Rockezine.com interview with Chinchilla on Mar 18, 2002

with Udo Gerstenmeyer on Mar 18, 2002

Recently the German heavy metal band Chinchilla released their new album "The Last Millennium". REZ talked to guitarist, keyboardplayer and mainman Udo Gerstenmeyer about this cd and so much more…
		What have the reactions been so far on the new and 4th "The last millennium" album? Did you expect this? Do you have a large promo campaign? Interviews: love them or hate them? I feel good, our new CD is one of the best things I`ve ever written and Chinchilla`s playing a lot of shows in Germany , that`s o.k .We`ve got excellent feedbacks for "The Last Millennium" from the press and our fans. Lots of interviews showing me the interest for our band, a lot of congratulations. We`ve been on a European tour with Demon and Tad Moros from Feb. 19th `til Mar. 3rd and played shows in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Austria. After that we play a couple of headliner gigs in Germany, like we did the years before.
		How long did it take to write and record this cd? Is this your usual way of working? I wrote the basic guitarriffs and the main keyboardparts 3 month before we enter the studio. Then I arranged the parts in my little homerecording studio. 8 weeks before we started to record I begin start writing the lyrics. Two weeks later it was finished. After that Thomas and I start working out the melodies and vocal lines. You can always hear the instrument on which I wrote a song on. When I wrote a song on my keyboards, it sounds like the Swedish or Norwegian kind of Heavy Metal,when I wrote it on my guitar, it sounds very European. This mixture makes our music very interesting. We recorded 12 days and mixes 10 days. First we recorded the drum and the bassparts. Then I went in the studio to record then rythmguitars. Ingmar Schenzel, the second studio engineer, who recorded the parts, called it the guitar army, `cuz for most of the songs we needed 8 to 12 traces. That`s crazy, but it sounds wonderful.
		After that was finished, we recorded the vocals and the leadguitars in exchange. The keyboardparts were finished by myself, before we went in the studio. Marc only played the solos and the keys on "Victims Of The Night". Then we made a brake, `cuz it`s always better to listen to the recordings with clear ears. After three weeks Achim and me started to mix the songs. The most important work for a good CD. With out any doudt, I think it`s the best album I`ve ever written.
		Are you satisfied with the way the record turned out? Will you work with producer Ingmar Schenzel again in the future? Definately yes, cause he`s a friend of the band and it`s very easy to work with him. There is no timepressure or something else. It`s very releaxed with him and he is an excellent engineer and producer. He is always ready to help. If there is a problem, Ingmar always stands by your side with a helping hand. Ingmar is cool and relaxed. I think without any doubt, that both engineers (Achim and Ingmar) belong to the best engineers in Germany.
		Who writes all the music and the lyrics within your band? What`s your procedure on this? Has this been different in the past? I wrote the music and the lyrics, like the three ablums before. Thomas worked out the melodies and vocal lines for three songs , the rest was my part. It`s difficult for the others to become a part of the creative process, cause I wrote the ablum in my homerecording studio. If I had an idea, I started working it out. It`s not import on which instrument. Ingmar likes the kind of music I write, that`s a good backbone for our work.
		What about touring? Will you be doing this in the near future and do you like it or not? Will it be with Demon? We`ve been on tour with Demon and Tad Morose, like mentioned before. In the year 2000 we played two European tours with Vanden Plas. It`s alway funny to be on tour. There is nothing which licks you off from music. You drive from town to town and you play Rock`n Roll, that`s what we want. To meet our fans and have fun with them. Our best live experience was the Tour in France with Vanden Plas in 2000. France is a very nice country for German Heavy Metal bands, cause the audience gave us a kick each night, they are really crazy. The intro started and their fists went high, they began to shout like I`ve never heard before.
		Man, that`s a feeling you never forget. At the end of our show Tommy started to divide the audience in a left and a right part. He sang "Cause I-I stole your love"and first the right part, then the left part sang after him. The audience was always louder than the PA. That`s crazy. Some guys followed us from town to town, like in Germany in the 80`s.
		You`ve already shared the stage with major bands like Scorpions, Saxon, UDO and Vandenplas. What do you learn from shows like these? These bands are all very professional musicians and they are very expirienced. For example how to behave in a nightliner with 20 people for 4 weeks. That`s very difficult. It needs only one crazy guy on board and you have a whole lotta problems. Or to fix problems with your equipment and to behave professional a.s.o. Experiences, are the backbone for a professional work as a musician or band and you need it on tour.
