(6:02)

(Michael Kiske/Michael Weikath/Ingo Schwichtenberg)

Kiske:
Well, Japan. We've been there, I think, two times now, and it's always been a great fun playing there. I like the venues. They are sounding very good, they look very good, and kids over there really appreciate good music and stuff. And I think the next time we're gonna play at the Budokan, which is pretty cool. Lookin' forward to it. It's gonna be fun.

Schwichtenberg:
Japan has been always great to play there, and will be in the future. And Japan people are great, it's fun to play there and you feel very confident and convinient or whatever to play there. And Japanese people are listening very carefully, I don't know. It's great to be in Japan.

Kiske:
"Kids of the Century" is the first life sign of us after two and a half years. And after all those rumours going around about this band - me leaving the band, me splitting up, or the band splitting up, and all that stuff, which has been quite a lot. Maybe that's normal when the band's not on the scene for a while. But after that it feels really good to have, actually, a new album ready and a single out. So the kids know we are still there. And with the music you can prove what you can do still even without one guy that just left the band. I think we found the right person there, Roland. And I think the album says everything. Yeah, I wrote "Kids of the Century" about more than two years ago now. And remembering that time I feel like, when I wrote that song, I was in that feel of that all the kids today, they just feel like they haven't got anything to do with the problems. Everything goes wrong, the nature or whatever. Just came out of that feeling actually. And that's what the song's all about, I think. What the kids today...Because I feel like everybody's responsible, especially the kids. If they don't feel like they have to change anything or have to make things better, nobody will.

Schwichtenberg:
I think having Roland in the band is.. we are as lucky as we have Michael in the band by that time, we are lucky having Roland in the band. And he's just doing great songs and great guitar work he's doing. And a good pal as well. He's a nice fellow. And he just fits in the band very much. I think the fans will accept him of course.

Weikath:
Well, the nice thing about Roland being in the band is that I saw him like, I don't know, fifteen years ago or so on stage, and I thought that was pretty impressing, what he did there, and I could never forget about that. And that's why actually I called him up then when we needed another guitarist, "Remember that guy?". And so it took me, like, four hours to find out the number, like I had to phone up musicians I knew and suddenly somehow I got the number, and phoned him up: "You might not know me, but I know you. How about playing guitar in Helloween?" And he didn't even know the band. So I had to give him some examples of our songs, like really loud, cranked it up. And so, well, he was interested, like it quite a lot. And then we went to rehearsing, we had to do the whole stuff within two months. 'Cause then we had to go on an American tour and Japan meant two hours of playing. And well, ha ha, quite a tough job I would say. After all, I mean, we can handle that, we are pretty good, you know. And I'm sorry about that, but well... yeah, Roland is a very nice guy. He's doing a big part of the band with his character, and his kind of being. And it's quite a difference too how the whole thing worked before, because he is a completely different character. He is a lot more calm and very critical. He's always got his own opinion and that's exactly what we need.

Kiske:
Yeah, we recorded the album at PUK studio in Denmark, which is a very good studio, I think, very lovely place. It's right in the middle of nowhere but that's actually what we wanted, to really concentrate on the album. And working with Chris was pretty cool, because he's got a very strong sense of humor as we like it. And we had some cool moments there and that's all caught on the album. Yeah, the production that Chris Tsangarides has done is right in your face. That's the best description of the sound actually. So just check it out!

Schwichtenberg:
Crystal clear, or...

Kiske:
Crystal Tsangarides clear, ha ha!

Weikath:
I would say thank you to everybody who kept up the faith during all that time, and after all, those rumours are untrue.

Schwichtenberg:

To be continued...