Published by : live4metal.com

Interviewer : Scott Alisoglu
Published on : JULY, 2002

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Native Pennsylvanian and guitarist Karl Logan joined Manowar in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. With the recently released Warriors of the World, Manowar is once again carrying the flag of heavy metal and waving it proudly. Karl shared his thoughts with me about the new album, touring, and the state of heavy metal in a world inundated with nu-metal. 

How has the response been to Warriors of the World?
Tremendous. The response has been overwhelming. It was #2 in Germany, and in several other countries it was top 10. I think it’s still top 20 right now in Europe. The single alone sold upwards of 85,000 copies in Germany. In several radio stations, even here in America, it has been #1 for six weeks. We’re just delighted with it and we have to thank our fans for that because without them, it wouldn’t be possible.

Why the long time between releases?
After Louder than Hell, we underwent a four-year touring cycle and in that time we also recorded two double-live CDs, which the fans were asking for. All they had were bootlegs. They didn’t have any good quality live records and they had been asking for it. We had to do a double one because there were so many songs we wanted to do. And when we did that, they said yeah we love this but you didn’t do my favorite song. We felt we had to do another double-live one. The other thing they were asking for was video and archival footage - anything with video about the band. We thought this is time to do it. While we are on tour, we’ll take this video footage and technology allowed us to make several DVDs and we’re going to be releasing more in the future. They were also asking for some of the earlier albums, which were unavailable and they couldn’t find them on CD, or they could only get them on cassette. So we took the time to remaster those and re-release them with booklets and stuff, and archival material. That took a long time to go through the archives and sort that out. Between doing all that, we also toured the world extensively and put together a digital studio. We only started writing and recording this album in the early summer of 2000. It’s kind of a misnomer to say six years between records. We weren’t just sitting on our asses.

Do you think you’ve broken any new ground with the album, or is it vintage Manowar?
Our fans were asking for something more vintage sounding. Classic, I guess you would say. We thought too it would be nice to do an album where we really explored the many faces of the band, the dynamics that the band could carry out. In the past, there have been songs like “Master of the Wind” where the band has sometimes been at its heaviest and most impressive when not playing at full volume. There’s a real subtle art to that and I think there is a real challenge to doing that. I think on this record we just wanted to be very diverse and show the many faces that we have and remind the world that heavy metal is not just about playing loud. It’s actually easy to write and play songs that are loud and heavy and fast. It’s actually a lot more challenging and a lot more difficult to write something like “Swords in the Wind,” where you really have to pay attention to the way that the song is developed and the way it grows.

It’s almost like directing a movie when the movie is just on an epic scale. It’s easy to do an action flick. You have your standard car crashes, motorcycle chases, and fires and explosions. That’s the easy stuff. It’s a formula. But to do something that is really a classic movie that covers the entire range of emotions…that’s the mark of a master director. We took that sort of outlook on this record. Not only did the whole record follow a progression or a story, but each song individually we tried to craft with dynamics in mind and sort of a storyline to the song itself.

How was the U.S. tour with Immortal?
Pretty good actually. Surprisingly, it was a great tour. It was very successful. Those guys were great. We had a chance to show our fans a different style of music and to make new fans as well with their fans, the death metal crowd. They came and a lot of them stayed for our show and hung out, enjoyed it and rocked along as 
well. There were a couple of shows that weren’t promoted as well as they could have been. 
Yeah, I got wind of a show literally days before it was to happen.
Yeah, what can you do? That’s life. For whatever show that wasn’t promoted, there were a number of sold out shows. The majority of the shows were actually sold out, standing room only. We had a great time. It was really successful. We went all the way up to Seattle…Canada. It was great to get back to Canada. We hadn’t played there ever.

Ever!?
Ever. I don’t think we ever played Canada, or if they did it was back in like ‘84/85, but I think it was the first time we ever played Canada. It was just incredible - sold out completely. 

Have you found American and European metal fans to be vastly different?
No, Absolutely not. The fans themselves are not. The culture is different. In a broad sense, the culture is different in terms of the public acceptance of this type of music. Heavy metal has always been a music of grass roots people. It’s always been for people who don’t feel they fit in or feel they’re different. It’s a very personal type music. The relationship between the bands and the fans is much more personal than, say, something like N’ Sync or Britney Spears. Where ever we go - it doesn’t matter if it’s Argentina or Russia or Germany, or Des Moines, Iowa - there’s a connection between the audience and the band. The language may be different, the faces may be different, but the feeling and the brotherhood is the same.

