The Art of Prog

NOTE: Greg Hasbrouck interviewed Primal Fear vocalist Ralf Scheepers in June of this year.

Greg: Hi Ralf, how’re you doing?

Ralf: I’m OK, how you doing?

Greg: Great. So, the new disk, “16:6 Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is going to be released in the States on June 7th. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to hear to it yet, but I read one reviewer who wrote, “PRIMAL FEAR manages to take at least one step forward, one backward and still stand for what PRIMAL FEAR has always stood for; pure Metal.” That’s a pretty flattering review. Can you give me your thoughts on the disc?

Ralf: Well it’s quite OK for me, because as the critic said and as we intended, to always keep our thing going with PRIMAL FEAR. Our intention is to make Metal of course, and not to lose contact with the modern world and try to mix everything a little bit. Which is still OK for us. If you write songs, first of all it has to be OK for us… it has to go through our filters, with everybody in the band. We are very positive about the result of the album, because we think this will please our fans from the very first album ‘til now. So, I think it’s a good mixture of everything on this one.

Greg: You have eight studio discs. As established artists, is there more pressure to change things up or more pressure to keep things the same? How do you find a balance?

Ralf: That’s the good thing about it; we don’t have any pressure because now with Magnus Karlsson, we have a very good composer in the band. And if we do songs… as I said before we have this certain filter, which helps us a lot to decide what we’re gonna do on the album, and decide which songs gonna make it to the album. We write more songs than we have on the album. And this time also we have more songs on the album than we intended to bring on the album. We had so much good stuff, it was pretty hard to leave anything out. So there’s no pressure at all. It’s the other feeling, where we have too much songs at the end which we don’t just want to keep on the disc, we wanna release for the fans. Nowadays, bands bring out CDs with maybe sixty minutes of music and we just wanna bring out what we think will be OK for the fans.

Greg: You mentioned Magnus writing on this disc. He did two solos on the previous album. How much did he contribute to this disc?

Ralf: That’s OK, it’s right what you say. He brought the solos for the “New Religion” album and Matt (Sinner), Henny (Hendrik Wolter) and Magnus sat together in September last year to write 80% of the album. I didn’t have so much time at that time, so they just “pre-composed” some songs, where I did in the end some melodies and some lyrics on it. So he was pretty much involved and he also… as he was a fan before that, a PRIMAL FEAR fan before that. We didn’t had to train him somehow to compose songs which would fit to us. We just said do whatever you want to do and he did it. So in the end, we didn’t have to force him to sound like PRIMAL FEAR, because he liked it before and he was composing songs on his own before that.

Greg: I read that you do a lot with sharing MP3s between the band. It sounds like some of the writing process doesn’t happen with the whole band in the same room How does the technology impact your songwriting process?

Ralf: Of course, this helped a lot but in the end you don’t want to lose this Rock and Roll feeling when the band is sitting in one room and makes songs like we did ten years ago in the rehearsing room. We still kept that and that’s the reason why those guys met up in Sweden. at Magnus’ house, and compose the songs together in one room. Of course also, the technique helped us a lot to swap MP3 and to load in DAT files into our ProTools sessions. Sometimes I worked on my own on my vocals. Sometimes I worked together with Matt in the studio. That’s the way how we work these days. You just mix everything, how you feel. We don’t wanna lose this basic, where the whole band meets in one room in the rehearsal room. But we also use the advantage of technology; you just sit down in your room and work out on your own. When I work out on my own, I’m so much a perfectionist. I remember we were working in the studio together and the other guys said, “It’s OK, we will leave it on the tape.” And I said, “No, it’s not OK.” That’s the way I’m working, I’m just a perfectionist, I don’t wanna leave anything bad on the disc. That’s the reason why I enjoy sometimes working on my own. But sometimes it’s also, as I said, good to work together with Matt in the studio. He’s just kicking myself a little bit in the butt to makes things better. It’s different it depends on how you feel and what day it is you know?

Greg: That’s interesting. It seems vocalists are often their own biggest critics. How often do you walk off the stage thinking… yeah, I was on tonight? Are you more often critical of your performance or pleased by it.

Ralf: That’s a good question, man. I mean, I was very satisfied with the gig in Moscow three weeks ago for example, and then when you go onto the internet the very next day and see the gig on YouTube you say, “My God was I bad!” (mutual laughter) But you know that’s the reason why you’re so critical. On the other hand, it’s a good thing to see a band working so good live when you hear it on You Tube, and you still have the feeling, well this is live and it’s really good quality, so we don’t have to exaggerate. We have to really be just normal and see it as you saw it 25 years ago when you were a fan, that the people will like it you know.

