Gamma Ray is a well known Power Metal band that was created by Kai Hansen, soon after his departure from Helloween, somewhere in the end of the 80’s. So now, in the end of 2007, after nearly 20 years in the music, Gamma Ray is going to release their 9th album and soon begin a world tour with Helloween. Last Tuesday, on 30th of October, I had a telephone interview with Kai for about half an hour, regarding the new album and this highly anticipated tour, among other things.
So, for now 20 years, you’re in the Power Metal scene with your band. What’s your driving force through all these years?
I don’t know actually, it’s the need to be creative I guess, it’s the need to do this kind of music, because I always loved this kind of music and I just wanted and I feel wanted, you know, it’s something that drives me to do this and I can’t even explain what it actually is, but it makes me happy, maybe that’s it.
Yeah, we’re all happy about your music, that’s why we’re fans of your music and your band. So would you say that after so many years in the music, you are rich and famous, as you sing in one of your songs?
Haha, maybe not on that level, you know, I don’t have like 15 limousines when I walk out the door, but I can make pretty good living and about the fame; we’re not as big as like Michael Jackson or maybe Metallica and stuff like that, but I think it’s very fine yeah. I think I wouldn’t really like to be there, it’s just the level we have is very good and we’re very happy with it.
When you’re walking on the streets, do you ever see fans that recognize you and stop you to ask for an autograph or take pictures with you? Are you that famous?
Yeah, Ok, of course that happens, but still luckily it’s not so many people all the time, so I still can go and do some shopping without being bothered too much or stuff like that, you know.
Do you ever like to hang out with fans if you see them, for example if someone asks you for a dinner, a walk, or coffee?
Hm, it happened already, because sometimes when I’m on holiday, in Italy for instance, I was on the beach, were some fans near me recognized me and invited me to join them for the evening and I did that, and it was a lot of fun it was very nice; I don’t have any problem to be with fans from time to time.
Yeah, sounds really fun, are you enjoying this status?
Well, surely yes, of course, it’s very nice, but sometimes when it gets like too many people crashing me, then it gets too much and of course I try to step back a little, but in general, of course it’s very nice.
Do you ever miss the first years when you weren’t so famous and things in life were quite simple?
Hm, yeah surely, sometimes you have the feeling that you like to revisit those old days again, when things were quite naïve and so untouched in a way. Of course, once you get older you go back a little bit, but I don’t have any regrets that these days are gone, in my mind I still enjoy them, but who would want to live the past, I want to live in the now, I’m really happy with the way things are now.
Yeah of course, Gamma Ray is a very successful band in general, who wants to live then, in those times. Another question is, would it be easier to write music back then or now, with all this experience?
Well, in a way it was difficult at those times because of the lack of experience and sometimes now it is difficult because you’re too experienced. You know too much so you have too many possibilities or chances to create things...
Yeah people expect too much...
Yeah, right, and you yourself, you think maybe this is not good enough because it’s not that perfect or so, and those things you didn’t think about in the past, you just did whatever you could do and it was good, just easy you know.
Yeah I understand... Speaking about old times, I read in some interviews that there’s a project ongoing, with some old friends, like Roland Grapow from Masterplan and Michael Kiske. How things are coming along with that project? Is there any proposed name or is it too early for that?
Hm no, at the moment there isn’t a band still of this, we had talks about it and haven’t really set something, Roland was busy with Masterplan, I was very busy with Gamma Ray and I don’t know what Michael is doing at the moment, but we have to make sure we have the time to do it right.
Yeah, I wish you good luck with this, because I’m a fan of all these bands and I’m really excited about this idea. So I hope things will get good with that.
Yes, once we’ll do it, it should be good.
So this brings me up to my next question, about the upcoming tour with Helloween. As a fan, I’m really excited about this too. How do you feel about touring again with Helloween after so many years? Will you be joining them on stage for some classics songs?
Well, surely yes, I mean because it’s been like so many times I’ve been in this band and they still play my songs when they play live, surely I’m going to join in when I’m not the only eager, most of the other guys from Gamma Ray will join the stage too, we’ll make something like a big jamming session thing of course, and I’m totally happy that this really happens now, you know timing with the two albums coming out and musically we’re still sitting in the same boat, doing basically the same kind of music, even though we have a different sound and all the irritation from the past all become and it’s just great to go on tour together.
