Piet Sielck: “I wanna make contact with the fans”
Piet Sielck is surely on the of the hardest-working guys in the business, often switching roles between producer and player – and sometimes switching between bands Iron Savior and Savage Circus. He’s also a fun chap to talk to, a guy who laughs often, isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and has a zillion anecdotes to share.
For my interview with Savage Circus, I originally had spoken with Thomen Stauch, former drummer for Blind Guardian now leading SG. However, I discovered – to my utter dismay – that my interview with Thomen was defective. Nothing but hiss. The .wav file had been corrupted, or never recorded properly in the first place. Efforts to restore the file failed, a tremendous loss.
I am most grateful to Piet for hooking up with me on short notice and being so gracious on the phone. I don’t think we hung up until it was nearly midnight where he lives.
Here’s how our conversation went…
BM: Hey hey.
PS: Hey, this is Piet of Savage Circus. Am I talking to Bill?
BM: Yes you are, Piet. Thank you for calling.
PS: Hey, Bill. No problem.
BM: Good, good, good.
PS: So, how you doin’?
BM: I’m doing really well. It must be pretty late there for you. What is it, 11 o’clock, or so for you?
PS: Oh, it’s ok. It’s 11 o’clock in the evening. It’s all right for heavy metal person. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] It’s the perfect hour for heavy metal. [laughs]
PS: [laughs]
BM: That’s great. Well, I’m really glad you called. I’d love to chat with you about Savage Circus and Iron Savior. But tell me, how’s Thomen doing? What’s the latest with him?
PS: Well, I mean, I’m quite sure that you read our statement and also his statement. It’s actually nothing more that I can add. I mean, all I know is that of course I talk to him every two or three days, and–
BM: He’s doing ok?
PS: Yeah. He is ok in a way, I mean, it depends what you call ok or not ok. I mean, it’s not like he want to die right away, but if you look through the statement, he’s not in an easy point of his life, to put it like this, you know.
BM: Right.
PS: It’s several problems that sort of like add up and you know, for him it’s a matter of getting his feet back to the ground and getting a perspective for him, you know, that works. A brighter view of the future. Of course, he was with the rest of the band, and we tried to put him in succeeding doing this as much as possible, you know.
BM: Oh yeah. Well…
PS: And I can understand. Of course, I know what kind of problems he’s facing, and I mean, all I can say is that they’re not easy, you know, they’re massive. And so it is the best thing for him to rest for the rest of the year and do nothing and just focus on, you know–there are times in your life when you tend to lose your balance, you know.
BM: Oh yeah.
PS: And Thomen, you know, he is out of balance. And he needs to get, he has to find his pace, you know?
BM: Oh sure. Well, then everybody’s wishing him well. I don’t know if you read like the ProgPower forums and all that, but people are hoping the best for him–
PS: Yeah, I do.
BM: Yeah.
PS: That’s, I mean, that’s really good. Also, as we wrote in the statement, that is definitely something he needs some of at the moment. I mean, he really goes for it, for Savage Circus. I mean he really–even though it is supposed that he is not playing in order to get better, and of course, at the moment, it drives him even more crazy that he can’t play. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] That’s called a Catch-22, huh?
PS: It, actually, it is, you know. It definitely is. And you know, but I think in the long term range, looking at it in the situation for the next six or 12 months, I’m quite sure that this is the wise decision. Even though it’s hard at the moment.
BM: Yeah. Well that’s good that you guys are taking a long term approach to this then, ’cause that will make a lot of difference in his life.
PS: Yeah, I mean we want him back on the grounds for the second, for the following album, and we want him in good shape and after that, we definitely want to go on tour with him. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah. Well, you know, you picked Thomas Nack, the longtime drummer for Iron Savior, former drummer for Gamma Ray, to fill Thomen’s shoes. What was it about Thomas’ style that made you think, “Yeah, I want this guy for the job.”
PS: Well, I mean, Thomas, as you just mentioned, plays with Iron Savior for many years by now, so I mean, he’s my buddy. I know him really well.
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
PS: I know also his capabilities as a drummer pretty well, and this man is lightening fast if it comes to, just to learn something. You know, unless we had to also call him pretty–well, let’s say without no warning, you know? It was pretty much, “Hey, do you want the job?” And there he, and he had days to prepare for the rehearsals, and wow, it was just, I mean. So Thomas is a world-class drummer. And therefore, even though he’s the drummer for Iron Savior, I’m aware of this mix-up, and maybe confusing the situation. You know, in the end, it’s a matter of people. I know Thomas, he’s a great guy, and he’s a great drummer, and that qualifies him for getting a call, “Hey, you wanna have this job?” [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah. Well tell me about the formation of Savage Circus. I know you’ve known Thomen for quite awhile, he was on the first Iron Savior album with you guys. And you must have kept in contact with him over the years.
