{"id":6140,"date":"2012-06-01T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=6140"},"modified":"2012-11-12T02:22:09","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T02:22:09","slug":"feature-gotthard-06-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-gotthard-06-12\/","title":{"rendered":"GOTTHARD – Where They Are (June 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOTTHARD – Where They Are<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nJune 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gotthard (l-r): Nic Maeder, Freddy Scherer, Leo Leoni, Hena Habegger and Marc
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On October 5th, 2010, Gotthard singer Steve Lee passed away when a tractor-trailer skidded into his parked motorcycle on a rainy Nevada highway northeast of Las Vegas. Lee was among a group of motorcyclists which included his girlfriend Brigitte Voss-Balzarini and bassist Marc Lynn, the group stopping on the side of northbound Interstate 15 \u2013 about 50 miles north of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway \u2013 to put on rain clothing at roughly 5:15pm local time. Steve was 47 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with Steve on vacation,\u201d Marc Lynn remembers. \u201cThis tragic incident happened actually while we were stopping on the motorbike track. He died on the spot, immediately. He didn\u2019t have any reaction, nothing. It was like when you turn off the power. He was gone immediately. I was involved in the incident, but I wasn\u2019t injured. I was lucky; the truck\u2019s trailer missed me by a metre to a metre and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve\u2019s demise led to thoughts of ending Gotthard. \u201cAs we came back home, the band met,\u201d the rhythmist divulges. \u201cAfter all of the newspaper and fan stuff was over, we sat together and discussed things among the members. Our feelings went up and down and left and right, so at first we thought that the story was over, that that was it. Then we talked to each other about how we felt and stuff like that. We were talking about the past, the good and the negative things. Of course we were talking to each other about the future. Everybody wanted to make music; all of Steve\u2019s friends wanted to make music together, and that was the rest of the band. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs time passed, we decided \u2018Let\u2019s try it again. Let\u2019s make music together. That would be the best thing.\u2019 The decision was how to make music together. Did we want to make a new band name? Did that really make sense? We decided to keep the band name because it\u2019s not only the work of Steve, but it\u2019s even been our band name for 20 years. We decided to go on with the band if we found the right man to be by our side, which was of course Nic.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was publicly revealed on November 20th, 2011 that Swiss-born Nic Maeder would occupy the vocal position from thereon in. \u201cWe released the news that we wanted to go on if we found the right voice,\u201d Marc explains. \u201cThrough our management we had almost 450 tapes come in, from singers who wanted to sing with us. We were listening to them and there were 30 interesting singers who we sent playback songs, songs without vocals that they could sing on. One of them was Nic. Nic was actually a little bit different because he was suggested by a mutual friend. We didn\u2019t know Nic personally. From this demo, we decided to invite people or not to invite them. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it was clear from the beginning that we weren\u2019t only looking for the right voice but for a person which fit in the band. We didn\u2019t search for a star, or a substitution for Steve. We looked for a new band member who could bring the story of Gotthard towards the second chapter, to a new point or to a fresh point. Nic was the guy who surprised us the most with input, with creativity, and as a person himself. It was just a magic moment. As we met Nic, every day was a step further. After about two weeks of working together, we had already written four songs which all made the album. We feel like we\u2019ve known Nic for a long time already, so maybe it was a certain kind of destiny to find him. For us, it was like winning the lottery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nic\u2019s musical preoccupations began at the age of 13. \u201cI started playing guitar at that time, and started singing a few years later,\u201d the vocalist discloses. \u201cPretty much like everybody, I just played in bands here and there and had a lot of bands before. My previous band was a band called Maeder; we were signed to Warner Brothers, and had an album out (September 2007\u2019s Maeder, issued by Locomotive Records). I\u2019ve really just been doing this for a very, very long time. I got to the point where I met the Gotthard guys, and started doing this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had known Gotthard for a long time, obviously living in Switzerland. Back in \u201994, we even played together at the same festival where my band was opening the festival and they were headlining. It was a band that I had known for a long time, and really appreciated. When I heard the news I applied for it, and just thought that it could be something really good. I suppose the first time that I put my voice onto one of their songs and listened back to it \u2013 which was actually for a song called \u2018Anytime Anywhere\u2019 \u2013 I thought \u2018Yeah, this could fit. This could work,\u2019 and really just carried on. When I met the guys for the first time, everything was just so natural and there was a good vibe between us. I think it was at that point that I really decided that this was definitely a 100% for me.