Helloween interview with Andi Deris: "Τhe second generation of our audience actually doesn't care about having the original back"

Helloween are with no doubt the leaders of European power metal. They are the band with the biggest influence and the lengthier presence on the scene. With their new album "Straight Out Of Hell" coming out these days, the new tour with -their once considered 'enemies'- Gamma Ray and with 2013 marking the 20th year since Andi Deris took the place of the front man of the band, the conversation with him proved to be really interesting, while Andi was proved to be one of the nicest people one can talk with.

Hi Andi, how are you?
Oh, good. I’m sitting in the rain… but under the roof (laughs)…

That’s good. Where do we find you? Tenerife or Germany?
I’m in Tenerife.

Canary Islands…
Yes. And it’s finally raining. We waited 14 months to rain. 14 months it was completely dry. Finally, it’s raining…

So, you must be enjoying it…
Absolutely. That’s why I’m sitting here.

You spend most of your time in Tenerife, when not touring, right?
Absolutely. Only to rehearse I go back to Germany.

I guess, after all these years, you must prefer the climate over there…
Yes. We’ve been in Germany to rehearse for the Japan concerts and it was freezing cold. Luckily, it was 7-8 degrees warmer in Japan, but still close to London which was also freezing cold…

If am not mistaken, you have your own studios in Tenerife where the biggest part of the work for your albums takes place. So I guess that didn’t change for the new album, right?
Yeah, right. In Tenerife…

You’ve got your new album “Straight Out Of Hell” coming out in January 2013, almost two years after “7 Sinners” on a pattern you seem to keep. Which would you point out as the main differences between the two albums?
Let’s say that it’s even a bit harder than “7 Sinners”, but it’s more positive. There’s more positive energy and it’s what we thought we needed to do.

Helloween is a band that’s connected with positive feelings…
Oh yeah, we’re always connected with some humor. But then again, we felt that “7 Sinners” was very doomy for Helloween. So, we thought “Let’s happy happy Helloween”. This time we wanted to go back to the old Helloween sound and somehow make a bridge from the old 80’s to 2012.  This meant we had to go to more to “happy happy Helloween” than we sounded and I think it worked out really fine.

The album kicks off with the lengthier and most diverse track, “Nabataea”. It’s without doubt one of the most interesting tracks on the album, but isn’t it quite a strange choice for an opening track?
Yes, I think so too…(laughs). On the other hand, everybody wanted to have this as no.1, because you get the idea of the whole album in an epic seven minute song that we actually feel is strong. So, we thought “It’s ok. Nabataea”is a nice story. Let’s go for it because people are very keen on doing it as number one”. So, we decided to do it. Anyway, it’s a really good track even if it is seven minutes long.

You’re also about to shoot a video for it. I guess it’s going to be edited and it will not be seven minutes long…
Oh definitely not (laughs)…It would be too much money shooting a seven minute video. It would be like shooting two videos. We’d like to do it, but we’ll have to edit it.

Then, I was pretty sure that “Asshole” was going to be the first single, mostly because of the lyrics. It’s ready to hit the airwaves and make commercial success on TV… (laughs)
(laughs). Yeah, it would have been obvious. It actually names all the bankers of the world assholes…(laughs)

It’s a right time to do it…
Absolutely right. This is something everyone would have accepted. Maybe it will be the next single, haha…

Well, I think you should make it more specific, because I wouldn’t even want to think what people would say if you had released such a song ten or twenty years ago. With those rumors about who is hating who etc…
Probably, everybody would have thought that “Asshole” is one of the “old member” songs. You’re right there…

The first song you gave out was “Burning Sun” and there’s a Hammond version of it on the bonus tracks, dedicated to John Lord.  How come you decided to dedicate a song to his memory? Was he an important influence on you as musicians?
Well, it’s mainly Weiki’s influence actually. He’s a big fan of Deep Purple and when he was young he was very much into stuff like Deep Purple and all that. So, he was very frustrated when he learned that John Lord passed away. Fortunately, Charlie our producer suggested we should do a mix that we’d use only one guitar and instead of the second guitar we’d use a Hammond. We were curious to see if it would sound any good and in the end we were completely blown away. I think it could be a great style for a new metal band out there…(laughs).

