I started considering the idea of starting a solo project around 2007.
At the time we'd already had ten successful years of RPWL to our name.
We'd also already released relatively many albums.
And yet I felt that it was time for something new.
I'd also written many songs that were too heavy for RPWL standards.
I was also very keen to write my own lyrics and compose my own vocal melodies.
I remember playing Eclipsed Festival at Colos-Saal Aschaffenburg with RPWL alongside Arena
I was standing by the bar with Arena's then bassist Jon Jowitt, having a beer
I'd told him about the idea of having my own project
He immediately told me to call him, should it ever come to pass
Something great might come of it
Encouraged by that I invited loads of musicians to join in
John Mitchell, Paul Wrightson and even Clive Nolan participated
Funnily Yogi encouraged me to take the leap
He didn't think it was weird that I would wand to do something else in addition to RPWL
Looking back with some distance, Liquid has been released for a year now,
I absolutely feel that the three albums sound very different and that's a good thing!
You can see: ten years have passed
One has gone through personal developments, too
I never stood still
That doesn't mean that every development was always positive,
but in general developments are a good thing,
because as an artists you can never come to a standstill or stop evolving.
You should always be interested in trying new things
or work with different musicians
and look beyond the current horizon.
I consider that extremely important.
In terms of the songwriting, today I wouldn't like the songs anymore that I used to write back in the day
and I wouldn't even have gotten close to concoct today's songs back then.
Many people told me that they though they'd get a different thing from a solo album by RPWL's guitarist
Many were surprised of the rock heaviness of it.
(Sebe) Were some disappointed? Or were there negative voices?
I am certain that not everybody liked it.
The first album was definitely still closer affiliated with RPWL.
There are songs on it that were "leftovers"
or that couldn't be considered for an RPWL album.
But the songs that were written specifically for the album, like "Obsession", "Don't Ask Me Why" or "Break You"
have a clear edge of the direction that defined the way later.
There was definitely a sense of evolvement.
RPWL influences decreased with every record.
It has become a completely stand-alone thing
which is something that musicians rarely manage.
Playing the rock music that Blind Ego makes and standing at the edge of the stage, legs thrust far apart…
Now, that certainly has a much higher rock n' roll factor and it is an incredible amount of fun!
I couldn't say which of the two is the better thing.
But after rocking with Sylvan and Blind Ego for twenty years and strolling the edge of the stage next to Kalle, Julian and Scott, legs thrust apart,
that's just a lot of fun!
(Kalle) I don't think we are that proggy after all.
I'd actually rather call us a rock band.
(Michi) Yes, because it doesn't sound all that proggy.
But there are all kinds of uneven time-structures
The trick is to make it sound simple
After all, it wouldn't be cool to have the audience standing down there with calculates in hands
to be able to shake along.
I immediately felt that, compared to other progressive rock music, there is not that much "head" in the equation
But there certainly are cojones at play
it has power
it has attitude
it is sexy
That's why I have an idea of presenting it as a frontman.
The instrumental parts have the right length,
they are played right from the heart but at the same time also"legs thrust apart"
That was something that I'd looked for in a while.
My personal roots can be found in 80s heavy metal
with long hair and so on
and that is still my secret love.
The sun rises for me when I hear rock music.
The fact that I have created a project that lets me live that side of me in Blind Ego, next to RPWL,
that enriches my musical life in an incredible way.
Not everything you write is autobiographical.
At lot is just made up.
It's a case of: trust the art, not the artist.
That's what the last album, LIQUID, was about
that there are evolving developments in various states of the soul,
that a lot of things are not just black or white
that everything is in a constant flowing state of movement.
Being able to let off steam and get my head free by playing the guitar
automatically makes me much more willing to compromise in terms of writing new RPWL songs.
I believe that extreme situations are the most inspiring in terms of songwriting.
Unfortunately, in my case, particularly negative situations trigger the creation of songs.
A constant situation, that could, for instance, be a difficult break up
There might even be a double album there.
