PLEASE NOTE: This interview was done through e-mail and sent out a good while ago. I only just recently got the answers back. Some questions may seemed dated compared to the answers given.
| It's been about twenty four years now since U.D.O. released their debut album Animal House, and the band is still going strong. At this point, what is it that drives the band to keep writing music? |
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Stefan:
We simply love what we're doing. The music, the studio work, the touring. And, of course, it's the fans that keep us going. As long as they want us to be around, we'll keep on going.
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| Was there ever a time where you felt that U.D.O. would have eventually just fizzled out, or become lost in the public's eye completely? |
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Stefan:
No! Up to now, the band is getting bigger and bigger every year. Album sales are increasing, the number of fans who attend our concerts are also increasing, we're playing bigger venues each tour, we're getting better spots on festivals... All in all we are very happy with the development in the last years!
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| Do you feel that compared to when the band started, or at any point in it's history, the music was at all dynamically different from where it is now? |
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Stefan:
When we write and record a new album, we always try to give our best. But, of course, times change, we change, and the impressions we receive from the world around us differ year after year. So obviously there are differences in the albums, different ways of writing, different ways of performing, different ways of producing, different ways of mixing. But the music we're making is always 100% our taste... So it has a red line throughout the years, but it's always different!
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| How about the band itself, has all this time helped U.D.O.,/b> to better work with each other, or is writing new music basically the same process as it was back in the early days? |
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Stefan:
In the days of the Internet writing music has become quite a different process. In the old days, the band got together for some weeks, the songs were written, demos were recorded and then the whole album was recorded in one go in the studio. Nowadays everybody is writing everytime. And each idea - a riff, a melody, a rhythm, etc. - is put on a central database. And when it comes down to record an album, we take all this as a basis to work on.
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| What about the Heavy Metal or Hard Rock scenes of yesterday compared to today? What's your opinion on the style itself since you guys first started out with U.D.O.? |
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Stefan:
The spirit is still the same. It's still good, aggressive rock music. But a song like, let's say, "Heading Out To The Highway" from "Judas Priest", which was hard back in the eighties, would be pop music nowadays. Heavy Metal became much harder during the years, and sometimes it became too hard! Good metal music always had melodies, a distinct rhythm and a special performance. If you take all that away (and some bands do), it's simply noise! And that's not our kind of music!
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| You guys have a new album due out (Rev-Raptor) and it's your thirteenth full-length effort. How does that make you guys feel? What went through your head when you finished coming up with the material for your thirteenth album? |
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Stefan:
First of all it feels great. A new album is always like a baby, and you hope and wish all the best to this new "life". It's always thrilling to see, whether the fans accept it and if they like it. As I said before, there was nothing special going through our heads. We simply tried to give our best, write the best possible songs and have the best possible production. And when I listen to it now, I think we did a great job!
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| Were you guys excited to work on this release or, twelve albums in already, did you feel like you've done this all before or find yourself not necessarily wanting to be in the studio again? |
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Stefan:
No! Not at all! When we produce a new album we always enter a new part of our life! There is no routine at all! It's great to see all the new songs come to life and to imagine them to be played live. I'm already looking forward for the next album!
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| Were there any complications as far as writing or recording the material went? |
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Stefan:
No. But we had a timing problem. In August 2010 I had a serious disc prolapse in my neck, so we had to postpone all work on the album for nearly half a year. That's also the reason for the delay in touring. But concerning the material and the production everything went very smoothly.
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| Has Rev-Raptor come out the way that you had pictured it would? |
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Stefan:
Even better. It's hard and melodic, but I feel it's also very modern and up to date. I think that both, the classic metal fans and also the younger generation of hard music lovers will love this album. We didn't change our style and spirit, but we hit 2011!
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| Are there any tracks on the recording that have a special meaning to you, or the band in general? |
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Stefan:
I wouldn't go that deep! Everybody of the band has his favourites. But I wouldn't say that there's a special meaning to it.
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| How about your favorites? Are there any songs that you guys have already picked out to add to a set list, or just a personal preference or two? And why are/were they chosen? |
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Stefan:
For sure we will play "Rev-Raptor" (it's the title track) and "Leatherhead" (it's the single). And we choose them to be the title track and the single because we all loved those titles a lot. It's as simple as that: we follow our taste... And hopefully we hit the fans' taste also!
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| Will U.D.O. be touring to support this album anytime soon, or is the band looking more towards possible summer festival appearances? |
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Stefan:
Both. We will play a lot of summer festivals and by the end of September 2011 we will start our European tour, which will last until the end of December. And in spring 2012 we will tour the East (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.).
