Video-Interview + Article: Blind Guardian 2016 (English Version)

Hier klicken für deutsche Version!

"He starts out all calm and lovely and after a minute he goes completely nuts!"

Translation: Hanna Häßlein

…is a sentence which was dropped in our video-interview on Thursday the 4^th of August 2016 at the Wacken Open Air. We had the pleasure of welcoming Marcus Siepen (guitar) and Frederik Ehmke (drums) of Blind Guardian in the snow-gondola, as they had already arrived one day before their show. 

f.l.t.r.: Frederik, I and Marcus/ Photo: Mechthild Wirries.

You will find out during the interview who they were talking about. Furthermore, we talked about the performance at Wacken, the love for literature, about the new album “Beyond the Red Mirror”, religion, time - and other travels, their opinion on Idris Elba as Roland Deschain and the question of how long the “project” Blind Guardian will go on. Here is what I can disclose: The end is….not in sight for a long time!

When meeting people with a certain extent of fame, one often wonders in advance how high they might have their heads in the clouds. With Blind Guardian, however, we stayed grounded the whole time and the two gentlemen won me over with their genuineness and directness as well as a combination of young and dry humor.

The traits which could be found in their personalities can also be found in their music. Hardly any other Power-Metal-band that deals with classic fantasy-themes and creates infectious melodies can also move forwards in the music world as progressively as it is the case for Blind Guardian. They  are a band that comes up with innovative ways to expand their musical creations while still keeping their recognition value. “Beyond the Red Mirror” is proof of that and must be considered a masterpiece. It wins everyone over and shows that the band certainly has not lost their touch. 

The interview:

The video-interview with english subtitles will coming soon!

Link to the band's website: http://blindguardian.de

Fotos: Wacken-Impressionen 2016 (Freitag)

Freitag:
Am Freitag, den 05.08.2016 startete das Wacken Open Air nach einem ersten Highlight am Vortag so richtig durch.

Short Report: Wacken Open Air 2016 (English Version)

Hier klicken für deutsche Version!

O, ill-humored, Fortuna!

Übersetzung: Hanna Häßlein

Day 1: still motivated.

…unfortunately this was our personal Wacken-motto 2016. It already sweeten the preparation time when it turned out that a close friend’s wedding along with a wedding video would take place in the post-processing time. Additionally, a big interview got cancelled and a torn ligament made sure that I waded through the muddy Wacken realm by myself 90% of the time. 

With a slightly bad feeling in the stomach we still started motivated towards the north, where the   goddess of destiny stroke relentlessly time and again. It started with the awful weather everyone had to deal with which led to our car getting stuck which, in turn, led to a mom – and the corresponding car seat -  covered in mud. 

Day 3: with Ivan Chertov.

On Friday, after only five hours of sleep, further complications occurred due to the combo rain and camera which led distorted settings. This was followed by difficulties before an interview and a blurry picture after the interview – which, unfortunately, was not noticed in time. The guilty party, which shall remain anonymous (Mechthild Wirries), paid with her tears of shame.

After another five hours of sleep, we picked ourselves up one last time – mainly motivated by Borknagar – and were greeted by a downpour which led to the termination of the concert and then more bad tidings: our picture-wristband would have let us into most of the photographer’s pits, even into the ones by the main stages – we had missed out on this for the past three years of Wacken and especially in 2016 it led to us only photographing Iron Maiden, Equilibrium, Eluveitie, Tarja, Blind Guardian, Symphony X as well as Therion as tiny dots on the horizon. We also stood an hour before the start of the shows at all the side stages in order to be in the first row and take good pictures. For bands such as Ancient Bards or Orphaned Land that’s something one can absolutely do but it does get very time consuming and annoying when repeated too often. Thus, the saying “don’t trust anybody” became bitter reality for us as my knowledge was based on a statement from a security guard in 2014 and now corrected by another security guard and really nice photographer. I should have made sure and asked at the press tent….but I was trusting…

Day 4: Don't forget, you are in Wacken!

Our last lucky moment passed when the interview with Oystein G. Brun was cancelled last minute due to higher forces so we decided to get into the car and leave. This, unfortunately, led to us missing a few other good bands and, for the first time, missing the parting words of the event’s organizer.

Now that some time has passed, I can say “Shit happens” and we are optimistic for next year! This, however, doesn’t mean that Wacken Open Air 2016 didn’t offer some amazing moments, which will be shown here during the next days.

Fuck of Fortuna, long live Wacken!

Video-Interview + Artikel: Blind Guardian 2016

English Version coming soon!

"Er fängt ganz ruhig und lieblich an und dreht nach ´ner Minute vollkommen durch!"

...ist ein Satz, der in unserem Video-Interview vom Donnerstag, den 4. August 2016 auf dem Wacken Open Air gefallen ist. Zum Gespräch in der Schneegondel konnten wir Marcus Siepen (Gitarre) und Frederik Ehmke (Schlagzeug) von Blind Guardian begrüßen, die einen Tag vorm Auftritt schon vor Ort waren.

v.l.n.r.: Frederik, ich und Marcus/ Foto: Mechthild Wirries.

Bilderrätsel: Welche Band ist gemeint? (2016-03)

Coming soon...

Deutsch:

Das erste Video-Interview vom Wacken Open Air fand mit einer fantasievollen und spielwütigen Band statt, die zur Spitze der deutschen Metalszene zählt. 

English:

We did the first video-interview of Wacken Open Air with a imaginative and addicted to performing band which counts to the top of  the german metal scene.