EDGUY Frontman Talks About Upcoming Album, AVANTASIA DVD

German melodic metallers EDGUY recently entered Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany to begin recording the follow-up to 2006's "Rocket Ride". Entitled "Tinnitus Sanctus", the new CD is being produced by Sascha Paeth and is scheduled to be released in November 2008.

EDGUYfrontman Tobias Sammet has answered a few questions for the band's official web site regarding the group's forthcoming CD and the recently completed tour from Sammet's solo project AVANTASIA. The question-and-answer session is available in its entirety below.

Q: Tobias, how do you look back on the Avantasia tour and especially the memorable Wacken show in front of 80.000 people?

Tobias: The whole tour was a great success. We were the first ones to fly an all-star project like this around the world. Wacken was an experience I'd never had before. Of course, we had played to 30,000 people before; EDGUY have played stadiums with IRON MAIDEN or the SCORPIONS, we have toured with AEROSMITH and even on our own tours we played huge crowds here and there but Wacken was beyond your imagination. I stood there and estimated 80,000 family members seemed to tie a bond between them and me. Usually I talk a lot and I joke around but when I was on stage and looked into this ocean of hands in the air I felt something special between the audience and me, and I was almost starting to cry. It was magic and in that moment I felt blessed I am. I know I sound a bit wimpy but I don't fucking care, sometimes you should stop pretending to be a hero and just be thankful for how great life is. And thank the people who made it possible!

Q: There are rumors that there will be an AVANTASIA DVD...

Tobias: Absolutely true. We've had a camera team following us around the world, there will be an extended road documentary movie and we have shot some concerts, Masters Of Rock and Wacken as well. I have seen some scenes already. I got goosebumps all over my body, 80,000 people going crazy. Nobody has ever sent a project like that around the world and we've had cameras following us literally 24 hours a day. We will give fans a very intimate view behind the scenes. It will take some time until it gets released but I swear it will be the kind of DVD you have never ever seen before.

Q: Now you're working on a new EDGUY album "Tinnitus Sanctus" already. Isn't that quite a bit of stress?

Tobias: If it was stress, I wouldn't do it. I played 14 shows in half a year, I finished the latest AVANTASIA album almost one year ago already, I think it's no big deal to write ten songs in twelve months if you don't have a regular job. I don't do drugs, I get high on writing great songs that make my flesh crawl. It's no stress, it's a blessing.

Q: You mentioned that you won't go back to the roots. How would you describe the new material then?

Tobias: We don't go back to the roots. We never denied who we are and where we come from, so I don't see a reason to go back to wherever. I go straight forward and follow my heart as I've always done, "Tinnitus Sanctus" is exactly the music we wanna play, we are happy and I don't give a fuck if it's gonna be our biggest-selling album or not. It's so great, even if my career would go down the drain and this would be the last album, I'd be more than happy to be remembered as the guy who recorded "Tinnitus Sanctus". I'd rather ruin my carreer with a creative killer album like that than trying to play safe with a boring stereotype power metal stinker constructed on a drawing table. We have a couple of song titles such as "Dragonfly", "Dead Or Rock", "Wake Up Dreaming Black" or "Sex Fire Religion". And we'll shoot a video for a very heavy midtempo anthem by the name of "Ministry Of Saints". And there'll be a bonus track called "Aren't You A Little Pervert Too?" which is quite nasty.

Q: But not long ago you said the album won't turn out as goofy as "Rocket Ride"?

Tobias: I don't think "Rocket Ride" was totally goofy, but maybe it was too obvious that we wanted to show the world that we're ready to disregard conventions. "Tinnitus Sanctus" is a serious album, only with a subtle scent of humor here and there. It's not like "Rocket Ride", it's got bigger balls! "Little Pervert" is just a song about several ways of interaction, a game for one to seven players, haha. Incest is a game the whole family can play, haha. Seriously, the key message is that no matter what you are during the day time, when the lights go down we are all dirty little animals! It's not about me personally, it's pretty funny. Metal and humor go well together, otherwise why would old men go on stage in loincloths and warpaint pretending to be Conan the Barbarian? That's tongue-in-cheek and that's cool and I love people who don't take themselves too serious. I feel a little bit like God, he doesn't take himself as half as seriously as his fans do, that's what those two clowns, god and me, have got in common. Have you ever seen an aardvark? Check it out and then tell me, do you really believe God has no sense of humor?

Q: And when is the album due to be released?

Tobias: The album is gonna be released November 16th, as we wanted to focus on the album, we don't release a single or EP in advance. The album is all that counts. We'll release the video online in October, instead of a regular single. The stuff is so fucking cool, it's better promotion than a regular single, wait and you'll be knocked off your feet!

For a list of upcoming EDGUY shows, go to this location.

Video footage of AVANTASIA's June 10, 2008 performance at DK Gorbunova in Moscow, Russia can be viewed below.