PS: Yeah.
BM: What was it like to get the call from him one day, where he was like, “Hey, guess what? I’m putting together this band. I want you to be in it.” Is that kind of how it went, or had you known about his plans all along?
PS: Well, it went a little bit different. Actually, yeah, I mean, right. He was the drummer of the first Iron Savior album, and yeah, we stayed in regular contact throughout all the years, and we even though I was not recording the latest Blind Guardian stuff anymore, but anyhow, we kept in contact. Well, I mean, it came that we met in Spain where I took vacation, and he was living in Spain at that time. And I brought some stuff with me, and just played it to him, and he said, “Wow, that’s cool. I really love this, this guy sounds cool. And listen to this.” And he played some raw material, you know, that he’d just been recording, to me. And I said, “Yeah, wow, cool. Sounds great.” But nothing happened. Then four weeks later, he called me and asked me, “Give me the phone number of this Swedish dudes you just played to me four weeks ago.” So I established contact, and yeah, they got together, talked about it, and they loved the idea right away. And a couple of weeks later, Thomen called me and asked me if I also want to join the boats. And I said, “Yes”. [laughs] So that’s how it went.
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
PS: There we were, with Savage Circus.
BM: Well, did this thing kind of–did you guys put it together as we see it today, or did Thomen come to you with the idea fully formed and say, “Here’s the band.”
PS: Well, I mean, the general idea to, especially the general direction where Savage Circus sort of moved to, that was made by Thomen. I mean, he was the, actually, at that time he was still with Blind Guardian, and he was planning, well, on doing Savage Circus and doing something like well, old Blind Guardian stuff. You know, the stuff that Blind Guardian’s just not doing anymore. And because just like himself, there are many fans around the globe who really like this old style of Blind Guardian. And therefore he thought it’s a great idea to, well, like this band, the fans could have had both, Savage Circus and Blind Guardian. Of course, when he left Blind Guardian, there was a slight change of plan then. Savage Circus became his main band, but musically, I think he’s very happy with what Savage Circus stands for, because it’s exactly what he wanted to do.
BM: Yeah. Well, I like it. It sounds great. It’s a good album.
PS: Yeah, thanks.
BM: Did you–
PS: We worked hard. [laughs]
BM: Yeah. [laughs] Did you–where did the band’s name come from? Did Thomen pick that himself, or did you guys come up with that together?
PS: No, that was something like a–I mean, after the, all the general thing was like set, you know, and we all agreed, ok, this is the direction we want to move into. I must say that Savage Circus really is a team work. It’s not that one person gives direction and the rest is following, it’s teamwork. But the good thing about this team is that we’re all thinking in naturally the same direction. So there’s no hassle, I mean, there’s no, “Hmm, I want to do grunge rock” or “I need a new metal part in here.” We’re all thinking into the same direction and therefore, there’s no arguing anymore. It’s just, “Yeah, I like it. Yeah, cool.” And you know, it’s very, a great way of working. And same thing was with the name. We had some brainstorming going on, sending back and forth names like crazy, and all of a sudden said, “Yeah, this sounds cool. This is something we can find ourselves with this.”
BM: That’s great. How about the artwork for the album cover? How involved were you with sort of picking the direction of that? Was that another teamwork effort?
PS: No, I think the artwork is not that cool, I must agree. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
PS: The artwork reminds me a little bit of like, it’s, the problem with the artwork was that time was running short again for strange reason, because we were really, really fast with everything. But, you know, as things are coming, I don’t know, all of a sudden time was running fast and we had to finish up this artwork. We had the idea of this moat and stuff. If you ask me, it sucks. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Does it really? What’s wrong with the artwork?
PS: [laughs] Ah, I don’t know. The artwork, it looks pathetic. I really hate this artwork. It’s a little bit like the second Iron Savior album, Unification…I wanted to, you know, we wanted it to look really impressive, you know? With a big manor house, just like in the movies or–and it’s just not looking like this.
