rozhovor_2015-07-17_Powerwolf_en - HELLMAGAZINE

German band Powerwolf doesn´t need to be introduced. After great success that came with previous album “Preachers of the Night” time has come for another album released this summer – “Blessed and Possessed”. This was obviously great reason to talk with one of the brains of the band – guitar player Matthew Greywolf with few words added from organ player Falk Maria Schlegel. What came out of this conversation is here for you to read!

You are releasing new album called „Blessed and Possessed“. How can you describe the album as a piece of music?

Well, I think it is very typical Powerwolf album. Over the years we developed our very distingue trademark and if I have to tell the Powerwolf fan what the album is, it is typical and strong Powerwolf album with a lot of songs that are definitely going to be played live. Songs are pretty catchy and compact I think and as well I think we´ve managed to write more dynamic songs. They are more dynamic and energetic than songs from previous albums.

You already released two songs – Armata Strigoi and Army of the Night with pretty big success. What are you saying on success those songs gets from the fans?

Well, there are two sides to be thinking about success. First of all, as an artist, the moment you write the songs, you may not think about success and reactions it gets. As creating artist it cannot go together with thinking of success of art or product, if you want. But of course reactions of our fans are very important to us. In the end the fans make the band what a band is. To me the most important is the reaction I get on the live shows. I don´t care much about comments on songs on the internet. To me the most honest moment in playing music and getting reaction is the live situation definitely. The most important moment after releasing an album is when we play new songs live for the first time and when I see reactions on live performance of the new pieces - that´s the moment of truth.

The second named song – Army of the Night – had two different versions released. There was two versions of chorus in the song. What happened? Can you reveal us story of the chorus thing? Would there be two versions of song?

Well, that was actually a mistake. (Laugh) There was a version released which was not final one. We´ve been working on this song until the end of the production and I don´t know where it happened that it was non-final version that was posted. We realized that after few days because we obviously did not listened to the song when it was posted because … well … we know the song. It was just accident that it was non-final version being spread on the internet. We were like “Please, stop it!” So to answer the question – no, there is no two versions. What we released, it was just mistake. Final version is the one with video released.

Fun thing is that from what I saw on discussions many people liked non-final version more. I don´t know why … What do you think about this?

Well, it´s the matter of taste. As I said, we´ve been working on this song until the end of production and it shows there´ve been discussions over melodies and sound in band as well, which is natural and you get very different ideas from everyone. Some people like one melodies, some others. In the end you have to make an artistic decision.

So as we mentioned, you released music video for Army of the Night. Are you planning to do some more of those music videos?

No.

No …

No … (Laugh both of them) It´s simple answer. We are doing one clip for the album and that´s enough. It´s not actually the thing we enjoy the most. It´s OK that we do one video but then we want to skip and go play live.

You are releasing bonus CD with album called “Metallum Nostrum” which are cover versions of well-known songs. How did you enjoy recordings of all those songs?

It was fun project to do. We had this in mind for many years and this time it was like either we do it now or we would never do it. We had a lot of fun doing this because the idea behind the album is not to play cover versions of big metal hits but instead the idea is to pay tribute to the bands that have influenced us on our way. I don´t even mean the way as a past few years but I mean our old days. For example there is cover version of the German band CHROMING ROSE which has been disbanded in 90´s already. It was the band that inspired me when I started to play the guitar in the age of 12. It was just fun to cover those songs in the way how Powerwolf sounds.
Falk: Yeah, for me it was SAVATAGE. Even though I prefer Zachary Stevens era of Savatage it was real fun to play their piano stuff on the organ. We did this like a fans, you know?!

Promotion of the album live – on tour – is (for now) for German speaking countries and Belgium with France. What about Eastern regions of Europe? Would there be another tour leg?

Yes, there would be another tour. I am not allowed to talk about it yet but there would be some tour dates added. And, just maybe, there will be Eastern Europe as well. (Evil laugh)

You got to delay the releasing of the album for one week. Why this happened?

To be honest I don´t know. (Laugh) It´s some production thing in manufacturing of the special editions but it is something you are not involved into as an artist. I don´t exactly know what sort of problem comes out but we just can´t deliver finished product until the 10th July so we decided to postpone it for one week because I don´t want our fans to be in record stores and don´t find the album.

You are coming with few special editions as you mentioned. Who is coming with the ideas what to put into those packages? There is wooden box, chalice …

Well, in some of those special editions, it was our idea like that wooden box and chalice. We spent a lot of time elaborating about this chalice because we are not the band that just doesn´t care. I think that thanks to that we´ve been real pain in the ass of the record company. When it comes to designing this chalice we wanted these special stuff to be really worthy and something worth money not just some cheap gimmick or something. But as well, there are some special versions like several mail orders get several colors of disc and stuff like that. That is beyond our influence.

