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H: Well a little bit anxious… because there was too much traffic on the
raod in order to come
home but now it’s ok. And how are you?
Just fine… I’m listening to Shylock and I’m relaxing… H: Hmm… that’s not relaxing music… (he laughs)
Well,
I’m always relaxing when listening to good music, especially after a
difficult day. H: Oh, yes I see…
So,
are you ready to begin? H: Yes, of course…
First
of all, have you read the review in Grande Rock? H: Yes, sure, I’ve read it and I wanna thank you as well. It was great.
You’re
welcome… your new album was really a surprise to me. H:
It’s
just an honor for us that we are the surprise of the month in Grande Rock.
Before
we talk about the album can you tell me how did you came up with the name
Shylock? H: The name Shylock was taken from a Shakespeare’s drama, which is called
“Merchant Of Venice”. Shylock is a person of the drama who is the bad
guy. Actually, when I was in school I read “Merchant Of Venice” and I
came up with the idea to use the name Shylock for our rock band. When we
discussed the whole with the band, they said that the name is ok and
nobody will ever imagine from where it came from so just take it.
But
you are not that bad guy from the drama heh? H:
No…. no… (he
laughs)… we do not want to be the bad guys!
So,
let’s talk about the new album. What is that illusion that you are
welcoming us all? H: We just want people to listen to the music and to forget all their problems all their sorrows… for just one hour. Listen to our music and be happy and enjoy it. There are two meaning as it concerns the title of the album. The whole music industry is an illusion as well, cause everybody dreams about playing music, go to studio, go out playing in live shows, have fans, enjoy life and tour around the world. It’s not always that easy, cause there is a lot of work behind the band and the whole business is very tough.
Yes,
I know about those problems, cause I’m a musician too. I have seen them. H: Yeap, you should never give up and just hold on to your dreams. Some
times that is really hard, but surely there will come better days.
Ok.
Do you think that the artwork shows that Illusion that we’ve talked
about? H: Well that’s a big story. First of all when we got the cover from MTM,
we weren’t so happy with it so, we just decided to make it on our own.
We have to be happy with the cover and the artwork also must express the
whole band.
I
think that when you look at the cover you see that illusion…and I liked
it. Thus, do you believe that “Welcome To Your Illusion” will help you
to become more popular? H:
I think that by now we have achieved that. But I do not believe that we
are going to have that successful that we all imagine, cause we do not
have many money to promote on big tours, the advertisements are not that
many in the magazines or the e-zines. The album took us much further and
most people accept Shylock as a rock band but due to our previous albums
many where saying that we do not rock that much cause we have many
keyboards, etc. But now with the new one they say that Shylock really
rocks! I think that they accept us a bit more now.
But
that’s where the label comes to help you out… but let’s not talk
about this right now. H:
Only future will tell us if the co-operation is good enough to go on…
right now we have a record deal with MTM for another album. We’ve
learned a lot all this time about the support and is not the label that
does all the things, but the band itself must advertise their work if they
want to go on.
Let’s
better change subject. Are you totally satisfied with the reaction of the
press and of the fans? H: The reaction of the press is good, it is better than with the “Pyronized” album, and we got too many good reviews from the German Rock Hard, the German Metal Hammer, from other magazines, from on-line magazines like Grande Rock… it’s very good that the people like the new CD and the songs. Many people also discussed that there are too many songs on the album, but when the journalists took a promotional copy to write a review for the album and they complaint by saying “ Hey, we have to write a review about fifteen songs, there too many”, but when the fans buy the album and they want to have something really good for their money.
It’s
good that the album have fifteen songs. It’s so rare nowadays for a rock
band to put so many good songs in one album. H:
Yes, just look at the big pop stars like Christine Aguilera or Shania
Twain, they put twenty songs on their records and nobody cares about that.
They just put two or three singles out and that’s all.
You
are right but from the twenty songs the seventeen are fillers… H:
Yes I agree. Taking about us I believe that we did our best in order to
release an album that has many good songs.
And
which are your five beloved songs of the album? H: Oh, they’re too many. For example the first song “Welcome To
Illusion”, “Revolution”, “Darkness”, “Middle OF Paradise”,
and almost all of the songs. I like less ‘Late Night Show” and “The
Need”.
