Published by : rafabasa.emisiondigital.com/index.html
( audio interview Eric & Karl / video interview
Joey ).
Interviewer : Rafa basa
Published on : April , 2002
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Download the interviews here :
http://www.emisiondigital.com/especiales/manowar/entrevista100.asf audio interview Eric & Karl http://www.emisiondigital.com/especiales/manowar/vid100.asf video - interview Joey
At first congratulations for your new
album, this is a really great job, and there are many different
songs, very fast songs, very hard songs, and songs very emotional
songs.
Why have you made the album this way?
Eric: Well we try to make every album with some fast songs,
anthem songs, right from the first album to now, but in this
album we have the personnel to do this , anyway we didn't plan to
make the album exactly this way, sometimes the songs take their
time and sometimes they just come, this is what has happened in
this album. Fight for Freedom, Warriors Of the World, Nessun
Dorma after all, is like a symphonic metal music taken to its
limits, something that the rest of the bands haven't done ever.
You have made another anthem song with Warriors Of the World,
a great song to play live to make the people sing, How do you get
this anthems?
Eric: how do we get the anthems? (laughs) I think they just
come, there's no words to describe magic in the studio...you
know, on each song we try to include the fans as much as we can
because they are the greatest fans in the world and Warriors Of
the World means every fan in the world together again.
Karl: An anthem is an statement from the band, you know someone
can writte about flowers..or.. you know but, you say What do that
do for my life?, so you know an anthem is an statement about what
you feel in your life, and Warriors Of the World is the word to
feel this.
I like a lot the album but I don't understand things like that
kind of patrioticism about "An American Trilogy", maybe
that patrioticism is understand in the USA, but maybe in another
countries not so much...
Eric: We made An American Trilogy really for a tribute to
Elvis Prestley, 25 anniversary of his death you know he's the
king of Rock'nRoll, he was the one who was against the normal
maners of the society, he lived great metal days, riding Harlyes,
girls... in a word Metal Life!
Karl: Is not like patrioticism, this song is for everyone who
feels able to brake the laws, I mean make something diferent you
know, but it's not an anthem to a patrioticism. I think in Europe
can be a meaning mistake between patrioticism and nationalism,
but in the end this song it's a tribute to Elvis the King of
R'n'R and everyone who lives in a rock or metal live!
The most important thing is Metal, of course Metal is our
religion too so no problem with this
Eric,Karl: Hehehe Great!! Thx!
We know that a promotional recording has been delivered to the
media. Just one thing about it, Why that order ? I mean the songs
order. We've realised that one side of the cassette contains all
the "slow" songs and the other, the heaviest ones in
the other, any particular reason for it?? And will that be the
final order in the CD??
Karl: As Joey explained, he arranged the songs in that order
so it had a special meaning, as if the songs told us a story. You
know a slow beginning and then finishing with power and strength.
It is surprising, and very risking isn't it?
Eric: Is like a live show, you begin slowly and then you get
faster in order the show continue... to get more feeling you know...
it's getting harder and faster with power and steel "bang
bang bang bang!!" to the end...and then "good night!!"
(laughs) I think it's cool and it is the manowar way
"Call to arms" reminds me to songs like "Into
glory Ride", "Hail and Kill", are you agree with
me?
Eric: Yeah I'm agree with you why not, in our WebSite The
fans gives their opinion about the songs..., so great part of
them prefered to listen a new manowar epic job reminding old
times, but basically we've made what the fans like to hear about
us
Will you let the fans to go on stage to swimming to the
audience during "House of Death"? It's the fastest song!
Eric: (laughs) It's cool but too hard at the same time, every
time with the fans are special times for us! And I'd jump out the
stage if after that I'm still alive (laughs)
Karl: (laughs) Well, If nobody breaks my fingers and if I can
continue playing the song solos...yeah! (laughs) But you know the
"securiy" rules in those cases
Eric: It's a Manowar way living, to invite them to do that, but
you don't know what's gonna happen in live so it's always a very
special event!
Well I was joking the fact is that "House of Death"
is a brutal Speed Metal song!
Eric: yes, it's very very fast, yeah we love that, to make
fast tracks you know
"Fight for Freedom" reminds me to "Queen"!
What's your opinion?
Eric Karl: Really? It's fun!!
