21.12.2007 : GAMMA RAY (Dirk Schlachter) (December 2007)
Bass-player from the heart
Interview with Gamma Ray has been my dream. Actually, it's always extremely interesting to speak with such experienced musicians on different themes, and this talk wasn't the exception. Thanks to SPV and Ute H. Kromrey, I met Dirk before the concert in Tampere, Finland (10.12.2007), and as backstage area was a bit small, we went to the tour bus.
Lucky: So, how is the tour going? Dirk: Very good! It’s really good, because we know each other for such a long time, if you know, members of both bands, and also guys from Axxis, they are… some old guys (laughs)! So we know what we’re doing and we know how to handle a tour, what makes the tour convenient and what makes it stress… It’s really relaxed atmosphere. Definitely.
Lucky: To what countries have you been already? Dirk, looking the schedule: Well! We’ve been to Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria…
Lucky: Oh, how was Bulgaria? Dirk: Bulgaria, Sophia… it was huge place, and it was really full, a lot of people, - that’s all I remember! (laughs) And so far I don’t have any show words – uh, that was a bad show… No! … Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway – and now we’re in Finland! And we are going onto Czech Republic. And that is only the first part until the Christmas, and then in the second part it’s going to be more shows in Germany, and Spain and France… Will be the second show in Paris, because the first show on the 6th January is sold out, so we gonna do another one… So therefore… it’s really working time!
Lucky: So nothing to complain about? Dirk: Uff, well… There are always things to complain… That, for example, if you’re spread out as musician and don’t stay with tour truck and you go, for example, for day-off and you say, “I’m not gonna stay with the bus, I will take day-off”, and some people take a hotel by themselves and whatever… Or go home… And then the organizator is a little stressed – it’s like 30 people on the road… And with Axxis guys even more… Then, sometimes it’s not correct, like a ferry from Stockholm to Turku was supposed to arrive at 7:50 in the evening. And it arrived… 3 hours earlier, than in the schedule. So everybody laid down in his cabin – and suddenly, in 30 minutes we’re going off! Uff! [surprisingly] But that’s small thing and it’s nothing really to complain about.
Lucky: Where are you going to spend Christmas? Dirk: At home. I’m not that Christmas man, actually, I don’t care too much about Christmas, because it’s a business thing… I’m not saying there’s no God or nothing, but… this Christmas thing, for example, I don’t really believe in. I see it’s only a business. I will be at home or not, but I’m not doing any Christmas tradition things.
Lucky: It’s a pity that you won’t come to Russia with this tour… Dirk: Why not?! It’s not true; this whole thing will go to Russia as well. There are offers from promoters, who want us to do this… There’s one offer for two shows just for Gamma Ray… Actually the plan is to bring this rock thing all over the world, including Russia. Where are you from, from Russia? Lucky: From Moscow. Dirk: Well, I was only once in Moscow and once in St.Petersburg. And I remember this crazy trainride in the night. It was really weird! [laughs]
Lucky: And what are you impressions of that tour? Dirk: Impressions? Moscow is… impressive. Really. It’s big and monumental… But as for spirit, I prefer St-Petersburg. In this town you see buildings of all ages, - I mean, it looks like that, of course they’re not [laughs], but it looks like that, and I liked that very much. Maybe the reason is because I had a little time the next day after the St-Petersburg show to watch a little.
Lucky: It was that visit of Gamma Ray to Russia in 2006… Dirk: It was planned many times before! Many times! And then… Some promoter got arrested… [laughs]. Another promoter run out of money… And I was always forcing our booking agency to double-check, if next time something is going wrong! [laughs]… then we need to cut out Russia off the map! [laughs] Whatever!
Lucky: So was it scary to go to Russia? Dirk: Nooo! Definitely not. The train ride was a little crazy, because we went with all our equipment there… No, no [laughs]. It would be more scary to go to… to Iraq, for example. [laughs] That would be something…
Lucky: Do you have any favorite country to play in? Dirk: Not really… No… There’s no one favorite. You’ve got to get used to… When you’re on tour, you have these more heart-tempered people, who freak out from the first note to the last, and then you have countries where people are more listening to. And the problem is that you don’t see directly if they are enjoying the show, or not. When somebody is freaking out, you know – he likes it. But if not – then you think: “ah, is everything ok? Are we not so good today?” You know, you stop downing yourself. I stop this. Because you need just to pick up a look into the eyes of people, and you see if they are happy even if they are not jumping around, you know. And for example in Scandinavia people are more like this. I remember this in Oslo, Norway, they are even not allowed to freak out, because the security guys come to them – “hey, guy, keep it cool”, you know. So, well, it’s like… like the weather! [laughs] But it’s okay and I can live with that, you know. Because sometimes when you come on the tour, you come to the countries certainly, you have a long trip, and the night before you had a show and people were crazy, and suddenly you have a show where people are more like listening concert, you know…
Lucky: Is this tiring? Dirk: Yeah, you think… First, because you can’t see anything, but you need to know. You don’t see that the crowd’s jumping all the time, but when I look in their eyes, I can see – they’re really enjoying it. And then it’s okay. If I would be in front of the crowd, where I get image that they’re not enjoying this, then I’m feeling not good as well. But so far this hasn’t happened on this tour! [laughs]
Lucky: How was the Moscow show? Dirk: That was really good! But for me, I remember more St.Petersburg show. It was more… intensive. And the funny thing was that it wasn’t sold out, there was a lot of space, there were not so many people. But people were so… Like I told you, I could see their eyes; they were so happy, so glad that we were there. The Moscow show was so maybe because of organization, and traveling, some shows are… I don’t know how I can compare this. You know, there are some shows you really remember as very special, and of course you would remember bad shows, you know, when something was really wrong! It’s like sex. You know, it can’t be always on top and always the best. So… of course it should be good always [laughs]… But the St.Petersburg show I remember really from the intensity of emotions of people. Really, really. Much more than Moscow. But that’s my own impression. It was so few people, giving the same feeling to me, that’s maybe… that doesn’t mean that the Moscow crowd was bad! It was also good, you know.
