[Interview conducted May 2005]

When it comes to modern power metal with a classic touch, there is no one that can match Primal Fear.  This German outfit has taken the classic elements of Priest and Maiden and built a huge sound, a tight stage presence and five albums packed with headbanging stormers.  As the band was finishing up mixing of their sixth opus in Vancouver, BC with mix-master Mike Frazer, vocal giant Ralf Scheepers called in to bring us up to date on this metallic monster…

First of all, how far along is the mixing process?
We’re mixing fourteen days here actually.  Today we are mixing the last song and tomorrow we will finalize everything, just add little bits and pieces, then we fly home on Saturday.

How did the mixing go overall?
Wow, really good, Frazer’s a really good man, a big pro.  What’s very good is that he got into our stuff, he liked it from the very first tune, so it is really important that there is a guy who mixing it that also likes the stuff.

What kind of differences have you seen with the way Mike works compared to previous mixers you've worked with?
Everybody’s kind of got their own style so you can’t really say he’s better or worse – not worse at all. (laughs)  The thing is he’s got a totally different way and he’s working all day and then we come in and give our input and say what we would like to have, but only in terms of effects here and there.  The basics are up to him and he’s got his own style of working and it is working out very good for us.

Have you had a chance to explore Vancouver very much while you've been there?
Yes, we have.  Yesterday we were whale watching in Victoria and we saw a whale, that was pretty good.  Also an eagle and sea lions and so on and went home by seaplane, which was another adventure. (laughs)  It was a great day and also we like the city very much and we’ve been out to many clubs.  Randy is the local guy, he’s taking us around and is our roommate here.

How about the recording with Charlie Bauerfeind?
It was just great, he’s a pro as well.  And that’s what Fraze said too, that he recorded very good signals for us.  Charlie really pushes every musician and somehow can get you to give everything and that’s what we have on tape, actually on hard disk, right now.  The album is, for me, the best in my career.  Without saying too much now, I think it’s really fucking great.  Charlie is like I said a pro and a nice person as well.  I worked with Charlie with Gamma Ray in the 90s, but he was only mixing the album then.  Now we are recording with him and it’s just great.

What made you decide on an outside person to produce this album?
It’s not producing, Mat is still producing the whole thing, he has the final word about everything and that’s good because he has the experience, he know what we need and he knows what is going on.  Of course, we end up as a big team in the end, with Charlie and Fraze and the other band members, but in the end there has to be one person who decides and if there are so many people giving their inputs, somebody has to coordinate it.

Obviously it is hard to describe how an album sounds, but you've dropped some hints that there will be some surprises on this one.
I'll tell you one thing, there's a big variety right now.  Some people might say we got too mellow, but I don't think so because it is still very heavy with guitar riffs in there and the drumming has increased…  It is kind of hard to describe, but it has become more bombastic, more epic in some ways.  As you know, Primal Fear always looks out to have good melodies and to be rough and good for the headbangers out there.  You just have to listen to it.

Can you tell me a bit about some of the lyrics on it?
Yeah, it's again like all Primal Fear, there's some fantasy going on and also personal experiences, like on the other albums.  And a lot of things from the Bible this time.  If you read the Bible, you can really get out some good stuff without being too religious, but there's also a lot in the Bible about the devil as well. (laughs)

Is it more difficult to come up with new song ideas after writing so many?
It's true somehow; you really don't want to repeat yourself.  We worked on the lyrics until the end; we were still working on the lyrics when I was singing actually.  Here and there you have to change the lyrics so they fit better with the melodies and so you can sing them better.  But, as you said, it gets more and more like, 'Oh, I did that once, I don't want to repeat myself,' but in the end when you repeat yourself you think, what the fuck, there's so many bands that repeat themselves a thousand times and we complain when we repeat one thing, so there's no need about that.

You have done some great cover tunes in the past - did you record any this time around?
No no, not this time.  Actually, we did a song from a Sinner album, a song called "A Question of Honour" from the Judgment Day album.  Mat wanted me to sing that song because he sung it originally in Sinner of course and I did some backing vocals on this track for Sinner seven years ago.  Mat said, 'Well, the chorus sounded really good and I can imagine you singing the whole song,' so that's what we did now.  We weren't sure if it was going to be on [this album], but we just mixed it yesterday and the outcome was amazing, Fraze did a hell of a job on this song.

