Interview with Bernhard Weiss (AXXIS)

First of all I would like to say that I couldn't be an impartial interviewer during this conversation. Bernhard Weiss, the vocalist of the German Melodic Metal legend AXXIS, has been my personal idol for 10 years now. "Kingdom Of The Night" (1989), the band's first album, totally blew me away, as well as thousands of other Metal maniacs all over the world.
Then it was Grunge, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, techno-revolution and a "rave-era" - a really dark period for Heavy Metal, that cost lives to hundreds of amazing bands. But AXXIS managed to survive and as a sign of the massive comeback, released two amazing albums - "Back To The Kingdom" (2000) and "Eyes Of Darkness" (2001).
Just before I'll move to the actual interview, I have to add that Bernhard turned out to be a perfect interviewee and gave away heaps of really interesting information.
So, here it comes:

Max: Hi, Bernhard! Thanks for finding tome to do this interview!

Bernhard: Oh, it's very interesting for me! This is the first time I talk to somebody in New Zealand, you're the first one! (laughing) I guess, it's a wonderful country, I've never been there, but I've got a lot of friends who travelled through your country. I was very surprised that somebody's sending me an e-mail from New Zealand and wants to do an interview with AXXIS, because I thought that there's no CDs of AXXIS! (laughing)

M: Well here is some CDs of yours, but usually they are imported from Europe anyway…

B: Now we have a direct connection! This is a good promo-channel for us! (laughing)

M: So, about the interview… The first question that I'd like to ask is not for the record, it's mostly for myself: in the song "Shadowman" there's very similar vocal part in the intro and in the outro. Is it a sample, or did you do both of these parts separately?

Bernhard: No, it's not a sample, it's a regular singing. I can tell you something, it took two hours to get this thing on tape, because it was very-very exhausting for my voice, but it works! And you have to understand that I'm a diver and I can dive for a long period of time without oxygen tanks on my back. I have big lungs and everything works well, but I have to take breath and make my lungs a little bit bigger and then it works. But I can't do this part live. When I do my acting on stage it doesn't work. I have to make this part shorter. You need to do a lot of training to do it, especially something like diving or anything. Then it works.

M: So, you're a diver?

B: Yes, I do a lot of diving. Here in the Mediterranean sea. Every year I take about 30 days and I go diving. Only diving, twice a day. I'm a huge fan of this kind of sport.

M: This is a very interesting hobby…

B: Yeah, for me it's the best way to relax. If I go down in the water, everything is forgotten and everything is wonderful. Totally other world. I feel like a fish, you know! (laughing) It's very interesting what's happening to me, because this is the only place on Earth where I can really think about nothing.

M: Did anything scary happened to you while you were diving? Any accidents?

B: No, no accidents. A friend of mine has an accident, but it was just a small one - nothing major. Just some problems with the technical stuff. Got some difficulties with all that oxygen in his blood and his lungs was a little bit damaged. It took him one month to recover and everything's fine with him now. But nothing ever happened to me. Woof, good luck! (laughing)

Max: Well, good luck to you… Anyway, about the music. You got the new album now…

B: Yes, the album came out on 17th September and it's called "Eyes Of Darkness". It's the follower for "Back To The Kingdom" album and we were trying to get the same sound as on "Back To The Kingdom" with a little bit more guitars on it. It's interesting that the voice is a little bit quieter than on the previous one. There's two wonderful ballads on it and there's a song called "The Four Horsemen". This song is from a Greek band, where Demis Russos used to sing in the end of the 60s. He was quite famous here in Europe, you know… The song is kind of apocalyptic story…

M: On "Back To The Kingdom" you have a cover as well. It's "Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye". Who did this song originally?

B: There was a band called Steam in the middle of 60s. I know this song, because I'm a huge football-, or how you call it, soccer-fan. And when our club is playing, everybody on the stadium is singing: "Hey, hey…" and the name of the club. (singing) The name of the club is added to the refrain of the song. And that's the reason why I was searching for this song, because I didn't know who did this song originally. I found something about this band, Steam, and I found the song. The original version sounds horrible, but it has a lot of energy, that's why we wanted to cover this song. To play it live here in Germany is wonderful, because everybody know the chorus line and everybody sing this song with us!

M: "Back To The Kingdom" is a little bit symbolic, like a comeback to the beginning of the band…

B: I realise from your questions that you're familiar with the history of AXXIS…

M: Frankly speaking, I'm a die-hard fan of yours…

B: Oh, cool! (laughing) Well, you see, in the beginning we had that album "Kingdom Of The Night" (1989) here in Germany. We expected to sell 10,000 copies of it, but we ended up selling 150,000 copies! Everything was very enthusiastic with the band - EMI was totally crazy about us and everything. It was an unbelievable situation for us. "Kingdom Of The Night" was the best selling Rock debut in Germany ever. But then all this new scene came out - Seattle Rock or Grunge Rock and melodic Metal went down the drain. We felt unsecured about our kind of music, recording company wanted to find a new modern band - Hip-Hop, Crossover, Techno stuff, you know… That was a hard times for AXXIS, because nobody wanted to listen to this melodic Rock and Metal anymore. That was the reason, why we released "Matters Of Survival" (1995) and "Voodoo Vibes" (1997), where we changed our sound a little bit. And that was a big cut in our career, because fans didn't like this kind of experiment from us. It was a lot of fun for me as a musician, but when you buy the CD with AXXIS logo on it, you expect something from this CD. But then you listen to the album and you get a different kind of sound… I guess it was a big mistake, but at the same time it was a good experience, because now we know what people want from us. And we also know what WE want to do, because every song now sounds wonderful on stage and it's a great pleasure to present our own style again. That's the reason why we called the album "Back To The Kingdom", because we wanted to let people know that we want to come back to our roots.

