62 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L
Mad Max SCREAMING IN THE NIGHT
AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL VOSS & JUERGEN BEFORTH
BY CHRIS GATTO
THEY SAY ROCK AND ROLL WILL NEVER DIE AND, ALTHOUGH THE OLD MAXIM IS A TAD CLICHE, IT SEEMS TO BEAR A GRAIN OF TRUTH. MANY OF THE BANDS THAT HAVE COME AND GONE HAVE COME AGAIN AND SEEN MORE SUCCESS WITH A NEW GENERATION OF FANS. ONE SUCH BAND IS GERMAN MELODIC METAL KINGS MAD MAX. THEIR SELF-TITLED ALBUM WAS RELEASED IN 1982 AND BY 1987'S A NIGHT OF PASSION, THE BAND SEEMED READY TO EXPLODE UPON THE MASSES. BUT FAME IS FLEETING AND, INSTEAD OF BECOMING A HOUSEHOLD NAME, THE BAND WENT THEIR SEPARATE WAYS. THE NEW MILLENNIUM BROUGHT BACK MANY OF THE 80'S BANDS, AS WELL AS MANY NEW METAL ACTS, AND SINCE 2005 MAD MAX HAS RELEASED SEVERAL ALBUMS, MOST RECENTLY HELLO AMERICA AND THIS YEAR'S ANOTHER NIGHT OF PASSION. Chris Gatto: Welcome! In spite of their 30 year history, in America, Mad Max is something of an unknown – a hugely underrated band that deserves much more attention than they get. I know you guys played Rocklahoma a couple years ago, thus the song memorializing it on the new disc and would like to return. Have you played in the US besides that? Michael Voss & Juergen Beforth: Hi Chris! We had the honor to play Rocklahoma in 2009 and 2010. These were our very first USA shows ever and it felt awesome! Sharing the stage with our heroes, like Cinderella, Nightranger or Stryper was like a dream come true. In 2013 our good friend and CEO of Retrospect Records, Sam McCaslin, will be a part of Rocklahoma again. He was the one that gave us the chance and hopefully we will get the chance to play Rockla again – the very first time with the original '80s Mad Max line-up! Metal Mind out of Poland reissued your '80s catalog a few years ago, but your albums can be hard to locate here. Has the internet made it easier for fans all over the world to hunt down import CDs from bands such as yourselves? How has that changed the way a band must market itself today? To be honest, the re-releases were something of a good thing for the fans, but the biggest step for Mad Max right now is that we are signed to SPV Records worldwide. They are not only releasing our recent album, Another Night of Passion, and the new studio album for 2013, they will also take care of our back catalogue. That means you will
have the chance to buy the stuff all around the world – easily! Internet is a great thing for promotion, but if you really want to sell CDs, you need a proper worldwide distribution. We’re not only musicians, we are still fans of our heroes like Dokken or Cinderella. If they release a new album, we want to have the CD with booklet, with photos, with bonus stuff! Not just a download. And a lot of fans think that way – and this is good for rock music in general! Right on! Your latest disc, Another Night of Passion, is all new material, but an obvious reference to 1987's A Night of Passion. Tell me your motivations behind giving it this name. This album was for the fans – Mad Max back in the original 1987 lineup! So, we wanted to give our fans exactly the kind of album they have been waiting for (for) years! And that’s exactly what we did … (laughs). We will stay on that road now – Promise! Some reviewers have noted that your new millennium material is mellower than your 80's stuff, yet Another Night of Passion seems like a return to form. Was there an intentional direction change to a harder sound this time around? What has been the reaction to the new album so far? The reviews all over the world were awesome! This is exactly the kind