 Welcome to the metal voice and once again Alan here he is the man Almost the guy that started it all for us on on doing these types of interviews and I can't believe is back in 2010 It's already been 12 years Wolf You guys haven't aged a day You guys haven't aged a day since that beautiful day Hello Yeah No, but it's great to have you on always one of our favorite guests of all time. We'll talk a minute of except fame here with us today Great great to be here too mean to die north american tour coming up 2022 You're just telling us about your european festivals. Maybe you want to tell everybody about that and then go into US tour. Yeah So currently in europe as we have we all have been here for the whole summer Because it's summer festival season here in europe and we played more shows Then I can't remember ever playing. I mean, we usually do festivals, but only a you know a few weeks here and there But it's been almost three months for us now Because I think there was all this pent up demand because of the kovat You know pandemic So this summer has been busier than ever for us So, you know, we've got about three more shows to go. We've been in finland and then we're going to danmark We've got the brussel we have been to greece and uh, switzerland and italy everywhere basically so it's been awesome But as I was going to say we're getting ready to do this US tour coming up soon And that's what we should talk about. You know, because that's That's going to be amazing Finally the tour for two means to die. I mean the album came out over a year ago We interviewed in december of 2020 that it seems like it was yesterday And it's nice to see that finally this tour is going to happen here in north america and the us Yeah, finally, and this is actually the first full blown us tour for except in a decade. I mean, it's I don't know where the time went to be honest. We made album after album, but we never quite had the time or Never amounted to a full blown us tour, but here it is finally So that means that the tour you did with creator. It didn't go into the states or That was 10 years ago. I believe That was the last one. That was the last one. I think that was 2012 maybe or so. I mean Yeah, crazy Yeah, it seems like maybe it was five years ago But I mean everything lately when somebody asked me Well, this was just a few years ago And you think if you are two three years ago, then you look it up and it was really seven or eight or 10 years ago It's just I don't know. Time flies lately Wolf we interviewed you a year and a half ago. Basically. Yeah And I in the interview I said something like I'm 52. Actually now I'm 54 That's that's two years of our lives and you said you're 60 Yeah, well now you call me 62, right? My point so this is the cliffhanger from the last interview. This was the cliffhanger. You're ready for this I asked you or maybe allen asked you. I don't know Do you think it's a good idea to release to mean to die during a pandemic And you go we'll see how it goes Now that you can look back We could finish this conversation two years later a year and a half later Do you think it was a good idea to release to mean to die during a pandemic when there was no touring? Yeah, yeah, okay. How did that go? It went really really well I have to say people love the album and I think that we're very grateful that we didn't hold back until times get back to normal um, at least we you know people could enjoy the album and The fan reaction was fantastic. We sold really well. So things are going really well Of course, nobody knows what it would have been like had we had the tour, but yeah, come on We're gonna do the tour now and I think it's gonna work out fine And one of the things that you mentioned in our last interview really songs like overnight sensation You thought that would sound really great life has the setlist changed from where what you're doing this coming september the us tour Compared to what it would have been if you if you toured the moment it was released Probably not no But I can tell you that we incorporate a whole lot more songs than I had anticipated like even some of these festival shows that we did We played like five new songs and they all Yeah, great great reaction from the fans Because normally a lot of times when we have a new album we play two songs sometimes three But there's so much good stuff on this album. It's so much good live songs that it's it's really fun to do And people you know, I think I really appreciate it So so what's the set list gonna look like? Okay, the tour starts september 29th in Nashville That's where you're based more or less, right? And it just goes even to canada doesn't come to munch y'all But I think it goes to am I wrong now in toronto the one in only toronto Is the date and you know, we are officially a heavy metal city here in montreal wolf. We're a little disappointed Sorry, sorry guys You lose you lose I don't know how these things happen. No, no, we get it. We get it's not your fault But we like to blame you anyway. It's fine. Blame me and all my fault. I don't care. I'll take it Gladly, what's the set list gonna look like? Uh, you know come for this north american. Is it gonna be different than