BLIND GUARDIAN Frontman: 'We Still Consider Ourselves A Power Metal Or A Speed Metal Band'

Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with BLIND GUARDIAN frontman Hansi Kürsch. Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: What prompted the group to release the "Fly" single so far in advance?

Hansi: "Basically, the album had been scheduled for release in April or May of 2006. But after we finished the mixing of the single, I got ill and we had to postpone the album release. After speaking to the record company, we decided to stick with the release date, but use it for the single. It wasn't a marketing thing or anything like that. It was just a logical way for us to keep the date that we had set up and give people what they had probably expected from the album."

Blasting-Zone.com: How is your health now? Have you fully recovered?

Hansi: "Yeah, I just had the whole winter sinus and ear infection thing. It was nothing serious, but you have to stop singing. I continued for a while, but I just kept getting weaker and weaker so we just stopped the production for the Christmas season. We lost four weeks and the deadline for the album delivery was crossed, so we just gave up the idea of releasing the album in May. …On the other hand, being that it seems that we need four years for each album at the moment, we also thought it would make sense to inform the audience…to give them at least a little bit."

Blasting-Zone.com: What can you tell us about the new record?

Hansi: "I think it's a very nice balance of the elements of old BLIND GUARDIAN and new elements that you probably would not expect to hear on a BLIND GUARDIAN album. It still contains the development and it goes the same direction as 'A Night At The Opera', but on the other hand, it's more defined than 'A Night At The Opera'. I would say it's more comprehensible for the listener."

Blasting-Zone.com: What separates the old elements from the new?

Hansi: "The old elements can be clearly defined as power metal or speed metal. The new elements…they have the same power and the same intensity, but they contain a more rock-ish attitude or a more modern attitude in terms of using different grooves that you would not normally hear on a BLIND GUARDIAN album or any power metal album. The sound is also more modernized and that separates us a little from the other power metal bands that are more based on '80s and '90s stuff. We also include '70s stuff as well as relatively modern stuff as well, so some of the stuff has a very small metal touch as well."

Blasting-Zone.com: Overall, how have your fans reacted to the changes? Do you feel it's been more positive than negative?

Hansi: "It has been very positive. Of course, you may loose a few fans anytime you come up with something new, but since we always try to develop and progress our style, it's one of the risks that we take. There's hardly anything that you can do about it. For every old fan that we've lost, for which I apologize for, of course, we've won new fans that really appreciate what we are doing nowadays. You cannot please everyone. That's how we look at it. When we create new songs…they come from our inner selves. You try not to do too much thinking when songwriting so what comes out is natural."

Blasting-Zone.com: I would imagine it's hard to try and please everyone at the same time…

Hansi: "If you stick to your guns, you will be crucified, and if you do something new, you will be crucified as well. As an artist, you will always be crucified. It is impossible to do the same album twice in the same quality, ya know? Even if you try to copy yourself, you lose a little bit of the spirit. If we tried to make an album like 'Imaginations' again, it would turn out to be a disaster. At first, some people would enjoy it, but the majority of the people would start to think, 'Oh, what's this? We've had this before…' We do not go that direction. It's absolutely not our way. But at the same time, we do not want to deny the old qualities and roots that we've had because they are a very essential part of our music. As much as it is possible, we'd like to keep them in. We still consider ourselves a power metal or a speed metal band."

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com.