ARTICLE : From "Metal Shock (Italy)" N.213, April 1-15, 1996
INTERVIEW : By Alessandro Ariatti
TRANSLATION AND POSTING : By Alessandro Cherubin (cherubin@odino.unipv.it)
TITLE: " THE TIME IS NOW ! Pumpkins are back, pumpkins are back! And 'Time
Of The Oath', a classic Keeper-tradition album, is the best way to
represent themselves again to the defenders of the true, pure metal!
Recalling a disappeared friend, Michael Weikath is telling us about
an exciting future!"
Happy happy Helloween, Helloween, Helloween... Happy happy Helloween, ooh ooh
ooh! Hey, what are you waiting for? Sing with me, bite your wurstel and
sauerkraut sandwich and sprinkle it all with a big tankard of beer, because
Helloween are back again, harder and faster than ever! "Time Of The Oath",
their last fabolous album, has awaked many sleeping enthusiasms, bringing us
back to the second half of the 80's, when Michael Weikath & Co. enchanted
all of us, making three masterpieces like "Walls Of Jericho", "Keeper Of The
Seven Keys Part 1" and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2". By the way, after
making the instable Michael Kiske leave, consequently the demential
"Chamaleon",the most famous 'pumpkins' of the metal world gave us some
encouraging reprise signals with the good "Master Of The Rings". That album
was the one in wich we could see the positive entry of the former Pink
Cream 69 frontman, Andi Deris, and the former Gamma Ray drummer, Uli Kush,
but is only with "The Time Of The Oath" that Helloween could take again and
definitively the throne of the champions of the German Power Metal. You know
how much I am enthusiast about "The Time Of The Oath" (Metal Shock Top Album
on the N.210), you could read again my review about it, but also listen to
Michael Weikath, historical founder of the band from Hamburg, to understand
the total band faith in the album quality.
ALESSANDRO ARIATTI: Michael, in my review, I defined "The Time Of The Oath"
as the most complete Helloween carrier album. Do you Agree?
MICHAEL WEIKATH: Absolutely, and I wanna tell you more: it was since "Keeper
Of The Seven Keys Part 2" that I wasn't so proud about an Helloween new
release. "The Time Of The Oath" is the album I dreamed to do for years and
years, and I can assure all the band knows that we've done something
very important with this album. The mutual understanding with Andi and Uli
is furtherly grown, if compared to "Master Of The Rings", because that album
was a really fast one: both for the songwriting and for the recording.
We spent in fact few weeks to write and record it, instead of "The Time Of
The Oath", for which we had much more time to develope songs and make
arrangements; when we entered the studio, the songs were ready since months
before. Of course, something was modified, but the songs structure was
already really clear and defined.
AA: "If I Knew" is the song that impressed me most. It is a 70's-feeling
ballad, and the beautiful Hammond solo is something in a Deep Purple style.
How did this song born?
MW: It is a long story, Alessandro; you must know that some yars ago, during
the "Chamaleon" period, inside Helloween there was nothing else than
quarrels, in a particular way between me, Ingo and Michael Kiske. I reached
the point that I was so stressed and exasperated of that situation, even if
I knew to be in the right, that I started to doubt about the band's future.
Personally, I was prepared to the worst, so I started to work on a solo
album, hardly inspired by the Deep Purple sound, and on which I tought I
had to work with some Hamubrg musicians. When things for Helloween were
going well again, I remembered "If I Knew", a very good song for Andi's
voice, so I decided to include it in "The Time Of The Oath". You are right
when you say that "If I Knew" is something very 70's style, because that
song had born whit this intention.
AA: With "Master Of The Rings", Helloween came back to their right success.
Did you expected this, after the "Chamaleon" 'flop'?
MW: It was surely a credibility matter: the credibility we had lost with
"Chamaleon" and we were determined to reconquer in any way. With "Master
Of The Rings", we decided to come back to the classical Helloween-sound,
and I think we reached it; by the way I had listen recently to it, and the
differences between that album and "The Time Of The Oath" are very huge.
In fact, "Master Of The Rings" is a more commercial and easy-listening
album, with a particular humor that seems to be like some Alice Cooper
stuff. Anyway, it was an healty return to our favourite sound. Also the
"Master Of The Rings'" lyrics are more relaxed and less 'important' than
the lyrics of the last album.
AA: Let's try to summarize, now: after "Chamaleon", Michael Kiske leaves the
band, and Helloween came back to their melodic power metal. So, he was the
'rotten apple' of the group.