Karl: When we started to make this song, it was a song full of
power and speed but we decided to make it a bit slower, and the
result of this was just powerful and better than the first
thoughts for this song
Obviusly the thypical Manowar ballad "Swords in the Wind"
seems to be the second part of the well-known ballad "Master
of the Wind"
(Laughs) (Laughs)
Eric: Maybe you're right but it wasn't our intention, but what we
want to say on each song is that people make what they want,"
do not accept things or shit from the others and build up your
own life"
Karl: I can understand that, but people have to think that part
of songs, even Manowar songs we listen to... remind us to parts
of the new ones so it's inevitable, but it's fun to hear this.
Congratulations Eric for Nessun Dorma, it's a really great
interpretation of that song, What can you tell us about it?
Eric: A lot, you know it is like Pavarotti singing Manowar
songs (laughs) I'd to learn more exactly how to sing these kind
of songs. With this song we have to explain that Manowar plays
Heavy Metal but you'll think...a lot of bands play heavy metal
BUT Manowar goes on to the limits and the unique band who has the
balls to enter with new styles and get into this kind of things
like Nessun Dorma. It was like a challenge that finally ended
with a powerful and beauty crash that will make the fans feel
that kind of magic part.
What can you tell us about the tour? You will be playing at
the Lorca Festival, will you put an special stage design or
something like that?
Eric: We don't know exactly what's gonna happen yet, it's a
big surprise as all Manowar shows are (laughs)
Karl: It's like telling the end of a movie
Is there a special stage design
for this upcoming tour ?
Eric : Our stage that involves power, thats
metal, our stage has always been nothing but speakers, a wall of
speakers, a wall of power, and its always been plugged in,
nothing fake about it. I think that if you blow off explosions
and fire and bombs and dummies blowing off in the background, to
me that takes away from the talent of the band. If a fan buys a
ticket for the show, goes by train or whatever to the show, spend
their money, buy a t-shirt, they should see the band. Not that
they look to what happens in the background and dont see
the band anymore. To me, its a personal thing, to me its
more important that the people look to whats going on on
stage, because that is what true metal is all about. Whatever we
do in the studio, we do live, no bullshit, its all real, its
all true. Our stage set is just power, raw fuckin
power.
Are you gonna play live again some
forgotten songs from the past as a surprise for the fans ?
Eric : We always ask fans to write to our
website about which songs they want to hear live, and we remind
to that when it comes to make a set list again. We re
gonna try to include songs from every album, when you have 9 or
10 albums out there its very difficult to fit it in a show,
but were gonna do our damn best to make sure that everybody
hears what they wanna hear. The ones they vote for that are the
ones we are gonna play.
The Oath would be a great song to hear
live
.
Eric : ( laughs ) really ? thats one
we havent done in a long while
Karl : ( laughs ) Personally Im
looking forward to play the new songs as Im so sick of
playing Ross riffs ( laughs again ) I wanna play my own
songs.
Which songs from the new album will be
played live ?
Eric : ( laughs ) he wants me to give away
everything, doesnt he ? Ehm
we will probably do
Warriors of the World United, hahaha I cant tell you what
other songs will be there on the list and to be truthfully and
honest I dont even know what we are gonna do yet, its
a month away or longer, we havent really thought about it.
Karl : I dont think that there will
be a song from the new album that we definitely wont play.
I think every song has its possibility to be translated
live.
Eric : I guess its just what the fans
wanna hear.
The next questions are questions from
the people from the website :
What is your opinion about the fact that
people say that Manowar degrates women ?
Eric : Degrates ? Those people dont
know Manowar. Thats all I can say, because if they have
ever seen us with our ladies that come backstage with us all the
time, we treat them with the upmost respect. Like every man
should treat a lady with the upmost respect. If a girl comes up
on the stage and shows her tits to the crowd, thats her
business, we have nothing to do with that. Its the press
that has brought this on and people like for example in the
United States, where we hardly play, read this foreign news, and
jump on stage during a show and do the same thing, hey, thats
cool, its fun, but we dont degrate women in any way.
Karl : People dont realise, see there
is a cultural idea that women are not sexual creatures, that they
dont want to do things and have their own sexual power and
sometimes the girls who come on stage, we cannot stop them from
taking their clothes off. Look what happened on the video in
Brazil, where the girl took her clothes off and I could hardly
play my solo as she was rubbing me, we couldnt have stopped
her if we wanted to, so a lot of times people think we are
pushing the women to do this, but its just the women
themselves who feel sexual empowered at the show.
Eric : ( laughs ) Its a good thing.
Do you feel you are the pioneers of
Metal concerts, you think that too many bands have copied you in
concerts ?
