Helloween
No Reason To Stop

05.08.2015

Their first self-titled EP came out as far back as 1985. This means that “The Great Pumpkin Story” has been going on for 30 years already. It’s more than some of their fans can remember. As any self-respecting band that’s been around for a couple of decades, the Germans have had quite a few ups and downs throughout their career, headlining huge festivals, releasing ultra successful albums and all of a sudden sinking into oblivion for years – to come back with flags flying. But we aren’t going to rake up the past here, all the more so because the band members are determined to meet the anniversary head on, releasing a new album called “My God-Given Right”. They are far from done yet, at least, their irreplaceable bassist and a true good-timer Markus Grosskopf has promised to stay around for at least ten more years. Still we go, as they say.

How are you? What are you being busy with?

Oh, I’m at home. We’re relaxing a little bit but next week we start rehearsing. Right now I do a lot of interviews; actually we all do a lot of promotion stuff. Some of us are travelling around visiting radio stations and all that; and some of us are at home doing interviews via phones and Skypes and all that. But after that we start to rehearse for two weeks, and then we are sliding into the festival season doing great shows at summertime under the blue sky. I kinda like that a lot.

One of them will take place in Moscow, so we are waiting for you in August.

Yeah, I know. This is Moscow, the 29th of August, right?

Yeah, you remember correctly!

I bear this in mind. Going for a little vodka. (both laughing) A great shot and a great show! (laughs)

Ok, it’s about two weeks till your new album will be released. Are you nervous a little bit?

I’m not really nervous. It’s always very interesting what the reactions will be because after working a lot of time on a record you would be very curious what it is gonna be like when it comes out. It’s always a very emotional moment. But I’m not really nervous.

Do you feel any extra responsibility because this is your anniversary year? Is this new album kind of important for you for that reason?

Yeah, but actually each and every album is important. The first one, the last one and also those in between. You can’t say this one is more important than the others because it’s always like a new start; you go out and play, you have your product and you try to make it as good as you can. You put a lot of energy and feelings, and emotions into it hoping people will like it.

How was the recording process this time?

Actually we started writing after the last tour and then we started going into the recording process. Whenever we thought we had enough material we hooked up together sending it back and forth via the Internet and deciding which songs we were gonna take for the album and then sliding into the studio process where we started with drums and the rhythm guitars. I put my bass on with the rhythm guitars already so I could control it a little better. I like that, you know.

What made you change the label and return to Nuclear Blast?

Sony was a great company and we didn’t have any big arguments or discussions or bad words or fights, it was just like the contract was over. The guys, Markus Staiger and Markus Wosgien, were always around us all those years, following us, following our career… So they were asking what we were gonna do after the contract ended. And we said, “We don’t know”. Then they made us an offer and we thought it was a good idea to come home after all this time.

Tell me please about the cover artwork. We heard different stories from Michael Weikath (guitarist) and Andi Deris (vocalist). Now I would like to hear your version of the story behind the cover.

Oh, it’s good that everybody has their own great ideas about the cover and the artwork connecting to the songs. It’s like the Freedom Statue… For me it’s about freedom and freedom for me is everything. It is connected to the God-given right to have as much freedom as you can get. It’s not like this all around the globe; we have to face it that in different countries there’s not as much freedom as in others. That’s what you’re finding out when you are travelling the world. It changes your view a little. This is what I connect with this kind of artwork.

As we can see on the cover, the world as we know it has ended and is now inhabited by pumpkins…

Yes, it’s a new start because some pumpkins are much nicer than some people. (both laughing)

Will the sound be the same with your previous album or did you change something?

I think the sound is a tiny little bit like it was in the 80s, but it’s still modern. That’s what I like about it. It has a little touch of the 80s but still is very modern and great sounding. It has a great attitude, the way it sounds I guess. A very warm atmosphere and a great listenable attitude, so to say. (laughs) We thought it was cool to go back into the 80s a little bit because that’s where we’re coming from. But apart from that there’s no such a big concept behind it. As we have a lot of songwriters in Helloween, different stuff will always come out. The most important thing is that the variety of the music, the variety of the art that we are doing is as big as it can get. We just take care that it’s gonna sound in line with the name of Helloween. That’s what I love.

There are many fans that don’t really like the sound of your past few albums. Are you personally content with the sound?

