KROKUS – The Ultimate Metal Rendez-Vous! By Martin Popoff
Looks like the full-on
KROKUS reunion is in good shape, with this somewhat combative bunch of Swiss metal geezas looking at… well, oddly, they are sticking to the plan of the initial reports, namely one Swiss show, followed by a new record.
BW&BK asked lead guitarist
Fernando Von Arb (the band is rounded out by vocalist
Marc Storace, bassist
Chris Von Rohr and drummer
Freddy Steady) how this unlikely re-meeting of boogie rock minds came about…
“The fact that we play now again together as a band these days is the result of an appearance last December on a Swiss TV show called Swiss Hits. The producers of that TV show wanted to have the original Krokus, meaning the original lineup, or no Krokus at all. We actually met the first time for the rehearsals in the TV studio - Marc, Freddy, Chris and me. The response of the audience was so overwhelming and the offers for concerts with the original band came in already the next day. That’s why we decided to give it a shot and we agreed to have a rehearsal together. And that was when everyone in the band really realized that only this lineup is the real thing; the chemistry that Krokus is made of – nothing else can compare to this!”
“Everybody is more or less the same person with the same personality as before,” continues Von Arb, asked about any changes he’s noticed in his old mates. “But everybody is these days a bit more humble. You know, every one of us has made his life experience up to now; in fact we grew up and matured and we are now able to leave each other alone - we just don’t have to pick on each other as we did years back. The major step is that everybody realized that it needs the right guys to have the right chemistry.”
With respect to the album the guys plan to write, Fernando figures that, “The direction of Krokus is ‘back to the roots.’ For Europe and Switzerland that means back to Metal Rendez-Vous; in the US we were known more with Headhunter. But basically it’s simple riff rock - we just try to make good songs that are not too complicated. The sound will be again two guitars and we will not get too fancy – we try to keep it simple. So yes, the Krokus sound is guitar… guitar and an incredible voice above that. Song-wise, like I say, it’s mainly riff rock, but we always write one that goes a little bit away from this bluesy riff rock, like maybe a ballad.”
Asked about classics he personally likes to play live (songs that presumably would make the set list coming up), he goes with,
“’Heatstrokes’, ‘Bedside Radio’, both from our album Metal Rendez-Vous; then there is
‘Screaming In The Night’ and
‘Rock ’n’ Roll Tonight’. What else? Of course, if the song is in the set, ‘Eat The Rich’. And the reason I like to play them is because I can express myself the best in these songs. I really can put my personality and my heart in it.”
Back to 2008, what is the timeline for the new album?
“Now we are preparing for the first big show that will take place in Switzerland beginning of August. My focus is solely on that at the moment, so I have no timeline concerning the new album before that show. After this concert in Switzerland we’ll start to write songs and do some recordings. So I think that we will not do any American dates in 2008.”
Prompted to reflect on the band’s legacy, Fernando says that, “Even if Krokus never made it to the very, very top, I think, on one side, the hard rock fans are going to keep in their hearts a few great songs that we wrote during the years and for those who have seen us, it’s the very energetic live performances. And on the other side, people within the closer circle of the band will say, ‘Well, that’s the band that had control over their destiny. They almost made it, and then they fucked it up themselves, all because of their ego battles!’ In general, over the years, the only thing that will be remembered from any band are their greatest songs, and for the ones that have seen these bands live, it’s the memory of a great show.”
In closing I had to give Fernando the gears around this concept that French bands – and I was knowingly lumping his Swiss band in here – seemed to really latch onto a form of AC/DC-derived boogie rock, back in the low ‘80s, sorta post-NWOBHM. For those of us who remember, it was considered a bit pathetic, and frankly it really tarnished the reputation of the French with respect to the forging of metal…
“Well OK, you mention French bands (laughs), but French bands come from France – we are a Swiss band, from Switzerland, and not from Sweden (laughs). And CELTIC FROST are from Zurich in the Swiss-German part. Anyway, I think the AC/DC-ish sound fits very good to the mentality we have here. We’re not people that play funk music very good, even if a lot of Swiss people try to. I think earthy riff rock fits best to the mentality. We’re mountain people – a lot of rocks around us (laughs).”
See
www.krokusonline.seven49.net for more (actually hell, just Google “Krokus official site” – it’s actually fairly full service despite the weird url.).
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