Interview with Lanvall (Guitar/keyboards)
Interview conducted by Sargon the Terrible
Date online: May 5, 2003
Ever since "Sunrise In Eden" Edenbridge have been on the forefront of the prog/power metal scene with their epic, operatic symphonic metal. With the recent release of "Aphelion" Edenbridge look poised to reach new heights. Even with a flurry of tour dates fast approaching, mainman Lanvall took the time to answer a few questions...
Sargon: Have you been touring already for "Aphelion"? How has it been going? You have quite a few shows in Germany next month, are you looking forward to that?
Lanvall: Our tour starts on May 7 in our hometown Linz, then we will be on the road till the end of the month in many countries here in Europe. Of course we are looking forward for the tour, itīs always great to be back on the road.
S: "Aphelion" is a heavier record than "Arcana", was that a conscious decision? What did you do differently during recording than you have in the past?
L: We wanted to have the guitars more in front cause the songs
needed it. It was a natural development. So the keyboards had to go back a bit,
although there were not less keyboards. We have a lot of very symphonic keyboard
arrangements on the new album, but on a certain point you have to decide what to
put in the front. Dennis Ward for the first time was responsible for the
recordings and this brought a great effort, cause the signals and sound was
perfectly on tape.
S: How much, if anything, do the other band members contribute to the music?
L: Well, Sabine is singing her lines with her own interpretation although Iīm writing the vocal parts. Roland also brings in a lot concerning all the fills on the drums. But they have no influence on the songs themselves and the arrangements.
S: How did you hook up with DC Cooper for "Red Ball in Blue Sky"? Did you want to do a duet and got him, or did you want to work with him and wrote the song for the occasion? Can you tell us what the song is about?
L: It was great to have one of my favorite singers on the album. When Sabine recorded one song for the "Missa Mercuria" project in Germany, D.C. was also in the studio. Sabine, D.C. and myself spent great 2 days and talked a lot. When I had "Red ball in blue sky" finally written, I thought it would be a good idea to bring in D.C. to make a duet with Sabine. Finally to cut a long story short he was in Germany in November and he liked to do it, so he came to the studio for 2 days and did a great job. "Red ball in blue sky" is the most complex song Iīve ever written with the many orchestral parts, so therefore it had to be big.
S:Tell us some about your solo recordings, I think a lot of people are not too aware of your solo work and I'm sure would like to know more.
L: My solo albums were primarily instrumental symphonic guitar 
rock albums. A kind of rockier Mike Oldfield style, but totally different. I
also had some big church choirs on 2 of them. When my solo deal ran out in 97 I
wanted to bring Edenbridge forward and put my solo project on ice. At the moment
Iīm working on my 4th solo album, which might be finished till summer. The album
will be totally orchestral, written for an orchestra, so itīs a combination of
orchestra, my guitar playing and rock/metal elements.
S: When did you first get interested in music? When did you decide to make it a career? Where did you study?
L: I started at the age of 7 with the piano and took classical lessons for 12 years. I primarily grew up with classical music when I was a child. At the age of 14 or 15 I discovered metal and from that point on I wanted to combine those 2 styles. First I learned bass by myself and my first band was a speed metal band. Then the bass bored me and I switched to the guitar and studied one year at the American Institute of Music in Vienna. At that time I already had my first record contract. After school I began studying commerce, but then cmae the point where I said, now I have to make a decision and I decided to stop the university and be a professional musician.
S: Tell us a little about how Edenbridge came together.
L: I played together with our former bass player Kurt in a
progressive band called Cascade among my solo career. Sabine entered in 96, but
it ended up being a studio project cause we couldnīt find good musicians at that
time. When I had all the songs written for "Sunrise in Eden" I met
Roland. I checked him in the rehearsal room with the band he played and he blew
me away. So the line up was complete. We went in the studio on our own costs and
recorded "Sunrise in Eden". We never thought about selling the album
by our own, we wanted to get a record deal. 2 weeks after sending the CD's out,
Massacre offered us a deal. The rest is history.
S: Do you prefer playing live to recording, or vise versa?
L: I like both. Playing live is fun, the studio is hard work.
S: Once and for all: how do you feel about the constant Nightwish comparisons? (For the record, this interviewer has never heard that great a resemblance)
L: I don't fucking care anymore, cause it's simply bullshit.
S: Do you have any favorite tour stories, good or bad?
L: Starting with the bad one. On our first tour we had a show
in Vosselaar (Belgium). We played with midi-files, so Roland has to play exactly
on the click to be synchronised with the keyboards. The click-amplifier fucked
up, so he couldn't hear the click anymore. We were steadily one beat aside from 
the keyboards. I thought I had to die on stage, it was terrible. Our Korean tour
last year was pure fun. We had this show on the Busan Rock festival in front of
20.000 people and we had bodyguards around us when we left the backstage area,
it was unbelievable. When we left the hotel to the airport a police convoy was
in front and behind our bus. Really crazy. When such things are happening you
slightly feel as a rock star. But coming back to Europe you are immediately back
on the floor of reality (ha,ha).
S: What do you see for the future of Edenbridge? Any grand plans in mind?
L: I'm looking very postive in the future. There is a big
project concerning the future of the band but it's too early to say anything
about. Apart from this we will play live a lot this year.
S: And the traditional last question: Is there anything I have not asked about that you would like to say?
L: A big hello and thanks to all our fans around the world.
Thanks!
Thanks a lot for the interview, Lanvall
| Other information about Edenbridge on this site |
| Review: Arcana |
| Review: Sunrise In Eden |
| Review: Aphelion |
| Review: MyEarthDream |
| Review: Shine |
| Review: The Grand Design |
| Review: Solitaire |
| Review: The Great Momentum |
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