Interview Dirk Sauer Edguy

Lineup: Tobias Sammet – Vocals Jens Ludwig – Lead & Rhythm Guitar Dirk Sauer – Rhythm & Lead Guitar Tobias “Eggi” Exxel – Bass Felix Bohnke – Drums

3/12/06 Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale

"I like being around with the guys, having a good time, and just enjoying what I’m doing...that’s what we show on stage!"

The first time I interviewed rhythm guitarist Dirk Sauer as luck would have it, my tape recorder malfunctioned and took with it a real blockbuster; you’ll have to trust me on this one folks! This version may not be as scintillating as the original incarnation as I hoped to reignite the magic from this Superhero however, it could not be captured, but it is solid interview nonetheless. According to their bio on their website this "EDGUY is the greatest band in the world; epic, intelligent, good-looking, bombastic, heavy, seriously hard rocking and nevertheless quite entertaining.” I’ll place double emphasis on the latter half. This band is not only one of the better “power metal” bands in the genre but they can hold anyone’s interest, even those with the most severe case of ADD. Get a achance to know Sauer on a personal level as he talks about the band's new CD Rocket Ride, having the distinction of performing in China/Taiwan, and much more. Read on!

Karma: I wanted to say thanks so much for doing the interview with me again, Dirk.

Dirk: You’re welcome.

Dirk: Yeah, it’s okay. He just got a cold on tour so it’s just the normal stuff. The weather sucks! [Laughs] It’s cold and it’s snowing and umm…ja! [Laughs] I don’t like it.

Dirk: Oh yes!

Dirk: The New Year has been great I should say because the record was released at the end of January, we’ve been on tour already at that time, it hit the charts on #8 in Germany and Sweden. We had a lot of Top 50 entries in Europe so everything’s been pretty fine. The tour was perfect! We got a lot of sold-out shows over here, Sweden for example every show was sold out. In Germany a lot of shows have been sold out. So ja, I'm having a good time and everything’s great over here!

Dirk: No, I didn’t really have the time to; it was my only free weekend I had.

Dirk: [Laughs] Yeah.

Dirk: I think that we always make challenges sometimes. I mean, now for example, tomorrow we head off to Japan and after that we play in China and Taiwan.

Dirk: Yeah, we’ve never been there before.

Dirk: Yes, almost nobody…I don’t know any band that have played in China before. It’s probably the new thing, and it’s just cool to do things like this because you really don’t know what to expect from there but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be cool. That’s a new challenge, again to play China, Taiwan. Hopefully the next US tour, for example, will be like the last one was for me. I mean it was our first US tour somehow it is a big thing for a band to do this.

Dirk: Phoo, the biggest lesson, I think you should always do what you feel to do and not do what somebody’s telling you to. I mean we never really had that problem but… [Pauses] Yeah, its worth it if you’re honest to yourself and to everybody, then its cool, it’s working!

Dirk: The press was very good for us as well. I mean in countries like Germany and stuff; we always get good press but this time it was really good. Especially for countries like the UK, I mean they were not interested at all in the last years in Edguy. It was always like they always said it sound like “gay power metal from Scandinavia” or something. So we didn’t get any features until Rocket Ride. We got great reviews in Kerrang Magazine and Greece, for example, was hard for us in the last three years. Even there, a friend of mine there wrote me an article that they need to redo the scale because 10 is not enough for when the next record comes out for Edguy!

Dirk: Yeah…so press has been pretty good for us. Fans are very good in general.

Dirk: You never know, I really can’t say. What I can say is that we are pretty proud of it and it’s a great album and the reaction of the people, the fans, shows they really like the album. So hopefully the people in the US think the same.

Dirk: I hope so! Now we are checking out at the moment to do some touring maybe later in the year after we did the festivals in Europe so I hope we can do another big step in the US as well.

Dirk: Yes, this is true. I mean the good thing is if you enjoy what you do, you do it much better than if you would enjoy. I don’t know, everybody’s asking about that because I think we are just living a kind of dream. When you start playing in a band the only thing you want to do is going on tour and making records and stuff. And that’s what we do right now, it’s almost perfect. It’s a great feeling to play all over the world, people are there to see you and your music, and that’s what we enjoy, that’s what we show because we enjoy it and have fun doing it! The listeners show have the same feeling; they should go to a concert and enjoy themselves, have a great time, party, just relax and get out of their serious normal life, you know.

Dirk: Yeah, exactly!!

Dirk: It was really good because he’s a [pauses to search for the word in English] a great addition to our own work producing wise because he was doing the same stuff but we just don’t know about or we never tried out before. We met him the first time when we did the Hellfire Club drum recordings. We found out that we could get along with each other pretty well that was the reason why we took him as a producer. The fact that we had a lot of fun in the studio and did a great record together shows that we definitely keep working together in the future.

Dirk: I hope so, I mean this time it went pretty good so next time we can even be prepared when we go to the studio to do that way of recording [laughs] because it was not really planned this time. I think it’s a good thing to get a little live feeling and the special power you have when you play together with a band. It’s a kind of bringing the stage into the studio, you know.

