Interview date: 07.11.2008
Before their show in Stuttgart, a chance came up for a short interview with the band. Ingo, Gotthard’s friendly tour manager, met me at reception and walked me to the “catering” area, where the smell of fresh frying was already in the air and the cooks were happily clattering their pots. Soon Leo joined me at the table with a huge mug of coffee and…
RockLine: How did it come about that Gotthard are opening for Deep Purple on this autumn tour? I’d guess any band would want a slot like that at some point.
Leo: Honestly, I don’t know what was behind it. We’d wrapped up our own headline tour a month earlier, plus the festival shows, and we were free just when Deep Purple were looking for a support act for the German leg of their tour. We obviously jumped at the chance right away.
RockLine: Deep Purple played Montreux again last year, so in Switzerland, which is your home turf too. Did you maybe run into each other there?
Leo: We’ve played a lot of shows with Deep Purple. We played with them back in 1994 and 1997, but with a different lineup. Last year we played Montreux too, the night before Deep Purple, and we’d agreed on a joint “jam session”, but unfortunately it never happened. We’ve known Deep Purple for three years now.
RockLine: And how does it feel so far on this tour with Purple?
Leo: So far everything’s going like clockwork, we’re good friends and the tour is going really well for us.
RockLine: Last year you released a new studio album, Domino Effect. How did the music-loving masses take it?
RockLine: My personal opinion is that “Domino Effect” has a bit more of a dark atmosphere compared to the party-flavored “Lipservice”. What were the circumstances in which the album was made?
Leo: That’s true. The new album is quite a bit darker. It’s actually a pretty different album from the last one, but then there are differences between all our albums anyway. It was written out of the life experiences we’d been going through lately. Those days weren’t exactly “the happiest” for us while we were writing, if I can put it that way, so the mood is a bit darker too. But that definitely didn’t affect how the album was received. People liked it, and it even let us break into countries our music hadn’t conquered yet. Mainly Russia, Spain and South America, where we hadn’t had any notable success before.
RockLine: What’s the message hiding behind the words “domino effect”?
Leo: You can come across the domino effect in pretty much every sphere of our lives, of our everyday existence. Picture small irritations, small disagreements between two people that can grow into bigger and bigger rifts between whole groups of people, and in the extreme can even lead to wars between nations. A little pebble that sets off an entire rockslide. Giving up food, which leads to anorexia, etc.…In short, it can generally mean the principle of how something small and seemingly unimportant that happens ends up causing big changes in our lives over time. Those changes are either positive or negative. And in the case of making albums, say, you write one song, then another and another,…. In the end you’ve got an album, like a “domino effect”.
RockLine: “Domino Effekt” is a great new album. In this run of great albums, you guys seem to be at a creative peak.
Leo: Thanks. But we’re not at the peak yet.
RockLine: Best possible answer you could have given.
Leo: We’re not at the peak, but we’re constantly working on getting there.
RockLine: If we turn the clock back to the start of Gotthard’s career, did you ever imagine you’d earn such a respected and well-regarded pedigree, in Europe at least?
Leo: Ha, ha… well, when we started our career, we wanted to play something along the lines of Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin and the like. Then suddenly you find yourself in this circus and become part of it, and that’s really nice. Nobody among us actually expected that, but we worked hard and grafted to get here. And we’re still working at it. We try not to steal ideas, to create music based on our own. Every time we put out a new album or head out on a new tour, we work hard and stay focused on making our fans happy. Looking after our fan base, that seems really important to me. We’re approaching our 20th anniversary, and when I look back, I’m very happy with what we in Gotthard have achieved in our career.
RockLine: Considering it’s been almost a year and a half since your last album came out, have any new ideas piled up in that time, has any new material come together for a new album?
Leo: Yes. And new material is coming together right now. We have a few songs, but it’s still too early to start working on an album and take it all the way to release. We’ve got a few more obligations ahead of us, first of all finishing this tour with Deep Purple, and then we go back into the studio and start polishing the new songs.
