RUNNING WILD Mainman Says MÖTLEY CRÜE And JUDAS PRIEST Reunions Are All About Money

Vincent Eldefors of Tartarean Desire webzine recently conducted a lengthy interview with Rolf Kasparek of RUNNING WILD about the group's new album, "Rogues En Vogue", and Rolf's opinion on the current metal scene, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Tartarean Desire: You also have an interest in history which is shown especially in the song "The War" which tells the story of World War I, could you tell us more about the lyrics of that song?

Rolf Kasparek:"It's not really about the war itself. I have studied this for a long time and it's more about the circumstances around that led to the World War. It has nothing to do with what we have learned in school. There were a lot of plans for the first World War, how to do it, made by certain people and had nothing to do with a certain country. They were not on any side or something like that, it was about money and they had plans to wipe out all the monarchies in Europe. They wanted to get rid of the Russian czar, they wanted to get rid of the kaiser of Germany and even get rid of the kaiser of Hungary and Austria. These plans were made in the second half of the 19th century, totally different to what you have learned in school about it. They wanted a new Europe and to make a lot of money out of it. The bankers lent the countries money to go through with the war and afterwards they had to pay a lot more back. The same people did the same thing with the Napoleonic war and also the Russian revolution and the French revolution in the 18th century because they wanted to get rid of the political power in these countries. Imperialism has a lot to do with it."

Tartarean Desire: Way back in 1985 you opened up for MÖTLEY CRÜE in Germany, do you remember what that was like?

Rolf Kasparek: "It was great because for the first time we could play in front of a lot of people who had never heard RUNNING WILD before. It was a really great thing for us to play in front of a lot of people who could become RUNNING WILD fans after that and did. MÖTLEY CRÜE really treated us very well so there was no problem. Everything was fixed for us, we had a soundcheck every night and everything. It was great."

Tartarean Desire: What do you think about MÖTLEY CRÜE reuniting?

Rolf Kasparek: "I think in the first place it has something to do with money [laughs]. When you look at what especially Tommy Lee said a few years ago, I don't think he has changed his mind, only that his account has changed, all the money is gone and I think that's the only reason why he is doing this. I'm not a fan of that kind of reunions. Also, if you look at the reunion of JUDAS PRIEST, the only thing that counts there is money. I don't think that is a reason to live up to anything which was really great back then."

To read the entire interview, click here.