By David E. Gehlke
Calling AVANTASIA a “side project” or even a “project” feels wrong in light of the band’s staying power. Considered a finished entity after the world-beating power metal glory of their first two albums, 2001’s “The Metal Opera” and 2002’s “The Metal Opera Pt. II”, founder, songwriter and vocalist Tobias Sammet reactivated AVANTASIA in 2008 when his other act, EDGUY, was at its peak. The resultant “The Scarecrow” studio album from the same year quickly picked up speed and eventually brought AVANTASIA to festival stages and produced live dates on multiple continents, much to the surprise and delight of Sammet. Seventeen years and seven more studio albums later, it’s AVANTASIA and not EDGUY that remains Sammet‘s focus.
The band’s new “Here Be Dragons” includes the expected assortment of guest vocalists, from Geoff Tate (ex-QUEENSRŸCHE),Roy Khan (CONCEPTION, ex-KAMELOT),Tommy Karevik (KAMELOT),Ronnie Atkins (PRETTY MAIDS),Michael Kiske (HELLOWEEN) and Adrienne Cowan (SEVEN SPIRES),among others. The album is notable for its uplifting, sometimes bouncy nature that is also absent from a concept—a first for Sammet. Whatever his methods, AVANTASIA rolls on as one of the few metal opera spectacles with staying power. Sammet, per the usual, was his happy, jovial self when he caught up with BLABBERMOUTH.NET.
Blabbermouth: Let’s revisit something you’ve said before: Do you still feel exhausted after doing an AVANTASIA record to the point where you think you can’t do another?
Tobias: “It’s not really about being burned out or overworked. That’s not the case at all. It may come across as cocky, but it’s truly my feeling. Whenever I finish a record, I’m so happy with how it turns out that I wonder, ‘Oh, am I going to be able to come up with something that great again?’ [Laughs] That sounds like I’m blowing my own trumpet. It’s not meant arrogantly. I remember after I did the first EDGUY demos and we were working on the second one, I told Jens [Ludwig, guitar], ‘I’m not sure my songs are going to be as good as the first ones.’ Meanwhile, 33 years later, at least I have the experience to know I’ve been struggling and doubting myself before and it always turned out great. It’s very reasonable to think there’s going to be another AVANTASIA and again, it’s going to be the record of the century. [Laughs]”
Blabbermouth: You have to feel that way about your music. Why do it if not?
Tobias: “Absolutely. I have to tell you: It’s not about what I address to other people. It’s not so much about the product I deliver. I have to say: Being a musician, the biggest joy I derive is from what I do in front of my piano. I’m sitting there and turning out my thoughts, emotions and feelings. Whatever black cloud or sunny sky I have hanging above my head, I turn it into music. That’s the way I process it. It’s like therapy. Then, realizing, ‘Oh, that was a great melody.’ ‘That’s a great harmony.’ ‘Oh, that’s going to be a great chorus.’ Having all the things come together, all the aspects of a good song come together in your head, hearing what the drums are doing, the guitars, those moments, that innocent, creative process, that’s the thing I find most precious these days. Then, of course, the record is a by-product of that self-therapy. I take great pride in what I do. I’m more grateful than proud. I’m thankful to be able to process my thoughts this way instead of having to see a shrink or swimming with dolphins.”
Blabbermouth: Swimming with dolphins doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Tobias: “I heard they can be real assholes.”
Blabbermouth: Dolphins?
Tobias: “Yeah! Dolphins are like monkeys. They organize themselves and because of the ‘Flipper’ series, people think, ‘Oh, they’re innocent, cute little creatures.’ They can attack you if they want. They can be assholes. But, you know, human beings can be assholes too. I haven’t lost faith in them. I won’t say anything against dolphins. [Laughs]”
Blabbermouth: Maybe you should go from dragons to dolphins, Tobi.
