Michael Kiske feels Andi Deris’ arrival in Helloween saved the band and allowed it to redefine itself

Michael Kiske feels Andi Deris’ arrival in Helloween saved the band and allowed it to redefine itself

Helloween frontman Michael Kiske was recently interviewed by Eamon O’Neill for eonmusic. Kiske was promoting Helloween‘s new self-titled album, which was released earlier this month via Nuclear Blast Records and reached the #1 position on the German music charts.

Kiske left Helloween after the group’s experimental and commercially disappointing album Chameleon (1993). He was replaced by Andi Deris in 1994 who has been with the band ever since. Kiske rejoined Helloween for their very successful Pumpkins United World Tour, which started in 2017.

In terms of Deris‘ impact on the band, Kiske commented: “When Andi came into the band, it saved the band. He brought into the band what the band needed. The band needed a new focus, and he brought great songs into the band, and as it worked out, they were better then. We were just not a band anymore, for whatever reason, it doesn’t really matter. If one person freaks out and doesn’t want to make music with another person, that’s just the way it is; it’s not fair or whatever, but that was the spirit we’re in, and that shows that we were not really functioning as a band anymore.”

On what are his favourite Helloween songs from when he wasn’t in the band, Kiske indicated: “I haven’t listened to everything, and in those years, I couldn’t listen to it, but now, I completely can. I can be completely objective, and I understand why it worked out. I understand why the ‘Master of the Rings’ album was successful, because it does not sound like ‘Keeper’; they did not try to fake that sound, but it sounded like Helloween, somehow. It’s like Van Halen did; they sounded very different, not only vocal-wise with Sammy Hagar, but also the song writing changed. It was new Van Halen, but it was still Van Halen, and that’s pretty much what this band did too. They were able to redefine themselves, and I think that’s why it worked out over the years, and that’s why they never died.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Michael Kiske at eonmusic‘s website.

Helloween‘s “Power” video (from The Time of The Oath album released in 1996):