DESTRUCTION Planning 25th Anniversary Documentary

Lucem Fero recently published an exclusive interview with DESTRUCTION/HEADHUNTER frontman Schmier, conducted by Welsh interviewer Anthony Morgan prior to DESTRUCTION's November UK tour. Topics of discussion included the reformation of HEADHUNTER, HEADHUNTER's upcoming album, the music style of HEADHUNTER and DESTRUCTION's 25th anniversary plans. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

On resurrecting HEADHUNTER:

"Yeah, it's always been in demand. I was very busy with DESTRUCTION over the last few years, but people always kept asking about HEADHUNTER. Over the last few years, I've had plenty of ideas and riffs. They possibly wouldn't have fit in DESTRUCTION, and that's because they were more traditionally metal somewhat. On the outset, DESTRUCTION was very very busy touring and releasing albums. Since we had a little bit more space this year, I considered at least re-releasing the HEADHUNTER albums for the first time. Many people have always been asking for their re-release in the last seven or eight years, and it's almost been a pain in the ass question; 'When will the HEADHUNTER albums get re-released?' They haven't been released anywhere in the world except for Germany, neighbouring countries and Japan. I was surprised about that, and so there was some major discussion as to why it all started first of all. Right now, it feels good. To me, it's a nice, extra opportunity, outside of DESTRUCTION, to do something that also deals with music."

On the reactions of guitarist Uwe "Schmuddel" Hoffmann (ex-TALON) and drummer Jörg Michael (STRATOVARIUS, ex-RAGE / SAXON / AXEL RUDI PELL / MEKONG DELTA) when he suggested to reform the group:

"It came up when I remastered the tracks, and that's as I had to listen to the songs over and over. I almost forgot how many great songs were on those albums. Also, I forgot how many nice anthems there were and how the style of HEADHUNTER was different. You can call it power metal, but it's not even power metal. It's between all the genres; it's nice, and it's no-one's style. When I did the remasters, I realised this again. I wrote a song for a friend of mine, and that's because it was his birthday. His biggest wish was to have a song written about his work, so I wrote him a song. It's called 'Silver Skull', and that's the name of his place. It's more in the traditional style of HEADHUNTER. When he and others heard the song, they were all freaking out. They all said 'Oh my god, this is way different than DESTRUCTION,' and commented that it's so much more catchy and traditional than DESTRUCTION's music. The song is so good that it just gave me the kick up the ass to say; 'Man, you're writing songs like this? So why don't you form HEADHUNTER again? With DESTRUCTION, you can't do it.' That gave me the chance to call the guys again, and say; 'Hey, what's up? I've got plenty of riffs, and they're fucking getting dusty here. Why don't we sit together, and talk?' The most funny thing was when I contacted Jörg Michael, the drummer of STRATOVARIUS. I wrote him an email saying; 'Are you busy? I understand if you can't do HEADHUNTER, and I know that I can't give you the money that you need for HEADHUNTER. Think about playing on the album, or we'll hire another guy.' He wrote back one sentence, and that was; 'Any other other guy that plays with HEADHUNTER is a dead guy.' I felt OK about his reply, and Jörg's attitude was the right attitude. We don't need people that are thinking about making money from HEADHUNTER. HEADHUNTER is about playing together, and playing the right music. It's a good laugh, and that's why it was so easy to get the band together again. It's been some years, but they were some fun years. It's great to see the band again, and we got nothing to lose."

On HEADHUNTER's upcoming album:

"We're working on the album right now, and we would love to release the album straight away. I hope it's going to happen in 2008, and we'll see how special it's going to be. We're feeling so good now that we're going to be able at least to bring out the album during spring next year. At least in the beginning of 2008, we can play some festivals with HEADHUNTER. That would be really great.

"Spoiling surprises is somewhat boring, though we're trying to keep it the way it is. The next album is definitely going to be heavier, and a little harder, than the 'Rebirth' album. We'll be retaining the whole melodic lead guitar in the songs, and the whole catchiness of the chorus. It's just going to possibly be a little more up to date than 'Rebirth' was, an album we wrote in 1993. It's definitely going to be a mixture of 'Parody Of Life' (1990),which was more rough, and 'Rebirth', which was more melodic. It's going to keep the balance between those two albums, but with an up to date production that is still old school. Of course, there's going to be some funny parts. HEADHUNTER has to be funny, and that's as we like to enjoy ourselves in the studio. Of course, there'll be some funny intros. We're going to bring the stringed HEADHUNTER back on the cover, which was on the first one."

On DESTRUCTION's 2007 Wacken Open Air appearance:

"Yeah. It's going to be released on a live DVD next year."

On DESTRUCTION's 25th anniversary plans:

"We're going to issue a whole DVD next year, and that'll be for DESTRUCTION's twenty-fifth anniversary. It's going to be a huge release. I'm working with the label right now, and trying to arrange it so that there's some special bonus material on our next album. There's possibly going to be some Wacken tracks as a special bonus, and some other bonus tracks on the next album as a twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of sorts. I want to get in touch with all the old DESTRUCTION members though, and have them talk about their time with DESTRUCTION. It'll be a massive documentary about DESTRUCTION, and that documentary will be included on the twenty-fifth anniversary album's bonus DVD. Of course, all that will include some Wacken tracks. The full length DVD will be out towards the end of next year. The documentary is definitely going to include the contributions of all the ex-members, and so on.

"It's going to be a nice track for the twenty-fifth anniversary album's bonus DVD. We'll talk about how everything started, and our original drummer will be involved in that. We'll then talk about the split with all the people involved, and it's definitely going to be a great look back. It's different though, and that's as we hadn't spoken to those people for many years. It's nice that we're all friends again, and that we can still talk about this. Also, it's nice we can show it to the fans. It'll be a real documentary, and will include all the actual people involved at the time. That part will be included on the twenty-fifth anniversary album's bonus DVD — it comes out on August 27th I think."

Read the entire interview at www.lucemfero.com.