Tobias: “Let’s call it ‘Here Be Dolphins’.” [Laughs]
Blabbermouth: “Here Be Dragons” has a more upbeat, joyous feel than the last two AVANTASIA albums. Is it safe to say that?
Tobias: “Absolutely. ‘Upbeat’ is often confused with ‘happy’ and I don’t like that term, ‘happy metal.’ It has a great variety of moods. It’s dark in some passages and it’s exciting and adventurous. There are all these different kinds of moods, but what I can say is that it’s a very punchy record. It’s not burdened. The way I approached the album was quite different from the previous two. I had to get some heavy thoughts off my mind. It was about this misunderstood creature that was collapsing under the pressure and some of the shit I had been given, also for not doing an EDGUY record, which some people thought I was supposed to do. I’m not talking about my bandmates. I’m talking about the general conception of me in public and how I would let people down and not do what I’m supposed to do—all this kind of stuff. I said, ‘Nobody has been walking in my shoes. Nobody can judge how close I was to burning out for 10 years and how overworked I was.’ Nobody seemed to care. I had to get these thoughts off my chest. It was in ‘Moonglow’ and ‘A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society’. Once I got that mindset out of my system, with those records, as I said, music is very important for me to get things off my chest and look ahead and clean my mind.
“I think, with this record, I was sitting in front of a blank canvas. I even made a brave decision. I don’t think it’s necessarily brave, but it’s a decision that was not to be expected. I said, ‘Okay, for the first time in the history of AVANTASIA, I’m not going to come up with a concept.’ I had this song, ‘Here Be Dragons’, which was kind of a leftover of a previous, well, not the whole song, but parts of it were left over from the previous album. I thought ‘Here Be Dragons’ was such a great title. It comes from an ancient sea map to indicate unchartered territory as a warning: ‘Don’t come here. There may be dragons. There lurks the unimaginable.’ I thought, ‘It sounds like an invitation.’ Let me throw myself into the working process. Create an album. Write songs, individual songs, without having the ball and the chain that a concept or a rock opera sometimes is. I just wanted to throw myself into adventure and compose like I’m composing for a band. It felt so natural. All of a sudden, I felt comfortable even allowing a long, concealed side of myself, this tongue-in-cheek, jester side of mine, into the music again. Like a song like ‘Creepshow’. I wouldn’t have done that with AVANTASIA for seven years. Now, I was confident. Life is too short to worry about what you’re allowed to do, especially when it’s your world that you created. I don’t want to say I’m the dictator of AVANTASIA. I’m the benign king. That sounds much better. [Laughs] If you talk to my bandmates, I’m not a dictator. I’m a benign king. That’s how I approached it and why the album feels so compact and punchy and uplifting and upbeat.”
Blabbermouth: This is the fourth album featuring guest vocals from Geoff Tate. Can you talk about the experience? It seems like it’s beneficial for both sides.
Tobias: “He’s a very lovely chap. I’ve known Geoff for about 10 years. We’ve worked together; we’ve toured together. We’ve had great moments together at the hotel bar. He’s a wine lover, which is great. Whenever you’re on tour, be where Geoff is. He’s going to tell you, ‘Tobi. Drink this. Don’t drink that. That tastes like rat piss.’ [Laughs] I can’t tell the difference! I can hold it toward the light, ‘Oh, maybe that’s a red wine.’ [Laughs] He will tell you all these little things back. Working with Geoff is great because he’s a very influential singer. He’s kept amazing pipes and did ‘Operation: Mindcrime’. I was trying to sing, much to the annoyance of my parents; I was trying to sing ‘Take Hold Of The Flame’ as a kid in my bedroom. Of course, I failed trying to get it right. He invented that type of singing. At least, he’s known for developing to a technical level that is out of this world. He sets standards. Working with Geoff is just wonderful. He’s lovely. When I first worked with Geoff, it seemed like everybody was like, ‘Oh, he had this falling out with his band! He’s difficult to work with!’ The thing is, ever since I met Geoff, he’s always been super nice. Super witty. Very funny. He is very accessible, and everyone on the whole team will second that. Geoff is a charming chap, and he even told me the story of how it went. It’s not my business. He said, ‘Yeah, we all make mistakes. We all could have handled it differently. It is what it is.’ He’s a lovely guy and very funny.”
