HELLOWEEN Guitarist: 'Everything That We Do Comes Naturally'

Get Ready To Rock! recently conducted an interview with HELLOWEEN guitarist Michael Weikath. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Get Ready To Rock!: Were there any ideas left from your previous album that were included in "Dancing With The Devil" or did you start working from scratch with only fresh new ideas?

Michael: Yes, we more or less do that, seeing as there are always a vast amount of ideas left over when we record an album, but also lots of other good stuff ended up being released either as bonus or B-side tracks to our singles. If you want to call Markus the "King of the B-sides," you can, seeing as he indeed is. There were a few ideas also left from these recording sessions, but it is questionable whether they will be included on any future HELLOWEEN releases, because the fact that they failed to make it on this album probably means that they will never become good enough to be included in any HELLOWEEN record. They only thing we could do is restructure a few of them, but we normally like coming out with fresh ideas for our albums, rather than working on already established ones.

Get Ready To Rock!: One of the things I love about this new album is its variety. Not only do you present us with a few classic HELLOWEEN tunes but also with some of the heaviest material that this band has recorded since the "Better Than Raw" album. Do you find that your music nowadays manages to be appealing to a much wider audience than in the past?

Michael: Well, everything that we do and the reaction we get for doing things the way we do comes naturally, simply for being the five guys that we are, or maybe the four composers that we are, and when Sascha (Gerstner, guitars) decides to do stuff, he does things his own way. I also tend to do things my own way and Andi [Deris, vocals] normally tries to do things in a way as modern as possible, seeing as he is our frontman and he likes the idea of being able to impress with his skills both our old and our new fans. As for Markus, he is the one responsible for some of the most classic HELLOWEEN material, which is great for me, because I don't particularly have to worry about being the only one in the band who is trying to bring the band's classic spirit alive. I feel free to create a song such as "Can Do It", which is more of a glam rock number that is far away from being classic HELLOWEEN material — it's more of a wacky song, you know? I am happy to be provided with this opportunity, otherwise people would be constantly telling me off for not recording any classic stuff.

Get Ready To Rock!: Michael, as a band, HELLOWEEN have made many "brave" moves towards many 'different' directions, yet the fans were always there to support you. That kind of devotion must be very rewarding for you as an artist. Today, one of the biggest venues in London is going to host a sold out show with you headlining and that is indeed a great achievement!

Michael: It definitely pays out later on. First you piss off your fans with all those drastic moves that you make and a decade later that move pays off. This is actually good and I always feel proud to visit countries like England and Scotland and perform our music. To me it is extra special, especially seeing as we are a frigging German band from Hamburg. Having said that, THE BEATLES visited Hamburg plenty of times during their career so the British music fans should have a certain understanding of what it means to be a rock/metal band from Hamburg. I tried really hard as a German person to master the English language and be able to come here and do an interview like this one with you even though you may now be thinking that my accent is bad and feel the need to make fun of me or something (laughs)…

Get Ready To Rock!: HELLOWEEN is one of those metal bands that have achieved everything that is to be achieved and there is definitely no need to prove anything to anyone. What do you see as being the ultimate goal for your band to achieve in the year 2008 and also in the future?

Michael: There is no such thing as an ultimate goal. Last time we toured was in support of IRON MAIDEN whereas we should have worked towards the goal to be the main band ourselves. What we want to do is to write music, make records and sell those records while at the same time keeping the customers satisfied and that is what we tend to do overall. We try hard and regardless where we go as a band, we always want to achieve bigger and better things. That means that we have to be out on stage every night, even though we are getting older and cannot possibly do those things the same way that we did before. It is getting harder, but on the other hand, that's the sort of thing that we decided to do when we were younger.

Read the entire interview at Get Ready To Rock!