Simple fights might just be good for a ballad.
It's incredibly varied.
We have polished up an old farm house here
this is not only our RPWL headquarters but also the head office of label Gentle Art of Music
We have two recording studios in the facility
and, of course, it was a no-brainer to pull off the complete production of "Liquid" here.
A seven-year break is actually much too long.
But the break was needed, nevertheless.
It just wasn't possible earlier.
There were too many other crime scenes.
Also, there are phases when you have little you want to say. You shouldn't write songs in such phases.
I was definitely able to fill the break up nicely.
But it was still a little weird,
because it was properly tight and so cool
and I was so full of energy
that I would have liked to put to work.
I put it into other projects.
But I kept getting into contact with Kalle.
"Let me hear something" - my favourite line.
I still remember: when the demo of "A Place in the Sun" was done,
I called you and also visited, only shortly after.
Because I felt: now we have an album on our hands.
When we were sitting in my living room and you put the song on, I thought: "WOW"
With my demo singing.
Yeah, we could have used that already, but it also turned out brilliant the other way.
After the "Numb" tour cycle we had become such a tight unit that everybody immediately asked: "When do we continue?"
And what followed was: nothing
The "Numb" tour had gone very well
and I'd had an extremely good feeling at the time.
And yet, the streak had ended for then.
The main reason, of course, was that we were very active with RPWL.
Also we'd launched our own label Gentle Art of Music in the meantime.
There were simply so many different things to take care of.
We released a whole lot
we signed new bands
there was just so incredibly much to do.
But I also felt that after two albums with Paul Wrightson I wanted to work with new musicians.
Also, work with a different singer.
Or maybe different ones. That idea came up only with time.
It simply took some time to find the right people
or run into them. Sometimes you have to hope for some coincidence.
Only when it became apparent that Arno Menses would do some songs
and we'd started recording the vocals,
did production really gain momentum again.
And we were finally able to finish that part.
Man don't even know, but you are the video mastermind behind Blind Ego.
Man people only know you as a bassist.
Not only did you cut the entire trailer,
but, most importantly, you did the video for "Blackened" with cinematographer Sebastian Bock.
I remembered this bunker that I'd visited once.
I looked at it again.
The funny thing was that, on the way home, on the subway, I put together a sketch on my laptop,
how the band could shape up.
The image is, of course, very rudimentary,
but it is exactly what happened in the actual video.
Do you remember the first time we looked at the monitor,
the first time we pushed Play
and we only thought: "Man, how great does that look!"
That was very impressive.
But I also remember that it was a Sunday and it had rained heavily over the preceding days.
We weren't sure whether or not we could shoot anyway, because there isn't really a roof over that location.
Luckily it was dry. But the cold was just awful.
It was freezing cold.
That had nothing to do with spring or early summer.
We were up there with hats and it felt like hell freezing over.
Also the bunker didn't really heat up, it was just plain cold.
It was amazing, because I had a fever of forty degrees.
That wasn't too cool, but in terms of the energy it was sensational.
Along with Arno, rolled up in warm blankets.
The wind was howling.
It was properly cold.
The wind particularly blew through the air vents.
But it was an incredibly great experience.
And the location was amazing.
It doesn't get better than that.
Looking back, the interesting thing about the video shoot was that at the time we didn't even know who the lineup that would go on tour would consist of.
For a brief period we even considered not touring at all.
But in the end I was just to keen on playing live.
So we decided to start off with a small promo tour of two weeks
and only then did I pick the musicians on a definite basis.
it was clear that Michael Christoph on the drums was a given.
He'd already played on the two preceding albums.
I really value having a drummer who also leads the band
and has presence, particularly in rock music,
somebody who never slows down and somebody who makes it feel like is with us there in the front
and also grabs responsibility.
A colleague of mine at drumming school "Drummer's Focus" recommended me.
That was Marc Turiaux of Kalle's other band, RPWL.
He said: "Michi is the right guy for that kind of sound."
I think that you drumming style has has had a massive influence on the sound.