Yeah, it’s a really good idea, a wonderful idea, so who thought about this in the beginning, to tour together.
Because Gamma Ray and Helloween have played quite a few festivals together from the same bill, and there was always time for a chat in between and that’s actually what we did, we agreed when we were spending the evenings together, that it would be fun to go on tour together, so now it’s the time it happened actually...
So you’re still friends with the guys from Helloween, although you departed from the band long time ago.
Yeah.
How about Axxis, how did they join the tour? And also why aren’t they coming to all the shows, for example in Greece, we won’t have them here.
Well, I might not be the right person to answer this. Axxis was proposed by the booking agency to join in for some shows and I don’t know the band too well, so I don’t really know why and how, so I can’t really answer this...
I’ve heard some songs of them and they’re quite good. So let’s go to the next question. When you are on a tour, how do you spend the time? Do you go sightseeing, for example when in Athens visit the Acropolis or when in another city/town visit the places there?
Well, not many times I do this. I have the chances on seeing things, but well, sometimes I do this but in many occasions I’m a bit lazy and if I have an off day, I sometimes rather stand in the hotel and hanging around doing nothing and catch up with some sleep and relax a bit, instead of going out to stressful sightseeing in overcrowded cities...
Isn’t that boring to stay in the hotel?
I had my share of sightseeing, I’ve sure been on the Acropolis; once, you have to do that and I’ve been on the Eifel tower and stuff like that, I’ve done a bit shopping in the glamour cities...
So generally, when you’re on tour, is it something interesting or you can become easily bored, especially when the tour is quite long.
To get bored? No, not really, it’s a challenge, it’s something different. But of course when the tour is too long, you get that burnt out effect, like after you don’t really care anymore what places you play today or tomorrow.
Yeah I get the feeling... What do you think about the idea of travelling to some odd places, like India, to perform a show; in places and countries where metal is not so big and fans don’t have the chance to see great bands often. Would you go to a place like that to tour?
It’s absolutely a real challenge, I would love to do that, to play in China or India or exotic places that we haven’t been and we’d really like to know. Are there any (metal fans) and how many people would come to the show and how the music will sound in those places, so I guess it will be really challenging.
Are there any thoughts about that or is it just a general idea and a wish that you’d like to do?
At the moment, we’re going down to the usual places for this package; of course we do Europe, all of it, we do Japan, we’ll do South America and the U.S. and if the making is well, after that I think if there’s any chance to do some different places, we of course make it up to a future egence.
Nice. Now let’s talk about the new album a bit. What was it that made you choose the title “Land Of The Free II”?
It just came about when we started talking about the next album with the band, we all agreed that we wanted something special and have a new kind of challenge to live up to, and this band always needs new challenges and we all agreed that the new album should have a more optimistic out port and a very powerful, positive vibe, with great melodies and very strong songs. Our example for this album was “Land Of The Free” and we mentioned “Land Of The Free” quite few times when we talked about it and we all agreed on this direction. Then we said “Land of The Free II” and if we think we live up to our own expectations and we succeed to do this right, then we call the album “Land of The Free II”; if we think it’s too different from it or too much of another story then we might give it a different title.
Aren’t you afraid of unnecessary comparisons with the first masterpiece, if the album doesn’t go so well in the music charts or the public acceptance? I wish it does of course.
Well, yeah of course we knew about the dangers when you do that, but we said that’s exactly the challenge we want to live up to that made us work even harder and try to do it right for ourselves. And then I don’t see any dangers because I think it’s done good and of course you might find someone who prefers “Land Of The Free I”, but so far the feedback I got from people, it absolutely fulfilled the expectations with this one and that showed us that our feeling was not so wrong about it.
Nice, in the first “Land Of The Free” you had some guest appearances; will there be something like that on the new album?
No, we thought about this and the thing is, we wanted to do a “Land Of The Free II” and not a copy of the “Land Of The Free I”, you know what I mean? We thought it should be having the vibe and the spirit of “Land Of The Free” and therefore we don’t need to do exactly the same and have the same guest appearances and all these, it should be a different album, that’s for sure.
