Blind Guardian
Good Things Take Time

09.03.2015

Fans of Germany’s Blind Guardian are certainly among the most patient ones in the world. Over their nearly 30-year-long history the founders of fantasy metal taught their audience to wait 3-4 years to basically each of their studio records. However this is the case when patience and tranquility pay off nearly each time. The band's status as one of the most popular European heavy metal artists easily proves it. Work on Blind Guardian’s tenth full-length album "Beyond The Red Mirror", which was eventually released in January this year, set a new record for the band – it dragged on for almost five years. Nevertheless, rhythm guitarist Marcus Siepen gave us the most definitive answer to the question, "Why does each release from the band always take so long?" And of course he provided answers to a lot of other questions that accumulated over recent years.

What is happening at the moment in the Blind Guardian camp? Are you satisfied with the work done on the new record?

Yes, clear yes. We are perfectly happy with the album. It turned out exactly what we wanted it to be. I don’t know if we will change this opinion over the years, after some time it may seem that something should have been done differently, but now we are perfectly happy. Right now we actually are preparing for the upcoming tour, which will start in about six or seven weeks. Actually tomorrow we will do the first rehearsal. So far we decided to play about 39-40 songs on tour. Actually, most of that stuff is still old songs, and we are still deciding about the new songs. In the end I think there will be about 45 songs. As always we will change the setlist a bit every night, so it stays more interesting for us, because if you play the very same set for a leg or for a half of a year every night you are falling into a very boring routine, which would kill all these spontaneous things on stage. That’s why we prepare so many songs so that we can change the set a little bit every show.

Are there any songs that you have not performed live for a long time, but you would like to include in the new set?

(laughs) A very short, very clear answer – yes. There are a couple of songs that we never ever played before on stage. There are a couple of songs that we played very long ago. There is some pretty rare stuff that we want to play, aside from the new songs, obviously. I mean after all we want to present the new album to the people. So I think there will be about 4-5 new songs, we will see how it works during rehearsals. Obviously there are some songs that we have to play, because the people will kill us if we don’t. And there are some songs that we want to play, and we don’t care if people want to hear them. (everybody laughs) As I said, we have chosen some songs that we didn’t play for ages, some songs that we never ever played. I think it will be a very cool mix. Obviously, finding a right mix becomes more and more difficult, because whenever you put out a new album there are new songs that we want to be on the list, and the long list of the classic songs grows longer and longer. We either have to play longer concerts to fit more songs or we have to change the setlist. But the mix that we have now will make people pretty happy, I guess.

In your opinion, is there a principal musical difference between the new album and the previous one (“At The Edge Of Time”, 2010)?

Yes, there is, actually. Obviously we worked with a real orchestra again, which is something that we started on the previous album. And it’s something that we wanted to do continue exploring, because we enjoyed it a lot on the last one. The orchestration got bigger, more epic. I think four songs on the new album have these big orchestrations. We worked with huge choirs for the first time, actually there are three different choirs, because we wanted them to have a certain size that you just cannot achieve with only a limited amount of singers. Because obviously you can have them double the recordings over and over again, but at some point it will not sound bigger anymore, because after all it’s still the same couple of voices. That’s why we worked with several choirs. And the whole atmosphere is different, I would say. For example, something that we had a lot in the past, like those medieval and folk elements are not really present on this album. This album for me has a kind of… let’s call it a kind of futuristic soundtrack atmosphere, you know. Partly because of the orchestrations, partly because we worked a lot with sound effects, we worked with different guitar tunings, for the first time we worked with very low tunings. We also worked with 7-string guitars for the first time, which is pretty tricky if you used 6-string guitars for almost 40 years. You know, a 7-string guitar feels very weird at the beginning. (laughs) But it’s an interesting challenge. So, yeah, I think there’s a lot of difference. I think the whole atmosphere of the album in general is rather dark sounding, but what we did actually quite a lot of times is breaking things up. Most metal bands try to avoid major scales, because they think that is sounds too happy, it’s happy metal, whatever. But actually if you used them once in a while you have a chance to break things up very nicely, and after that go back to the dark fields again. After all major scales are 50% of the musical universe, so we should not ignore them that much. (laughs) We tried to play around with many things that we hadn’t done before, so I think, yeah, that’s quite some difference compare to the last couple of albums.

Tell me about the concept of the new album. The press-release says it is a straight sequel of the story that was told on “Imaginations from the Other Side” (1995).

