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Tell
us a few things about the group; How did you meet? And when?
Falk
Maria - The
band was founded by Charles and Matthew Greywolf. They’ve been
playing metal together for many years. Three years ago I (Falk
Maria Schlegel) and our drummer Stefane Funebre joined the
brothers, and then we spent a long, long time looking for a very
special singer for the band, as we didn't want to have one of
these typical German heavy metal singers. There are hundreds
around and they all sound the same. We wanted someone special, but
as you can imagine you don’t meet such a special guy right
around the next corner at the moment you want to. So we spent a
long time just writing music and waiting for that special singer
to cross our path, which finally happened, when the Greywolf
brothers met Attila Dorn during holidays in
Romania
.
Did
any of the band members play in bands before Powerwolf?
Falk
Maria - Yes,
almost everyone. Attila
studied classical opera vocals at the academy in
Bucharest
in
Romania. After that he made some money singing in different
musicals and operas. Me, I have been touring with a lot of
different Metal bands for years - playing typical heavy metal
keyboards, strings and pads, the usual thing … one band called
The Experience. I wanted to change my sound and is now using this
heavy organ sound. A great organ sounds much more heavy and
powerful than a guitar … believe me or listen to old Deep Purple
albums and you'll know what I mean.
Tell
us about the recording of “Return In Bloodred”; Where did you
record it? Who
was the producer? Are you satisfied with the final result?
Falk
Maria - “Return
In Bloodred” was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg. We produced
the album together with Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, Soilwork,
Hammerfall etc.) and Fritz Klitmueller. Fredrik
is a real metal head. He listened to the songs “Kiss Of The Cobra
King” and “We Came To Take Your Souls” and he directly knew, how
this stuff had to sound! And a big advantage is, that he doesn’t make
just one typical sound. Listen to the Soilwork stuff and compare that
with the Spiritual Beggars “Ad Astra” CD. He is always able to give
a band the sound the band deserves. The
co-operation was just perfect and we’re absolutely happy with the
production.
To
what subjects do the lyrics of Powerwolf refer to, and who writes
them? Who
writes to music?
Falk
Maria - Attila
spends a lot of time reading books about ancient Romanian history
and legends and for him this is something very serious and
essential. For him wolves, were wolves and vampires are not just
horror creatures. We Western European people know these creatures
and stories from the typical horror movies, but being Romanian
Attila sees these things from a different point of view. He hates
all of these movies, because as he says: "they don’t tell
the truth, they make cheap horror sensations out of traditional
stories that mean a lot to Romanian people". So Attila sees
his lyrics as a channel to deliver a Romanian point of view on
these things.
We
write our
music together.
We don’t work like most bands obviously do. We don’t plan our
music; we don’t sit down and elaborate our riffs and vocal
lines. In Powerwolf, songs must “happen” – which means we
write our songs quite spontaneously. Someone has a basic idea and
then we start playing. It often happens, that we write a song in
not more than half an hour. It needs a certain magic, which you
can’t invoke or plan, it just has to happens. “We Came To Take
Your Souls” for example is a song, which we wrote ay our very
first rehearsal together with Attila. We had the riff and Attila
came up with the chorus line, someone added the song title and
half an hour later the song was ready – that’s how we work and
that’s what makes Powerwolf something almost spiritual and
magical for me. Or
“Lucifer In Starlight”, I have only played this riff with the
Organ, it has sounded so doomy… and then the song arose very
quickly …
I
know that your singer is from
Romania
and you are from
Germany
, how does this work with rehearsals?
Falk
Maria - Attila
has some relatives here in
Germany
. So he is able to spend a lot of time here. Beside that,
Powerwolf is pure passion for him. He still likes the opera or the
musical, but this music is his life, so he wants to take this
chance with us here in
Germany
.
How
did you secure the deal with Metal Blade? Is it a worldwide deal?
Falk
Maria - Yes,
it is a worldwide deal. Metal
Blade heard that there’s a strange band forming and they felt
that there’s something special around that band with a Romanian
singer. So they invited us and we met and spent some time talking
about music and our visions, we realized, that we have a lot of
things in common and we signed. A very simple story.
Please
tell our readers what kind of music Powerwolf plays, and what are
your influences?
Falk
Maria - It
is normally your job to describe the music, ha,ha … No, I think
“Old school heavy metal with a huge doom feeling” would fit.
Our main influences are Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Forbidden,
or Iron Maiden.
Did
you ever play live? And what can we expect from a Powerwolf live
show?
Falk
Maria - Yeah,
we have played some showcases. It is a bombastic show with huge
side drops and much pyro technique … Attila makes a special show,
but it is a secret yet. When you see him on stage, you can really
feel his fascination for ancient Romanian stories and legends.
Watch our for the Summer Festivals!
Are
there any plans for a Powerwolf tour?
Falk
Maria - First
of all we’ll present ourselves on some Summer festivals, such as
the Summer Breeze in
Germany
. For the autumn our booking agency Dragon Production (a division
of A.S.S.) have plans for us to do a full tour, but there’s
nothing confirmed yet. We don’t want to jump on the first tour
we might get offered, as we want to make sure the conditions are
good enough to deliver a good show. We will rather not play any
tours at all ,than ending up on an eight band package tour, where
each band gets kicked on stage for some 20 minutes without any
stage show and concept. For us the visual presentation is very
important and we want our fans to get a good show, and we want to
make sure, that we are able to deliver what our fans deserve –
but I’m quite confident, that around autumn the call of the Powerwolf
will be heard on many stages across
Europe
!!!!
Can
we expect a vinyl release of “Return In Bloodred”?
Falk
Maria - It
would be great, because we have an ideal layout for it … Perhaps
Metal Blade will do that one time with a bonus track. We do have
one ready …
What
do you think of the metal scene of today?
Falk
Maria - What
shall I say? I’m a Metal maniac for 15 years now. So, very
simple, I like this scene …
Please
give me a list of your 5 favorite albums of all time.
Falk
Maria -
Add
if you like any final words to our readers.
Falk
Maria - Watch
out for the Powerwolfs, listen to our music and howl with the
wolves at www.powerwolf.net
and we will come to take your souls ….
Thanks
Falk for your time, hope to see you on tour so I can hear the
mighty “Lucifer In Starlight” live.
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