Eric : A lot of bands have copied us and
that is a form of flattery. Manowar is often imitated, but is
never duplicated, so we are the first of pioneering Heavy Metal
and take it to its symphonic stage, and now a lot of bands
came out with orchestras behind it. We were the first band
that came out with great melodies in metal and now other bands
try to put in a melody as well, and now we are the first band to
be approached by Philips to be the first Heavy Metal band that
come out with a 5.1 Super Audio CD Sound. I dont know if
you are familiar with that, surround sound audio, which is the
future of music, and we are pioneering that as well, and Im
sure in a few years from now, when all records will be Super
Audio Cd, were gonna be talking with eachother again, and
you will be saying : you were the very first band that
came out with Super Audio Cd and Im gonna say :
yes, thats right, because we had the fuckin
balls to do it .
What is your opinion about Metallium, a
band that follows the concept of Manowar and the Warriors of
Metal ?
Karl : I race motorcycles, ok ? One of the
rules of racing is that you never follow in the line of the other
person in front of you. You always search for a way around to get
ahead of them. These bands, thats what they are doing, they
are following in our line, and its funny, because Manowar
is up front, but is still looking for other lines, but these
other bands, as long as they follow, they will never find their
own path and their own direction.
Do you think Heavy Metal is a style, a
style that began with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,
than Manowar
Karl : But when you mention these bands,
they all have their own separate identity, thats the mark
of a true band and others imitate, but every super band
has their own identity, so its a tribute that all those
bands imitate us, but I like to see those bands try their own
thing, find their own line.
Are you still in contact with Rhino,
David Shankle and Ross the Boss ?
Eric : Yes, all the time. Rhino is coming
out with his solo project which is finished now. David is
still in the music world, so we keep in contact with him
and Ross, well whenever we see him, its Ross
you know. We are all Brothers of Metal, its no cliché, its
the real deal.
Are there still coming a lot of Manowar
albums in the future ?
Eric : ( laughs ) Well, I hope so, I dont
see us doing something else, this is all I wanted to do all my
life, its a dream come true for me and for Karl, for all of
us. And to be able to tour the world, play your music that you
love, for the fans that you love, party after the show is over
and have a good time, and to fuck as many chicks as you can along
the way and get paid for it, ( laughs ) who wouldnt want
such a life style ?
You have released a live dvd and youre
gonna release 2 more live dvds, why so many live
material ?
Karl : The fans asked for it, thats
the easiest reason, that the fans has asked for it.
Eric : Its funny, were together
for so long and the question we always got from the media was
why dont you do a live record ? , so
now when we come out with a live record, the first thing
we hear from the media is : why didnt you play the
old songs on your record ?, and now we came out with
another live record to please the people and we played a
lot of the older songs on our second live record, and the
media reacts with why dont you come out with a DVD,
everyone else has got DVDs , so these things take
time, and so its been a long time since we did a studio
project, but we havent been sitting on our asses, weve
been doing a lot, the 1st live DVD is out, the
2nd one is done but not out yet, the 3rd
one is done and not out yet, we also have the live show in
Brazil done in Super Audio sound, thats done for a future
release, weve made our Warriors of the World United
video, thats done, so a lot of things have been in
preparation for right now, because we all talked about this and
said, when we tour, were gonna be busy on the road, so its
time to get these things done when we are off the road so our
fans can still get to continue to get new Manowar products, while
we are on tour. Weve always been very very busy, but now
that were on the road, now that the touring schedule
has started, now its gonna be a much easier process for us.
How did you get this drum sound
on this new album ?
Scott : Many years of experience. And like
my attorney said to me one time : if you want to keep a
secret, tell no one . ( laughs )
Is the cover of the album still a secret
?
Eric : Its revealed on the Net in
parts at this time.
Why do you show the cover in parts on
the Internet ?
Eric : We feel that the art-work is just as
important as the album, because we tried to incorporate every
album cover into this cover, so when you flip through looking for
Manowar, you are looking at the art work, it is just
hitting you, just like that.
When are you breaking the world
record again ?
Eric : I dont see the need for it,
nobody has broken our other record, so we have proved to the
world 3 different times that we are the loudest band in the world
and the most powerful band, and that is part of what metal is all
about, being powerfull, not disturbed powerful , but crystal
clear sound powerful, and our live performance shows that,
its a unique sound that we are very very proud of, and I
see no reason why we have to prove ourselves again. Lets
one prove us we are wrong.
Thank you for the interview.