{"id":5039,"date":"2012-04-24T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=5039"},"modified":"2012-04-27T23:13:28","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T23:13:28","slug":"feature-running-wild-04-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-running-wild-04-12\/","title":{"rendered":"RUNNING WILD – Locomotive (April 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUNNING WILD – Locomotive<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nApril 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Rolf Kasparek<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

On July 30th, 2009, German power metallers Running Wild performed what was billed as its \u2018farewell\u2019 show at the 2009 edition of Wacken Open Air. Filmed and recorded for CD and DVD purposes, the performance was issued as The Final Jolly Roger<\/em> in June 2011 through Golden Core \/ ZYX. 13th studio full-length Rogues En Vogue<\/em> had been released in February 2005 via GUN Records, which by 2009 seemed to be Running Wild\u2019s swansong effort. However, this wouldn\u2019t actually be the group\u2019s final hurrah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about 2006 where I said goodbye to Running Wild for myself,\u201d divulges Rolf Kasparek, vocalist, guitarist and co-founder of Running Wild. \u201cI figured out that the last album was so heavy for me to write, and all the ideas didn\u2019t come out of me in the right way. There were a lot of things that I had to throw away because I figured they were not strong enough to go on the album. In around 2009 the guys from Wacken came over to me, and said \u2018Why don\u2019t you do a show for the fans to say goodbye?\u2019 I said \u2018Okay, let\u2019s try this,\u2019 so we did it. At that time I was really sure that I would end Running Wild and not do it anymore, because it didn\u2019t feel right anymore. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was writing the Toxic Taste stuff, I figured out how it can feel when you write songs. Everything came out so easy and so natural, and when I was writing that I figured that it was the right feeling again because it felt like the old days. When I was writing songs like \u2018Under Jolly Roger\u2019 or \u2018Riding The Storm\u2019 and songs like that, they were all written in a very short period of time. I said \u2018Okay, let\u2019s try this out,\u2019 but in 2009 my batteries were empty so to speak. I really needed a break and really had to go away fully and not do it anymore, because it didn\u2019t feel right anymore. Today when I look back though, I see that I just needed a break to refill my batteries again.<\/p>\n

\u201cToxic Taste was just a fun project. It was around 2010 that some record companies came to me, and said \u2018What about re-recording old stuff from the first nine records?\u2019 They\u2019re no longer available because of Universal in England owning the rights to them, but not putting them out again. We were talking about that, and said \u2018Let\u2019s do this, and re-record 20 songs or something like that.\u2019 They needed some bonus tracks for that, and when I tried to write the bonus tracks the songs for the album came out. The first track that I wrote was \u2018Piece Of The Action\u2019, which was way too strong to be wasted as a bonus track. The second one was \u2018Riding On The Tide\u2019. The songs that I was writing were way too strong to be wasted as bonus tracks, and didn\u2019t make sense to me to be used as such. When I wrote these strong songs it made more sense to do a full album, because four songs were half an album. If I could\u2019ve written half an album, I could\u2019ve written a whole album no problem. They said \u2018Wow, a great idea. Let\u2019s do a new record,\u2019 which became Shadowmaker<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShadowmaker<\/em> is a very modern version of Running Wild. You hear this is typical Running Wild, but we have choirs on the album and I never did that before. It\u2019s new to Running Wild. With this album Shadowmaker<\/em>, I wanted to make sure it was in the present and that I\u2019m heading for the future. Not holding onto the past and just trying to recreate it, which wouldn\u2019t make any sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tracks present on April 2012\u2019s Shadowmaker<\/em> were consciously authored within a short timeframe. \u201cThey all came just naturally in a way \u2013 I was just writing,\u201d the singer muses. \u201cThe last album took me half a year or something like that to really get the songs right and everything else right, but in this case everything went so naturally. I had a production team this time around, but on the last album I had to do everything on my own. We had to do the record because it was the last record for GUN Records, to fulfil the deal. This time there were some guys helping me out so I could really focus on what was important to me, which was to play guitar and sing the songs and just have an overall look at the production.