Greg: You know, it seems that as a singer’s career progresses, the higher range is one of the first things that’s impacted. Since the higher range is your bread and butter, is that at all a concern for you? Are there things you have to do to maintain your voice?

Ralf: Well, after so many years of doing that now, I know what to do. But of course I have to warm up before I do that. It’s not the thing, doing nothing the whole day; don’t speak and everything and then go and face the crowd. Of course, I have to warm up my voice now. It was different 25 years ago, I could it straight away but now I have to warm up my voice a little bit of course.

Greg: Not including the new disc, which disc in your catalogue would you say is your best work or the band’s best work? Hey this is the PRIMAL FEAR disc you have to hear, if you’ve never heard a PRIMAL FEAR disc?

Ralf: That’s a tough one because you know… I can say a musician always says the new one, the new-born baby is the best. This is what I say to 16/6 as well. Of course, we now have eight children. If you’re a parent and you have eight children, choose your best child… it’s a pretty tough question. I love every CD but the very new one is of course now for me the best. But, I think every musician does this.

Greg: PRIMAL FEAR released the “History of Fear” DVD in 2003. Any plans to shoot a live DVD in support of the 16/6 or the current tour?

Ralf: No plans yet, but you know it’s pretty, these days it’s pretty fast, so you never know what’s going on. We now have a lot of time, so we go on tour in Europe. Maybe we gonna shoot some video here and there but, ahh, there’s no certain plan.

Greg: The band has grown more popular with each release. Have you guys reached a point where you don’t need to work regular day jobs and can you just concentrate on the music full time or do you still need to balance your time between doing things when you’re not touring and not recording?

Ralf: Yeah, I still have to because of life standards at the moment, because I have a house, two cars, everything. So I have to lift my butt out of the bed and do something besides music. I decided last year, one year ago, I was close to doing only music, but it’s pretty tough if you do only music and then earn enough money to keep life standards. I’m still working 8 hours a day. But, I’m the only one in the band. Matt and the others are just making music. I was close to do that and it’s getting now with the economy, which is going on also everywhere around the world, I’m pretty close to do that, too just to live for music.

Greg: I’m always curious about that. Is it ever weird to work a regular job one day and then the next day play Sweden Rock in front of 20,000 people, or Wacken, or wherever?

Ralf: It’s great man, it’s really great because… I had this in 1990, for instance, where I was in Japan with GAMMA RAY we sold out the hall with 3,000 people each night. Two days later, I was going home to work, you know. (mutual laughter) I think this is also good for the brain and everything to keep yourself up-to-date with technology and everything. You can have a job and stuff and it also keeps your two feet on the ground. Not flying somewhere, around in the world of music, and you think you are a rock star, whatever. I think it keeps the respect and everything.

Greg: Aside from maybe your home country, is there a particular city or country that’s a favorite of yours to play?

Ralf: No… I don’t think so. I mean that’s a pretty tough one, as well. To play those big festivals, Wacken for example, in Germany it’s just a great. You just go out there and 30,000 people out there, they’re screaming for you and everything. So, but every country has something special so I think it’s not fair to any other country to say the other country is the best. Because they’re all true fans. They’re our true fans. It’s no good or bad out there.

Greg: Have you ever played a city or a country where you were just blown away by the response there? Just were surprised by how many fans you had in that part of the world?

Ralf: Yes. It was the first time we played in Brazil. I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t even hear my own voice, because the people were screaming the lyrics louder than I sang. (mutual laughter) It kicked me really back. It was great.

Greg: How difficult is it to balance the role of being a front man, being engaging and energetic, with being a vocalist, making sure you hit all the notes and hold everything as long as you need to hold everything? Is it tough or are you so used to it by now that you just do it?

Ralf: Yeah, it’s the second one. You just go out and do it sometimes. You know, I also drink a little bit of white wine to smooth down a little bit. It’s always this game of adrenaline in you, in your blood, and then keep it cool again with a little bit of white wine for me. And of course, then, after the show I sometimes think, “well my intonation here and there was not perfect”. But you know, it’s still Rock and Roll. We don’t make any musicals or whatever. We don’t have to be 100% perfect. Of course, I, for myself, as I said before, I’m a perfectionist and I can hear it that maybe here and there, there was a blown note. But hey, this is Rock and Roll.