RockLine: What about breaking into the US? Have you played there lately?
Leo: Not in the US. In that time the Americans had their hands full with electing a new president, so we focused on South America and Russia instead, where of course we did tour. These days lots of bands from the US come to play in Europe, because I think Europe has taken the lead from America when it comes to concert tours. Europe is the real market for it today.
RockLine: Leo, tell me, what inspired you in life to pick up a guitar and start playing?
Leo: It all started with The Beatles. Then I discovered Ten Years After, of course Deep Purple with Ritchie Blackmore, and AC/DC. After them came Van Halen. And that whole galaxy of guitar heroes that erupted in the seventies and eighties. Gary Moore is also one of my favorite guitarists.
RockLine: Will you dare to play your version of Hush in front of Deep Purple tonight in Stuttgart?
Leo: We’re not allowed to. They asked us to take Hush out of our set for this tour, because Deep Purple play Hush as well.
RockLine: What did it feel like to play in front of a jam-packed stadium in Zurich, where your live album “Made In Switzerland” comes from?
Leo: Getting there took a lot of hard graft. Hallenstadion is a place where really big stars and rock icons play, and fighting your way up there is not exactly easy. We wanted it badly. Because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the kind that will be hard to repeat, we decided to record that show. At first we didn’t even think about releasing the recording on DVD and CD, which happened later. It was that crazy feeling, a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. We recorded just that one show, just that night’s performance, and then presented it to people in the most authentic way possible.
RockLine: And what do you think of the current music scene in Switzerland? Is it any stronger than in the past?
Leo: Actually, it’s not stronger. It’s just a bit easier all around, because you have more different options when you’re choosing a musical path. We’ve got a varied music offering, not just in rock but across all kinds of genres. And in that respect our country is putting itself out there too, so people don’t know Switzerland only for cheese, chocolate and watches. Besides the sporting success in tennis, skiing and hockey, now some damn good rock ‘n’ roll is coming out of our country too. Well, after Gotthard some younger bands came along, like Crystal Ball or Shakra.
RockLine: In a way, you in Gotthard, and Krokus before you, opened the doors for the bands that followed?
Leo: Krokus were first. Then they sort of faded from the horizon, and we followed. Judging by everywhere we’ve played and by our consistency, which will soon hit 20 years, as well as our regular studio releases, I think we in Gotthard have come the furthest of the rock bands from Switzerland.
RockLine: And how are you feeling at Nuclear Blast Records, given that you’re actually the only melodic hard rock band currently signed to that label?
Leo: Already when you walk in the door of their headquarters, it’s different. They look at you differently, ha, ha, ha… Which is good for us. They know we’re “straightforward” guys. We walk into the label’s office with smiles on our faces, none of the scowling they’re used to from the heap of metal bands they work with.
RockLine: So, we touched on it briefly already, but still. What are the band’s goals for the future?
Leo: Finish this tour, then lock ourselves in the studio and record another great studio album, and then a new tour. And the circle closes again. And we’ll try to stay in this “album-tour” circle for as long and as far as we can. In the band we’re also talking about doing a special tour for Gotthard’s 20th anniversary.
RockLine: Have you ever thought about releasing your own solo studio album?
Leo: Thinking about it is one thing, but actually making it is a whole other story. Gotthard are simply an absolute priority for me personally, they’re a strong act, especially in terms of expression, which gives me a huge amount of room to express myself as a guitarist and freely help shape every idea together with the other guys in the band. And I’m very happy with that status and I’ll just stick with it in the future too. Right now I really don’t see myself as a solo artist. Joining some temporary music project might come into consideration for me, maybe.
RockLine: As a musician, were you ever scared of the band’s success?
Leo: Not really. It all happened for us without any special expectations and in small steps. So we got to this position slowly, gradually, and we didn’t let it throw us, because we always had enough time to adapt to the new situation. So we stay realistic and grounded. And I think that’s really good for us.
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