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Running Wild 1985: Live in Germany<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe first song I wrote was \u2018Piece Of The Action\u2019; I did the song in ten minutes, because the arrangement was there. It took me several hours to put down as a demo for sure, but all the other songs were written in a short period of time. The only song that took longer was the last one that I was writing, which was \u2018Dracula\u2019. Originally I wanted to take just four days or something like that to do the arrangements and everything to put it down on tape, but the song was done in two hours. All the parts were there, everything. It just felt right, and so it just came out natural. That\u2019s why I said \u2018Okay, the time is right to do a new Running Wild album,\u2019 because the feeling was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shadowmaker<\/em> benefited from the involvement of longtime friend Peter Jordan, as well as Niki and Katharina Nowy. \u201cKatharina is just my assistant; she did everything for me that could take my focus away from music,\u201d Rolf enthuses. \u201cNiki Nowy is a mixer and a very great engineer, so that\u2019s why he did the co-production. He did the final mix, he recorded all my vocals, and he did the mastering and everything. PJ recorded the chorus and everything; we both did this together, and he did some other stuff in the studio. We worked in about two or three different studios, and put everything together. I could really focus on being a musician during the production, but on the last record it was different. I had to do everything on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Shadowmaker<\/em> can nonetheless be viewed as a solo affair. \u201cThis is a solo album, absolutely,\u201d the mainman confirms. \u201cRunning Wild became a solo project throughout the last 20 years, and this album is really a solo project. I wrote all the songs and all the lyrics, and I played most of the guitars. PJ played four guitar solos on the album because he was involved in the project, otherwise I would have played them all on my own. It\u2019s really kind of a solo project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The compositions \u2018Black Shadow\u2019, \u2018Shadowmaker\u2019 and \u2018Into The Black\u2019 lyrically mark a trilogy of thematically united tracks. \u201c\u2018Shadowmaker\u2019 is about old prophecies, about in the Bible where this guy comes around when Judgement Day happens,\u201d Rolf discloses. \u201cHe\u2019s a debt collector of the universe I would say, so everybody will lose their soul. \u2018Black Shadow\u2019 and \u2018Into The Black\u2019 are a statement about what state the world is in today, and what mankind is heading for. If you look at the behaviour of a lot of people, and how they use their computers… A computer is a slave to me, and sometimes it feels like people are becoming slaves to computers. I don\u2019t think this is the right way to be. If you just use technology, then it\u2019s okay. It\u2019s no problem, but when it\u2019s the master so to speak you\u2019re in trouble. I always use a computer when I\u2019m in the studio and everything for sure. We put down everything using ProTools and do the final mix and master using ProTools and stuff like that for sure, but I\u2019m always aware that this is my slave to work for me. That\u2019s why I wrote a song like \u2018Into The Black\u2019, to say \u2018Something is going very wrong. Just think about that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I Am Who I Am\u2019, meanwhile, is more autobiographical. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much my philosophy towards life, how I see things,\u201d the axeman states. \u201cI always look behind the curtains. I don\u2019t accept the first layers of everything; I just wanna see behind that, what is real. I\u2019m always a guy who takes a stand, and I never give up in a way. I always fight, because I wanna get further with what I\u2019m doing. Not only with Running Wild, but also in my private life. It\u2019s my philosophy towards life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A nod towards the past, tunes like \u2018Riding On The Tide\u2019 and \u2018Sailing Fire\u2019 sport the pirate theme prevalent within former Running Wild songs. \u201cWhen I was writing the riff for \u2018Riding On The Tide\u2019 itself, it was pirate-esque,\u201d Rolf surmises. \u201cThe melody for \u2018Sailing Fire\u2019 feels like the open sea and everything. The melody felt like that, and that\u2019s why I wrote such lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Rolf Kasparek<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

1987\u2019s Under Jolly Roger<\/em> was the beginning of Running Wild\u2019s association with the pirate theme. \u201cIt was a really hard record, because there were a lot of problems in the band,\u201d the frontman remembers. \u201cOn the other hand though it was very funny because a new kind of image started with this album, with the idea for the track \u2018Under Jolly Roger\u2019. It was pretty much different, and fans liked the album. We really sold a lot more than the albums before, and the press hated the album (laughs). It was really great for us because fans really took with the band. It became a very special album, and even the song \u2018Under Jolly Roger\u2019 became a very, very special song for Running Wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