Greg: You’re gonna be playing Prog Power for the second time. Was there anything about your first appearance there that stands out in your mind?

Ralf: Oh yes, definitely. It was when we just arrived the same day we already were at a festival and met so many fans and musicians. We thought this can only be good there. Because it’s just a part of this life over there. And I know that this year’s gonna be the same thing. It’s pretty tough actually to go… because I can’t sleep in planes. I’m just, I’m awake for the whole flight to there and I did not sleep at all. So even before the show. Maybe I slept two hours before we went on stage. For three days, and this was pretty tough. But, as I said before, the adrenaline helps you a lot to get over this. And I’m pretty sure this time we gonna have a good time again.

Greg: You ended up doing a duet with Floor Jansen, who I believe you guys wanted on the last album, but it didn’t work out. Was it interesting singing with her and doing a duet, after cooling down and doing your first set?

Ralf: Yeah, that’s true. I initially thought about to do the duet with her but in the end it… we have different schedules and yeah, that’s how things go sometimes. You know, I’m pretty sad about the thing with Floor. I can tell you one story. It’s about the perfectionism I told before. She had in-ear monitors and I had no in-ear monitors. And the guy running the monitors just turned down all monitors of the stage, so I couldn’t hear myself. (laughter)

Greg: At the ProgPower performance, you couldn’t hear what you were singing? Oh wow, that’s…

Ralf: I did not hear myself at all. She was singing with in-ear and I made my part and I did not hear anything. I sung out of key, the first verse a little bit. Oh my god, it was pretty tough for me. But in the end you know, again it’s Rock and Roll.

Greg: I think everybody was pretty thrilled to see the two of you up on stage together. I don’t think anybody noticed.

Ralf: That’s good (laughter)

Greg: So, for a European band there anything unique about playing the U.S. or is it just another country, just another tour date, just another stop on what is usually a fairly long tour for you guys?

Ralf: Yeah, there’s a difference of course. The U.S. is just such a big country. You know for PRIMAL FEAR it’s pretty tough because usually you have to do a tour in America which lasts at least three or four months to get the whole country, but we can’t in the end. This year we are pleased to do at least one-and-a-half weeks and we’re looking really forward to do the big cities there. And there is a difference, of course, because our first time that we were in the States we were doing these convention things. And it was a strange feeling because there were so many bands playing in different rooms and the people are going through a great hall from one room to the other. This is quite different to the working European kind of thing where there’s just one room, whether the bands play a festival or the bands play just one gig. Yeah, in every country there’s a certain thing which is really good and in America they’re really going for it. This is great.

Greg: So this is your second album on Frontiers. Have you been happy with the relationship so far? Are you getting the exposure you guys want? Better than with Nuclear Blast towards the end?

Ralf: To be honest, there’s always a point to complain about, but Frontiers is doing a really good job for us. Of course they pay a good advance to work really good in the studio to make it possible to make a good production and everything. To get good people to work for us. But in the end, you know, there’s always a little bit of criticism you have, when it comes about making promotion and stuff there’s always some certain things in your mind, where you think maybe they could do a little bit more advertising, whatever. But that’s with every company. It’s not only Frontiers or Nuclear Blast or whatever. The most important thing is that they are behind the music and they don’t force us into a certain corner. They don’t get mixed up with opinions about the music. They just let us do… they trust us and they in the end get good material from us and they’re very happy about it.

Greg: So the last time you guys played ProgPower, it was before your disc was released in the States. Yet it was probably obvious that people were already familiar with the music, that they had heard the music before it was actually released. Is that upsetting to the band… knowing people are hearing the MP3s before the disc hits the street?

Ralf: Ahh, that’s a good and bad thing about it. I mean, the good thing about it is the advertising and the promotion of the MP3 downloading and stuff. The bad thing, of course, is the money which keeps away from the musician in the end. First of all, when people buy CDs the main income is for the companies and the distributors and stuff and the last pennies will be at the musicians. But I think it’s more an advantage if the people listen to the stuff before, because it’s good for concerts in the end when you go out on stage and the people know your stuff. So I think it’s more positive than negative.

Greg: So overall, you think the technology that’s out there, the MP3s and the internet have been more beneficial to PRIMAL FEAR more than hurt them?

Ralf: Yeah… I think so, yes. It’s the same thing with me, when I want to hear some new stuff, I’m also going on the internet and look for it and enjoying it of course.

