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The
band often referred to as Switzerland’s answer to Whitesnake have been
relatively unknown in the UK as of late, but with 3 sold out shows this
month, hopefully that is all about to change. I got a chance to sit down
with guitarist Freddy Scherer before their recent show in Manchester.
MM:
So how’s the tour been going and what have you got planned for when
it’s over?
FS: The
tour’s been going really well. We started a few weeks ago in Italy and
then went to Spain and finishing tonight in Britain. Then tomorrow we go
to Germany and after that we go to France with Deep Purple for a couple
of dates, then right before Christmas we’re doing some big shows in
Switzerland. We’re touring next year as well with some big festivals
in Europe planned. We’re focusing on these shows very much at the
moment and what setlist we’re going to play – we keep on changing
the songs and see what’s working and what’s not. We’re not the
kind of band who, once the set is done, we leave it that way for the
whole tour. Almost every night we are changing songs.
MM:
So why only 3 UK shows?
FS:
It’s up to the promoters actually. At the end of the day everything
goes through our agency and then they finalise everything. We then see
the tour schedule and notice we’ve only got 3 shows in England but
we’re not given an explanation as to why, so wherever we are booked is
where we’re going to play. If there are more folks interested and
willing to make an offer then we’re here!
MM:
How’s the response been to new album 'Need
to Believe'
since
it was released several months ago?
FS:
There have mostly just been good reactions though the people who don’t
like it aren’t the people you usually here from. It’s mostly the
people that like it who come up to you and talk about it. Journalists
have written some great reviews too and I think it’s perhaps a bit
less easy to listen to than the previous two records but the more you
listen to it, the more you get into it. I think the main critics will
come out around the end of the year once people have had it for a few
months and had chance to listen to it several times and then I will be
wondering about the reactions.
MM:
And what was the inspiration behind the album title?
FS: The
song was already written and when you search for the album title
there’s always two possibilities – either the title of a song or
something completely different – and we kept searching and we heard
about all the crisis in the world and we thought ‘Need to Believe’
was a good title under the circumstances and against the backdrop of all
the crisis in the world. Three years ago when all this wasn’t
happening, maybe the title wouldn’t have fit but in 2009, I think it
fits very well.
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MM:
You’ve been with Nuclear Blast for a few years now. What were
the major changes for you as a band after signing with them?
FS:
The main difference is that Nuclear Blast works worldwide. When
we were with BMG, they concentrated really on Switzerland,
Austria, Germany and Japan and neglected the rest. Nuclear Blast
though, right away they released the record in something like 45
countries so of course that opens up new doors straight away.
Before, the band didn’t play in countries like Scandinavia and
though we played in England in 1992, we’ve been away for a
long time. And because the record companies over here had no
interest in pushing or even releasing the records, Gotthard
existed only via the import stores. |
Today,
we’ve got help from Nuclear Blast with all of this and I think also
the world has become smaller with the whole internet situation in that
if you’ve heard about a band, it’s not very difficult to get to
their music. But 20 years ago, you would have to find a record store
that could order the album then you would have to wait for it and it was
more complicated than it is today.
MM:
You mentioned the internet just now. Nuclear Blast has always been a
label that has put a lot of effort into the packaging of the albums and
do you think that’s the best way to combat the illegal downloading
problem?
FS:
I don’t think so, really. It’s a good thing that they do that but I
don’t think it will work like that. For the hardcore fans though, I
would say yes. If somebody is a really big fan of the band then they
will probably go and buy the box or the special edition but for most
people it really depends on what you think is behind the band and how
you discovered them. I think that’s more important. And for other
artists, like hip-hop or r’n’b artists, it’s seen as uncool to buy
the record but when I was like 13 years old, maybe 10 of us had the
cassette and 1 guy had the actual album and that guy was like the king!
Today, it’s very different. But in the rock world today, people still
buy the records because it’s part of your relationship with that band.
MM:
You mentioned distribution and how that has improved with Nuclear Blast.
Do you think that distribution or lack thereof is the main reason it’s
taken the UK so long to catch up with the rest of Europe when it comes
to Gotthard?
FS: Well distribution is one of
the reasons but also England is not a very easy market to crack as there
are already so many home-grown, English bands already in it, more so
than many other countries. But of course, if the record wasn’t
released here then it’s always going to be difficult to reach the
people. But slowly but surely we’ve gotten our name out and already
you can see the difference with many more people at these concerts than
there were the last time and that’s a very good sign that things are
working for us here.
MM:
As a Swiss band, why do you think there aren’t many bands making it
overseas that we get to hear about? As opposed to maybe other European
countries of a similar size, for example Finland that has only 5 million
people and they seem to churn out a new band every week...
FS: Well
Switzerland is already divided into 3 regions – Italian, French and
German. So those regions tend to stick to those influences only. For
example in Zurich, what goes on there is very influenced by Germany and
the same with Geneva and France. And Switzerland has a lot of different
kinds of music that are all very popular including many artists that
sing in French, German and Italian so here, you wouldn’t really know
they exist.
In Finland for example,
they’re more likely to use English because singing in Finnish only
reaches Finnish people but in Switzerland, when you sing in French, you
have access to not only the Swiss market but the French market as well
and also other French speaking countries and the same with German and
Italian. And it’s like anything, I mean, you could ask why other
countries have more metal bands than us, but you could also ask why we
invented what’s become known as ‘Swiss chocolate’ instead of maybe
Finland or another country. It’s just one of those things.
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MM:
When you were starting out, which bands did you listen to that
made you want to do this yourself?
FS:
Firstly, it was a band called The Sweet which was the first time
I wanted to play guitar. And then after that, it was AC/DC when
I first heard the 'Powerage'
and 'If You Want
Blood'... records. After that I was hooked.
MM:
You’ve toured with legends such as Deep Purple and Whitesnake.
Even as a band who have been going quite a while, do you still
get nervous when you play with bands like that?
FS:
Not because of the band necessarily but maybe because of the
venue. For example if you play Hammersmith Odeon or some of the
other famous venues, that makes you more nervous but the more
you play, the less nervous you become anyway and a little bit is
always ok, too. When we played with Deep Purple there were some
of the guys hanging out on the side of the stage watching the
show and maybe you might see the occasional shadow and you think
maybe that was Ian Gillan or maybe not, but we don’t get
nervous from that, no.
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MM:
When you play to the hometown crowds in Switzerland, do you have any
added extras in the live shows?
FS:
Absolutely yeah. As you can see on our live DVD, we have some special
effects like the double drumming, etc and we’re going to have some new
things this year that are only possible when we have a certain amount of
space, otherwise it’s not possible.
MM:
You mentioned AC/DC being a big influence. If you could pick 3 bands to
tour with Gotthard, who would they be?
FS:
I would say Led Zeppelin, Queen and AC/DC. Early Queen though, before the
Game and those records, ha-ha!
MM:
Ok, well thank you for taking the time out to do this, we appreciate it
a lot and best of luck for the show tonight.
FS:
Thank
you very much. Hope you enjoy it!!
Interview by: Adam G. |