EDGUY (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for taking the time. What are you guys currently up to?
At the moment we’re preparing ourselves for the upcoming tour, which will lead us also to Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao in Oktober. We’re looking forward to play all those new songs of our Album Age Of The Joker as well as some great old Edguy classics of course!
– Why did you pick «Edguy» for the name of the band? Boths its meaning and origin.
A rumor says that Edguy backwards “YUGDE” is a secret term out of the ancient greek mythology and the meaning is to have sex with 1000 women at the same time. Isn’t that a good reason for this name?! J
– And what are the band’s main musical influences?
As we are five individuals in the band, we have plenty of influences, from Helloween to Iron Maiden as well as some untypical stuff like Frank Zappa or Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. There would be countless other bands that I could mention here. And altogether this special mixture is making the typical Edguy style.
– You have recently released your latest «Age of the Joker»; how’s being its acceptance so far?
Very good!!! We are happy and proud as always! This time we have also some influences from the seventies here and there and I really love the sound of our big Hammond organ. I am looking forward to see how people react when they listen to songs like Robin Hood, Rock Of Cashel and Padora’s Box. I’m sure they will be blown away!
– To start getitng a bit into this new full-length album; why such title? What’s that age you are refering to?
Just have a look on the album cover. I love the joker and his smile! Is it a funny smile or a friendly smile or an evil smile? I don’t know. It’s like people discuss about the smile of Mona Lisa. But our joker is much better in my opinion, hihihi, and I guess people will still discuss about it in 200 years! It’s like they discuss and arguing if a heavy metal band like Edguy is a allowed to be funny and tell bad jokes on stage, hahaha!!! The Joker represents us perfectly, it’s the Age Of Edguy!!!
– In this record I noticed there are more keyboards or, at least, they have a bigger presence. Was this something you aimed for?
I don’t think this is true that there are really more keyboards. But as I said before, the Hammond organ instead of many keyboard sounds is something very special and gives a very special atmosphere to the songs, it’s one of our seventies influences. But these influences have already been there for long time, sometimes more, sometimes less. Just think about great songs like The Piper Never Dies, Navigator or Tears Of A Mandrake. All these have been my personal favourite Edguy songs ever since! Edguy always changed from one album to the next, BUT: the most important thing is that you always recognize the heart of Edguy in every album and in every song. We’re still the same people with the same love to music and we’re still proud of our old albums as well as – of course – of our new one “Age Of The Joker”!!!
– We can also find diversity, and tracks as «Behind the Gates to Midnight World» can be a good proof of that, as it’s quite epic. What could you comment on this tune?
Yes, “Behind The Gates…” is one of my favourites. It’s great to have this epic song near the end of this album, so you can look forward to this song while you’re listening to all the other cool songs almost one hour before it, hahaha!!! I really love the chorus and moreover Jens’ guitar solo. He made a great job on that. It’s great rocking Fantasy Metal!!!
– «Pandora’s Box» is an outstanding song as well. It just fits perfectly its title, as its like a pandora’s box; when listening to it you discover new things, as the acoustic guitar work. Did you want to create something, in some ways, refreshing?
Of course this is something what we always want to create. Otherwise there would be no reason anymore to make new albums. You know, sometimes people complain, when the new album does not sound like the good ones before but it’s always a much more positive feeling and a compliment to us when people like you tell us that we can surprise them with some new elements and sounds. That makes us happy because it makes you happy!!!
– You have filmed a video for «Robin Hood»; tell us a bit about this.
Yes it was so much fun to run around through the woods of Sherwood Forest in green pantyhoses, hahaha!!! Please just go and watch the video on our website www.edguy.net
– What’s the secret recipe for a good partnership throught the years? As your line-up has remained the same since 1992.
The line-up is the same since 1997. As we had to take a lot of heavy lessons about living together on tour in a small bus back then, we immediately felt that this constellation is something very special and that we are ment to create something much bigger within the next ten years! And here we are after more that 13 years now and I hope it will be another 10 or 15 or 25 years of Edguy!!! The receipe is simply to give a lot of respect to each other, musically and personally!
– And what’s the secret recipe for being so many years with well-known Metal labels as AFM Records or Nuclear Blast? Specially in this tough years for the music industry.
I don’t know if there’s a secret behind all that. We are simply very ambitions musician with a certain vision. And we make a good job and of course we are pround and very thankful that we have such a strong fanbase everywhere. Rock and metal fans always prefer buying a real CD with artwork and booklet, information, pictures and stuff instead of just downloading it somewhere. That is keeping us alive. And as long as we deliver good music, also our record company Nuclear Blast makes a great job to promote us everywhere in the world. It’s like a big family as we know each other very well for many years now!
– After all these years with the band; what have been the best and worst moments thus far?
I guess one of the best moments was to be on tour with the Scorpions here in Germany last year. The Scorpions are one of the biggest and most important bands ever and moreover the most friendly guys you can imagine. We had a great time together!
– Finally, what are your near-future plans?
Going on tour, first in Europe then Southamerica and Asia and the United States. You see there’s plenty stuff to work on. And these tours always bring us to new interesting places, where not many Metal bands have played before, like China, Israel, Taiwan and Australia, just for example!!! It’s great to know that in these places there are metal fans, too!!!
– That’s all, thanks once more for your time. If you would like to add some final words; last lines are yours.
I’m looking forward to be in Spain again in Oktober! I always remember to have played some of the coolest festivals in Spain. So be ready for a cool indoor Edguy concert in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao. See ya!!!
Cheerz – Tobias Exxel, Edguy