BM: Oh. Well…
PS: It’s just not…[sighs]
BM: [laughs] But your next one, you won’t be–
PS: But anyhow. Anyhow, I mean, the artwork, of course it’s important for T-shirts, but in the end, the music, I think the music on the album speaks for itself and the music is good enough to compensate for this. [laughs]
BM: Right. Definitely. You know, a lot of the fans like Savage Circus because they say it sounds a lot like Blind Guardian. Was that intentional on you guys’ part? You’re credited with recording, mixing, mastering–you produced this sucker. Are you the one responsible for having it reminiscent in sound to Blind Guardian, or was that just a coincidence?
PS: Well, I mean I must also add another duty, I also played guitar and bass.
BM: Oh yeah, you had your hands all over this one. [laughs]
PS: [laughs] That’s true. And yeah, I mean, I–it would be a lie to say, “Oh wow, I never thought of Blind Guardian doing this.”
BM: [laughs]
PS: Of course, I mean, of course the intention was to sound it, to make it sound or to at least catch the atmosphere of those former Blind Guardian albums. Of course, if you listen to the sound, I think you hear that there are 10 or 15 years between those recordings. [laughs] That I think the sound is…I really like the sound. Even though I must say, even thought it’s now a year after the recording, or more than a year, I still like the sound. It’s cool. It’s a modern sound with, well, with traditional Blind Guardian old style stuff, if you, sort of like this. And yeah, it’s exactly what I wanted to do.
BM: [laughs] Well, you succeeded, then. Congratulations. [laughs]
PS: [laughs]
BM: That’s great.
PS: And I think also, it’s ok, too. I think with Iron Savior I also did this overdubbing stuff and shit. In a way, it is a way of working or producing that I also, invented maybe is the wrong word, but I participated quite a lot in these recording techniques, you know, so there not only Blind Guardian’s baby, they’re also my baby, so it’s ok if I use it for my own stuff. I guess. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Let’s see. The vocalists. I know two of the guys came from a different band, Persuader.
PS: Yep.
BM: But Jens, how did you get–he sounds a lot like Hansi in some places. How did you find this guy? I mean, was he just–to me, it sounds so amazing that even the vocalist in Savage Circus sounds like Hansi. How did you get him to sound like Hansi?
PS: Well, I mean that was a total coincidence. I was–
BM: That’s amazing.
PS: Yeah, I was recording the second album, [Evolution] Purgatory, I think it was in 2003, if I’m not mistaken.
BM: Yeah.
PS: And the guy came to the studio, started singing, I said, “What the fuck is this?! If I close my eyes, I see Hansi. It’s incredible.” So yeah, this of course, was the start. And so I record this album, and well, nothing, you know? Nothing happened. And then a year later, I met Thomen, and I gave him this album. And the rest of the story is known, because. The plan was to, well, to make a band which supposed to play old style Blind Guardian stuff. So he was the perfect dude for this, of course.
BM: [laughs] Yes, you’re right.
PS: [laughs]
BM: What is it about old style Blind Guardian that’s different from new style? Is it the, let’s say Night at the Opera or something like that. Are there just too many overdubs on it? Is that why?
PS: You just named it. You just named it. I mean, the, it’s not necessarily the way of song writing, of course, that also saw some evolution during the past years. But it definitely is that if you consider the old stuff, you won’t find overdubs and lead vocals going across of each other. There’s lots of stuff going on, but most of the time, it’s question and answer. You know? That is, for me, that is the key. That is the key for the whole thing, you know? Night at the Opera, I must say, I can’t listen to this. It’s too heavy. It’s the always, there are two or three melodies layering on top of each other over the entire album, I do have the feeling. And it’s overloading, you know? It’s, I cannot follow.
BM: You know? I agree with you on that. When I listen to Night At the Opera, it wears me out. It tires me. [laughs] You know, there’s so much going on, I get worn down just listening to it.
PS: Yeah. It’s great that they have so much, so many ideas and so many, but the Night at the Opera, it could easily be divided into three records. They could have made three records out of it, you know?
BM: Yeah.
PS: Because, like it is like I’m saying, there are three different melodies fighting against each other.
BM: [laughs]
PS: And then there is an orchestra also, playing something else, and then there’s Hansi, and there’s backing vocals and choir vocals like crazy. And of course, in Savage Circus and in old Blind Guardian stuff also there’s a lot of information going on, like musical wise, but it’s in the way, it’s simpler arranged, and therefore more catchy for my tastes.
