Markus Grosskopf (Helloween)
November 2007
First let me ask you about the Keeper 3 reactions. What did the fans and the media say about that album?
Some of the people thought that it would be risky to do an album like this because of the success of the first one. After all those years we thought it would be cool to do this and we're not scared to take a risk. And after all Keeper 3 became a big success because we knew exactly what we were doing. There's always a risk with things like this but you have to take it, otherwise you're not making a step ahead. That's the way we see it.
And are you satisfied with the album 100% if you look back now?
Yeah, it's fine, I still like it. We toured a lot with it and we did this DVD where I was taken care each and every very long track we did in the past to be on the DVD. It was a great time. It was such a big thing we did and I'm very pleased with that album. Btw, the DVD we did for the Keepers has a full concert, some festival bits, 3/4 hour interviews and background information and another hour with just nonsense and behind the scenes stuff.
Why did you put Keeper 3 out on two discs instead of just one?
Oh, I can't really remember. Maybe it was the idea we got even back when we did Keeper 1. It was planned to be as Part 1 and 2 on a double vinyl but back then they wouldn't allow us to do so. But this time we had the chance to make a package like this.
What did you have in mind when you started working on the new album?
The direction is always a little bit clear if you talk about Helloween. It has to be very melodic but it has to be very heavy at the same time. You have to use some twin guitar solos and harmonies that we very very much like. The direction is clear but the ideas are not coming like this. You have to wait for them. They are actually there but you got to find them and it's not always easy. But I can only speak for myself; it was very hard to start but once I've been into it having 5-6 minutes, you suddenly realise that the song is done and you don't need 10 more minutes to finish the song... which has happened with the Keeper album. (Laughs)
How did you share the songwriting credits this time?
Well, Andi did a lot of course and the rest of it was shared by all the members. Apart from our drummer, who had some ideas already but they were not finished, we all have ideas and songs on the album.
So, what songs you wrote?
I can't remember. (Laughs) I'd rather take it as a Helloween album.
Sascha is part of the songwriting team in Helloween but never contributed with songs to Freedom Call...
Yeah, I know. Maybe they didn't let him or they just didn't want to have another songwriter, maybe they just wanted a guitarplayer. I don't know the way they are working but if we want somebody in the band we want him to be a full part of everything. We want him to bring ideas to the songwriting. It's much better than just having a hired musician so to say. And Sascha fit the band really well. This time he was able to bring a lot of arrangement ideas in. He was there from the beginning. With the last record we called him up when the songs were ready. This time he had the chance to build up what he thinks the song needs. This is something very different and it's working. The atmosphere in the band is really nice, everything is going very smooth.
How do you see "Gambling with the Devil" compared to the other recent Helloween records?
I think you cannot really compare. Of course the melodies are there but the way we did the songs are different and also the guitar sound is a little bit more aggressive if you ask me, which I really do like. And the material isn't consist of long songs like some stuff on Keeper 3, it's more straight forward and that's what I prefer. It's refreshing.
What was the idea behind the album's title?
It was just a little tiny thing. It's slightly a concept... I mean in life you gamble with the gamble. It's a little bit of that Mephisto kind of thing. It's a good theme as you can play around with clichés, that old devil stuff like you get success and he gets your soul. It's a little bit of that concept. And you'll find this little game in the CD.
Helloween was always known for really weird album titles...
Yeah, sometimes. (Laughs) Andi is very good at creating concepts and thinking about what you can do with little games and concepts.
What is he singing about in the songs this time?
That's very hard to tell as I just started a couple of days ago and sometimes Andi's working on the lyrics until he sings it. And as I wasn't there when he was singing it I had to read the lyrics myself. And my interpretation of it might be very different from Andi's. The lyrics is usually the very last thing that happens right before he sings it.
How did the studio time go this time around?
It went really nice and smooth. We were recording separately from each other. I did the bass guitars at my home and this gave me some time to do some different stuff at home. It's a good way of working because once you finish with your recording you don't have to be in the studio watching the rest playing their solo parts. I did that already in my lifetime. (Laughs) It's great to do your parts at your home and send it back to the studio when you are finished. That's the good about today's technology. And if it's there why not using it?
