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 I confess that Axxis completely escaped my radar. It could have something to do with the territorial constraints with their 10 year contract with EMI where they did not tour outside of Germany. Nevertheless, I am not one to turn down a challenge, so when I was offered the opportunity to conduct an interview I agreed wholeheartedly with, I admit, some apprehension. Even though ‘Axxis II' was in my collection, I deliberately avoided listening to anything else from their back catalogue so that I could review their November '07 release ‘Doom of Destiny' with unbiased ears. However, when the phone rang ten minutes earlier than expected, the butterflies attacked as I began to question my preparation. The friendly voice of founder member and keyboard player Harry Oellers greeted me good morning, and after I'd explained that I was a bona fide Axxis virgin, the humour began, and we settled in for an entertaining conversation that lasted almost an hour. First I wanted to know about the newest member of the band ....
This
is the first album with your brilliant new guitarist, Marco Wriedt.
How did you find him?
Well,
it was absolutely random. Guido
(Wehmeyer)
left the band after the ‘Paradise in Flames' tour and we held
auditions with lots of guitarists, but nobody had the style or
personality to fit with the band. Then Rob (Schomaker
- bass) went
into a music store and listened to a guy playing guitar and he was
really astonished. Marco is just 22 years old, but he grew up with
the old music, like Iron Maiden, Queen, Kiss and all those bands.
His style is very comparative to them. So Rob invited him to our
breakfast room to play some of the songs and it was immediately clear
that Marco should be the new guitar player of the band. If you
listen to his playing on the CD it is absolutely amazing. We were
really astonished how much influence that good guitar playing and
good solo playing have to our music, so we were in love with his
style of playing. He is also a really nice guy, especially as he's
so young and we are all much older, but we have a good feeling
together. Music is a community that brings everyone together and it
is also a good feeling on stage with him. Marco was only used to
playing in small bands, and when we played some festivals last year,
he wasn't used to the exposure, but now he is, and it is absolutely
amazing for him.
You
must feel a little paternal towards him?
Absolutely,
yes. He didn't have any idea of what things would be expected of
him or what his future might contain. I can understand what's
going on in his mind, because when we started our career 18 years
ago, we had the same feelings. He is a good guy and plays so well,
so I hope he has a long career ahead of him, and if he can start out
his career with Axxis, then that is cool.
Onto
the new album - the title track has a distinct Middle Eastern
flavour. Could you explain it?
The
idea for this track is there are two different cultures between the
east and the west. It came up last year when we did the Prometheus
Brain Project, a heavy metal theatrical performance, which was a
great success. Bernhard was an actor and a singer in it. It was
about globalisation, so we got the idea to compare these different
cultures without saying anything about what is good or bad. The song
is about what happens if a western guy falls in love with a girl from
the Arabian culture, and the cultural issues involved. There seems
to be a general feeling in the Western world that what you don't
know you don't like, and you think twice about it. But not
everyone from Arabia
is a terrorist - that is what we want to say.
What
was your ambition for this album?
Well,
first I have to say it is not a concept album. We had very good
success with the last album (‘Paradise in Flames') especially in
countries outside of Germany. Axxis is very well known and
successful in Germany, because of our time on EMI, but nobody knew us
outside of Germany. For some years we have been working with
independent labels to change those circumstances, and the first
bigger success came with the last album when we played some shows in
Spain, France and the Czech Republic. We wanted to try to keep this
momentum and perhaps go a step forward with the new record, and we
liked the style we had created with ‘Paradise in Flames'. The
fans, both old and new, also liked it. So we wanted to evolve a bit
more and be even better with this one. The writing was a little bit
harder and a little bit faster on some songs, and with Marco on
guitar and Andre (Hilgers - Silent Force/Rage) on drums, it was
possible to make ‘Doom of Destiny'.
Can
you tell us about some of the songs and the themes running through
them? Do you have any particular favourites?
Well,
I really love the title track, and I also like the keyboard melody at
the beginning of ‘Bloodangel' (laughs) - of course I am the
keyboard player. The theme of ‘Bloodangel' is what women are
doing to us guys with the twinkling in their eyes - sorry (he
laughs apologetically). The song ‘Father Father' is a very fast
song that has that question and answer thing going on between Marco
and me in the middle section - it was really cool when we played
that at rehearsal. I also really like ‘I Hear You Cry' which is
a slower, more bombastic ballad.
