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Interview with Snoppi van Heek - Wizard
They live for metal. They even made a song called True Metal. They are German, and they are damn good! I herby bring you all an interview with Wizard drummer and founder, Snoppi, who tells about the forthcoming album, the departure of guitarist Michael Maass, his favorite beer, and other vital information on Germany's own Defenders Of Metal!
Guitar player Michael Maass has left the band, but will be back in two years. Why, and what happened?
Yes, that's sad but true. Michael has simply no time at the moment to be involved in Wizard. He was married last year and he has got a sweet daughter. And now he also has to study beside his job for a better position in his company. So it is impossible for him to practice with us during the week. This further education will last 3 years and we hope, that he will be back then hungry and with all his power.
I know Michael Maass was diagnosed with some heart problems in 1999. Has that got anything to do with it?
No, that has nothing to do with it (thank god). As I mentioned above, he has to study besides his job. His heart problems are solved (I hope so for ever!).
How do you think the absence of Micheal Maass will affect Wizard?
I especially loved the guitar solos from him a lot. His solos always sounded great, and never got boring. Sometimes they were fast, but often he played with very much feeling and with great melodies. But also it will affect us in our practicing. In the last 15 years we never practiced without him and so it is a big difference now. We miss him very much when playing, drinking and laughing together every week. You know the feeling when you loose just a good friend (of course he is not out of the world, but at the moment he is out of Wizards world, if you know what I mean).
The replacement guitar player is called Dano Boland. Who is he, and what is his background? Is he as True Metal as the rest of you? :)
Hahaha, no, Dano is definitely no true metaller, he's a thrasher! Dano is very well known in the local scene. When I started listening to heavy metal (and at that time I did not even think about playing an instrument), he was the lead guitarist in a band called Vebrifuge. We went to all their concerts and it was GREAT! For us Dano was as big as James Hetfield at that time, hahaha, yes, that's true, and we had a lot of respect! After learning to play our instruments, Volker (our bass player) got into the band Vebrifuge, so for a few years they played together in that band. Then we also started a project (called Project X) with Dano, Volker and me. I think I have recordings from that session, hahaha. But that's a long time ago, about 15 years. So we all know Dano since forever and he fits very well in our band. Dano was always a thrash guitarist (Vebrifuge played excellent thrash metal at that time, in the style of Kreator or Tankard or Darkness). So he is no true-metaller, hahaha. But he can also sing very well and he loves melodic parts. So everything is fine. Perhaps a few riffs will now get a bit more thrash-style . (I love that).
I would like to ask about your self-released debut album, Son Of Darkness, which was out in 1995, and have been out of stock for a very long time. Have you thought about re-releasing it or otherwise making it available?
Yes we also got offers from labels to re-release it. But to be honest: I don't want that for the time being. The sound is not very good and we would have to record it all over. But for this we would have to practice the songs again, and I think that we would write the songs in another way nowadays to make them sound great. So it is very difficult. There should be about 3000 copies worldwide, and that's enough. But that is what I think now; perhaps in the future I will think something else. So I will not say, that we NEVER will re-release it (same with the battle of metal album).
The production of your first two albums is almost like a demo. I also think your songwriting skills have improved a lot since then. When you look back at these albums today, what do you think about them?
I did not listen to these albums for a long time, hahaha. When I think about the SOD (debut, red.) album, I always remember the fascinating hours in the studio, our parties and everything around it. That was really great, it was our first record (and then a CD, no cassette, ha!), we were young and everything was new. The music was not the most important thing about this album. The battle of metal (the 2nd album, red.) was much better (the songwriting) and I also believe nowadays, that the guitar solos are some of the best Maassi ever played! Unfortunately we put all the slow songs after each other, so for a lot of people the middle part of this album sounds a bit, eeh, slow, perhaps boring, if you don't like ballades. But the songs are great and the solos are great. Sven did not have the ultimate voice, but it was ok. The sound was not very good, that's really bad. But I can live with that now ;-)
How about putting some of these hard-to-get songs on new releases as bonus tracks?
Hm, no, I think at the moment the time has not come to re-release these songs. If you look at ebay, you should find a copy from time to time. That's enough for now. Perhaps somewhere in the future .
When I read your lyrics I often get the idea that they are very simple on the surface, but if one concentrate a little extra, it is possible to find some kind of deeper meaning in some song. Do you try to not only write "True Metal lyrics", but also put in some more thoughts?
