Location: Biker Bar / Scheifling / Austria
Interview date: 01/31/2009
Talking to Primal Fear and Sinner guitarist Henny Wolter couldn’t have come at a better time, since Primal Fear are just about to release their new studio album “16.6.” and Sinner have wrapped up a European tour. On top of that, Henny fronts a third band whenever he’s not busy with Primal Fear or Sinner: a Motorhead tribute outfit called Bomber. The trio got invited to play in Scheifling, Austria, about an extra hour’s drive north of Klagenfurt, in the direction of the “racing” town of Zeltweg, where they served up a great evening of Motorhead fun at the local Biker Bar club (RockLine report HERE). Before the show, the man took a nice chunk of his precious time to sit down and chat, and gave us a really detailed look at what’s going on with Primal Fear and Sinner, as well as his huge love for Motorhead’s music…
RockLine: Henny, you came to Scheifling from Hanover, more than 1000 km away. Just for this one gig. Are you tired?
Henny: A bit. I actually traveled for two days to get here. On the first day I drove to Stuttgart, which was our meeting point, since the other two Bomber guys, Oimel and Bernd, are based there. Stuttgart is 560 km from Hanover. I crashed at Oimel’s place. We left Stuttgart today at around 11 a.m. And tomorrow I’m heading straight back to Hanover, no stops.
RockLine: And out of all the big cities in the world, you end up playing little Scheifling here in Austria. How did that happen?
Henny: I don’t know…. Look, I live off music. And whenever I’m free from Primal Fear or Sinner, I try to fill that time somehow. Primal Fear have just finished mixing the new album. So now we have a four-month break, which for me means I earn nothing. So to stay busy, I help myself out with my Motorhead tribute band. And the girl who books our shows books us anywhere people want to see us. As soon as the money comes in, we head to wherever it came from. That’s how we ended up here, for example.
RockLine: So this band you have now, dedicated to Motorhead, is pure fun for you and a kind of way to unwind?
Henny: Yes. It’s fun, and it also keeps me busy all the time and earning money, so I don’t have to sit at home getting bored with my wife, ha, ha, ha…
RockLine: Tonight you’re playing with a slightly different lineup, though. How come?
Henny: Our drummer Klaus Sperling was clearing snow out of his yard, slipped awkwardly and hurt his arm. He fell on his elbow. There was no hope at all that Klaus could play with us. But Bernd knows the Motorhead songs really well, so he’s filling the gap perfectly.
RockLine: Bernd is an excellent studio musician, he also helped out the power metallers Chinchilla.
Henny: Yeah. Bernd is a professional studio drummer. He played with Chinchilla and with Saidian, who are more into a melodic approach to metal with keyboards added.
RockLine: Your love for Motorhead’s music has probably been growing since you were a kid?
Henny: Yes. Motorhead’s first album was one of the first records I ever bought. I think it came out in 1979 (Henny probably had the album Overkill in mind, editor’s note). Around 1980 I discovered Motorhead, and from then on I bought every album they put out. Back then I was surrounded by musicians who played heavy metal, and they kept telling me Motorhead sucked because they couldn’t really play (in the technical sense). That always pissed me off, because I was the only one who liked Motorhead. Then came the years of makeup and posing, and everybody was saying about Lemmy: “Oh, but he’s so ugly…” You know, they just didn’t get what Motorhead were about. My love and admiration for the band only grew later on, too. I especially like the period when Philthy “Animal” Taylor and Eddie “Fast” Clark were in the band with Lemmy, and my personal favorite among the Motorhead albums is “Another Perfect Day” with Brian Robertson on guitar. As far as I’m concerned, that album has it all. It’s got real, authentic rock n’ roll atmosphere and great guitar playing from Brian Robertson, though I know Motorhead mostly distanced themselves from that album for most of their career. It was only two years ago that Lemmy brought songs from that album back into the live set. For a long time he refused to play anything recorded with Brian Robertson. I think that’s great. I was at the show in Stuttgart in December 2008, at the Hans Martin Schleyer hall, with about 5000 people, and it was insanely loud. Whenever they play Back At The Funnyfarm or I Got Mine from that album, people go nuts.
RockLine: So tonight we can expect covers from the first four Motorhead albums?
Henny: Yes. The first four plus the album “Another Perfectr Day”, from which we’ll play one song.
RockLine: And how’s the mood in Primal Fear at the moment?
Henny: The vibe in Primal Fear right now is great. This time we’re all a lot more relaxed than when we were recording the previous album. While we were making “New Religion” there was some friction inside the band, and after the recording guitarist Tom Naumann left the band. There was a lot of bickering, Stefan had to play all the rhythm guitars by himself, and we lost a huge amount of time because of the band’s internal clashes. This time we had plenty of time for pre-production and everything ran without arguments. Our new guitarist Magnus Karlsson is used to studio work and songwriting, so he showed up to Primal Fear in top form. Everything went really smoothly.
