Dani was hugely enthusiastic throughout our conversation and spoke about how he had always wanted to join HELLOWEEN since being a child, and what life is like living his dream with the band. He gave infinite wisdom to young musicians and also a beautiful message to the fans.
It’s your 20th year as a drummer for the band this year, you’re for sure by far the longest tenured drummer for HELLOWEEN. How did it feel establishing yourself after two legendary drummers so well in a band this size?
First of all, it’s an honor. I grew up listening to Helloween, and Ingo (previous HELLOWEEN drummer) had a big influence and still has a big influence on me because I still play his songs, so that means I have to carry his legacy. It might sound a bit superficial, but I mean it really seriously, and I take it seriously; I carry his legacy with honor and with respect. Whenever it is about playing his drum parts, I’ll try to implement as much as possible of his original drumming and sometimes I take his drumming styles and use the original drum fillings, and it’s an honor. I still learn, and I’ve learned a lot by copying him and interpreting his drum parts.
Talking about Uli (previous HELLOWEEN drummer) I know Uli personally, even before I joined HELLOWEEN we got into contact, and he’s a master, a great technical drummer, and a nice human being. Mikkey Dee, who left his footprints as a studio dummer for HELLOWEEN is also a role model to me.
My whole career is packed with (influential drummers), and by every band I joined, the former drummer always left big footprints. I always had to practice my arse off to fit into these prints, and the same with when I joined HELLOWEEN, it was a completely different league and I had to practice, practice, practice and still have to practice because being the drummer in HELLOWEEN is a lot as the kind of music we play is so progressive and different; we play poppy songs, we have metal, thrash metal attitudes, power metal… we have rock, pop and orchestral drumming and sometimes within in one song I’ve to change my style thematically multiple times.
Those former cats made me a better musician, and they’re still challenging me and I really like this and I hope I do well in the point of treating their legacy with respect and keeping the legacy alive in honor of them.
What have the highlights been so far since joining HELLOWEEN?
“Budokan!” playing Budokan, playing “Rock in Rio” was the pinnacle, and of course, the reunion “PUMPKINS UNITED” was one of the pinnacles and highlights playing those big stadiums and venues. To pick out one highlight would be too easy. The entire journey of being (with HELLOWEEN) is a highlight from the beginning on, when we were just the five of us playing in five to seven thousand capacity venues, and now playing in stadiums and big venues with up to twenty thousand people and headlining big festivals. Being able to play Budokan was a dream that came true, as a kid having all those records in my hand, “Live in Budokan” albums, and all of a sudden you find yourself on that stage it’s like “wow”.
When we flew back from Budokan and I was next to Sasha, lying in bed and he was looking at me, and
I said to him you know what? This plane could break now and I don’t care because hey all my dreams are fulfilled, Budokan- tick! Bucket list, all my dreams are all ticked off… Okay lets go down on this plane, I don’t care and he was like “No, I wanna get home to my wife and I was like yeah me too but you know…
It was one of those moments when I was there (at success). As a kid, I grew up in rural life. I’m from a little village on the outskirts of Turi, close to the Alps, and somehow I made it to a band like HELLOWEEN without moving from there. I know a lot of friends who moved to LA to start a career- I didn’t even think about this. I was so ignorant, either the career comes to me or not, somehow it happened as mental as anything. I felt like now I’ve made it to Budokan it was like “wow”, that touched my heart. I’m still proud of it, it’s one of the highlights, but the highlight of all is being in the band for over twenty years…wow.
Time flies! Half of the band’s career was done with me behind the drums, we got into such a nice friendship, and the older we get, the more maturity takes place, and the ego is gone, now we’re on par. No ego things going on anymore.
