At Wacken 2011, Tobias Sammet decided that he would put his metal opera Avantasia to rest after 5 outstanding albums that delivered the very best of power metal talent in a unique musical package. In 2013 Tobias announced that Avantasia is just too special to peter out, proving that with a brilliant new album ‘The Mystery of Time‘ along with a grandiose string of shows. With a brand new album ‘Ghostlights‘ arriving this week, we catch up with Tobias to ask some questions about the album and what Avantasia means to him…
An epic band deserves an epic interview. Over the time we speak to Tobi we talk all things Avantasia where he explains how the epic project needed to live on, and has matured more with ‘Ghostlights‘, with more big names singing on the album, and even more heavy metal thrown into the mix. A long interview awaits, but answers everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the project!
Read an extract from the interview here, where we ask Tobi about all the guest singers on ‘Ghostlights‘, and listen to the entire interview below:
Moving on the music [‘Ghostlights’], I guess the next question is how on earth did you get all these superstars to sing on the album?
Well…I bribed them. [Laughs] No, I mean it was easy. Well it sounds easier when I tell it than it actually was but it’s pretty much asking them and see if they like a certain song. Some people I had known before, for example Marco from Nightwish, we had talked about it [Avantasia] two years ago. I met him at an awards show in Germany and when we all got our awards…you know how it is...
When you all got your Grammy’s?
[Laughs] Yea! You know all those things that are just covered with dust after a while and you just throw away…no. I met him there and I asked him ‘Marco, if I ever do an Avantasia album again would you like to sing on it?’ and he said ‘Yea! Just get in touch with me and we’ll take it from there. If you have something ready just let me hear it.’
That’s what I remembered, the same with Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation. It was as easy as she sung on the first two albums.
I was about to say she is making another appearance for Avantasia!
Yea, it was really funny. She hasn’t been present on the last four albums, and then I wrote that song ‘Isle of Evermore’ and I thought that’s a great song for Madonna…or even Sharon den Adel! I think Sharon is a strong version of Madonna – seriously I really love her voice – and I had this gut feeling when writing the song she would be the right person to sing it.
I found an old letter back from 2007 that said ‘Hey Tobi, it was great to sing on your album! If you ever need me again, you know where to find me!’ And then suddenly I thought, ‘Wait let me think a second, no I don’t know where to find you!’ because her email address had changed, but I got in touch and she agreed to sing the song and she did it eventually.
So 15 years later you finally found her?
Yea! If she would have said no I would have got a lawyer to see if that letter back then was like a contractual agreement! But yea got in touch with her and it was very easy.
With Dee Snider [Twisted Sister] it was the same thing, I mean I had not really known him before, but I had that song ‘The Haunting’, and I thought ‘this would be a great song for someone who is more of an actor in the verse as opposed to a singer’ but I also needed a singer, basically someone who could do both things! I wanted to have a very theatrical acting person and someone who could sing dramatic vocal lines. So I contacted Dee and he wanted to listen to the song, and he said ‘yea it’s great let’s do it!’
So that was really easy, and I’m thankful for it…I’m still flattered to be able to work with all these great people, it was not everybody who agreed however…
Listen to the full interview below!
‘Ghostlights’ hit shelves and digital on 29th January via Nuclear Blast Records. Believe us, it’s the heavy metal album you want this year.
