August 1, 2010
Blind Guardian
BLIND GUARDIAN were founded in the mid 1980s in Krefeld, Germany as a speed/power metal band. Beginning with their third album “Tales from the Twilight World,” the band expanded their musical vocabulary and eventually created their very own style which is still rooted in speed/power metal, but is also very orchestral and epic in nature. With rich guitar arrangements, legendary lyrics and vocals, and an ever-present medieval presence – BLIND GUARDIAN is often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.
The band’s lyrics, written by vocalist Hansi Kürsch, and supported by André Olbrich (Guitars), Marcus Siepen (Guitars) and Frederik Ehmke (Drums), are inspired by the fiction of fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King, and Michael Moorcock, as well as traditional legends and epics. Over the years, a running theme has developed associating the band members with traveling bards. I talked with one of the traveling bards – Marcus Siepen about BLIND GUARDIAN’s newest album “At the Edge of Time” (out August 30, 2010) and their upcoming world tour.
Firstly, could you please introduce yourselves?
My name is Marcus Siepen and I play guitar in Blind Guardian. The band started in the middle of the 80′s, back then we were still called Lucifer’s Heritage. But, with the release of our debut album in 1988, we changed the name to Blind Guardian. Since then we have released 12 albums and a DVD, toured around the world several times and always tried to come up with something new and fresh for each album.
Who, or what inspired you to pick up your first instrument, and how old were you?
Marcus: I started to play guitar at the age of 11, back then my parents wanted me to learn an instrument. They suggested things like piano or trumpet which didn’t really attract me, so I picked the guitar.
For about 5 years I had lessons in classical guitar which was a great foundation, but at some point I was fed up with the classical stuff and wanted to rock a bit more. So, I bought a Flying V, changed to electric guitars and formed my first band.
Remembering back to your first time in front of a live audience, what comes to mind?
Marcus: First thing that comes to my mind is fear. I guess it was back in 1986, when Lucifer’s Heritage (that was our name before we changed it into Blind Guardian) played a show here in our hometown, and the place was pretty packed, all our families and friends were there and I was nervous like hell. I am pretty sure that I didn’t play very well because I was so nervous, but the gig was a big success still.
What has been your biggest triumph as Blind Guardian? Greatest challenge?
Marcus: The biggest challenge for us is to always come up with something new and fresh when we work on a new album. Because, we definitely don’t want to repeat ourselves – we don’t want to release the same album twice. We also don’t want any fillers on our albums, each song should keep the same high standard. I would consider those things to be our biggest triumph too, because in my humble opinion we have been doing exactly this for 25 years now.
The new album “At the Edge of Time” is coming out soon, what are fans going to hear? What inspired the album?
Marcus: The fans will hear a perfect mixture of everything Blind Guardian is about. Our speed metal roots are there with very fast and aggressive songs. The more progressive side is there too. The album has the most epic songs we have ever written in our career, and finally recorded with a real orchestra. It has new influences as well; stuff like oriental melodies that have never been apart of our music so far, or lots of Celtic/folkloristic stuff that has been taken to a completely new level in some of the new songs. If you have never heard our music so far, this is the album that you should pick to check us out.
As your music has evolved, what do you think has been the most significant change and do you consider it a positive or a negative?
Marcus: There have been many changes in our music over all these years. When we stated back in the middle of the 80′s we were a pure melodic speedmetal band, focusing only on that style of music. But with time, we opened ourselves to other influences as well and tried to bring them into our own style. Like this, we constantly tried to evolve and come up with something new. I consider this to be something very positive, because always doing the same thing over and over again would be very boring and dissatisfying for us, and also for our fans I guess.
What was the most awkward/embarrassing moment in the band/on the tour bus/on stage?
Marcus: The most embarrassing moment for me happened last year while we played a festival in England. We had a brand new song in the set that we never played before on tour (actually it was not even released by that time) so of course we were not as self confident with this song as with all the others, our “auto pilot” didn’t work properly for that one yet. At some point right after the first chorus I somehow got lost and jumped into the part that was supposed to come only after the second chorus, and this triggered the little catastrophe that started in that second — Normally when one of us gets lost he just has to quickly listen to what the others are playing and he immediately gets back on track in a matter of seconds, but here things were slightly different. My little “improvisation” caused all of the others to lose track too, so we drifted into a kind of free jazz version of the song with 6 guys playing 6 different parts for about 30 – 45 seconds before we finally came back together and finished the song properly — a pure nightmare. The funny thing is that later I read some fans commenting on that song and they loved the performance.
What is your favorite Blind Guardian song to perform live? Why?
Marcus: Actually it is impossible for me to pick just one song, there are just too many that I really love playing live, and the top favorites change all the time anyway, depending on my mood. Always among the top candidates are songs like Mirror Mirror, The Bards Song or The Script for my requiem, they belong to the favorite songs of our fans and they are a lot of fun to play.
What do you value most in life?
Marcus: The ones I love, being happy with my family, being healthy.
What should we be looking forward to in the coming year from Blind Guardian?
Marcus: There is just one thing on our schedule for the next 12-18 months, touring around the world. The last real tour (aside from some festival shows in 2008, and 2009) ended in late 2007, so we are really looking forward to being on the road again and going to some places where we haven’t been so far. With the last tour we finally made it to every continent, but there are still many places left on our map, so we can’t wait to get out there again.
The last words are yours, please say anything you wish.
Marcus: I want to thank all the Blind Guardian fans out there for their support over all those years. The new album will be released on August 30th and from September on we will be touring the world again so I hope to see all you guys somewhere on the road.
I would like to thank Blind Guardian and Marcus Siepen for his participation in this interview.
~Denise Smith (interview 2010.08.01)
Tour Dates:
2010-09-24 Tilburg Netherlands
2010-09-25 Deinze Brielpoort Belgium
2010-09-26 London Shepherd’s Bush Empire United Kingdom
2010-09-28 Paris Elysée Montmartre France
2010-10-01 Ludwigsburg Arena Germany
2010-10-02 Trier Arena Germany
2010-10-03 Langen Stadthalle Germany
2010-10-05 Bremen Aladin Music Hall Germany
2010-10-06 Hamburg Alsterdorfer Sporthalle Germany
2010-10-08 Bamberg Jako Arena Germany
2010-10-09 Düsseldorf Philipshalle Germany
2010-10-10 Munich Zenith Germany
2010-10-12 Rome Atlantico Italy
2010-10-13 Milan Alcatraz Italy
2010-10-15 Pratteln Konzertfabrik Switzerland
2010-10-16 Vienna Gasometer Austria
2010-10-17 Brno Fleda Czech Republic
2010-10-19 Warsaw Stodola Poland
2010-10-20 Berlin Huxley’s Neue Welt Germany
2010-10-21 Osnabrück Halla Gartlage Germany
2010-10-22 Göteborg Brewhouse Sweden
2010-10-23 Stockholm Klubben Sweden
2010-10-30 St. Petersburg Glav Club Russian Federation
2010-10-31 Moscow B1-Maximum Club Russian Federation
2010-11-02 Krasnodar Strike Club Russian Federation
2010-11-05 Madrid La Riviera Spain
2010-11-06 Barcelona St. Jordi Club Spain