MW: You say that he left the band, but I can assure he was fired! In fact
Kiske was working on some new songs that had to be on the next album after
"Chamaleon", but nobody in the band liked that stuff! Maybe they could be
good to obtain success in the English Charts, but they were not good for
our intention to come back to the power metal: it wasn't hard rock, it
wasn't heavy metal, it was only a disaster. By the way, Michael Kiske was
very offended when we refused to do a record with that kind of songs.
We don't hear about Kiske since a long time, even because after his
leaving, he started to have some unlikeable interwiews about the band and
myself in particular. In fact Kiske gives me all the fault of what
happened, but this is a big lie, because was Roland Grapow himself that
told me it was not in his intentions to record another album with Kiske.
So, I wasn't the only to have problems with Michael Kiske.
AA: Kai Hansen told me he left Helloween because you were jealous of him,
because he was the main songwriter. What do you have to say about it?
MW: Jealous? Me? Jealous of what!? The first thing is that Kai didn't wrote
so many songs in that period, and it is sufficient to check the credits of
the songs of "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1 & 2" to be sure of it. Number
two, I don't understand what Hansen means with 'jealous'. I think instead
that it was a matter of respect for each other's role and also gratitude to
other Helloween members. The ours, was a fifty-fifty relation, but many
members of the group were not conviced about the songs Kai was writing
after "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1", so, instead of a jealousy for me,
I think it was rage and frustration, because things were not going on the
right way. During that times, someone wasn't behaving in a correct way
inside Helloween, and I am sure that Kai, inside himself, is perfectly
convinced that person was not me. His behaviour was something like "Hey
man, you still complain about youself because you are jealous!". It's a
very childish way of thinking, isn't it?
AA: Let's talk again about Kai Hansen: what do you think about Gamma Ray?
MW: Surely my favourite album is "Sigh No More", but the last one is also not
very bad; their problem is the too much 'short temper' [*] that fills their
songs. They are like an heavy hetal machine, and I can assure you, for me
it's very hard to listen to a whole Gamma Ray CD, because it's like if I
give myself a coffe overdose! I could compare the feeling of a Gamma Ray
album to the feeling of the only "Coverdale/Page" work : they are different
kinds of music, but they both are 'short temper' [*] and filled of an
exasperating tension.
[* Hey Chris, I can't explain better something like "nervousness" or
"irritability". Come on! - A.C. ]
AA: Helloween are one of the few bands that were able to create a very
original and personal sound: what do you think about german and north
european bands who try to follow your steps?
MW: Substantially, they are bands that kept our sound structure, but they
are not able to create evergreen melodies. All these bands, I mean Angra,
Blind Guardian and so on, follow our songs' concept, by the way they don't
understand what's hidden behind, the feeling of the songs: in practice
they copy what they don't understand. I've got much more respect for the
bands that chose to stand on a stage or to go in a studio while working on
some really personal stuff, it's a more honest thing. When we started,
we were very impressed by Iron Maiden, but our influences didn't stop with
them, because we also liked very much many other groups like Beatles,
Deep Purple, UFO, Uriah Heep, and their ability to build that evergreen
melodies. Me, Andi, Markus, Rolad and Uli try not to miss that target
everytime, instead of many copying bands that leave the feeling, lose the
right melody. I suppose this happens because they don't have our huge
sight.
AA: Can you give me a preview about the new live shows to promote "The Time
Of The Oath"?
MW: At this moment, I can say very a little, because we are very busy with
promotion with radios and magazines; in fact we are planning to go to USA
and then in Asia, so we hadn't enough time to think about the structure
of our next tour. I am also not able to tell you what songs of the new
album we will play during the concerts, anyway I can assure we are going
to record a double live album during our dates in Italy and Spain. At the
same time, we will do a live-video, and all this double operation will
happen probably about the end of this year.
AA: Tell me something about Andi's vocal chords problems, after the "Master
Of The Ring" asiatic tour. Someone said his carrier was compromised...
MW: Oh my God, what a bad period! It was an asiatic virus that hit all of us,
and gave us hot fever and hard convulsions. It was surely a shitty
situation. Andi got the virus in the middle of the tour, but he brutally
disregarded it, keeping singing anyway without any pause, and this fact
complicated his health state. The journey back from Japan was really a
cross! As he got home, Andi spoke with the best specialists, and started
to cure himself with antibiotics, which were totally unuseful against that
kind of virus; we went straight on like this for three months, while Andi's
voice wasn't improving in any way, on the contrary he was't able to speak
anymore! He moved his mouth, and not any sound could be heard! So the
doctors told him to do a total relax, with no trying to speak at all, so
Andi started to write on some little pieces of paper to be understood!
