About the new album, gigs in Bulgaria, MUSE being the best band in the world and many more...

'7 Sinners' - the new studio album by German power metallers will be released end of October.

HELLOWEEN will be playing in Sofia, Bulgaria in January 2011. More than just one reasons to talk to theirВ guitarist and founding memberВ Michael Weikath.В 

An interview conducted by Vassil VarbanovВ & Nasso Ruskov

HEY MICHAEL, HELLO! HOW ARE YOU?
Heeeey, hello. I just woke up a few hours ago.

OH REALLY?
Yes, I went to bed at 10:15 my time and then...I couldn't sleep before and I thought that later on my first interview is at 2 in the afternoon, so I put the alarm for three and a half hours and I think I slept only three. So we're now here being manic and this is the rock'n'roll/heavy metal bad life haha.

OK, TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR FORTHCOMING NEW ALBUM. WHAT ARE YOU UP TO AT THE STUDIO IN TENERIFE NOW THAT THE ALBUM'S FINISHED?
Well, I don't know, Andy has a project going on in the studio. I haven't talked to him, but I heard he has something else, another production going on with a local band. Actually I don't know about that, so let's take a different subject because if I don't know something so well I tend to say a lot of crap and we don't want that.

A LOT IS GOING ON WITH THE GERMAN METAL SCENE AT THE MOMENT. THE SCORPIONS FOR EXAMPLE - HAS THE THOUGHT OF ANNOUNCING A FAREWELL TOUR AND CALLING IT A DAY EVER CROSSED YOUR MINDS TOO?
We will not be doing a final tour yet and we'll probably have to go on. The Scorpions have existed since 67-68' while we still have some time ahead of us.

Due to the bad record contracts we used to have in the past we didn't get paid enough, so we still have to work for our retirement. We're not rich enough yet, we don't have Rolls Royces, we don't have castles yet, we still have to fight for our lives every day, so we have to go on because there's not a lot of other things we can do apart from music.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ACCEPT'S NEW LINE-UP AND THEIR LATEST STUDIO EFFORT?
Who's singing on that?

AN AMERICAN GUY - MARK TORNILLO.
Where do I know that name from? I've heard it before...Do you know what band he used to sing in?

LET ME THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND. ANYWAY, DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO THE ALBUM?
I checked the previews on ITunes and then I had a few problems hearing everything because sometimes it has to buffer. But, yes, it was kind of interesting, that's actually what they want to do right now.

I haven't made my mind up about it yet, but basically it's a much talked about thing. They have to go on and do something if they want to and then it will have a certain effect - we'll just have to wait and see what it's going to be.

I didn't think it was bad and the singer actually reminded me a lot of Graham Bonnet in a way. If somebody told me it was Graham Bonnet singing there, I would have believed them. That's no bad thing and he certainly does his job well.

If the fans cry for Udo Dirkschneider, that's a different thing, but let's see. I still have to listen to the full album - as I said, I had difficulty buffering on ITunes and I haven't heard the final result of everything, but I most certainly will.

I downloaded the last Scorpions album on ITunes and I will download the Accept album. I also downloaded the recent Kylie Minogue album - it's a good disco album.

I'VE NOW REMEMBERED THAT MARK TORNILLO USED TO SING FOR A NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY OUTFIT CALLED TT QUICK...
Ah, yes, yes, yes. Somebody told me - exactly. I have their first CD. There were a few tracks on there that I really liked. I think he's a good choice and that band - TT Quick, was interesting enough.В 

THE '7 SINNERS' ALBUM IS HELLOWEEN'S 13TH ALBUM. ANY FATALISM WITH THE NUMBER 13 ON YOUR PART?
Oh, we didn't think of that. We really didn't. We're not aware that it's album No13.

WHICH SONG WILL BE THE FIRST SINGLE?
'Are You Metal?'. With a true metal album out, regardless that it's on Sony Records, we decided we were not going out with some commercial track. We thought that 'ARE YOUR METAL?' is very catchy, it's not forgettable.

We have other tracks like 'Raise the Noise' or 'Who is Mr. Madman?' which you can maybe forget, but 'ARE YOUR METAL?' - you don't forget that one! So that was one of the main reasons we decided on it and also because it's got a hook.

