Andi Deris Interview: 7-21-98

These are interviews I did on July 21st 1998 and this one is with Andi Deris. He was a very nice guy and very fun to talk to. I tried to ask all the questions I had emailed to me and If I didn't ask something you wanted to hear I am sorry as my time was limited. Anyway hope you enjoy this
interview and DO NOT USE THIS WITHOUT MY EXPRESSED PERMISSION.

Obviously Tony Webster is me:). Here you go:

Tony Webster: What made you guys do a song in Latin?

Andi Deris: Well we wanted to do a song for all the Latin speaking people .....or at least their languages are based in Latin people who speak Spanish, French...etc. So we thought it was a good idea or a nice idea for people to have Latin lyrics going on. Anyways we had the Laudate Domini from Schubert and Bach....classical guys.....and always wanted to do a title called "Laudate Dominum" and he actually did it....which gave me a hard time!! *laughs*

TW: How long did you guys have the idea for?

AD: Well Weiki had the idea for 3 years already and as I said be sat down with his old school Latin teacher and did the lyrics and I suddenly found myself in front of a microphone going "What the hell is this?!" *laugh* It worked though....its ok. *laughs again*

TW: *laugh* How did you like touring with Iron Maiden?

AD: Well Maiden that's very comfortable....I mean this is the second year......I mean for Time Of The Oath we had some concerts with Maiden mainly through Spain and this time we went all over Europe together with Iron Maiden. Both bands know each other....its the same Management so its very nice the guys are great.

TW: I received a lot of emails from fans and I announced I was doing this a couple weeks before to get some questions maybe fans wanted to ask and people want to know why Roland hasn't written anything lately?

AD: Well actually that will probably be the case after every solo album!! *laugh* He was probably burned out and there was necessity that he comes out with anything since we had all the material ready so there was no asking him "Where's your song" or giving him shit about that. blah blah blah or "Don't you do the job for the band" blah blah blah. We like I said had enough material and it was ok....I mean everyone should feel free to take an album off. We have 5 songwriters in the band and I know Weiki comes up with at least 5 ideas and I will always come up with at least 4 ideas...this time Uli came up with 4 ideas and it was maybe even good that Roland didn't come up with ideas because we probably would have had a big fight in the studio! *laughs* Anyway so that was alright...I think he will come up with something on the next album definitely

TW: Where did you get the album cover idea from?

AD: As stupid as it all is....we are all smurf fans

TW: Hey...its not that stupid....I always watched the smurfs when I was little! *laugh*

AD: *laughs* Ha! See?! Because we all are Smurf fans we just decided instead of Smurfs we take the pumpkins and instead of Gargamel we take this sexy witch!

TW: I bet the sexy witch was Weiki's idea!

AD:*laughs loudly* Well you're right!! I wanted to have a nasty looking witch and suddenly Weiki came up with a sexy witch that's a beautiful legged witch! Yeah though! Its alright....its alright...as I said before we replaced the smurfs with the pumpkins. The "Better Than Raw" idea came up when we found out that we don't like raw pumpkin. The Japanese always give us raw pumpkin and I really hate it! Someone came up to us and was like "Raw Pumpkin is nasty!!! Anything is better than raw!" and we were like!! YEAH! "Better than raw"! That's the title and we cook a pumpkin! *laughs*

TW: I've never eaten pumpkin nor do I plan on it....but the ladies out there have emailed me and want to know what your true eye color is

AD: Blue

TW: Cool! Let me write that down....

AD: Heheheheheheheheh!

TW: You guys are coming out with a new single in Japan right? For the song "Hey Lord"?

AD: Well....its probably not only Japan....pretty much around the world.

TW: Do you know how many non-album tracks are going to be on that?

AD: It'll be the title track "Hey Lord" and two unreleased Live Tracks from Japan, and one track I believe was an 8 minute track which was done only for Japan because its kind of drum solo and guitar solo mixture with a certain Japanese folk melody.



TW: What did you write the song "I Can" about?

AD: I Can is simply about what it says...believe in yourself and don't get too depressed about what happens in your life....so get your ass up and you can do whatever you want! *laughs* 

TW: You probably heard about Max Cavalera's comments about Helloween in terrorizor right? What do you have to say about that?

AD: Oh yeah sure....well I don't care as long as there's a million people out there buying our records *laughs*. The majority are on our side I would say *laughs*. On the other hand its nothing going on worldwide momentarily as long as the so-called mega star bands keep putting out some really stupid bad releases then Id rather say not to take it too seriously. I mean there's nothing to say against it....there are different tastes and if he doesn't like it he doesn't like it. I don't want to try to change him to the better *laugh* because I think he's just very very much into one thing and he hates Germany and he probably hates everything that has to do with it. You really cant change people like him and I don't want to try because its lost energy then.

TW: What do you think about the state of metal today? Do you think its doing a lot better than say a couple years ago?

AD: Yeah...its waking up again definitely waking up again. I mean we now have some radio in Europe and some Television channels playing videos again I would say we are momentarily the beginning of 80s again. Like I remember the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s when people were very much against hard rock music and "Disco was so HIP!" and I was like "BLAHHHH!" *laughs* but uhm yeah it started out again with the whole dance floor and the techno and hip hop shit its like boring people to death and its all heard already. I think there's something that has to balance it. And I think rock music will be the thing again....like the beginning of the 80s when rock music went against the while disco thing. I think the same thing is starting to take place now. Not as big as it probably used to be like in the mid or the end of the 80s but it'll rise up again

TW: I had a lot of people in Australia wondering if you're going to tour down there.

AD: It's a dream.....to tour there....I mean we entered their rock charts at #4 which is a big surprise and a big honor. I think it has to be more than rock chart #4 because its talk and a lot of money to go there. Same thing with the USA....The US was on schedule and we got a fair warning business sheet and it was way too much money again....so the consensus is that we have to wait to see what the album does here in the US to spend money, but if we were to spend money now it would definitely be much to much. I mean if the album does a little bit....lets say sells 50,000 copies then we'll definitely sit down again and go over the subject again. We have to play sometime though definitely.