We also received a plethora of compliments for the drum sound.
And of course that's not only rooted in the sound but also in the person who played.
Yes, but the acryl set also plays a role there.
At a time when drums were still recorded with only two microphones
Bonham already showed that acryl drums provide mighty pressure.
If you listen to those recordings, you know: that kind of drumkit can go a long way.
I play very loud anyway, so that's the right instrument for me.
You'd warned me in advance: bring your ear protection.
Michi plays very loud.
At the time we still played without in-ear systems.
I hadn't taken the warnings seriously - and ten minutes into the first rehearsal
I put napkins in my ears.
I have always played rock music.
I grew up with that, that's my life.
Michi has an enormous prog background
But he has to play the seemingly simple grooves with a lot of punch
He does that beautifully - and he has this incredible degree of joy of playing.
The songs make for that.
After Dreamscape and all the complex playfulness
it was great to just go "boom whack" again
and concentrate more on the fills
and the questions as to where you could put the emphasis.
The fact that Sebastian Harnack is in again to play live
made me particularly happy.
We've been friends for years.
When I heard the album, knowing that I would be playing the tour,
I thought about which of the parts would be the more simple/difficult ones to prepare
I was a bit intimidated by the slapping passage by the Panzerballett bassist.
But there was nothing that was impossible to do.
Sebe has that raw bass sound, which I like a lot
On the album the song "Not Going Away" starts with a keyboard part
So I reprogrammed my bass pedal and inserted the sounds on it.
The part was too difficult to pull if off with the feet
so I play the part on a small keyboard.
That's a lot of fun, particularly because everybody thought that the part would be played off tape as playback.
As a guitar player I'd already checked out Julian Kellner.
His band, Dante, are signed to our label.
A brilliant and great young guitarist!
He didn't know that we were already auditioning people when we'd talked a couple of times.
But from may years of touring experience with bands I have learned
that it is not only important to have good musicians with you
but it's particularly important to have nice guys with you who are motivated
and will put all their energy into the effort of contributing to the project.
Otherwise the whole thing just doesn't work.
I didn't even know Julian. You'd only told me about him.
I still remember you saying: well, he's fast.
So, he was warming up in a backstage area and he hadn't realised I was there,
and I thought: fuck me, that guys is really fast.
A big moment by Julian.
That's what I like about Julian so much:
of course he commands all the technical wizardry
but he also knows when to just let it rip.
At the beginning, in between it's all happening here and then calm down again.
I think it's great when people are that skilled technically.
Personally I put more emphasis on melodies.
That fast paced style of playing is not that important to me.
But I thought: having such a fast player on board
will even out the average value.
During "Never Escape the Storm"
I can still the rain pouring down in front of me and how he stood right there.
Afterwards he told me what a special experience it was, also: playing the final solo.
A second guitarist is always a difficult issue.
I always include a lot of my specialities as a guitar player in my songs.
Coming on board as a second guitarist in that kind of environment is not an easy thing.
That's why I have an awful lot of respect for Julian, for learning all that stuff.
In the process he also tried to understand how I function.
He has a great tone, technically he is an incredibly versatile guitar player
and we really complement each other very well.
Although Julian is a lot younger age doesn't play a role at all.
That wasn't an issue at all.
Only: he looks better than us.
He certainly lowers the average age.
And finally we were left with the issue of a singer.
That turned out to be a difficult one.
There were various castings
and there were five or six guys who were considered.
I thought that the right one might have been among them.
The difficult thing was finding somebody who was able to represent the various singers of the earlier albums.
He also needed to have a big range and be comfortable with the respective styles of expression.
And he needed to take frontman duties off my shoulders.
I am a classic sideman and the thing I love most is just playing the guitar.
I also need somebody who leads the way through the evening and who can take care of the entertainment.
It was a real stroke of luck that I kind of stumbled over Scott through a mutual friend.
The contact was established through a singer we both knew.
She'd told me that Kalle Wallner was looking for a singer from Munich who was able to pull of progressive rock.