		Can you explain the lyrics on this album? Maybe from songs like "Demon`s We Call" and "The Highest Price"? How important are the lyrics to you? "The Last Millenium"; it`s about the weakness of mankind. The ambitions for power,glory and wealth, there for they do everything. For everything in our lifes you have to pay a price, there is always the difference between good and bad, black and white and you have to make a decission , inthe end , if you are dead, there is the big purgatory and there is always your own bill, which you have to pay for and the amount of your bill depends always on your efforts. "Demons We Call"; It`s about the 13 grey eminences who rule the world. They were brought into this position and now you can`t get rid of them. Nobody wants to have them, but they are still here and rule the world since generations. Always the same clan. This makes our political leaders look like puppets on a string. They only have to function.
		"The Highest Price"; It`s about a guy, who got bitten by a vampire. Therefore he got a eternal life, but there`re two sides of the coin. He can only live at night and he`s always on the hunt for blood. After a while he get`s sick of it and want`s to die. After he managed to die, he find`s out, that this was a mistake,again. the devil wait`s for him and make`s him pay his deuce, cause nothing is for free. The lyrics are very important for me.
		Are you satisfied about what your recordlabel Metal Blade does for your band? If not, what could be improved? Yes, I`m satisfied about our recordlabel, cause the guys at Metal Blade are all big metalheads. It`s coming straight from their hearts and you can believe me, this was the real reason why I signed the record contract with Metal Blade. Michael Trengert and Andreas Reissnauer make excellent promo for us, they put us on the billing of Wacken and Summer Breeze, now we go on Tour with Demon and Tad Morose through Europe. We`ve got excellent feedback for "Madness" of the press and media. Lots of interviews, lots of congratulations, a good placement in the soundcheck of Heavy,oder was?!, where we reached place 5 , Metal Heart place 7 and in Rock Hard place 10 , that`s the fruits we harvest from their good work and our music.
		What`s your opinion on the internet and the online magazines in relationship to bands like yours? Are you actively involved with the internet? Nowadays the internet is one of the most important thing for bands, to stay in touch with fans all over the world.It doesn`t matter if it`s in Britain, U.S. or Brazil. Internetmagazines are important for bands, cause they can be accessed by people all over the world. That`s the most important thing for bands like us. But on the other hand, I think that sometimes it`s very dangerous for the music biz. In case of illegal downloaded music, my statement is, if everybody won`t pay for the downloads, this surely will be a big problem for both the bands and the record companies in the nearer future.
		To record a CD is very expensive. You have to pay for the studio , for the engineer, for the promotion a.s.f., not to mention that every musician needs also money to live. If the possible consumer won`t pay, all small bands will be lost in the flood of the costs. That could be the ruin of music
		Do you think the rock and metal scene is healthy at this very moment? Seen any new talent lately? I think the scene is alive and growing. A lot of reunions from very known old bands showing us that we are on the right way. Kiss, Black Sabbath, Armored Saint and other good bands returned to show the people that metal is still alive. If the fans and the bands stand together, there is no change to blow Heavy Metal away. A lot of business people`s tellin` shit, like metal is dead. I think Metal survived Grunge, Techno, Hiphop and other fucking trends. And this will happen in the future. That`s the truth about Heavy Metal and you will see, that in twenty years the Metal Bands are still alive.
		You chose to do a cover from Thin Lizzy on this album. Why did you do "The boys are back in town"? It`s already been done by several other bands. We play three covers live, "I stole your love" from Kiss , the two others were Black Sabbaths "Headless cross" and Thin Lizzys "Boy`s are back in town". We put "I stole your love " on "Madness" and some fans asked me: "Hey man, what happens with Boys Are Back In Town? Your version is wonderful." It`s more in a Metal style and I think you have to play a coverversion in your own way. I think it`s a special way to say "thanx" to the great bands we`ve grown up with.
		Any last comment? Anything REZ forgot to ask? No, if you are interested in more information about Chinchilla please take a look at our homepage: www.chinchilla.rocks.de Watch out for the power. Without you and our fans we are nothing, keep rock`n roll alive!!
(Johan Godschalk)