Lucky: Is it very tiring to have such long tours? Dirk: Yeah, of course. Because energy, always away from home, and I have 2 kids… One is 14 years old, he’s living with my ex-wife, and it’s not easy in this age, when it’s important that his dad is there. So we try to keep an eye on not being too long on tour. But this is the first part and then comes the next part, and then comes Japan, it seems that South America will be fixed, the agency is talking about Russia, and even more, you know, North America… We’ll see. This is the start of the tour, still, and we’re feeling already like “uff”… But that’s the matter of our age! [laughs]
Lucky: How do you rest, when you have concerts every day? How do you relax? Dirk: Here in bus! When we have a day-off, we always have a hotel. When we travel by a boat, like a ferry, then we have a room there, some days are just travel days, but normally, a real day-off means that we go to the next show, the next day, and stay in a hotel there, to the next day.
Lucky: Do you have some time to see cities? Or it’s not interesting anymore? :) Dirk: Yeah! It’s interesting; I really enjoy… this free time, and this bus. It’s really comfortable, as you can see. I can be here, whenever, if I want to sleep – I just go into my bunk and sleep. And also when the backstage area is too small, I use the bys to change my clothes, not to disturb others… So I use this bus for everything [laughs].
Lucky: Do you go to sauna here in Finland? Dirk: Uff! I don’t know, if we will have time, we will go tonight, I think… Or in Helsinki… In Helsinki I have some friends, so… It would be great idea to go to sauna directly after the show…
Lucky: Or will you travel to Helsinki during the night? Dirk: Could be. We will leave here, I think, 3 or 4 in the night.
Lucky: Will you have any after-party? Dirk: Party?.. Well, it’s always a little bit in the bus. But… [sighs] if you have the show other day, you need to take care and not drink much… But somebody is always sitting in the front… This part is non-smoking area, and in the front is smoking. They sit there. Lucky: You don’t smoke? Dirk: I don’t smoke. I used to smoke, but now I can’t.
Lucky: Okay, now it’s time to speak about the new album… I think, you’ve been asked already many questions… Dirk: Many! [laughs] Lucky: So maybe something you want to say yourself? Some comments. Dirk: Yeah, to sum up all the usual questions… [laughs] in one! The new album is… of course, many ask why is it called “Land of the Free part II”. This has some reasons. This album we had very relaxed atmosphere in studio. This was the first album we recorded in our new studio. We had to move since the production of “Majestic”. We already knew we’ve got to move, we’ve got to leave that place. Lucky: Why? Dirk: Because the place was sold by landlord, because the honor had some bills to pay, whatever, so the place was sold by law, or how do you call it. It was the old banker wall-shelter. The new owner kicked everybody out 3 months later. And this was… our space in the world, and we built everything ourselves inside these 3-4 rooms we had in that banker. So this was really… frustrating. And we needed to finish the album. Now we moved, we found the new place, and it’s bigger, it’s got daylight. It’s close to the water, it’s the side of the river Elba, and the recording room has the direct window, so we can look directly into the water… So, it’s… very nice! [laughs] We had a little work, as this place has been a studio before, but not finished yet, or they used only some rooms… So… we had this feeling grow: Now we’re gonna do the next album in the new studio! And everybody was pretty much relaxed, so we had very relaxed time in the studio. Also we hired Tom Newton for the drum recording and for the mixing… Well, so, the music of “Land of the Free” is really very positive, very relaxed, compare to “Majestic”. Everybody says like “Majestic” is dark side of Gamma Ray, which is bullshit, I think. It was just more basic, it was really too bass riffed, and more guitar riffed… Of course it has the dark sound like “Majesty” song, but it’s not… for me it’s not too dark. But you can hear the difference in the relaxed atmosphere that has “Land of the Free part II”. And the name came, because we were… When we were doing first songs, we had this feeling – hey, this sounds, this has the spirit like we had in the “Land of the Free part I”! Which is 12 years ago and when even Henjo and Dan didn’t join the band at that time… But they also said: hey, this is the spirit like “Land of the Free” stuff! So the idea with the name came up… First we thought about calling the album “Blah-blah-blah”, subtitle “Land of the Free part II”. And then finally there was no idea for “blah-blah-blah” [laughs]… So we stuck to the “Land of the Free part II”. We were aware that everybody will compare now, when we really name the album like this, the new stuff with the old, and “why?!” and so on… But actually we didn’t care too much during recording [laughs], and… then another thing is that there are never commandments for the next album; we start the production when we have some songs. And sometimes somebody bring the rough composition, rough arrangement, and we start rehearsing in the room, or we listen to it, for instance, and – “oh, I don’t feel like this in the moment”… So for example song like “Beautiful” wasn’t on the “Majestic”, but Kai already had a basic thing at that time. It didn’t fit to the “Majestic”. It was just too beautiful! [laughs] Well, now I’m back to composing again. And it was not easy, because I lost this… this way of working, because I did too many things in the last years…
Lucky: What do you mean? Dirk: Too many other things, besides music. I tried to live on the same island than Andy Deris, on Tenerife, because one of my cousins lives there; and we started to do a bar there. That was a mistake. I should have never done this. I was too busy with that, and then with the “Majestic” production, and I lost it, and he lost the control as well… That was bad. It took from me maybe 2 years of creativity.
