AXXIS
Two years after the Time machine album, which boosted Axxis’ career, the German band is back with a new masterpiece : Paradise in flames, which is definitely one of the best album from this melodic heavy metal band. Harry Oellers, the keyboard player and songwriter of Axxis (along with Bernhard Weiss) kindly answered my questions.
Interview by Guillaume - Photo : AFM Records

Before talking about Paradise in flames I would go back to the Time Machine album. Being a great fan of the Eyes of darkness and Voodoo vibes albums, I was really amazed when I listened to this record for the first time : there were much more orchestrations, chorus, arrangements, the voice of Lakonia…How did you feel this evolution at the time ?
At the time of the Matters of survival record, the band had gone through many steps. We changed some bandmembers. For this album we were also influenced by our producer (NdGegers : ) and then we had a sort of come-back in the year 2000, with the Back to the kingdom record. We had decided to go back to our musical origins. From then on, album by album, we completed our style, and all that resulted in what Axxis is today.
On the Time machine album we put more chorus, more agressivity in the guitars and the drums, the whole album was more punchy. Eyes of darkness and Time machine are also the first records we produced on our own, so they are definitely the reflection of our own personality.

In terms of arrangements and variety, Paradise in flames is going even further than Time machine, and yet some songs could have appeared on your former records, such as Talisman or Icewind. Is this album an achievement or just another step towards something even more ambitious ?
What we try to do with every record is not to make a copy of our former things. When we

started the songwriting process for Paradise in flames, we didn’t want to make a copy of the Time machine album. The songwriting process is always the same, but there are some changes in the production process. On this album we wanted to make a mix of all our influences, and we also wanted to do some experimentations. When with started working with Lakonia on the Time machine album, using her voice on the chorus was already a sort of experimentation, and we were very satisfied with what we had done there, so we completed our work on Paradise in flames. But I repeat, the songwriting process is always the same.
The only thing is that we wanted our music to be faster.
This album is definitely a step, and not an achievement. When we’ll start the songwriting process for the next album, I don’t know which influences will come into the band, it depends on things which will happen in our lives and in the world. Events which happen all around the world are our major source of inspiration.

Will Lakonia follow you on tour ? Is she going to become a full-time member of Axxis ?
When we met her first she was singing at the wedding of a good friend of us. She was singing a sort of « Ave Maria » thing. We really liked her voice so we invited her in our studio. She’s very nice, very creative, and we started to write songs for her solo album. We wanted to help her, to introduce her into the business, to give her a little practice, and so we invited her to sing on our album. And now we’re going to go on tour with her, which is great. It’s very exciting for her ! We’ve already done a couple of shows with Gotthard in Germany, but she has never sung every night during a whole tour yet. So it might be difficult for her during the first dates of the upcoming tour, but I’m sure she’ll learn rapidly.

Most of Paradise in flames’ songs have dark lyrics. There is also a constant opposition between light and darkness, the best songs showing this opposition being Talisman (« You lighten up the darkness when I cry ») or Lady moon (« The day is lost in the dead of night »). Is there a concept behind that ?
It’s not a real concept. But you know, on Axxis records there is always a bright side and a dark side. On one hand we write catchy songs, easy-listening melodies, and on the other hand we write some dark stuff. If you go out and drink some beers with friends, then when you come back home you write a happy song. Then, if you read some ugly news in the papers you gonna have a different mood.
For example, the tsunami in Asia inspired us, and we wrote a song called Will God remember me ? , which is really dark.
And yet, the mood of the album depends on the mood of the lyrics. If the lyrics are dark, the whole song has to be dark. This is typical of Axxis. On all our records you find this cohabitation of dark and bright songs.

On the Kingdom of the night or II albums, the artwork was quite bare. On your recent albums the artwork is very polished, full of details. Is it something more important for you now than in the past ?
In the past, for the KOTN or II albums, our record company (Electrola) was responsible for te artwork of our albums. At the time, these artworks looked quite modern, but we couldn’t manage to know if we liked them or not. Then, we were new in the business, and our record company told us that we needed artwork like these to sell some records, so we told them to do what they thought was the best for our career. It’s 16 years now since we’re in the business, and we’re free to do what we want.
About the artwork of Paradise in flames, I definitely like this fantasy style of cover artwork. Derek Gores, the artist, has also worked with Kamelot. Some years ago we toured with Kamelot and we really like the artwork of their albums, so we contacted Derek. We already had the idea of the volcano and of the girl, but what we wanted was Derek to give a feeling of power and action into the artwork. He definitely did a great job.