M: Well, I don't know why you don't like "Matters…" and "Voodoo…". Personally I haven't heard any bad songs from you so far… (laughing)

B: (laughing) Oh, there are some songs that sound a little bit strange. Not bad, but strange. If you listen to "Voodoo Vibes", there we tried to experiment with modern sound like drum-loops or different keyboard sounds and I think it doesn't fit our kind of music. It was a good album and good songs, but the band has changed so much, that nobody understood it. I think it's better for Axxis to sound in a traditional way…

M: "Eyes Of Darkness" as well as "Back To The Kingdom" is out on Massacre Records. Why did you leave EMI?

B: I think "Voodoo Vibes" was kind of kiss of death. We were working together since 1989 and the company was really good to us. It was a wonderful relationship but then the company was changing its philosophy - trying to sign more techno stuff. And when I was talking to A&R manager of the company, explaining something about the guitar playing, he doesn't understand me anymore, because nobody knows how the guitar have to sound! There are no Rock musicians in the company anymore! So it was a good step to change the company at this stage. Another reason for that move was that Walter (Pietsch; guitar) and Markus (Gfeller; bass) left the band and we had nothing to lose anymore and we had to decide what to do in the future. We took two-year break, searching for the new members. Everybody told us - "Hey, Rock music is dead! Nobody wants to listen to this music anymore!". But I still believe in this music and now it's getting back. People doesn't want to listen to this computer stuff anymore and they discover the Rock music again, especially the young people. Discover these long-haired, sweating guys on stage and it's very good for us, I think…

M: "I turn the radio off/ Don't wanna hear that crap…" Is that what you were talking about in "Flashback Radio"?

B: That's right! (laughing) You understand the lyrics! That's why I wrote this song. Everybody was telling me: "Computer music, computer music, computer music…". It's cheaper. And you can imagine, if you're in a Rock band you go to the studio, you have to eat, you have to sleep and it takes a lot of money to pay for the recording! Because we're so stupid - we play our instruments by ourselves! Unbelievable! And it costs a record company lots of money to record the Rock band. Because we need time to put it all on tape. And if you compare it to the techno scene - there's a computer at home and they're creating music in a cheapest possible way, but the CD prices are the same! That's why it makes more sense for the record company to sign all these techno people - it's just way cheaper from the production side, but the CD prices are the same and the income of the company is way bigger than with the Rock band. So the record companies promote this kind of music more.

M: OK, maybe a tricky question: what's your favourite song from "Back To The Kingdom"?

B: That's very-very difficult… There are two songs that are really deep in my heart - "Only God Knows" and "My Little Princess". These two songs are kind of strange. I wrote "My Little Princess" for my daughter, who influences my life very much. It costs a lot of time, but she changes my life totally. On the other hand we got the experience with Harry, our keyboard player, who's child died at birth. It was very strange, because my daughter was born and his daughter died. We both were sticking together and it was a mixture of feeling happy and feeling totally down. So these songs are very important for me. But if you'd look through the glasses of melody lines and music in general - I like "Shadowman", "Flashback Radio" is a very powerful song, "Sea Of Love"… It's very difficult to take one song from a CD to say: "This is the best one". I know what song is not so good, it's "Why Not?". It's not a bad song, but it's not the best one.

M: On "Matters Of Survival" you have this song, "All My Life"… What is it about? Is there some kind of hidden meaning?

B: There's a very interesting story behind this song! When we were in Los Angeles, we went on this party. The party was wonderful, we've met a lot of people and all that. But then somebody asked us: "Where are you from?" and we said "Hey, we're from Germany, we're the musicians, recording our album here with Keith Olsen in Goodnight L.A. studio!". And they went: "Oh, you're coming from Germany to Los Angeles? Unbelievable!"; because you see, in Los Angeles everybody wants to be a musician, everybody wants to be an actor and everybody is famous there, even if they are or not. And when they realised that we're a famous German band, they all was very interested on that party. And then somebody asked us about the band name and we said: "Hey, we're AXXIS!". And this person was looking at me and said "AXXIS?! Hey, I'm a Jewish guy and if you call your band AXXIS you're nazi!". I was like "Oops! What's that?!". Now I understand, because at the World War II there was a political "Axis", political alliance between Tokyo, Rome and Berlin. That's why that guy on the party was a little bit aggressive. But I called the band "AXXIS" with double "X", so we didn't have to invent too much money in the posters - there's only five letters! It's short and it looks good - that's the only thing I thought about! So this incident gave birth to the song idea and I wrote this song "All My Life", because all my life I feel like I have to explain something to the people like this about that period of history, but I don't know anything about it - I'm the next generation!

