Latest release: Moonglow
Label: Nuclear Blast
Website: www.tobiassammet.com
When metal opera project Avantasia gained traction as a formidable live act, it was largely through the driving force of both Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet and German music industry workhorse, Sascha Paeth. The guitarist, producer and mixer put together a touring band which then allowed a plethora of guest musicians to contribute when their main band duties allowed. Now with studio album number eight, titled Moonglow, Avantasia are finally making their way down to Australia for two special shows. On the eve of the tour, Loud Online grabbed a rare chat with the incredibly busy and super talented guitarist Sascha Paeth who elaborates on the planning and machinations involved in bringing a potentially bombastic rock metal opera performance to our shores.
Avantasia are finally coming to Australia must involve a decent amount of logistics.
Oh, the logistics are actually pretty simple. Okay, we cannot take all of our stuff with us, that is for sure but we kind of have flight shows where we have the equipment with us on the plane and we all fly together. It is a little bit like how you would organise a school excursion. We’ve just played in Switzerland and there we were touring with two or three trucks and two buses. From now on, we are just flying and we have a little bit of a different set up which is also for the stage. But we have always done it like this and until we can afford a private jet, it is going to stay like this – ha-ha. It will be a little bit different of course, when we play in Australia because we simply cannot bring everything there but it is not really a big problem because the thing about Avantasia is also that there are many characters on stage with a lot of stuff happening. There are just some additional things that we try to do but it is not one hundred percent necessary, actually. It’s easy enough.
Technology today means that you can carry your sound around on a USB stick.
Oh, it is true. We don’t actually play amplifiers anymore. My whole rig is on the floor board. We have totally minimised everything and we just play in-ear monitors. You’re right about your sound being on a USB stick because, for example, with the monitor mixes and so forth, you don’t have to bring the console with you anymore because you just rent the same console that you can load the set ups onto because our set up is a little bit more complicated. We have a lot of wireless stuff and this and that. We have to bring the wireless stuff with us so there are a couple of things that we have to carry around but it is really not a big deal as it is so easy to recreate the sound nowadays. It can be good and it can be bad but in this case, modern technology is very good.
Sound check must be great then because front of house can pump up all the faders and all set.
Yeah, nowadays our sound check usually we just play one or two songs. We don’t need to make individual sounds. We don’t have to check much except to do a very quick line check. So we don’t actually have to do a sound check. Engineers just have to fit things to the hall a little bit, you know, just adjusting things but now it is so easy and there are no problems.
Playing a musical instrument is different to vocalists though where they have a lot of variables to contend with so, in that light and with as many vocalists touring with Avantasia, are these added things to consider such a room size, reverb and conditions?
That is true. I think that usually we don’t have everybody on stage at the same time so it is pretty much that everybody is a singer in the band, except maybe the choir. We always have background singers and they are handled a little bit differently than the choir. Generally, it is just lead singers times six and that, I would say, is the way that it is treated.
When your involvement with Avantasia started, which I suspect is around the time of The Metal Opera Part II, when did both you and Tobias realise that the project had a lot of potential to continue?
Actually, it was like this; Tobias had the first two albums done at the end of the nineties. He didn’t work on it anymore for almost ten years. I was producing Edguy at that time and then we just started talking about if there was a possibility to continue with that or would it just be one more album. He wasn’t sure if it should be live and if we could really do it live and I said, ‘of course we can, send me your ideas, we’ll work on something and then we will see.’ I think that pretty much when we had the first stuff done we were not sure but we thought that something could happen with this project because it turned out to be really special. The first song that we did was ‘Scarecrow’ and I really loved it so I thought that we needed to do something with it. It then really took off and the first tour was already very good plus the album sold very well. Also, it was received very well so it almost took off right away. We were amazed but it is getting better for every album so far. We’ve had a number one entry in the charts in Germany and in the European charts we’ve hit the top ten. So it is growing and stuff is happening with the shows really getting big here in Europe. There is still some headroom to grow.
Indeed. You’ve been involved in mixing, engineering and producing but are now contributing substantially with the song writing. That must give you a sense of satisfaction with Avantasia.
Oh yeah, of course and it makes everybody happy that our work gets honoured with success. The more important thing is that people come to me to say that they really love the music. Apart from success, to have people say that this is really something special gives me a certain mood that I cannot get anywhere else. You can also see it in the eyes of the people when we play live. They are in another world sometimes and so are we when we fall into that and it is really cool. It is a good honour.
How would you compare the latest album to the previous one of Ghostlights?
We never really planned some aspects but I would say that it [Moonglow] is even more bombastic. This one is a little bit harder. There is less instrumentation but maybe there are more keyboards and orchestra but not necessarily more guitars. There were more solos on Ghostlights but this one is a little bit more melodic. Soloing is also there but just less of it. We just try to make everything more melodic in a way so that every solo has a melody to it that people would remember.
Concept albums can involve a lot or work. Given all the people involved, how do you sit down and work out exactly where you want to go with it?
