| Greger: |
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To begin with! Are you satisfied with the response to your
previous album "Mystic places"? Do you have any idea about how
many copies it has sold worldwide? |
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| Petra: |
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The success is increasing from year to year. Mystic Places sold
more copies in the foreign countries, because the advertising,
marketing and promotion are in our hand. Our own record company
makes sure, that the distributors in other countries get the
records on time to be able to sell them. We had a lot of
interviews, radio airplays and for ex. we had a No.ONE Radio Hit,
with "I'm falling'" in the radio charts of Romania. We hope our
new album sells as much as possible. We hope that the new CD
"Vision Eden" will rule the Metal world. |
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| Greger: |
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Your new album is here. Tell us something about it. How long
have you been working on the album? |
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| Petra: |
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"Vision Eden" took only one year to compose and to record the
songs. We celebrated the 2nd of November, the release Date of V.E.
on the whole world, with champagne in a Munich Rock club. We
finished a lot work, and we are really satisfied with the result.
The whole working time in the "Heizraum-Studio" was effective and
we used every second to give the best. Also we had a big
advantage, cause Charly Bauerfeind produced this CD again. He is a
fantastic producer. |
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| Greger: |
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Can you tell me something about the songs? Do you have any
personal favorites? |
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| Petra: |
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"Vision Eden" picks up the mystic place of Eden as topic and is
set all around the old vision of paradise on earth. In a mixture
of present and fiction the vision of a new Eden suddenly comes to
a dubious end ... My favorites are "Dancing with the devil" and
"In between us". |
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| Greger: |
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Are there gonna be any singles released? Which song will be the
first then? |
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| Petra: |
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Our plans are to record a "live" Vision Eden CD, or a single with
the best-played song on that album. At the moment, we just
finished this CD and we are looking forward to get good replies
from all over the world, then we decide what kind of surprises
we'll do in the future. |
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| Greger: |
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Just like Van Halen you all take credits for writing the songs.
Is it a fact that all of you are participating in the writing of
every song? |
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| Petra: |
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That's true. We spend our time all together in the practice-room
to compose songs, like rock-"bands" do, to give their songs a
human touch, if you know what I mean. Very often new ideas are
coming up while you are playing your instrument together with the
other musicians from the band. It is fantastic grooving on one
part for maybe fifteen minutes and then you forget time and place.
We give our heart and soul to every part of a song. We are
musicians and like playing our instruments. Musicians can imagine,
what a great feeling it is, to play their own stuff on stage. It
makes fun. |
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| Greger: |
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Why did drummer Peter Kei and singer Many Stürner leave the
band? And how do the new members; drummer Ronny Dehn and the
singer Chitral Somapala fit in the band? |
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| Petra: |
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Ringo can't play anymore because he has trouble with his back. We
were all sad that he left the band, because he was since the
beginning with us. Together we conquered America and Canada. He is
still one of our AVALON family and a good friend. The next time,
after he left the band, had been very hard for us, because we were
in urgent need of a professional drummer within the next weeks,
who is able to play the complete program for the autumn tour last
year. At least, we found Ronny's advertisement in the World Wide
Web. He played in the audition the whole Mystic Places up and
down, and went on tour with us. After this fire test he joined the
group and stayed. Soon we composed and recorded the new stuff of
"Vision Eden". Many lost his voice while recording, but he tried
hard to sing on the tape, but a voice is not like an instrument,
that you can tune properly and play it. He would need a rest of a
year, but he decided to leave the band, cause his health was of
course more important than anything else. Normally we had stopped
the production, but we have enough obligations and offers from
distributors and factories, that we looked forward to find a new
vocalist. And there he was. We met Chity, who is from Sri Lanka,
and we did know immediately that he would be our new singer. He's
absolute great! |
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| Greger: |
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How do you feel about working with the well-known producer
Charlie Bauerfeind? Does he have any influence on the music? Does
he have any aspects to your music in the studio? |
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| Petra: |
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Charly is the best. We all are glad to have Charlie on our side
again because he is always like a very good friend to us and a
very talented producer. He did not change much at the songs, but
that what he changed gave the songs the right touch. He is an
artist in recording and mastering the songs, the result is
fantastic again. |
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| Greger: |
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Do you feel that Progressive Metal is a correct description to
your music? Or would you label it in another way? |
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| Petra: |
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Worldwide, we have our place in the progressive marked. But we
play a wide range of music from melodic songs, power metal songs,
and prog. songs and easy to listen to songs. Something for
everyone... |
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| Greger: |
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Are you self-taught musicians or do you have any other musical
training? |
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| Petra: |
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We all studied our instruments and we play and practice a lot. So
I learned playing at the BSM (Bass School), Sebastian learned at
the MGI (Munich Guitar Institute) and all the other learned at
private and well-known musicians. |
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| Greger: |
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Can each one of you name five albums that have inspired you? |
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| Petra: |
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You can find every kind of influence in every kind of music,
especially in the meantime. All styles are mixed together. It
belongs to the instruments that you play how you will get
influenced. There is nothing special, that we all listen to, and
maybe it would be better for every musician to listen to every
kind of music that opens your heart.
Dream Theater / all albums
T.M. Stevens / Boom
Queensryche / Operation Mindcrime
Stevie Salas / all albums
Tony Mc Alpine / all albums
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| Greger: |
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Have you ever played in Sweden, Norway, Finland or Denmark? Do
you have any plans to play there in the future? |
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| Petra: |
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No, unfortunately not! But we work on it. It would be a great
pleasure for us to tour your country / your area. AVALON is a live
band and we need the good feedback from the audience.
Have fun and good luck... greetings from Petra H. |
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 Comments, remarks or ideas? Please mail us. |
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