What songs could be the best ones to play live in your opinion?
We'll only play three of them live. It could be more but we have so many old songs that people definitely want to hear, so I guess that three new songs will be enough. But I cannot tell you which three we are going to play, it's gonna be a surprise. (Laughs)
And how can you put together the rest of the setlist? You have a huge back catalogue...
I don't know. I always wonder about the same thing myself. We usually have discussions about this and these discussions never really stop. During rehearsals we always take up this or that song and we are arguing about that. It's always a long long fight. (Laughs) But of course there are songs that you have to play and then you have the freedom to put in something different and I always take care of that there is at least one or two songs that we've never played so far. Like I squeezed in Halloween the last time. We haven't played that for years and years... and we never played that with this line-up anyway.
Can we expect you to play the entire Keeper song again?
No, not really. It's almost an hour just to play all those songs and I especially just wanted to have that on the live DVD called "Keeper World Tour". I thought it would have been great to have them all on but once you achieve that you don't have to do it on the next tour again.
It's gonna be a very special tour with Kai Hansen's Gamma Ray. How did that happen?
We were talking about this long ago with Kai so it's kind of grew in the last one and half years. We have very good feelings, we feel positively about it and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and a real brotherhood kind of thing. Some people still think there's bad blood between Kai and Helloween, but that's not the case. That was long ago, it's fine now. We'll go on stage together each and every night and do some surprise tracks.
And how is your relationship with Michi Kiske?
Well, there isn't really a relationship. I have seen him twice for a couple of minutes in the last 16-17 years. We said hi to each other and a little talk but no big discussions about things. It was alright but you cannot really call it a relationship.
Besides Kai's appearance, having Kiske join you on stage would be the ultimate treat for a Helloween fan.
If he sometimes shows up and will be prepared for a song I would have no problem to have him on stage singing a song or two just for the hell of it. But I don't know if he would like to do it as he doesn't like such loud guitars. But personally I wouldn't have a problem with having him on stage. But something like this should be planned because he's not running around on heavy metal festivals. Obviously. (Laughs)
What was your best Helloween memory with Kai on board?
That was definitely the good old times when you signed the very first record contract, the amount of alcohol that was running down your throat after you just did that, and stuff like this. (Laughs) The first American tour was amazing. Being very young guys signing a record contract and being pushed to play in America, these are very nice memories.
How did you feel when he announced that he's leaving Helloween?
When you are young you think that some things like this would never end, so it was kind of an illusion got cracked in a way. But then you learn from it and you find out that there's nothing gonna last forever. And you also learn how to deal with situations that you can't change coming at you.
And in the end the fans got two bands out of one...
Yes, and think about how many bands became from and because of Helloween... bands like Masterplan.(Laughs)
Have you heard the new Gamma Ray album?
Not yet. But I liked the other albums, it's not bad stuff. It's great stuff.
And what do you think about Masterplan?
They do pretty good stuff. I like the way they do things different now. They wouldn't sound like Helloween so much and that's good. If you decide to do something different then you should do something different and that's what they do. But actually I just know their first album, I haven't heard the others.
Btw, what sort of music you like to listen to?
Oh, sometimes I'm listening to punk music like Bad Religion, Sex Pistols and stuff like this. Other times I listen to blues, I listen to Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy. I like to listen to rockabilly like The Stray Cats sometimes. I also listen to Soilwork, it's nice. I can enjoy a good Soilwork album as much as I can enjoy a good Wishbone Ash album. It's just depending on my mood.
You've been to Hungary many times in the past. What kind of memories you have of this country?
I have very nice memories. I can remember being there for the very very first time. I was surprised because when we went there for the first time in the eighties people were knowing us a lot and they were expecting us. It was really great. People were inviting us to bars and we had a really great time. (Laughs)
There's been two Helloween tribute albums released in the last couple of years. Have you heard them?
I only heard a couple of tracks, I didn't listen to everything. I like it when they make the song very different. There was a black metal band that did a great version of future world in their own style. They could have chosen another song but they did this and they made it into a doom/black/death metal version and I liked that so much.