RockLine: I might be way off here, but the fact is you’re from Hanover, Magnus is from Sweden, Randy is from Canada… How do you actually record the songs? Do you email each other mp3 demos for ideas and build them into complete songs, or do you manage to get together in the studio where everyone records their own parts?
Henny: It goes like this. Each of us writes material at home. Then we pass those ideas around to each other as mp3s. That’s the first stage of everything. At that point we can already say what we’ll throw out and what we’ll use. Once there’s enough material for about 8, 9 or 10 songs, we meet up in Malmö, Sweden: Mat, Magnus and me. The three of us then shape the rough versions of the new songs. This time we wrote 9 songs in Sweden for the new album. We did the pre-production there too, and then went back to the studio, where everything had to be recorded again, properly and precisely. This time we knew exactly what we were doing and didn’t have to write material in the studio.
RockLine: Since you’re a huge Motorhead fan, can you feel some of that Motorhead energy in your Primal Fear riffs, or do you feel some of it flowing through your fingers when you play Primal Fear riffs, even when you’re writing ideas for Primal Fear?
Henny: Regardless of the whole Motorhead thing, I always go for a very energetic approach to playing. But it’s hard to even compare them, because Primal Fear are cut from a completely different cloth. Playing in Primal Fear demands a lot of focus and precision. There can’t be any wavering, any hesitation… Of course the riffs I write are directly guitar-oriented, I like a heavy guitar sound and try to bring it out as much as I can. But Primal Fear demand a lot more concentration while playing. At a Primal Fear show you can’t have one of us grab a bottle of beer in the middle of the set or fancy a jam section or whatever… Before and during a show, we in Primal Fear aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
RockLine: You also had another band called Donnerkopf. What happened to them?
Henny: Before I rejoined Primal Fear, I had a band called Donnerkopf. We put out an album, and the guys in that band were basically ex-Thunderhead members. I sing there, in German.
RockLine: And Motorhead came to mind again when I heard some Donnerkopf music.
Henny: Yeah, yeah, that’s because I’m a Motorhead fan myself. You can tell. I don’t know if we’ll do anything more with Donnerkopf, though. I’ve got a few ideas in my head, but the next thing I’d like to do, besides my duties in Primal Fear and Sinner, is start a punk rock n’ roll band playing its own songs in English. So I most likely won’t revive Donnerkopf. It’ll be a different project, probably with completely new members.
RockLine: The new Sinner album has an old-school rock n’ roll flavor, and every now and then it fleetingly nods to Thin Lizzy’s legacy.
Henny: Yes. That’s because Mat and I are big Thin Lizzy fans, and Mat wanted to make a rock album that sounds as natural and authentic as possible, without any musical experimenting.
RockLine: How was the tour with Sinner?
Henny: Great. Ross The Boss, the former Manowar guitarist, opened for us on those shows. We got along really well. As far as guitar playing goes, he comes from the traditional rock school. He surprised me. I expected some guy who’d show up all high and mighty and preach to us about “true” metal and stuff. But he was incredibly relaxed, approachable… and of course he loved tipping back mugs of beer on tour. So I told him: “Hey Ross, you’re surprising me! You’ve got a completely different attitude from your Manowar buddies. Those pictures from the Manowar covers, leather, oil, bulging muscles, and so on…” He answered: “You know, that’s part of the Manowar show, which runs independently of your personality.” Ross also has a punk rock band, the Dictators. It’s a proper New York hardcore punk band that goes back to 1977. Of course those guys are old now, but they play punk. It’s a totally different energy and approach from Manowar’s, and it helped me understand that what Manowar do, besides playing and writing music, is all part of one big show. A lot of people watching Manowar wonder whether those guys are joking or serious. It’s all a show, but a very serious show. That’s clear to me now that I’ve been in touch with Ross, since he wrote most of the old Manowar hits. And he’s really mad at Joey because Manowar still play them live.
RockLine: So are you a supporter of the Manowar approach, or do you prefer straight-up rock directness, without the extra stage parades and costumes?
Henny: Honestly, it’s really hard for me to answer that question. I actually can’t. Everything has its justification. Every big band has some protective trademark they try to cash in on. Something their fans remember them by and love them for. It’s not fair to say a band sucks just because they pile on so much powder and other makeup. You never know, they might put on an incredible show. It’s all made first and foremost to entertain people. Every big band figures out something extra that makes them special and recognizable. There’s really no difference between Lemmy’s line “We are Motorhead, and we play rock n’ roll” and Manowar’s stage parades in honor of “true” metal. But you have to do all of it in a way that keeps you credible. If you pull that off, you win people over even more, and they trust you even more.
RockLine: Do you get the feeling that people are asking for tribute bands these days, like your Bomber?
Henny: Yeah, I do get the feeling that people find these bands interesting today. Besides us, there are a few other Motorhead tribute bands around us, but really few of them are any good. For example, one of the members of Immortal, the singer, has a very good Motorhead tribute band. Another really good Motorhead tribute band comes from Belgium, they’re called Snaggletooth. And then there’s us, Bomber. You know, I really love it when Oimel sings in our band. His vocals get really close to Lemmy’s, so people take to us quickly, and of course we try to sound like the real Motorhead in everything else too.
