I N T E R V I E W

Interview Tobias Exxel (face to face)

For “Age of the Joker”, Tobias wrote all the songs. How did the situation evolve in the band from different people writing songs to just Tobias? Is everybody happy with it?

Pretty much from the beginning of the band, Tobi wrote most of the stuff, you know. Sometimes Jens comes up with some cool guitar riffs and he’s credited as well. But Tobi has always been the main songwriter because he has the main ideas, he usually starts on keyboards and adds vocal lines, then we meet and discuss the songs and work together. Sometimes, it’s a bit frustrating because when Tobi wants something and has a lot of things he wants to do, it can be a bit difficult to discuss with him… Of course, we are five guys with different opinions and points of view but we have been together for fourteen years now and we get on well. We are proud of what we do, and everybody is free to do their own stuff, you know… I had this band called Taraxacum some years ago, but it broke apart because it didn’t have a steady line-up. But now, I’m writing some music for a project that I have and that should be released next year hopefully.

Your new album seems to receive good reviews both from fans and the press, and it sells well too. Do you still pay attention to what people write about your music?

Of course, we’re happy if people like what we do and we understand that some people might not like it. I think there’s no point in reading too many reviews when some guys write too many details, they like this here but they don’t like this there, because in the end, it’s a matter of taste. For a musician, it’s important to follow your own heart and know what you want to do. Reading too many reviews or paying too much attention to what people say might get you confused or insecure. The most important review for us is something we can see, not read, and it’s the fact that there are so many people at the concerts and like them.

Can you tell us a bit more about the story behind the song “Two Out Of Seven”?

Somehow, it’s of course a little joke because the title refers to the rating that some magazines give. “Seven” comes from the German Metal Hammer but it doesn't mean it is against Metal Hammer in particular, when Tobias wrote the song, he found that the melody worked better with seven than with ten or something like that. It’s a funny way to talk about some journalists who sometimes take themselves a little bit too seriously and want to be more important than the bands themselves when they’re writing their reviews.

How do you analyse the fact that “Age of the Joker” seems to satisfy some fans a bit more than “Rocket Ride” or “Tinnitus Sanctus” did? Did you change things on purpose? Did you try to bring certain elements thinking it would work better?

We never do that on purpose. I think it’s always good that a new album sounds a little bit different than the previous and, of course, if you’ve had two or three years in between, you always get new influences and ideas or things you want to try. For me, most importantly, I totally agree because I like “Age of the Joker” so much better than “Rocket Ride” or “Tinnitus Sanctus”. Back then, “Hellfire Club” was my favourite album, now it’s a mixture of “Hellfire Club” and “Age of the Joker” and I’m not saying that just because it’s our new album, I’ve said before that I was not so happy about “Tinnitus Sanctus” for example, but as I said before: we’re five different guys with different opinions so it might be quite natural that not everybody is always satisfied with everything.

One thing about the new album is that it sounds much more natural.

Yes, this time we really avoided working with any samples on the drums, so we went to a very expensive studio in Germany where we could record the drums much more naturally. For this reason, this album doesn’t sound as loud as others, but on the other hand you get more dynamics.

It’s funny to hear that you have to spend more money to record things more naturally, it should be the opposite, right?

Yeah sure, but if you want to record more naturally it means that you need to have a very good room, then you need good microphones, and the most important thing is that you have somebody who can work with the microphones and stuff. The studio I’m talking about is the one where The Scorpions recorded some of their albums as well, in Hannover. Of course, we got the advice from them because we had been touring with them and we already knew Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, so we talked about it and they told us about this studio.

No disrespect here, but don’t you think that playing very few songs from very popular albums such as “Vain Glory Opera”, “Theater of Salvation” or “Mandrake” (as it is the case on this tour) might discourage many fans to come and see your shows?

You never know. But I think it’s a very good thing that we play so many new songs because we’re really proud of our new album. And on the other hand, we really wanted at least one song from older albums except for “Savage Poetry” or “Kingdom Of Madness” which are maybe a bit too old and not as popular as the others. We have “Tears of the Mandrake”, “Vain Glory Opera”, “Babylon” or “Land of the Miracle” depending on what people want to hear, we also play “King of Fools”… The more albums you release, the more difficult it becomes to play all those songs that people might want to listen to. Even for ourselves, it’s not always easy to agree on what we want to play before a tour starts, you know, the same old thing, five people with different tastes and opinions…

Do you still take pleasure playing some old songs quite different from what the band does today?