I think it’s going to be interesting at least…
I personally like the idea. In the 70’s the bands had one guitar and a distorted organ. Now there are have been a lot of metal bands, melodic metal, speed metal that have one guitar and one organ. We haven’t played like that before and it sounds good.

Since we mention all these keyboards, even though you have keys in most of your songs you don’t have a steady keyboard player in your live performances and you seem to prefer pre-recorded samples. Would you consider taking a permanent touring member?
We had one for years. Our keyboard player was getting sick and he had to stay in Hamburg, but he’s doing ok and we hope that sooner or later he could go on tour with us. So, we just decided not to take in another keyboard player, because we don’t want to have a replacement. He is still a good friend, we get to see him in Hamburg every two weeks and I don’t want to see another person, except him. If he’s ever coming back and if he’s ready to get on tour I’d be happy to see him again playing with us.

That’s completely understood. Now again about keyboards, the piano melody of “Waiting For The Thunder” reminds me of “If I Could Fly” melody, although it’s a different track overall. Seriously, wasn’t this the obvious choice for the lead single? Or maybe something like a commercial single doesn’t matter anymore?
Yes and …yes (laughs). It would be the obvious single. “If I Could Fly” had this success. It was no.1 in Sweden, it was no.1 in Denmark, it was no.1… I don’t know, it was a really big hit. But we thought we should go out and show the people that we are a metal band and not on a commercial side. It would be so dangerous, because everybody would think that the whole album is going to be like this and they’d think that it’s not metal. So, we‘d rather tell the people “Hey this is a metal album, don’t worry”. “Nabataea” is the perfect single for showing the people what we think for the album. Later on, we would easily say “ok now we get out another single”, but for the first single I think the people should not be confused. The majority would automatically see the single as the lead track of the album, so everybody would think that the direction of the album would be like that, but it’s certainly not like this.

What you just said gives me the chance to ask a couple of things I wanted to ask. The last few years there were a couple of things that have to do with Helloween and I consider them as letdowns. The first one is the reaction of the fans to the acoustic versions of “Unarmed”. I think they were interesting, refreshing and something completely different. I think you did a great job and the closed minded approach of the fans was a disappointment for me. Then on the next album, with “Are You Metal?” you were kind of apologizing for that, like trying to say that you are actually metal. Do really bands like Helloween or musicians like you need to prove something like that?
Oh, it didn’t feel like that and had nothing to do with that. “Are You Metal” was just a great idea that I had. I actually had the headline “Are You Metal?” and I loved it. So many times, actually, you see yourself and you realize where your life will lead to, more or less. Let’s try the exact same for heavy metal music. You like metal and your whole life is going with that metal pride. I thought it’s funny. I thought “ok, why not tell the people a little story about my life?” But, I’m a very stubborn metalhead and I actually don’t want to listen to anything else than rock and metal. I hate other music. That’s the way I am… (laughs). It was a self description in “Are You Metal?”. I just describe myself…

Why do you think people didn’t like the acoustic versions of “Unarmed”? Did they miss they humor? I think you really did a good job…
Yeah… I don’t actually have an answer for that. I was a little bit disappointed by that as well, but maybe most metal fans react the way I would react. “Are You Metal”? I’m a very conservative metal listener. Something that’s not rock or metal, I actually don’t want to listen to it. Maybe the fans have reacted the way that I would react. I can’t actually blame them. I’m personally a metal listener, so probably I would have been one of those guys that said “I don’t need something like that, I don’t like it”. From that point of view, I don’t blame them.

You mentioned before that “If I Could Fly” was a major success, so I’d like to know what you think now about “The Dark Ride” album. Especially, you and Weiki…
Well, I always thought it’s a great album. But you have to see the details. We have been following the rules and the wants of the record company. So, this was the first and the last time that someone else would decide for us and we learned a lot of little things. They wanted to have a very American album and actually that’s what we did, but for America it only worked a little bit. It didn’t work as they promised it would. They told us “do an American album and then do what you want”. As always… But, it didn’t work out at all. The problem was that the only guy in the band that can write American songs is Andi. Me. So, I had to write the whole album. But, Weiki was actually completely against the American style. He wasn’t against me, he wasn’t against the songs, he was against all this “American thing”. And he was right! Because at the end of the day “The Dark Ride” was gold in several countries, but it took years for people to accept it as a great album. In the very beginning when it was released I remember that everybody was actually like “well, we like the songs but it’s not Helloween”, you know? And it’s something you have to deal with. Maybe, they accepted it because it has great songs or good guitars but nevertheless the whole album was not accepted as a Helloween album, it took 5-7 years.

