Interview with GRAVE DIGGER's Chris Boltendahl.

The beginning of the year wasn t too pleasant for the Metal legend GRAVE DIGGER. The band broke up with GUN Records and lost the guitarist Uwe Lulis that has been in GRAVE DIGGER since 1986. Honestly, back then I thought that it would be the second split of the band, if not its final chapter.
But seems like right now the things are getting better. The new recording company is Nuclear Blast, the new guitarist is Manny Schmidt from RAGE and the new album is called "The Grave Digger". So, my prognoses went wrong.
Fortunately!
When I contacted Chris Boltendahl, the vocalist of the band was very nice and kindly agreed to answer a couple of questions. "Uncle Reaper" sounds happy and ready to rock

Max: So, how is the recording? You finished the album?
Chris: Yes, we finished it last week and it went fine. The album is very powerful. I think something has changed with GRAVE DIGGER with the new guitar-player. We have not a new face, but a new nose (giggles).
M: Lots of changes has happened lately, you ve got a new album, new contract with Nuclear Blast and a new guitarist. So, the most important question right now is why did Uwe Lulis leave?
C: Uwe and I had some personal problems and also all sorts of musical problems. I wanted to develop GRAVE DIGGER with every record and Uwe wanted to play all time in the same style. And it s not my thing. I can t do the same record each year. When I listen to GRAVE DIGGER I wanna be sure that something changes from time to time. Some things should change, some solos and riffs. And I made a decision that we separate from each other. In the beginning it was very simple, but after three months I don t know what happened. Uwe was very angry and he tried to steal the band name from me I m very upset about all this.
M: Why did you leave GUN Records?
C: They did very good job in Germany, but I missed the support in Europe or South America. I discussed it a lot of times with them and then we said: "OK, we can t work together in the future, let s go a separate ways".
M: How does Manny Schmidt feel in the band? Did he fit well in the sound of GRAVE DIGGER?
C: Oh, very well! After he left RAGE in 1994 he worked in a record shop for seven years. Then we gave him a call and said: "Hey, Manny, how are you, how are you doing? We re looking for a new guitar-player, what do you think?" And he said: "Give me two days, I ll think about it". And after two days he said: "Yes, it s my last chance to come back in the business". He liked the music of GRAVE DIGGER, so we checked nobody else. He was the first one we contacted.
M: Did you listen to RAGE when Manny was in the band? What s your favourite RAGE album?
C: I like RAGE. I think the best albums was with Manny Schmidt. But it s something different that Manny plays with GRAVE DIGGER.
M: How all these changes affected the sound of the new album?
C: I think now the band will sound like we grew over the years and now we make our masterpieces. This album is not based on 80s Metal or 90s Metal, like JUDAS PRIEST or SAXON. Now we are back to our original roots like BLACK SABBATH, OZZY OSBOURNE, LED ZEPPELIN. And we mix these roots and influences with typical GRAVE DIGGER screaming and melodic choruses
M: So the album will be different from the previous ones?
C: Yes. It was one of my targets for this record, because I don t want to have a new guitar-player in the band, who sounds like Uwe Lulis. As I said, I don t want to record every year the same album. And after the trilogy, "Tunes Of War", "Knights Of The Cross" and "Excalibur" something must change in the style.
M: But Uwe Lulis took a biggest part in writing music Who writes the music now?
C: Uwe and I, we wrote all songs together. Uwe told to everybody that he wrote most of the GRAVE DIGGER songs, but that s not true. For every record we met in a rehearsal room and we wrote all songs together. Now we have a new songwriters. We involved Jens Becker and all the music now is written by Jens, me and Manny and the lyrics are all from me.
M: Coming back to the previous albums, what inspired you to record the albums about William Wallace, Knights Templars and King Arthur?
C: It started with "Heart Of Darkness". On that album we had a concept song, the title track. And after that we decided to do the whole album. Thomas Gottlich, the bass-player had an idea that we do it about the Scottish history. We were happy with the result and we decided to do a trilogy about middle ages. But on the new record you will not hear the word "sword" (laughing).
M: So, the new album is just a number of separate songs?
C: It s a little bit like a concept, because a lot of songs are inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. But we left all the middle ages and "sword area" behind us and now we work on other ways, because we can t do it all over and over again.
M: The first track on "The Grave Digger" is called "Son Of Evil". Is it some kind of comeback to "The Reaper"?
C: Yes, I think that the lyrics is a little bit at "The Reaper" area. The songs are very simple and very heavy (laughing). People who listened to the new record are saying that this album is much heavier and rougher than the last records.
M: A few years ago I heard that you joined one of the Scottish clans
C: (laughing) Yes We re still the members of the clan.
M: Does it give you any privileges?
C: We can live at the members of the clan world-wide, but we didn t do it so far (laughing)
M: Some time ago there was a rumour about GRAVE DIGGER working on the album dedicated to the Trojan Wars. Was it just a rumour?
C: It was an idea. I also wanted to use it for my solo CD. But after the split with Uwe I decided that I don t want to do the solo record, because I want to do a very good GRAVE DIGGER record and I give all my power to that.
M: So you re not planning a solo record anymore?
C: No, not at the moment.
M: GRAVE DIGGER is on stage for more than 20 years now. How did the Metal stage change since?
C: I think the technique has changed. It s more professional now. We are entertainment on stage. We re not a political band with a message, I think we are more like a theatre.
M: What young bands do you like?
C: I listen to a lot of young bands, but what I miss is a new character of the band, because now we have a third generation of HELLOWEEN copies and GRAVE DIGGER or RUNNING WILD copies. I think the most important thing for a young band is to find own way and not to copy other bands. As we started, we copied other bands, but in this procedure we found our own style. That s something I miss today from the new bands. There s some original and very cool bands like NIGHTWISH for example, but if you listen to the bands like HAMMERFALL, it s also a copy of other bands. They do a very good work, but there s nothing in their music that based on their own style.
M: GRAVE DIGGER usually does very interesting show
C: Yes, we re doing a lot of pyrotechnics I m not sure about the new show. I think we ll record a live CD on Wacken Open Air festival. Perhaps we ll also record it on the video. We will see.
M: Perhaps not a very pleasant question for you: GRAVE DIGGER split once, back in 1987. What was the reason for that break-up?
C: After "War Games" we did the record called "Digger" and it was very commercial, like GRAVE DIGGER goes BON JOVI (laughing). And the people didn t buy the CD, because it was something totally different from what the band did before. It wasn t successful and we decided to split-up. We reformed the band in 1991 and the second era of GRAVE DIGGER has started.
M: And at the end about the plans for the nearest future
C: I just came back from the festival in Spain. In two weeks we ll play on Rock Machina festival and then we ll drive to Wacken Open Air. The new tour will start in January 2002. So, mostly it s concerts, concerts and concerts.

Max Thrasher
HOUSE OF NOIZZ