TW: If you ever come to Cleveland I'll take you out to dinner

AD:*laughs* well! Ill take you up on that if we do! *laughs again*

TW: MTV has been saying that metal sucks and everything and they told Dave Mustaine that "metal Is dead" and he's like "What do you mean its dead? Its dead because you're trying to tell people it is, when it really isn't and that's ignorant". Anything you'd like to say about that?

AD: Well he's totally right definitely right. I mean how can someone say metal is dead when there are still a lot of metal bands around the world playing arenas and festival tours except for the USA. I guess the US media wants it to be dead for some certain reason.

TW: Well see there's a bad stereotype on metal here and that metal is satanic and it really isn't. There are a few bands that ruin the image....say Marilyn Manson for instance..

AD: I know what you mean believe me...

TW: By the way your English is very good

AD: Thank you!

TW: One of these days Ill learn German and interview you in German...I swear to God...that'd be
cool

AD:*laughs* Well I'm more or less into the Spanish language now! Hahahaha!

TW: I took French for 4 years *laughs*

AD: French is a hard language!

TW: What were some of your biggest influences and what bands or musicians inspired you to become a musician

AD: Kiss...mainly Kiss I would say. Yeah I remember them being front cover in German in 1975 and I was 11 or 12 years old and I thought "Wow that's great". You know the comic look and the big stage production....it was awesome! So I thought....that's it! That's definitely it and what do I have to do to be like them! *laughs* then I realized I had to learn guitar *laughs* which was hard from the beginning on but I tried my best to follow Mr. Stanley and that's how I started playing guitar.

TW: I saw Kiss here in Cleveland in 96 and they put on a great show here

AD: Yeah I agree!! I think its amazing...with all the masks and with one of the most successful stage shows and tours ever! I mean they played all the stadiums in Germany.

TW: Do you think it was crucial after the Chameleon flop that Helloween got you into the band and that you added a new element to it?

AD: Hard to say....actually Michael Kiske did a very good job and he is a very good singer...and it was a case on how I did singing the songs my own way hoping the people would accept it...there was no other way. It would be a lie to sit down and say "I'm the one who is able to copy Kiske 100%". First of all I didn't not want to copy anybody because I got enough ego to sit down and say "hey I'm Andi and hopefully the people will like me for who I am...otherwise I wont sit down and copy anybody" not for the sake for being exactly like Kiske.....that would be too high priced. 

TW: I have your solo album.....I had to pay a ton of money to get it imported...but I do have it....will you be doing anymore?

AD: Yeah definitely, I mean solo albums are a lot of fun because you sit down and do whatever you like! *laughs* Just have to satisfy yourself just like in a sexual way you have all the power in your hand! Hahahahaha! No but solo albums are a lot of fun!

TW: I really like the solo album and it sounds different than Helloween which is good and I have bought all the singles for it as well. I was wondering about one song.....and its also a single.....1000 years away....is that one about a kid getting abused? Or beaten up and committing suicide?

AD: Yeah that's actually something that happened in a neighborhood family near me and its well taking place too much in Europe and probably worldwide. You know little kids are being mistreated by their parents or brothers or whatever and the family themselves don't even realize it so the kids have a lot problems because they are being mistreated by their parents...even sexually mistreated. And see....nobody even realizes it until the kid starts doing something really stupid like jumping off the roof. Nobody ever realized until the final moment when the kid tried to end his life. Then they opened their eyes.....but before that nobody wanted to realize. This is what happened and from what I know the kid showed many signs that something was DEFINITELY WRONG, but nobody was giving a shit. This kid really actually jumped off a roof.....thank god he survived...

TW: Has Uli stepping up as a songwriter been great for you?

AD: Oh yeah...*laughs* really good....really good... the question was when we met at the studio. We wanted to achieve something which stands out between us but is original. Its easy to describe but its hard to do so when Uli came up with all these thrashy riffs it was something different. Maybe not something new....since the band did it somehow during the "Walls Of Jericho" times already. Somehow it was lost. With Keeper 1 and Keeper 2 had wonderful melodies and great refrains, but the thrashiness wasn't there anymore. When Uli suddenly came up with these lets say snare techniques put onto the guitar...STRANGE...like the Revelation riff...this is a snare technique riff and actually it was played by a snare. Then he came up with putting the same rhythm onto a guitar and hey...here we go.

TW: Are you guys going to tour Brazil and Latin America?

AD: Oh yeah....I mean we had played the monsters of rock in Brazil and in Argentina and had some of our own shows as well like we did in Buenos Aires and we'll do that again! I think towards the end of the year its scheduled that we show up in South America

TW:One last question....What were some of the singers that you looked up to musically?

AD: Uhm.....Paul Stanley and Rob Halford.

TW: Speaking of Rob Halford.....what do you think about the new change in Priest?

AD: Hard question....at first I did not like the new album, but now after listening to it 6 or 7 times already I more and more like it. I think the new singer is great....hes got all the ranges of Rob Halford. I don't know if he has the personality....I'm not one to decide whether or not he has the personality because to be honest I was a Rob Halford fan. I don't know if he has the personality of Rob Halford and I think that's something that needs to be decided by the fans.

TW: Ok...now this is my last question *laugh* do you guys have any contact with any of the other German bands such as Rage....Gamma Ray.....etc?

AD:*laughs* well its mainly with Gamma Ray wince our practice rooms are about 200 meters away from each other. We also hang out at the same coffee shop when both bands are two lazy to rehearse! *laughs again* Where we sit down and chat and blah blah blah. The new guitarist for Gamma Ray....Henjo Richter is one of Weiki's best friends. It makes it easier to sit down without any bad discussions. Back in the early days there was bad stuff between the band and Gamma Ray but since Ingo died we're sticking together and not being enemies anymore because we saw what may happen you know?

This interview done by Officer Metal (C)1998 M.A.P.A.R. DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!

Andi Deris Interview: 10-29-98

This interview with Andi was great....although it was cut short because I had to do some station IDs for the Halloween Helloween special two days after. Anyway a lot of these questions were questions that YOU THE FANS asked me to ask and I tried the best I could to act as the voice of the fans. It also got cut short because he found out who I was that I ran the page and board and we started talking about that for a bit as well. I was on the phone with him for around 40-45 minutes. Enjoy the interview guys and take care!

Tony Webster: My first question Andi is how is the tour going and where are you guys going after the European Tour?