When I received the recordings during a vacation in Gran Canary I was immediately over the moon.
Less than ten minutes in I knew
if those guys rock as hard live as they do on record
I definitely want it be - I have to be - a part of this.
Scott is not only an American native but he also brought a lot of enthusiasm, energy and experience to the table.
He was also very motivated in getting acquainted with the various singers.
All in all there were five singers that you had to cover:
Paul Wrightson, John Mitchell, Aaron Brooks, Erik Blomquist and Arno Menses.
Those are all amazing singers.
I have so much respect for how you made all those styles your own during the tour.
Thanks. It as an enormous task, because: not only are those guys all great singers
but they are also well-established figures in the scene.
The one guy does heavy metal the way it's supposed to be,
the other one does psychedelic the way it's supposed to be.
Arno does progressive, but his voice is very flowing.
The challenge was to incorporate something from all of them
and at the same find and push into that sport
where you can make it your own.
I had to tell myself that it doesn't matter what the others do.
I have my own interpretation of this and that's just what's happening.
I just hoped that the audience as well as you guys would get on board with that.
But I think it worked out just fine.
Finding somebody like Scott for a project like this
was like winning the lottery for me.
Hello Nik
Hey
Thanks for taking the time to do this. - My pleasure.
We're excited about the new facilities.
Come on in.
This is where the things happen that don't require machines.
Final touches, polishing the finishes etc.
I think we're in the most conservative business in the world.
The first time I'd had one of these palisade necks in my hands I immediately knew: I need a guitar with a neck like that.
It is wonderful to play and it has enormous presence.
Is it your experience that the guitar is outstandingly recognisable?
It is incredibly tight.
Not everybody likes that, just like the thick necks.
But that's exactly what I like.
It's just a wonderful sound you get.
This rio rosewood was initially used for pool cues.
Cut in the 50s already.
We were able to acquire a large reserve once.
We made virtue of the necessity.
These are two parts and we split those with a maple line.
Now I'm excited to see the workshop.
My favourite room.
A small joinery.
This is where everything happens.
We're currently cutting two Orca bodies.
The curves, the radius etc. And the corpus edge.
How long does it take until the complete corpus is shaped?
A long time, because it takes several many different steps.
There are multiple tools for the steps.
That could be made faster - if you cut faster.
But that would be at the cost of the final image.
In our case time is never really a significant factor. The result most be as good as possible.
Here, this screw, there will be an anchor on top of that.
Here the spot for the fingerboard is already done.
In the next step we'll fix the fingerboard.
Once it looks like this, it's beautiful.
Amazing, wonderful.
Here are guitars with completed corpuses and necks.
They're waiting to be grinded by Max.
Over the years you repeatedly provided me with extra guitars for special tunings etc. for tours.
One time we played Colos-Saal with RPWL and you rocked up a little late. Only for the encore.
But you handed a Twangmeister to my backline man
and he tuned it down to Es.
I didn't even know what was happening to me.
He just handed it to me.
I was completely confused as to what was happening.
I walk over to switch guitars and then I'm handed a new guitar.
I just thought: I must have missed something there.
At the time I was looking for an alternative for my Tom Anderson. I was thinking about a PRS or something.
I had talked to Tom Huthansl of Grand Guitars about this.
He told me about you then.
He suggested I take a closer look at your guitars.
That's how we got together at the time.
That was great!
How long ago was that?
2007 or 2008.
The first time I played your guitar was during the 2008 tour.
I have gone a little grey since then.
Ditto! And more beardy.
Shall we continue?
I love doing this myself. I love that kind of work.
Cutting wood and glueing.
I could actually put my bed in here.
This is my favourite room of the entire company.
And that is your linen?
That's my bed!
Wonderful color!
Sharcoal. Has decreased the number of blue orders a little bit.
Grey-black with a black burst.
We do that on a regular basis now.
Looks great!
One-piece top
and beautiful mahogany in the back.
Insane
Really great.
That's going to become the neck.
