BLIND GUARDIAN: 'With Every Record We Did, There Was Progression And A Lot Of Experimentation'

Mark Kadzielawa of 69 Faces Of Rock recently conducted an interview with guitarist André Olbrich of German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

69 Faces Of Rock: How planned was the new album? Even upon one listen you get an impression as if much thinking went into it.

André: You're right. It almost sounds like a concept album, but it isn't. And we never make up our mind before we start the songwriting. There is no definite direction, we leave everything open, and just let the creativity flow. We think that's the best concept we can have; otherwise you might be limiting yourself to certain style, which we don't want to do.

69 Faces Of Rock: How challenging was the idea of working with the orchestra?

André: That was really challenging because we try to improve our orchestra skills since we did "Theatre Of Pain" (a track off "Somewhere Far Beyond") in 1992. We wrote that song back then, and that was our first experience we've had with an orchestrations. Since then we've tried to improve our skills, and I think every song we write with an orchestra in mind, the connection between the heavy metal music and the orchestra gets better. So a song like "Sacred Worlds" is like our optimum so far for the songwriting skills in that area, including orchestration.

69 Faces Of Rock: Was adapting the new material to be performed live easy or challenging? Especially with the orchestral parts being so significant.

André: It was really hard, and for the first time we tried to work with sound sampling. If we wanted to play "We Love Time", which is one of the most important songs on the album, and we could not afford a real orchestra for the whole tour, so the best thing we could do is to use the sampler. Everything else besides the orchestration is live. We had to find a system which works with a click track, and makes everything sound tight. We did a European tour, and we tested the system, and it worked fine. The fans were enjoying what we did, and our light engineer is doing the rest, so the song truly gets its magic.

69 Faces Of Rock: As you listen to the last few BLIND GUARDIAN records, how much of the original formula is still there?

André: There never was anything like a formula when it comes to BLIND GUARDIAN. I think the band was changing on each album. We started with a very melodic HELLOWEEN/IRON MAIDEN album titled "Battalions Of Fear". Then changed in to a thrash-influenced band. We had a lot of thrash riffs. And then we changed into what BLIND GUARDIAN is all about now. I think the "Tales" album was the record on which we've found our own style. We started using more melodic riffs, choirs, and all that stuff, then we changed again with "Imaginations From The Other Side". I think with every record we did, there was progression and a lot of experimentation. I could never say which album is the definitive BLIND GUARDIAN record. But I think without the progression we've made on records like "A Night In The Opera", or "Twist In The Myth", we could never have done an album like "At The Edge Of Time" because the steps we took in between we needed as musicians. We needed to improve our style, and find the elements to bring you to that level.

69 Faces Of Rock: United States was one of the last countries to catch up to what BLIND GUARDIAN was doing. How are you doing on the U.S. market?

André: The problem was always with the record label. We've had a worldwide contract with Virgin Records in Germany. They never released our record in the States. So, we really started here from 2002. And from that starting point it was a real success. It's getting better and better every year. The tours are great, and we did three headlining tours of the states so far. We're really satisfied with our success because we know this is a really hard market to break into. There is lots of awesome bands here, and you probably don't need a German band to come over here, but still we have a following, and we have loyal fans here that waited four years for us to come back and play another tour. They sing the songs with us every night, and everybody knows the lyrics, and everybody is into it. We are really pleased with the situation.

69 Faces Of Rock: What new elements do you introduce to your music in order to stay fresh, and still keep your interest?

André: That has something to do with your way of living, and how you understand the spirit of time. In the earlier days, we went out every day for drinks with our friends. We partied, and we drew the energy there. Nowadays, it's different kind of things that gets us going. I really like the energy of the band. In the past, the harmony within the band was not very good, but it is now, and it shows. You will see it when you see us play. You'll notice there is something special going on stage, and it's fun for me to play with them. This fact gives me so much creative energy, and it's fun for me to do this, and express myself.

Read the entire interview from 69 Faces Of Rock.