Later the situation returned to the normality, but it was a very bad period!
AA: The first time I saw you playing live was during 1987, after "Keeper Of
The seven Keys Part 1" came out. You played as supporters for Ronnie James
Dio. What do you remember about that days?
MW: It was a great tour, with some really 'crazy' dates, when we enjoyed
ourselves very much, and if I don't remember wrong, we palyed very well.
You must know that Dio was constantly angry behind the scenes, he was
probably jealous of the succes we had almost everywere; he was so jealous
that he often forced us to play live without a good soundcheck for our
instruments. One day, before the italian concerts, his drumset truck had
an accident, that hardly damaged his rhithm session instruments, so he asked
us to lend him our drumset. Our instrument was a very expensive one, so
we decided not to lend but to hire it to Ronnie. Probably we wouldn't
do that if he have had a correct behaviour with us, but we tought it was
right to make him pay for his arrogance!
AA: You came back to Italy the next year with the Monster Of Rock, with
Iron Maiden, Kiss, Anthrax. Is it true that Iron Maiden offered Michael
Kiske to take Bruce Dickinson's place in their band?
MW: Absolutely no! The only thing that happened was Steve Harris that said
he appreciated Kiske's voice, but this doesn't mean Harris was planning to
put Michael into Iron Maiden. If Steve Harris had serious intention about
Kiske, he could have contacted him when Michael left Helloween, isn't it?
I think people overrate Michael Kiske's importance, even if he is a good
singer, he doesn't have Bruce Dickinson's power in his voice. Michael's
voice is classical and clean, but at the same time is able to express is
best only on the higher range; his voice is more opera than rock. To do an
example, if Harris needed someone to sing very well "The Number Of The
Beast", he had better to take Andi instead of Michael. Kiske is
definitively a limited singer, he is able to express himself only on a
range, instead of Dickinson who was technically better, because he was
able to give to his voice many different connotations. The exchange
wouldn't surely be good for the Maiden.
AA: By the way, I don't think Blaze Baley is the perfect choice, if you look
at the bad results of "The X Factor"...
MW: Uhm, maybe you are right, anyway I think that "The X Factor" could have
been a better album, only if it could have had a decent production. I can't
understand why the Maiden separed from their historical producer, Martin
Birch; in fact the sound of the last album is like the sound of a demo-tape,
it's a pity! I am very disappointed about the album quality, I expected
a work of another sort...
******************************************************************************
[ The interview ends as above, but there is a separed block in which ]
[ Micheal Weikath speaks about his friend INGO. Here what he said. ]
TITLE: IN MEMORY OF INGO. Michael Weikath was widely blamed for firing
Ingo Schwichtenberg from the band. But now it's time to restore
the thruth.
MW: A few days before Ingo got suicide, we met him and we told him that he
couldn't be part of the band anymore, because was obvious for all of us
that he was suffering schizophrenia. He was just came out from a theraphy
against drugs and alchool, by the way, we were not sure Ingo had focused
his situation. In fact in the past he had already promised not to fall
again in that trap, but everytime facts were different from his promises.
Ingo was arrived to a point in which he was responsable of many crazy
actions, but the problem was that he didn't know how many damages he was
doing. How we could give him the stress of a new album and a new tour?
The reality was that, after "Chamaleon", it was clear he wouldn't be back
to play drums. When we decided to make him go, just after the album
release, I had a six hour phone conversation with him, in which I explained
Ingo why we did that hard decision. The only one that wanted to mantain
Ingo as Helloween's drummer was Michael Kiske, and I think his behaviour
was particulary stupid, because he didn't look at the reality of the facts.
One day Michael came to me and said "Hey Weiki, one day you promise Ingo to
come back in the band, then you change your idea" . It was an absolutely
nonsense thing because I clarely told Ingo that we didn't want him as a
drummer anymore, if he didn't clean up heimself from drugs. Then, for
"Master Of The Rings", we decided to separate also from Michael Kiske, and
then many poisons and polemics followed; but the thing that hurted me most
in this sad situation, was to be accused by people that didn't ever care
about Ingo. We tried to help him in all the ways, doing anything we could,
and Ingo known this fact. His girlfriend confessed me Ingo told her, few
days before his suicide, that he wasn't angry at all with us. This confirms
that some people must think more and better before speaking about things
that doesn't know and that they didn't live on their skin.