I saw you guys play at the first Bloodstock back in 2001 and was blown away.  What are your memories of that festival and what made you decide to play what was kind of an untested event like that?
Yeah England was a surprise for us and we did pretty well on tour when we played in London, so we thought, 'Let's do Derby and check out how all the Brits are.'  As always, we don't expect too much and in the end when we have success as we did at Bloodstock both times - we played there last year as well and it was outstanding.  The promoter had us as a headlining band for Friday and this is a good sign for us.  The critics and the press were pretty good, in Kerrang! we had I don't know how much 'K' but as much as you can get, so this was a pretty good appreciation for us, coming from England especially.  We didn't think there were so many younger fans coming out and listening to heavy metal again, so it was pretty amazing.

The thing that impressed me the most was just how tight and energetic you guys were on stage.  Did your live chemistry come together pretty quickly, with all of your experience in previous bands?
It was a learning process as well, as with everybody in every band, you have to grow together, and that's what we have done now.  We've done so many shows now, we don't rehearse that much, so it's a good evolution.

Do you have tour plans lined up yet for this album?
We are planning to go out in early 2006.

I always get the impression that bands like Primal Fear are considerably more popular in the rest of the world than in the USA - is that actually true?  Where do you guys do the best in terms of concert attendance and CD sales?
I think it is the best in the southern countries like south Europe and South America.  The reactions on the internet, on our web page, is outstanding from America as well and they always say, 'Come over and do a tour,' but it is pretty hard because it is just such a huge country.  If you start on the east side and stop on the west side, you can start on the east side again because it's going to take you 4 or 5 months. (laughs)  But the reactions are getting better and better and this is a good sign for us.  But yeah, I think the best is still South America and south Europe and of course Germany is going pretty good for us, our home country.

It seems like Primal Fear has been going pretty non-stop since you started, with pretty regular album releases and tours.  Is it difficult to balance the workload with family life?
Yeah, sometimes, but if you're addicted to it (laughs)...  You have your creative phases and your non-creative phases and when you have your creative phases, you do as much as you can.  I can say about Mat he is an outstanding guy and he writes songs like hell, working very quickly.  I just take the time where we are not so much on the road and I take this chance to write songs.

Listening back to some of the earlier albums, I was struck by the song "Church of Blood" and just how relevant the lyrics have become in the years since you wrote it.  What is your take on the current state of the world and how organized religion has been used as an excuse for war?
I think it has always been a theme of history that the church is also pretty much responsible for wars, that being the whole history of the church if you look back.  All the wars of the world in the past were a religious thing.  Nowadays it is pretty much more of the power-mad guys and oil and so on, I don't have to tell you anything about that, but in the past there have been a lot of wars only because of the church and religion and so on.  This is also a theme in "Church of Blood."  It was a time when the Iraq things were going on and also in Iran and so on, a lot of things going on, violence from the church.

I read that you are quite interested in astronomy.  Is it a general interest in the subject or do you really keep up on everything, all the latest things that NASA is doing and whatnot?
It's a general interest; I don't have the time to keep up on it.  Of course, I have a telescope at home but not a big one, but I'm very interested in that stuff and when I'm standing on my balcony at home and look out there at the clear sky and discovering all the time what's going on, it's an amazing thing for me.  What can I say, it's a big wonder what's going on, in the big world and in the small world.

Last question - I know you're a big fan of Priest so I was just curious what your opinion of Angel of Retribution was?
Well… it's mixed.  (laughs)  Of course, it's Judas Priest again with Halford.  Without saying a bad thing about Ripper, who did a hell of a job and was just an amazing follower of Rob Halford, but who can replace the original?  It's pretty hard.  You can be as good as you want, but the original is the original, even if the original is not as good as the other vocalist.  With Angel of Retribution, I'm not so happy about the sound.  I know Roy Z., we met him on the Halford tour, he's a nice person, a really nice guy, but the sound is just not what I imagine it could be for Judas Priest.  And the songs sometimes are… (pause)  You know, we were talking about repeating yourself in Primal Fear and I think it's in every band, you don't want to repeat yourself, but sometimes that pushes you to some strange directions.  I don't like every song on the album but, in the end, for me, it's a good album and I like to listen to it.