Blabbermouth: He gets to come in and sing. Maybe there’s no pressure on him, so he’s having fun.
Tobias: “Absolutely. I think that’s a good thing about AVANTASIA for singers. We singers are a very weird species. We’re always under pressure to run the show. When a guitar player breaks a string, he will exchange it. When we get sick, nothing works. A guitar player can play when he’s sitting. We can’t do that. We’re always under pressure. We always run the show; we’re the ringmasters and all of us are nervous wrecks when we’re on tour with our bands. In AVANTASIA, we know that if I struggle, there’s going to be someone next to me. There’s going to be Ronnie Atkins, Bob Catley, Eric Martin, Geoff Tate, what have you. Someone is going to be there to support you. It’s like we’re nine musketeers. One for all and all for one. That makes it easy to be in a good mood and in high spirits. It’s wonderful. It’s highly recommended to every singer to be part of something like AVANTASIA. [Laughs]”
Blabbermouth: When you reactivated AVANTASIA in 2008 for “The Scarecrow” album, was it always the intention of it becoming your sole focus?
Tobias: “Life is what happens to you when you are making plans. You never have a clue what’s going to lurk around the corner and what the future has in store. I had a sense after reviving AVANTASIA. First, it was not planned. I considered doing a solo record. I wanted to do something outside of EDGUY. I wanted to do something on my own and not have to argue and compromise. I’m not badmouthing being in a proper band or a band like EDGUY or anyone who has bandmates. It’s a normal thing. You get together as kids. You argue about everything: ‘Oh, I want this chorus!’ ‘No, I want this one.’ ‘Oh, I want to wear these pants.’ ‘No, I want to wear this jacket.’ You argue all the time. It’s like THE POLICE. I wanted to do something on my own and I did ‘The Scarecrow’. I started to write and when the song ‘The Scarecrow’ was done, it was the second song, I thought, ‘It feels like AVANTASIA. Let’s do it again. This is what it would be like.’ I said, ‘Why not do AVANTASIA again?’ I did it, and then we got the offer to headline Wacken Open Air in front of 80,000 people. I thought that I would never play live with AVANTASIA. Back then, it was still a project. I thought, ‘If you turn down that offer, you don’t deserve to be successful because that’s what you dreamt of as a kid. Now you get the offer, you can’t turn it down. You have to make it work. Headlining the biggest heavy metal festival in the world and turning it down? Are you crazy?’ I said, ‘Okay, we have to do it.’ Then we got offers from Japan, Latin America, from all over Europe. We stumbled into this becoming more than a project. It’s not an all-star project anymore; it has become a world of its own. I have to say, there was a moment by the time we played Wacken in 2011, after the second tour, when I played with Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen onstage again. It was like a HELLOWEEN reunion onstage with AVANTASIA. I thought, ‘It doesn’t get any better than this.’ I said onstage, ‘This is it. There will be no more AVANTASIA‘. I was wrong. I thought it at the time. After a short while, I thought, ‘There has to be more AVANTASIA‘. It feels more like a band than ever. It’s my band and it’s my creative vehicle and I make the decisions, but it’s like a band or a world of its own. It gives me all the freedom to live out my creative fantasies. There are no limitations. I want to write a song that I can sing. Yeah. Great. Get someone in who can sing it. I do ab-libs, or we do it as a duet. It’s a wonderful thing to live out all of my fantasies. I won’t make the mistake of saying it’s going to be over soon because it won’t be over soon. [Laughs]”
Photo credit: Kevin Nixon
Source: blabbermouth.net