The record pre-dated the emergence of the so-called pirate metal genre. \u201cI think there are a lot of bands out there who are doing their own thing with this, because they don\u2019t try to copy Running Wild,\u201d Rolf admits. \u201cThey just do their own thing; Alestorm and all these bands, they\u2019re very much different than Running Wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Jolly Roger<\/em> could perhaps become one of several Running Wild albums to be reissued through Universal Records. \u201cI think the first one that\u2019s coming out is Gates To Purgatory<\/em> (December 1984),\u201d the vocalist recalls. \u201cWe did some re-releases on Sanctuary which included bonus tracks, so there are no more songs that I have to put on them. This is the problem. I just did an interview with Malcolm Dome though for the liner notes of Gates To Purgatory<\/em>; maybe he will be doing this for all of the records, but I don\u2019t know. I really hope that they put out all of the records, but at the moment they\u2019re just trying out the first one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Me & The Boys\u2019 is seemingly a track penned for the fans of Running Wild. \u201cI wrote the song because when I was growing up, Slade were a very big influence for me,\u201d Rolf cites. \u201cThat\u2019s why I did the song, because I really liked the band and still do today. That\u2019s why I wrote that song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing number \u2018Dracula\u2019 took longer to write. \u201cI didn\u2019t wanna write a song about the Dracula<\/em> movies with Christopher Lee,\u201d the guitarist stresses. \u201cI was pretty much more into the story of Bram Stoker with not only a blood-sucking guy, the evil guy, but also the tragic figure where he\u2019s suffering from the situation he\u2019s in, from the curse. He doesn\u2019t wanna go to hell. The song is kind of a mixture between pretty much a normal Running Wild part, but on the other hand some parts are different to what I normally write. It\u2019s kind of a mixture musically. I just wanted to represent both sides of this person Dracula. Everything came very naturally \u2013 one part after the other \u2013 so I didn\u2019t have to think about it. It just came out like that. When the part came out, I knew exactly which kind of melody I wanted for the vocals and what part of the lyrics should be there to tell the whole story from the beginning to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live dates aren\u2019t pencilled in the calendar for 2012. \u201cThe promotion of the album will take me way into the summer, and after that we have to finish Giant X,\u201d Rolf clarifies. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about maybe doing some festivals in 2013. I will ask the guys who played the Wacken show with me if they want to play these shows, but I really can\u2019t promise that these three guys (Peter Jordan, bassist Jan-S\u00f6ren Eckert, and drummer Matthias Liebetruth) have the time to do it. PJ will play live with me though, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giant X is a collaboration between the Running Wild singer, and Peter Jordan. \u201cPJ came over with a song,\u201d he begins. \u201cI said \u2018Do you wanna write lyrics for that, and who would you want to sing it?\u2019 The song is called \u2018Burning Wheels\u2019; we put it out on the internet, and many people said \u2018Wow, this song is great.\u2019 I didn\u2019t write songs for Giant X. The songs have all been written by PJ, because I didn\u2019t want any influences from Running Wild in Giant X. It should sound different, and that\u2019s why I just write the lyrics and sing the lead vocals. They\u2019re very different lyrics. There\u2019s a new song called \u2018Rough Ride\u2019 and it\u2019s a very sexual song to speak (laughs), if you read between the lines. The other song we did was \u2018Now Or Never\u2019, which is a song about a guy who\u2019s in a very bad situation. He\u2019s looking forward though, and he says \u2018Now or never, I have to get myself together and just look towards the future.\u2019 The title for the song \u2018Burning Wheels\u2019 says it all, which is kind of a racing song. There will be totally different stuff on that album though. It will be different than Running Wild, because it\u2019s pretty much more typical rock \u2019n\u2019 roll stuff I would say.<\/p>\n