the europeans? Do they want to hear more of the classic back? Well, I don't know yet. Yes. How do I know that? We'll make this stuff up. You're in charge. You're in charge. I do put the set list together every night that that I am But you know, actually we do make stuff up sometimes last minute I usually like to see what it was like the night before I make a small adjustment and we also like to mix it up sometimes More than we've ever done before a lot of times in the past We we arrived at what seemed to be the perfect set list and we kind of kept it as is but Lately we all said, you know, why don't we just mix it up a little because it's also fun for us and Somebody comes to the to the show more than once and they get a slightly different one So that's what we've been doing lately. And I think we'll we'll probably do the same thing On this american run You know So but I think we're gonna play. I mean, I can tell you There's some songs we'll always play like princes of the dawn faster the shark metal heart balls to the wall But you know When it all the other stuff, I think we'll play quite a few of the new album But mark's been in the band for so so long now like we said back to 2010 So is that you do you ever envision a day where you can really focus on the material you've done with him compared to the oldest material We kind of already do that. I mean we we're approaching. I mean Pretty damn near 60 new stuff nowadays Yeah, I mean, I don't think that will ever be a day when we don't play Any of those because I mean come on people grew up with that stuff and it's It's our capital. I mean we earned it. We I mean we wrote the stuff and we we This is who we are. So why not, you know, you know, honor it and play these songs You wouldn't get out of the venue alive if you didn't play some of those songs Hey, tell you lately we even threw in like i'm a rebel, which is a lot of fun You know what you know what wolf? It's a great song. I'm a rebel. Have you ever heard the original acdc version of it? I have yeah, is it bond scott singing on it? Yeah, it is Because this is unreleased, right? It's unreleased and they probably will keep it in the archive or their vault or whatever forever Uh, because I tell you why because it was a demo and apparently acdc did not like the song enough for They didn't want to record it properly. They just you know, I had to demo and said nah, I'm not gonna do it or whatever So that's how we ended up with the song um But you know apparently I guess they have no interest in releasing releasing old demos Of these what did you think of the demo anyways? I thought it was fabulous. I thought it was much better than our version sorry Because yeah my cons bond scott, you know and acdc and you know So it was written by alex young originally, right? I'll try it from when I was reading it on about it online And you don't know what's true and what's not true online, right? They said that bond scott was doing the back vocals But alex young was doing the vocals again. I don't know. I don't know I've never heard the person that I remember that that was clearly bond scott Yeah, it's kind of a rough demo that they've done. I believe in hamburg at the demo studio Or maybe not, but I know that the guy alex young he lived In hamburg at the time or at least he had a really close connection to our publisher And that's how we ended up with the song because they said well We've got these unreleased songs and I think the song and I think it would be great for you guys and All this kind of stuff and and we actually met him. I remember but my god. It's like 40 something years ago Really? That's why I'm wearing the shirt. Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I just kind of tied in Wrong man. Yeah. Yeah Not sure. Sorry. Nothing to Uh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Did you want to say no? Is this will be the first? Is this the first time you're doing meet and greets as well? Uh, yeah, we've done in yeah. Yeah, I believe so So it's a it's a huge package you're offering for this meet and greet. I mean, yeah, I'm gonna be signing stuff all night We've been signing we're giving away stuff. We we sign everything from baby butts to you know, you know, we'll see I mean we only signed flesh on this We have to sign albums to whatever that people bring But but I mean is it one of those meeting greets where you're sort of distancing yourself from everybody? Or is it just you know as as normal I think we're gonna use reasonable precautions And I don't even know that we're gonna be bothered with wearing I mean, we'll we'll see how bad it is and how we all feel that I mean But I think we have to come to the conclusion that maybe this whole Covid thing will be part of life from now on. Yeah, I need to be reasonably cautious from now on and You know, we all at this point we've all had it and it was mostly very mild for everybody But hey, it's a thing. So we got to be aware of it. Yeah, it's respectful. Yeah, yeah, yeah What about a lot of bands today are doing, you know, full albums on their set list like all of breaker or all of too mean to die You know, what about celebrating anniversaries on the road a lot of Bands like that, you know, is