John Allan, guitarist of STEEL ATTACK, was talking to us about their new album, Wacken, live, dreams... Don´t let it pass.

- The kind of Epic Metal Steel Attack plays is now the favourite of the European audience but, have you always been influenced by it or is something new for you?
It's now something new for me. I am a "little bit" older than the rest of the membs in Steel Attack. I been listening to melodic since the first Iron Maiden album was released and than the whole bunch of bands that followed. Like during the eighties when you went to concert halls with thousands of screaming metal heads. For the rest of the band it goes back to 1989-90.

- Will the next album contain new stories about the same personages of "Where Mankind Fails" or will it be completely different in the lyrics? And what about the music?
The lyrics will stay in what we like, fantasy. Cause we would never write lyrics that tells people to do, act, live etc like this and so on. But there will be guardians and swordsmen in the lyrics. About the music, there will be lots of melodies and no ballads, we are not a ballad band it will some heavy and fast songs.

- An aspect to get better in this new record could be the cover artwork, don't you think so? Who's going to design it?
I think the cover art work will be a mirror to what the album is about and for me the music is the main thing but who will design it is unknown for me so far.

- Next August you would be playing at the Wacken Open Air Festival, How do you feel about that? Are you nervous?
For us it feels great and finally we perhaps will meet a lot of Steel Attackers that really like our music. And the atmosphere at Wacken is something special to. Nervous? Not yet The thing that can make you nervous is everything before you enter the stage, amp failure or other technical problems if they happen. But there is nothing you think of but if they happen then that can make you go nuts and since the playing time is short and we will give the audience music for the whole time then you can be frustrated.

-There are many musicians doing two different works (a band and another thing out of music) and something they can't combine the whole tour with their jobs, Is that the case of any member of Steel Attack? And what do you think about that?
For me it will work regardless of what, and I think it is a priority question of what you do with your life time. I don't know if there will be any problem for anyone of us in Steel Attack. There is a lot of people that speaks about the music that something you should do only in your spear time but for me it is something that has to do with my life. But if you are in a situation that you chosen your self that forces you to work constantly with that reason that you just want to drive a flashy car etc. Then I cant understand if you complain for no time left for music but if you are in a situation that pays the rent and you got a asshole for boss that pays you almost nothing and you cant get anything else then I feel sorry for you, I just hate when there is people out there that forces worker to do extremely hard work for very little payment and they can just sit on their asses and earning lots of money. But remember that if you got an expensive life style and that will interfere with your situation regarding touring etc. then it is up to you and your priorities. I am married since 10 years, got 2 kids playing music and that's my priority.

- How is the relationship with the other bands of your record company AFM Records (Edguy, Squealer, Voice...)?
The relationship is just fine. We done 8 gigs with EDGUY, 3 with VOICE and SQUEALER. 1 with The Experience. The rest of the band has only been email contacts with so far. But we hope that we will have a greater time with them all.

- Can you do a little biography of the band to your Spanish fans?
Steel Attack are: John Allan (Guitars), Steve Steel (Vocals-Bass), Dennis Vestman (Guitars) and the new drummer Roger. Steve and Dennis were playing in a thrash/death metal band called "Carnal Forge" before Steel Attack. And I´ve been playing in many different bands during the years, like Avenue (86-88), Mononoya (91-93), Source (96-97) and Paragragh (97-98).

- You've finally finished the recording of the new cd, How has the process been (where, when, who...)? Have you already set the release day?
We recorded it at Studio Underground, Västerås. http://welcome.to/studiounderground. As we did on the first album, we did the recording in 5 weeks or so but there was some hassle with it, Steve got a cold and I hurt my hand the fret hand so I had to take some days of, but now everything is fine. The release day is not set yet but I think during the fall or so. First we thought maybe till Wacken 2000 but I don't think so.

- Feel free to add whatever you want.
First of all thank you very much all you Steel Attackers out there and we hope that we will see you all soon. And remember that you are free to choose your life and don't try to live your life in a certain way because you are forced by some one who tells you to do it their way, as long as you don't hurt someone. Life is to short and look back to your life to see that you not even tried to make your dream come true. That will hurt.

- Interview by Gema Pérez & Rodrigo.