This is a question and answer I did with the vocalist of Sacred Steel, Gerritt P Mutz. Since it was only a Q&A, there isn't really a flow to it but I think there are some good topics covered.
Q: Your second album, Wargods of Metal, has been released in some areas of the world. How has it been selling?
A: It´s far too early to talk about sales!All I can tell right now is that the reactions of the press and the public in general have been absolutely marvellous!We got a lot of very enthusiastic reviews and tons of interviews and now we´re eagerly looking forward to the european tour with NEVERMORE in February/March.
Q: Do you feel that the band has progressed from "Reborn in Steel" to Wargods of Metal?
A: That´s kind of obvious!When we did the „Reborn in Steel" Album everything had to be done very fast and I really had no idea about vocallines and stuff.It was all very spontaneous. „Wargods" on the other hand was a very professional production .We had a good producer with a lot of experience ,all the songs were ready and so were all the vocal parts. Everything was more thought of and we had much more time (3 weeks). Also the songwriting was more chorus-orientated.We wanted songs that stick in your mind after hearing them once without being too boring.And,yes,we are VERY satisfied with the result!
Q: I like the production a lot better on Wargods... your voice sounds a lot better, production-wise.. is there a reason for this?
A: As I said before,I really had no idea how to sing on the songs of „Reborn" when we entered the studio.The lines were not really worked out and I had no time to really change something.This time I had Bill Metoyer who had worked with most of my favourite vocalists and who knew what I wanted to sound like.The vocal production on „Reborn" was much to high-pitched and I wanted to just sound like the way I really sound!Besides that Bill always told me to try again or to try better if he thought I could do it better.And in the end the vocal production is exactly the way I wanted it to be.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your touring plans?
A: There will be a whole european tour in February/March with Nocturnal Rites,LeFay and NEVERMORE.We will be the opener on half part of the tour while Nocturnal Rites will open up on the other half.The tour will lead through Germany,Holland,Belgium, France,Italy and Spain.Even though we´ll only play about 35 minutes I think that it will be a chance to show the people what we´re about.
Q: Do you guys do any cover songs on stage? How do you feel about bands that have lots of rare (yet good) tracks floating around as B-sides and the like?
A: We did allready renditions of MANOWAR´s „Hail and Kill" ,WITCHKILLER´s „Day of the Saxons" and PRIEST´s „Breaking the Law".Also there´s a cover version of OMEN´s „Battle Cry" on „Wargods".We like to sometimes play stuff from bands that we enjoy.As for the B-sides thing,back in the 80´s it was cool to get an EP with rare stuff now that CD´s are the main medium I think it´s shitty to release the same stuff over and over again,as Digi-packs,or with bonus tracks.
Q: With a lot of our metal idols now turning and saying that metal sucks, and that metal is dead (ie Metallica, Rob Halford, etc) what is your take on the state of metal?
A: In my opinion the metal scene again is as vivid and enjoyable as back in ´84/´85. There are a lot of really great bands that deliver fresh and great heavy metal without thinking of being trendy or shit like that e.g. SOLSTICE (U.K),WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, PIK,THROES OF DAWN,RED TO GREY and lots more...About all those so called heroes...they should better not get in our way!!!
Q: Does the band currently support you, or do you need to take part-time jobs as well?
A: At this moment we definately earn not one penny with SACRED STEEL! We all have our daytime jobs to get us through and pay the rent.Of course it is our dream to sometimes live from making music but that´s not very realistic.We prefer to grow step by step.We´ll never compromise and we´ll never be anything else than 100% PURE METAL!Therefore it´s clear that the way will be long and stony but in the end we´ll succeed.ONLY THE TRUE ONES WILL STAY!
Q: There has been reference to a band called Dawn of Winter. Are any Sacred Steel members involved with it? If so, can I have some more information on it?
A: Me and Jörg are in DAWN OF WINTER.I have founded this band in 1990 and it still exists.We have not practiced since more than a year but we are a pure doom metal band and we only practice and record when we feel the need to.We have released several demos,a mini-CD and one full-lenght album (IN THE VALLEY OF TEARS). DAWN OF WINTER is NO project but a real band even though our main band right now is of course SACRED STEEL!
Q: As a personal musician, what are your goals? What about the bands goals?
A: My personal goals are to become a better singer and write even better lyrics even though I´m quite satisfied with what I´ve achieved with „Wargods".As for the band the main goal is to create a worthy successor to „Wargods" and to show all the posers out there what real heavy metal is about!Metal is our life!
Q: Most of Sacred Steel's critics attack the vocals. Do you feel that your voice is one that you either love or hate? What are your thoughts on this issue?
A: Music can always be produced the way you want it to be but a voice is a voice. So the one thing that characterizes a band in the end are the vocals!And they are a matter of taste.I always liked vocalists that sound very unique like King Diamond,Eric Adams, Andy Michaud,John Cyriis,John Bonata,Tim Baker,Mark Shelton or Scott Reagers. These are all singers you either like or hate!And I always wanted to be this way. I have this voice and I like it and no one is forced to listen to it or like it.
Q: Tell me an entertaining or funny story concerning the band.....
A: Well,I don´t know if that´s funny for anybody who´s not been with us but we once played a festival in Belgium and it was totally shitty!There were nearly no people and those who were there really hated us! So after the gig when we were totally drunk we decided to get something to eat and Oli(git) who also was drunk drove us to the nearby city. When we entered the streets everybody who saw us flew because we looked drunk and aggressive and as we finally found a place where we got something to eat the cook was very pleased that we liked his meal!I think he feared we´d thrash his place.None of us remembers how we finally got back to the hotel.
Q: What other bands do you hold friendships with? What other bands do you like, as musicians?
A: We´re good friends with GODDESS OF DESIRE,WIZARD,RED TO GREY,WHILE HEAVEN WEPT,SOLITUDE AETURNUS,SOLSTICE,PSYCHOTRON,WARNING,MIRROR OF DECEPTION and lots more.As musicians we´re all into old american and british heavy metal and I for myself am a 100% fan of SAINT VITUS,MANOWAR and BAL-SAGOTH.Besides that I´m a crazy KATE BUSH fan!
Q: Reborn In Steel and Wargods of Metal seemed to come out almost a year apart. Do you intend on holding up this pace? Some bands like Skyclad release album after album, do you want to be like that?
A: We wanted the 2nd album to come shortly after the 1st album because people should see that we´re no „one-album-then nothing-forget-them" band.We know that we´re not an average band and we know that we can deliver the most powerful metal possible! As for the 3rd album,we´ll take a bit more time for that because it will be not that easy to create a better album than „Wargods".But the songs that are ready right now will please everybody who´s into TRUE HEAVY METAL!
Q: Other than being a musician, what else do you do?
A: I´m selling HiFi stuff,Jörg is chief-editor of the DEFTONE Magazine,Oli is a computer technician, Jens is a student and Matze has a part time job doing the advertisement-sales for DEFTONE.
Q: As a final question, what has been the best experience for the band so far in its career?
A: The Wacken Open Air has been a marvellous experience and also both of our release parties have been great!Also our trip to Greece was a very enjoyable event!Hopefully this year will even be better for us than 1998!