I would never say that I don’t like a song we play. Somehow, it’s part of your life, you recorded it back then, it’s part of the band’s history and it brings back memories and if people like them, it makes you proud anyway.

Is being on tour still as fun as it was at the beginning after more than 15 years of existence?

Yes, we really like it and I think that people can see we really like it. When we enter the stage and people are screaming, it’s always very exciting. You never know how it’s going to be and I try to give my very best. I appreciate the chance I’m given, to tour as much as I do, and I really enjoy every tour as if it could be my last. Of course, I know it’s not gonna be the last one, but I try to enjoy it as if it was the last tour.

Are you interested in being part of another project or in releasing solo albums?

Yes, there’s the band I told you about and other stuff too. It’s fine to work with other people too. I’m proud that I’ve been invited by the bass player from Helloween, Markus Grosskopf, to play on a record called “The Bass Invaders”, an album with bass guitar only. There are great musicians on this album like Billy Sheehan from Mr. Big for example, so I really thought “Ok, I’m really proud to be here with all these great guys”.

You’ve released a live DVD for the Rocket Ride tour, would you like to do another one soon?

No DVD is planned at the moment. I’m sure there will be one sooner or later but nothing’s in the works for the moment.

What are you listening to these days?

Yesterday, I was listening to some Rammstein. I’m a big Rammstein fan. I also love listening to Ray Charles, it’s not because I’m in Edguy that I listen to power metal constantly (laughs). I also listen to Metallica quite a lot. And I also like to listen to Madonna, not the recent dance stuff but more interesting stuff she’s done in the past. What else… Oh yeah, a couple of days ago, I also listened to “Future World” by Pretty Maids, I love it. I saw them in 1987 at the Monsters of Rock. I was thirteen back then.

If you had the power to bring a band back to life, what band would you choose?

Maybe it sounds a bit disrespectful but I’d say Accept, the original line-up. Their new singer is really cool, and I saw them last year in Japan and it was great, but I have never seen the original band on stage, so that is something I’d really like.

You have to make someone discover heavy metal and you can choose five songs, what are they?

I would choose some songs that I listened to when I started, like “Battery” by Metallica, I love it. I would say any song from the first “Keeper of the Seven Keys” by Helloween, let’s say “I’m Alive”, a great opener. “Powerslave” by Iron Maiden, “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple… and…

One song from Edguy, maybe?

Alright, then I would say “Lavatory Love Machine”.

You’ve recently published a sort of statement regarding Edguy sales and high positions in the worldwide sales top 50 chart, would you go as far as to say that the band doesn’t suffer much from illegal downloading?

I think lots of rock or metal bands don’t suffer that much in general because metal fans, for instance, have a much more personal relationship to bands. They’re not just interested in the music, but they also like real bands with a steady line-up, so for that reason, I think they like to buy a real album with a booklet, so they can read some stuff and some background information. Of course, I’m sure that every band suffers more or less because many people love to download, it’s so free and easy.

Scott Ian from Anthrax recently said: “If Someone Gave Me The Power To Push A Button And Erase The Internet From Our Lives, I’d Push It In A Second”. How do you feel about that? Would you do the same?

To be honest, I totally agree. The Internet is a great thing, you can have so much information about so many things, but we were also happy back then without the internet. Everything was possible as well. I think it’s a shame that a lot of people live much more in front of their computers with facebook, emails and stuff like that. Young people especially spend too much time on their computers instead of being outside and climb up trees or things like that.

What’s next for Edguy after this tour?

Well, more touring! (laughs). We’re gonna play one more show in Germany after Christmas. Then, we’ll start preparing for South America, The United States, Asia… And then, of course, I’d really like to work on new songs as soon as possible and not wait another three years but maybe one or one and a half year. It would be cool to write some new material parallel to touring.

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