Chrigel Glanzmann: There’s just a normal CD. Secondly there’s a digipack edition which also contains a bonus DVD including a video clip, a live footage (from our show at a German Festival last year) and picture galleries. For one song (“Samon”) we also recorded an acoustic version, which originally also was intended to be part of the bonus DVD. But later on we decided to put it on the regular CD too, so that the people that don’t want to buy the digipack edition get this track.
There was a special edition containing the digipack edition, a special patch and a certificate, all wrapped in a neat drapery bag, embroidered with our logo. But that edition was strictly limited to 500 pieces and was sold out in a very short time.
Are you looking forward to coming to the U.S. for the Pagan Fest Tour? Have you ever been to the U.S.?
Hell yes! We’re definitely looking forward, for it will be our first time to play in the U.S. Since our last album Spirit we received loads of amazing and ardent reactions from our fans in the states. And so we’re excited to finally also play live for them.
I understand you and Tyr are going to be swapping some band members during those dates. How come?
Yes, that’s true. It’s maybe kind of a blessing in disguise. Týr’s drummer Kári unfortunately isn’t able to join the tour, due to an injury. At the same time our guitarist Simé can’t join us on the tour, due to diverse organizational reasons. So, during this tour, our drummer Merlin will also play with Týr, while Týrs guitarist Terji steps in for Simé and plays with us.
What are your tour plans after Pagan Fest?
After the tour we’ll start playing summer festivals all over Europe, like Hellfest in France, UK’s Bloodstock Open Air and Germanys Summerbreeze. At the same time we’ll prepare the production of our next album, which we plan to record this winter.
And in later this autumn we’ll be on a European tour again.
Does having 8 people in the band create logistical difficulties when touring and traveling?
No, I don’t think so. At least not beside the fact that you just need 8 seats/beds (instead of 4 or 5). It’s a matter of commitment - are you making something like that work or not. And we made it work so far.
How did you come to sign with Nuclear Blast?
Regarding the fact that our previous album Spirit was released through a small label and we were a total underground band, it’s right to call the album very successful. It was ardently received and brought us in many enthused reviews. Besides this we played a lot of live shows during the last two years. Such things catch the attention of bigger labels of course, and we ended up in the very, very great situation to be offered good deals by numerous great labels during the last year. So we could choose and of course we went for the best one, which simply came from Nuclear Blast. We’re really more than happy and thankful about how things turned out. It’s great to work with Nuclear Blast - both in business related as well as in personal ways. The chemistry between them and us matched from the first moment on.
How did you get started in music?
Music has like always been one of the most important parts of my life. I was addicted to it already when I was a little boy. I just remember that I started an education in classical guitar, when I was 6 (so, that was 27 years ago).
Was there a song or album that inspired you to want to perform music?
Maybe Iron Maiden’s The Number Of The Beast was pivotal for me deciding to learn to play metal. I was 6 years old then and my older cousin introduced me to Iron Maiden (and with that to metal music, which I didn’t know before).
What’s the metal scene like in Switzerland?
I don’t really know, seriously. To me it’s a bit strange, to be honest. I mean, we surely have loads of really great, talented and original bands round here. But extremely few do something, step out of the local scene. I think to the majority of the metal musicians here, music is just a hobby that they do for some years and leave it behind afterwards. This is a bummer, actually. Also the scene is kind of self-focused. Metal bands from around Zürich, they hardly ever play outside that area for years. Also most of the Swiss webzines, they mostly write about this particular scene and seldom look over the rim of their coffee cups. So, to me that’s a bit strange. All in all it’s a cool metal scene we have here and concerts or parties are always big fun.