The older we get the more we enjoy doing what we do, playing music, and getting together in a rehearsal room and tossing around ideas, playing ideas, and making music, and that’s the difference. I think it’s something to do with maturity and wisdom I know exactly how this music business works and I know what to do and how it feels, and all the wrong signed contracts are paid off right now. (laughing) I signed a lot of stuff (regretfully imitating himself)
We had to stick the the fucking compliance. It’s part of getting older and experiencing things but I can’t complain
I live a dream, I really do and talking about the new album, I cant explain I don’t have any words to express my feelings its very emotional and the interviews I give the more I realize what a wonderful thing it is, making music, talking about music getting in contact with people around the world due to the music that touches peoples souls and imaginations. I don’t want to be too emotional.
The new album “Giants and Monsters” is out on the 29th of August, so exciting! Sonically the album has elements of classic power metal blended with a modern feel. Do you feel it was a direct response to the new generation of fans?
I wouldn’t take the new fans into account for it, it’s more that we are so curious about new techniques and new music and curiosity makes us go with the world, the world goes round and round and is turning and especially Sasha and I are into new techniques, new music, new styles, the other boys as well. We infect them with our creativity and with new things. That’s why you will hear some new elements because we’re open-minded, were not ignorant old farts, who think no, no it has to be the way.
We’re surrounded by a young crew, young crew members, and sons, and they bring in new ways of technical approaches and music, and as long as you’re open-minded and you need to keep your eye on what’s going on in the market and the internet. Today it’s so easy to turn on YouTube and sift through what could work best.
Metal has been ever since- evolving, even the young bands they push the envelope so much its impressive from my perspective I’m so into the kind of new styles of drumming that’s going on, that Olympic drumming, I know a lot of those new young drummers personally.
They’re showing me how to play that fast, I mean they’re so fast, they make me feel like a snail, (snail noises and motions with hands). When I started my career, there were no drum videos available.
So I’m in contact with those young cats who are really known for their fast feet and fast drumming, and new music, I breathe it in and soak it in and let it work on me and at at the end of the day it makes something with you as long as you’re open minded and I put into myself a lot of little seedlings and let it grow seeds and water it when it comes to being creative in a pond of drum recording for HELLOWEEN.
Creativity is a reflection of your lifestyle, how you live, your state of mind, how you think and what you do.
I believe for Giants and Monsters you recorded all tracks on three different drum sets to individually decide which set delivers the perfect vibe of a song. Can you tell us more about this and the creative process behind your drumming?
That’s the first time (I’ve done this), Charlie and I, before we started, we had some phone calls about what we could do and what the concept could be for the upcoming drum recordings. We thought, okay, let’s bring in as much material and equipment as possible, which is no problem for me I’m a drum nerd, my barrels, my stock is exploding.
We brought in a couple of drum kits and started recording, and after a certain song, we weren’t quite sure how the metal attitude and how we approached the song was the best way, so I played a little bit differently, and it still didn’t feel well.
Then Charlie came up with the idea, let’s get a more rock-sounding drum kit, so we set up this other one and I played more like a rock drummer on a rock drum kit, and all of a sudden it was a dramatic change and were were like “wow that’s awesome”, lets try it on this stadium drum rock kit, so we brought it in and recorded on a Big Bertha, we named the bass drum, its so massive, a big twenty-eight bass drum from a marching band so we converted it into being our bass drum, but when I squeezed this thing into my drum rack we had to get rid of a couple of toms, I’m used to playing on five toms and all of sudden I’m playing with one single pedal, I’m used to playing with two bass drums and thousands of toms and all of a sudden Charlie pushed the button and I was like “Hey I’m not ready” and Charlie said “You will survive do whatever you want to do, my left foot was trembling and I was thinking keep calm and just went for it (makes drum noises)
I did my thing and left out a load of notes, it ended up sounding like a stadium rock sounding drum version with just one tom, a lot of space in-between the notes, for example, “This is Tokyo” was a little too much or “Hand of God” you can feel the space between the notes and the frequencies the bass drum delivers.
