Interview For Whiplash Site (11/13/03)
By Rafael Carnovale And Thiago Pinto Corrêa Sarkis
Translated By Marcelo Hashimoto

Masterplan is on its way to Brazil, almost just an year after the release of its debut. A short period between things, we would say. However, it was enough to conquer a great number of fans, excited about the competency the band imposed over itself. After the departure from Helloween, Uli Kusch and Roland Grapow gained a new life with the band they created and had more possibilities on decision making and musical direction. The result was outstanding. The group deserved attention also due to the vocals, made by Jorn Lande. And what a good choice the former Helloween members have made. Lande appears as one of the greatest revelations of the last years in metal and has a flawless performance, just like he did previously on bands like Vagabond, Beyond Twilight and Ark. On an exclusive interview, the guitarist and band leader, Roland Grapow, tell us details of Masterplan, the repercussions of the first album, Jorn Lande's choice the expectations about the tour with Gamma Ray.

Roland, almost an year after the debut's release, how would you analyse the results and repercussions of the work?
It's like a dream come true. If you could imagine how bad we became after all those problems and suffering, to finally have a good chance again. After a heavy work that we did, it was really like a Phoenix being reborn from the ashes. Uli and I are really satisfied and happy now.

You and Uli considered names such as "Escalation 666" before you oficialized the band as Masterplan. Is there some connection with "The Dark Ride" album?
No, Masterplan has nothing to do with "The Dark Ride" album. In general, I like "The Dark Ride" album. It's not perfect, but it's good. However, about the connection with Masterplan, just the production experience, which I had with Roy Z, that also featured lower tones on the guitars on two or three songs.

Are you preparing something new on studio already?
We don't have anything ready yet. We are in the process of composition and, more specifically, we are now getting all the ideas that appeared so far. On February or March 2004 we'll start recording our now next album, and we hope that the release will happen in September.

How was your first contact with Jorn Lande, maybe through Malmsteen, and his choice for the vocals? You had other vocalists in mind, like Russell Allen, right?
Yes, yes, Russell Allen already did some pre-productions with us and he sounded totally different from the point we came to. My contact with Jorn Lande was through Ark and his solo album "Worldchanger". Jorn's vocal melodies are extremely important and they fit better on Masterplan's sound. He was the perfect choice for us. About Malmsteen, Jorn actually never recorded an album with him and by that time I didn't even know that he had been in tour with Yngwie.

About Yngwie, everyone knows of your admiration for him. Nowadays, what would you say about Malmsteen's career and the influence of his work over you?
Yngwie was a great influence for a long time and I also had a great friendship with him on a certain period. But now I have my own identity, I'm not involved with that neo-classical music anymore. Ninety-five percent of the times I've been playing with Gibson guitars and I've had a completely different sound since them. Nowadays, I'm more impressed and involved with Michael Schenker, John Sykes, Zakk Wylde and Uli Jon Roth, again. Those are my heroes since I began playing, before I even knew about Yngwie.

Back to Jorn, the idea of recording Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" came specially because of the vocals? His performance on this song is frightening...
No, the idea already existed. We had already settled of recording this song for a spanish tribute to the band [Released in Spain through Locomotive company, but with bands from different countries], before Jorn became our final choice for the singer. But we were really happy when we heard the result after Jorn recorded the vocals.

With Masterplan, are you putting a definitive end to your solo career?
At the time, I'm not really interested on any solo activities. Maybe in a couple of years, but I wouldn't be able to say which kind of activity it would be. Maybe just an instrumental album.

What really happened between Uli and you and Helloween?
We were fired due to stupid reasons, that only Andi Deris and Michael Weikath have knowledge about [Laughs]. Afterwards, it was just a natural process of keep playing together and creating a new band, with new musicians around us. Now we are much more happy than on all those previous years.

This tour with Gamma Ray is like the former Helloween member bands together. Have you ever thought that this might represent a strong rivalry?
Honestly, that would mean that we have bad blood running through our veins. And if we had such hate in our minds, how would we be able to creat such a good album as Masterplan? We don't care about Helloween anymore. That's a problem just for some and people from the press, maybe. R.I.P..

I believe that as the leader of Masterplan your position is very different from the one you had in Helloween. How have you been dealing with that?
I'm the engine and probably also the administrator of the band, but I don't like the word 'leader'. But I really like this situation and my position on the band. I always felt underestimated in Helloween. Just Kai Hansen's replacement. And we never had a leader on Helloween. We were always surrounded by chaos and confusion but, for any reason, it worked [Laughs]. We made some good albums. Now we simply do what we decide and want. Without a stupid management between us. Everything is on the hands of Uli, Jorn and me.

With two years of existance and just one album, you're already on a tour with Gamma Ray, and not as the opening band. Did you think Masterplan would receive such acknowledgement so fast?
No way. We had a lot of hope, but reality is always different. However, deep in our hearts we knew that we had created a fantastic album. We felt that, and much more than on any other album we had made before.

And you would say about touring with Gamma Ray? Do you have any plans of working together besides the tour?
I like Gamma Ray. The music is cool and I love their energy. We have an excellent relationship. Kai Hansen and I already talked about some plans for the future with Uli Kusch and Michael Kiske also involved. I had this idea since I left Helloween. Maybe it'll happen in one or two years, just like a solo project, we'll see. It could be interesting [Laughs].

Would you already point a song as the peak of the shows? How you have been noticing Masterplan's live performances?
I don't see a specific song. All of them are peaks. In Japan we had a lot of success with "Heroes". But maybe also with "Soulburn", "Spirit Never Die", "Crystal Night" and "Crawling From Hell". During the performances everything, all the songs have been working well, and it's great playing live.

On this south american tour, what could come besides Masterplan songs?
We are used to play a not very long medley involving "The Chance" [From Helloween's 1991 "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" album], "Departed" ["The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)" from Helloween's 2000 "The Dark Ride" album] and the song "Sunset Station" from Jorn Lande's "Worldchanger" album. Maybe there'll be a jam with Gamma Ray, let's see what will happen!

Thanks for the interview... Conclude as you like!
Thanks a lot for your support and I hope to see you soon on a great concert. Let's have some fun over there. "Obrigado".