that some sort of possibility in the future? Uh, not really. I'm not a huge fan of all these anniversary things because it always reeks a little bit of Desperation. Hey, we don't have a new album. We've got nothing else to say. So we celebrate something that happened 40 years ago uh Yeah Maybe if we've got come to the point where we don't have a current album and it it happens to be anniversary But see the other thing is something always have every year something was 30 25 40 years ago It's always something to any verse. Yeah. Yeah, I have an anniversary about so I don't want to really get caught up in that too much um And as far as like playing an album in entirety It's we've done that once or twice, but An album is an album and it has a certain running order and a show has a different Running order to me and it's not necessarily The best live show if you put together an album play it back to back. That's my experience. It's different dynamics, right? That's what you're doing. You kind of wanted. Yeah, I don't know. It just didn't Work so well besides an album is only 40 minutes And then what are you gonna do for the rest of the show? Then you play another album or I mean It's all these like Yeah, it doesn't really work that well for me But it doesn't say we don't want to do it. Actually, we committed to do to be doing that in japan, but that show was never Uh never happened We were supposed to play the entirety of metal heart and balls to the wall and two different shows in japan as a special thing and we rehearsed for it, but then pandemic Uh Put a stop to it and never happened But that's a lot of rehearsal work right there. Yeah, tell me about it and I learned all you saw I really learned all my own songs for nothing You can play them this time around Already forgot them again. Sorry I've got a short-term memory And being respectful right like bands the germans are like the forefront of everything metal shanker fest halloween fest But they call the pumpkins united Would there ever be and again, I know this is a touchy subject and i'll be respectful for this Would there ever be like a a fest like and we wouldn't call it except maybe a balls to the walls fest You bring in all the old members just one night break your fans Like balls to the walls fest balls fest. How about that fast fast? You know what I mean? Just something you make a whole different crowd wolf The germans are the forefront of of metal and and shanker and halloween They all kind of got on board on this. I don't know. It's not as easy as it sounds. I get it. I get it Yeah Who knows? I mean anything is possible, but at this point no interest. No. Got it. All right fair enough fair enough I learned to say never say it never because you know if you say And then one day you might you know look like in football, but but if you ever do do it balls to the walls fast I like that. I like balls. That ball's fast. It's kind of got a nasty ring to it. You might get a different crowd though ball breakers Ball breaker. There you go or restless wrestlers and wiles fast. Yeah. Yeah restless fest. I don't know Endless possibility Do you do you find that You're at also at the forefront of classical mixed with metal But there's some some like symphonic and orchestrated metal has kind of been overdone now And sort of like it's kind of like people are losing interest in that I agree Well, we've done a fabulous tour three years ago I think it was with an orchestra which I really enjoyed and But at the same time I realized it's been done a lot and and that novelty has worn off So if I ever did any sort of collaboration with orchestras or classical players and classical music and Rock guitar, I think I'd I'd be looking for a different format the classic Thing of like here's a metal band and there's an orchestra. Who isn't that exciting? I think that's that's sort of almost over Yeah, I think I mean it's just because it kind of died off. Yeah Well It's still cool. I mean, but it's not that in itself is not enough. I think to be uh, yeah Anything new or It's not as spectacular as it once was. I think that's why I would probably look for a slightly different format something Yeah, yeah, you know Classical stuff. I love playing with with, you know, orchestra players or, you know, Absolutely Yeah, you know, I can definitely see you just playing guitar with the whole orchestra behind you never mind a full band Yeah, maybe that or you know, maybe some other players. I mean that with all kinds of ideas lately We'll see what what what ends up Coming to realization, you know You know me and alan have been fans of except since you know since you know You guys kind of hit the the north american market, you know and been following you guys since and you know that I don't even have to tell you that but Well, a friend a friend of mine asked me, you know, what about the gang vocals? How did that how did that start? How did that all begin? I can tell you all that started very simple We wrote a bunch of songs. I like we started Writing songs and the rest isn't wild and break her area in those days And we had certain specific melodies in mind That were part of that song and we always wrote the songs with Either peter