I don’t know. It’s just very hard to judge if you did it. You’re probably too close to it. But then, everybody has the God-given right to criticize it. (laughs) If they don’t really like it they can say it and I don’t have a problem with that. That’s all about it.

Is there any producer you would like to work with apart from Charlie Bauerfeind?

Hm, I don’t know. I can work any producer. It just needs to be a producer that knows us and accepts what we are doing.

Is Dani Löble (drummer) taking part in the songwriting process?

No, he was playing a hell of the drums and I think he’s got a lot of work doing this. (laughs)

This time Michael wrote more than two songs for the album. It’s the first time he does that since “Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy” (2005). What did you do to him to make him write more songs?

(laughs) I don’t know. We never do anything to people, they come up with ideas and if we like them we just take them. I don’t know, it’s just the way it was, we were not asking. If we have great material we just take it no matter who wrote it.

Which songs on the album are yours?

I have… Let me see… “Living On The Edge”. But I’ve got a couple more tracks coming out. We have several very different formats of the album with different artworks; we have picture disсs, we have digipacks, and all that. There are a lot of B-sides and bonus-tracks and there are a couple of tracks out of my feather.

Tell me please about “Living On The Edge”. What is it about?

It’s about a young guy who couldn’t find his way into society. He’s tired and starts to get criminal a little bit. And then suddenly he loses the way and, you know, it’s getting worse and worse, he gets more and more into the criminal world and can’t find his peace and can’t get out of that bad feelings and moves he makes. He’s having great difficulties with getting back to the – so to say – normal life. And so he gets stuck in that criminal kind of life.

Is it a real story or just a fantasy?

Well, I never lived that but I bet there are a lot of people… And I know a lot of young guys from my early days. They ended up like this.

For the past few albums you wrote very serious songs about the universe, destiny, suicide and all that. What happened to the guy who used to write songs like “Shit And Lobster” or “Ain’t Got Nothing Better”?

(laughs) It’ just like… Maybe in real life I’m a very positive guy because I think about all those things and in the end of the day I think like, “Ah, how can you change it? Maybe if you write a song about bad things you change them a little bit? Make it a little bit better.” Actually, I was asking myself the same question. Perhaps it’s like one and the other sides of a guy. Because if you know me as a… not always serious guy who loves having fun, telling stupid jokes (laughs), then it’s like the other side, ‘cause everybody has two sides, and I have the chance to live that side in my music maybe.

Do you really believe in destiny?

Well, yes. In a way, of course, there is something for everybody that you probably can’t really influence. Maybe there are some chances; maybe just a few but there are chances. But probably destiny is still there, maybe you don’t know of it, but if you knew it would be very, very boring.

You have always been known as “king of B-sides”. Then it changed somehow, your songs appeared on regular album editions, and the previous Helloween record (“Straight Out Of Hell”, 2013) was even named after one of your songs. When did this change happen?

Well, I have a lot of bonus tracks on the upcoming record. (both laughing) I started being a songwriter very, very late and it took quite a while to develop my songs. Before that I was only partying with the guys and kind of holding that kind of flag for Helloween. Rock’n’roll and all that, you know. (laughs) I’m still hanging around with people and having a laugh and a couple of drinks, but not all the time. I thought it might be cooler to sit down and, you know, do something music-wise. It’s a part of my life now and I don’t wanna miss it.

What was the inspiration for writing “World Of Fantasy”?

It’s my world of fantasy. Everybody kind of lives in a fantasy and dreams of something. Even if you’re not gonna fulfill all of them, but there are still dreams that can come true if you really try. It’s my kind of way. Or even if you’re just dreaming and nothing comes to reality, it’s just a good thing to do. At least it brings me to the position where I can write lyrics and a great song about it. (laughs)

Do you personally still have any dreams that haven’t come true yet?

I don’t know, my life is kind of fulfilled. Music-wise I would like to headline some festivals we haven’t headlined yet. You always can go a step further, you know. (laughs) Well… I have a boring dream like peace on Earth or something like that. It’s very freaky and it’s very 70s-like, but I think the world could be a much better place without any wars or weapons, nuclear ones and all those kinds of crap. It’s very old-fashioned but it’s still a dream. It’s what I sometimes sing about or write about. It’s hard to get this dream come true but as I said, how can you change it as a single person? But it makes my life easier if I think and write about it.

Which of the new songs are you going to play live?