How does Manowar fit in with many of the newer heavy metal bands playing right now?
Well, we don’t and that’s what we’re proud of. We don’t fit in and we’re unique, and we stand alone. We carry the flag and that’s what our fans love about us.

How would you describe your style of playing compared to previous Manowar guitarists?
I hate to say it this way, but if I had to say it, it’s a little more technically advanced, a little more theoretical. Ross was a blues player, a great blues player. He played from his heart and from his soul. He played a lot of pentatonic scales and box patterns. David was a little more avant-garde. I have a hard time pinning down his style. I guess because there’s really only one album to define his style of playing. I’m a very studied guitarist, a theoretical guitarist. Technically, I’ve just lived for my instrument and put a lot of time into the practicing of it. I play a lot of Ross’ licks faithfully, exactly like he played, and I try to add my own stuff where it seems appropriate. It’s nice to be getting more of a catalogue of stuff that I’ve recorded. It’s frustrating at times playing Ross’ style because it’s pentatonic-based. It’s great for the music and all that, but at times it’s like I’m in a cover band still.

Along those same lines, do you feel that the guitar solo has been largely neglected by a lot of today’s newer metal bands?
Well, I’ll tell you why it is. Because - and I’m not saying this to sound arrogant or sound elitist - but it’s because a lot of people can’t play it. The reason for that is technology and the cultural mindset. We live in such a fast world nowadays with the Internet and everything. I’ve seen this in my guitar students because I teach a lot of students here when I’m not touring. Everybody nowadays has a CD. Kids…sophomores in high school…they’re walking around high school like their rock stars with their CD. It doesn’t matter if their CD is fucking horrendous and there’s no songwriting. Just to have one is enough. They’re posing and they’re feeling cool. They don’t understand that before it was easy to go down to a local corner studio that’s got their latest digital burner and they can make a CD for $500, you had to earn your place in music. You had to be good enough that someone would invest in you, that somebody would take time in developing you and coming to see you play. And you had to play cover music to learn how to write songs and to learn how to play solos, and you had to study your instrument. You had to earn a career in music. Because the rewards were so great, the effort needed to be great. 

Nowadays, it’s nothing. Nowadays you learn a couple two-finger guitar chords, you put together a couple of chord patterns and you make a lot of noise. Let’s face it. People have forgotten about songwriting. That’s the problem with a lot of today’s young musicians. They think that as long as they can make some noise and get a singer who just goes up there and yells and fills in the track, then that’s what music is. The problem is that there is so much shit out there that that’s becoming the contemporary standard. People hear that and think “oh they did it, so it’s good enough for me.” The thing is that people are not putting enough time into learning their instruments because they want to pose and they want to walk around with the CD in their back pocket and show it to the chicks and say “I got a CD man, my band is recording man,” when they have no fucking right to go out and record a CD. They don’t know how to write songs. It’s not cool to play cover music anymore and play other people’s licks. Well, how do you think you learn? 

A lot of people don’t understand that the guitar solo is not just an ego trip for the guitar player. It’s an alternate voice. It’s another interpretation of the melody. It’s a chance to express something that the voice cannot. A lot of times it’s played over a bridge part or a different chord progression. It’s an evolution of the song. It’s a bridge to take you somewhere. It has a very valuable place in the song if you use it correctly. To be fair, there’s bands and guitar players who just use it to basically show off. At the same time, a good guitar solo, no matter how slow or fast, can be a very important addition to a song. The sad fact is, that not only do a lot of people not know how to play it, a lot of people don’t understand the importance to the song because they don’t take the time to play cover music and to learn from copying the masters.

In your opinion, is there a quintessential Manowar album?
I hate to say it because I’m on it, but I would say this record is it. I think this record sums up a lot of the things that Manowar is, has been, and can be. There’s your fast tracks; there’s your fast killer heavy metal; there’s somewhat of almost thrash metal on this; there’s classical music; there’s the hard rock sort of carry on sound of “Fight for Freedom” there’s the balls to wall opener of “Call to Arms.” I think this new album encompasses everything band is and can be.

Will Manowar still be kicking ass in another 10 or 20 years?
I don’t know how long it’s going to go on, but as long as our fans are out there, as long as we can physically do it, and there’s a need for heavy metal, we’re definitely going to be right up there at the front.