BM: Oh yeah. I agree with that. Yeah. What do you remember most about putting together this Savage Circus album? What’s your most vivid memory of this entire thing?
PS: Oh, definitely the way we put it together, which was super cool. I mean, since we came from, we’re all from different countries. At that time Thomen, as I just said, was based in Spain. I was in Hamburg, Germany, and Jens [Carlsson] and Emil [Norberg] were from Sweden. And so we used the Internet quite a lot, sending back and forth mp3 files and that’s the way the songs actually were put together. Somebody had an idea, he’d record a short mp3, send it to the rest of the guys, poof, the guys picked up the idea, put another part to this mp3, send it back, and so that was just amazing. It was a super cool way of long-distance team working.
BM: [laughs]
PS: But even though we were like thousands of miles apart from each other, we were constantly working together at all times on the songs. And that was just possible through the Internet and DSL connections.
BM: Well yeah, very fast connections. Did that make it harder though, or just cooler? I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier sitting around in the room together? Didn’t this make it a lot harder?
PS: No, of course that would have been–I don’t know, actually. I don’t know. And sitting in a room also gives the possibility to argue, you know.
BM: [laughs]
PS: Somebody has an idea, and you, “No, it’s not good, it’s not fitting my idea too well.” But if you just get this mp3 and listen to it, and at first you say, “Oh fuck, what’s this, it’s a stupid idea”, and then you listen to it, “Oh, hmm, ok. Oh, ok.” Then you get used to this mp3, and there’s no arguing, you know? So you’re more free. You’re more open.
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
PS: And also, another thing is, maybe like if you listen, you have an mp3 like maybe it’s a minute long or so, and maybe two or three parts. Maybe three parts are correct, btu there’s one great part in it. And you can pick that out without arguing. You just do it. And then present the idea to the rest of the guys and they also, without arguing, they can listen to it, and say, “Hey, yeah. It’s cool, I like it.”
BM: Well, maybe you guys stumbled on the secret that should be done by every band, then. That’ll eliminate the arguing. [laughs]
PS: I mean, of course, we definitely gotta do it again on the next album. This worked fine for us. Of course, every once in a while we met like, we met here in the studio to finalize some things, which really needed to be talked about, you know?
BM: Sure.
PS: And listened to the songs, and say, “Ok, this is the final version, this is how we want to do it.” You know, but the daily work was just as I described it.
BM: Wow.
PS: Really cool.
BM: How ‘bout when you listen to the thing now, as a whole? What’s your favorite song off Dreamland Manor?
PS: I must really say, it’s still hard for me to pick my favorite song. It just came, just when I returned from the rehearsal room, plain life, I really like “Tomorrowland.” This song, it’s just cool to play live. Also, “Waltz of the Demon” as well, because it’s so heavy. And if we play it live, it even gets more intense. So I really got, today at the rehearsal room, I really got goose pimps when we played it. It was so cool.
BM: Oh really?
PS: Yeah. And it’s really hard to say. “Evil Eyes” also super cool, it just has so much energy. Also, “Ghost Story” is cool. It’s, you know? Don’t make me, I still can’t say it. I still can’t say that I have a favorite song on this album?
BM: Really? Is there–
PS: I like them all.
BM: Well, they all sound really good. Is there an overall theme to this album? Is it a concept album of sorts, or are they all unrelated songs?
PS: In a way they are–yes and no. I mean, it’s not that these songs add up and tell a story. That is not the case. But in a way, if you look at the lyrics, you will find that all lyrics are like, not dealing with real things. They are all dealing with imaginary things, and that is the general connection all these songs have.
BM: Yep, I can tell that.
PS: And that’s why we called the album Dreamland Manor, because like every story of every lyric could happen in a fairy tale world, or in an evil world. But nothing is happening in our world, you know?
BM: [laughs] Thankfully, yeah. Is there a song on here at least that you had the most difficult time working on?
PS: Trick question, hm?
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
PS: [laughs]
BM: Like all of them?
PS: Yeah, actually, yes. There was a song that really was a bastard, that took quite a while. And I think, yeah, it was “When Hell Awakes.” This saw quite a lot of changes.
BM: Really?
PS: Yeah. And I don’t know, because I had–this was pretty much my baby, because with the riffing in the beginning, it’s a little bit Iron Savior style. If you’re familiar with my song writing style, you can sense it here and there. So I don’t know. Anyhow, this saw a lot of changes, and had, it was fighting back hard, you know? [laughs]
BM: It wanted to live, huh?