RockLine: As you say, Bernd had no problem stepping into Klaus’s boots. He had very little time.
Henny: Luckily he already knew most of the Motorhead material we play live. He only had to learn two songs we do on stage. Those are Please Don’t Touch and Back At The Funnyfarm
RockLine: Is anything known yet about the new Primal Fear tour?
Henny: Everything’s in the works, so they’re looking for show dates. For now it’s all unofficial. What’s known is that we’re heading to South America in August, then a European tour in September, and we also got an offer to play five shows in the US, which should happen this October.
RockLine: Can we expect Stefan’s return to Primal Fear in the coming years?
Henny: Oh, if only I were a clairvoyant… I can’t predict that.
RockLine: Well, Tom Naumann left once, came back, left again. You did something similar.
Henny: Yeah, I know. It’s a merry-go-round. Stefan simply couldn’t do it anymore. He has a regular job, two kids, a wife, he was in the middle of buying a house and couldn’t afford to go on tour with Primal Fear for three months. He just said he was very sorry he had to go, and that this time he’d really do it. You’ve got to be understanding about that, of course. We’re very happy Magnus jumped in. We had five potential candidates for the new Primal Fear guitarist. On the last tour Alex Beyrodt helped us out. But he’s more of an “Yngwie” type of guitarist, silk shirts, Fender Strat, and so on… So we said: “Why not give Magnus a chance with writing the new material!” Magnus had already helped us on the album “Seve Seals” and he’s Mat’s longtime friend. He’s in the studio all the time. We all knew he was an excellent songwriter, composer and arranger, but we didn’t know how he’d behave on stage. You know how it is. You can have a great guitarist who then stands completely still on stage and stares at his fretboard while he fires off bursts of notes. We wanted a guy who’s lively on stage. And Magnus clicked with us right away. From the start. First of all, he’s a very calm guy and handles stressful situations really well. At one of the first shows Magnus played with us, we introduced him with: “Let us introduce our new guitarist from Sweden, the great Magnus Karlsson….”, and the very next second his amp blew up on stage, ha, ha, ha, ha…. He stayed totally calm. We were in an awkward spot. We didn’t have a spare amp. You know, you get to know a person in situations like that. Magnus could’ve started making a fuss, etc… but instead we in Primal Fear really got lucky with Magnus in the lineup! With his arrival, Magnus is also raising the creative capacity, the creative range, of future Primal Fear songs. His arrival has really enriched us in that area. Magnus brings a strong melodic component to Primal Fear, in the strict sense. So you could describe the new Primal Fear songs from Magnus Karlsson’s pen as incredibly melodic, with keyboards possibly added, but above all with heavy riffing guitars. So still very fast all across Primal Fear, because Magnus is an extremely fast guitarist too. I contributed some different riffs myself, and it all gelled together really well. Everything just clicked, and the band as a whole feels great about the work done on the new Primal Fear album, titled “16.6”, and can’t wait to see how this material works on stage.
RockLine: So will the album “16.6.” bring any surprises?
Henny: Well… you know, the songs Magnus wrote carry his approach, you notice it. Same goes for my songs, or Mat’s. We try to find a compromise between the melodic side, since a lot of our fans like our epic songs best, and the firepower of the bursts coming out of the guitar riffing. Many people following Primal Fear’s development now expect something new, in the sense that they’ll be able to recognize Magnus’s approach. I think some of them would be really disappointed if they didn’t feel Magnus Karlsson’s touch on the new material.
RockLine: So it’s a natural evolution of the band.
Henny: Yes. But I want to stress that if we felt any discomfort with the new additions, Mat would be the first to slam his fist on the table. Mat is the one who keeps us all together in the right Primal Fear groove. If I run up to Mat with a new idea, play him a riff and ask: “Do you think this is good for a new Primal Fear song?”, he’d say: “Hmmm, well… it’s not bad at all, but we could use that for Sinner if you slowed it down a bit.” And say Magnus comes to him with some pompous idea for a new Primal Fear song, plays it for him, and Mat says: “Hmmm, well… it’s not bad at all, but let’s save that idea for the next Allen/Lande album”, ha, ha, ha… So Mat follows the Primal Fear vision, he keeps our basic direction. He leads us. But it’s a tough job. You always need someone in the band who says what is and isn’t Primal Fear. Of course the main trademark is Ralf’s voice, and Ralf always listens closely to what Mat is hinting at. So I can guarantee you that we’ll be delivering a 100% Primal Fear album to the market.
RockLine: Did you rehearse a lot before the last Primal Fear tour?
Henny: Not really. We met up twice. We prepare on our own. Each of us at home. Then we get together for about two days and try out how things work together.
RockLine: Henny, what are your short-term plans for the future?
Henny: With Bomber I’d like us to play as often as possible. In May the new Primal Fear album comes out, then we hit the road. I’ve also heard that the time is coming soon when we’ll start writing material for the new Sinner album.
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