{"id":37307,"date":"2019-03-03T07:54:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T20:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=37307"},"modified":"2019-03-04T10:08:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T23:08:17","slug":"tobias-sammet-of-avantasia-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2019\/03\/tobias-sammet-of-avantasia-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Tobias Sammet of Avantasia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThe whole album is pretty much a celebration of the love for the abnormal *laughs* I can say, and I can relate to that and it\u2019s a very heartfelt and honest album.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: AVANTASIA, the all-star rock opera spaceship piloted by EDGUY singer, songwriter and producer Tobias Sammet, have released their eighth full-length album, ‘Moonglow’, via Nuclear Blast Records. This new 11-song record sees Sammet, among the most talented and popular names in German hard rock and metal, reunited with some familiar faces from previous AVANTASIA albums. These include original QUEENSRYCHE lead singer Geoff Tate, PRETTY MAIDS frontman Ronnie Atkins, Michael Kiske of HELLOWEEN, J\u00f8rn Lande (ex-MASTERPLAN), Eric Martin (MR BIG) and MAGNUM\u2019s Bob Catley. ‘Moonglow’ also introduces new collaborators Hansi K\u00fcrsch of BLIND GUARDIAN, KREATOR\u2019s Mille Petrozza and BLACKMORE\u2019S NIGHT frontwoman Candice Night in truly spectacular fashion.<\/p>\n

While sitting in his study watching out the window, Tobias gave us a call to talk about the brilliant new Avantasia album \u2018Moonglow\u2019, it\u2019s creation, its vocalists, cover songs, the band\u2019s first ever tour of Australia coming up, and more.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re here because of your new album \u2018Moonglow\u2019, tell us if you had to use three words to describe the album what would they be?<\/strong>
\nHonest, flamboyant, and get-intimate *laughs* I cheated a little.<\/p>\n

Do you go into writing an Avantasia record with a concept in mind?<\/strong>
\nYes, absolutely, for me I wanted to write to get things off my chest personally and I always want to write things that matter to me as a person because writing is to me therapy and getting things off my chest. At the same time I want to create worlds that drag the listener into a different reality and I always want to deliver some opportunity for escaption or escape and for me it\u2019s also an opportunity to escape and I created a world and environment that is highly influenced by the Victorian revival of the gothic novel so to speak, and it\u2019s a very, very grotesque setting, it could be a Victorian setting you know I\u2019m using that language, I\u2019ve been highly influenced by that language by novelists like Arthur Machen or Algernon Blackwood also Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, that type of stuff. For me the goal was to create a world where I can put in my own thoughts, I came up with that story about a creature that has been created into an environment that he cannot cope with, he simply cannot cope with the reality of the bold and the beautiful and he cannot live up to the expectations that his environment has towards him so he turns to the dark trying to be invisible and trying to find a gate out of his situation into an alternative reality into his own world. The whole album is pretty much a celebration of the love for the abnormal *laughs* I can say, and I can relate to that and it\u2019s a very heartfelt and honest album.<\/p>\n

This time you\u2019ve brought back a number of artists you\u2019ve worked with in the past, was it an easier process for everyone involved this time when they have seen how things have worked prior?<\/strong>
\nWas it easier? Even the people that were there for the first time it wasn\u2019t a problem, but of course when you work with people that you\u2019ve worked with before you know what to expect and they are people some of them I have been working with for a long time and they inspire me, they are there for the right reason, a lot of people confuse Avantasia they think it\u2019s all about the bells and the whistles and about the effect and the gimmick of having names that you don\u2019t expect, like who\u2019s he gonna have this time? Is it gonna be The Pope? Is it gonna be Sylvester Stallone on the record? Bugs Bunny? No\u2026 it\u2019s not about the gimmick. Of course I have some of the greatest voices in the history of rock and metal but these people are there because they are amazing singers and they inspire me, they stimulate my inspiration, my imagination and they do those songs justice and make those songs better and that\u2019s why I choose those people. There\u2019s never been a real issue with anybody recording, everybody I\u2019ve worked with is truly a professional and that\u2019s why it\u2019s never been a big issue.<\/p>\n

When writing these songs do you have a particular singer in mind and then approach them or do you just give whoever it is a challenge when recording?<\/strong>
\nSometimes I have people in mind for example with Bob Catley, or J\u00f8rn Lande, or Ronnie Atkins, Michael Kiske, they are staples in my life and my working environment they are members of the Avantasia family and you write with them in mind and as I said that stimulates your imagination and your creativity, writing a song for Michael Kiske of course turns out a little bit to be like Helloween of course that\u2019s in my DNA, that\u2019s the music I grew up with. Of course when you write a song like \u2018Alchemy\u2019 and you have Geoff Tate in mind and subconsciously think of the force in Operation Mindcrime that\u2019s like a little child in a toy store and it\u2019s very good for my creativity and you go crazy and you fulfill your dreams. Sometimes you write a passage and you have a certain voice in your mind but you don\u2019t really have a name in your mind yet while you\u2019re writing the song. You write a passage and you think OK I know the voice it should be like that, then you have to really think and consider who has that voice that you were writing for? That was the case for example with Candice Night, I wrote the song I didn\u2019t have Candice in mind but once the song was finished I was trying to find out who has that voice and all of a sudden it hit me like lightning and I knew it\u2019s got to be Candice Night. It was also for Hansi K\u00fcrsch, I didn\u2019t know it was Hansi, I knew that I always wanted to work with Hansi but I had that passage at the beginning and originally I thought it had to be sung by a woman but then I thought that would be too obviously, Celtic intro with a female voice would be beautiful and I said no, no, no we\u2019ve got to get some edge in there what about asking Hansi? I sent it to him and now that you listen to \u2018The Raven Child\u2019 and that beautiful intro no one else could done that song justice, sometimes things just fall in place and after they\u2019re done you know it couldn\u2019t have been done any other way, it is supposed to be like that, things happen for a reason.<\/p>\n

