Interview date: 08.04.2006
Daniel Zimmerman, the drummer of the well-established Gamma Ray and of the much younger power metallers Freedom Call, is a respected name on the German metal scene. He’s known for his blistering double-bass speed, refined precision and cannon-like swing. Dan is a grafter with an outstanding approach to his craft, and that craft is first and foremost inseparably tied to a love of music, order and discipline. Before Freedom Call’s show in Graz (opening for Rage), Dan accepted the invitation to say a few words about his career, the music of Freedom Call, Gamma Ray and everything hot going on in his musical life right now. He turned out to be a very pleasant and fun guy to talk to, someone I could have chatted with for hours and hours.
Dan had just finished lunch with his bandmates at the table in the backstage kitchen of the Orpheum in Graz when Mike Terrana (Rage) and I were wrapping up our interview. The mischievous Mike took it upon himself to address the entire Freedom Call crew gathered around the same table and asked if they wanted an interview with me. Of course I was very interested, and the singer/guitarist Chris, who was sitting next to Dan, said that Dan always gives the best answers, and so he picked him as my interviewee.
Aleš: “Dan, how are you feeling, is the current tour exhausting?”
Dan: “So far everything’s going great. The schedule leaves us room to rest, even though we’re playing at a brutal pace. The shows are running non-stop, day after day, but it’s still not hard to coordinate things, so we always find enough time to catch our breath.”
Aleš: “How are the fans receiving you at the shows, has your following grown at all?”
Dan: “Definitely. We’ve picked up a lot of new fans. We’ve even played a few sold-out halls, and right now everything’s going great for Freedom Call.”
Aleš: “How is the whole band feeling, how do you react when you’re up on stage?”
Dan: “In Freedom Call we’ve reached a point where everyone works together brilliantly. I think we’ve hit the right working chemistry, and that’s a huge advantage for the band. Ideas for new material pop up pretty much constantly on tour, and we diligently record them on tape. I think we’ve taken another big step forward. We’ve gotten to know each other even better and accepted the differences between us as individuals. There really are no conflicts, and things in the band run almost perfectly. Creatively most of all!”
Aleš: “Who writes the songs?”
Dan: “Chris, our guitarist and singer, is in charge of composing most of our music, although all of us contribute our ideas to shaping the final form of the songs. The lyrics are my job.”
Aleš: “Your productivity is incredible. In a very short time you can boast quite a few studio albums!”
Dan: “True. In six years of existence we’ve put out four studio albums, plus a live album on top of that. We already have enough material to record a new studio album right after this tour ends. The song drafts are already so good that I know the new songs will be the best, and the next album will surely be our best studio effort yet.”
Aleš: “Where do Freedom Call have their most devoted followers?”
Dan: “In Germany. The Bavarian region around Munich and Nuremberg is very good to us, and we also have strong support in Stuttgart, Bochum and Hamburg.”
Aleš: “Gamma Ray and Freedom Call, two bands you’re a member of, play a fairly similar style of heavy metal. Can you illustrate where the differences between the two actually lie?”
Dan: “There are definitely differences between Gamma Ray and Freedom Call! Gamma Ray are a band with a typically rebellious character. Gamma Ray deal with social themes, Gamma Ray point the finger at the authorities and politicians. Freedom Call want to be positive, to radiate positive energy. The lyrics match that, too, they’re all fantasy and have more mysticism in them. For example, Chris’s vocals and guitars are also tuned a bit lower in Freedom Call. The songwriting process is different too. In Gamma Ray everything revolves around the guitar riff. Kai (Hansen – Gamma Ray’s boss) brings in a riff and we build the song around it. In Freedom Call the keyboards play an important role, and first comes the basic template for the song and the main motifs on the keys.”
Aleš: “Are you still in touch with Piet Sielck, the head of Iron Savior?”
Dan: “Hardly at all right now. I only played with Iron Savior on one tour and on the album “Unification”. We helped Piet with the first steps, when he was creating Iron Savior. Piet always wanted a band of his own. But there was never any agreement or contract between us about me being a permanent member of Iron Savior. I always worked with Iron Savior only as a guest. By then Freedom Call were already taking shape, and I had to step away from Iron Savior because I could no longer find the time to play in three bands at once. Piet and I are friends, but we meet pretty rarely, now and then. Usually in Hamburg.”
Aleš: “Dan, what’s going on with the heavy metal scene right now, and how do you see the movement overall, from the eighties until today?”