Yes, the story started on “Imaginations…”. Actually it was told in the songs “Imaginations from the Other Side”, “Bright Eyes” and “And The Story Ends”. That story tells us about the kid living isolated in one world, and he has the opportunity go through a kind of portal into a different world and become a kind of chosen one in that world, trying to stop the eternal war that’s going on there. And actually at the end of “Imaginations…”, where that kid is at this gateway, ready to make that step or not, we never get to know if the kid took that step. And that’s actually where the story is picked up on the new album, it’s 20 years later now, so the kid is not a kid anymore, he’s grown up now. And we find out that back then the kid was too afraid to take that step. So he stayed in his world, which had kind of catastrophic effects of both worlds. The kid, now the grown-up, realizes this and repeats the journey to find the last gateway, the last portal, which is that red mirror, to finally make that transition into this other world and fulfill his role as being the chosen one. That’s the basic overview of the story.  

What is special in working with producer Charlie Bauerfeind? Why do you decide to work with him again and again?

Because it works perfectly well for us. We have known Charlie since 1997, I think, or 1996 when we worked for the first time with him. First of all, the chemistry is perfect, we are friends, his musical understanding is amazing, he knows exactly what we want to do with our songs, where we want to go, and he knows exactly how to help us to get there. It’s a kind of win-win situation. He knows how to push us beyond the limits and always make new boundaries, push us further away and take the next step. And we are just perfectly happy with the result, there’s no need to look for anybody else.

Do you get annoyed with the criticism of the old fans who say you have deviated too much from your speed metal roots?

Actually I don’t really care, because obviously if somebody comes to me and says: “I don’t like your new album, because of blah blah blah”, whatever… If you can base this opinion or your disliking of our new stuff, if you can base it on something, I can perfectly live with this. First of all, I don’t think that the speed metal roots are not there anymore. Actually there are some of the really fast songs on this new album, and there have also been on the previous album. If you are looking for speed metal, yes, you will find it there. The first single, “Twilight of the Gods”. is pretty fast…

“Ashes of Eternity”…

Yeah, that one. As well, “Sacred Mind” starts like a kind of semi-ballad, and after one minute it dives full ahead into madness and speed. So if you are looking for speed stuff, it is there. Obviously, it sounds different compare to the speed metal that we did on “Battalions Of Fear” (1988) or “Follow the Blind” (1989), but, you know, if we would still sound like “Follow the Blind” today, we would have broken up many years ago already, because it’s boring. I don’t play the same songs over and over again, because that’s not very fulfilling as a musician. The only thing I can say to those people – if you want to listen to stuff like “Follow the Blind”, well, put on “Follow the Blind”, listen to that album and enjoy it as much as you can. This record represents what Blind Guardian was like in 1989. I still love that album, it’s a cool album, but, you know, it’s not 1989 anymore. And I’m not 21 years old, I’m a bit older now, a different person. Even if I would try to, I wouldn’t sound like that anymore. And it’s the same for the others. We couldn’t sit down and write stuff like that. It would sound different, because the world has changed, we have changed, everything has changed. And, as I said above, I don’t really care, because if we try to please others we are bound to fail, because there’s a group of people that says, for example, “We prefer the old speed metal stuff, like ‘Follow the Blind’ and ‘Somewhere Far Beyond’ (1992)”. If we try to please those people, then we will piss off the other ones, who prefer “Nightfall In The Middle Earth” (1998), more epic stuff. And then if we try to please them, then we would piss off the guys that say, “My favorite album is “A Night at the Opera” (2002). So we don’t try to please anybody, but ourselves. It’s the only thing we can do, and it’s the only way the musician can be as good as he can possibly be. You can only follow your heart and do whatever you feel like doing at that moment. As soon as you start to please others you are bound to fail.That’s my opinion. If somebody wants to complain and says that there is no speed metal on the new album, that’s bullshit – there is. If somebody says, “I prefer the older stuff” – that’s a valid opinion, then listen to the older stuff. And everybody else should feel free to check out the new stuff. (laughs)

Tell me about working with Barend Corbois, the new bassist. How did he get a job with the band?