How did you get in touch with André Hilgers (the new drummer) and Rob Shomaker (the new bassman) ?
André has been in the band for 3 years now. He also plays with Silent Force. As we have the same management as Silent force we already knew him. Our former drummer had serious drug problems and he suddenly disappeared. This occured during the recording sessions of the Time machine album. Kosta Zafiriou (who plays with Pink Cream 69) came and played on the record. But we needed a regular drummer to play live. So we got in conatct with André, who’s living near our homes. He’s really a good guy, and we immediately became friends.
Our former bass player decided to have a real job. He’s an engineer now, and earns a lot of money. Rob was the bass player of a band which had supported us during a tour, I can’t remember which). When our bass player decided to leave the band, we contacted Rob and asked him if he wanted to become a member of Axxis. We played some stuff together, but it was directly clear that Rob would be perfect.

You’re going to tour Germany with Krokus, and then Europe with Helloween. Is there any chance that you come to France ?
We’re in conatct with French promoters. We had a showcase some weeks again in Schweinstadt. Some French promoters have seen the band live and they’ve invited us to come and play in France.
So we’re going to play 3 shows in May in your country. I don’t know the places yet, all I know is that one of these shows will be in Paris. We won’t be the only band on the bill, we’re in contact with 2 or 3 bands, but nothing has been decided yet.

You’ve toured with many famous bands. But is there any band with which you’ve never toured and you would like to go on tour with ?
Well, we’ve already toured with Black sabbath, Uriah heep, Motörhead…We’re very happy guys !
Yet, I would really like to go on tour with Iron Maiden or Metallica. These bands are so big that we sure would learn many things from them.

Even if there are some live songs on the Collection of power album, the only live album you released was Access all areas, back in 1991. Do you plan to release another live album ?
In the past we’ve filmed some shows and we are planning to release a DVD. We’re going to record some shows during the tour with Krokus. On this DVD there will be a complete show and also extracts from shows we did in the past.
Then, it’s something very expensive, and we must find somebody who will pay for it.

I’m a great fan of German hard rock. Which are your favourite German bands ?
I really like the last Primal fear record, especially the song « Seven seals ». I like the former records of Edguy. The new one is not my favourite but the other ones are really great. I also like Silent force.

In the booklet of your two last album, you say thanks to Udo Dirkschneider (Accept, UDO) and Doro Pesch (Warlock, DORO). Do these two peole represent something special for you ?
We are in contact with both of them. Doro is living near where I live. Sometimes, when I go out and drink a beer, I meet her. We’re not really friends but we know each other very well. We were trying to organize a toyur with her, but she finally decided to go on tour with another band.
Concerning Udo, we toured twice with him, so we’re very good friends.

When you were young, which keyboard player gave you the will to play keyboards and hard rock ?
When I started playing the organ and the piano, there was only one guy who influcenced me : John Lord from Deep purple. Concerning keyboard playing, my major influence is Don Airey.

On your website, we can read the message telling people to buy your album and not to download it. What is your opinion concerning this problem of illegal downloading ?
This is more politics of our record company. There is a big problem with that, but on the other hand it gives you a good promotion. Many people download your music, listen to it, and if they like it they buy the record, and if they don’t like it they simply put it into the trash. They just make sure that your music is great. There are too many album s on the market on which you find one good song, and 12 are crap. So I don’t want to pay 18 € for 12 crap songs and one good song. With the Internet, you download the one good song and that’s it. So it migt encourage artists with not only one good song, but with at least 10 or 12 good songs.

Is this problem the reason why the packaging of your albums is so polished, with videos, wallpapers, screensavers… ?
If you listen to a song in mp3, it sounds like crap. It’s okay if you want to know if the song is great or not, but if you want to have the real sound you need to buy the CD.
Then, you can’t download all the extras we offer with our CDs, so in my opinion it can help to fight against illegal downloading.

To conclude, is there anything you would like to say to your French fans ?
I hope that is will be possible for Axxis to come and play in France. I hope you guys like our new record and enjoy every song. When we’ll comme we’ll have a nice party with you !