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt took awhile, but at first I was actually living in Australia and sent them three of their songs with my voice recorded to them. From that day on, I think it was pretty much about seven to eight months until I became a member. I actually met the guys for the first time in April 2011, and that sort of went on until August when I moved to Switzerland. It took quite awhile; I went back and forth between Australia to Switzerland three times that year. It was a long process, but an understandably long one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frontman considers himself half-Swiss, and half-Australian. \u201cI was born in Switzerland, and my parents migrated to Australia when I was about two years old,\u201d he imparts. \u201cI really just grew up doing a couple of years in Australia, a couple of years in Switzerland, and then Australia again, and Switzerland again. I really just grew up doing school in both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

June 2012\u2019s Firebirth<\/em> marks Nic\u2019s inaugural Gotthard full-length. \u201cDuring the audition process, they got me back from Australia to spend a couple of weeks together to write songs \u2013 to see how the band would sound with me in it, and the songs that we would come up with really,\u201d he recounts. \u201cWe ended up writing four songs that are actually on the album. It was a great way to get started really, I suppose. I wasn\u2019t really used to writing with other people before. This was really new for me, but it turned out to be a fun process and an easy one. That\u2019s how it started. Once I finally joined, we just kept pretty much writing the same way we were doing and wrote the album fairly quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firebirth<\/em> reunites Gotthard with Paul Lani, who handled production duties. \u201cWe of course were looking at which producer could bring us to the point we wanted to go,\u201d Marc begins. \u201cWe talked about new producers for a long time, and they all fell to the wayside. One was burnt out and the other one was busy, so we came back to Paul Lani. We already recorded G.<\/em> (1996) and Open<\/em> (1999) with Paul as an engineer, and Homerun<\/em> (2001) and Human Zoo<\/em> (2003) he just mixed. We thought \u2018Why don\u2019t we give him the chance to be a producer?,\u2019 because we remembered that he was really creative at the time. Together we prepared to present Nic to the public. We decided to present Nic with the song \u2018Remember It\u2019s Me\u2019 and with a video, so we decided to bring over Paul Lani for the first test and that was the recording of \u2018Remember It\u2019s Me\u2019. The way we worked together was perfect so we decided to make an album with him, which was a very good decision. About two weeks before finishing the album, I was asking everybody \u2018What do you think of Paul Lani? Would you ever record an album with him again?\u2019 and everybody said \u2018Immediately.\u2019 Paul is really in one way a freaky American person, because he has such weird ideas. He works like crazy all the time though. He\u2019s musically really top quality; he was the right choice for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeo was co-producing the album as well, and they really worked well together, and probably sometimes actually had opposite ideas,\u201d Nic notes. \u201cThey then sort of pulled the songs in a different way that was totally unexpected. It was a really good collaboration with those two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Remember It\u2019s Me\u2019 was the first composition that the vocalist wrote together with Gotthard. \u201c\u2018Remember It\u2019s Me\u2019 was an idea that I brought to the band musically and lyrically,\u201d he offers. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a love song, and sort of love lost in a way. I guess wanting to be with somebody for a really long time, and finally being with them but not wanting them anymore; that was the concept behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Give Me Real\u2019 was another one… I\u2019d have to have the list here right now…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Shine\u2019?,\u201d Marc offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that was Freddy…,\u201d Nic corrects. \u201cLet me think… \u2018Remember It\u2019s Me\u2019… \u2018Take It All Back\u2019… They were the ones that I had the initial ideas for. Everybody brought in about three to four, because usually somebody will bring in an idea and then we just dissect it. Everybody would then put their own little bit in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The basic idea of the number \u2018Yippie Aye Yay\u2019 was contributed by Marc. \u201cWe worked it all out together,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cFreddy brought the bridge in, and Leo brought in the track\u2019s name. Nic brought in the lyrics. I\u2019m not a big songwriter; I\u2019m more the bass player. I go on holidays, and have a good time. I\u2019m hanging out at bars, usually (laughs). I just had that idea, and the guys helped me to make it happen. For us it\u2019s teamwork though. Everybody does something. I\u2019m more the administrative guy and the drummer more takes care of our fanclub and stuff like that, so everybody has his little job which has to be done. Those guys \u2013 Freddy, Leo, and Nic \u2013 write really great songs. They wrote the basic ideas usually, and the rest of us came in. We brought in our ideas, and helped them. Made a little change there, a little break, and things like this. It was really teamwork. Somebody brought in a basic idea, and then we jam around until we have a good song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually Leo, Freddy and I will sit down, and one of us will come up with an idea for a song,\u201d Nic expounds. \u201cWe\u2019ll then dissect it musically. Once we\u2019ve figured out the musical side and the melodies and everything, usually I will then go off and finish off lyrics. Sometimes the other guys will be helping with lyrics as well though. \u2018Yippie Aye Yay\u2019 Marc brought to the table as well, for example. Everybody has a little bit of input in there. There\u2019s quite a bit of teamwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only one that I didn\u2019t write lyrics to was \u2018Where Are You\u2019, which is a tribute to Steve and were Leo\u2019s ideas musically and lyrically. All I really did there was just help him with a few translation bits and pieces here and there, but that was really the only one that I didn\u2019t write.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Shine\u2019 is simply a love track. \u201cIt\u2019s just about meeting somebody that shines so much that you just can\u2019t stop thinking about them,\u201d Nic augments. Queried as to whether \u2018Shine\u2019\u2019s lyrics speak generally or from personal experience, the frontman refuses to be drawn. \u201cIt was kind of half and half,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

\u2018Starlight\u2019 was the second composition that Nic wrote with Gotthard. \u201cThat was an idea that came from Freddy initially,\u201d he credits. \u201cLyrically it was a bit of a laugh, a bit of a funny take on the whole wanting to be famous thing that everybody seems to want these days (laughs). It seems that there\u2019s so many reality shows and this and that that it\u2019s become such an important part of popular culture to want to become famous. It just takes the piss out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gotthard enjoys much press attention in Switzerland, and so the vocalist\u2019s life has greatly changed. \u201cIt ended up being you wake up one day, and you\u2019re in every newspaper and the news,\u201d he muses. \u201cIt\u2019s been going on since it was announced, and hasn\u2019t stopped. It\u2019s just been quite intense in that way, but I\u2019m just really grateful that the fans have been so welcoming with all the messages and everything. The fact that the band is able to continue this way and the fact that the fans understand that is really amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A music video was filmed for the track \u2018Starlight\u2019 in an old animal food factory near Berlin, Germany. \u201cWe invited some of our best fans from the fanclub to be a part of the audience,\u201d Marc exclaims. \u201cThey got to know Nic, and welcomed him in a fantastic way. Our fans supported us fantastically during these hard times, and they really welcomed Nic. They were actually just so happy that the band was continuing. Every single one of them I think told us that. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The Story\u2019s Over\u2019 is one of Firebirth<\/em>\u2019s heavier tunes, meanwhile. \u201c\u2018The Story\u2019s Over\u2019 is actually something that we wrote about the press,\u201d Nic reveals. \u201cAs you were saying, the band is very big in Switzerland and we get followed by the media a lot. I suppose when you might be doing an interview with somebody and you say something in passing that\u2019s not even part of the interview, that might end up as the headline or what you said might be completely twisted that are not anything that we would\u2019ve actually said. I think that was really what we were talking about in that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swansong cut \u2018Where Are You\u2019 pays tribute to Gotthard\u2019s late vocalist. \u201cWhen I heard \u2018Where Are You\u2019 for the first time, it really, really touched me,\u201d Marc confesses. \u201cLeo sent it to me through mp3, and I said \u2018Wow, this is an amazing song.