Lucky: And now you’re back to Germany. Dirk: Yeah. I’m back to Hamburg… I mean I’ve always had a flat in Hamburg and I also lived in the house of my father… And he died last year… that was also… Talking to my brother… So many things which didn’t have anything to do with music of Gamma Ray, happened since “Skeletons…”… I’ve always had an opportunity to compose, always had a space, and keyboard and computer and everything, and small amp to record… And I always had a nice set up. And then something happened and I had to move again, I had no basis… I had no home! And now at the moment I don’t know if I would stay in Hamburg forever. But right now this is my basis, and this is giving me power to… to go on! [laughs] I am not a gypsy. I have gypsy roots in my blood maybe, that’s why I love being on tour. But… people might be different, but I think it’s good if you have some places…
Lucky: When I read Gamma Ray interviews, almost every time I meet question about your relationships with Helloween. Isn’t it boring to hear and say the same again and again? Dirk: Of course! [laughs] Of course it’s boring, but sometimes you just think: ok, now comes this question 30th time, and I do this answer, because I have done it 29 times before. Or I can see if maybe it’s personal interest… Of course I can speak only for myself. When I came to Hamburg in 89, and I first met Weiky, Markus, and Ingo, the first drummer of Helloween… and everybody was looking at me like “ah, this is the new guitar player…” That time I played guitar… and “who is it?” Whatever… Everybody was looking at me… suspiciously, and also curious. First when I’ve got to know them, I had feelings that they’re easy, and some of them of course think they’re something special, because they are Helloween, and I actually didn’t care too much [laughs]… So, when somebody is talking to me a little bit like from above, I say – well, I don’t need this! Go away! But finally, after all these years… Also I have good relationship – it means, we don’t talk regularly, but I have no problems with Kiske, we met and we had a chance to talk, and it was really… good! And with Markus, we’re both bass-players from the heart, you know, we have never had anything bad, we help each other when we can… And their new drummer, I first met him last year when we played show together, when this idea of doing this tour grew…
Lucky: Whose idea was it? Dirk: I’m not the one who says “me, me” [shows at himself], but I forced the continuing this idea. This idea happened really last year, when we had this Masters Of Rock thing, and we had the same hotel, and it was the first time we did this jam-session. And after this… we went to hotel and we kept on talking about this, and I talked directly to Weiky, to Andy Deris, to Markus Grosskopf, if they could imagine doing a real thing out of this. And then it was… for example, Weiky said, “yeah, but let’s see if we both have an album finished at the same time”. If it’s so, blah-blah-blah… Then it was pretty clear when we both started recording at the same time… And then already some rumors appeared, you know. At that time I called Andy Deris, and we talked 40 minutes about how he sees it and how we can do it, how we can do this show together. Originally there was even an idea of mixing up the show, the whole thing, not only these 2 songs at the end what we’re doing together, even to do more… But he told he can’t sing half an hour and go off the stage, wait for another 20 minutes to come back… and that’s true. He is veeery experienced singer and he knows how it is on tour, he avoids things before they happen… Yeah. Anyway, the rest was between the agencies, and us, and promoters, and managers, and blah-blah-blah. And finally it is like this, and we are on the road.
We run out of time... Axxis already started to play, Dirk of course needed to change clothes and get ready for the show. Still we spoke a little - he told about his children, that for the second one did the caesarean section, and how the first son was born. He was there, he was in hospital with his wife and this became the most intensive and emotional thing in his life... Time for the talks ended. Time for the show came...