I actually am not so sure about that. I was a huge Helloween fan when the album came out and I loved it from the first moment. Also, the majority of the fans - that I am aware of -  considers it as the best Helloween album with you on vocals…
Then you are more open-minded (laughs)…

Maybe… I don’t know. Anyway, do you consider adding some songs from this album on your setlist?
Absolutely. We always play songs for “The Dark Ride”, they’re always on the setlist. We had several songs like “Departed (Sun Is Going Down)” and “Mirror Mirror” but it’s always going to be played if we fell like it. Playing the same songs, every night can get boring. Sometimes we play them, sometimes we don’t. It also depends on where we play. Because you could be one of the open minded people, so we could play it there. But, honestly, I feel in Europe, except for Scandinavia, the rest of Europe is not too much into “The Dark Ride”. Whenever we go to Japan, or Scandinavia or South America they’re much into “The Dark Ride”. So, what I’m trying to say is that it’s a very controversial story. This album is loved in some parts of the world and is not so much loved in other parts of the world.

[At this point due to thunderstorms, the connection was broke down and we had to continue a couple of days later]

Well Andi, since the rain interrupted us I remembered to listen again to your first solo album “Come In From The Rain” which I really like…
(laughs) If it was only the rain it would be ok. It was pouring down incredibly much rain and lots of storm and maybe something broke down and hit the cable of the internet and the cable of the phone…

Did you play “Waiting For The Thunder” too much maybe?
(laughs)

So, next year it will be 20 years since you joined the band and I consider it a personal victory for you, because from the very beginning I always remember people wanting Michael Kiske back and wanting the reunion with the old members. So, being here, with a legacy of your own with Helloween after 20 years, how do you feel about that?
It’s hard to say. I never thought about this, in the way you just expressed it (laughs). Because, it was quite ok when I joined the band that there were lots of old fans bitching, as with every band that changes a singer. The old fans are always bitching about the so called “new singer” (laughs). That’s pretty much the same vibe I had for example when David Lee Roth left Van Halen and Sammy Hagar joined the band. I was bitching about Sammy Hagar, though he did a fabulous, great job. Although he is a great singer, I always wanted to have David Lee Roth (laughs). You know, that’s how people are, because I grew up with David Lee Roth singing in Van Halen and you connect the greatest time in your life with that guy. So, you always want to have the original back when you live these days. Now, for the people that joined Helloween with “Master Of The Rings”, they probably have no connection to the old days, so this is how life goes. It depends which time certain music guided you. I’m the same guy who was actually always bitching about the new singer (laughs), when they were together with my great time at the age of 15 or 20 or something like that, you know. Your first love and probably you had your first sex with that kind of music and blah, blah, blah. There’s so many feelings connected to it, you want to have the original back. But, fortunately, as you’ve already mentioned, now 20 years back it’s already the second generation in an audience and this second generation has no connection to the older days, as they were listening to “Master Of The Rings” at age 15,16 or 17 when they joined Helloween and they actually don’t care about all that.

Well, there’s something more for me, as I think that when you joined Helloween you changed the identity of the band. With all respect to Weiki or Markus there’s no doubt for me that you became the main man of the band, you took the leadership. So that’s even more difficult…
Hm, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you’re saying, but I don’t see myself as the leader of the band, because we’re a very democratic band. Obviously, the singer is the front man and it appears to a lot of people that the front man is the no.1 in the band. I never wanted to see myself as the no.1 leading guy in the band, because –from my heart- I am a musician, not a singer. So, my heart beats at least as much for the guitar as it would beat for the microphone. I don’t want to see myself only as a front man. That’s a nice job, I like it being the front man of a great metal band like Helloween, but my heart beats more in that musicianship thing, so I have not such a feeling that I have to be the leader of something. I actually don’t even want to do that… (laughs)