Andi Deris: We had 2 parts of Europe, which means we were on tour for 3 and a half months. The tour I'd say was a VERY mega mega and was great for the most part. About 80% was great and the other 20% could have been better depending on the market. I would say overall it was a very great success for us. Now we have a 1 month break and we're then going to go to South America and do a couple of shows there including the Monsters Of Rock festival which we're very proud to be headlining. From there we go up to Mexico and possibly New York but New York isn't confirmed for now.

TW: Are you guys going to or have you guys played LAUDATE DOMINUM live?

AD: No and it doesn't look like if we have time to rehearse it for this tour and its probably going to have to wait till the next tour. We're under a huge amount of pressure concerning time and have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. We only have 2 weeks in the rehearsal room to rehearse for the rest of the tour since we haven't been playing many full sets so for right now I would have to say no.

TW: You know....Revelation and Handful Of Pain were very powerful songs that yourself and Uli both wrote. Are you guys going to be teaming together and write more songs like you did on this album?

AD: Well we definitely will do so...because they were two of the favorite songs by fans for Better Than Raw and Uli and I work great as a team. Also you seem to like them as well which is good.

TW: What is the song Handful Of Pain about?

AD: Well this is actually something that I experienced about 9 years ago when I realized later on that I really fell in love which was a typical cliche holiday knowledge. After two weeks when I went back home I realized that I actually felt a lot of pain so I did everything to find out where she lived and I found out where she lived. It turned out that she actually felt the same way so its quite a nice story because nowadays I'm married with her! *laughs*

TW: *laughs*...Well you had told me before that you wanted to do another solo album and what I want to know is if the Solo album will be in the same direction as the last one? 

AD: It definitely will be....the melodies and hooks and stuff like that is the way I can write and how I write and there's really no other possibility for me *laugh* So on the other hand I want to check out some new sounds and experiment around...whatever that means later on. Actually the main thing for me is having fun in the studio because I am sitting there with all the responsibility on my side so I want to have some fun. I don't want to follow a certain direction because I think that is narrow minded so whatever happens in the studio....whatever I think is worth for people to listen to I definitely will put on the album

TW: Now the album Better Than Raw....I know its been doing well in the radio CMJ charts here but do you know how the album itself is selling? Also has it been selling better than the last two?

AD: That's a good question and honestly I can't answer it because I have gotten no responses from the record company telling us on how good or bad the album is doing. Uhm maybe next month or two or three months it'll be time for us to find out since it has been out since the middle of September or maybe we'll find out in a few weeks. I am not sure.

TW: When Kiske was kicked out of the band did you audition for the band or did they already want you to begin with?

AD: Ahhh...well I do not want to sound like I have a big ego or anything but the band decided to split up unless I was going to be the singer because they didn't want to go into the studio with Kiske anymore and they did not want to get a stranger into the band....so as a longtime friend of the band they exactly know who I am and if I could do the job. I didn't know but they did *laugh*. Anyway though the point is that they did not want to go on as a band with a stranger behind the microphone because they had a lot of hard times. That's what I found out....on the other hand maybe you should ask someone else *laugh*

TW: Whats your opinion on the metal scene around the world?

AD: Well the metal scene in Europe is nearly healthy....there's one or two markets which don't work very good for metal. For example Great Britain and some parts of Germany even though Germany is still a great place to play its not as satisfying since a lot of fans are falling to trends......For America, metal is nearly dead...maybe its awakening because people are saying metal and hard rock is coming back so this is something that maybe we have to be patient and see what happens.

TW: What other bands are you listening to and what bands do you like now?

AD: Momentarily I'm into Rage Against The Machine.....their first album which I rediscovered. I've been listening to Sonic Temple from the Cult and of course my really old stuff....nearly everything from Kiss to very old Sweet, Led Zeppelin you know *laugh*.

TW: Since you're a huge Kiss fan.....what do you think of the new album?

AD: Well I have listened to it about 3 or 4 times, and I will give it a 5th and 6th time but overall I don't think the album is very strong. As a very long time Kiss fan I don't think the album is bad....but its not one of the highlights.

TW: Do you think they should have had the reunion?

AD: Well....the original lineup had some great albums...you know the Destroyer or Love Gun albums....this original lineup has shown before that they can do a really really good job. Also with Kuclik and Eric Carr they did very very good albums. I think it just comes down to Mr. Stanley and Mr. Simmons and what moods they are in.

TW: If the album Better Than Raw at least does something here would you guys come to the US and tour?

AD: Definitely....we already had a talk about doing a US tour...or well a North America tour but simply saying right now its too expensive. I don't know if its worth the risk to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and afterward and having spent a shitload of money. If you look at the business point of view and at the end of the day it is kind of business where we still have to make a living and I don't think its too intelligent to go into a certain market and try to break a market trying to spend the money you just earned so we have to go through with this very carefully.

TW: Compared to the last two albums how has Better Than Raw been selling worldwide

AD: I know for a fact the the sales have increased....in numbers I would not like to say because it may be right or it may be wrong. I know we increased a third worldwide and the last album [Time Of The Oath] went top 20 in 7 nations and this album went top 20 in pretty much every nation in Europe and Asia so its quite a big success.

TW: How well has the album been being promoted here in the USA? I know its getting good radio play but what is your view on how its being promoted and do you think the record company is doing a good job? 

AD: Well.......its an experiment....metal is said to be dead in North America. This is what MTV said and everybody tended to believe it a few years ago nowadays there's lots of people who stand up and say they don't believe it anymore and these are the people who are saying that metal is coming back again and I think in this manner the record companies try. If we have a big chance or little chance in the USA I don't know but you just have to have an album there otherwise you wont be the one who is actually doing a good job then. I think its coming back again. And promotion again is money talk....the more money you have to spend the more promotion you can do.

TW: Are you guys going to play Hey Lord on the rest of the tour and have you been playing it?

AD: Well....Hey Lord is the new single so when the single does something we'll play it live. If the single does nothing then we'll probably stay away from trying to rehearse the song. We did not rehearse the song before the tour started because we were unsure if it was going to be the new single or not. WHen we don't rehearse a song we don't play it usually but if there's a demand for it and the song say for instance the Hey Lord single....starts doing well then we will rehearse it and play it in a lot of places that's no problem.