Previous tour for “Preachers of the Night” was pretty massive. It was actually biggest one you did before. How do you like touring in this big measure?

Well, we love it. (Laugh) It is the reason why we made the band. For us playing live is the most important part in Powerwolf and I think it should be the most important part for any metal band because it is the most honest situation. When you are on stage as a band you just can´t hide anything. People realize if you are really passionate about what you do, if you really love to deliver the music you deliver. We already can´t wait to get back on tour. We had brake of nine months when we wrote and produced “Blessed and Possessed” and we already feel like the rat in the cage so we are very happy that live season is starting again.  We are looking forward to first festival appearances and we can´t wait to tour to start in September.

Big touring have its positives but also its negatives. What don´t you like on touring big?

Well, there´s not much I don´t like about touring. Maybe one thing that can be hard on some of the base is waiting. Simple as it sounds on tour you got to wait and you got to wait a lot. You have to wait for opening the venue, you have to wait on road, you have to wait for soundcheck to start. Because of that I am really glad that we are not just the band but we are good friends as well. This way touring always feel like being on road with good friends.

Waiting means a lot of free time. Even when you are not touring, there has to be some free time. How do you like to spend it?

Well, we technically don´t have much free time. We always been “Do it yourself” band and we still are. There is much more than just writing music and performing music live. For example I am doing all the visual stuff in the band like the merchandise, like the artworks, layouts and Falk is the one coordinating our life, shows and everything so if I have to think about free time, I would have to think about when it was the last time I had some free time. Because we don´t have it. On tour sometimes I sometimes have some, definitely, but it takes a lot of time to prepare for the show at night. The afternoon before the show feels like the ritual going. Putting on the make-up, getting in the mood for the show. All of that belongs to the show, it´s not just those two hours you actually spend on stage. The process of playing the show for me starts already in the afternoon.

Most of your ideas, most of your songs come out of the Bible and Christianity.  But it is not without the end and sometimes, you come to an end. Are you thinking about using other “holy books” as an inspiration?

No, this has a simple reason – I don´t know much about it. You know, we write a lot of lyrics about religion and we all know that religion is very difficult topic to write about. So the reason why we write about Christianity and Catholicism in specific is that this is the religion we know the best. I would never dare to write about Islam or Buddhism or anything because I just know too little about it. Writing about the religion, you really have to know what to write, what not to write and you definitely got to know when you cross the line. To us it´s very important not to hurt any religious feelings and to make it clear we are not religious band. We are band writing about religion but we don´t deliver any kind of religious message. It´s very important to us. I could not guarantee that I don´t cross the line when writing about Buddhism for example because I just don´t know enough about it so I don´t dare to write about it.

You played tons of concerts all around the world. What was your best and worst concert experience?

One of the best for me was definitely Summer Breeze 2013. It was just special. Summer Breeze is the festival that is really connected to the history of Powerwolf because we played our very first show in Summer Breeze 2005 (I think) and it was an opening concert at 10 o´clock in the morning. On Summer Breeze 2013 we came as co-headliner in prime time playing in front of 20,000 people. Goosebumps were all over me and it was definitely the moment I would remember for the rest of my life.

Worst show is very hard to choose because sometimes shows that look like chaotic turn around in very special way. When I look back on a tour we did like 10 years ago I would never remember perfect shows but I would always remember those shows where something went wrong. It is maybe some certain kind of humor but sometimes the shows that go wrong are the ones you talk about 10 years later.

Metal music is sharing motto with rock´n´roll and it always is about “Sex, Drugs and Rock´n´Roll”. What is the best and worst alcohol you drank?

That should be question for Falk … Falk … FALK! Falk felt asleep. (Falk mumbling and asking about question)

Falk: That was on Sabaton tour somewhere in Czech Republic. It was very spicy yet tasty … Palinka, Palicka or something like that. But to be honest I prefer local beer because I got my beer at home that I know already and I am always looking for good beer in the evening.
And the worst …

Matthew: That was not long ago, we played in Switzerland and Roel was bringing some very cheap Uzo to the bus. (Both laughing) It was pretty bad. (Still laughing) He bought it for 5€ and we just have to stop at Gas station to buy new drink. But this was really bad experience.

Added:Samuel Sámel
Added: 17.07.2015
Photo: Andrea Boksová & Band archive