 Jimmy K here, Metal Voice. Look at this. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice. Today on the show, we got two. Colin, who do we got today? Two for the price of one. Two Dirk Snyders. Two Dirk Snyders. Oh, Sven and... Yeah, here we go. Yeah. So, lots of exciting stuff going on in your UDO world. Yes, exactly. So, it's July 17th, the new album We Are One, which is... Wow, it's orchestrated. I hear bagpipes. I hear choirs. Tell us about the concept of orchestra and the concept of the story, please. Oh, okay. We're trying to start. I mean, first of all, this is a thing. We did two shows with the orchestra already, one in Wacken, it was 2015, right? And then it was only 75 minutes, but the reaction was already amazing. So, and also the sound on stage, you know, with the orchestra, it was like something, you know, it was... But the whole feeling, the energy was very loud. I mean, they're louder than us. So, but anyway. Yeah, and then we did another show in 2018. But that was two and a half hours long. So, that was like... I also tried to explain this a little bit, you know, there was like maybe 40% of metal audience and the rest was the audience for the brass orchestra. So, and then this is also not a joke. I mean, there was like older people like me. But, and they were really standing up and clapping and singing, you know. And I think these people, they don't have anything to do with this kind of music, with metal. So, and about after this concert, and yeah, we were sitting together having beer, wine, whatever. And we were talking about why we have to continue. And maybe, maybe then the idea was born to make an album together, you know. But making an album together can be very easy. Take the best songs of UDO and put an orchestra on it. No, wrong. And then we said, no, if we want to do this, we create new songs, we write new songs, especially also already thinking that has to be together with the orchestra. Yeah, and then we start watching songs. And yeah, we had a meeting then with them. There should be these two guys there doing the arrangements for the orchestra. They were selecting the 30 songs in a way. And then they said, yeah, this fit, this fit and this not. And then here we go. We start working on everything. And then we gave them, yeah, let's say the demo stuff. It was not really perfect. No, it was basic ideas. And then they had already, you know, a plan of what could go in this direction and this direction. And then there were songs where we thought, hey, should we really give it to them? Like we strike back, could be a bit fast for an orchestra. And then one of the guys who does the arrangements, Guido Renard, he was listening to that. And I think it wasn't Berlin when we played them the ideas. He was like, that's my song. I want to do that. I need to do that. That's great. And total fans of, you know, like this double bass playing fast guitar stuff, twin solos and stuff like that. So they were, yeah, burning for songs like that. And everything continued from there. Then we had several more meetings, sending files back and forth. And they showed us their ideas of how they arranged the orchestra. And I think we were really surprised when the first arrangement came. It was like, wow, they hit, it was right on the point. And that was definitely, yes, it worked. So, but anyway, also, there are a lot of rock and roll and heavy metal. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's, of course, something. This is the armed, armed forces orchestra, right? Yes. Yeah. Ah, that explains it. Very interesting. Yeah. And then so in a way that took, sir, it took a year, nearly a year before everything was done, you know? So there was a lot of work. I can just add to that. I love Navy Metal Knight, your previous albums with the orchestra, because you can tell that it was, the orchestra added, it wasn't a compliment to existing songs. And I'm listening to this album too. I mean, I can't stop listening to this album. It's amazing because it's a joint effort. A lot of times when you see metal bands with an orchestra, it's kind of background. This is in Tegel. It's together. Yeah. That was definitely also the whole thing, you know? Yeah, that was our mission, you know, to get this. And, you know, that was, yeah, when we sat down in Ellsberg in Germany after this concert, we said, hey, imagine if we would start writing songs, especially written for this kind of music. You know, you put your influences in there and we put our roots in there and then we just get a big ball of power, you know? And that's what came out. Yeah. Everybody is super happy with the result. But Peter Baltas, but Peter Baltas as well. I mean, can you explain the connection there? Peter, Peter, Peter Baltas. Oh, yeah. Let's just try to make a joke. No way. Yeah. I mean, I thought I was mispronouncing his name there for a sec. Go ahead. This was not planned. I mean, let's say Stephen Kaufman was planned from the beginning on. He was helping us out on the last concert on the guitar. And then that was definitely when he was sitting also with us together. And then we were talking about that people maybe want to do an album. And he said, oh, I want to be the sound engineer. I have some ideas. You know, he was also really for him before that was the best concert in his life. You know, really, oh, that's really old, old, old Stephen Kaufman. And he was like, wow, this is something, you know? Yeah. And then I said, okay, no problem. I mean, I never had any problems with Stephen Kaufman. So, yeah. And then one day I was in Germany. He said, yeah, you have to do some demo vocals in the studio. And yeah, then I said, okay, I'll come then. And then I came into the studio, but he didn't tell me that before. And Peter Wojtos was saying there. Surprise. A surprise. What a surprise. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, Peter was there. He was doing some stuff with Stephen about his projects. I mean, Peter, after he left except he, I don't know, he's doing so many things. Yeah. And then he said he was talking, of course, a lot of things. But this is a different story. And yeah, and yeah. And Peter said, yeah, you're doing a very interesting project. I heard something of this. I have also some ideas. If you don't mind, I said, hey, Peter, no problem. I mean, we never had a problem. I never had a problem with Peter. And yeah. And then they came up, Stephen and Peter, they came up with really good ideas. So, you know, I'm not the guy to say, no, nobody can come up with some ideas. I mean, for this project was most important thing that we have really, really good stuff. You know, and that for me, it doesn't matter who was writing the songs or whatever. That was the most important thing. I mean, of course, with Peter and Stephen, it's not so far away from me. It's like, yeah, it was not so far away from everything. So, yeah. And then, yeah, so that was the thing or the story where Peter was enjoying the whole thing, you know. So, and he was really happy to do something like this. And also, Stephen, I think, is also really happy. Yeah. Stephen did a great job. I mean, he was mixing in the end. I don't want to do this. You know, it was like, no, it's too much. And yeah. So, and yeah, and then we had enough songs and then the whole thing starts. Well, Mission Accomplished Guy, because the sound is unbelievable. The songs are unbelievable. Who's the female singer that is doing such a great job on this album? She was doing already, I don't know, 40 shows with the orchestra. She was singing there. And yeah, and then my wish was to have a, I want to do it. And then, yeah, Guido. I think Guido was the guy who was one of the guys who writes the arrangements. He was calling us and saying, hey, I got an idea. I know Manuela Markowitz. That's her name. And she lives in Hamburg, Germany. And yeah, as my dad said, she's their live voice basically for some songs, not for all the songs, but she comes up on stage for some songs here and there. And he said, maybe you want to have a listen to her voice. Maybe that fits to the sort of songs we have. And we got some demos from her. And yeah, we were blown away by her voice. She's such a great singer and I think she will have a great career. And yeah, she was enjoying the project and yeah, was really, really good to work with her. And also one song was written for her and the orchestra is Blindfold. She did this alone. So that means, you know, the whole thing is not only UDO and the orchestra is like a more project. You know, also the orchestra has three instrumental songs on this album. Of course, there's some guitar playing, also some drums, whatever. But you know, the whole thing is like, for example, it starts with the song Pandemonium with vocals, really heavy stuff. And it ends up also heavy, but without singing. Yeah, we also do a little bit of rapping. A little bit of rapping, I noticed on chat. What is it, on we, here we go again, a little bit of UDO rap. Oh, yeah, but that was like when I did the demo vocals. My son was calling me and said, are you sure you want to do this? In the beginning it was more rap, you know. Don't ask me why. I mean, it was just coming, you know. I was, I was singing through to the demo. And it's the song is from the new guitar player, by the way, Fabian Dahmer, or called D Dahmer, whatever. And yeah, and that was like, yes, that's good. Then it was quite funny because I think you did the first demo and we had that. But then there was something where I said, we need to re-record that, but you were in Ibiza, I believe. And then our producer called me and said, hey, do you have the chance to go into the studio and do some demo vocals? And I said, of course, I'm not far away from Stefan, so I could drive there easily. So he's have the full song and demo vocals. And yeah, I did that. I drove home and a couple of days later, our producer called me and said, so you know, you're going to do this song together with your dad now. And I said, no. So yeah, we ended up doing a vocal duet on this song. And I think it's very, very interesting. And I was like, yeah, you're sure you want to do that? Yeah, but you know, it's like, it's like a test. It's like a test for me, you know, when I stop. You have a new career. You have a new career going. And then he's switching over from the drum to the vocal. That's all I have to say. No, let's see. Yeah, you never say never. You guys, guys, what about metal heart? Okay, you're playing metal heart or you were supposed to play metal heart. You know, it's an entirety, right? At the festivals. Is that going to still happen? Yeah, yeah, no. I mean, a vacuum is not happening. You see nothing is happening this year. And so we are definitely already confirmed for next year on vacuum on 2021 with the orchestra. We will see if we do it. We have to do it at 30, 36, 36 years of metal heart. Yeah, so it doesn't matter. Minus a year. Well, maybe you guys could get the the armed forces orchestra and perform at a drive-in or something like Doros doing. And a few others. That's a bit weird. You know, the stage would be there would need to be very big. So we could fit 85 people on a stage and that would be something interesting. You know, I mean, we were think we have lots of offers, you know, at the moment to do these drive-in concerts, but we are spread out over Europe. You know, we come from three different countries and there's like, you know, we can't travel and we can't even come together to practice or whatever. You know, we haven't played together until December, which I think wouldn't be the problem. But anyway, you know, they just can't leave their country and it's tough. You know, and also it's impossible about this whole thing to put in orchestra. You cannot put to orchestra always like two meters in between. I mean, they are even more fucked with this whole situation because we are not even allowed to practice because as he said, you know, you need to sit away and there's like from a tuba, there's all this spit