia, and probably through Edel Music in the rest of the world. We just finished the drums. They sound great, but drums don\u2019t make a record. I know that the ideas are very good. It\u2019s much harder than you would expect from an Andi Deris solo album, but it\u2019s not Slipknot or something like that. It\u2019s somewhere in between (laughs). I would describe it as hard rock meets metal or metal meets hard rock, any way you can turn and twist it (laughs). The truth is somewhere in the middle. It\u2019s modern hard rock with metal influences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other musical influences might be on the cards, perhaps. \u201cThis is something you have to ask me when it\u2019s finished,\u201d Andi cautions. \u201cWe\u2019re still in the recording process, and there are probably lots of spices we will add or maybe some things that we\u2019ll take away again. I would rather describe it as modern sounding but evergreen hard rock \/ metal though, so there are lots of catchy refrains and stuff like that, and lots of things to sing along to definitely. There\u2019s no speed metal stuff on it, but it\u2019s rather heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resultant lyrics will be of a more personal nature. \u201cVery personal,\u201d the wordsmith underlines. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of bitching and a lot of aggression that I\u2019ve built up during the last few years concerning politics and systems, but it\u2019s all in great stories I think, and I think everybody will nod. There\u2019s a lot of filthy mouth stuff on it which makes it fun to sing along to, but it\u2019s very aggressive lyrically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solo endeavour\u2019s working title is Million-Dollar Haircuts On Ten-Cent Heads<\/em>. \u201cAs the name suggests, it\u2019s all about those idiots who actually just work without moral ethics and are just corrupt,\u201d Andi complains. \u201cThey just work for their own pockets, and don\u2019t ask about people down there who are actually suffering, and take away money which is obviously lacking down there. That\u2019s probably the reason why we have more poorer people, and more richer people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rich residing in their ivory towers. \u201cThat\u2019s the world we\u2019re living in at the moment,\u201d the composer responds. \u201cI just hope it will sooner or later change for the better. Maybe we\u2019ll have to blow up some banks… or I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yours truly \u2013 the interviewer \u2013 wouldn\u2019t share that notion, fearful of arrest, something which causes the frontman to chuckle. \u201cI think sooner or later people will have no choice anymore,\u201d he muses. \u201cI think when you\u2019re down to the ground, and don\u2019t even know how to actually feed your family. Then new times will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straight Out Of Hell<\/em> was released in Japan on January 16th, 2013 via Victor Entertainment, on the 21st in Europe through Spinefarm Records, and subsequently on the 22nd in North America via The End Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in January 2013. All promotional photographs by Martin H\u00e4usler.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELLOWEEN – Waiting For The Thunder Anthony Morgan January 2013 Helloween (l-r): Michael Weikath, Daniel L\u00f6ble, Andi Deris, Markus Grosskopf and Sascha Gerstner Members of German power metal outfit Helloween are scattered across Europe, vocalist Andi Deris and guitarist Michael Weikath taking refuge in Tenerife. Rhythm guitarist Sascha Gerstner and drummer Daniel L\u00f6ble live in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-helloween"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10240"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10275,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10240\/revisions\/10275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}