Rockezine.com interview with Primal Fear on Apr 09, 2002

with Ralf Scheepers on Apr 09, 2002

In light of their new album release entitled “Black Sun”, Primal Fear (PF) front man Ralf Scheepers was obliged to answer a few questions. This being the first interview of the day could explain his short answers, or maybe it just wasn’t his day; so much for German thoroughness.
		You’ve just finished the new album, what are the reactions so far? Very positive. We still have to do two weeks of promo, so a lot of media attention still has to come. But up to now only positive reactions.
		All songs are written by Primal Fear. Do you always write together, maybe in a jam session kind of way? All the lyrics are written individually by different band members. Musically we have different ideas, also out of our solo projects and we mostly think them up at home. In the studio we put them together and recorded 20 new tracks, from which we chose the best 13 to put on the album.
		Are you satisfied with the way it turned out? Yes, very satisfied and we hope everybody likes it.
		The new album is entitled “Black Sun”. But the album cover features a black planet. What is this “black sun”, a planet or a star? And can you tell me something more about the storyline? The black sun is a substitute for Earth. We think that mankind is killing themselves, or is at least destroying the Earth. We thought that it would be a nice idea to have the PF metal eagles search for a new planet on which we can start all over again. A beautiful new planet.
		But why then a black planet and for instance not a white. In my imagination a beautiful new world isn’t black. (eeeeehh)
		Everybody can just have their own fantasies about it. It’s just an album name.
		Not completely satisfied with this last answer.) All album covers look alike. Is this done on purpose for easy recognition? They are all done by the same artist. He originally came with the idea of using eagles for the first album cover and we thought it would be “metal-like” to have these eagles made of steel as a logo for the band. It’s recognizable.
		How do you see the future of the power metal scene? There are many restrictions. I’ve listened to a lot of new power metal albums lately and they all sound a lot alike; standard guitar riffs and melody lines.
		What is PF doing to stay ahead of this; to innovate within Primal Fear? I don’t know if it all sounds the same. Are you the one who can judge this? (somewhat sarcastic tone)
		Yes! ……..(silence)….well, I don’t listen to a lot of other power metal bands, so I don’t know. You listen to them more than I do, but I think the future will be a healthy climate; the fans are still cheering at concerts these days.
		Which bands do you listen to at the moment? I like Nickelback very much, they have nice dark lyrics, but still well composed solid rock music.
		This weekend you’ve recorded the video clip of “Armageddon”. Can you tell me something about that? It was really cold; we recorded it in an old factory hall with loads of furnaces and large high windows that you could find in cathedrals. A real heavy metal surrounding. We used 60-mm film and made no use of special effects. In this way it is as real as possible; honest heavy metal.
		You are all rockers from Germany, but none of you have beer as their favorite drink (taken from the official PF Internet site). Isn’t that a bit odd, that 5 out of 5 German rockers don’t like beer the most? Beer is just so standard. Of course we drink beer, but we wanted to put something special in there. Everybody drinks beer.
		You have worked on Ayreons project “Flight Of The Migrator”, where you did the vocals on the song “Journey On The Waves Of Time”. I liked it very much, are you planning on working some more with Arjan Lucassen in the future? Well, he just called me and asked if I wanted to do the vocals on one of his songs and I said yes. We recorded it in his studio and I really liked the way it turned out. Arjan really is a nice guy to work with, and if he wants to work with me again in the future, I will definitely do that.
		How about touring, what are your plans? Are you going to visit all the major festivals this summer? No, we won’t do festivals, except for one in Moscow (Russia). The record company lets us switch every year between a solo tour and the festivals, and this year is going to be a solo tour.
		Which country do you like most when on tour? A like all the countries; they are all so different and that’s the interesting part. But Spain and the southern countries have the craziest audience I have ever seen. The fans keep on screaming and cheering and banging their heads; lots of support.
		Being from an Internet magazine, I would like to ask your opinion on the Internet and on line magazines. They are very important. It’s a direct medium which can reach much more people than the traditional magazines. Mostly Germans read the Rock Hard, but the Internet site of PF is visited by people from Brazil. Internet will be the way of the future.
		Well, I’ve run out of questions, any last comments? Yes. We hope to come to Holland soon and we’ve always liked the country and its people. I hope that you will like our new album and thanks for the support.
(Matthijn Vos)