So me and Charlie ended up with three different versions; the stadium version, the metal rock version and the metal version and we’re like now which ones the best one for each song so we showed it to the rest of the band and it ended up having certain songs but not all, there are metal versions where it was clear as crystal from the beginning no doubt that’s gonna be recorded as metal drumming and I’ve to do what I like most playing the macho way, but certainly with most songs we recorded three versions to have a nice diverse version of it and now on the record you have the perfect sound and the perfect feel for every single song and that’s the first time since I joined HELLOWEEN to have this possibility to bring in so much equipment and time.
We were recording (the album) over six weeks it was a six week battle of war; we wasted so much drum heads; over two-hundred drum heads, let alone drum sticks and symbols, and we tried always after the perfect feel in a pond of metal, my thoughts were “I have to bash this fucking drumkit like hell”
Charlie wanted me to play like mayhem; almost at the edge of losing control, as soon as I got back into that control, he let me drum again, he wanted this madness and mayhem controlled, but at the edge, almost floppy, but he captured the freshness. We call it a “British” approach to the drumming, the feel we’re after is more like don’t play too hard, softer but more rocky, if it’s too ‘metalish’, play more like a rock drummer. We watched a lot of YouTube videos to get the right feel for the song we were about to record, the tips and tricks took time but it paid off because we have the right feeling and the right sound for every single song on this record.. as every artist says, probably before his baby got to be released, “I’m really proud of it”
For the first time in twenty years, this is the first record I’m really proud of with the best outcome I’ve ever recorded. I haven’t been that creative before this is the first time we caught and captured every spark of creativity and we were so spontaneous and it came fresh out of my soul.
I’m not a ‘rock and roller’, I’m a metal fan, and as soon as I listen to a guitar riff, my heart starts beating with all my dedication. I’m really fussy about my drum arrangements, and it has to touch Charlie at least because he’s the first person next to me who feels what I mean. As soon as he hears and can feel my passion and dedication, I’m okay with it. We’ve been working together for over twenty-five years even before I joined HELLOWEEN, we did recordings together, so he knows me, we know each other inside out, and he teased me and tortured me because he knows when it’s not “100% Dani”. I have no permission to get back to the room where he sits without bleeding hands. He will say, “Show me your fingers, no blood? Go back and come back when it’s bloody,”… but there’s a little trick- tomato sauce (jokingly laughing)
What’s the greatest musical advice you’ve been given that you would like to pass on?
The best musical advice I’ve been given is follow your heart, follow your dedication, if you don’t have both of this, go and get a real job and a haircut!
It has something to do with love because I’ve never spent a moment in my life when I grew up (not knowing) I always knew that the day will come that I will get the offer to play with HELLOWEEN-
I saw this day come as a little kid, I dreamt a lot of things I experienced as a kid, it sounds crazy but it’s true, it’s a spiritual thing I think. I always played music because of my love and passion; I put in a lot of dedication as a little kid. I played for hours on my drum kit, and then from a certain age on, this dedication turned into a practice routine to get better and better and better. I still have an imagination of what kind of drummer I want to be, but I realized that there’s not much time left in my life to reach those goals but I said to myself “okay you cant live that long to reach your goal as a drummer but for as long I live I’ll try to get as close as possible to that goal and that’s my motivation I still practice everyday.
I can’t wait to get to my rehearsal room, I love what I do rather than sitting on the sofa watching soccer, I do it afterwards to get my mind clean. I can tell you…love, dedication, and passion, that’s the best advice I’ve gotten and got it from somewhere it was implanted in me, and that’s what drives me. As long as you have those things happening, you’re safe, but if u lose it, you need a real job and a haircut – (quote the Australian musician who gave this advice to him), I’ve passed this down to young drummers, as that’s the foundation of everything.
Lots of people say I’m so focused on what I do, and so strict and so organized. Everyday I’m strict, I go to the rehearsal room, its the dedication and the love and passion I have for my drums; that’s why I’m so fussy,
Every note deserves to be interpreted even when played live with the best I can do in this moment and if it wasn’t the best its not good enough for my dedication and passion, my honor and my love towards the music drums. I have to give always my best and you can see when I’m playing live I’m always above 100%. I’m always the 100% person.