Great.
It simply looks amazing!
And again, a thick neck!
No that we've heard that much about Nik Huber guitars
you'll have to show us some of them!
This was my first Nik Huber.
A relatively simple Dolphin.
But it sounds incredibly versatile.
One of my favourite guitars.
A always take this one when I can only bring one guitar, like on a plane.
That's the one you can play everything with.
A special piece, because it's very old: a Les Paul Custom of 1968.
This one was unfortunately worn out a little by the previous owner.
But it's an original, of course,
and it should not be missing in any collection.
I played large chunks of "Mirror" with this one.
I put it to use periodically.
Great guitar.
A special guitar, because it was my first real electric guitar
and it has had a lasting impact on the RPWL sound for years.
A Tom Anderson of 1989. At the time I bought it all new.
I was seventeen.
It can be seen in various images.
It has grown really old by now.
But this was the guitar with which I grew up musically.
We've had tremendous influence on each other.
That's why it's a special piece for me.
I'd like to show you.
Probably best to do that with the RPWL live setup.
Another setup that I bought many years ago
and that has been part of virtually every RPWL tour.
Here we are in the recording room. We've accumulated quite some cabinets and amps.
An old Marshall 4x12''.
This is a Diezel cabinet, along with the VH-4 that I use live with Blind Ego.
An old Fender Twin Reverb of 1974
Ofter I use that one in the studio. It's too heavy to play it live.
Mesa/Boogie cabinets in all sizes for all occasions.
And my RPWL live set up, bought in the early 90s.
Now we're getting to one of my absolute favourite guitars.
It might be the most valuable one I own. And certainly one of the most beautiful.
Another Nik Huber Dolphin,
but not subtle at all.
A wonderful maple top.
Massive palisade neck.
We already saw this at Nik's workshop.
Great guitar. I've owned it for close to ten years.
Probably the main guitar for Blind Ego.
It's extremely tight and has unbelievably much energy.
Next up is a special one, because it is a one-off.
I was given this one by all my friends for my 30th birthday.
It's actually a Danelectro guitar.
But it was converted into a "Kallelectro"
It was particularly played on the "World Through My Eyes" and "Trying to Kiss the Sun" RPWL albums.
There was a lot of experimenting going on on those in terms of the sound.
And finally, a guitar that I have been carrying around for many years,
an old ESP Telecaster.
It must be from around the early 80s.
It was modified a little bit.
I bought it from somebody who didn't really appreciate it.
Unbelievably great guitar.
The atmosphere in the band is amazing!
The first time we met we showed up to the rehearsal room, said hello - and ten minutes later we were making music together.
The beautiful thing is the mutual respect.
You immediately feel at home.
There was great spirit in the band right from the beginning.
You couldn't only feel that during rehearsal but also on stage.
I liked that we immediately started.
In rock, if you wait for too long, the whole thing becomes to highbrow.
When we played our first gig at Rüsselsheim I was surprised myself by how well it all worked out.
And it was the first band I've ever experienced where, right from the first riff, everybody was at the front of the stage.
I think that you can always tell how well musicians are getting on on a personal level.
I immediately knew that we wouldn't be playing music together only for the duration of that tour.
It was going to stay that way for some time.
Because it felt like a band.
In terms of the camaraderie the "Numb" tour was already special
and when it comes to the "Liquid" tour:
if I weren't already married, I'd marry all of the guys.
You can now.
The first gig was at Rüsselsheim.
A great club, I'd played there many times before.
I was so unbelievably flashed by the energy that we managed to spark, right from the first seconds.
I wouldn't have expected it to be that amazing in my wildest dreams.
I think the whole band didn't expect it to go that well.
We kind of messed up the first song a little.
But I think that hardly anybody realised.
We extended or shortened one part a little, right during the first song.
But we all ended in the same spot?
That's the most important thing!
How hilarious was Scott's announcement of the guitar battle thing!
And the two of you, strutting to the front like gladiators.
I was laughing my butt off in the back with Michi.