M: So basically, "Axxis" doesn't mean anything?

B: "Axxis" with double "X" - no. "Axis" with single "X" means "a turning point". Originally we wanted to call the band "AXIS", but there was a record label in Germany with the same name, so we just added another "X" in the band name to avoid the problems with copyright! (laughing)

M: Who's your favourite musicians? Who influenced you, when you started?

B: I started with Judas Priest and Queen. Maybe that's why I sing in both ways - a little bit high, but with lots of melodic chorus lines and thousands of backing vocals. But from the energy side KISS was one of my favourites. It was like a World War on stage! When I saw them in 1979 in Dortmund in Germany, all these explosions and fires and a wonderful energy was coming down from the stage! And this concert was the reason why I wanted to be a Rock star too - I promised to myself that I will be on this stage in the future!

M: What do you think about the modern Rock stage, about the young Heavy Metal bands?

B: I think there are lots of good young bands in Germany. For example EDGUY is a great upcoming band here. You see, it's very difficult to stay in the market, because the record companies are going down the drain. The politics of the record companies are very wrong. CD prices are very high and I don't think that people earn enough to spend 35DM on a CD. That's why on the new CD - "Eyes Of Darkness" - we have the multimedia tracks - a video clip of "Shadowman" and a small PC game. Just to make the CD price a little bit more reasonable. I think that the high CD prices affect the musicians in first place. On the other hand it creates the competition and all the bad bands are gone now. (laughing)

M: You'll probably laugh now, but when I heard EDGUY for the first time I thought it's your solo project. It was just a tape and there were no names of the musicians, so first I decided that it's your voice…

B: (laughing) Somebody wrote about Tobias Sammet that he's the next Bernhard Weiss (laughing). You can compare the voices and the stage acting - it's very interesting! I saw them in Bang Your Head festival here in Germany and the stage acting is a little bit the same… Now I'm getting older and I see the bands who tries to copy me a little bit (laughing)… I think it's wonderful, when I see the very good young bands who was influenced by my voice!

M: OK, back to AXXIS! If I'm not mistaken, during the recording of "Matters Of Survival" and "Voodoo Vibes" you were living in United States?

B: Yes, we recorded "The Big Thrill" and "Matters Of Survival" in Los Angeles.

M: Why did you move to L.A.?

B: Good question! You see, in the beginning everything was going on in Germany. We had no management and we were selling lots of records. But then the record company said: "Hey, we want to make you world-wide BIG! You are going to be the new SCORPIONS!"; that's what they were telling us. But you are not the next SCORPIONS if you are not working with an international producer! So the record company was looking for a producer. The first one was Joe Balin, who worked with WARLOCK and other famous bands, and the next one was Keith Olsen in America, who worked with WHITESNAKE, KINGDOM COME and a dozen of other artists. But we are a German band and we got a German point of view on our music. It was wonderful to work with these people - we've learned a lot of things and I'd never want to miss this time in my life. If I had to make this decision again, I'd go to Los Angeles again. But if talking about what happened to the band during this time, I must say that they did their best with AXXIS and they tried to make us bigger, but they were also changing our sound, our very German kind of sound! That's why now with "Back To The Kingdom" and "Eyes Of Darkness" we're producing ourselves, because we know our music better than anybody else and everything works wonderful now!

M: In your opinion, what's the best album of AXXIS? The best production, the best songs… THE BEST in general?

B: The most important album was "Kingdom Of The Night", because it was our first step into the business and this album made everything else possible. But from the production side "The Big Thrill" was very-very cool! There's a lot of energy on this CD, it sounds good and all that. And from the point of view of the songs… Oof! (sighing) It's very difficult for me to decide, because on "Voodoo Vibes" and on "Matters…" there are good songs too, but with the different sound. You can't realise the potential of the songs, because they are a little bit strange for AXXIS. For me a CD is like a photo and when I listen to "Voodoo…" or "Matters…", I remember all that time that we had in Los Angeles and New York and I can see myself sweating in the studio and all that. So it's very difficult for me to say, which album is the best.

M: And at the end, about the plans for the nearest future…

B: You see, there's one problem with AXXIS. We are really famous in Germany, but outside Germany, for example in Italy, Spain or Greece, nothing happens! Every other band played in Japan. AXXIS never been there! We had this world-wide deal with EMI and it sounds really good! But if you want to release your CD in America you have to deal with EMI America. And if they don't want to release your CD in States, you have no chance to go to any other company! That's why we were totally in a prison here in Germany - only Germany, that's all! Now with Massacre Records we can release our albums in every country! And now we face a very interesting situation: after 12 years in business we are still a newcomers in Spain and Italy, and Greece. So in the future we plan to build up our career a little more. We played in Spain twice and everybody was blown away! So the things are getting better now.

M: Well, Bernhard, thank you very much for doing this interview and for giving away all this information!

B: No problem!

Max Thrasher
HOUSE OF NOIZZ