Huh, it’s hard to say. We have a couple on the list – “Heroes”, “Lost In America”, “If God Likes Rock’n’Roll”… I can’t really tell, we don’t know. We have to start rehearsing in a week or two and then we’ll start deciding on the songs we're gonna take. There will be probably three or four of them because we have a lot of old songs to do as well. It’s always very complicated to decide if you have like 15 records. (laughs) There are songs we never really played, just recorded and never touched. We will see. We have to discuss that again.

Talking about the old songs, aren’t you tired of playing them?

No. It’s great, I kinda love it because people go crazy, and they have a great party. If they want to hear it, it’s something we do. Why not giving it to them? I’d rather play a song when people go crazy instead of forcing them to listen to something they kind of like but prefer to listen to some old stuff. I don’t have a problem with that. I did it and I’ll do it again. (laughs)

That happens to all the bands that are around for quite a long time. People seem to like the old stuff no matter how great the new albums are. Why do you think it happens?

I can imagine…To me personally music is something like a big emotional memory. When we started doing our very first record we all were very young, and a big emotional event was happening there... It’s probably like people are being reminded of the very best time in their life, of their youth. Some girlfriends they had, some big parties going on at that time, getting the first kid and whatever … And after that they go to work and they have to take care of the job and all that which isn’t as funny as hanging around drinking and partying and going to shows… I can imagine that this is what they have in mind, being reminded of the good old times when listening to the good old stuff. If I hear a certain song, no matter what song it is, I’ll be reminded of the time when it was playing all the time on the radio or something. Suddenly I have people in mind, I have situations in mind. It is very emotional, bringing you back to some times that were just good. I won’t say it is bad now, but maybe everybody likes to be reminded of their youth and good old times.

What about your touring plans? Are you going to take somebody with you? Gamma Ray maybe? Or Unisonic this time?

I think we did that twice. At first we’ll do only festivals this year and then we’ll do our own song in the beginning of next year. We don’t know who’s gonna be there for the support slot, but we’ll try to find some great band to make great parties with them, to take them on tour for the people to watch two great bands. But we haven’t decided yet.

There are fans on the internet saying that Unisonic nowadays is more Helloween than Helloween itself. What do you think about that?

I don’t know that much about Unisonic. I know a couple of songs but not enough to say whether they are more Helloween than Helloween is. And after all it’s not a competition, Helloween is Helloween. That’s it for me.

Why don’t you take part in Avantasia projects anymore?

I don’t know. Nobody really asked me to play or anything, so… I’m not calling them and asking if I can do the next one. It needs to be the other way around, you know. (laughs) If they want me to play bass or something they need to ask me. If nobody is asking I’m not gonna knock the door asking to play some stuff. Which is ok, I guess in the studio Tobi (Sammet) plays his bass on his own, right? Which is cool. If he likes to do that, fine. I think he has a lot of fun playing bass guitar rather than only sing. I think playing a bass guitar is a very, very relaxing great job (laughs)

Yeah, bass players are usually underestimated…

Well, it’s a great part of a band and sometimes you cannot hear the bass, you can more feel it. You would probably hear it when it’s not there. (laughs) But it’s a job and each and every song needs a bass line, needs some bottom and that’s it. I kind of love playing that because it’s like the pulse and the heartbeat together with the drums. The guitars can be on top of it and do whatever they like but I really started off playing bass guitar. I wasn’t a guitar player that then became a bass player because the band needed one. I was in love with it and I still am.

Did you have an idol when you started playing music?

Yeah, I started playing bass with Sex Pistols and Ramones and all that kind of punk stuff. Although Sid Vicious wasn’t such a great bass player, he couldn’t really play bass at all, but I liked Sex Pistols very much, and Ramones and all that. But then I became a big fan of Kiss where Gene Simmons was doing some great lines, I was playing to that kind of stuff. And later on I became a big fan of Rush and there I found out that bass can do so much more than just a couple of notes. Or Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, I like those people a lot. But it’s also depending on a song, you cannot always fill around if the song doesn’t need it. You have to do what the song is actually asking for, even if you sometimes would like to play more. Listen to AC/DC, it wouldn’t really work with a filling bass guitar. And it’s a big part of their music. You have to learn it. If a song needs something more it would be telling you. I love all kinds of music, I’m a big AC/DC fan, but I also love Rush, it’s a totally different stuff but they both work very, very well in their own directions. And Judas Priest! Ian Hill is doing a fantastic job in Judas Priest, doing the basic bottom end. I kind of love that, too.