TW: Speaking of the Hey Lord single why did you guys put a live bootleg version of Perfect Gentlemen as a b-side

AD: *laugh* Laziness! Whatever *laugh* Well we had listened to live tapes from Japan and Live Tapes from Germany from past tours a few years ago and we just liked it. Its easy to put another stupid b-side or whatever on an album....I think it gives more flare or more feeling when you listen to a good live track and one from Germany which is perfect Gentlemen. Then we had the Japanese melody track [Moshi Moshi Shiki No Uta] with a drum solo which I thought was a good idea that worked for the Japanese fans other than a stupid b-side....I don't know...its just cool to check out.

TW: Have you guys recorded any other b-sides say studio tracks?

AD: Yeah we have 2 more b-sides on hold. Probably we won't use them or we will use them for the next album I dont think theres another single after Hey Lord.....if so we would then use them. 

TW: Are any other members besides you and Roland releasing any solo albums?

AD: Well Markus just finished his solo album. So I would say it would be released in the next month. So for right now no other plans. I know Weiki was paid to do one but he wont do it till a year or two down the road.

TW: Did Markus sing or did he have someone come in and sing on the album

AD: Oh it was sung by a friend of us from Hamburg who is a very rough singer who is a mixture of Joe Crocker and the Guns N Roses singer. Its good..... its a good German voice....I enjoyed it!

TW: Will you guys ever tour Australia?

AD: Hmmmm....well its hard to say...Austrailia is even more difficult than North America so its again we have to talk about money and buisness and stuff like that and to fly a band from Europe to Australia is costs a fortune so again we have to wait to see how well the album does something.

TW: I'm curious what songs you have been playing in your live set

AD: Its a mixture of all albums actually we play a lot from the Keepers....songs from Walls Of Jericho...one song from Pink Bubbles.....three from Master Of The Rings three from Time Of The Oath.....and about 6 from the new album so its always a mixture of stuff.

TW: Do you guys write during the tour or after?

AD: Id say 80% after the tour and 20% during the tour.

TW: I am curious as to what one of your b-sides from your solo album is about.....the song "Wheel of Fortune".

AD: Well this is actually about "No Risk No Fun" philosophy *laughs* its basically about you have to risk something to get something and you spin the wheel of fortune so that's how it is! *laugh*.

TW: With the song "A Game We Shouldn't Play" was that about humans trying to play God?

AD: Well exactly....maybe in another 2 or 3 decades we wont consider it as humans playing God but whenever humans mess around with genes or whatever or nuclear stuff....stuff which they cant control and has too much risk then I would rather say that humans try to play God and since humans are not God you don't know what exactly will happen afterwards. If you cant control something or someone there will be a catastrophe and if it becomes to big and out of control it becomes bigger.....again its only for money making reasons and this is nothing I Want to live with.

TW: Now for my last question and this is a question I ask everyone because at the end of the year I am going to play a best of and play all the answers everyone gave me to this question....so anyway....what was one of the strangest things that ever happened to you on tour?

AD: Hmmmm *laugh* well there's one strange thing that happened when I came out of the concert hall in Amsterdam Holland and I wanted to go into the nightliner [tour bus] and someone had stolen it! This was very odd and bad because this thing is our living room and home on tour and it was just gone. So that was strange. Another strange thing was that Markus was sitting in the back of the nightliner looking out of the window....we were in some Scandinavian country which is known as having very cold weather and Markus was like "Look! There are Camels outside!". That was very strange and we didn't look out the window to check if there were camels or not but everyone looked at Markus as if he was not only crazy but if that would be the final end of something like that. And later on we looked out the window a few minutes later and everyone saw camels outside and it was a very strange thing....like being on another planet. There were like 50 or 60 camels in the middle of Scandinavia and nobody knows why. Then Markus said that you don't know how glad I am that you all saw the camels because you guys probably would have thought I was on some sort of mega trip or something like that. That was mega strange and funny...I STILL don't know what the camels were doing there to this day *laugh*

TW: *laugh* I can just imagine your first reaction to him when he said that

AD: Yeah well Markus said later on he regrets saying it because now for the rest of his life we'll always bring it up to him have fun with him reminding him about it *laugh*.

TW: Hey well it was great to talk to you once again. By the way I don't know if you know this but I am going to play 3 hours of Helloween on Halloween night. Also I run a Helloween site...."Where The Rain Grows" and it got listed into Metal Edge magazine and it gets over 400 hits a day.....also I run a message board called "Don't Spit On My Mind"......

AD: Ahhhh so YOU ARE THE ONE! *laugh* Weiki told me about it and now I remember you. I'll have to come check it out then. Say Hello to everyone on the board and to the fans and tell the fans thanks for giving you some questions. Hope to see you on the board sometime, and I hope we talk again soon and make it to the USA.  (C)M.A.P.A.R.DO NOT USE WITHOUT MY EXPRESSED PERMISSION

Andi Deris Interview: 8-04-1999

This is an interview with Andi just done on 8/4/99. Andi talks at the end about a possible US tour.....his solo album, the covers record and more!

Tony Webster: The first question I am going to ask you is.....what is your new solo album called and how did it turn out?

Andi Deris: Well the name of the album is łDone By Mirrors˛ on purpose because its really done by mirrors. Everything you would think is natural played is really computerized some of the stuff that sounds computerized is really played naturally with weird drums and stuff like that. We twisted it and bounced it left and right and really had a lot of fun with it. Later on even the Helloween producer was asking - Whoa!! What drum kit were you using on this certain ten seconds- and I was like...No its no drum kit!. The album is a mixture of nowadays techniques with the old analog recordings. Which is fun to listen to because you really donąt realize what is the new and what is the old stuff. The mix was done great and we used a lot of cool effects which were just made possible in the last 3 or 4 months. These new digital workstations just came out and I was happy to be one of the first ones to get one delivered to me from the USA. So I checked it out and had a lot of fun with it and that is what you will hear on my newest solo album.

Tony Webster: So when do you plan on having the album out?