THE SONG WAS WRITTEN BY ANDI DERRIS, WHO'S BEEN IN THE BAND FOR YEARS NOW. DO YOU DISCUSS HELLOWEEN'S HISTORY FROM BEFORE HE WAS IN THE BAND?
Yes, we were on the phone many times, hundreds of times bwefore he joined. Actually when I met the Pink Cream 69 guys, I had the demo of the stuff they did before their first record.

There were so many tracks that I really liked and I asked the guy who gave me the demo: "Who writes these songs and melodies?" Because I wanted to know and I wanted to meet that guy.

Eventually they would arrive in Hamburg, at the train station, and when they arrived for the first or second time, I was there to just say "hello" to them, because I really liked their stuff. And that's how we got to know each other.

We exchanged phone numbers and started talking a lot. I liked his style of singing, which by that time was very high and very rough, which is what I sometimes missed in Helloween. The rough singing, if you want to do a particular rock'n'roll track, or whatever, where shouting is needed.

I thought he was doing that, in particular, better than Michael Kiske - that shouting thing. He's also a great songwriter and I was more than impressed with the type of melodies he came up with at the time. I listened to their demos all the time because I was really impressed and manic about it.В 

AS FAR AS I CAN RECALL YOU GUYS USED TO WORK WITH THE SAME MANAGEMENT COMPANY AS IRON MAIDEN....
Yes we did, but Iron Maiden themselves weren't big time idols for us. Me and Kai Hansen, we were born around 1962-63' and we grew up with a lot of influences.

Naturally, we knew Iron Maiden, but as for me, when I heard them for the first time, I was really angry, because they did the things that I had in mind, or that we had in mind and wanted to do.

When I heard their second album - 'Killers' - for the first time, I thought: "Fuck, this is what I wanted to do and someone's already done it!" Then they did 'The Number of the Beast' and I took that record to my band, the one I was in before Helloween, and I said: "Look, for 3/4ths of the year we have to be able to do something as impressive as this and if it doesn't work out, we'll have to end the band and do something different."

That's when Kai Hansen played in my band for about two weeks, but we got a lot of criticism from the others, who didn't want to do it, so then we quit that band and created HELLOWEEN. We were thinking more along the lines of Rainbow, Deep Purple, Accept - even more extreme, fast and heavy than Accept. That was one of our main intentions.

And to have something of the huge impact that bands like Manowar or Dio, as a singer, would create. We wanted something like that with our band. We didn't really care much about Iron Maiden, even though we liked the music, we were aware that we had to come up with something different.

The comparisons are because of the twin-vocals, but our idols for twin-vocals were Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy and the Scorpions, also Accept and Judas Priest. I mean, Iron Maiden was there, but it wasn't like: "Oooh, this has got to sound like Iron Maiden and we're so influenced by them."

After all, we had our own bands for eight years before all that. We were doing separate things until Helloween, we did semi-professional music for eight years.

YOU GUYS ARE COMING OVER HERE FOR...WELL, I'VE LOST COUNT OF THE NUMBER OF TIMES NOW...
I think it's five times. About 5-6 times, I don't know...

I'M CONFUSED TOO...IS IT FIVE OR SIX TIMES NOW?
I'm not sure. Because there was that other festival we did, with Twisted Sister, so that kind of confuses me.

JANUARY 23RD, 2011, HELLOWEEN WITH STRATOVARIUS AT THE 'HRISTO BOTEV HALL'...
Yes, you've just said it. It's a package, with Stratovarius as special guests. Naturally we have a new setlist, which so far contains five tracks from the new record, as well as a few other things. Also some little interludes, instrumental stuff, drum solo and whatever, plus a few tracks we've never played live and some that we did in the past that came out quite well.

We have a new setlist and we'll have to check if it comes across well. Our management will also think of something optical, I just don't know what it's going to be yet.

ARE YOU GONNA SPILL THE BEANS ON WHICH FIVE NEW TRACKS YOU'LL BE PLAYING?
No.

'ARE YOU METAL?'
That one for sure. But the setlist will be online after the first show and if it remains the same, then everybody will know it by the time we get to Sofia.

LAST TIME WE TALKED TO YOU WAS EARLY 2007 AND WE TALKED ABOUT CANDICE NIGHT SINGING ON 2005'S 'KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS: THE LEGACY', AT WHICH POINT YOU MENTIONED YOU WERE TERRIBLE ON ACOUSTIC GUITAR...
Yes, I am.