He got this job some years ago already. Oliver (Holzwarth) was a great guy on bass, but at some point his schedule with Rhapsody of Fire began to clash with our schedule too often. So we decided to part our ways consensually. Barend was recommended to us by Charlie, who worked with him before, I don’t know on what project, but he recommended him. So we met with him, and he is an amazing bass player and very friendly guy. He just lives around the corner, in the Netherlands, and it’s a half an hour away from where we live, so that’s perfect. He toured with us in… I think he started playing with us in late 2011, as far as I remember, if not – it was early 2012. He works perfectly fine. He’s is a great guy to work with. He is enjoying it, we are enjoying it. Everything’s fine.

You decided to expand your line-up and Barend became a full fifth-member of the band…

No. The line-up of Blind Guardian is still the same, four guys. But Barend is the permanent bass player, he is not a Blind Guardian member like me or Hansi (Kursch, vocals), Andre (Olbrich, guitar) and Fredrik (Emke, drums). He is the constant guest musician on bass.

It’s very interesting, because recently I read on the Internet that you decided to expand the main line-up for the first time.

No, it's not true.

Ok, thanks, you calmed me down. Some years ago it was announced that you are working on a biographical documentary called “A Traveler at the Edge of Time”. However, the film has never been released in full in any format. What happened to it? Is there a chance it will be available anywhere?

You know, we are working on a lot of things. We collect a lot of video stuff from the very early days from all kind of touring, from studio impressions, from backstage, wherever. I’m pretty sure it would be done one fine day, but the main principle of Blind Guardian is “a good thing takes time”. And we always take all time what we need. So I’m not even talking about any possible release date, because I have no idea when it will be done. I think it would be done one fine day, so be patient. One day you’ll see it.

Do you have any plans to release a kind of “The Forgotten Tales, Part 2”? Even if only in the EP format?

I can’t say there are concrete plans. People have been asking about this actually since we did the first “The Forgotten Tales” (1996). I can perfectly imagine we will do something like this again, but it should be something spontaneous again, in my opinion. Actually “The Forgotten Tales” is one of the most spontaneous things we ever did. I remember from the moment when we had the idea to do it until we finished recording, it was something like 6-7 weeks. It was very spontaneous, and I think it was a part of the magic that “The Forgotten Tales” has. So if we reach that point again that we say, “Hey, let’s do something like this again”; ideas and songs keep flowing out of us and things work like that again, I’m pretty sure we’ll do it. But it’s not something that we have on our schedule for next year of something like this. There are no concrete plans, but I’m pretty positive it will happen one day.

You have re-released your back catalogue on CD several times. And what about reissuing your early works on vinyl? Searching for original pressings is not an easy task for your fans.

Life is not easy. (laughs) Remastering definitely made sense for us, because when we started in the 80s there were no things like CDs. There were just vinyls, and whatever you did you did it for vinyl – the mix was made for vinyl, the mastering was made for vinyl. If you transfer something like this just straight to a CD. the sound is not optimal. By remastering you can make things much better. And all these vinyl releases… At some point vinyl almost disappeared, now it has a bit of comeback, many people are asking for vinyl, because they start collecting vinyl stuff again and listen to vinyl. I have to say I’m not really one of them, I don’t really care for vinyl. The only thing that I really like and I’ve actually missed since the good old days is the big cover artworks. But concerning listening to music I prefer CDs, because they are just more comfortable in my opinion. I put on the CD, press the “Start” button and can listen to everything without having to get up and turn the vinyl over. Or if I want to skip a song, I can just press the “Next” button. I don’t have to get up and lift the arm of the vinyl player. But a lot of people love vinyl, so they can have it.

I think the next question is the most asked one – what is the status of your orchestral album you have been working on for almost 15 years?

(laughs) I heard that question a couple of times over that last 15 years. But the good thing is that we’re coming to an end slowly. Most of the music is recorded. Hansi is yet to do some vocal sessions, which are supposed to happen sometime in touring breaks during this year. The basic idea is to finish everything and release it next year. So we are very very close to finishing this chapter finally.

Tell me about your participation in Sinbreed. How did you get in the band?

Actually Fredrik approach me about that. Fredrik is obviously the original Sinbreed drummer. We were on tour with Blind Guardian in… I think it was 2011, we were touring in South America. After that South America tour we had a touring break, and Fredrik told me that he had some shows scheduled with Sinbreed, and he asked me if I would like to play those shows with them, because back at the time they only had one guitar player Flo. A metal band on stage with only one guitar is always a bit limited, because when the guy is playing solo, all rhythm guitars are missing, and music has a lack of power in those parts. So he asked me if I could imagine playing those shows with them, it’s just about a couple of gigs. I liked the idea, I knew the album already and liked it a lot. They sent me the set-list for those shows, and I learned the set actually in a hotel room somewhere in South America on days off. We played those shows, actually we didn’t even have any rehearsals. There were plans to do a rehearsal, which I unfortunately had to cancel, because I was sick on that week. But I was well-prepared, we played those shows, and everything worked out fine. After that we played some more shows, and the guys asked me if I could imagine to be a permanent member. And yeah, I could, because the guys are great, the music is great, there is much fun. And Fredrik being the drummer in both bands meant anyway that Sinbreed could only be active while Blind Guardian is not on the road or in the studio. I knew that it wouldn’t clash with my schedule, since it’s the same as Fredrik’s. That’s how I joined the band.

Have you seen “The Hobbit” movie trilogy? Do you like it? What do you think about Peter Jackson’s story innovations?

I did not see it, and I did not see it on purpose, because I don’t like Peter Jackson’s innovations. When I read that he would do “The Hobbit” in the beginning, I was kind of excited, because I think “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is very good movies. But when I heard that he would do three movies of “The Hobbit”, I was like “fuck that crap”. You know, “The Hobbit” is a book for kids that is, I think, 280 pages long, and actually I can read the book three times in the time that I need to watch the movie. And then I read a long interview with him before he started shooting the movies when he told about all that he planned to do – inventing characters, blowing  up the story and blah blah blah… I lost my interest completely, because if I want to see “The Hobbit”, I want to see “The Hobbit”. Not 10 minutes of “The Hobbit” plus like 10 hours of Peter Jackson’s imagination. I have no intention at all to watch it, because I prefer to read the book.  

Do you like ice hockey? If yes, do you know anything about “Krefeld Penguine” team?

I like hockey, actually as a kid I played ice hockey on the lakes. With Blind Guardian on some tour, I think it was “Imaginations…” or “Nightfall…” tour, we played hockey in the venues all the time. We had in-line skaters, we had hockey stuff, and we used all the time before the soundcheck and after the soundcheck to play hockey in the venues and had a lot of fun. Actually my father used to play for… it was not called “Krefeld Pinguine” back then, but it was the original club, which was called “Krefeld Eislaf-Verein”. My father played for them in the 60s, when I was born. So yeah, there is a relation to that team. I have to say I don’t really follow that sport too much, but when I see an interesting game on TV, I might watch it. Hockey is a pretty nice sport to watch, because it’s very fast and aggressive. Generally I like hockey, yes.

In 2003 you had a two-day festival of your own. Do you have any plans to organize anything like that again?

I’m pretty sure we will do it again, but I don’t really know when.  I just know when it will not happen – this year and next year, because organizing the whole thing is a lot of work for us, and it just needs a lot of time to prepare everything. Of course we need to do something like this again, but there wouldn’t be time for this in the near future, because we hit the road in 6 weeks and we’ll be on tour until the end of next year, I think. So, no Blind Guardian festival in the near future, but we loved it back then and I’m pretty sure we will do it again.

What are your plans for the summer? I checked your touring schedule and did not find any summer festival appearances.

No, summer festivals won’t happen for us this year. Till the end of this year we will play only headlining shows and hit summer festivals next year. We always separate it like this. We will start touring, as I said, in six weeks, we’ll be in Europe for about 2.5 months. After that we’ll be at home for a week or something like that, and then we will go to Australia and Japan. After that we’ll come home again, and we might have a little break. It’s not officially confirmed yet, but that would be one of the opportunities for Hansi to finish recordings of the orchestral project. In September we will continue in South America, then in Central America and North America, then come back to Europe where we will be on the road, I guess, till the middle of December or something like that. Then we might have a break for Christmas and New Year, but next year we’ll hit the road again. (laughs)

You have been to Russia more than once. Have you changed your perception of our country after these visits?

I love your country. We played many shows there, we have friends there. Me and my wife were on vacations to Moscow two years ago. We spent two weeks in Moscow visiting friends. And we love Russia, it’s a great country. Moscow is one of my very favorite cities, it’s an amazing city where I can spend weeks just roaming around exploring the place, it’s great. Our new appearances in Russia are scheduled for May or June, I don’t remember exactly, we have too many dates. (Blind Guardian will do four shows in Russia from June 4 to 9 – ed.) So we are definitely looking forward to coming back.

Blind Guardian on the Internet: http://www.blind-guardian.com

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Mikhail “IronMike” Shatalin
February 18, 2015
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