Andi Deris: Well as always the Japanese people are the masters of release because simply in Japan the CD is like 3 1/2 times more expensive than the rest of the world. Which is fair enough to favor the Japanese market a bit because you can imagine they are very scared of imports from other countries. If you did a release worldwide at the same time everyone in Japan would order the album from another country and not Japan. This is why they have bonus tracks as well. So we need to take care of them, I would say it will be out in November. I also hope to have the album out everywhere else before Christmas!

Tony Webster: I hope you will have it out!

Andi Deris I try hard! hahahaha 

Tony Webster: So what musicians did you have on it? I remember you telling me a couple weeks ago you have the same band with the exception of the guitar player and that you played all the guitars on it?

Andi Deris: Well I mean I started out as a guitarist so when I was 16 or 17 and sitting in rehearsal with my first band called Paranoid, nobody was having the balls to sing because everyone felt so embarrassed. Well back in these days nobody was willing to sing so I was stupid enough to somehow take the microphone and shout, yell and scream these days as you can imagine it sounded like shit! hahahaha Strangely I got better and the guitarist and drummer of the band told me to not play guitar since my singing sounded better than the way I played guitar so I was very very very....well shocked because I wanted to be a guitarist and I had never planned to sing. These were the beginning days and I was just getting used to the fact that people wanted me to be a singer. So later on I would pick up the guitar for fun and when there was a song where you needed a couple guitar parts here and there like an acoustic or overdub guitar. I play on stage these parts of the songs with a guitar, like in Where The Rain Grows or something. Nowadays I am used to standing on stage as a singer but I swear to God I never felt and I don't feel nowadays like a lead singer, I am doing the job and I love what I do but the main thing is the music thing and I would be happy as hell to have a guitar as well.

Tony Webster: So what did you write a lot of the songs about, because I remember on the first album you had songs like 1000 Years Away which were stories that happened.

Andi Deris: Yes these are stories that happened here in my hometown of Germany. 1000 Years Away for example was a neighborhood kid. Maybe you cant imagine I come from a little little village in south Germany with like 3000 people. 70 Kilometers away from the French border so you know where we are here next to the river Rhine. Its a nice area here, but its a 3000 people village but the neighbors don't give a shit what the next guy does. It was a bit scary to see or watch and nobody had the balls to stand up and say: Hey you probably don't know what you are doing with your kid, but he is not very happy. I mean when you try and deal with alcoholics you canąt deal with them. Its impossible to deal with alcoholics, and that was a hard story then when the kid committed suicide everyone was waking up to these things.

Tony Webster: So how has the songwriting for Helloween going, have you come up with some new song ideas?

Andi Deris: Well Shit!! Yes a lot! It is pretty normal when you have just finished another album like a solo album, you have a dozen or even more ideas which you would not put on your solo album because they are a sort of thrashy or metalish speed type stuff that can be used for Helloween and I just keep this stuff for the next Helloween album, I play it to the guys and if they are a fan of it and we do it. We are all writing though. Uli always has some great stuff, and he is a workaholic!! Weiki is more or less the internet maniac, he is an internet lunatic. Uli is definitely a workaholic, he comes up with ideas like 2 weeks after the last record, he already has songs for the next record! hahahahaha. So we tell him we should tour before we worry about another album, hahahaha.

Tony Webster: I am interested to know on your newest album Metal Jukebox how in the hell you did all the noises on Hocus Pocus without laughing.

Andi Deris: Well did laugh, I mean there in the studio the guy normally doing it is in another room anyway. So behind the glass and window there were 4 or 5 idiots laughing themselves to the floor. We had no energy in it, we just laughed and laughed and laughed, and Uli the poor guy did all the Mickey Mouse noises on the song. Well the most stupid odd sounding stuff is done by Uli *laughs*. Its unbelievable! 

Tony Webster: So did everyone do weird stuff on there? 

Andi Deris: Its just Uli and myself but the most crazy sounding stuff is done by Uli.

Tony Webster: I can just imagine trying to do it and I would start laughing. 

Andi Deris: Heheheheheh well we all laughed but for Uli this aww aww aww! shit was only the pilot track or demo track for the album so when I listened to him do these crazy sounds and I just decided to keep what Uli did. I could not do it any better, I mean there was no way anyone could have done it better so I just decided to sing the serious stuff Uli didnąt do if you can actually call that serious on Hocus Pocus *laughs*. Anyway so all of this HA HAAAAA HAAAAAAA!! shit is what I did and I left what Uli had done alone.

Tony Webster: So why did you decide to release this covers album and do you think it was a good idea?

Andi Deris: It does not really matter if it was a good idea or a bad one, it was a decision that we release either a best of 15 year anniversary Helloween album, or do something special for ourselves and the fans. Honestly I do not think its good to go with the 3rd best-of Helloween album and I think doing that would be stupid. The common opinion of doing a best of was that it was a pain in the ass. The idea of releasing songs we already had done in the past we did not like and most people who are fans of us already have these songs anyway so it would be ripping people off we thought. Like reselling our old material or something. So with the covers album, we have had this idea for a long time and we actually wanted to have a cover CD with an album like Better Than Raw, and this was an idea we came up with 2 or 3 years ago, and then when the idea came up about doing a 15 year celebration of Helloween we decided to do covers of songs that first inspired us to get into music. 

Tony Webster: You picked a lot of songs that werenąt metal songs, like you didnąt pick any Priest or Maiden or typical shit that most people in a metal band could cover.

Andi Deris: Well it was the beginning of that whole metal scene, and these days people call these songs rock and hard rock, I think it was only a matter of sound during the late 60s and through the 70s. Later on during the 80s they called other stuff after this Heavy Metal so here we are.....you had hard rock change its sound and turn more brutal and/or distorted. It was the same music but a different sound, so when you do cover songs of 60s and 70s songs you realize its the same music but you need to play it with nowadays sound or 80s sound and suddenly you have a good metal album. You cannot do it with all of the songs, there are about 3 songs we did that you could not change into a metal song...like Something by the Beatles or Space Oddity by David Bowie because you simply would destroy the whole song. We tried to metalize it or put in thrashy things but it killed it. The only thing we did differently was that we did not smoke any drug shit in our brains so you can listen to our versions without using drugs, and for the original songs you should not listen to them without using drugs! hahahahahaha!

Tony Webster: Now when are you guys planning on going into the studio and recording the next album?

