Interviews

Pike’s Edge: Touring is hard work

Pike, not everyone in the Metal scene knows you and your band. Therefore I ask you to introduce you at first!

First of all I would like to thank you for your time.
Pike’s Edge was founded 5 years ago. In the years before, I had been active in multiple bands, but I always had the feeling to stagnate. I had written some songs already because I was impatient and so I recorded our first album “Nameless” in 2012. In 2013 we were on tour across Europe with U.D.O. Meanwhile the lineup has changed and some great new musicians joined us. Currently we are in the process of finishing our second album.

What is your background in terms of music and what are your main influences for the sound of Pike’s Edge?
At the age of 8 years I listened to Heavy Metal for the first time. It was Iron Maiden. Since that time I have been captured by Metal. Bruce Dickinson was my idol. I learned to play the guitar and listened to Iron Maiden, Saxon and Judas Priest the whole day long. Moreover, I was a child of the 80s Rock generation. In my homeland some sort of Balkan-Rock culture had been established, and me and my guitar were smack in the middle of it. These influences can be found in our sound and, I think, it is not quite usual.

On your homepage you write “Pike’s Edge is a part of me”. Am I therefore correct assuming that your lyrics are personal?
The band’s name implicates that for sure. Most of the lyrics for our first album were written by me. The lyrics deal with topics which were important to me, my own experiences. But Pike’s Edge is not a one man show, so there were also lyrics and songs of my bandmates on our album. All I want to say is, that Pike’s Edge are not a part of me because I write the lyrics. It is a part of me because I put everything I have into the music: my heart, my soul, work and money.

After the release of “Nameless” you did a tour with U.D.O. How did it work for you?
Quite well, I would say. We had 35 shows in 9 countries. At the beginning we did not know what would expect us, but everything was easy. Both, U.D.O. and the crew were cool. We also got a cool resonance from the audience although they didn’t know us. We did a great job, warmed the crowd up well. It was real fun to play such big stages, but it is  also hard work to get up on stage every day. You need a lot of self-discipline to bring 110% every evening. But it is very hard. I carried a bottle with hot tea with me the whole day and did not speak a single word the whole day. But all in all it was a great experience. We met a lot of interesting and nice people, many stories and even more questions. Most people were absolutely open-minded. That is something you do not experience as a tourist.

After the tour some lineup changes happened. Why?
Already during the recodings of “Nameless” two band members had to leave due to private reasons. We replaced them quickly and did the rehearsals. On stage we did a cool show, but after the shows the differences concerning the band’s future became obvious. Due to these difficulties we all learned to focus on our goals – whatever they might be. Now I know how important it is to talk about certain issues early.

At the beginning of next year, your new album will be released. What can you tell us about it?
We have arrived at the final phase right now, so the album will be released at the beginning of next year. But we do not have a certain date yet. We will keep everybody informed via Facebook and our homepage. The title will be “All of our beauty” and that reflects the content of the lyrics.

As you told already, your bandmates quit after the U.D.O. tour. Did you write the new songs alone or were your new bandmates already involved?
On the tour I got to know Fitty Weinhold, the U.D.O. bass player. He supported us on tour and we both discovered that we were quite similar, so we stayed in contact after the tour. After the tour, I was really upset and didn’t want to make music any longer. But Fitty convinced me to carry on and so the idea of producing an album together was born. Meanwhile I had gathered a new team. Fitty came over to Munich at the beginning of this year and we entered a studio for 10 days. It turned out that our new guitar player Lukas is a talented songwriter and a master of his class. So we 3 wrote the new album together

You sent me ‘Blind Side Of You’, ‘Denial of Serice’ and ‘Faded Shadow’ in advance. In how far did they represent the album?
Those were the first three tracks we recorded. Their style is the style of the whole album, but I think that there is still enough tension on the album.

My impression is that the songs are more melodic than previous material. Especially the lead guitar is more often in use than before.
Yes, definitely, the guitars and the guitar solos are affected by Lukas kind of playing. Our aim was to improve our style in terms of music and technic quality. There should be more dynamics between hard and soft tunes. Also the melodies and the level of catchiness should be improved.

I realized that the roughness of your vocals was reduced, they became more classic, smoother. Was this an intentional change?
That is our point of view. Others thought that they were much harder than before. I think that both sides are covered and those who like it hard will enjoy these parts, those who like it soft will enjoy the other parts. That was actually our goal.

What will happen after your album release?
A lot. We hope to play a lot of shows in 2016. Some dates are fixed already. You will find all new confirmed shows on our homepage. But there is still a lot of work to do for our live show. We also want to make some videos. So 2016 will be a busy year.

A private question at the end: Your homeland is Bosnia, but you have been living for several years in Germany now. I guess that you came here as a refugee. So how do you see today’s discussion about refugees?
I had to leave my hometown in 1992. My odyssey took more than 3 years until arrived in Germany in 1995. Unbelievable, it is already 20 years ago. Today, from my point of view, there is not much to discuss. We have to help these people first, then we can search solutions and discuss the possibilities. A lot has to change because the world is on a dangerous course. We have to eliminate the evil and replace it by justice. The roots of war and hunger have to be eliminated. We have no other alternative than giving our best to make the world more a better place.

Contributors

Timo Pässler

timo@stalker-magazine.rocks - reports, reviews, photos - - - Favorite genres? - - - Power, Speed, Melodic, Symphonic and Thrash Metal, sometimes also Black and Death Metal, when I am in mood for it - - - Favorite bands? - - - Blind Guardian, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Powerwolf, Kreator, Vader, Avantasia, Iced Earth, Amon Amarth and many more! - - - Other interests? - - - Music (listening + playing), sports, acting and scouts

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