Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray)
November 2007
The new album is out on a new label, SPV. I know you had a lot of trouble with Sanctuary over the years. How did you manage to get released from that contract? Or did that expire?
Well, no, it did not expire. It was just up to the turmoil that surrounded Sanctuary company-wise. They were more like a sinking ship. The first thing that turned things into worse was that they closed down the German office and we didn't like that at all, because all the people we worked with were gone suddenly and we had to deal with England directly. And actually there was nobody really responsible in total for us until very late when we had somebody like our label manager in England. Then things started to work out a bit but we always were concerned that the new album will not get the proper promotion and will not be treated as it should be. But anyhow, what happened is that Sanctuary got sold to another company and or that reason it became clear pretty quickly that either Sanctuary or the new company will not be able to release the album on time to be there for the tour. And that was the point when we said, "Alright, listen, if this is gonna happen this is gonna harm to our whole career and everything, so you basically can't do that, so you better let us go." Fortunately they were fair enough to let us go and then we had to find somebody else to do it. SPV made the best impression on us and they are the most promising for us at the moment,. So that's how we ended up there and so far we are very happy.
The last time I talked to Daniel (Daniel Zimmermann), he desperately wanted to leave SPV with Freedom Call...
Yeah, but you always have to see of what kind of band you have and what the premises are. I think maybe for Freedom Call it didn't work out so well, so they were not really happy with things as they were. I talked to Daniel about that of course but it's always depends on the status the band has and all that and we see that this label is really willing to do some very good work for us and they already did and so far I have no concern about that.
How many albums you have signed for?
It's gonna be this one and another one at first.
Are they going to release the DVD as well?
Yeah, that's how it looks like at the moment.
Why does it take so long to get that one out, btw?
Well, actually the DVD is finished. It could be released any day now. But releasing it right before the new album, which should have been the case, it was not a good idea. And we couldn't have done it earlier and especially with all the turmoil and the Sanctuary situation there was no chance to get this DVD really released. They wanted to release it before but then we fell a little bit back on the production, so in the end this will come out in next year. That's the sad news for all the fans that have waited for such a long time. And already people started to get really mad at us. (Laughs) But the good news is that we're gonna upgrade the DVD with material from the upcoming tour and that might be something that is maybe worth waiting for.
When there's a new Gamma Ray album you're always sort of behind schedule. How was it this time?
We were on time. Absolutely. It was only a few days that we got delayed because we had some bits and pieces in the mix that we wanted to be redone and then the mastering had to be done twice. I guess you have the promo copy and actually that's the first mastering and we were not so really happy with this one so we had Tommy doing it new. The new mastering sounds better I guess. It's all a matter of taste in the end, still the first one is good as well, but we wanted to do it a little bit different with less compression and not so high end level, more rough and I think that's what we got on the final product now.
When did you decide to do a sequel to Land of the Free?
That was kind of set when we talked about the next album with the band after all the touring for Majestic. We talked about where to go and what direction we want and we all agreed that we want something that has a more optimistic, more positive output, something with a lot of power and fresh energy and more cheerful. Therefore the name Land of the Free was dropped quite a few times and we wanted a strong marching direction and didn't want to go too diverse in the style of songwriting. We wanted some clear view of what we're gonna do and the premise was that in a way of Land of the Free. From that point on it was a pretty quick thing to say, "Why not then write Land of the Free 2?" So that's what we did. We agreed that if we think that we succeeded and fulfilled our own expectations about that then we'll call it Land of the Free 2, if not and we see that it's too different and we're heading somewhere else then we might choose a different title. In the end in the production when all the songs were recorded and we could hear them all through we sat together in the studio and we're looking at each other and asking, "is this Land of the Free 2 or not?" And we all thought it was. That's how it is.
Never in the past you thought about doing a second part of it?
No, not really. It just came up this time.
What other Gamma Ray albums you think you could do a second part?
(Laughs) Well, basically I think every album in the end but I think Land of the Free is more THE album to do a sequel thing because it's more of a conceptual thing. And of course there could be something like Somewhere out in Space Part 2: Back In Space or something like that. (Laughs) That might be possible too because it has some kind of conceptual thing as well. But apart from that anything could have a part two but Land of the Free was a special album in a way.
Yeah, first album with you on vocals...
Yeah. And not only that. It was at the time when this classic kind of metal was totally dead and for Gamma Ray it was the make it or break it album and it finally got us the acceptance of being a band that you can reckon with.
