A few days before the release of Helloween’s new record “My God Given Right”, Rock Overdose had the chance to conduct an interview with bassist and founding member Markus Grosskopf and talk about the record, the band’s upcoming gigs and more!
Enjoy!
Rock Overdose: Hello Markus how are you?
Markus Grosskopf: I’m fine, I’m pretty good, I had a good day, I had a couple of beers already… Weather was nice.
Rock Overdose: How are things in the band right now?
Markus Grosskopf: Oh, very good! In two weeks or something we’re gathering together for some rehearsals, running into the festivals. It’s nice.
Rock Overdose: So your touring plans include festivals only or do you plan local gigs or something?
Markus Grosskopf: Well, so far we’ve only booked festivals. We have lots of festivals ‘till September, October. We only do festivals on weekends and then, probably on the beginning of the next year we’ll do a couple of shows for our own Helloween tour.
Rock Overdose: That’s nice. Let’s talk about the new record, shall we? I see you have a lot of songs in the album. Including the bonus tracks, I think it’s 18 songs. What keeps you inspired to write so many songs?
Markus Grosskopf: I don’t know, I’m asking myself (the same question). Sometimes, I have an idea in the toilet of an airport; I put that melody on my phone. So I don’t really know where the inspiration is coming from. It’s just like in the air, you just grab it and suddenly it’s there. And if I have a good idea, I don’t waste time (on) where it’s coming from. I just keep it and try to make a good rock song out of it. (laughs)
Rock Overdose: Do you recall any funny moments during the making of the record, either writing or recording it?
Markus Grosskopf: The whole process is funny. Working with Helloween is funny enough. There was not a specific situation, but we have a laugh, all the time.
Rock Overdose: I noticed that the album cover looks like the cover of the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”. Is there any resemblance, maybe you got inspired?
Markus Grosskopf: No, that’s not the idea. I don’t know the movie, or not remember it. The actual idea was to do something very very different from what we did on the last album. And I think we did it right, so I kinda like the atmosphere on that album (cover). That snowy kinda white and blueish and grey. We just had in mind to do something different and I just think we got that.
Rock Overdose: Yeah, I really like when listening to the song “Lost In America” and look at the cover. It fits right in.
Markus Grosskopf: Yeah, of course, with that freedom statue and all that. It’s America, because we chose that statue, it’s like one of the famous statues all around the world, the most known statue. It’s about freedom, my god given right. That kinda fits in the plan.
Rock Overdose: When you’re making a record how is the order of the songs determined, which one you put first, which one you put last etc.
Markus Grosskopf: I don’t know, we all have a lot of tracks together and as you probably know, in Helloween we are like four songwriters. And then we have all these songs together. And we always have the luxury of having too many songs but you just have to pick the best of what you think is the best. Sometimes the producer, the management and the record companies are picking up their favorite songs, they want them on the album and all that and we kinda disagree, but if they want to have it, they’re all Helloween tracks. Why not giving them what they want? It’s all stuff we did. Actually, at the end of the day, they all come from your heart.
Rock Overdose: For your upcoming shows, what can the fans expect from the setlist?
Markus Grosskopf: We’ll probably play a few tracks from the new record of course like three or four, I don’t know… And the rest will be like the Helloween party you definitely can expect from us.
Rock Overdose: Do you have any plans for visiting Greece?
Markus Grosskopf: So far, I’m not sure if we have something as we only do festivals. Do you have festivals in Greece?
Rock Overdose: We do have a couple of festivals…
Markus Grosskopf: So far we’re not booked on one of those Greek festivals and as we decided to do only these festivals for this year, there are no plans for Greece I’m afraid. But we will probably come to your place when we do our own tour.
Rock Overdose: What’s your opinion of the Greek crowd? What do you think of us?
Markus Grosskopf: (The) Greek crowd is wild, the dark hair, dark eyes and very passionate. I kinda love their attitude, the way they party. It’s nice.
Rock Overdose: So, I don’t have any more questions. Do you want to leave a message for our readers?
Markus Grosskopf: Yeah, I hope to see you soon in some Greek city and can’t wait to go there right? It’s gonna be great time we’re gonna spend together, if you come over. And we’ll probably come in the beginning of the next year. We keep you hungry, but when we’re there it’s gonna be great.
Rock Overdose: I hope so, thanks for your time!
Markus Grosskopf: You’re welcome. Cheers!
For Rock Overdose,
George Haniotakis
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