Interview with Michael Kiske about the reunion, the Pumpkins United tour, their return to the studio for a new album, the music industry, and their Helloween glory years.
Interviewer: What was it like for you to meet Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf and Michael Weikath after all these years back in a studio?
Kiske: I was working with Kai together in Unisonic. That was no problem at all. In general, it was not a problem at all but there was one situation where I thought it was really funny because it is a very crazy way. There was a number of years, where like over 20 years, where I would never have thought anything like that could happen. I was refusing anything like that, in that direction, because it was not just the time for me but there was one situation where we did the vocals in Andi Deris recording studio, in Tenerife. We had a daily routine, I usually showed up around 12 or 1 o’clock at noon. We were usually sitting in his garden, drinking some coffee, Andi would smoke cigar and Charlie Bauerfeind (sound engineer and producer of Helloween) would be down in the studio, editing something and then sometime after a while he will come up and say “I’m ready” and then I needed lyrics for one of the songs written by Andi, and Andi said “Ah I’ll get it for you” and he went into the office to print them out and then with a big smile he was handing the lyrics over to me and that picture, I said to him “This picture.. You handing lyrics to me because I’m supposed to do Vocals for Helloween, a number of years ago this would have been insane to think about”. That’s stuck in my head. That picture. It was amazing. We learned to get used to each other and to trust each other and to get over the insecurities that we of course had in the beggining during the tour of 2017 and that was the test due to how it goes down. In 2018 it was really great, all way through, because we were much more secure and we felt more confident on everything so when we were in the studio there was nothing like that anymore.
Interviewer: What’s your most favorite song from the new album?
Kiske: I love “Skyfall”, I really think that is gonna be great live, it’s gonna be amazing and I’m so glad that Kai Hansen did that one because he didn’t do anything else. He only had that one song and is long. I would have done maybe two songs more
I definately love “Out for the Glory” and it felt very comfortable right away. I didn’t even practise this song. When we recorded it, I had the lyrics in front of me and I was learning the parts and saying it, but I felt comfortable with the exact one. It really reminds me of a bit of “Eagle Fly Free”
“Angel” is great ,very different and “Fear of the Fallen” it’s amazing. It’s written by Andi Deris, but it has a Keeper vibe which is interesting, which is when we stay together and stuff
For more interviews by Michael go to this link:
https://kiskefanclub.com/press/interviews/helloween-interviews/video/