Well…
my favorite song of the album is “Late Night Show”! H: Yeah???…. (he laughs)…
Yes,
really. I’m listening to it all the time… H:
Yes,
I hear it in the background… (Interviewers note: That specific time
my stereo was playing “Late Night Show”… is it a coincidence?!!)
Can
you tell me the concept idea behind “Late Night Show”? H: That is just a simple love song… there is a guy who walks around with
his memories and just can believe that one-day in his life, his girlfriend
met someone else and left him by telling… “Hey man the Late Night Show
is over… our relationship is over now… you have to go on with your
life”.
Yes…
I like very much that song I think that is the catchier song of the
album… do you agree? H:
Well…
not totally, but everyone one has his favorites songs from an album. I
love all the songs of our album but it depends on your mood on what you
are going to listen to. For example when I’m pissed off I just listen to
“The Need”.
Also
tell me the story concept of “The World Of The Lonely”, which is my
other favorite song of the album. H:
“World
Of The Lonely” is a kind of love song too…
…
Maybe a hard rocker love song huh? H: Well, not that hard rockin’ song…
I
like very much the riff of that song… H:
Yes,
the riff is very difficult to be played… (he laughs)… cause your fingers sometimes,
when you re in the studio didn’t play at all! Well getting back to the
song… it talks about someone that has stuck in his memories, and he’s
feeling down and he just imagines that there is not way out of this
mess… there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The message is that
when you have no hope no give up things… never give up.
So,
which thing comes first for you; Nice catchy melodies or heavy guitars? H:
It
depends on the song and the song material. Actually Mathias, our singer,
just writes every song, cause I’m not really good at song writing. He
comes up with the idea and say “well guys just listen to that song and
if it stuck in your head or you like it a lot then we must do that song…
it’s not important if the song is heavy or not”. We always try to keep
the melody alive.
By
the way, Mathias has a great voice… H:
Yeah…
he is really cool… He sung the whole album in four days!!
Amazing….
Mathias’ voice some times brought on my mind Jon Bon Jovi and Paul Laine. H:
Well,
most people are comparing him with Klaus Meine and said that he is a
typical german voice but I do not think of that.
I
do not think of that either… H: Yes, you are right… for example many reviews said…“another typical German band, a good record, and a typical german voice, that’s all” and I do not agree with that. I believe that there are many singers that are not so good as Mathias… and just consider that fact that he isn’t old enough is just 29 years old. And the most famous singers are over 35 years old or something like that.
Ok,
back to the album again. Are you totally satisfied with the production? H: Yeah, the production is really strong… although two or three songs of
the album could have done better, but that’s ok. I think that it reaches
the national rock standards and people like it.
How
far can you go with Shylock? H:
I do not know. It just depends on the money, it’s just depends on the
label…
And
on your passion…? H:
How passion??
Yes, you are right… when you do not have money you also do not have much passion… H: Yeah… all that depends on the promotion. Nowadays you have to go in all the magazines to put advertisement of the record and to do many interviews… all that depend of the label’s promotion. For example the promotion of the new TNT album was fabulous. I guess that every band should have that kind of promotion. A label has to do the best for its bands, but too many times they just do the limit and that’s all.
Are
there any plans for a tour yet? H:
Yes, there are plans to join the Axel Rudi Pell tour and we are really
close to do a deal with two bands that they really pay good money, it’s
just the money thing again, that want us to play with them. The bands are
Bompain and Thunderstone. On the 19th of and 20th of
May we will play two concerts with our label mates Wicked Sensation, the
one is in Munich and the other in Aalen. We are going to have much fun
there. (Interviewers
note: As I learned afterwards, Wicked Sensation cancelled the gig in
Aalen.)
Do
you organize your live shows by yourselves? H:
No we have a booking agency. That guy is a very close friend of ours and
can call him the guy behind the scene. He manages all the things with
other bands, with other managements, with other booking agencies and he is
doing all the promotion of the band.
Ok,
so let’s pass to some general questions. What
was the first tune you ever learned on guitar? H: Well, it was “Heng Do Dullish”… This is a traditional
German song… I do not know if you have heard of the artist before.
No,
I haven’t. H:
Ok, it’s a really funny song although… two chords and that’s
all…(ha laughs).
Which
are the bands that influenced you? H:
There are a lot bands… Mathias for example is listening to hard rock and
heavy metal music. We all have different music tastes. I like very much
Skid Row, Megadeth, Tesla… and many more.