One
of my favourites is ‘Revolutions' - it's got a definite
progressive feel to it ...
Yes,
it's a cool song; it's totally different for Axxis. When you
first listen to it, you think it could be Axxis, but then the verse
changes to the brutal double bass in the chorus, so the drummer has
to be well trained to play that live. The song has many different
parts which make it more progressive, I agree.
‘Nine
Lives' is the "na-na-na" song - is this going to be the first
single, by any chance?
I
think Axxis has a good connection to na-na-na (laughs). It started
with the second album -‘Axxis II', there was a song called
‘Don't Look Back', where the melody is so hooky that the fans
started singing it with na-na-na. It's easy to learn the lyrics,
and for the live setting it's really great. We are not planning a
single, though, because the record company views Axxis as a band
project, not for single releases. In former times when we had the
major deal we had to have two or three singles every time we released
an album. We've put out one song as a teaser, but it's not a
single.
Lakonia
started out as backing vocals in the choir on 'Time Machine' then
performed more actual duets on 'Paradise in Flames'. How did the
fans initially respond to the addition of a female vocalist?
To
be honest, for this record she was not planned from the beginning.
She was really good on ‘Paradise in Flames' but when we started
the song writing and the recordings of ‘Doom of Destiny', Bernhard
sang all the songs and all the lyrics. But we also produced Lakonia
with her solo project and because she wanted to concentrate on that,
she felt she wouldn't have time for Axxis. Then the record company
heard the first songs and ideas, and we talked about a big tour. As
Lakonia's producer, I thought it would have been great exposure for
her, so it made sense to put her on the record. So we did the
recordings and when they were finished she decided she wanted to
study instead, so she couldn't come on tour. It was a strange
situation for us, but we have another girl for the tour - Ana
Mladinovici from Magica. She is really excited about it because she
understands that it is a big thing to be with Helloween and Gamma Ray
on tour and what it means to the band and to her. When she plays all
the shows her name will be well known afterwards, and it is a great
chance to start a big career. Of course this was our intention for
Lakonia, but she didn't take the chance. I am very sad about it,
and I can't change it, but I think she did a great job on this
album. I really like her voice, otherwise I would not have produced
her. I don't know what plans she has for the future now.
Have
you seen any reviews of 'Doom of Destiny' so far?
Yes,
because the record company sends me five pieces per day (laughs).
Altogether, it is amazing. I know this record is good, I had a
feeling for it, but the reviews are absolutely amazing. I've done
many interviews and everyone is telling me it's the best record
we've ever done. This is our tenth CD, so there is a lot of
experience in it, but to get that reaction makes me very proud.
I
understand you don't use tapes in your shows. Does this present
any difficulties reproducing your material in a live setting?
The
productions are so good on the records these days that it is hard to
reproduce the same sound on stage. We have to rehearse every day to
be in good shape when we go on tour.
How
do you get the sound of the choirs?
Four
of us are singers, and I did some additional stuff with the keyboards
with chords, but we don't need much more. We just played an
acoustic set in Cologne with an acoustic guitar, piano, small drum
set and female voice with Bernhard. People were really astonished
how our music can sound acoustically, because it has the same style
and power, but when you play acoustically, you cannot hide, and you
cannot do any technical tricks. You have to play and sing for real.
It's hard, but Axxis is used to this. If you play at festivals and
you don't have the chance to do a soundcheck, you must walk on
stage with your instruments and just play. The better the band is,
the better they can sing, and the better they can perform.
You
must be pretty excited to go on tour with Helloween and Gamma Ray -
are you all good friends?
Well,
I don't know any of the Gamma Ray guys. I was introduced to Kai
Hansen once at a festival, but that's it. We are good friends with
Helloween and we have the same management, which is probably one of
the reasons why we are on tour with them now. Our drummer Andre
Hilgers plays on Markus Grosskopf's solo project ‘Bass Invaders'
and Sasha Gerstner was one of the guys who had some ideas for Lakonia
for our production, so we are very close together, even musically.
We've known Andi Deris for a long time as the first shows we did
together were with Pink Cream 69.
