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EDGUY: how to have fun in a band

EDGUY: how to have fun in a band
BANDS : Edguy

The first press conference of the last day of Metal Camp was with two members of Edguy. I was surprised that Tobias Sammet didn't attend the meeting and the problem was that most of the questions were specially made for him. But Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer managed to answer all of our questions, the only three reporters this time (the Italian guy, a Croatian journalist and me, representing Metalfan). They laughed pretty much, they talked pretty much and Jens talked incredibly fast. I guess the man has a record for how many words he says in a minute. Well, I have nothing more to say to introduce you to the atmosphere, so I'll just let you read what we talked about.


 


Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer

 

The Italian reporter had one again the tough mission to ask the first question. He noticed that Edguy's latest record starts with piano notes and found it quite challenging to listen to that sort of thing. Jens Ludwig started laughing: he feels that intro can also be a very good intro for the album. Usually, if you have an album intro, it starts off from something slow that at one point explodes, just like it happens with "Sacrifice", which they thought was good as an opening song, said Jens.

The Croatian reporter on the other hand, was very intrigued by the fact that the new album has way too many glam and hard rock influences, and couldn't understand why Edguy wasn't a power metal band anymore. The guys didn't think too much about this thing, they're just doing whatever they feel is right, and all the "concept" of the album was built slowly, taking it step by step. Jens completed Dirk Sauer's answer: Edguy wants to evolve both as musicians, and as songwriters, which would be kind of hard if they were to pursue the same style, because it would have taken down a lot of their options. Recording an album must never become a routine just like saying "ok, we're recording the latest album, let's just change the titles of the songs so it won't be boring", added Jens laughing.

I wanted to know a few details about the European tour Edguy had with Sabaton and Dragonforce earlier this year. And naturally, I was curious if the guys will tell us anything about the Italian police incident (when they were searched for drugs). Apparently, the tour was a pretty big success for them, Dirk said that their show in Germany had twice the number of people in the audience than their last show there. As for the bus, they said they got to the Italian border at around 5 o'clock in the morning, and all their stuff was scattered around the bus, and so was Jens' hair, so the customs police naturally had some suspicions and started checking out the inside of the van and their faces with the flashlights. Their reaction was somewhat "relaxed", as Jens said, they were a heavy metal band on tour, they were a kind of invitation for all the police officers in the world to search their bus for drugs. But they didn't have anything to hide so "who cares? Shit happens". The only suspicious thing was a pipe looking instrument (a kazoo), which looks like a pipe from which you would normally smoke pot. It was on a table in front of the bus and that was probably the reason for them being searched in the first place, thinks Dirk.

 


Jens Ludwig

 

At the Gods of Metal festival in Italy, Edguy gave the impression that they're perfectly aware of the fact that they know how to make the audience enjoy themselves, because the band itself is doing it while they are playing. Could this be something the band uses as a weapon? Dirk and Jens don't agree, they don't think it's a weapon. It's only the reason why Edguy is playing, because if they wouldn't enjoy themselves, they would probably stop playing, Dirk said. For Edguy, the bond and the communication between the band and the audience gets better with every show they have. There are plenty of bands that do a good job singing, but you also have to be able to create this little bit of "magic" between the band and the audience, which can't be done by force, it just happens, he added.

I think all the Edguy fans know by now that the band has the habit of puttin cartoon characters on their albums' artwork. A lot of people say that you can't do this and sell records in the same time. In the beginning of their career, all the professional people in the business them they need an image, that every band has to have an image. It's just that the guys never put much thought into this, they just said "this is who we are" and strangely enough it just happened that over the years, that attitude became their image.

Something rather interesting about Edguy is that over the years, their line-up was left almost unchanged. What's their secret? What kept them together? Friendship? Or just the fact that they enjoy each others' company? Once they answered, it all became clear: Dirk, Tobias and Jens have known each other for about 15 years, and when Felix Bohnke joined the band, he just happened to complete the chemistry in the band, so, by knowing each others' moods and different emotions after all this time, things just ... work! This, alongside the mutual respect, held Edguy tight together so much. And as they're on tour six or seven months every year, all crowded into a small space, being friends definitely helps them to get easier through it. Besides, they're obviously having fun together, and their wish is for this to keep happening for as many years as possible.

We were also curious if all this "extreme touring" isn't too tiresome for the band. Dirk was the one to answer, and he did confirm that it is getting tiresome at some point, and after six months or so, everyone just wants to go home, but the moment they get home, after a few days, they're all saying "ok, now they're all gone, what do I do now?". The people, the crew, absolutely everyone represent their life, they have been working together for so many years now, and they enjoy each others' company too much. When they're not together, they just start missing this life style.

 


Dirk Sauer

 

We couldn't help not to ask about a possible live DVD or something similar, wether it is amongst Edguy's future plans or not. Laughing, Jens confirmed they're thinking about a DVD, and they're recording stuff for it as they perform, but they're not really sure when it is going to be ready. They already recorded a few festivals, amongst which Monsters of Rock came out very well both in their performance, and the audience's performance as well.

Someone then asked them what they feel about the power metal wave that started in the beginning of the 90's. Now that wave is almost gone, and all that's left are the good bands. Of course, this happens with every genre, not only metal, still, bands like Gamma Ray, Rage and Running Wild have been performing for almost 20 years, and have survived the different "waves" over time. The music they play is still considered to be underground, and people get in touch with it mainly by internet, which doesn't happen with the mainstream, said Jens. But also, the quality of the bands is a very important thing. When Edguy started their career, everyone said they won't do anything with this kind of music because metal was dead. Grunge bands like Nirvana were "the" thing at that time, but they just did what they liked and what they wanted, that's the key to success for any music genre or band: the quality of the music, added Dirk.

Has anyone wondered where in the world does the Edguy name come from? Well ... we'll tell you: the band started when the guys were just 14 years old (young lads eh?), and since they needed a name, they started writing diferent ideas on pieces of paper. One of them was "Warguy", but as they had a funny math teacher named Edgah (or at least that's how it sounded when Jens told us the name), they just thought of the Edguy name. "Boring story" said Dirk, "Yeah, but everyone wants to know it" answered Jens as they both started laughing.

Did Edguy ever feel any pressure from the record label or the system? We all know this is a common thing in the mainstream. So someone asked them if they ever did anything just because someone asked them to, or because they would have lost something if they didn't. Edguy managed to avoid crap like this. When they start writing songs, they just lock all the "outside doors" and let aside all the influences and all the people that expect certain things from them. If a song comes out really well in the rehearsal room, they keep it no matter what anyone says about it.

Everything's fine, but after all this time, we can't help wondering what's the future of Edguy and what their plans are. Except the fact that at the time being they were touring (at Metal Camp in Slovenia, what a coincidence), they will probably focus on their present tour, and most likely will start working on new stuff at the end of the year. They didn't really make any plans yet because they don't know when the tour will be over, as the dates keep changing all the time, and there are still a lot of countries they still have to perform in, so... it remains to be seen, said Dirk.

Autor: Klawz, Nebelhexa
Vezi galeriile trupelor: Edguy

   August 16, 2006  | 1 Comments  | 13631 Views « BACK

Comment on: EDGUY: how to have fun in a band

  • cum sa ma distrez?

    1. Posted by mark nuverberc | 08 August 2008 13:34
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