Is there a thought about a music video for the new album, since that’s a great media for promotion with all the TV rotation and stuff.
We have done a video for the song “Into the storm” and it should be online; if you have searched the internet, you might already have found it.
Will it be included in the new album as a bonus?
No because we have done the video after the album was finished.
Yeah, I’ll search it online then...
It might be even available on our website www.Gamma-Ray.com.
Another question about the new album, is why did you change the record label? Was there something wrong or did you think there was time for evolution? And what do you think about the new label?
Well this album should be the last one for Sanctuary, but because the company was pretty much like a sinking ship and they finally were sold to another label, at that point we realized that we wouldn’t be able to release the album on time, before the tour, because it happened pretty late and the whole process was already at the making. Therefore we went to them and said, listen, if you can’t release the album, you are kind of doing harm to our career and for we would like to ask you to let us go and find another label, able to release our album on time. They were fair enough to say, you’re free to go, so that’s how we ended up on SPV, and that was just a matter of sorting out labels and taking offers and SPV was the best and made the best impression on us.
Do you believe that the success of a band depends on the record label they’re signed too?
Well, I guess it does a great deal of success, even if you do a great album, if you don’t have the right promotion, it might not be giving the attention it really needs. Basically it is like that, some things grow in size when they’re presented big.
Yeah I get it... Also recently, I saw that the new album was leaked on the internet. How do you feel about this electronic piracy? Who is it hurting the most? You, the artists, or the record companies?
Well of course if it hurts the record companies, it hurts the artists too, because the artists get a share of the income, so it hurts everybody. We can’t change it, I understand that for some people there are so many good releases and a normal person can’t buy everything, it’s not possible. So if somebody goes and download it’s kind of ok for me, it’s like tape trading that we did in the past. I don’t like that people make money of it and for one reason it takes away that the price is so much and that I think, is a bad point. It’s not so the pricing anymore when an album comes out and the fans, even if they buy it, they know from before what they will get, and it’s not like buying an album of your favorite band and then going home and listening to it for the first time...
Yeah it’s a different feeling. I always prefer to buy an album and see the artwork and the booklet and all those stuff... Speaking about artwork, I noticed that you use quite often pyramids and the yin-yang symbol. Do they have a special meaning for you?
The flying pyramids came about when we did “Somwehere Out In Space” and so far we kept them because I thinks it’s like a very nice sentient; maybe you know, our ancestors came from out there in space, haha!
Yeah, Erich von Däniken! I’ve read about this in his books! Funny theories...
Yeah, it’s a nice thought, so that’s why we kept the pyramids and spaceship. The yin-yang symbol, that’s a symbol that means a lot to me because it’s the chock for a whole thing, something imbalanced, too strong...
The balance of powers yes...
...the balance of powers yeah and I think that really makes sense to me.
Speaking about the internet before, now that it’s so wide and so many people reach your music, do you ever sit down to read what other people write about you, in their reviews for webzines? Do you also read fan e-mails?
Oh yeah, absolutely, I do yeah, I think it’s a very interesting and different way to check out responses and of course there are people that write really stupid things as well, but it’s very interesting and I really do enjoy getting that kind of information.
Do you take them seriously and consider them when writing music for a new album? Or do you have your own strong will?
We do not consider them, because otherwise we wouldn’t do what our heart tells us. It would be more compressive thoughts and we do not want that. First of all we do music for ourselves to be satisfied and then we see if others are too.
Yeah, there are a lot of people who judge Power Metal and attack it, saying it’s cheesy or lame and commercialized. What do you think about those people? Personally I don’t agree with them since I like this genre a lot...
Commercialization is something that I never liked too much. And I don’t talk about a band getting bigger and selling more albums, I talk about the people just in the music to sell albums, not because the pension that they want to annuity. So there’s a difference I guess...
So speaking about big bands, have you heard of “Children Of Bodom”, a “new” band from Finland which mixes the Power Metal sound with Death Metal vocals? What do you think about them?
I like Children Of Bodom quite a lot I have to say, it’s very interesting and I think I like the great guitar player. It’s a kind of different approach, it’s really cool.