Andi Deris: We could go into the studio and record in October, November, or even after Christmas. It depends on how much work we are going to do in the rehearsal room, or if we do songwriting in the studio. So if we song write in the rehearsal room as well we will also song write in the studio and be in there much earlier. There are two sides to production, Better Than Raw was more or less studio work and Master Of The Rings was more rehearsal work. There are two comparisons.....Master of The Rings sounds more Live and Better Than Raw sounds more produced. Then the question is where you want to go and this is answered by the songs themselves, if you listen to the ideas  you first come up with you can decide on whether it is more rehearsal work or more production work depending on the song ideas you have.

Tony Webster: Now Weiki was telling me you guys are looking or want to have a new producer for the next album.

Andi Deris Well it is more or less the first thing to not ever change a winning team which was the number one argument against a new producer. However, we are going into the year 2000 and I say that without panicking because it is a fact that a lot of things and possibilities are there both technical wise and studio wise. Tommy Hansen is a guy from the old school, in the 70s and 80s. Now it depends on if you want to go on with old school Helloween. Do another 5 albums sounding exactly like the keepers or Time Of The Oath stuff then you should go with Tommy. I think however the band is ready to go a step further to bring a more brutal sound here and there without destroying the whole Helloween sound it can work and I know it can work but you need
fresh blood and a modern day producer.

Tony Webster: My last question is what do you have to say to the fans? 

Andi Deris Well to the US fans, I would like to say that the majority does not even know me because I was not in the band when Helloween was touring the states. I have only had the pleasure of playing in the USA 2 times. Once with Pink Cream and the other with Helloween Dec 20th 1999, which was great! I say thanks for waiting even if I am not the one who should be saying these words *laughs* but thanks anyway! We will definitely be back next year I hope on a longer tour. Sounds like 11 months on the road for us and we want to come to the USA....the world is BIIIIIIIG hahahahahaha. I definitely want to see new cities and the USA is definitely worth touring in and worth the time.

Andi Deris Interview: 8-14-2000

Andi and I did this interview and this is probably the best interview I have ever done or seen with him period. A lot of the things he has to say in this one are thought provoking, honest and very interesting.. Check it out.

Tony Webster: So how does this new album "The Dark Ride" differ from previous Helloween works?

Andi Deris: Well it is definitely a lot darker sounding. You know there are bands in America for example that use a lot of down tuned guitars and have a darker sound. Now we use these types of sounds in our new album but we dont use the music. I would say this new album is a combination of Keeper era Helloween and a combination of new sounds such as down tuned guitars. The themes in the songs are also pretty dark sounding. This album is just Helloween evolving as it always has. We have a single so far coming out in a month or so called "If I Could Fly" which is for Europe and Japan and a single for "Mirror Mirror on The Wall" for the USA possible and a video for If I Could Fly for Europe and Japan so far. We picked Mirror Mirror for the USA since we feel most people would relate to it better than in Europe. If it has success we will release If I Could Fly possibly too. Or at the end of the day if the single for If I Could Fly has success we could release Mirror Mirror over there too. We just don't know. 

Tony Webster: How far along is the album, is it being finished?

Andi Deris: It is basically done, right now it is being mastered but the recording, and mixing is all done for it. So far the production for it just sounds absolutely excellent!!

Tony Webster: Why did you pick Roy Z and Charlie to produce this record?

Andi Deris: Well because they are both very good producers and we decided to change producers because Tommy Hansen was not doing the job we have wanted him to do so we made a change and this change worked out very well. Charlie is a guy who is very good with electronics and knows a lot of systems pretty well and Roy is also a great producer as you know from the Bruce Dickinson and Halford albums.... so we decided to take them both for this album. I am quite happy with it so when the mastering is done I will hear the final tapes and see for myself.

Tony Webster: Now you play guitar and would you ever think of playing some guitar parts on a Helloween album?

Andi Deris: Well mainly that's Weiki's and Roland's job but if there is a small part that's much easier and faster say for example on a song I wrote then why not play it? I'm sure I could play a guitar solo....that would be interesting if the guys were up for it. Or maybe have a song with Roland singing and me and Weiki playing guitar. Who knows. ...if it sounds good why not do it. We haven't really done this on an actual album since we have had no need for it and at the end of the day we probably wont but the possibility is always there.

Tony Webster: Will you tour the states in support of this album?

Andi Deris: Most definitely we will probably come over there this time for the new album. Maybe a 2 or 3 month tour......as far as headlining goes....I do not know. However we are going to try and schedule stuff for the states. We are going to be doing a lot of promo for the upcoming album in the USA so we want to make it over to the states hopefully. Its all a business thing you see.....we may have to play with a band that brings in a lot of people.... and at the end of the day its very expensive to bring all of the equipment itself over, and have the busses and all of that. We aren't swimming in money...we do not drive Ferrari's and we are not the type of band blowing thousands of dollars doing drugs and partying 24 hours a day. We aren't like that. We all just try and
live solid lives while doing what we like to do, and what we love is music.

Tony Webster: Are your solo albums going to be issued in the USA sometime? Also you did a duet with Ralph Mason....does he do anything else musically?

Andi Deris: I hope sometime they are released over there however I don't know really. Ralph and I have known each other for years....he would do more stuff in music if he had time but he runs a music school in Germany with about 400 people attending it so he has a lot of time taken up by that.

Tony Webster: Now were you involved with a German band called Jail?

Andi Deris: Yeah they were a band from south Germany and I did a lot of vocals on the album, mostly just backing vocals and at times it sounds like me and other times it doesn't sound like me. Its more or less just hard rock music really and its pretty good overall really.

Tony Webster: Your new solo album Done By Mirrors I think has a much better production on it than the previous album Come In From The Rain. It also had a Modern/70s feel to it. 