We'd never talked about choreography.
It was clear that there was going to be this guitar solo duel.
But we never rehearsed that entirely.
Only that it was going to happen during this and that song at this and that time.
Same thing with the English announcements
Being American, English comes from a place that's closer to my heart.
I can't help but switch to English.
that is closer to my heart.
I'd have to put on a show to host the whole thing in German
and I'd also have to start thinking about the whole thing.
I'm in that mode then…
Many things just became fixtures,
things we always did the same way.
For instance, everybody walking to the front during "Obsession."
That lead to the catwalk being too small at Loreley.
It was too tight.
A band in which everybody want's to be in the front.
We recorded every concert during the tour.
Just for us, as a means to check.
Sebastian had the idea of making a live video, just to see if could work.
Maybe it wouldn't even work. Also, the idea of having a one-shoot camera might not be that great.
As there already are loads of live recordings from bands we wanted to come up with something new.
Along with my cinematographer partner Sebastian Bock we realised: there is not yet a one-shoot camera concert.
Music videos, yes, but not live shows.
It least we couldn't find one.
The camera starts in the backstage area, along with the band,
enters the stage, gazes into the audience.
In our case the camera also joins the audience in two situations,
which provides a glimpse of the view of the people.
But the camera also moves to the back, to Michi,
no big deal.
The cameraman is the invisible viewer through whom you can experience the concert from the stage - in front of your television.
We were so taken with the result
that we decided to release the thing.
We wanted people to be able to take the experience home.
It wasn't just for us but it's also great for the people.
We also recorded our show at Night Of The Prog Festival at Loreley
and we were all overwhelmed by that.
It was a great gig.
Even though we were the only band of the day that played with a storm raging and the rain falling.
Definitely a great memory. And worthy of a publication.
You have the club concert and the big stage. And both together reflect our energy.
One of my favourite parts is about to come up.
Loreley was fantastic!
An unbelievable feeling to receive so much feedback from the audience.
Just the sheer vast amount of people.
But I wouldn't want to miss that feeling of a club.
A musician always need direct contact to his audience.
When the atmosphere in the room is as great as it was at Logo
that's a wonderful thing, because you're that close to everybody.
So very close, in that sweaty room. That's just pure fun.
But every musician would lie, if they said that a stage like Loreley is no fun.
Walking out on that stage, with thousands of humans there - amazing.
By not pulling out during the rain and sticking around
and by getting wet along with the people
that's how we gained their trust.
The first thought you have is: "Damn, rain." Everybody is going to leave.
But it did no harm to the atmosphere. Quite the opposite.
The people went wild: they just put on their rain attire and kept going.
Things like that make stuff amazing.
Really big!
You can't order the rain.
And you certainly don't hope for it. But it made for a unique moment
It really was one big case of togetherness
and there was this very special spirit.
On top of all that we segwayed into "Never Escape The Storm." Just like we'd asked for it.
When Julian went to the front and played his solo I thought to myself:
Might it be that he get's struck by lightning and play even faster than before?
But everything went well, obviously.
That's when we knew: we have to release this.
This cannot disappear in some drawer.
There needs to be a possibility to relive that kind of atmosphere.
We certainly wanted that - just for the sake of being able to see it again.
But I think that many people will feel like that.
"Speak The Truth" - a special song from me
especially because that song was a baptism of fire for us
as we played it at an RPWL gig at Freising's Lindenkeller last November.
Some sort of pre premiere. The two of us played the song together unplugged.
That was a great starting point.
I think so, too.
At the time, on stage, I thought: what if we add electricity to that guitar there
and what if the drums came crashing in - as a musician you can imagine the break coming in.
I like that we have that double package
On the one hand there's this big open air stage
and on the other there's a tiny club.
Two entirely different concerts.
We fit in just fine in both cases.
Maybe the should hand the lamps a little higher at Logo.
I like to stand up during the show - and I still have scratches.
Everybody can make a picture for themselves. Anyway: we're extremely happy with it.
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