Dirk: We tried to do that with this last recordings. We never really thought about…yeah we did but we tried to do the best you can. It’s hard to make a plan, even on stage its not like we sit down and say, “Okay we got to be powerful tonight!” It’s just how it is, I just hope we can keep it. [Laughs]

Dirk: Yeah but some bands just lose it in their careers.

Dirk: Yeah, or they’re changing lineups and stuff like that. I think that now it’s perfect how we are. We’ve got  a stable lineup, we know each other pretty well, so everybody knows what the other one needs. It’s just, it’s cool! I mean I like being around with the guys, having a good time, and just enjoying what I’m doing and that’s what we show on stage!

Dirk: Ja. [Chuckles]

Dirk: [Laughs] Western, no, it’s supposed to be the theme to James Bond! [Laughter ensues] [Hums theme]

Dirk: Tobi would be the best to answer this.

Dirk: It was very good to see a lot of bunny ears at the shows in Europe. Every time we went on stage, [laughs] there were like a few girls wearing these funny, bunny ears. It’s a good thing! [Snickers]

Dirk: Yeah, we should try to. I mean there were a lot of people asking for it, so we should sell ears as our merchandise. “Official Bunnyville”, whatever! [Laughter ensues]

Karma: Definitely! Axel Hermann did an amazing job with the cover art for Superheroes and Rocket Ride. It is so much fun it fits in with your personalities; please explain how the whole cartoon idea began for the newbie.

Dirk: Actually, we got in touch with him when we got some merchandise, I think for the Hellfire Club Tour, for us. So this was the first time he worked for us as far as I remember, or maybe even earlier, I don’t even know. Superheroes were pretty much made from comic stuff. He was doing a card game for the German Rock Hard magazine a couple of years ago where it was like…famous musicians on a poker game I think it was.

Dirk: This one was really great because he really managed to draw the important stuff. See, it was great! Like Lemmy for example was on them, all the famous guys from rock n’ roll business. This lead us to the fact that he was doing Superheroes, and after the success of Superheroes and the fact that everybody loved the cover artwork we said that we should probably do it on Rocket Ride as well. The title is screaming again for something not quite normal. I mean we could have done our normal artwork on it but it would have been quite boring so we choose that one to give it a little more rock n’ roll. I think it pretty much shows what the record is about.

Dirk: Uhm, actually that changes. [Laughs] “Catch of the Century” is pretty much my favorite right now but I also love “Fucking With Fire”! When we play it live or on tour, it’s just a great live song; it’s so fun to play it. 

Dirk: …we have 220 volt so it’s twice as much as power as you get! [We both laugh]

Dirk: [Laughing] No, I’m just kidding. Well, I think there are a lot of things completely different but it always depends on to who you speak or you talk. Geographical wise it’s a little different but it’s not that important. I think the society is different like the whole behaviour of the people. Most of the Germans are pretty tight and not that funny all the time. I think you’ve got that everywhere. I think American people are a little bit more open-minded I would say, for example.

Dirk: Yeah, but on the other hand you’re not allowed to show tits or something, that’s strange. [Hysterical laughter ensues]

Dirk: I heard a funny sentence, somebody was like, “moral is good but double moral is twice as much so it’s even better”. It was something someone was saying about the Americans because on one hand you can go out and buy a gun or something but you’re not allowed to show tits somewhere. [Laughs]

Dirk: Yeah, it’s kind of weird but I’m used to it so I can handle it pretty well.

Dirk: Um-hmm!

Dirk: Creation.

Dirk: Superpower? Pwww…Intelligence!

Dirk: I would know everything!

Dirk: Tobi!

Dirk: [Pauses] Slutty! [Note: The first answer was bitchy]

Dirk: Flip-flops.

Dirk: Ummm…Sex on the Beach! [Laughs]

Dirk: I have no idea!

Dirk: Uh, what I wanted to be…actually there was no real plan.

Dirk: Yes, so far yes.

Dirk: [Pauses then makes noise closely resembling a horse] Hmmm…hard question! Uhmmm, trustworthy, tolerant, and smart!

Dirk: Tobi!

Dirk: The number one ever?

Dirk: Pwww, it’s a mixture of Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, and ja, somebody else, a few more.

Dirk: Maybe where I’m living right now; it can change.

Dirk: Let’s take one from the new one. Accept or Scorpions with playing “Fucking With Fire” would be cool.

Dirk: [Laugh] Ja, it is the same as last time. I don’t know.

Dirk: Ja, when will we make it in the US?

Dirk: Do you think we can make it in 2006 or…

Dirk: Okay.

Dirk: That's fine for me!

Dirk: [Laughs] Ja!

Dirk: You’re welcome! Every time you call me, I call you. [We both laugh]

Dirk: Thank you, take care!

We'd like to thank Dirk for speaking to FourteenG again and to the fine PR dept at Nuclear Blast for making it a possibility!