Was it harder writing the new album that you had Land of the Free in mind?
No, it made things easier in a way because we had a clear way of where we were going. There was no questioning. As a musician the more you develop and the more you know the more possibilities you have to push things into certain directions and you might be able to like them both. But for this there was no questions at all. Sometimes you think to do things in a more modern way or a more rocky way or more metal or whatever but this time there were no thoughts about that. We just followed one red line all the way through and that made things kind of easier.
Didn't you think about making it a more ambitious project with a double CD?
No, not really. If you think about the modern CD it can contain over 70 minutes of music, which is quite enough I think. A double CD is an ambitious project but even if you like it very much I think after those 70 minutes you'd give it a break. I prefer albums that are shorter. I don't even need the 70 minutes. I'm fine with 40-50 minutes of great music and then I'd rather turn it on again instead of listening to even more. Maybe that's because I'm raised at the times of the LPs where the albums were shorter and they were ending pretty quickly after 30-40 minutes and you had to replay them because there was nothing else to do.
And there were less fillers on those albums than on most albums today...
That's right. And for us it makes things harder because we always try very much to have no fillers on the album. We try to avoid that we have a certain amount of B-sides on the album.
How did you share the songwriting credits this time?
Everybody did what he wanted or did what was able to do, so we ended up with a general setting that I came up with most of the tracks. I think I wrote six or seven, then Henjo did two, Dirk did one and Daniel came up with one. But then of course all the songs were taken into the rehearsal room and played there with the whole band and everybody added ideas and we all worked together on the final outcome of every song. So, it doesn't really matter so much who actually wrote the song, it just matters if it's a good one. But if you want to know Henjo wrote Rain and Hear Me Calling, Daniel wrote Empress and Dirk wrote Opportunity and the rest was done by me.
The new album musically to me is like a collection of the finest moments of the history of Gamma Ray and more...
(Laughs) In a way it turned out to be I think, yeah, that's right. Even though we said that the direction is Land of the Free, but of course we have done other albums, which we all like and we have grown together as a band since the last ten years and of course we took all the experiences and all the good things that we like on Powerplant, No World Order or even Majestic. We took them with us and put them onto the album or somehow they are reflected in all the songs. So it goes beyond only being a part two of Land of the Free. So, it's definitely not a copy of part one, it's a new album with even new aspects of the band.
What I really like that it's really touches back upon albums like Heading for Tomorrow in the song From the Ashes.
Yeah, it was great for me as well to see that this spirit is there and I didn't even have to force myself to do this. It was just there , we were all ready for this and it just came very very much flowing and naturally.
And the bridge of To Mother Earth is quite similar to How Many Tears...
That's true. The two chords are B and E and with these two chords you have a choice of melodylines and the one we chosen which fitted the best was kind of similar to How Many Tears. But I think it's nice to have bits and pieces of things that remind you of something you have heard before. People can always see that as a criticism or negative part but I always liked to have these things and for me it's a lot of fun to do. It sounds so familiar even though being new.
I really enjoy these things in your music as well... early Helloween was part of my growing up and I those things will always be nice to remember...
I understand very well what you have in mind there because it's the same with me with bands that I like from the past. If they do a new album and there's something that reminds of some older song they have done and it's done with a new kind of face, I always like that very very much.
The new album sounds a lot less Priest influenced than the last two Gamma Ray discs were...
Yeah, alright maybe it is, but we never think about it too much. We just do it as it comes. Of course we all have our influences and sometimes one comes out more than the other.
Sure. This time there's quite a lot of Maiden stuff in there.
Oh yeah, there's true but I think it is also related to our past because when we recorded Walls of Jericho when it was released there were so many people saying that it's Iron Maiden on speed. Even then there were some bits and pieces that there were similar to Maiden stuff. As soon as you get melodic and do twin harmonies you get into that direction and sometimes even you get very close to things that have been done before.
I like the way you put these influences in your music still having it sounds like Gamma Ray...
That's how it meant to be and that's how it should be seen. We always enjoy that and we don't want to do something that is kind of new just for the sake of doing something new. We don't stress ourselves into something that we don't really wanna do. If we wanted like that we wanted like that and we just do it and we don't care. As long as the fans enjoy the music and take it as it is, it's great. Of course there's always room for somebody nagging but as I said we don't care too much, and we enjoy what we're doing there and I think there's quite a few people that enjoy it too.
Did the idea for the Russian melody in Empress come from Daniel?
