Edguy - Jens Ludwig Interview

Here’s me thinking that a rock star never got out of bed until the clock was at least into the double digits.

“It’s 9:40 in the morning over here,” confesses Jens Ludwig, lead guitarist for Germany’s power metal darlings (or goofballs; it really depends on your point of view) Edguy. I heartily apologized for awaking him so early, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I usually get up at eight o’clock.” Really? Is that the waking time for a rock star of such a caliber?

“It really depends, but I have a dog that really needs to go out.” Well, you can’t ignore the thunderous yelps of a caged canine for too long, can you?

Pet maintenance aside, Jens presumably beamed with pride while talking about Edguy’s new album, Tinnitus Sanctus while relaxing at home in Germany. Jens, Tobi (Tobias Sammet, lead vocalist) and co. also had a great time thrashing out the jams for this disc, with a lenient tour schedule affording them a more relaxed and comfortable experience than ever before.

“The recording went pretty smooth,” he says. “We had a big time window to record it so we didn’t record everything in, let’s say, three weeks, but over a period of two months. For example, Dirk (Sauer, guitarist) and I laid down our guitar parts in three sessions, which only took three days. But we had enough time to lay down vocal parts and additional arrangements and try out different things too [in that time]. It was all pretty relaxed, but we also focused on the more important things.”

Nevertheless, two months, let alone three weeks seem to be a pretty tight turnaround for the creation of a sterling metal album with symphonics and other flashy sonic nuggets that a discerning ear may pick up.

“Well, it depends on how much material we have,” Jens says as he gets down to explaining the finer aspects of an Edguy album recording.

“For the previous albums, Rocket Ride and Hellfire Club, we also had two EPs to produce for each album (one each), so we had sixteen to eighteen songs to record. This time we only had eleven
songs, so it was much less work. (laughs)

“But it was better to focus on these eleven songs instead of trying to get fifteen or sixteen songs done in the same amount of time, since we had so much belief in the album.”

They also hope fans to believe in the album more so than the singles since the radio and TV coverage of metal is lamentable at best, even so in the seemingly metal-mad continent of Europe as Jens explains.

“If you’re producing a single and you want to get it to the radio, it has to be played in some underground radio station or on some stations that, lets say, have the ‘metal hour’ maybe, once a month? It’s just a waste of promotion money.

“Sometimes there might be a couple of hours a week [dedicated to metal] and only the metal fans listen to it anyway, and they already know that the album’s going to be released because they are reading the magazines and all that stuff as well. You don’t reach anybody new with radio.”

It’s always been hard for metal to crack a new market in the face of such stiff competition, but Jens’ attitude gives it a positive spin; that metal fans are more appreciative of their genre due to its scarcity of mainstream attention.

“I think it’s good the way it is; it’s never been different with this kind of music. Its good for the fans of metal, since they don’t get any new material from radio or television they have to look out and they have to really pay attention for what’s going to be released, and they really look for material that they like.

“That means they’re going to be fans of your band for the future as well, not [treating your music] as just some throwaway article.”

With new albums come new tours; Jens sounded pumped to begin his eight week European tour (that just might encompass the land down under, if all goes well) that started in January.

“After we finish that European tour we’re going to start a world tour,” Jens excitedly tells me.

“We’re going to start in Russia, then take in Asia, then, hopefully go to Australia, because I would really love to come back there once again. I’ve been there twice already, and every time was so great there, so I hope that it’s going to happen this time.”

“After that we cross the date line and go to South America, and then after that we’re just going to see what’s going to happen.”

“There’s nothing confirmed yet,” he says confidently, “but be sure we’re working on that.”

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© Tom Valcanis / Crushtor Media Services, All Rights Reserved. Posted with permission.