Talking about doing songs justice, Eric Martin absolutely smashes \u2018Maniac\u2019 out of the park with you, why was he the one chosen to take on this bold but amazing cover version?<\/strong>
\nPure hedonism *laughs* it was just a fun thing, it wasn\u2019t planned to be on the album in the beginning, I planned to do a cover version of the song because I liked it and told Sascha let\u2019s just do it, we are in the luxury position that we can just record a song and do it for ourselves if we want to. So we recorded the song and I thought you know what? This song is amazing and the only thing that is missing to make it a proper Avantasia song is some more diversity in the vocal performance, we need a guest singer, make it a duet and I think it has to be Eric Martin. I was not sure what he would think about the idea so I was very careful, Eric, would you mind doing a cover song for Avantasia? It\u2019s the first time a cover song is going to be on the album with Avantasia and he said sure, send it to me I know the song, I know it from the 80\u2019s, everybody knows it, of course I like it I\u2019m gonna do it. No worries, I got the song back, he did it in San Francisco I got it back and it was absolutely amazing. I sang the whole song, Eric sang the whole song and Sascha chose which parts were best of which voice then he made it the duet. So we could have the song in another version where we are singing the other passages *laughs* respectively, but it\u2019s a great, great, great track it wasn\u2019t planned to be on the album but it turned out to be a great choice. Of course it doesn\u2019t make sense you have a conceptual album and you have a cover song that\u2019s got nothing to do with the concept but then again this is rock and roll, this is not science and not like working in a nuclear plant, you don\u2019t have to worry about doing something that doesn\u2019t make sense, when you\u2019re working in science things have to make sense, in rock and roll things don\u2019t have to make sense they have to be fun.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also heading back to see us in May but this is the first time you’ll be coming with Avantasia, have you got an idea of how these \u2018Moonglow\u2019 shows are going to be structured?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s gonna be a big show, we\u2019re gonna play about three hours we\u2019re gonna do the \u2018Moonglow\u2019 album not in its entirety but almost in its entirety and we\u2019re gonna do two more hours of best of material, classic material, trying to cover all albums of our history and all eras, I don\u2019t know if we play songs off of every album but it\u2019s gonna be a best of set. We\u2019re gonna have great guest vocalists there will be Geoff Tate will join us around the world, Ronnie Atkins will join us around the world, there will be Bob Catley, there will be Eric Martin, there will be Jorn Lande, there will be Herbie Langhams, Sascha Paeth, Miro, Felix of Edguy, I will be there, it\u2019s not a half-assed thing, it\u2019s the real deal and the full thing and I\u2019m really proud that we managed to bring this to Australia for you. If you would have asked me about that three years ago I would\u2019ve said it\u2019s impossible, it\u2019s a travelling party of twenty five people it\u2019s an arena show, we cannot fill an arena in Australia because we\u2019ve never been there but we\u2019ll do it, we\u2019re not gonna play an arena we\u2019re gonna play a theatre but we\u2019re gonna deliver the full show.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is everybody in the band is really excited about going to Australia because most of them have never been to Australia, even the singers, I mean I think Eric Marin has been there, Geoff Tate has been in Australia, but Ronnie Atkins and I believe Bob Catley of Magnum, and I think Jorn has never been to Australia too and they\u2019re all looking forward to going to Australia and there\u2019s a lot of talk about it within the group, like hey we\u2019re going to Australia and it\u2019s really funny all of a sudden everybody\u2019s like a little kid again and I myself as well because I\u2019ve always been very vocal about how much I love Australia, how the first Edguy tour we did in Australia was a very, very, very special moment for me, it was more a vacation with a few shows thrown in there and I cant wait to come back, I love it and I hope we can get many Australian heavy metal fans to show up and prove to heavy metal promoters in Australia that they can book more heavy metal shows in Australia and that people actually reward the bravado of promoters taking over such huge undertakings in such a risk taking over international bands. I think wherever there are people and electricity there are heavy metal fans and I think it\u2019s worth the risk.<\/p>\n

Lastly as we’re out of time, let\u2019s look ahead, finish this sentence for me, in 2019 Avantasia will\u2026<\/strong>
\nIn 2019 Avantasia will release their best album to date and tour the world.<\/p>\n

Thanks Tobi, see you in Sydney!<\/strong>
\nYeah I\u2019ll be there, make sure you\u2019re there and bring a lot of friends, spread the word I want everybody to be happy, even the promoters who have the bravado to take this giant group of people over, so we need to spread the word and prove that this is possible and Avantasia can be successful in Australia and bands our size can be successful, not just Maiden and Metallica, also the medium size bands.<\/p>\n

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AVANTASIA AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
\n<\/strong>
\nSunday, May 12: Metro Theatre, Sydney
\nEvent Page:\u00a0Avantasia \u2018Moonglow\u2019 World Tour \u2013 Sydney<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday, May 14: The Forum, Melbourne
\nEvent Page: Avantasia ‘Moonglow’ World Tour – Melbourne<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets on sale now\u00a0via:\u00a0<\/strong>www.avantasia.net<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Germany<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Tobias Sammet – Lead vocals \/ bass guitar, Sascha Paeth – Guitars, Miro – Keyboards, orchestration, Felix Bohnke – Drums<\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.avantasia.net<\/a> \u00a0–\u00a0http:\/\/www.tobiassammet.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Moonglow (Out Now \u2013 Nuclear Blast)<\/p>\n

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