Nykyisin Masterplania johtava kitaristi Roland Grapow on uudessa haastattelussa muistellut entisen yhtyeensä Helloweenin jäsenistön kohtaamista Suomessa molempien bändien esiintyessä South Park – festareilla Tampereella 2015.
”The Dark Ride” –levyn jälkeen vuonna 2001 yhtyeestä erotettu Grapow oli törmännyt vokalisti Andi Derisiin hotellin aulassa, laulaja oli ensin poistunut nopeasti paikalta. Roland seurasi perässä ja tätä seurasi kolmen tunnin ilmaa puhdistanut keskustelu, myöhemmin kitaristi oli jatkanut asioiden selvitystä myös muiden jäsenten kanssa. Grapow ihmettelee kuitenkin edelleen entisen bändinsä negatiivista asennetta häntä kohtaan.
Masterplan julkaisi oman versionsa Grapowin Helloween-kauden materiaalista viime vuonna ”PumpKings” –albumilla. Helloween valmistelee parhaillaan uutta levyä Michael Kisken ja Kai Hansenin kanssa.
Grapowin kommentit Helloweenista alla:
We played together in Finland (South Park) three years ago. I came back to the hotel, we had just played in Quebec and we were going to fly out the next morning, and I know Helloween was going to play the next day, but I didn’t expect they were already there. I got to the hotel and Andi Deris came out, he saw me, and immediately went in a different direction. And the roadie was coming towards me, he was a friend of mine who worked for Gamma Ray, Helloween, for Masterplan, and he plays guitar in Iron Saviour; Joachim ”Piesel” Küstner. So I said, ‘Piesel, what’s going on with this guy?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, man.’ And I thought, this is bullshit, this is childish, and he did the same thing in Moscow 15 years ago. It was fresh then and I thought, ‘ok, leave him.’
And I never did anything to him so he went to the restroom of the hotel, and I went behind him and said, ‘Hey Andi, what’s wrong?’ He told me he didn’t see me. What could I say? So I told him, ‘come on, let’s talk.’ And we spoke for three hours, about everything. And I didn’t want to talk about why I was fired, I don’t care about that. I’m happy, you know? I just don’t understand when you play twelve and a half years in a band like Helloween, and it was part of my career and my life, and people ignore you like you’re dead or something. And they hate you for being something. After we talked I was okay – I mean we were not friends, but something was solved.
I was sitting with all the band members – with Sasha, with Markus, with Weikath – and we spoke and I felt okay. I was happy to be honest. But by the end I wasn’t sure if I felt happy alone. Because it’s strange, you know – I had to wish to talk to them. And then one year later I met them in Slovakia where I live, at a different festival, and we spoke again. Everything was fine. I didn’t speak to Andi so much, he was smoking cigars, which he stopped doing now, outside of the backstage area after the show, and he was smiling at me. I was speaking to all of the other members, having fun drinking. I was a bit drunk to be honest. I was so happy, you know? And then I heard this announcement, and I said, ‘Fuck! Sheisse’ Uli was writing me like, ‘What the fuck? These assholes! We should make an album together and fuck them.’ I thought, ‘Uli, this is a great way of making albums together again.’ You know, the same revenge again, but he’s not my friend anymore, he left the band Masterplan. So you see it’s connected. There’s a lot of emotions still.
Lue koko haastattelu linkistä.
Lähde: BraveWords