HELLOWEEN are set to go on their 40th anniversary tour in October across Europe! Congratulations! What can we expect from a live show on this run?
Pure energy with chaos all over, because we’re able to deliver a certain vibe and attitude and energy from the seven of us is all different characters, but how we work and feel together and get along with each other, that brings a certain energy on stage, and you can rely on this every tour.
Of course, we rustled up a setlist, and I can already hear the complaints with the legacy. With HELLOWEEN there are many things to play, but we can’t cater to all the certain fans all over the world. The expectations are high.
We want to fulfill our expectations, and we put on all the songs we thought would be cool on a 40th anniversary tour, but then you’ve got to refine and be realistic. We cant have five hours even four or three so its down to a two hour plus show and so now we have a certain setlist we have in our rehearsal room and a couple weeks ago we started reparations and what works best how we can rearrange for sure.
The fans can expect some unplayed songs, some surprises; we want to live up to the best we can. The set-up for the stage is incredible and massive, and only this new stage set ignites a fire, plus our set list, which will work well and fulfill the fans’ expectations. Our expectations come first, and then the fans; that’s what we’re after. Because if we enjoy ourselves on stage, and the fans see us enjoying ourselves, that’s the best way we entertainers enjoy ourselves, and what we do give our best, it can ignite a fire for the fans, and we’re all in this moment together.
We’ve prepared some never played before songs (at least with this lineup) and some surprises, medleys and a new stage set and a new show and new content, and we try to deliver an unforgettable night and unforgettable show and unforgettable entertainment that’s all go!
To celebrate forty-plus years, which is this kind of longevity and perseverance, it’s massive. I have to pay my old fathers a big compliment. I mean, I came in twenty years ago, but there were already twenty years gone. HELLOWEEN have been going for such a long time; we’re still dedicated and have passion; you can see the sparks in their(other band members) eyes, and I have to pay my mates a big compliment.
I enjoy playing with them, we’re really mates for life, and we have some nice surprises, and it’s going to be a surprise for the fans as well.
We can’t wait to bite the bullet and get on stage. It’s been almost two years since we last played a show, Mexico was the last show, and I haven’t been on stage since. At the beginning, its like holy shit yeah and then finally go back to the studio, I separate myself from being a band/musician, on one hand you live for your creativity and create Art and you’re an artist when I’m in the studio but when I’m on stage I stick into the suit of an entertainer. There are two different stages and topics, and I always try to keep the balance and a little can get it into too much imbalance, and then it gets tricky.
With HELLOWEEN we always make it and handle it to balance it out, and that’s what I really like in our world. Being an artist and creativity is spontaneous, and on the other hand, being an entertainer to show up and entertain spectators and fans, it’s a nice diverse role that I’m in, it all goes around and makes it colorful.
What does the future hold for you/HELLOWEEN?
I hope it holds a lot of great moments for us. The bet has yet to come because the success of the band has a way of exploding. We’ve experienced a lot (knock on wood/head) (I hope) everyone of us keeps in good shape health wise, we’re getting older, you never know, it can happen fast, fingers crossed we keep in good shape and good state of mind, and to enjoy ourselves more and more and to be able to give the fans a good time.
If you don’t love yourself, you can’t give love; that’s the way we follow. A lot of cool things are coming, I feel it, and I can’t wait to get on stage and, well, see what the tour will bring. It’s exciting to go on tour and see all the eyes of fans and the energy. We’ll see how it’s going to be with the new material and how the new material works.
Dani expressed that he has a message for the fans. It’s as follows:
Pick up the words from before, water your little seedlings of passion, dedication, and love towards music, towards art, and yourself. If you’re not in balance with yourself, your passion, and your love, you’re on the wrong path in your life, and you can’t enjoy music, your lovers, or the people you’re surrounded with. The world you created for yourself? Always create a world based on passion, dedication, and love. Stay positive and healthy, watch what you eat, watch how you treat people and animals, and every living thing on this earth, and good luck.