I
noticed you're not supporting on the entire tour?
Yes,
we have a budget from our record company and we have to work with it.
They want us to do the key markets, and if we want to go somewhere
else, it has to fit with the budget. We've even invested our own
money into this tour, because we are expecting a lot from it.
Whose
idea was it to have an auction for seats on the bus for fans?
It
was my idea initially, but first I talked to the management who
didn't seem to have a problem with it. It's a situation where
everyone wins. On the one hand three fans have the chance to come
out with us on tour, and on the other we get a little bit of return
in our investment. I got a lawyer involved to draw up a strict
contract so the people have to sign it before we start because I want
to be sure that if someone starts acting like an asshole I can send
him home, but I've been in touch with the guys and they seem happy
about everything, so I don't think we will have any problems.
I
understand Berny has a penchant for bringing someone onto the stage.
Is this at every show?
Not
at every show, because at festivals for example, the distance is too
far and by the time they have run around to the side of the stage,
the show is over (laughs). How it works is that we suddenly change
everything in the middle of our set and play an acoustic song.
Bernard has a tambourine, he hands the microphone to someone in the
audience, and it starts. It's our way of saying that we are a band
who likes contact with fans. After every show we come out to talk to
them and sign autographs. We aren't what you would call typical
rock stars (laughs).
Has
it ever gone wrong?
Yes,
sometimes. Once a guy he took on stage kept grabbing Berny's butt.
The audience couldn't see it, but because I was right behind them,
I could see everything! Berny didn't know how to react, so he ran
off stage, and since then he only takes women on stage. We had some
fun after that event because the next day there were pink towels on
stage, but he didn't get the joke straight away because he is so
focussed on his performance. I let it happen for two nights, then I
asked him if he'd noticed something different with the towels.
Then he got it!
Do
you ever regret the "major" label signing when you didn't get
the chance to get out of Germany for 10 years?
Sometimes
yes, sometimes no. We were offered lots of money at EMI, but it
didn't advance our career. I had no idea back then what was going
to happen with all the downloading and stuff. As a band you need to
play live to keep yourself alive, and whilst EMI made us huge in
Germany, it wasn't enough for an international band
Are
you happier now you are with AFM?
Much
happier. We are working well and Markus (Wosgien) is a good A&R
guy. I was recently at the Nuclear Blast anniversary party, and the
guys from Wacken were there. We made a deal that night to play
Wacken. It's already confirmed. That's one of the good things
about those parties, but it was a hard party - I think I had two
days' off after that one (laughs).
What
else is on the horizon for Axxis in 2008?
Well,
we are in contact with the Bang Your Head festival, and some smaller
festivals in other countries. We will definitely play a lot of live
shows. We are thinking about a headline tour when we finish this
current one. I hope this Helloween tour will have the right effect
on the promoters in the foreign countries who will see us for the
first time, and like us enough to invite us back.
Finally,
can you tell me about the Prometheus Brain Project?
It
is a heavy metal theatre performance with the theme of Prometheus in
comparison to the globalisation of today. Prometheus brought fire to
mankind, and so brought development. I really like Greek mythology,
so my part was writing most of the lyrics. One of the songs that we
wrote is ‘The Fire Still Burns', which is the ballad on ‘Doom
of Destiny'. It's a bit different to anything that Axxis has
done in the past. We had no experience at all for this kind of
thing, and it was hugely successful - even metal fans went to see
it. The final performance was in March (2007), but we are now
thinking of something different. What we did there was a theatre
performance with heavy metal music, now we want a full heavy metal
theatrical show with actors and a set built. We probably won't
have time during 2008, but maybe in 2009. We haven't made any
decisions yet because for now ‘Doom of Destiny' is our main
focus.
With
the formal interview finished, I switched off the tape, but we had
discovered a lot of common ground, and continued talking for much
longer than originally scheduled. Harry is definitely one of life's
talented and gentle souls, and it was an absolute pleasure to meet
him with band co-founder Bernhard and the rest of the guys in London
when the all-Teutonic Hellish Rock Show rolled into town in January.
Check out the band's website, www.axxis.de,
for updates and details of their shows and festival appearances in
2008.
-Dawn Irwin
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