Which
are the top 5 hard rock albums of all time according to you and why? H: Well… the best album number one, for me is
Queensryche – Operation Midncrime, number two Skid Row – Slave To The
Grind, number three Megadeth – Countdown To Extinction, number four is
Metallica – Metallica and finally AC/CD – Back In Black… but there
are many more that I truly like.
Yes,
I know. Do you believe that is so easy for a band to differ in today’s
music industry than in the past? And if yes what shall it do in order to
achieve it? H:
Nowadays is really difficult to build up a carrier or something like that,
cause there too many releases every month. You have to do many things on
your own to keep your dreams alive. Many people have told me that if we
played that kind of music in the late 80’s we would have sold about one
thousands copies! In the past things were much more easier because there
were not so many bands that were playing that kind of music. Nowadays the
whole market is so flat.
I
agree with you. I can see that. Every month I listen to so many CDs
from bands that come and go in just one night! Thus, have you listened to
a new album lately that surprised you? H:
The new Tesla CD surprised me. It’s a really good one! “What A
Shame” is a great song.
Do
you believe that hard rock music it’s on its rise again? H: I think that it’s rising a bit more and you can see more rock bands on
MTV, but I do not think that hard rock music will be that popular as it
was in the late of 80’s.
I
hope that… H:
Yeah
everybody hopes that… but I do not think so. There has to be a new
direction on this music…new impulses… well I do not know, only time
can tell.
Did
Shylock helped on that resurrection of hard rock music? H: Well I think that we have helped this music to stay alive. I played that
music for over a decade and I believe that I have helped this music to
stay alive and that’s all.
Which
are those questions that you dislike most? H: Everybody is asking us, where are we coming from, where did we form that
band and things like that…
…
I didn’t ask you those things… H: Yes, that’s really great…(he laughs) cause I can stand anymore
asking me to give a brief story of the band. I believe that if someone is
interested in Shylock can read those things in our website.
And
some Weird Questions now!!! What would you tell to someone to convince him
to buy your album instead of hundreds others that are being released every
month? H: I do not have to convince him. I just have to give him a CD to listed to
it, and to decide whether if he likes it or not.
But
if you give him the CD then he won’t buy it! H:
Yes, you
’re right… (laughs from both sides)…
Do
you consider yourself as a rock star? H:
What?? Me??? A rock star???… next question please… (he laughs).
Ok…
Weird question number three then… If you were living in Middle Earth which character
would you choose to be and why? H: I would choose to be Legolas… he is very cool. Or the dwarf Gimli he
is also cool and I like him a lot. I do not want to be a hero like Frodo
or something like that. Legolas is a strong person and every woman loves
him… (he laughs).
Imagine
that your girlfriend is selling your whole album-collection just to buy
for herself an expensive, ring. How would you react? H: I do not think that she would do me that thing… I do not believe that
diamonds are the girls’ best friends. I do not think that my girlfriend
is so keen on diamonds or things like that… I think that she likes me…
(he laughs).
Well
but if one day you go home and your whole CD-collection is missing
then… what would you do? H: I would go on the next CD-store and buy the CDs again…
Your
whole CD-Collection??? A little bit difficult huh? H:
Well that’s not to dramatic… I have about 200 CDs while others have
about 700 or more…
Yes, I know... I have have too many albums... H:
So,
if you loose your album collection then it would be a really drama… (he
laughs).
How
do you imagine that the music will be, one thousand years from now? And
why? H: I do not know… maybe everything is electronic by then. I do not think
that there will be any electric guitar or drums because they will push one
button and you will have ready your guitar on your computer. You will only
playing music by pushing only one button and that’s all.
If you were a God’s messenger what would you tell Him to do for the good of humanity? H: Just one thing: Stop the fuckin’ war…. (Interviewers note: I
totally agree with Hannes)
Ok
Hannes those were my questions. Thx very much for having the patience to
answer them! If there is anything else that you would like to tell to
Grande Rock readers, just do it!! H: It was a great interview Thanos... I had much fun… As for your readers: Just listen to our new album and I hope that you enjoy it and to contact us via e-mail or by writing in our guestbook in order to shows us that they really like “Welcome To Illusion”. The URL of our official website is: www.shylockmusic.de.
by Thanos Aggelakis |
Hi
Hannes … how are you?