Greg: So, in October you signed a deal with Frontier to record a solo disc. It was noted in the label’s press release that it would be recorded under Matt’s direction. Was that an easy decision for you? Did you consider at all completely distancing yourself from your PRIMAL FEAR band mates and saying I just want to do this by myself?

Ralf: It was really easy for me because one guy from PRIMAL FEAR came up to me and said, “Why don’t you do a solo album with Matt?” Now he’s also producing my solo album. We still have a little bit of time, because first of all we want to record this record with Magnus, the PRIMAL FEAR album 16/6, and we postponed my solo work a little bit. And Frontiers understands that, but this fall we’re going to focus on my solo thing. I will tell you that it’s not so far away from PRIMAL FEAR, of course. Because it’s not going to be somehow a ballad piece or whatever, there’s also gonna be Metal on it. It’s not so tough, because Matt also does a lot of projects.

Greg: You said you start recording it in the fall. Have you lined up any other musicians or guest musicians who will make appearances on this disc?

Ralf: Yes. So I asked Kai, for example, Kai Hansen from GAMMA RAY, and he’s already recording a solo for one song I sent him. It’s gonna be a cover song from a very famous band, which I can’t speak about it at the moment. And I also spoke to the original musician, who’s going to solo on it, so I’m very happy about that. I’m also going to work with Roy G. and different other musicians. I’m looking forward to put everything together in the end.

GH: You performed recently on Pamela Moore’s SOLNA project. Can you tell me a little about how you became involved in that and what the experience was like?

Ralf: Actually, Pamela came up to me, because we got in touch one year ago, when we worked together in the Czech Republic, when she performed with QUEENSRYCHE. She’s a very, very talented vocalist, female vocalist. Since I knew from her Operation: Mindcrime already. And she came up to me and said she’s got an offer from to sing this and they wanted to do also this duet thing. She thought maybe this would be a good idea to do it together with me. And, yeah, so we got in touch with Zane (Petersen) in the end, and he sent me this song and I really liked the song. And that’s how everything came up. There’s also one song, a fast song on it, called “Celebrate”. The original singer couldn’t do it, so they sent it to me if I can do this, too. I said, “Yes, no problem” and we just did it. I think the outcome was pretty good in the end.

GH: Interesting. Looking back on it, what were the one or two albums or one or two bands that turned you on to Metal, that made you really want to become a singer?

Ralf: Well that was actually when I was sixteen years old, I started to listen to IRON MAIDEN and SAXON and stuff, those bands. And of course in 1978 when PRIEST came out with the “Unleashed in the East” album, that just kicked me in the butt and said, “Hey, what the fuck?” So great, and so much energy. And when I found out that I can do that too, with my voice I thought, “Well, maybe just rehearse a little bit and do it, too” (mutual laughter)

GH: Was it that simple, I’ll rehearse and do it, too? Did it just come naturally to you or did you seek out vocal instruction?

Ralf: Yeah, of course, I had to struggle many, many years to compete against those loud amplifiers, so I really learned how to sing loud. But also I found out to sing loud is not the best technique for a vocalist, because it’s not good for a tour, for example. During the years you find the best way how you can do it, if you don’t have vocal lessons which I don’t have in the end. But I got my instruction from teachers and from many people who sing. And you know the learning phase never will end. You always learn, still I’m learning. It’s just… through the years you go your way and find the best way.

GH: So you grew up on SAXON and PRIEST and MIADEN, how about now-a-days? What sort of stuff is on your MP3 player or in your CD player?

Ralf: Very diverse stuff. It’s from Phil Collins. It’s from Michael Bublé. Also NIGHTWISH, also DISTURBED and stuff. I hear many, many bands which have an impact on my feelings. And when I’m sitting in the plane, there’s mostly smooth stuff going on, because I want to just relax a little bit. When I’m out on the road I have also a lot of aggressive stuff, songs from DISTURBED on it, it’s pretty diverse.

GH: That’s all the questions I have. I thank you for your time and I’m looking forward to the new album and to seeing you guys in Atlanta. I hope you have great tour.

Ralf: Thank you very much.

This ends Greg’s interview with Primal fear vocalist Ralf Scheepers.

Final Note: All photos/images used to illustrate this interview are used in compliance with the principles of Fair Use. They illustrate reviews, opinions, and interviews with the band members who created the albums and on whose official web sites and MySpace pages some of these images reside. No copyright violations are intended.