PS: No, it didn’t want to get finished.
BM: [laughs] Oh yeah. Is this–are you guys planning another album in the near future? Is Savage Circus going to continue as far as you can see?
PS: Yeah. I mean, for sure we’re gonna continue. Near future, I think we will have, we have a live engagement that we will have to fulfill, it’s also besides ProgPower there are some other shows and festivals we’re gonna play, finish them off. And after this is done, I think we will go back to start recording maybe in springtime next year. So I think the next album should be expected for, yeah, for summer 2007.
BM: Oh good.
PS: I also have another band, Iron Savior also needs to be recorded.
BM: Oh yeah, I was just–my next page of notes here was titled “Iron Savior,” and I was gonna say, “You haven’t done an album since 2004. Where’s the next album?”
PS: [laughs] Yeah, right. I mean that album is almost written. It’s almost there, and after the main summer, after the main shows in summer that have to do with Savage Circus, I will start recording this baby, and hopefully have the album in stores by like February or March next year.
BM: Really, that’s pretty good. Tell me about Iron Savior. What is your favorite album? You’ve gotta have one, you’ve had four or five of them now. Looks like five, what’s your favorite one of those?
PS: It’s also really hard to say. If you ask me my favorite album, I think my favorite album still is the Condition Red album. I really loved it a lot. Yeah. I think it really rules big time. There are lots of cool–
BM: There’s definitely some really great riffs on that album, that’s for sure.
PS: And, but also, and it’s the same–I can–Ok, to be another way around. There is one album which I don’t like so much anymore, which is the Dark Assault album. This is not my favorite anymore. Its production sucks in a way. I don’t know now, maybe I was drunk or, no. I mean, I know why it is the way it is. I mean–[laughs]
BM: And why is that?
PS: I was in a difficult situation personal at that time, so the songs are dark and not really… It’s ok that the album is the way it is, and yeah, it has been a part of my life. It was personal development, but nah, today I cannot say that it’s my favorite Iron Savior album.
BM: It’s hard to go back there now, huh, and listen to that?
PS: They’re all, actually, besides this they are all cool. I mean the first album has this energy of a first album which is, even though it sounds low budget, you know, but it’s there, it’s cool. I love the first album. I just listened to it, because we’re gonna, with Savage Circus, when we play headlining shows, we need to fill up with some other songs. [laughs]
BM: Well, the first album, it’s a great lineup. You have Kai [Hansen], Thomen and you. That’s a nice lineup of people for a first album.
PS: Yeah. And I mean, there’s really kind of some cool heavy metal shit on it. I mean, there’s “Riding on Fire,” there’s “Brave New World,” and then really a lot of neck-breakers on it.
BM: Yeah.
PS: And then, if you look at the Unification album, which also is a great album, I also like this shit. Because Unification, it’s different than the first album. It has this great balance between progressive shit and classic stuff, you know? It’s just balanced out so well, and I love it.
BM: How does that–that was a big transition though, wasn’t it, Piet? I mean, you lost all the members except for yourself between the first and second album. How did that affect your playing?
PS: Well, actually, Kai we lost later. [laughs]
BM: Ok. [laughs]
PS: Kai was here on board with Unification and also with the Dark Assault. Actually, it was only Thomen we lost after the first album.
BM: Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Yep.
PS: Anyhow, yeah, I’m–you know, it’s, what can I say. Looking at the future, looking at the past, I don’t know. It’s, we just did it the way we did it without thinking very much about it. Because it was not, some fans of course think, “Oh, they just teamed up” or “Piet just got all these people to make himself interesting and to sell records.” They could think this. I’m aware of this. Actually, this was never the case. Thomen, you know, I had this Iron Savior record almost done, and it was Thomen who said, and we were driving to Sweden where I was doing front of house for Blind Guardian, and I played this shit in the bus, and Thomen said, “I want to play drums on this.” And of course, I said, “Yeah, do it.” But it was not that I kneeled down and asked Thomen, “Please play drums on my record so I will sell something,” you know?
BM: [laughs]
PS: It was the same thing with Kai, I mean, it was of course I needed a second guitarist, so of course I’m asking my buddy, my buddy Kai, if he wants to play some solo guitar on it, which he did. You know, and there we were, with “The new German supergroup” you know?
BM: That’s what they said?
PS: If I had known this, I probably would not have done it, because of course it gave a lot of promotion to the band, but of course it was also clear to me that this will not continue forever. And on a long term, the way it helped Iron Savior to become popular, in the same way, it also locked Iron Savior to really grow, because it’s always this stupid image of “The second band of Kai” or “The second band of Thomen,” which Iron Savior is not anymore, for many years now. But it’s in the people’s heads, you know.
BM: So when you formed Iron Savior, it wasn’t supposed to be a one-off supergroup band, you had a long-term plan in mind. Is that right?
PS: Actually, I must say I had no plan–
BM: Oh really? [laughs]
PS: –I just did this album, I had no idea if anybody would, if any record company would be interested in buying this album. I had no idea if this album would ever be put out, and I had no idea if any fan would buy this shit.
BM: [laughs]
PS: So there was no plan. And that’s why I agreed with having Thomen. I said, “Yeah, great, yeah. You’re a good drummer. Of course, do it, great.” And Kai, “Yeah, you play well guitar, yeah, right.” So we do it. And then of course, after getting a deal, saw like instantly after the album was mixed, I said, “Wait a minute, what is this?” And also, people requested to see the band live and of course, then I was in the situation, “What am I do? What am I doing?” And of course then I decided, “Ok, I think I have something going here, I need to get my people ready to continue.” [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah. And then, but then the line up changed off and on. It’s been–has Iron Savior been a smooth ride for you the whole time, or has this been a bumpy path as well?
PS: Well, I mean, it has been quite bumpy for Iron Savior. I mean, the good–it never affected Iron Savior that much, because I mean, that also is known, Iron Savior is based mostly on my song writing. So as long as I am in the band, I can guarantee that if it says Iron Savior, Iron Savior is what you’re gonna get.
BM: [laughs]
PS: [laughs]
BM: Yeah.
PS: But yeah, I mean those lineup changes, they are, lineup change is always something bad. But on the other hand, I mean, with Thomen at that time, he got an order from his mates at Blind Guardian. They said, “ Oh no, we don’t want you to do this. Uncool. We want you to focus on Blind Guardian.” And well, so I had to let him go. I mean, what can I do? [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
PS: And the other thing, the other problem was with Kai. I mean, Kai, and his duties with Gamma Ray, they became more and more massive, and so it was just no room for Iron Savior anymore. There was no room to act, you know, because everything was ruled by Gamma Ray. And so, I also had to make this cut, you know, to split up with Kai to give Iron Savior some room to breathe, because Iron Savior was about to die because of all this Gamma Ray shit. We couldn’t do nothing, you know?
BM: Yeah.
PS: And therefore, even though it is of course not the way that we would actually, initially thought Iron Savior would work out, I’m quite happy at the moment with what Iron Savior is. I mean, we’re not the kings of heavy metal, but we’re still there, and next year we have our 10-year anniversary.
BM: Yeah.
PS: And well, the band is still there, we’re still putting out albums, and there are still people who like this shit. So yeah.
BM: [laughs]
PS: Even though the number of fans decreased a little bit after Kai left Iron Savior, it’s not that Iron Savior is dead. There are many fans out there who still think Iron Savior also works fine without Kai.
BM: Sure, yeah. I mean, it sounds fine to me. Are you and Kai still on pretty good speaking terms, or did that part–
PS: Oh yeah, absolutely. That was a decision that had nothing to do with our friendship. That was a professional decision, just within the business. ‘Cause we just saw, “Hey, it’s not working, and we have to change something.”
BM: Is your lineup for the next one the same as it was on Battering Ram? Or do you have–
PS: Yeah.
BM: Good, that’s great.
PS: I think by now, I’m really quite positive that we’ve found a great lineup that will stay together for many, many albums. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Are–how ‘bout the song writing? Obviously you’re the kind of songwriter and producer who–and maybe like all of them–what you are going through at the moment is reflected in the outcome. Like you said the Dark Assault you can’t listen to anymore. How ‘bout the next Iron Savior album? Are you in a great place now to where the songs are going to be upbeat and happy and you know, [laughs], the power metal kind of thing again?
PS: Well, I mean, I actually am in quite a good mood.
BM: Good. Yeah.
PS: [laughs] So yes, I think some positive music can be expected on the next album. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] That’s great. Well, tell me about your personal career. You’ve become known as almost as good a producer as you are a guitarist/songwriter. You’re doing a lot of producing. Is that a direction you like to go in? Would you like to continue producing a lot of bands, or does that take you away from your song writing? Tell me about that, your life as a producer.