or stephan on vocals Udo usually wasn't involved in the first phase at all And then we had these melodies But then when udo started singing they didn't quite work very often So we I started playing some of them on guitar And they became part of the song structure where I have a certain melody And then we started putting back on vocals on on them as well because they could sing the melody that we had in mind But then our voices were kind of meh, you know, if it's only three or four We were not great singers, but we discovered when we just layer them on top like 20 times They sound pretty fucking massive And we like that and once you like something you do it again And then you do it again and before you know it it's become some sort of a trademark So going back, you know, I've got them all here. Look at this. They've got the hit parader august 1994 here Oh, my god, I'm gonna throw out some stuff that Some of their statements and we're gonna go back And you say how you feel today compared to those statements, okay Oh, that's gonna be they were talking about balls to the wall. In fact Yeah, Udo says actually this time It wasn't easy for us to get balls to wall out in america We had signed a management deal with Dieter Dirks over a year ago And it was because of his connections that we were able to get a record contract in the states With your direction That is almost true because we signed up with Dieter Dirks because he had international connections and because he'd been Working with the scorpions for some some years at that point and they of course were the first band to break out of germany And that is correct. The only thing that's not correct. He was never our manager He was our production company. So he made the albums We made the albums for his company and he's he sold them to american labels. Basically, that's how it work. But yeah, this Yeah, so and another thing too, you know, one of the things i think accepts known for it It's even in the press release here other bands might need lots of pyro lights But accepts power comes from the three guitars the rhythm section the powerful vocals and going back to 84 again So Stephen says our stage shows also separate us from other bands. So many heavy metal bands are predictable on stage I think there must be an equal balance between the music and the show Otherwise things can get boring. I mean that's pretty consistent to what you're doing today. I would Yeah, I guess we always looked at the um How can I say this? Um I mean, we were always wanting to convince people with the core of the music and the The musicianship and the songwriting and not so much with all the the bullshit on the theatrics and the fireworks and the outrageous scandals and and like snorting ants and that sort of thing, you know what I mean? That has always been A different no ants snorting No ants snorting for a dragon No dragons. Yeah But speaking of that in this article as well Stephen pushes it. We said we're not a heavy metal band, you know people try to lump us in with Motorhead and Raven at that time 84 and he said, you know, we're much more melodic than that. So what you know, this goes back to a kind of a And Udo added that, uh, you know, we don't get into that satan aspect That's very popular a lot of heavy metal back bands back then But we had a little debate here with Todd Latori from uh, Queens right there. What for you is the definition of heavy metal? You know that statement from Udo. I remember the times when heavy metal was first Coined and people started calling us heavy metal. We were kind of Not sure what to think of it and it sounded almost like a negative thing to be honest It's almost like over simplifying because the only bands that really Said we are heavy metal that were made. That was maybe Motorhead and it may be surely Black Sabbath Aren't made it Yeah, yeah, probably but you know, we we saw ourselves more in the tradition of like I don't know a deep purple and bands like that That's those I mean matter of fact, we just played with Uriah heat and be purple two of my Really? Bands that we all listen to back then and we listen to a lot more melodic stuff so when the heavy metal sounded over simplified and and and initially we thought like I don't know man Are we have a metal but after a while we thought well, I guess yeah, we're quite heavy and Yeah, so I would say looking back We definitely were the heaviest band from Germany in those days and the first heavy metal band to come from Germany And by now, of course, we all take that title proudly, but initially we're a little bit reluctant No, I I get it. I get it It's like here's this new label that they're putting on everybody, right? And no one knows not to think of it Is it just Is it making fun of people or is it actually a good definition back then now right? Yeah, back then it almost sounded like I don't know. I mean heavy metal sounded headed sort of a negative ring to it. Yeah It's kind of hard hard. Yeah Because now it's that everybody's called everything is heavy metal now, you know And eventually people started bond bond jovie was heavy metal all of that's right. Yeah We can't we can't go there. We've had shows where we've said stuff like that and