Moving on to the last few questions, what do you think about your older albums and especially “Land Of The Free I”, was it your breakthrough album of success?
Yes I think it was in many ways a special album because it was something at that time, in 95, when classic metal was proclaimed to be dead and everybody was looking for the alternative and all that. It was special because I took over the vocals again and finally looking back, it was the album that makes it a breakthrough album for Gamma Ray, to get this stand in acceptance that beyond Kai Hansen once been in Helloween, it was like, really we, ourselves and I, saw this is something that would last and has a future.
So in a few words, what would it be your favorite album all those years? Either in Helloween or Gamma Ray.
I can’t mention one album that’s my favorite because it always changes. I listen back to the old albums and I like them all, and it’s very hard to say, sometimes I’m totally into “Walls Of Jericho”, another time I’m into “Keeper I”, another time “Heading For Tomorrow”, or “Land Of The Free”, or “No World Order” and I wouldn’t say this album is better than the other one, it’s all a matter of taste, and I’ve done them all so I better like them, you know haha!
Yeah! So if you had to recommend some albums to a guy that’s not into Gamma Ray, which would those be, to make him a fan of your music?
Well, to be starting with, if I’d have to mention, then it would be “Land Of The Free”, “Heading For Tomorrow”, “No World Order”, “Somewhere Out In Space”...
Yeah, those are all great albums. Also recently I saw that you’re going to release a live DVD from Montreal with a crazy title. Has it been released already or is it going to be in the future?
It’s going to be in the future, because of the record label change and all that, it was not possible to release the DVD before this album and we’ll release it in the next year, but we’ll upgrade it, we will shoot some more material of this coming tour and put it with the other DVD and make it a really big package.
That’s really good. But what was it that made you give it a crazy title like that? [Hell Yeah - The Awesome Foursome (And The Finnish Keyboarder Who Didn't Want To Wear His Donald Duck Costume) Live in Montreal]. Is it going to be changed since it’s going to be released later?
I don’t know yet, we have to think about something, because the title is very much related to our American tour; small things that were exuded in our languet, in the American tour, that kind of “Hell Yeah” and that we all saw something that was a sign for our show that we read somewhere and we said “That’s us you know”. And this thing with the “Finish Keyboard Player” and “The Donald Duck Costume”, we always made jokes with him, “when you walk you constantly remind a bit of Donald Duck so you have to wear a Donald Duck costume on stage”, stuff like that. Everything in the title is related to this American tour, so I don’t know if we’ll change the title when it comes out next year, but I think we should keep it and maybe extend it even more!
Is there any possible release date that you are thinking?
No, I don’t know yet, I can’t say when it should be...
Closing this, I have one more question about your participation in the Avantasia albums. Are you also going to take part in the new one?
I have played some solo stuff on the new one and it’s already done, so you can hear me...
So how is it working with Tobias? Is he a nice guy? Because I’ve seen in his music that he has a great sense of humor.
Absolutely, I like him very much and I remember the times before he got into this substantially thing, he always gave me his demo tapes, to play in the surrounding and he’s a very nice guy, a good musician and all that, I really get along with him.
Nice. Since Avantasia will be in the Wacken Festival 2008, will you be there too as a guest, or will there be solely members of Avantasia and no guests?
Well, I don’t know yet. If I’m around, then I can of course join them in the stage, sure.
Will Kiske be there too, for some guest vocals? That would be nice to see him again.
I don’t know, Michael has a problem with going on the stage, he always refuses to do that, I don’t know why...
Well, that’s all I had to know, is there anything else you’d like to add?
No, so far I hope everyone will enjoy this album and in November 24, we’ll be in Greece and everybody interested in Gamma Ray and Helloween should come and we’ll all have a great time together.
See you in Athens then! We’ll be in the crowd! “Auf Wiedersehen!”
See you then, take care! “Auf Wiedersehen” bye bye!
Constantinos Alexakos
Special thanks to Border, Kai Hansen and Sound Of Metal for giving me the chance to do this interview. Also thanks to Ilham (aka Queen Of Hippies) for some questions she provided me with...
 Read also: Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free II, Gamma Ray - Majestic
Links:
Gamma Ray at www
|
