About the band's first 'Best of' album and the BEST albums of 2011...

The German bards will release their first 'Best of...' album in JanurayВ 2012.

It is called'Memories Of A Time To Come' and is the best possible way to celebrate the 25th anniversary ofВ BLIND GUARDIAN.

And also a good reason for us to talk to the vocalist.

an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

HEY HANSIE, HELLO, HOW ARE YOU?
I’m fine, how are you?

HOW ARE YOU GUYS PLANNING TO SPEND THIS HOLIDAY CHRISTMAS PERIOD THIS YEAR, WORKING OR WITH YOUR FAMILIES?
Definitely with our families! It’s the most important season of the whole year and my wife would give me a very hard time if I weren’t around.

Last year, we got back from our North American tour on 24 December around 10 pm and I was in big trouble then, so will try to avoid it this year.

ALRIGHT, BUT WE ARE HERE TO TALK MAINLY ABOUT THIS FORTHCOMING COMPILATION OF YOURS, ‘MEMORIES OF A TIME TO COME’… PLEASE, TELL US – WHAT IS THE NEW THING HERE? COMPLIATION ALBUMS AND COLLECTIONS AND ‘BEST OF…’ ALBUMS HAVE GROWN A LITTLE JADED, SO, WHAT IS THE SPECIAL THING ABOUT THIS ONE?
Well, basically, the special thing is of course the BLIND GUARDIAN music. But in general we treated it like a regular studio album which means we did a remix for all the old stuff and we did some re-recordings of some other classic material.
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We did a version of 'And Then There Was Silence' which is a fourteen minute song which we did completely new. As well as we did a new version of 'Valhalla' with KAI HANSEN and some other amazing stuff, so all in all, if you listen to the album it will be like a rollercoaster ride throughout our whole career with a new sound experience.В В 

RECORDING NEW VERSIONS OF THESE PARTICULAR TWO SONGS, DOES IT MEAN THAT YOU’VE BEEN LIVING THROUGH THE YEARS WITH THE BITTER FEELING THAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE BETTER? THAT SOMETHING WAS MISSING ON THE ORIGINAL VERSIONS, OR THERE IS ANOTHER REASON?
The simple reason is, we liked these songs and we had the feeling we could just try out and see where we would end up ten, twenty years later.

It was obvious for us that we would work on a song like 'And Then There Was Silence' again, because ever since we have recorded this one, there was so much more to say about this one or in this particular tune. With the others it was more a sort of taking back some nostalgic feelings.

NOSTALGIC ABOUT THE TIMES YOU WERE STILL HAVING THE LONG HAIR…
Ha ha ha, yeah, and didn’t have that belly.

YOU SAID YOUR APPROACH HERE WAS LIKE YOU WERE DOING A REGULAR STUDIO ALBUM, SO DOES IT MEAN IT WOULD CAUSE A BIGGER DELAY BEFORE RELEASING YOUR REAL NEXT STUDIO ALBUM?
No, it doesn’t mean anything. We were asked to do such an album two or three years ago and we kept it on hold as long as we felt “Well, this is about the right time. It won’t keep us away from anything else.” So, we did this one in between touring and doing songwriting or the new album.

Therefore, we keep our regular period of releasing albums, I would say. The next one will be released in 2013 or at the very latest in 2014. This is just something in between and it brought back great memories to us. I hope it will bring back great memories to the other people. Well, it was more of a fun project than anything else.

ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR NEW ELEMENTS YOU WOULD INCLUDE IN YOUR LIVE SHOWS REGARDING THIS NEW RELEASE?
We certainly will do so. Our intention for the next shows will certainly be to pay tribute and give justice to this album but all in all, if we talk about a ‘Best of’ album, it is obvious that, I would say that 70 to 75 percent of the songs are considered to be live classics anyway, so they have been on the setlist for many years.

They of course will be featured in a very special way, but we will certainly keep our focus also on the ones which my surprise people, like ‘Follow The Blind’ for example or 'Somewhere Far Beyond' which he have not played so often.

I WAS BASICALLY THINKING NOT OF THE SETLIST BUT MAINLY OF YOUR STAGE CLOTHES AND APPEARANCE…WOULD YOU GO WITH A FAKE LONG HAIR ON STAGE?
Ha ha ha, I would shave it completely and might go on stage naked, ha ha ha.

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR, PLEASE TELL US, WHAT HAS BEEN THE STUDIO ALBUM RELEASED IN 2011 THAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST, WHATEVER MUSIC IT IS – ROCK, METAL, JAZZ, WHATEVER?
That’s either '50 Words for Snow' by KATE BUSH or 'Night of Hunters' by TORI AMOS or ‘Dystopia’ by ICED EARTH. These were the three albums impressing me the most this year.

ALRIGHT, LAST QUESTION IS – WHAT IS THE THING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE THE MOST TO GET AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT?
Time! Precious time, as much as possible!

WELL, YOU WON’T GET IT…
Ha ha ha, that’s too bad. Well, in that case a wand, that will make me a magician.

I WISH YOU A GREAT CHRISTMAS WITH YOUR FAMILY AND A VERY SUCCESFULL 2012, WHETER THEY SAY IT’S GOING TO BE THE LAST ONE FOR THE HUMAN SPECIES…
The good thing is we will find out, thank you.

rights Tangra Mega Rock