we got trashed on the internet Yeah, it's not heavy metal. Oh this leopard and all these bands. I know but and that's you know The the word heavy metal has evolved. It's changed over time. You know, I think that's what it is You know, you're so mainstream now. I mean, I mean Now especially here in europe my god, everybody's listening to rock and they go out to these metal festivals Bucking their 70,000 people 80,000 people and it's all metal metal metal. Everything's metal now Yeah, like you said mainstream But you're hearing ace of spades on all kinds of different soundtracks movie soundtracks and commercials Has anybody approached you for balls to the wall or any other? Of course I have and it's been used here and there but you know What is used for tell me the wrestler The wrestler for instance. Yeah, you got the movie the wrestler. You're saying movie the wrestler It's not really good for like commercials. I think have you ever been approached with a commercial? I don't know. Maybe some sort of fast as a shark They're gonna have you as fast as a shark for some commercial. I believe in sweden. I forget for something Vacuum cleaner No, I think it was some some gardening stuff or something And maybe the plants grow fast as a shark and I don't know what it was for but I think it was used there. Yeah What else you got in your book there? Oh, no, I just Like you just said you were watching urea heap and deep purple. So heavy metal fans. Yeah, or uh, you know Some of the most loyal. There's the proof. I mean these bands go back almost 50 years So but also I think we're some of the most fickle fans blood of the nations came out like we said in 2010 and Everybody was ecstatic that except was back and it was just I mean that album took off Globally and you know now now your x amount of albums down the road with too mean to die And you know, you always get the fans are oh, it sounds like except it's always the same Yeah, but the moment you change that's where you lose your fans as well. So I mean you're moving forward Do you see anything? What's the secret to keeping this success going is it releasing albums like acdc? Did maybe a little further apart doing tours like you said this is 10 years since your last tour doing those tours a little farther apart to keep it fresh No, I think as long as you like what you're doing and you're you're consistent in quality I think people will appreciate the albums and and come to the shows I don't think there's a secret ingredient in anything that we do it's just You know, we're trying not to write shit songs, basically You know You know, we have a certain pride in what we do and we like to put on good shows and I think lately, especially the band is on fire I mean, we now have three guitar players in the band, which we should mention which is something Our maiden april wine Uh, there's you know, it Molly hatchet Molly It just started because we did this orchestra tour that I was mentioning earlier And uva wasn't available for that tour and we found this guy field shouts in nashville because he was friends with our drummer Christopher long story blah blah and we really played this tour together so well That we thought You know, why not have him When uva comes back as well and so here we are three guitar players and I gotta tell you it's it's better than ever I would have never thought it's that much fun Because we can play all these I mean not all like we've got a bunch of overdub Parts and we can different voicings on guitars and I think it sounds killer everybody in the band is Is excited about it and and the audience as well. So I can't wait to bring that package to the us Just to add to that jeff, you know, this article concludes with steven saying We're very hopeful that our relationship with america will be a long and happy one In this band, we always try to take a positive attitude Oh, I thought alan I thought you're gonna say in that article wolf says I will never play with three guitarists But I mean that goes into you know What is your expectations for this upcoming us tour knowing that you've got this core audience of american followers That are diehard fans and will follow you anywhere I mean, I can't can't wait to actually Go to all these different places that we haven't been to in so long because we've done some us shows in the Yeah In the previous years, of course, we played here and there but not like, you know Coast to coast and all these shows So I can't wait to see fans that we haven't seen in in years And I know we're gonna deliver killer shows. So I don't think that that will be a problem so On a last note and to do with a gelling of the band, right? Yeah Is this gonna, you know, is this gonna be inspiring or has it been inspiring to write yet another album? Because I think we asked you in the last interview. Are you writing another album since you have all this time? Is gelling with the band three guitarists? Is it just inspiring you to write more music and and Getting more stuff down. Are you working on anything? It is very inspiring and I tell you what else is inspiring to be out on stage and to see the reaction of fans Because when you asked me was I created during this pandemic time? No, I