The lyrics and the music come together in a way. What we try to do it to have a red line throughout the album both musically and lyrically. We try to place the songs in a way that makes the mood not get boring so that you create some tension and release. This is what we really think about. I have to say that the approach is a little bit like you would approach individual songs as well. So, first of all, the focus is on making sure that the song is good and then we see how we can put the song together in either a logical way or in a way that feels good. Sometimes parts will return within another song but generally it is more like approaching songs as individual songs, I have to say.
It is interesting that you’ve mentioned song writing being the key because I believe that you recently obtained song writing credit from Kamelot. That’s a deserved sense of recognition.
Oh of course, yeah and I was always writing with them. I’ve developed more into being a song writer over the years. I write for many bands and also for myself. It feels good to be recognised as a song writer because you can put yourself in there, especially when you write lyrics. I do not write lyrics for Avanatasia but I do write a lot of lyrics for other bands. Also, for Kamelot I am integrated into the lyric writing together with Tommy [Karevik – Kamelot vocalist]. I meet with them for a couple of weeks for every album. He will stay in my house and we will work on lyrics and music. Doing that fulfils you in a good way, when you can do this and in a way it provides pure satisfaction. When you create something and then people some together and like it, it just feels good. There is something suddenly that wasn’t there before and so you are all part of creating it. No one can take that away from you. It is not a thing really, it is shared and built but nobody can burn it because this is going to stay. It is good when people like that as well.
How does being producer compare to being producer and songwriter?
Ah, when I was just producer, I was always sort of a song writer but I just do it much more now. Not for every band as now I am part of song writing. When I first started out, I didn’t do much song writing for other bands but I always did it for myself. It was for my own bands and for my own music. Metal is usually not the style of music where people have song writers. But I do so many projects and worked on so many things, for example Kamelot, where myself and Miro [Michael Rodenberg – keyboards and orchestrations] took a lot of influences when we worked together. We find ourselves to be part of the song writing team, suddenly and after a couple of times, others know this and then suggest writing together. That became interesting and so it developed a little bit more into becoming a song writer. Sometimes now I also only write for other people so that if I just write a song, they’ll use my song and stuff like that. I have to say that for me the combination of it all is the most interesting thing of all for me and so is just being a part of the song writing. It’s good to be producer too and to play guitar. It can be very diverse if you have a lot of influence across the music.
Amusingly you’ve covered Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac’ which is actually very well done.
Thank you. To be honest, that came about as Tobi’s idea and I was not 100% agreed. Ha – ha. I said to him, ‘okay, we can try it but do really think it is the right song for Avantasia?’ but then I made a version which he loved. I still was not so sure that it was going to be received well. But then we talked about Eric [Martin – Mr. Big vocalist] being the duet partner and from there things changed a bit because Eric sings it in a very cool way. The two of them together created something on this song which is very cool. So I thought that it actually turned out quite well and now there is a lot of colour to it. I think that is so especially because it is a duet and we play it live. People totally love it. But yeah is was a little bit of a surprise for me that it is received so well. There is just one half of the guitar solo on there which is not me, the rest is all me playing guitar.
Looking at the album overall, what would be the one song that you’re happiest with now?
Oh well, I do love ‘The Raven Child’ but also ‘Ghost in the Moon’. They are both big songs but there is something in them emotionally for me that makes them cool for me, especially the opener. Jørn [Lande – vocalist], as a singer has a similar approach to Ronnie James Dio. If you take harps and stuff away then the essence might in fact be like Dio in certain parts.
Finally, what guitars and amplifiers are you using on tour?
I am basically using Duesenberg guitars. I love them and for a long time I was a Strat player in my old band and then I started to play Les Paul guitars. I wanted something in between and these Duesenberg were the right thing for me. They have the scale from a Stratocaster so they are a little bit bigger and it feels different. They have a very good intonation and they sound open. I love that and on this album, for example, it is almost 100% all the same guitar. It is a Starplayer TV Outlaw which is a half acoustic with f-holes [semi-hollow body guitar]. Live I am using another one, at the moment because it fits better to the amps I am using which are just Line-6 which are really just a small floorboard stomp I guess which is all I wanted to use because we have the slideshows. I just have a set up that easily goes on the plane. It works so well and I have a floorboard, that is it. We play it with in-ear monitors because we do not have speakers. On the album I basically used Kemper [profiling amplifier]. You know what, I have all of these amplifiers but I do not really use them anymore. Back in the day you had to order amplifiers for overseas tours. It was usually three different Marshall amplifiers that were broken and sounded different. That didn’t work, it was really horrible. So, it is much better like this now. Every night I now have the same sound going to my ears and that make the music better because you don’t have to worry about this stuff anymore. You can just play to this constant thing that is going on in your head and that is something you can rely on which is very cool. I love this new stuff. I did not love it from the beginning bit the day came where I had to admit that it was very cool. For a real amplifier, you have to have a good one, not a half broken one plus you have to mic it and everything has to be right. Now it is so much easier with these new pieces of equipment.