coming out, you know, and they're not allowed to do it. What's your opinion on drive-ins? Just as Udo, just as the band, would you do it? Of course, we would like to do it. I think it's a funny experience. I think it's a bit awkward to see the people flashing their lights, you know, putting on their horns, but this could also be great feedback, you know, and from what I saw, most of the people are sitting out of the windows anyway or maybe even in front of the car. And then there were, I saw one German band, they made them do a circle pit with cars, which is also totally awesome, you know, so I would love to see that. But as I said, you know, we have a bass player coming from Slovenia and our guitarist is living in Ukraine and especially Ukraine, he could leave the country, I think, but the question is, can he enter again? You know, so therefore it's just impossible. I think it would be a cool once in a lifetime event. But to be honest, I'm not very keen. You know, it's the same playing in front of a camera. It's like, you know, but we did something creative. We are working on a new Udo record. So use the time. Now we have, we are not with pressure. Now we can really slow working on a new album and also good. Do something. Everybody is in the same boat. There's a lot of people, they're dying to get back out on the road, but it's just not happening and they're taking a time, like you said, to make sure the albums come out there perfect. Yeah, but I mean, you know, for us, it's not so funny. You know, our South American tour is now also 2021. America and Canada, but we were planned for middle of November, December, New York Christmas next year. Hopefully Russia, Russia, big European tour with hell. Hell, you know, oh boy. So everything, it's a shame, but there's nothing you can do. And it's going to be interesting anyway. You know, everybody wants to go out next year. So I think there's also like, you know, fighting for dates, you know, next year is going to be overbooked because all the bands want to go out on the same time. I think also about this thing, we will see which clubs and stuff like that. That's also a big problem. Yeah, yeah. What about the other thing? What about opening up for, David Reese opened up for you on a few dates for a lot of dates. What about bringing that to North America? That'd be very cool. Bringing Reese and UDO to America. Yeah, we are up for it. I don't have a problem. I mean, I'm really good friends with David, you know. We had a lot of fun on this tour. So, I mean, yeah, it was very interesting and yeah, a nice tour. A nice tour, yeah, very, very nice. Very good guy to talk to and good guy to spend time with. And yeah, that would be fun. Why not? Yeah, throw it in there. Nope. You guys are more accept than accept. That's what I think. Okay. No comment. No comment. Hopefully all the fans are saving their money because like you said, when it hits and the floodgates are open, it will be inundated with lots and lots of choices. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's gonna be very, very interesting times next year. Who's gonna, yeah, you know, even smaller bands, you know, who's gonna survive this time? That's also a big question. And same with small venues. And if the smaller bands don't have the opportunity to book a small venue, you know, it's all, it's all colliding. So that's very, very tough and yeah, exciting times. No, no, did you miss, did you miss, were you happy being with Peter again? Did you miss him for all these years that you haven't been with him? I mean, it was a lot of fun, you know, to talk to him. And I mean, I never had any problems with Peter, you know. I mean, it was like, we saw it just yesterday, you know, after 15 years. I saw him after 15 years the first time and then also talking to him after 15 years. Yeah, I mean, but Peter in the band or what you said, to be the bass player in UDO? I mean, you know, would be cool to play with him once. That's for sure. You know, I would enjoy it as he's an amazing bassist. But yeah. Yeah, but he's doing so many projects. He's so busy. Yeah, he's really busy. And we were not really talking about this, you know. I said, hey, maybe that will be great. I have you now at the bass player, bass player at UDO. Yeah. So he's not in the band. He's not in the band. He's just a songwriter. Leave it like it is. Yeah, no, I mean, if you do some stuff and maybe ask me to sing a song on his album or whatever he's doing, I think I heard he's doing a solo album. No problem. But to play in the band together again. It would be strange as well as we formed a very strong five-band piece, you know, a five-piece band out of the way around. And this is a very strong team, you know, and everybody is getting along very well. So that would be a bit strange to, you know, not just say, hey, but Peter's playing now because he's Peter, you know. Yeah, for sure. You would rip apart something we build up, you know, and as you might know, we were looking for the right people for, you know, some time now. And now it works perfectly and everybody is playing, yeah, doing amazing jobs. You know, everybody is so good on their instruments and we just formed a good band. And that would be strange. Yeah, that's, you know what, that's pretty much it. I mean, is there anything else you guys like to add in regards to what you're doing? I mean, check out the We Are One album, which is coming out on July 17. Yes, definitely. Yeah, we are looking forward to your reactions. We can't wait to put it out and check it out online. Alan? I just want to say this album is unbelievable. It's already my favorite from this year. We do a top 10 list at the end of the year. So I'm anxious to see where it's going to place, but it's going to be very hard to beat because of like you said, the strong songwriting, the great production, there's a lot going on. There's bagpipes even. Hey, what more do you want? Right? Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. It was a pleasure to speak to you.