Puh, difficult to answer, because Volker writes most of the lyrics for Wizard. The three first albums had a concept, and the story goes about the four thunderwarriors and their adventures. Also Odin is a concept album with no simple lyrics. Of course we often have these metal-typical lyrics, but in most cases within a concept. Sometimes of course also because we love these themes and they fit very good to our music.
Why does Wizard prefer to write songs about battles, warriors and the likes, instead of stuff that's been going on in your own, personal lives?
That is not always true! We do have songs about our lives (e.g. on the battle of metal, where Sven wrote a text about when his grandma died and he was very sad). And also the Odin album is completely about Volkers religion. He really believes in these things! He writes about what interests him. So if you read the lyrics, you will know what kind of human being Volker is. Also we have lyrics about playing live for the fans and the feeling about that. About the feeling between us four Wizard-members and between the metalheads. These are all things, which are themes from our private life.
Aren't there too many bands doing the same thing?
Maybe? I do not care about that. As long as I can play a little heavy metal, talk to my friends, drink some beer together with them, everything is right. I don't care if we sell thousands of albums (would be nice to live from that, but it is not a MUST, if you know what I mean), or if we have a label-contract. For me the most important thing is, that I am lucky with my heavy metal. And if there are a lot of bands that are great, then that is very good. 1000 good bands are better than 2 good bands, aren't they?
Your new album is in the mixing process now, right? Do you have a title or release date for it yet?
The title will be Magic Circle (for now). It has to do with the song 'Circle of steel' which describes the atmosphere we had after playing on the Headbangers open air. We sit together with a lot of metalheads after the gig and the atmosphere was so great, we made this song about that. And this stands for the magic in general within heavy metal and between metalheads, especially between us Wizard-members. The release date is not clear at the moment, I guess in June.
Who is mixing and producing the album?
It is mixed by Christian Jungebluth and produced and recorded by Volker and Wizard.
Is the new album a continuation of Odin or do you try to bring something new into each release as well?
No, it is no continuation of Odin. But there will also be one song about Odin (Warriors Of The Night, if I am right). This album is no concept album. There are just 13 songs about heavy metal ?
Judging from the songtitles, it will be a True Metal album in the real Wizard spirit.?
Yeeees, you could believe that. It is of course in the Wizard style, but also a little bit different, as each album was a little bit different from the last. Sven sings a bit more aggressive in my opinion, and also the guitar is a bit more aggressive. But we will also put a ballade on this album (Don't Say Goodbye), which is dedicated to Michael Maass and describes our feelings about his timeout.
You are also making your first video for the song Warriors Of The Night. Can you describe the video a little bit?
It is not our first video, we also made a video for the song Betrayer from the Odin album.
This video goes about Odin. Warriors are fighting against each other and Odin gathers the most powerful warriors, and lead them to Valhalla to fight with him in the last battle. Something like that . Volker has the complete story, hahaha. So you will see warriors fighting.
Did you get a budget from the record label for the video, or is it mainly self-produced?
It is mainly self-produced. I don't know if we get money for it. But we don't care about that. We wanted to have the video and so we did it.
How much does Michael Mass usually participate in the songwriting, and has he participated in the songwriting for the new album?
Yes, he was involved in about 9 songs from the new album. Usually Volker comes around with an idea, and then we work that idea out together. So Maassi often makes the rhythm-parts for the songs.
You also run the Wizard homepage (www.legion-of-doom.com), so Wizard must take up a lot of your time. Is it a full time job by now, which you can make a living off?
No, that would be fine, hahaha. I do the homepage besides my job. That's no problem. Also the other guys have 'true' jobs. Only Sven has no job he has an eye on his son and his wife goes to work, hahaha.
Okay, to end the interview, I would like you to mention your favorite
Beer: Krombacher.
80's Metal band: Metallica or Slayer or Anthrax.
90's Metal band: Iced Earth? Is that a 90's Band?
2000's Metal band: I don't know .
Top 3 favorite albums: Always changes. But I am very impressed by: Reign in blood, Among the living, Master of puppets.
Festival: Headbangers open air, Storm of steel.
Drum equipment: Pearl, Zildjan, Sonor.
Metal club/bar: My own room.
Concerthall: Z7 Pratteln (Suisse).
Wizard song: Fire And Blood (new album).
Thanks a lot for doing the interview!
I also thank you very much for this interview. Perhaps you can visit us under http://www.legion-of-doom.de and leave a message.
Thanks and goodbye, watch out for the new album!
In the sign of the Wizard
Snoppi
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Written by Nina - 4/17/2005 |
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