Dan: “The eighties were an innovative time for heavy metal, the whole thing grew. The rise of the N.W.O.B.H.M. had a huge influence on us. I remember absolutely all of us listening to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. It was euphoric. Almost every day something new happened that nobody could have predicted, in a positive sense, of course. And so a hugely important moment for the entire German metal scene was Helloween making it. As one of the pioneering non-English-speaking bands to succeed on European soil. You know, Helloween were “Iron Maiden on speed”, and that won over the taste of the crowds and the labels. That propelled the whole metal machinery in Germany upward.
Aleš: “It looks like the heavy metal scene in Germany has a kind of primacy today.”
Dan: “Today the German scene is certainly among the leading ones in Europe, but the Scandinavians are right there with it, they’re incredibly strong in every branch of heavy metal too. Among the newer bands I especially appreciate the Brazilians Angra. I like how they weave traditional ethno-folk elements into their version of heavy metal.”
Aleš: “Which drummers do you especially admire, did you have a role model?”
Dan: “I like a more direct approach, with less experimenting. I really like Tommy Aldridge, then I really dig the drumming style of Clive Burr and Scott Travis. I have to mention Simon Phillips too, whose originality I especially enjoy. And I almost forgot Cozy Powell. His drumming has a recognizable “groove” that was an important part of the Black Sabbath sound. He doesn’t overcomplicate things, but the moment he hits the drums, you know right away it could only have been Cozy Powell. I’m a big Black Sabbath fan, especially when Cozy Powell was playing with them.”
Aleš: “Albums like T.Y.R. or Headless Cross?”
Dan: “That Black Sabbath lineup is my favorite of them all by far.”
Aleš: “Crazy. We’re totally on the same page about Black Sabbath!”
Dan: “Ha!”
Aleš: “How long have you been drumming?”
Dan: “26 years. I spent one year at a music school in Vienna. That’s where I met Jeff Boudreaux from New Orleans, an excellent teacher. He showed me just a few basic drumming approaches, basically four fundamental pointers that every drummer should stick to. He explained things in a really simple way. That gave me a great foundation that I could keep building on completely by myself.”
Aleš: “And then? What were your first steps onto concert stages like?”
Dan: “At first I played in various local bands. We made a living playing covers. We played in the part of Germany roughly bounded by Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Ingolstadt. We played all sorts of stuff, from Beastie Boys and Simple Minds all the way to Metallica and Judas Priest. That’s where I built up my knowledge and experience. The stage is hugely important. It gives you confidence, strength, faith and trust in yourself. You soon get very picky and want equally strong people alongside you in the band. The stage is where you toughen up most and gain the most experience.”
Aleš: “Word is you teach drumming too?”
Dan: “Yep. It’s my side job and honestly great fun. Right now I have 8 students that I teach in my free time!”
Aleš: “Do you ever have trouble as a teacher?”
Dan: “No trouble. It only happened once that I had someone with absolutely no drumming talent who had an incredible drive to stick with it. He came and came to lessons, but there was no progress whatsoever. After two years we were still at the beginning, and in the end I had to let him go myself, telling him it made no sense at all.”
Aleš: “We still have a bit of time. Back to Freedom Call. What are the plans for the near future?”
Dan: “A new album, we’re going straight from the tour into the studio to record.”
Aleš: “What will tonight’s show be like?”
Dan: “The current lineup feels fresh. We have two brand-new members and the chemistry between us is great. We’ll give it everything like always, and I hope the fans will be thrilled!”
Aleš: “I have no doubt, a few have come from Slovenia too!”
Dan: “That’s really nice.”
Dan: “Tell me something about Slovenia, where’s worth going on vacation?”
Aleš: Ugh, hard to say. Slovenia is so small that you can cover all of it in one day. Mountains and sea at the same time. As a starting destination I’d recommend Bled and Lake Bled. Tourists are thrilled there. With that choice you won’t miss a thing.”
Dan: “A friend of mine praised Slovenia, he was very happy with his visit!”
Aleš: “Tomorrow, since you don’t have a show in Zagreb because it was cancelled, you could stop by Slovenia on the way.”
Dan: “No, no. On tour we head straight from the show to the next venue. In this case, with no Zagreb show tomorrow, we’ll be able to get everything ready for the Treviso show a day earlier, which is a big advantage. We’ll be rested and even better prepared.”
The clock struck 19:45 and Dan had to quickly find his way to the stage, where the roadies were already busily setting up and “screwing” his drums together, so we had to say goodbye, since Dan had only 15 minutes left before Freedom Call’s set.
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