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| Do you enjoy performing at these summer festivals, or do you prefer just going on tour and playing a number of dates at various venues instead? |
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Stefan:
We enjoy playing live. It doesn't matter if it's a festival or a gig during a tour. There are pros and cons on both sides. Festivals are always special, because it's a single gig. That's the nice thing about it. The not so nice thing is, that you have a travel day to the festival, the day at the festival, and a travel day back home. So it's three days just to play one gig. On tour there is a kind of fixed routine everyday, which makes life easier, but sometimes also boring. So, as I said, both are fine with little drawbacks.
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| Of all the places in the world, where do you guys find U.D.O. being accepted the most by fans? |
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Stefan:
Everywhere we are. We can play the North or South, the East or West. When- and wherever we play a concert, the atmosphere is very similar within a couple of minutes. The fans bang their heads, they stamp their feet, they sing along and they're simply having a good time (just like us). Like on our Mexican/South American tour in April/May 2011, I sometimes didn't know where I was (you can check it out on our blogs).
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| Will we be looking at a possible U.S. tour from U.D.O. at some point in the near or distant future? |
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Stefan:
I hope so. I know that there is a lot of planning in the pipeline, but I cannot confirm any exact dates. The Dollar/Euro exchange rate is also a little problem. Right now the Dollar is so weak against the Euro, that economically it's next to impossible to just break even.
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| Actually, I'm going to change gears here for a just a bit before I let you go. You guys are currently on AFM Records, but you've been on plenty of others over the years, but this has been your home since Thunderball in 2004. Are you guys happy with the label that you stayed, or is there a long contract that you guys are working on filling out? |
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Stefan:
We are very happy with AFM Records. We just prolonged our contract for another three studio albums. They're working great, they do a fine job in promoting the band and we have a very good personal contact to the people who work in the company.
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| Has their support of U.D.O. increased throughout the years, or has it been the same or not as strong as it was when you first signed to the label? |
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Stefan:
The longer the record company and the band were working together as a team, the better the workflow got. So I would say, that the support was very high right from the start, but now the results of our team work are getting better and better each period. As you can imagine, we wouldn't sign a new record deal, if we wouldn't be happy with AFM. And they wouldn't sign us, if we were a flop!
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| In the long run, which would you rather see Rev-Raptor pressed as by AFM Records? A vinyl release, compact disc, or any other media? |
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Stefan:
Nowadays you have to concentrate on all media. CD, mp3 download, vinyl, Internet streams, special playlists on various online portals and so on. The world is getting more and more multimedia, and there is no end in sight. For me it's very thrilling to think about how our music will be distributed in the future!
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| A friend of mine and I inspected the artwork to Rev-Raptor and, well, what's with it? There's no denying what I assume to be the "Rev-Raptor" himself on the cover is actually pretty kick ass, but how did the design come about, and why was it designed in this manner? |
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Stefan:
It's a funny story: During our last tour (2009/2010) an artwork designer contacted us. He told us that he has always been a big fan of U.D.O. and that he would love to do some work for us. So the first thing he designed was a t-shirt-motive: A grinning skull-like face, wearing a tophat and smoking a cigarette through a cigarette holder, on which a naked girl was posing. It simply blew us away. And it was the best selling shirt of the entire tour. The colours were also already there: green - yellow - black - white. So for us it became very clear, that this designer had to do our next album artwork. And the very first draft he sent us is now the cover of our album. Together with all the rest of the artwork inside the booklet, to me it's one of the best covers I had in my entire career!
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| After hearing the full album, including the title track on multiple occassions, I still have to ask... What exactly is a Rev-Raptor? |
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Stefan:
REV-RAPTOR again is a made up expression. REV is the abbreviation of "revolution" and here it means "rotation, circumvolution, cycle rotation" (e.g. of an engine). Of course it also can mean "overthrow, rebellion, insurrection", which in this case you might regard as a dittology. And RAPTOR is a top-level predator. In our case REV-RAPTOR is a man made, out of control almighty mechanical beast, constructed as a high tech, fully automated robotic enforcer.
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| Has the band put in any thought of perhaps marketing the mascot in the artwork for Rev-Raptor in other manners, such as maybe a plush doll or something like that? I'd definitely buy one if you guys ever did... |
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Stefan:
Since we've seen the cover for the first time (which is now more than a year ago), we are thinking about the merchandising. There will be some specials for sure, but that's all what I wanna say now...
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| I'd like to thank you for your time to answer these questions. I know they're not that thought provoking but after nearly twenty five years, what more can that and be asked, right? I do wish you all the best with Rev-Raptor and all your plans. |
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Stefan:
In the name of the whole band I would like to thank you very much!
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