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In September German true metal newcomers MessengeR released their second album See You In Hell. After their tour with Blaze Bayley we had the chance to get some questions answered by vocalist Siggi Schüßler. Read about the tour, the album, future plans and there very own metal festival with biker-camping ground for free!
Please tell us about the beginning of the band, as it could seem there are still many metal fans who do not know you yet. By the way, why did you choose the name MessengeR?
Siggi (Voc): The beginning of the band was in the early 90s, we have played some kind of hard-rock that was inspired by Queensrÿche and Ozzy, then we had a long break and did our comeback with new band members and more power-metal. 2006 was the release of our debut album Under The Sign.
Do you write songs as a band? Or is there a main songwriter at MessengeR?
We work as a team during the songwriting, but sometimes the songs are composed by a single member. We don't have rules for that because we have a great variety on our CDs and we are proud of it.
What inspires you to write music / lyrics?
The real life (being a metalhead), heroic fantasy, science fiction & Vikings. The song Make It Right is inspired by an experience we had during the 'Headbangers Open Air'. We were playing on stage and a beautiful girl was watching us. She was standing in front of the stage and you could see it in her eyes that she did not only love the music... Then her boyfriend came and tried to hug her – and she pushed him away. That was great! For us. Hehe.
Was there any bands / artists that made you start playing, I know that music is your life.... And what bands / artists are you listening to these days?
We have many influences, my band mates love German metal like Helloween etc., some of them prefer the eighties, others love Hardcore... you see, our musical taste is different. I personally started playing my own music after listening to Bathory, although I am normally into true-and melodic-metal.
Who produced the See You In Hell album? And who did the artwork?
This CD was produced by Rolf Munkes in the Empire-Studios, this guy did a fantastic job again.
he Artwork was painted by our gifted guitarist Frank Kettenhofen.
Which songs do you think represent See You In Hell in the best way? And why?
Every song is a perfect representation of MessengeR and our new CD, otherwise it would not be a part of the album. We are proud of the variety in our compositions, this makes it impossible to prefer one just one title to represent us. There are songs that are working live better than others for us and this is why they are on our tour-set list.
Will you do a video? Which songs would you like to visualize?
We already have some professional live-videos on Youtube, but we do plan to make a real music-video with story etc., we will make a choice very soon.
I guess you already got some feedback. Are you satisfied so far?
The fans love See You In Hell, we are blasted away by their feedback. They had to wait long and they got now a piece of fine music that is about 75 Min. long and worth every cent. Some people have never heard of us before, they were standing in front of the stage, 200 men and women were going crazy while we were playing in Poland for example. It was (and it is still) unbelievable!
To be completely honest, have you ever got any comments from Manowar fans that you are using the same basic ideas in the band logo as Manowar do?
No, this is the first time we hear that. Not kidding, that's true. A lot of people make some comparisons with the music and the lyrics – especially on titles or parts that do not sound in ANY way like Manowar, but no one has ever mentioned the band logo. Ok, the bigger-thing with the first and last letter is similar, but how would you do it? mEssenGer? MessenGer? messENger? No! MessengeR, that's great! ;-)
Interesting that you have been on tour with Blaze Bayley. How did it work out with Gérard Sormani as tour guitarist? And how was the concert tour in general?
The tour with Blaze was fantastic, those guys are great and they know the meaning of being a metalhead. Gérard did a great job, because he is a very good guitarist and a real brother of MessengeR since a long time.
Do you plan to record some live footage - not talking about Pro Shots - for YouTube or similar platforms?
Yes, it will come very soon!
Talking about the internet.... social network is both a blessing and a curse. What's your opinion about it?
Everything is both blessing and a curse! It depends on the people that are using it. And the metalheads are real special people because they prefer the real life, real music played by real people. Most of them love social networks, but they use it to coordinate the real life, to see new bands, to meet each other and go to concerts. This is great and we are proud to be metalheads and to have such great people as friends.
Can you give us some details about your festival Saarbangers Metal Festival, the plans, and are there bands confirmed already now?
Sorry, not yet. But you will see, there will be a fantastic billing again.
For example it would be useful for the guests to know if there are plans for open air in the summer, camping area location in the forest etc...
The fans at the Saarbangers will have the opportunity to use the camping area for free. We will have a shuttle-service during the two days from the camping-ground to the venue. Just imagine, you will enjoy two days of metal-insanity, meet great people in leather and take your rest at the camping-ground of the local biker-club. More Metal-lifestyle is impossible!
What's next on your schedule? Playing live? What's new there?
There are a lot of festival appearances already planned for the rest of this year and for 2012. We have already started with the songwriting for the next CD.
And finally your ambition and trademark: To kill DJ's how is that progress going?
We will keep going on with that every night we are playing! Someday there will be a world without them. To be honest: there are some DJs we really like – as long as we are talking about Metal-DJs!
Thanks for the interview, anything you want to add?
Stay true, stay metal and never change for other people. And last, but not least, you have to buy our stuff, because you should never forget: someday, we will meet again and then, we will 'see you in hell'!!!
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