Andi Deris: Well its weird....some critics gave this album a 10 out of 10 others gave it a 2 out of 10. Its done better than the last solo album but some record companies don't give a shit sometimes about solo projects. In Japan for instance they do since side projects usually sell pretty well over there. Everywhere else they do ok but it could be a lot better. Sound wise I did not want this album to sound the same like every hard rock album does....you know? Like making music that sounds like it came out 15 years ago that I have in my Cd collection already. So I decided to add some new sounds sound wise to Done by Mirrors and some people love it and hate it and that always happens when we put some things in a genre of music that normally doesn't have all of these sounds in it. There are some Fusion/Hard Rock and even some Hip Hop beat sounds in it. Overall its a combination of a lot of things and people generally do not despond as well to stuff like this if they are used to you doing other things. Many of the sounds on the album are pretty music done with real instruments and computers. You know a lot of these sounds aren't normally found in hard rock albums so I added them. These hip hop guys for example....they get a lot of money to go into the studio to do their production and they don't have to worry about a touring band and such, they just go onstage themselves playing back the music they produced in the studio. Well a rock band has to tour, has to have all this equipment etc which also costs a shitload of money. So at the end of the day when I am doing my solo stuff I don't have a deadline or anything so I told the record companies that they can release this stuff when I am finished with it.

Tony Webster: The songwriting credits on this upcoming Helloween album "The Dark Ride" 

Andi Deris: Well it would always be an idea to put a co-writer in if you did not have the time to write your own complete songs on the album. At the end of the day and you have so many great ideas on the table that you don't need any co-writers in the sense of a guy coming in with new verses in the songs and you just use the parts that you have you don't have to have a co-writer and it is a lot of extra stress for a band. If you have a band that depends on a lot of other songwriters I have to ask is this really a band and we are capable of writing songs ourselves so most of us did write our own songs. Yeah we all played on each other's songs but we all put a lot of work into each other's songs but the original song ideas and songs themselves pretty much were done by the person who write them so we decided to just use the one name in the song credit of the person who write the song instead.

Tony Webster: What is your opinion on internet promotion and....I wanted to know what your opinion is on the whole Napster situation and the fact they are being sued. Do you think sound files like MP3s should be available from a place like Napster and do you think it hurts or helps the music industry?

Andi Deris: That's a hard question...on the other hand I can imagine it helps a lot of bands. Nowhere else do you have a chance to hear a huge amount of bands all over the world and if you are a music addicted guy....then you can have a chance to know every band that plays music. I can also imagine if someone downloads a song on Napster....and or example say it is a Helloween song and they think the song is great, the majority of people will probably buy the album simply because they love the album....at least I do because I see myself as a normal person who sooner or later would find myself in a record store looking to buy a Helloween album I don't see Napster forcing sales for bands to go down, I think it helps promote them. Maybe the bands who only have one good song on the album or two good songs on the album could suffer....but then again maybe this would force bands to actually write an entire album with good songs and not filler material. You can twist and turn it and the record companies could say that you could download a whole album and you wont sell shit. This could be true but as long as nobody comes up and proves the opposite of what people against Napster are saying I don't know what I should believe. I think buying the real thing will still be better than just having a sound file anyway. It depends as always....if we talk about the net.....the goodwill of the people at the end of the day. If shareware for example did not work...nobody would release a shareware computer program anymore. However, I still see a lot of people releasing shareware programs and rely on someone paying the the 10 or 20 bucks for the shareware and so far it works doesn't it? The same thing goes for the internet and the people and if they have knowledge of what they are doing and who they are damaging by not paying....then I could see it work. If people shit on it and don't pay 10 cents for it then we have a problem. Overall the internet thing must be a good thing....we have to realize that this is the first global connecting thing we have ever had and the whole world is more or less united in the internet. A guy on the other side of the world can reach anyone who has a connection to the internet. This gives us strength as mankind but also gives us a lot of responsibility to learn what it is about and if people are ready for the internet they automatically honor good things they use. If the people are not ready for a global thing then "Houston! We have a problem!" hahahaha. I really think people should have the possibility to download whatever they want whether its a sound file or an expensive computer program. You always have to look at something from both sides. The user should have the responsibility to pay when he/she used a program or likes it. On the other side we all have paid a shitload of money on stupid programs that we don't even use because they are crap. Downstairs I have probably 10,000 dollars worth of software I don't use because promotion for these programs at the end of the day said these programs had all of these things and they ended up not having these things and I wasted all this money on shitty programs. If people all over the world could download any software check it out and then say its great then they can pay for it once they know it works. If everyone had responsibility we would have all of the freedom to play around and download whatever we want and at the end of the day all of the musicians who produce the music and people who write the programs they know when the people like it they automatically get their money for it.

Tony Webster: These record companies could find out where people download from and if there is a market in another country for music then maybe they could find out and get distribution over there you know?

Andi Deris: Yeah that's true...on the other hand why should they set up a distribution system where the CD is too expensive and this guy could just download the songs for free. I don't know...maybe I am living in a dream world. I think everyone who enjoys something would like to pay for it. That's what I think and what I do. I always did do this.....even when I go back when we all copied vinyl and CDS onto a tape and you had a best of I don't know how many albums on your tape.....sooner or later though you found yourself in the record store and then you remember "Isn't that band on the tape I like to listen to?" and you buy an album by the band....it was maybe the next album but you still bought one and you would never have bought it unless you heard the music and didn't fall in love with the music on your copied cassette. At the end of the day a good band will get something from it I think. 

Tony Webster: During the recording process for The Dark Ride what was the most exciting thing for you during it?

Andi Deris: Being able to get out of the studio after a hard day's work and going down to relax in the sun or go to the beach was great. That makes it so relaxing that you dont realize you are working on an album. At the end of the day its not much work if you can relax like this in between sessions. That's why in earlier days with Pink Cream we always wanted to record in the Bahamas...but we never did. Here on the Canary islands its pretty much the same as the Bahamas. For the first time I felt a dream come true....because I had the chance to take breaks because I didn't produce this one!
Hahahaha.

Tony Webster: Why did you leave Pink Cream 69 and I heard an interview by a member of that band saying you just left the band and didn't tell anyone....is that true?

