"I don't have any regrets on my decision to leave Helloween, and I'm really happy with Gamma Ray."

November 19, 2007 shall witness the European release of the ninth full-length studio album by Germany's heavy metal masters Gamma Ray, "Land of the Free II". A day earlier Kai Hansen and his current band, together with his former colleagues Helloween, shall play live together in Sofia, Bulgaria as part of the Hellish Rock Tour. These two facts offered us more than a decent reason to get in touch with Herr Hansen and ask him a few questions...

Vassil Varbanov: Hello Kai, how are you?

Kai Hansen: I'm pretty fine, getting ready for the tour.

V. V.: On November 18 you're going to play your third show in Bulgaria, but only the first one in our capital Sofia. What do you expect?

K. H.: We're pretty excited for the whole tour, as we feel it's gonna be something very special for us and for the fans as well. As you said, it's the first time we'll visit your capital, so that's also something special for us. We're curious how the fans will be.

V. V.: You're touring with Helloween now. Are you guys going to party together after the shows or you're gonna stay strictly professional?

K. H.: Absolutely - we'll get for some drinks, sitting around and having a good time together. I guess we'll not be that separated, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

V. V.: Let's now focus on your ninth full-length studio album, "Land of the Free II". To what extent does it differ from the previous ones, and to what extent does it keep the basics of Gamma Ray?

K. H.: For ourselves it's always very hard to describe our own work, but we have a feeling this album is kind of special. It's some sort of a summary of our experience during the last ten years, but of course it's something very fresh again. There was a very enthusiastic atmosphere throughout the entire recording process, and I think the direction we took marked that this album will be special in a way. We all wanted to have this positive output, because that's how we feel at the moment. Some people say that "Land of the Free II" is like a summary of the strongest parts of Gamma Ray, reaching from "Heading for Tomorrow" (1990) until "Majestic" (2005). I can agree to that.

V. V.: The bigger part of the 12 songs on the CD were written solely by you, Kai, and your drummer Dan Zimmermann and bass player Dirk Schlaechter have one each...

K. H.: There's some misinformation. Our guitarist Henjo Richter wrote two songs as well - "Rain" and "Hear Me Calling". It seems that on every album I'm the most productive one, and I'm always the first one to start with the songwriting, but all the others come up with a lot of ideas, too. It's not like a generalhood - everybody is allowed and free to come up with tons of ideas, and then we just sort them out. In the end we go to the rehearsal room and play every song - no matter who wrote it - and we all add to it our ideas and decide for the final arrangements, so it's some kind of a team work.

V. V.: You know, there are still a lot of people regretting that you left Helloween, although it happened almost two decades ago. Do you personally regret it sometimes?

K. H.: Well, my past is still with me, of course, and it was a very good time, but when I left the band things were not good anymore. It's a sad thing that it was like that, but it was the right decision to leave, because the situation could not be changed at that moment. Today things look different, but back then I felt like this. Maybe you need some time to see the difference... but I don't have any regrets on having done this move, and I'm really happy with Gamma Ray.

V. V.: Did the other guys in Helloween approach you through the years to get back?

K. H.: No. There were never talks about anything like this kind of typical reunion stuff. We're two completely separate bands and everybody knows that.

V. V.: I see, but in some sense this Hellish Rock '07-'08 Tour is some sort of a reunion, as Helloween and Gamma Ray will share the same stage.

K. H.: I think it's a very successful package and, of course, these two bands are historically connected. We had some chances to play together on festivals, we even did some jam sessions, and we always agreed that it would be great to have Gamma Ray and Helloween going on tour together. Now are release plans were pretty much the same time wise, therefore it was just a matter of a few phone calls to get this done. We're very happy to reach this kind of status and relationship, so of course we couldn't miss the chance to tour together and do some jams as well. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

V. V.: Is there anything you'd like to add?

K. H.: I hope everybody will enjoy the new Gamma Ray album as much as we do. I think we've done the right things so far. I expect to see a lot of crazy Bulgarian fans on our show with Helloween in Sofia!

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock