Dirk Sauer – Guitars for Edguy

1. So the album has been out in Europe and just came out in the States a few weeks ago. How is it doing so far among both the fans and critics?

DIRK: Its doing very well, everyone is happy with it. It hit the charts in Europe also. We just started the European tour and it has been awesome. After that we are off to Russia , China , Scandinavia , Japan and a lot of European festivals over the summer. Hopefully we will come back to the States in the late summer or fall, we really need to come back. Our last tour in the States went great, it showed a lot of people enjoyed our music and are in need of Edguy you can say Hahaha. It would be good if we can come back as a support for someone bigger like a Dio. Rock Hard magazine had to re scale the i r reviews because 10 is not enough anymore, Haha.

2. Both the press and fans said this is a more commercial direction for Edguy and “Rocket Ride” seems to be very influenced by the American L.A. style 80's bands. Do you guys think this has happened?

DIRK: Actually we really didn't think about writing a song for a single, a hit ballad or becoming more commercial. We just went in to the recording with what we felt like doing, it just came out like that. The next album may be totally different I don't know. For myself, I really like those 80's bands, “Cherry Pie” by Warrant is a great example. You don't really think about it but I guess subconsciously a lot of times the music you are listening to is going to influence what you are writing.

3. Tobias writes all the lyrics. Does he also write a lot of the music?

DIRK: He does a lot for the music too. Comes up with a lot of ideas in the rehearsal room but we all do that when we are in the studio together. We take parts and get rid of them and collaborate together on how the songs will sound. He comes up with raw ideas and melodies for many of the songs.

4. Aside from the title track, why did the other tracks from the “Superheroes” E.P. not make it to “Rocket Ride”?

DIRK: The reason was the record company asked for a single as a sort of preview for the new record and that's what “Superheroes” was. Same thing with “Hellfire Club” there was a single/video for “King of Fools”. Sometimes people don't see a single as something worthy. We wanted to make the single worth getting so that's why there were the extra tracks not included on “Rocket Ride”.

5. What were the things done differently on “Rocket Ride” from previous albums?

DIRK: I think we did a lot of different things. Like on the other albums the song writing was basically the same. I think the main difference was the production which was done by producer Sascha Piet who worked with us from start to finish. He has a great studio and a nice guy to work with, you feel like being at home in the studio. This is the most mature album we have done so far and working on it was a lot of fun which I think comes across in the music as well. Most of the songs were live recordings in the studio and we have done that before. When this whole Power Metal wave happened a few years ago everyone tried to have a very clean production and a lot of samples and stuff, no noises, everything sounded very clean. I think this time around, especially after doing the live recordings on “Burning Down the Opera”, we wanted a more rock n roll touch and energy to the music. I think you can really hear that on the new album. Sascha is a real old school guy, using analog equipment and old techniques, using the tape machine again.

6. The comic book artwork really goes with the vibe of the album, as did the single for “Superheroes”. Was that the bands idea?

DIRK: When you come with a title like superheroes, obviously we are not superheroes. We thought it was great idea the artwork to go with that kind of title so having it in comic book style was perfect. We really enjoyed it and thought that should carry over for the cover of “Rocket Ride” as the vibe to that was also fun and we wanted people to have fun listening to the record.

7. Do you think Edguy is steering away from being a Power Metal band?

DIRK: I think so but I think it has to do with the production too because sound wise the last 3 or 4 records sounded the same and thought we had to change something. I think sound wise it is the best we have done so far. It may sound a bit more 80s but we did use the old stuff like tape machines, older amplifiers. I think we are going to go with this sound on the next few records too.

8. Any other promo videos?

DIRK: I think no so far, it depends all on how well the record does. I mean the “Superheroes” video wasn't even played on German TV because its not hip here. The scene for Heavy Metal is very good but as far as the industry this stuff is still not seen as hip enough to get air play.

9. Any offers to play Ozzfest yet?

DIRK: Not yet but I would love to….as long as we are not treated like Iron Maiden was Hahaha. It's a tough crowd there though, I don't know if we would fit into that festival. I think a perfect tour for us would be like Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Dio and Scorpions. Maybe you can set that up for us Hahaha. Opening up for Iron Maiden would be great. I have heard so many good things about the new Whitesnake DVD, I really need to get that. I heard a rumor that Scorpions and Dio are touring the U.S. together in the fall.

10. Any plans to record a live show DVD?

DIRK: yeah there are plans we are recording shows. We did it once in Brazil for the live CD but there were some problems with the footage that prevented us from releasing it. Maybe we can use some of that material at some point but not all of it is useable.

11. Closing comments?

DIRK: I just want to thank the American fans for their continued support, we are very happy that people are really starting to enjoy or music and would like to come back to do more shows.

Official website: www.edguy.de