I was just stepping into my house when the phone rang and on the other side of the line was Bernhard Weiss from Axxis. I asked him if it was possible to call me back in a couple of minutes in order to prepare the tape recorder and he was not only kind enough to do so, but he gave us a great interview…so, Bernhard, thank you for taking the time to do this!

Interview: Sakis Nikas

Rockpages.gr: Bernhard, it’s great to hear from you. I have done in the past interviews with Harry and Rob, but this is the first time with you.

Bernhard Weiss: Well, we’ll make sure that there will follow more interviews in the future!

Rockpages.gr: Alright. It’s been several months since the release of “Utopia”. How do you feel about it?

Bernhard Weiss: I really like “Utopia”…I think that we’ve done our best to deliver great songs and we’ve tried several things differently this time.

Rockpages.gr: Such as…?

Bernhard Weiss: Well, we have a new drummer on board (Alex Landenburg) who plays in a more…how shall I describe it…I’d say in a more progressive way. Also, he came up with lots of ideas that we used on the album. On the other hand, we didn’t use so much the female vocals this time. “Utopia” has definitely a sound that we wanted to achieve right from the beginning of the whole project. This was an expensive production and the whole mixing process gave justice to all the compositions.

Rockpages.gr: In your last 3-4 albums, you tend to use more and more keyboards in your sound. Is it something that you’ve done deliberately before going into the studio or was it a natural progression for you?

Bernhard Weiss: Our keyboard player, Harry (Oellers), has been in the band for almost 20 years and he’s definitely a big part of the music of Axxis. You are quite right when you say that we are using more and more keyboards to our songs, but I think that it’s just the way that we right in the past decade or so. Also, we have so much equipment in the studio that would be a really shame if we didn’t use it.

Rockpages.gr: Personally, I prefer the more straightforward way of writing with guitars in the front…like you used to write in the first 4-5 albums of yours. Do you miss that Axxis style?

Bernhard Weiss: Yeah, I know what you mean…but, if you think about it, Axxis always used keyboards in their songs. Sometimes the guitars are in the front and sometimes the keyboards are more important to one of our songs. But, it’s not like I miss the old style because this was 15-20 years ago and after all this is who I am right now and I believe that the band is stronger than ever at this point.

Rockpages.gr: Where does the title of the album refer to?

Bernhard Weiss: “Utopia” has a lot of meaning behind it…nowadays, with the financial crisis and the whole political situation in the world everybody seems to think differently and wants a better future for everyone. There is this talk about the environmental pollution and nothing really has changed all these years. “Utopia” is actually an ideal place where there are no problems in the world and everybody is happy…it is not this world, but we can only hope to come closer to “Utopia”! It’s like the movie “Last Man On Earth” with Will Smith…the fact is that we should definitely do something to change things around.

Rockpages.gr: Bernhard, why does Sarah want to die (ed.note: “Sarah wants to dies” is the title of a song on “Utopia”)?

Bernhard Weiss: (laughs) Cool question! There was this little girl in Germany who had cancer and she was in a lot of pain. I actually spoke with her…it’s very interesting how the children are dealing with the subject of death and how in some cases their needs and wishes clash with what their parents want. Sarah didn’t have a future and she actually wanted to die and rest in peace. The girl had really made up her mind, but her parents didn’t want to lose their child. That’s what the song is all about…

Rockpages.gr: You recorded a bonus track for the celebration of 20 years in the business. Whose idea it was?

Bernhard Weiss: We had this idea of recording one song for this special occasion…initially, we wanted to put out a bonus-disc on “Utopia” with re-recorded classic songs of Axxis, but AFM didn’t have the money for such an expense (laughs)! So, we called some good friends of ours, we invited them in the studio and we recorded the song really fast. It was really important for us to make this work as the management didn’t think that this was a good idea…

Rockpages.gr: How come?

Bernhard Weiss: Because, they thought that all those singers from power metal, classic metal, thrash metal, hard rock couldn’t mix together…so to speak. I mean, there is nothing wrong to have in the studio at the same time Andi Deris, Schnmier, Doro, David Readman…as long as the song is good, it’s in your hands to make the whole thing work.

Rockpages.gr: Which Axxis album is really important to you?

Bernhard Weiss: Well, I can’t really say just one album…I hold different memories from all our albums…even those that didn’t turn out really great like “Matters of Survival”. I vividly remember our collaboration with Keith Olsen. So, if you ask me which album I should recommend to someone, I will have to say “Utopia” is really representative of who we are right now. But, “Kingdom of The Night” was really important because it opened doors for us and it was the big ticket to our career. If it wasn’t for “Kingdom of The Night”, we wouldn’t have this conversation right now.