WELL, OK...HA HA. ANYWAY, DO YOU HAVE ANY PEOPLE GUESTING ON THE NEW ALBUM, OR IS IT JUST THE FIVE OF YOU?
It's just the five of us. Also that flute player who did the solo on 'Raise the Noise.' I still have no info on him. I asked for info on that guy and I've seen his Myspace page while in the studio.

I haven't talked to our producer Charlie since, but I'd still like to know the name of that guy, cause he did a great job. Then we have Matthias Ulmer, who's responsible for the keyboard and arrangement work. He also contributed things on 'Gambling with the Devil' and he did all the classical arrangements and all other arrangements on 'Unarmed'.

That guy is a genius on the keyboards and he features on the new album a lot more than before - we had him do all the keyboard parts, because he's just so good.

HERE WE MUST APOLOGIZE FOR MAKING YOU LISTEN TO OUR BULGARIAN TRANSLATIONS, INTERSPERSED WITH STABS OF ENGLISH CONVERSATION...BUT SINCE WE ARE LIVE ON THE RADIO...

No, I enjoy it quite a lot. The problem is that I have no hints. If it was Romanian, I would understand a little, because I did Latin at school and Spanish. But I'm lost with Bulgarian, it's Slavic I think...

I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT KNOW THE WORD 'RAKIA' - IT'S THE NAME OF A LOCAL DRINK.
I thought it was a phone company.

NO, NOT 'NOKIA' - RAKIA! ANYWAY, THERE'S FIVE OF YOU IN THE BAND, YET THE ALBUM'S TITLE IS '7 SINNERS'. SO...WHO ARE THE OTHER TWO THEN?
The other two would be the Pumpkin guy and the Keeper. You can also see them in the artwork when it comes out, it's going to be a cruel and mean artwork that you can possibly show to your parents, if you're underage.

We just wanted to do it a little bit over-the-top - brutal, really mean and very negative, but also tongue-in-cheek. I don't know if it comes across like that, but we just wanted to be ultra-heavy this time round.

I just hope that people get the humour, because the pictures are looking really really cruel.

AS A GUITARIST YOURSELF, WHAT'S YOUR OPINION OF THE NEW OZZY OSBOURNE STUFF, WITH THE NEW GUITARIST WHO STEPPED INTO ZAKK WYLDE'S SHOES?
Well, it was common knowledge already when I was told about it and I was a little bit surprised, as I was told about Gus G like it was a secret thing, I was told not to tell anyone about it.

For him, it's a special position. It remains to be seen how he deals with it. Coming from Greece, I think for him it's some kind of dream come true or at least some kind of honour. Because all the guitarists in Ozzy have been very special.

THERE AREN'T THAT MANY. ONE IS DEAD. THERE'S JAKE E. LEE, ZAKK WYLDE...
There you go. And this is like the continuation. I'm pretty curious about how he evolves in that whole thing, how he presents himself as the Ozzy guitarist, whether there will be a change or whether he'll stick to what he usually does, or if there will be some kind of transformation, or if he picks up things from his predecessors. That would be interesting to see, because I haven't heard any of the material.

WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE OZZY GUITARIST?
That has to be the first one. I really like the other guys too.

DO YOU MEAN RANDY RHOADS OR TONY IOMMI?
No, the Ozzy one. I like Tony Iommi for other things. In a way, he's a remarkable guy, he knows his stuff. If you look at 'Heaven and Hell', it's like perfection. There's something about somebody with rubber fingers able to play a guitar able to do this.

But then, naturally, I mean Randy Rhoads, one of the reasons I got myself a white Les Paul is him...and the guy in the Sex Pistols. It's great to have a white Les Paul, so I had to get one anyway, but Randy Rhoads was just someone extra special.

The guys after him are also real good. So with Gus G it remains to be seen what he will put into place from his position and understanding of rock guitar. Let's give him a chance and see what's going on.В 

YOU GUYS WERE ON SPV, WHICH WENT BUST FOR A WHILE. NOW YOU'RE ON SONY....WHAT ABOUT THE BRITISH CONNECTION ON SPV - YOU WERE ON THAT LABEL WITH BANDS LIKE MOTORHEAD AND HEAVEN AND HELL (WITH TONY IOMMI)...
There's always been that British connection, also with bands like Saxon...