PS: Well, I mean my life as a producer, that is, well, I must start different. As a teenager, I was looking at myself as a musician, and future rock star, of course you know.
BM: [laughs]
PS: That changed a little bit when I turned 18, or got a little older, facing reality a little bit. [laughs] And so I decided, “Hmm, maybe rock star, it’s ok, but maybe working in a studio and producing is more realistic.” So I started doing this and did that for quite a while, and well, with Iron Savior I just got back, and being a musician. But ever since, of course, I also do production besides that. But now with Savage Circus, having two bands going, I just find myself in the situation that I need the studio time for myself. There’s just no way really to do many things besides those two bands. I just did a production, even though it’s only six weeks, but it’s six weeks I don’t have, actually. So this was giving me, well, it was cool, it was a great production. Nice people, great musicians, but ow. I really missed those six weeks. They are gone. And so, I think for the future, of course I won’t stop doing productions for other people, because I also really like that. But since Iron Savior and Savage Circus stuff really take some time, I’m afraid that I will need the time for this in the future. Which is ok for me, because I really like both bands.
BM: Well do you–are you running the risk at all of being in the same position that Kai or Thomen was in on the first album? Is it hard to be in two bands at the same time? Is there any–what does that–
PS: No, not too much. Not too much for me, because both bands have the same priority. There’s no band that has a higher priority, and I have ways, of course, to balance this out. It’s also a matter of release. If I have both bands released in the same, summer or something, then of course I will have problems, because both bands will attend the same festivals, both bands will have to go around at the same time, and this will of course cause problems. But now for example, look at 2007. If Iron Savior will be released in January, February or March or something, Savage Circus comes out in late summer, then that’s ok. Then we have enough time to finish up all the Iron Savior shit and then we can start with Savage Circus stuff.
BM: [laughs] Yeah. You’ve done a lot in your career so far. You don’t seem like you’re very old, even, and you’ve accomplished quite a bit. When you look back at the stuff you’ve done, what are you most proud of?
PS: [sighs] Whoa. Tough question. But I must say, I think it was the first Iron Savior album, because I really realized making this album with nothing. You know, I just had nothing. I had a 16 track ProTools recording system, and that was it. And it was very inventive on this album, you know, production and technical-wise. And also, you know, yeah, I think it’s the first Iron Savior album that really means a lot to me. It was, yeah, yeah, it was the first album. I’m really proud on this first album.
BM: Yeah. That’s cool. Do you have a–you’ve been touring a lot over the years as well. Do you have a favorite road story? What’s the most, the weirdest thing or the scariest thing or the happiest thing? What’s your favorite road story from all your tours?
PS: My favorite road story, it was on the first Iron Savior tour, and we had–on drums we had, we were doing this tour with Dan Zimmermann on drums. Because Thomen was already not in the boat anymore. So Dan was doing, actually, there were many funny stories from this tour. But Dan Zimmermann was doing the drums. And he opened the show with like, spitting fire. You probably have seen that, he also does it with Gamma Ray every once in a while. So he was spitting fire, you know, he was doing his fire spitting business, and therefore, and this fluids he was using, it was spilling oil across the stage, so the stage was very slippery. And we all realized this, and so we entered stage not easy, you know. But as I just said, not all of us was realized the stage was in this slippery condition. Basically, Dan didn’t realize that, so he ran on stage and fell down massively on the first. I didn’t realize, I didn’t see that, because of course I was on the front monitor and doing my vocal stuff. And then when I looked to the side, to make eye contact with Dan, I couldn’t see him. So I turn around even more, and I see, oh wow, what’s going on with Dan? Has he smoked something or whatever, he’s freaking out like crazy. He’s throwing himself on the floor on the first song. And then I realized that he was not throwing himself on the floor, he was thrown on the floor by this slippery, and he was in pain because he fell on his ass so bad, that he couldn’t walk for a couple of days after that.
BM: Oh man. [laughs]
PS: And another funny thing from this tour, a couple days later we played another gig. And Dan also was again doing his fire spitting thing, and there was a big tube from the air condition system running right across over the stage. And on this tube there was, I don’t know, it must have been dust of time, exactly, but the dust of time caught fire, it was burning. And during the “Atlantis Falling” song, all this burning fallout from this shit burning down, and I mean, Kai was I don’t know, he was almost burnt by this shit.
BM: Oh man.