Whom do you consider to be the best bass player ever?

Oh, that is a kind of question that is hard to answer but still in everybody’s heads there are different ideas. To me it’s definitely John Entwistle, because I’m a big The Who fan and he did a kind of revolution in what you can do with a bass guitar in a rock song. That’s what I love and still listening to. And he also had a kind of mean dirty natural type of sound, that’s what I really love about it.

Have you ever asked anyone for an autograph?

Yeah, I guess Jimmy Bain once when we were playing and he was standing there in the corner. We were supporting Ronnie James Dio, I guess. I found that very cool.

You used to have a lot of different side projects, Bassinvaders for example. Is there anything like that going on?

Hehe, it takes a lot of time! Doing it once is very interesting but if you think of doing it again, it takes one year of your life and now you cannot do it in between Helloween activities. It’s very, very hard. I’m not 20 anymore. (laughs) I’m not gonna come home from a big tour and just start working on another project. Your head is not ready for it. You have to be fully ready for one thing. And this is Helloween at the moment. It’s always fun to do different stuff from time to time but it needs to be the right time actually.

So you don’t have any side projects at the time, do you?

I play in an acoustic band with my wife. She sings and with a couple of friends we play here and there. We cover some old rock’n’roll stuff, like old evergreen stuff. That’s what I’m doing at home. Not a big thing, just to play with people, just to keep your fingers warm. It’s like playing with an acoustic bass, playing in little bars, playing for free beers and all that, it’s kinda nice. There’s nothing you bring out, but just for the fan of it.

Do you have any special plans for celebrating the 30th anniversary of Helloween?

There is a plan but I can’t tell you what it is. All the surprise would be gone.

Ok, we’ll wait. Is it difficult for you to keep it fresh after 30 years on stage?

When you start writing, it’s like, “Oh, what do I write now?” When you sit in front of a paper with a guitar trying to write something, and you haven’t got any note, just some melody lines, it’s very, very hard to get into it. But once you find a way to get into it, the ideas are coming. It’s just like the beginning, and in three quarters of the year it’s supposed to be a great album coming out. You have this big, huge mountain to climb. (laughs) But once you’re in the middle it’s just smoothly running.

Can you see any reason for not going on for let’s say next ten years?

(laughs) No, there is no reason to stop. Well, who knows? You can end up in a car accident or crap like that but I just don’t wanna think about it. I wanna think we’ll go ahead with playing music, touring and making records. I think the God gave me the privilege to do songs and put it out to people who like it and be able to go out and play for them. I would never complain about my life. If I do a lightning should immediately strike me. (laughs)

What is the main thing that has changed during these 30 years?

The main thing? I guess the music and playing around, it was changing me a lot. Because I was always around and travelling the world, and that makes your view a lot wider than just staying in one city and just having one point of view. Travelling around the world always gets you new view and changes your ideas a lot.

Ok, you travelled all around the world. So, which country has the best beer?

(laughs) It’s Germany. (both laughing) Yeah, because we have this… what you call Reinheitsgebot (German law regulating beer production – ed.), you only need water and hop and malt and no more artificial ingredients. But it still gives me headache after drinking too much. (laughs) Actually I like German beer the most. There are a couple of different beers, but I still like to go back to Germany for getting a good draft beer.

Have you ever been to the top of Teide? I mean the volcano on the Island of Tenerife.

Of course! You can see us performing on Teide on that “I Can” video. It was made on the top of Teide mountain. Then a policeman came and told us we didn’t have right to do this and we kind of ended the video. But we had all the scenes already on the tape. (laughs)

Have you ever thought about moving there, just like Andi and Michael have already done?

No. I have been there a lot of times and I still go there for recordings and I kind of like it there, working there and hanging out there… But I’m kind of this person who likes to be at home. I have my friends and my family here in Hamburg. I need a place to come back and feel well in my own environment. To go out to the bars where people say, “Hi, Markus, have you come back already?” And then sharing a beer and having a nice talk… That’s what I like. Coming back home, I need that. And that’s Hamburg for me. Not a big thing, just what everybody does. But I feel so well living in Hamburg and always coming back there.

Helloween on the Internet: http://www.helloween.org

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

Ekaterina Akopova
May 12, 2015
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