I understand what you say, although I meant it in another way. Nevermind. Which would you point out as the highest point and the lowest point in your 20-year career with Helloween?
Well, definitely the greatest moment was after I joined Helloween actually, with the “Master Of The Rings” album and nobody knew where it would lead to, as there were many factors unknown. Would the people accept me as the new singer? Or would all my fans from my previous band join this new line up with Helloween? There were so many question marks and the only choice we had back in those days in 1994 was looking forward to record the music we had and we thought it was great. Then, when even before “Master Of The Rings” was released, we went gold and platinum in several countries of the world. This was a dream come true.  It was the greatest moment in my life. I couldn’t believe it. This was the time. This was the wake up call, “Hey, you’re doing the right thing here”. This was the greatest moment I would say.
The worst moment would have been the big disappointment we had to live with Roland (Grapow) the old guitarist. Because, more or less, he betrayed the band financially and it was a great disappointment for everybody. I would have never thought that a friend could do that. Obviously, we thought we were friends, but he never thought we are friends. You can’t look into the head of people; you always have to act the way you feel. Because of that, I think it was a great disappointment not only for me, but also for Markus and Weiki. It was a great disappointment.

Wow. About two years ago I had an interview with Roland and he presented a different side of the story. He, also, said that he considers you a friend and he doesn’t understand why you never replied to his message. But, we’d rather don’t dig into these things. I don’t think there’s a reason anymore. So, how do you see now, your days back in Pink Cream 69? Those hard rock/sleaze days of yours that I also adore… Would you go back – even just for fun – to this kind of music at some point of your future career?
Honestly, I’m so glad that I am allowed in Helloween sometimes to participate with 1 or 2 songs in that vibe. It’s played harder and it’s mixed harder, there is more metal mix in the guitars, but speaking of Pink Cream I think a song like “Waiting For The Thunder” on the new album would easily be a Pink Cream song. Or “If I Could Fly” from “The Dark Ride” album would be perfect for a Pink Cream song. So, I am fortunately allowed to add these old hard rock tunes, even tough we dress them in a metal dress. I mean I’m happy to have these songs on the album. And I think it loosens up a Helloween album, cause when you have three speed metal songs in you need something to breathe. Calm down for 4 minutes and then you’re ready for speed metal again.

I agree completely…
On the other hand, I see that the old Helloween in the 80’s had done something like that too. They had “Future World” or “Dr.Stein”. That’s pop metal, you know. So, they already did that. They mixed the heavy, complicated stuff with some easy going tunes. And that’s what I actually try to achieve with my own Pink Cream tunes.

I have to tell you Ieven like “Anything My Mama Don’t Like”…
(laughs)

So, you’re heading again on a tour with Gamma Ray. It’s the second time in a few years which means you had a good time the fist time around and we’re very glad you’re visiting us again. What should we expect from that tour?
I think you know exactly what you should expect (laughs). We do have in the Helloween show at least one very stupid thing, which I don’t want to tell you now (laughs). I think it’s a great idea actually. It’s one very stupid thing taking 4 or 5 minutes and hopefully causing a smile on everybody’s face. And, of course, at the end of the show we want to have the grand finale again with Kai. Maybe this time we’ll play “Halloween” or I don’t know what. It’s still a surprise, but we know we want to play at least one long song and 1 or 2 shorter songs together with Kai Hansen. It was great I remember when we last played with him, it’s always fun. And it’s always great to see and very interesting to see if Kai is already drunk or not (laughs). It has always been the hardest part for him, to actually have to wait about 100 minutes until he’s finally called on stage. He describes these 100 minutes, the most dangerous minutes in his life, because obviously he’s so bored that he starts to drink.

It must be weird for him sometimes being backstage and hear you play tunes that he used to play 25 years ago. I bet he’s up with his guitar thinking “I’m going out right now”…
Yeah, definitely! He even did that on several times. He appeared on stage, but he wasn’t actually told to come (laughs). He’s just there doing some crazy rocking stuff on “Future World” for example… So, this time we told him that “you should play “Future World” in your set”.

Well, I can’t wait for the show. Andi, that’s it. I have to thank you for time.
I thank you. It was a real pleasure.