\u201cPJ plays all of the guitars and does all of the production. We wanted to get the opportunity to do a full demo with ten songs. but we had to cut it down when I started production for Shadowmaker<\/em>. I couldn\u2019t do two productions together because PJ was involved in the project, in the production for Shadowmaker<\/em>. Giant X is a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll heavy metal project, but one song has a slide guitar and is very bluesy, and we got a ballad and everything. It\u2019s totally different than Running Wild, but also heavy metal and hard rock. Some record companies \u2013 even SPV \u2013 are very interested in that project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giant X is likely to remain a studio project. \u201cWhen I play live I play as a part of Running Wild,\u201d Rolf figures.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Running Wild 1987 (l-r): Stephan Boriss, Wolfgang \u2018Hasche\u2019 Hagemann, Majk
Moti and Rolf \u2018Rock\u2019n\u2019Rolf\u2019 Kasparek<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Of Running Wild\u2019s 14 studio albums, its mainman cannot select a favourite. \u201cThere are a lot of songs which are really important to the band, but I could never pick out one album,\u201d he insists. \u201cI know that Running Wild\u2019s biggest song is \u2018Under Jolly Roger\u2019, or \u2018Bad To The Bone\u2019, or \u2018Riding The Storm\u2019. They\u2019re all great tracks, but I could never really pick a whole album. It\u2019s impossible, because I love them all and that\u2019s because I did them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same can be said for Running Wild albums he favours lesser than others. \u201cFor sure, there are some songs which are not as good as I figured when I did a record,\u201d Rolf confesses. \u201cEvery time I try to put a set list together if we do a tour or festival, it takes me one week to put the list together because there are so many songs that I could play. The fans like so many different songs, so it\u2019s pretty hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running Wild originally surfaced in 1976, using the moniker Granite Hearts. \u201cIt was just some schoolmates trying to play rock \u2019n\u2019 roll,\u201d the axeman reflects. \u201cWe renamed the band Running Wild in \u201979. I was 18 then, a long time ago (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be implausible to believe that Rolf felt Running Wild would still exist 36 years later. \u201cWhen we started out we were kind of amateurs,\u201d he reminisces. \u201cWhen we put out a demo, we were so proud that we had our own demo back then. In the early 80s, when we did the first record we said \u2018Wow, we have a record.\u2019 We were proud of that, but we really hoped that it would last that long. I remember the day when I had the first record, I said \u2018What will things look like in 20 years? How many records will there be?\u2019 It was an interesting question. Today I look back, and Shadowmaker<\/em> is our 14th studio album. There\u2019s been a lot of live stuff, and a lot of singles, EPs and everything. There are a lot of things I\u2019ve done throughout these 30 odd years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early days of the outfit were spent performing at \u201cvery very small clubs and everything. We didn\u2019t play many shows though. It was very hard in Germany to get any offers for a show, but we always tried. We were in rehearsals for a long time just writing new songs and working on that. At first we just did it for fun, but we really focused on getting professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

The influence of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) kickstarted Germany\u2019s metal scene during the late 70s. \u201cA lot of guys said \u2018I wanna play heavy metal,\u2019 and there were a lot of bands coming up in the amateur scene,\u201d the frontman recollects. \u201cRunning Wild was one of them, and we just went further than that. In about \u201983 or something like that, in Hamburg there were a lot of bands playing the small clubs and everything. Three or four times a week you could go to a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much Running Wild can extend its 36-year tenure is hard to determine. \u201cI hope we continue for a long time,\u201d Rolf ponders. \u201cI will keep doing it if I feel as good as I feel right now, because the passion to do this is back. I really wanna keep it, but I really can\u2019t promise whether I\u2019ll do another three or four albums. I really hope so though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shadowmaker<\/em> was released on April 20th, 2012 in Germany, on the 23rd in the rest of Europe, and on the 24th in North America, all through SPV Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in April 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUNNING WILD – Locomotive Anthony Morgan April 2012 Rolf Kasparek On July 30th, 2009, German power metallers Running Wild performed what was billed as its \u2018farewell\u2019 show at the 2009 edition of Wacken Open Air. Filmed and recorded for CD and DVD purposes, the performance was issued as The Final Jolly Roger in June 2011 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-running-wild"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039","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=5039"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5238,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039\/revisions\/5238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}