Andi Deris – Helloween/The Bad Bankers – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Mark Ashby
Sunday, 15 December 2013 03:20
For the past 20 years, having replaced Michael Kiske in 1993, Andi Deris has been the front man of German melodic power metal legends Helloween, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums. In the latter half of the 1990s, he has also released two solo albums – ‘Come In From The Rain’ in 1997 and ‘Done By Mirrors’ two years later.
Now, despite his heavy commitments with Helloween, he has resurrected his solo career – under the monicker of Andi Deris And The Bad Bankers – to release his third album, ‘Million Dollar Haircuts On Ten Cent Heads’. It’s a deeply personal and also very political album, and Über Rock’s Mark Ashby caught up with him to find out the story behind it…
It has been 14 years since your last solo album: why has it taken so long and what was the motivating factor behind doing one now?
It takes quite a while to collect enough cool songs which haven´t ended up on Helloween albums. On the other hand I did not want to write songs especially for a solo output…that would have taken away the fun part. Concerning the lyrics [however] it was now or never … I realised that the majority of the songs are more or less connected to the same thoughts and subject.
It’s an album that, from the band’s name through to its title, is very much inspired by the banking crisis and its aftermath: why is that subject in particular so close to your heart?
Living on a touristic island (Tenerife), I see my friends without jobs and everybody struggling big time… The first thing people won‘t or can‘t afford is holidays…. or – speaking for myself – tickets for a concert.
Down the line it will not get any better if politicians won‘t start to really do something….but politicians are also a benefitting and corrupted breed …..so nobody will change anything!
My suggestion would be to completely change the whole fucking establishment every five or eight years to avoid corruptive connections (which will always take a while to build up)… pretty much the same way that – for example – the President of the US can only be elected twice for a period of four years…
Do you think it is appropriate that someone like yourself – an artist with a voice to express such views – articulates the rage that many let go unspoken?
Who else than us metal heads is allowed to do so?
The album also tackles other issues, some of them deeply personal, I believe… tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind ‘This Could Go On Forever’, for example.
That title is about the fear of loss….something you love you want to hold dear forever….but life sometimes teaches a rather hard reality….nothing is forever.
Helloween have often written songs inspired by the world of science fiction – and it’s territory which you tread here as well, such as on ‘Don’t Listen To The Radio’: why write a song about that particular War Of The Worlds’ radio broadcast?
It shows the naivety of the people back then, by believing blindly in the media: [in] those days [it was] radio, nowadays it would be television. Personally I think nothing has changed: it‘s just in a more advanced disguise….
There are tracks where you write about visions of utopia (‘EnAmoria’, for example), and then there are others – such as ‘Will We Ever Change’ and ‘Blind’ – where you question man’s ability, both collectively and individually, to remain in a state of utopia: do you think that there is such a concept as perfect contentment or is life always contradictory?
Contradictory, yes: our biggest “error in our head” is the fact that whatever dream we make come true is only a dream less in our heart. We forget to cherish it as the dream it used to be and simply get used to it. So another dream must follow to replace the lost one… and we ask for more and more and: we‘re never satisfied with what we already have.
By and large the songs on the album are extremely different from what you do with Helloween, while there are others – particularly on the second half of the record – which wouldn’t sound that out of place on one of the band’s albums. How difficult is it for you to differentiate between writing songs for Helloween and writing for yourself?
I never write songs into a certain direction: that would take away the fun. I just write a song because it´s my hobby: let‘s see later on if it fits or not.
You recorded the album in your studio in Tenerife, where you moved a few years ago: how different was the recording process in such idyllic surroundings compared to, say, that of a studio in the middle of an industrial estate somewhere?
INSIDE a studio it‘s the same everywhere, [in terms of the] technical surroundings anyways: so when you‘re in front of your mixing board or computer screen it really doesn´t matter where you are.
The big difference is when you leave the studio to get a rest: then the Atlantic Ocean and the palm trees MAKE a difference… the environment let‘s you relax and cool down in just a second.
Furthermore, it‘s the perfect surrounding for the voice: salty air makes you sing much better… or at least easier.
It’s been a pretty busy year, with the release of Helloween’s 14th album and your own one as well, and you’re coming close to the end of a fairly lengthy tour: what does 2014 hold for you, the band and your fans?
Well, Christmas will be family time: doing and planning nothing – sounds great to me after such a long world tour.
Next year, I want to rehearse with the Bad Bankers for possibly [doing some] upcoming festivals or some smaller shows somewhere on the planet. And, certainly songwriting for the next Helloween album: but, writing songs is something that I always do anyways.
It is and always will be my biggest hobby: making music is just the greatest thing in my life!!!
Thanks very much for your time…
Always a pleasure….
‘Million Dollar Haircuts On Ten Cent Heads’ by Andi Deris And The Bad Bankers is out now on earMUSIC.
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To pick up your copy of ‘Million Dollar Haircuts On Ten Cent Heads’ – CLICK HERE
