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"White Sands"
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En
ce début d’année 2007 Mad Max, le groupe
chouchou du très occupé Michael Voss, revient
aux affaires, moins d’un an après un Night of
white rock très réussi qui, s’il avait
permis au groupe de se relancer, avait également permis
aux fans de découvrir la facette religieuse du groupe.
Avec « White sands », son nouvel opus,
le groupe enfonce le clou (ne pas y voir d’allusion religieuse…)
avec un album un peu plus « roots »
mais toujours autant tourné vers le grand barbu…L’occasion
d’une petite confession avec Michael Voss.
You’re
on the way to release a new album, one year only after the
release of Night of white rock, and in the meantime you have
even released an EP. Not many bands work so fast ! What
are the reasons for such a fast comeback ?
Yes - you're right - we're really busy at the moment - the
main reason is off course that the band is really working
so well like a family - it's just 4 friends working for the
same thing - that makes things a lot easier - we want to show
the fans that the band is really back in business and that
we are not one of those projects - we are a real!!!!!!! band!
How do you
consider Night of white rock today ? What do you think
are the main qualities and drawbacks of this album ?
NOWR was definitely a
statement to show the people that we are back and that we
are a christian rockband - NOWR is a new beginning for MAD
MAX. we are so happy that the album was so successful and
gave us the chance to continue with our music.
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Did
the sales of the album meet your expectations ? Are you
satisfied with the work that AOR Heaven has done with the
previous album and the EP ?
AOR HEAVEN did a great job - we have a very good relationship
to Georg Siegl and he is really supporting MAD MAX. It's teamwork!
Your acoustic
EP in white is really marvelous. Is it you Michael who decided
to record acoustic versions of songs like To hell and back
again, Bad day in heaven and Lonely is the hunter ? Why
did you pick up those songs ?
It was a band decision to do this acoustic album knowing that
a lot of people would love it but also a lot of fans go for
the more heavy direction. we took the songs that we felt would
work best in acoustiv versions. the new song "hello father"
was kind of a statement for a christian band.
The main message of Night of white rock
and In white is that music brings peace and hope. Maybe
I’m going to far, but do you think that music can also
be a cure, and can literally save people ?
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We are a christian
rockband, but we don't wanna preach and we don't wanna force
anybody - hope is a central message of our songs and for us
it's great when people really think about our lyrics. but
I would never say we can really save somebody.
Many of the
new songs of your new album, like « Family of rock »
or « Someone like you » are more « typical »
hard rock and less melodic than songs on Night of white rock.
Is it on purpose or were you just guided by inspiration ?
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After the acoustic EP "In
White" we wanted to show the fans that we still can
rock heavy - but mainly when writing the songs we didn't
think about that - the songs came out naturally - it's exactly
what we felt in that period of time when we were composing
the songs.
It seems
that this time some of your lyrics are not based on christianism,
like « Little princess ». When I interviewed
Juergen last year he insisted on the fact that Mad Max was
a band which lyrics were based on christianism only. Did
you find that you had more things to express than religious
feelings only ?
All songs are still
based on our belief - but songs like "war" or
"little princess" (talking about child abuse)
are important to talk about for us - it's how we see those
problems as christians - we have something to say and those
lyrics are our statement!
Some songs
like « War » are also darker, with
quite ‘agressive’ guitar riffs and pessimistic
lyrics. What do you want to say through this song ?
"war" is
the heaviest song we ever did - it's not pessimistic , but
the statement is loud and clear: war is no solution - there
are no winners in a war! in the life of a christian there
is no room for hate!
You’ve
got a song called « We fight in white »
on this new record, which sounds quite autobiographical.
But could you explain us what your motto is, and what you
fight for ?
"fight in white"
is really what we stand for - we fight with music and words,
not with weapons! we wanna show the people that believing
in Jesus is maybe an option for a better life - the colour
white is a symbol for that.
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This
album is far much better than albums recorded by most melodic
hardrock bands these days. Don’t you feel frustrated
that your music is maybe not appreciated as it should be ?
thanks a lot -
we builded up a strong fanbase over the last year and with
touring all over europe we will spread the word more and more
- the new album will be released also in Japan and next week
we will be live over europe again with AXEL RUDI PELL. so
we're quite happy with the way things are happening
You’re
going to support Axel Rudi Pell during his European tour,
but most of the dates will be in Spain and Germany. Is there
any hope to see you in other countries (like France) in 2007 ?
We would love
to play in France - later in the year a lot more MAD MAX shows
will follow and hopefully there are some promoters and clubs
that are willing to take MAD MAX to France. We are ready to
come!
Michael, do
you plan to release other albums with Demon drive, Casanova
or Silver one day or is Mad Max your only project now ?
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MAD MAX is the main project
right now - as a producer I'm always busy working on different
projects like BISS or BEGGARS BRIDE or GARY BARDEN.
You seem to
like to do covers, as you recorded some with Demon drive (Kiss)
or Silver (Bowie). Why do you like this exercise, and what
mentality do you adopt before recording someone else’s
song ?
With MAD MAX the only
cover - version we ever did was FOX ON THE RUN and our version
of the worship classic OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART - I guess
in the future to come there are no plans of recording some
more covers - we're going more for original stuff.
You have played
in lots and lots of bands, and sometimes in two or three bands
at the same time. What are, according to you, the advantages
and drawbacks of playing in several bands at the same time ?
First of all I'm musician
and producer - through that work I know a lot of bands and
musicians all around the world - that sometimes gives and
gave me the chance to play in different bands - mostly it's
a matter of timing - tight now I'm so busy with MAD MAX -
there is hardly room to perform with other artists.
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I’m gonna
ask you now a questions many Mad Max fans wanted me to ask :
what have you done of the « zebra-style »
trousers that you wear on the back of the Stormchild LP ?
Do you still have them ?
Sorry - haha - the trousers
are gone - no idea where they are! I'll let you know when someday
I find them again - promise!!!!!!
To conclude,
would you like to say a few words to your french fans ?
Merci beaucoup to all our
french fans for supporting MAD MAX over all these years - we
hope to see you soon on our tour all around europe!
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