\u2019 Every time I hear it, this song is so sad and so touching and so sensitive that you have to hear it in the right moment or you have to skip it. We\u2019re not even talking about the musician \u2013 let\u2019s leave the fact that he was a musician aside. We lost a friend who we were together with for 20 years. Of course we miss him, but on the other hand you don\u2019t know what\u2019s after death. Maybe there\u2019s a new life, and that\u2019s why the questions \u2018How are you? What are you doing? Where are you? Is life great? Are you dancing on a rainbow? Are you singing in the rain?\u2019 <\/p>\n

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\u201cLeo wanted to use the most specific text lines of things Steve used to sing about in certain songs, and create a song which remembers him, which talks to him. For us it was maybe even something where we could say \u2018Okay, now the story is closed.\u2019 We passed a year and a half thinking about ourselves, closing the story from the past. Steve will always be with us, but even for our future we have to go ahead. The band\u2019s future is with Nic, so it\u2019s maybe even a song where we can say \u2018Never forget him \u2013 remember him. We\u2019re calling. How are you? Hope you\u2019re good,\u2019 but for us it\u2019s time to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether \u2018Where Are You\u2019 will be included in Gotthard\u2019s live set as a tribute to Steve is uncertain. \u201cThere are many songs from the past which will be included,\u201d the bassist confirms. \u201cWhether \u2018Where Are You\u2019 will be included we still have to decide, because it\u2019s really, really emotional. Even Leo who wrote the song said that he wanted to make a longer break between the second to last song and the last song for people who want to skip the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing past Gotthard tracks, Nic will obviously lend vocals to numbers originally sung by Steve. \u201cI\u2019m pretty faithful to the songs,\u201d he reckons. \u201cThere are certain melodies that the songs have, but I definitely interpret them I suppose and put my own little twist on them. I just sing the way that I sing, the way that I\u2019ve been singing for a long time really. The last thing anyone wanted was to try to be too poppy. Already during the audition process I recorded over 20 songs or something like that, so I\u2019ve had a good chance to work on them already. They\u2019re actually really good fun to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want to have a copy,\u201d Marc stresses. \u201cWe want to have an original, because a copy for us is a cheap situation. We really closed the story, thinking about the past. We\u2019ve already had 20 years together; that\u2019s much longer than most bands have with their singer, and we\u2019re really thankful for the days we had the time we spent together. Now a new story should start though, and we want to have a singer who is free and able to express himself. That\u2019s really important, that he feels comfortable with everything he\u2019s doing and that he can develop his voice for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firebirth<\/em> marks a second chapter for Gotthard. \u201cReally, the idea is to go as long as we can possibly go,\u201d Nic clarifies. \u201cThis is something that the band never had in mind, to just do a couple of albums. There\u2019s been 20 years, and hopefully we can do another 20.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to open up a second chapter, to go on and maybe even have success like we had before, maybe even more,\u201d Marc concludes. \u201cThe important thing is to be happy though, to be able to have a great team, to have a great band. We want to kick ass live of course, making great records, playing music together, playing music with a bunch of friends, and having fun. That was always the main goal of the band, and that shall remain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firebirth<\/em> was released in Switzerland through Musikvertrieb and elsewhere in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records, all on June 1st, 2012.<\/p>\n

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

GOTTHARD – Where They Are Anthony Morgan June 2012 Gotthard (l-r): Nic Maeder, Freddy Scherer, Leo Leoni, Hena Habegger and Marc Lynn On October 5th, 2010, Gotthard singer Steve Lee passed away when a tractor-trailer skidded into his parked motorcycle on a rainy Nevada highway northeast of Las Vegas. Lee was among a group of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,304],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-gotthard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140","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=6140"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6161,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140\/revisions\/6161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}