Andi Deris: Well that's not quite true. I yelled and cried and did everything for about 2 years and at the end of the day I said "That's it!". It was another thing we had an interview with MTV and this was the last interview I did as a member of that band. On the drive back home I had a conversation with members of that band in the car....that discussion disappointed me so much I decided to leave the band after thinking about it after about 1 1/2 years. So I asked myself should I eat this shit and stay in the band or be a slave to some ignorant idiots or just say ok...that's it even if I don't have the money tomorrow. Then about 5 days later Weiki was giving me a call as if he would have smelled it!! Hahahaha. So he asked if we could meet up in Hamburg and Markus called me 2 hours later asking me to join Helloween and that they wanted to have a discussion with me to join the band and that they didn't want to go on with their old singer...blah blah blah. They didn't know I made a decision to not go on with Pink Cream since I didn't tell anyone and it was just a coincidence. So I went to Hamburg and had a discussion with the band and they told me what was going on and then I told them I didn't want to go on with Pink Cream anymore. I also have known Weiki and Markus for years before I joined the band which made it easier to join Helloween since I already knew two people really well. Every time we would record a new album with Pink Cream I would always be meeting Weiki and Markus for a drink every night and shit.

Tony Webster: Has the band ever thought about releasing a video worldwide with all of the band's videos and some documentary stuff about the band as well?

Andi Deris: I can imagine such a thing would come out in America as soon as there is more success there.....at the moment we have to face the truth that we are pretty much nobody in America. Now in Asia and Europe and South America we get a great response so something like that would get released over there....we have to wait until a lot of people are interested and showing interest in the band. The business side is the reason record companies put stuff like this out

Tony Webster: Many people want to know if you guys would ever release a CD with all of the B-sides and stuff.

Andi Deris: Sooner or later we will do so....we put an extra CD of b-sides on the Master Of The Rings album for example. So who knows....when the time is right we will do it. 

Tony Webster: Is your natural hair color blonde or dark?

Andi Deris: Its actually that blondish brown type thing....like a street dog! hahaha Its something odd...my hair color doesn't know what it is....is it blonde or brown? Sometimes if I feel more blonde I dye it blonde! When we got back from the Time Of The Oath Tour my hair was so fucked up man. The lighting dried it out so bad when I would comb my hair it would break off so I decided not to color it blonde anymore.

Tony Webster: Is there a good/evil or an opposites theme in Done By Mirrors?

Andi Deris: This is the oldest game in the world isn't it....it goes like this lyric wise through the album itself. I always ask myself all the time if what I see on the television and what people tell me is going on in the world if it actually happens or is made up to make us calm or there is something else behind it. Certain things sometimes to me seem to be shown because a few guys in the world want it shown and other things they do not want to show or what they want to make us believe. Thats a paranoia of mine at the end of the day and as long as nobody proves the opposite to me, I still think a lot of things work exactly like that.

Tony Webster: How did Metal Jukebox do? Not many people talk about it.

Andi Deris: The sales are ok and are exactly what we expected. As you know we originally wanted to do a best of album and this album sold the same amount as a best of album. We released this covers album with the expectation of "best of" type album sales...it surpassed these figures but not to the amount to make me go "WOW!" . It did more for us than just a stupid best of album. 

Tony Webster: Your lyric writing is interest ding and you like to write about a lot of stuff that happens in real life.

Andi Deris: Its more or less things behind it I am interested in. Some things that happen don't know happen to me but they happen to other people and at the end of the day we share the same fate as others and maybe some people are happier than others....at the end of the day we are all trying to lead a good life and we all have the same fears, laughs, etc. I don't see us that much apart feeling wise and if we don't talk about perverted idiots we all pretty much want the same in life. This is the theme I am trying to work around and when something does happen I try to ask why it happens or what does this guy feel like now or what is the solution now and what is the moral of the story now? Or if you live with the experience what could happen? For me the more questions you answer the more questions I have! hahahaha!! Its a never-ending story actually and even goes into little philosophical things.....little questions we want answers to or options to questions...it could be that way or could be this way. For me its always a help or always interesting if someone offers another question, answer or possibility. In life there are philosophical things everywhere and you shouldn't have to avoid it and you really cant avoid it anyway. I mean asking questions like where do we come from, or about the guy who made us, if someone made us...who made him? hahahaha. And so on!! or are we just a little bubble in a lake somewhere in another dimension and when the heat comes our universe dries out and we are wiped away. You never know heheheheh. So all possibilities are open. Its interesting to think about. I'm not the one taking books from Plato or anyone, but these are all little things that these guys went through and actually everyone goes through during life. We are living in our physical laws on a planet called Earth and I am quite sure the 3 dimensions we know isn't everything. Scientists are more or less proving it but so far as a human being we only live and see 3 dimensions. If scientists prove there is a 4th or 5th like Einstein told us about so many years ago. But he died so we don't know and he didn't explain anything to us. There are the field theories he had that he didn't explain before he died so we don't know if his formulas work and if they can be proven since he didn't explain them to us. There are probably at least one or more dimensions we don't know of or use in our universe. This is the interesting shit. If you put these things in rock music people would hate it....but if you dress these things in certain lyrics people like it. Rock music is the only type of music that seems to be able to go into these metaphoric things. 

Tony Webster: Why did you pick NuclearBlast in Europe and do you have a US record deal.

Andi Deris: They were the best choice for Helloween and there were great people there. The main thing for me with Nuclear Blast is that they are rock fans. They do it because they like the music and they really understand and like Helloween. They don't just look at the business side of things. I would rather have guys who are rock fans than some asshole who says "Fuck the band, what are the sales....who is that? They got long hair? This is the band I just signed? Ahhhh these guys are Helloween? Didn't know they had long hair otherwise I wouldn't have signed them!!" I hate that shit man hahahaha. For the USA we don't know yet we are still working on the new company for us....it could be Nuclear Blast in the USA, BMG....I don't know because we haven't worked anything out yet.

Tony Webster: Some people want to know if you will headline for the next tour?

Andi Deris: Well in the main countries we tour in such as South America, Japan, Asia, and Europe we will definitely headline. In the USA I cant say like I said before. If it would work like it did during the New York show December 20th 1998....then I would love to headline the show myself but the country is so big we don't know what is big and where. If they do a good promo job for the states....then we will know what to expect and wont run into finacial chaos!. 

Tony Webster: What was your involvement with the Ayeron project?

Andi Deris: Yeah that guy is the ex guitar player of a band called Vengeance and the other guitar player is a guy named Oscar who mixed the Metal Jukebox record so this Ayeron guy visited his ex guitarist in the studio and they are good friends so Ayeron and I had a little talk and then he asked if I would like to sing on his record. Its good stuff and great work.