Gamma Ray – Back To The Land Of The Free

When speaking of the bands that started out the power metal genre, one can't escape mentioning Gamma Ray alongside Helloween, two veteran German bands. With an impressive repertoire of albums, shows and what not, Gamma Ray – created by Ex-Helloween’s guitarist, Kai Hansen – has been active for some time and it seems it’s here to stay. Recently the band signed to SPV, a supportive label which released the band’s latest album – "Land Of The Free II", a return-to-roots release which is a continuation of the band’s classic album from 1995. In between one show to another, as a part of their current tour with Helloween, we got a hold of Dirk Schlächter, the band’s veteran bass player, and spoke to him about current happenings with the band these days.

Hey, first of all I want to know how Kai is doing. I've read he was sick on the last couple of shows on the European leg of the Hellish Rock Tour, is he better now?

Everything's okay by now. Kai got a cold, nothing serious but it affected his singing.

On those shows Kai vocal duties were done by Metalium singer Henning Basse. Why him? How was doing those shows with him and how did the fans respond to the change?

Henning is an old friend of ours. Sometimes it's hard for Kai to do all the singing so we always have a plan B. Henning is a great singer, he lives in Hamburg and he knows all the Gamma Ray songs. The shows went great and the fans saw something really special.

Speaking of the Hellish Rock Tour, how was it to do it with your long-time buddies Helloween? Can you share any highs and lows during those months on the road?

The tour went great. To be honest there were no lows… all the shows were fantastic, and we played all in all in front of 80.000 fans!!!

Also on tour are the veteran Axxis. All 3 bands have been existed since the late 80's and I was wondering what made you decide on this particular line-up?

The decision was made by the agency Bottom Row who is also the management of Helloween and Axxis and I have to say that this was the perfect package. Axxis were really really good every night and made the crowd ready for us and Helloween.

You've just released your new album, "Land of the Free II". How have been the reactions to it in the meantime?

The reactions were much better than on "Majestic" and sometimes better than on any other album Gamma Ray released so far. So the mixture of the new album made everyone happy and I'm sure that songs lke "Into The Storm" or "Empress" will stay in our live set.

Why did you choose to do a follow up to "Land Of The Free" at first place?

It came natural. There was no big game plan in the beginning. When everybody came up with the songs we felt a little bit like 1995 and everything came together.

What can you tell us of the concept behind the new album, how does it relate to the first "Land Of The Free"?

Some songs have the same message like on the first "Land Of The Free" album and the whole vibe of the album comes very close to the first one. That's why we decided to name it "Land Of The Free II".

Unlike on your previous albums, where you did most of the production parts, this time you used Tommy Newton for the mixing. Why did you decide on doing that and how did it work for you?

It worked great because we needed someone from outside. When you stay every day in the studio, every hour, every minute – you lose it… So Tommy did a great job from outside.

On all your latest albums you can hear some distinct influences from hard rock and heavy metal acts like Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden, with the new one having it's share of such influences. Was that done as a tribute to these classic acts, how just an unconscious influence when writing the songs?

We all like the older bands, we're influenced by them and you hear this in our songs, too. Why denying it? There's no need…

Gamma Ray members are already experts of the music business, if it's writing, producing or just answering the same questions over and over again… How do you keep yourself refreshed when writing new material? Does it come easy to do all those things or does it still remain a challenge?

In the last years it was like a roller coaster, there was no routine. We lost our record label when it was bought by Universal, the DVD was on ice, "Majestic" were not treated like it should be and so on. Believe me, it's always a challenge… [Laughs]

What about your other projects? Kai recorded for the latest Avantasia among other collaborations and Dan has Freedom Call. How do you find time to switch between doing those and the extensive work with Gamma Ray?

These are also the things which keep you fresh. Everyone in Gamma Ray is doing other stuff and I think that this is also very important to get Gamma Ray going.

On most concerts, Gamma Ray tend to include songs such as "I Want Out" from the time when Kai was still a member of Helloween, besides that he also performed the entire "Walls of Jericho" album together with Stormwarrior. Why is that?

Like I said, why deny the past? Kai is famous for these songs and there's a demand at the shows for it. On this tour we played "Ride The Sky" and the reactions were fantastic, but we had the same reactions also for "Send Me A Sign" for example!

Last year you were supposed to release a DVD with a really bizarre title… What is the situation with it right now?

We did additional recordings in Barcelona and yes, the DVD will be released in September. It could be that it will be a 3 disc set!!! This will be the one every Gamma Ray fan have to have.

How was shooting a video clip for the song "Into The Storm"? I don't remember any videos you have done in a long while…

That was also something we didn't have for "Majestic" but now we felt especially for the USA we need a strong video. And it turned out great…

What do you think of the current power/heavy metal scene in comparison with it back when you just started, and how do you explain that the most popular bands in this genre are coming from Germany?

No doubt: Helloween – especially Kai started it all with both Keeper albums – created a whole new genre of this kind of metal and I think that Gamma Ray also get a share of that. I don't agree that all the bands come from Germany, what about Hammerfall and Stratovarius for example?

Gamma Ray has created several humorous songs in the past, but on the last couple of albums it seems the attitude is a bit more serious than before… Does this mean you're becoming cranky as time passes or is it just a different approach?

It's just different, you can't always write funny songs when you are not in the mood for this but if you watch us on stage you can see the fun we have to play these songs… [Laughs]

During the Hellish Rock Tour you have made some appearances in Turkey, which is the closest you've got to Israel. How was doing those shows in the middle east and do you have any plans to go south next time and pay us a visit?

Turkey was great, the fans are absolutely crazy, but I have no idea about playing in Israel. If you know any good promoters there please get in contact with our agency. It would be great to play there…