When Daniel composes his songs he always does that on keyboards, so the demos he comes up with always sound a bit weird. (Laughs) This song sounded more like a Rammstein kind of thing in the beginning. And then I worked with him in the studio on the guitar works, how he wanted them to be, and then the middle section was still open. He had some ideas and also the band suggested things and suddenly this Russian theme came up because the basic chords of the chorus fit to the Russian theme as well. So, just for fun I was playing the Russian theme on the rehearsal and then we took it over and put it in because we thought it was great.
And for closing the album Insurrection is like the Rebellion song of part two.
That's what you could say, yeah. When I started writing it I had the feeling that there's a similarity between those two songs but I definitely tried to avoid to rip off Rebellion in Dreamland as it is on the first album. But it got to be a long song and the good thing is that the first part of Land of the Free starts with the long song and the second part ends with the long song. And somehow musically they are a bit connected.
And part three will have it in the middle...
(Laughs) Well, I don't think there will be a part three but you might never know.
The first Land of the Free album had two special songs, one that you wrote for Ingo and one that was sung by Michi Kiske. How do you remember the making of those two songs?
With Michi's song it was pretty simple. I composed this song at home and it was more like a fun idea. When I was singing it for myself on the demo tape I sung it in a way like Michael would. Of course I don't sound like Michael but when I played it to the other they said, "It's a great song but you should not sing it. Kiske should sing it." And that was exactly my thought and then we said, "Let's call him and ask him if he's ready to do it." And he was, so it came about. This time we didn't think we had to do that again. As I said we just wanted to do a part two and not a copy of part one, so there was no need even though if something had turned out it would have been okay. With Afterlife it was a bit different: I had the idea for the song because I thought about Ingo's death a lot, and I needed to get something out, a message to him even if I'm not so sure if it really reached him but anyhow, it had to get off my mind. Basically the song was really worked out finally in the studio while already recording the album and it was pretty intense especially doing the vocals.
There were talks about you, Kiske and Roland Grapow doing a project together. Is that really happening?
Well, we have talked about it and we agreed that we should try to do something and that would be a lot of fun maybe but so far we couldn't get started with it because we all were busy with our other stuff. To do this we'd need quite a bit of time to get that right. We don't want to do a quickshot album that nobody needs. If we do that we have to do it really good and we need some time to do that and so far the chance has not been there but the future is still open and we're still alive. (Laughs) I think it might happen sometime.
Would it be a challenge for you to write songs for Michi that he wouldn't refuse to sing?
Yeah, that's exactly the point. When we made Keeper 1 and I composed my songs I had a clear image of his voice on my mind. I guess it would be the same thing this time but of course you know about Michael's opinion about metal, so it must be something that he would like to do. And that's a big challenge. Roland and me, we love this kind of classic metal stuff and of course we'd like to do some double bass number and then having Michael singing on it but I'm pretty sure that he would not like to do that. So, we have to come up with something that is a bit different from that and maybe that's the challenge we put up to, to come up with something that we like and he likes and maybe all the fans like too.
How is your relationship with him?
At the moment we haven't talked for a while, so I'm not really sure what he's actually up to now or what he's doing. So, I guess it's about time to get him on the phone and give him a call and see how he's doing.
Just call him and tell him that you're touring with Helloween and he's needed on stage as a guest singer. (Laughs)
(Laughs) Well... he would be amazed to hear that.
I'm not sure he would be interested in joining. (Laughs)
I'm pretty sure he would not be interested in joining. (Laughs) But I think with him it's like that he still needs some time to get over certain things. It's the same what Weiki and me went through. It just needs some time and some drinks and some talk and once you are settled everything's fine.
Speaking of the tour together with Helloween. How did the idea come up?
It was some kind of a natural process that this could be happening. We had been playing quite a few festivals together in recent times and there were always time for a drink and talk. We even did some jam sessions. There's a really good atmosphere between the two bands and we thought that since we are historically connected it'd be great to tour together. Now we saw that our timing schedules will be pretty much the same with the release of a new album, so from then on it was only a few phone calls and some negotiations to get this settled and done. And we're all very happy about that we're able to do this.
How long are you going to play?
It'll be 70 minutes for us, which is fine with us and I think we'll be able to put up a good set. We already started rehearsing and we came up with something like a best of set, of course including songs from the new album.
Can we expect you to come on stage during the Helloween shows?
Sure. If they play my songs I'd rather be there. (Laughs)
What songs would you love to have then?
Anything. I wouldn't mind what it is. Whatever we played at the former times.