SAXON ARE ACTUALLY OFTEN LABELLED AS THE "MOST GERMAN-SOUNDING BRITISH BAND"...
Yes, that's true. But also Dragonforce, because they play so fast that the singer doesn't have time to express himself in British, so he sounds German ha ha hah.

THE THING IS, YOU GUYS ARE REALEASING YOUR NEW ALBUM VIA SONY, BUT I CAN SEE THAT SPV ARE STILL ALIVE...
Yes, it's a strange situation. For the time being, SPV was being taken over, some very complicated process. I can't tell you exactly what's going on, because it has legal implications. There are things I cannot know because nobody told me, I just know that it's really really complicated.

SPV was at one point helped by some institutions, so that it could carry on, which is what is happening and is to be wished for, because it played a very important role. But due to the worldwide recession something went wrong that was unforseeable. Naturally we don't want SPV to vanish. I really don't know.

We ended up with Sony Records though. It's interesting, if it works out it can be very good, because a big powerhouse like Sony, one of the biggest labels in the world, it could be good if it works out. But every country has its own Sony division and they all have to decide for themselves if they want to promote us or not.

So this can be a very good thing for us and make us really famous, or we'll just stay where we are and we'll have the EMI effect, when EMI said: "Oh sorry, the record sales are not as good as we expected and so let's maybe part."

WHAT BAND WOULD YOU GUYS LIKE TO PLAY WITH THAT YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY? HAS TO BE AN ACTIVE BAND THOUGH.
Well, I imagine I could do some noise with Muse, with Matt. That "dirty" guitar stuff he does sometimes reminds me of my first band where I was the only guitarist and we had nothing else but a bass player, a singer and drummer. We didn't have a keyboard player yet. So I was looking to make as much noise as possible.

What Matt does reminds me of it a lot. Naturally he comes from a different point, but I love that band, the songwriting and, as you know, sometimes he does the same melodies as I do, or I do the same melodies as him, even though I think he has a much higher foundation in classical music, he's certainly a more gifted guy - he can sing, compose, keep up the band, do the keyboards etc. He's a genius in his own way.В 

DO YOU KNOW THEM PERSONALLY?
No and I've never seen them live, but I have all their material and have been following them ever since they started. I craved for them to be famous as they are now, where they are and where they have to stay, because I don't want anyone else to cover that spot.

Also, being a bit pretentious, I'd like to do something with Jeff Lynne, like an interesting single or whatever, but it's pretentious because I'm just a lousy acoustic guitarist and I play heavy metal guitar in Helloween. I may be a good composer for heavy metal and maybe I have my moments, but that's just the music I love - what the Muse guys and Jeff Lynne and the Beatles did. Actually I wouldn't like to work with those people, I'd rather be in a studio with them and watch how they work, then have a good time and a drink with them.В 

FUNNY THING IS, WE'RE HERE WITH MY MATE NASSO AND WHEN HE HEARD WE'D BE DOING AN INTERVIEW HE SAID: "OH, GOOD, IT'S NOT WITH MARKUS, WHO ONCE, IN AN INTERVIEW SLAGGED OFF MY FAVOURITE BAND - ADAM AND THE ANTS!"
Oh really? But they are a crap band, aren't they, hahahaha! I always thought that Markus secretly had posters of Adam and the Ants in his room, but just didn't want to admit it.

I really liked Frankie Goes to Hollywood, when the singer was still alive. I didn't like the singer, but I liked the music.

HE'S ACTUALLY STILL ALIVE.
Really?

YES, HE'S GOT HIV, BUT HE'S STILL ALIVE.
Is that true? Somebody told me he'd died. Ok then. I don't doubt it, it's just a typical kind of disinformation you get when you don't pay attention. I was always wondering why Robert Palmer doesn't do a new record...apparently he's dead.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR CHRISTMAS THEN, JUST BEFORE THE BULGARIAN SHOW?
I think we have a break, we'll be at home. I, personally, will listen to one track from Rob Halford's Christmas album - 'O Come All Ye Faithful', because it's a nice track. I used to go to church as a small boy and liked that one a lot and Halford did it for his Christmas album.

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