wasn't I kind of fell into a slump I'm totally honest because I didn't know when life would resume And I didn't know when the tour would actually happen that we have planned and there were so many unknowns And so I didn't feel inspired at all But now that I'm back out on the road and we're on stage every night I'm fired up and I actually wrote a bunch of stuff already sitting in hotel rooms and such That's when I get creative. But when I'm just a fact that I have time alone Nah, not so much, you know, because I don't know I don't know time just flew by during this pandemic and I wasn't really creative at all I wish I would have been but you can't force it obviously No, I think we all got a little down and and we almost have to learn to relearn how to live almost it So like we're coming out of our cage, you know Definitely and that's the other thing. I mean during that time and it was a little scary there at times Especially in the beginning when we didn't know how bad it was going to be And all of a sudden you start to realize Well, man, you better live while you can and better don't take anything for granted and don't plan 20 years ahead Because you don't really know what's going to happen next and So live while you can and and and and cherish every moment that we're alive and healthy and When we can be on the road and do the things that we love But you know, you can't take anything for granted. So it's Yeah, it was kind of an eye-opening time. Wasn't it for all of us? Yeah, yeah Any chance of capturing this live us tour for a dvd or a live album? There's always a chance. There's always a chance No, it's you know, it's you know, it's it's about capturing the moment, right? You know, absolutely And we were definitely audio record always every show. So that's never that's always good. It's easy nowadays Thank goodness. Yeah, do you have a lot of soundboard stuff from back in the day too? That's in the archives. You well, not so much from back in the day because like back in the day would have meant a mobile track with 24 track and big tape machines and You know, $20,000 a day kind of thing But nowadays it's just a matter of having a laptop there and then good equipment on stage and you can record everything for Eternity it's a lot easier nowadays. So we record much more now Same with film by the way. I mean people film everything now with iPhones and there's all this footage out there Yeah, looking back 30 years 40 years ago. Nobody was allowed to bring anything into a concert Not even a photo, you know Not a long video. Nobody had a video camera And if you had one it was A big clunky thing and you couldn't bring it into a concert. So there isn't any footage of it And you should certainly know or hardly any like You know pirate footage from anybody It's a shame in a way Was there there was a documentary in the works at one time or another, correct? That uh, there was but even that we asked people to send in all the stuff that they might have had from all these Early years, but it turns out there really wasn't much. Oh my gosh Yeah, it's really sad because nowadays everything every second gets filmed, you know Nowadays we come off stage and it's already on youtube, you know, it's I really is It's just dangerous with the different times So is it is it you guys aren't going to continue that documentary that you're planning years ago now now It's been years that you've been talking about it, right? Yeah, I don't know where it stands I need to check but I think it came to a halt because there wasn't enough stuff That that we could find to turn it What maybe we've done some footage, but it was already released years ago Where we had some band footage live footage and stuff Forget, you know staying alive. I think it was called Yeah, that was a bunch of footage that we had recorded ourselves, but we wanted some fan footage But there really isn't much fan footage. Yeah, it's kind of disappointing in a way, right? None of this was going on Yeah, but people were sneaking in cameras. Don't don't don't be fooled a lot of people were sneaking in but again There's not a lot of it, right? No, there's not enough. No. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I think that's it My last question is that your personal philosophy you told us in our last interview is the best yet to come Absolutely is the best yet to come Nothing's changed. Okay, because you said you got down a little bit. I just want to make sure nothing's changed. You're still positive I'm still the the eternal positive person. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, especially now that things are back to normal You know, I just I didn't get down About you know life in general that was just a little down as a as a musician because You know, hell if you can't do what you're here to do and you can't perform live then that Pulls the rock out from Monday. You're in a way, you know, that's that's really that's why I wasn't all Fired up and ready to record a bunch of stuff But yeah, I'm the eternal optimist still Good. All right on that note. Wolf. It's always a pleasure. All right guys And we'll talk again and good luck on the tour. Thank you. Thank you guys. All right. Have a great day