PS: And it wouldn’t stop, you know? The tube was going into the direction of the front of house, and this fire, you know, it was just proceeding on this tube. And so, we were playing, but nobody else was actually looking at the audience, because we were all looking at this fire on the tube.
BM: [laughs]
PS: And it kept burning and burning–[phone connection cuts out…we quickly reconnect]
BM: Hello. [laughs]
PS: Hey, we got interrupted. [laughs]
BM: Somehow we lost the connection. Couple of cell phones talking to each other.
PS: Yeah.
BM: Well that’s crazy. I’m glad you guys were all right after that.
PS: Yeah, yeah. I mean, after a while, we discontinued watching the fire, because it was far away by that, and it was burning somewhere was not affecting us anymore. But it was a really–because we couldn’t do anything. I mean, usually, you would go off stage, but of course, we want to continue playing, so we were, you know, playing and looking up and avoiding to have this fallout. [laughs]
BM: That’s called being between a rock and a hard place, there. [laughs]
PS: Yeah, absolutely.
BM: Well, let me just ask you a couple things and I’ll let you get back to life there. Tell me, what can audiences expect from Savage Circus when you guys play ProgPower this fall? Are you going to play any Iron Savior, any Blind Guardian? What can they expect from you guys?
PS: I don’t know actually how long we gotta play. Do we have any idea? Do you know?
BM: You probably got about a 30-45 minute set, give or take, I would imagine.
PS: Yeah, that’s what I figured. If we have a 45 minute set, I don’t think that we–45 minutes, we have enough Savage Circus stuff, so I don’t think that we need to fill up with other stuff. It seems we are doing the show without home and I don’t think that it’s a good idea to bring up any Blind Guardian stuff, so.
BM: [laughs]
PS: It’s basically gonna be the set we played in Japan. This also, it was a good 45-minute set, and it worked just fine. It was basically the album, of course we left out the ballad. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
PS: It was basically the album, we left out the ballads and we left out “Between the Devil and the Seas,” and we left out “Born Again [By the Night]” and the rest of the stuff. And it adds to a nice Savage Circus impact. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah, total Savage Circus impact. Are you familiar with the other bands that will be appearing at ProgPower this fall? Are there any of them that you are particularly looking forward to seeing?
PS: Well, I mean, I think it’s Circle II Circle that’s playing? One day I also read Jorn is gonna be there?
BM: Yeah. Everygrey will be there, Epica.
PS: Epica also is cool. Leatherwolf, I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen them. Maybe there’s something I wanna do. And Evergrey, yeah, Evergrey is a cool band. I really like them.
BM: Oh yeah.
PS: Yeah, they are a really great live band.
BM: Oh yeah. They were here in Grand Rapids, Michigan recently. They swung through on that tour with Nevermore and the other bands. They were great. They’re really good.
PS: Yeah.
BM: Do you–this is the last question and I’ll let you get back to things. I really appreciate your time tonight, Piet. Is there, are you the kind of guy who mingles with the audience, like after you guys play your set, are you gonna go and hang out with anybody, chat with the fans? Or–
PS: Oh yeah, sure. Yeah, sure, we’re gonna do that. I don’t think that, I don’t know which position we’re gonna play, but I think that there will be a time afterwards to hang a little bit and to do some chatting. Yeah, definitely I’m the kind of guy who goes out afterward. It’s not, yeah. Especially being in the States the first time, I wanna make contact with the fans, of course.
BM: Oh yeah. You guys are playing, I’ll tell you where you’re playing. You’re up second on Friday night, it looks like. Pyramaze, Savage Circus, Freak Kitchen, Mercenary and Everygrey, that’s the lineup.
PS: Yeah, cool. There should be enough time afterwards, though.
BM: Yeah. Well, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, Piet. I really appreciate your time. I’m looking forward to seeing you. I love the Savage Circus album, it’s really great. And I also love Iron Savior. So I’m really sad you’re not gonna play any songs from there. [laughs]
PS: [laughs]
BM: Well, anyway, it’s been a pleasure, and I’ll look forward to seeing you this fall.
PS: Yeah, cool. Alrighty then, Bill. Thank you for the phone call.
BM: Sleep well, have a good evening.
PS: Yeah, and you have a good day though. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Thanks. Bye bye.
PS: Ok, bye bye.
Piet Sielck can be found on the Savage Circus web site (www.savagecircus.com) as well as the Iron Savior web site (www.iron-savior.com). CDs from both bands can be found on Amazon or at LaserCD.com.
