November 1st, 2003:
As previously announced, Masterplan confirmed the dates for the south american tour with Gamma Ray. There might be other dates or some possible alterations on the current ones to include more cities and more concerts, but so far that's the official information.

September 4th, 2003:
Masterplan is confirmed on two more festivals: Roverfest in Moscow and More Than Fest in Slovakia. The concert in Slovakia will also feature Gamma Ray and is probably the beggining of an upcoming tour with Kai Hansen's band which might go through South America. Recent gigs in Japan had covers for "Woman From Tokyo", "Man On A Silver Mountain" and "The Show Must Go On".

August 30th, 2003:
Roland Grapow became 44 years old today. Happy birthday to him.

July 14th, 2003:
The webmaster of this site has been so distracted during the last couple months that he forgot to mention that two weeks ago, the Kaleidoscope website completed its second year of existance. I would like to thank all the support from my friends, from Roland fans and from Roland himself, for giving me the strenght to keep doing a good job, or at least what I hope it's a good job, despite my recent complications which didn't allow me to update it too often. I'll keep doing my best. Special thanks to the people on the Your Turn and We Burn message boards, because you certainly did my job a lot more fun and worthy. Let us hope for more good years.

July 14th, 2003:
The Kaleidoscope homepage desperately needs translators! Lately, there's been a huge flow of new interviews with Roland from different countries, and the webmaster is not being able to handle them all. At least not on proper time. Therefore, if there are any fans out there who speak german or french and have some free time to help translating the interviews, please contact the webmaster.

July 14th, 2003:
There aren't any important news right now, as Roland is currently busy touring with Masterplan for the european festivals.

May 20th, 2003:
The exclusive interview with questions from the fans to Roland can be already found on this site.

May 20th, 2003:
Masterplan is going to do the first headlining concerts next month. The first one will be held in June 6th, at the Headbanger's Ballroom in Hamburg. The tickets are limited and can be bought through phone or e-mail. To contact the club, call +49 - (0)40 - 315-974 or write to info@headbangers-ballroom.de. This first gig will be done before most of the festivals the band is scheduled to play on, but there will be also three concerts in Japan after them. More details about it can be found on this or Masterplan's official website.

April 22nd, 2003:
Roland is going to Slovakia this weekend as a special guest for the last concert of the Stratovarius and Symphony X tour. Despite the busy schedule, he is taking his time to answer the collection of fans' questions and will conclude the interview soon.

April 22nd, 2003:
Insania Stockholm's new album, "Fantasy: A New Dimension" was recently released through No Fashion Records and features Roland Grapow as a guest appearance on the tracks "Face The King" and "Reflections Of Mine". More details on this site.

April 6th, 2003:
The webmaster of this site would like to apologize for the past three months without updates. During this period, I was both recovering from a surgery and busy with college related works. I honestly thought I could slow down the updates a little while taking care of everything. But I obviously underestimated the situation and now I realize I should've asked someone else to update the site while I wasn't available. Only now I was able to put the website back on track, and I'll do my best to avoid this from happening again.

April 6th, 2003:
Special thanks to all the fans who have sent questions for the interview with Roland. Sorry about the delay, but it will be done soon.

April 6th, 2003:
Masterplan's debut reached number one position on Burrn! charts in Japan, top position on Rock Hard reader's poll in Germany, and after finishing the initial tour as a supporting act for Hammerfall with great success, the band is now confirmed for eight european festivals: Sweden Rock (Sweden), Bang Your Head (Germany), Metal Mania (Spain), Seixal (Portugal), Pitea Dansar And Ler (Sweden), Z7 Metal Days (Switzerland), Wacken Open Air (Germany) and Bloodstock (United Kingdom). More to come.

January 17th, 2003:
As previously announced, the japanese version of Masterplan's debut will feature "Through Thick And Thin" and "The Kid Rocks On" instead of "Enlighten Me" and "Bleeding Eyes". This version, which will be released two days after the european one, will also feature a different order for the tracks. Europe will receive the album, still scheduled for January 20th, in three different versions: A regular one, a limited double edition and a luxury edition which will not only feature the two discs, but also a special digibook packaging.

December 27th, 2002:
It might be a little bit late, but Roland, Masterplan and the Kaleidoscope site would like to wish all the fans out there a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully, 2003 will be filled with great releases and tours. And we will inform everyone of such things.

December 27th, 2002:
Masterplan's debut is not even on stores yet, and four european magazines already granted it the "Album Of The Month" award: Rock Hard and Heavy Oder Was from Germany, Metallian from France and Sweden Rock Magazine. As if this was not enough, the band is already confirmed for the german Bang Your Head 2003 festival, which will happen in June 27th and 28th and will feature bands such as Twisted Sister and U.D.O.. Plus, the album cover by Rainer Laws and Thomas Ewerhard is already revealed on this site.

December 16th, 2002:
Roland Grapow is going to give an exclusive interview for this site, and this interview needs some help from the fans to happen. During a certain period, this site will be accepting suggestions for questions, and right after there'll be a selection of the 20 most interesting ones. Only those will be sent to Roland and he'll answer all of them. To send the suggestions, it's enough to use the form on the feedback section of this site, all of them will be read. Being this a rare opportunity for the fans to ask Roland directly, it's interesting to avoid common questions that can be seem on any other interview and focus on less discussed subjects.

December 16th, 2002:
Recently, on December 10th, Masterplan's new line-up started reharsing for the upcoming tour for the first time, and things seem to be going very well. The band is planning to play some Helloween songs live, but only songs that Roland or Uli wrote. Meanwhile, "Enlighten Me" reached fifth position on metal single DJ charts and even became "Single Of The Week" on Milan Radio Rock FM in Italy, which means that they've played it every two hours during the whole week. The album artwork will be revealed soon.

December 16th, 2002:
Michael Vescera announced that the new MVP album, "The Altar", will be released on December 18th in Japan, but only on May 12th in Europe. Among the special guests are Roland Grapow, Mike Chlasciak (Halford), Rob Johnson (Magnitude 9), Eddie Ardunay (Dr. Sin), Kiko Loureiro (Angra), Stet Howland (W.A.S.P.), Mats Olausson (Ark) and others. The tracklist can be seen on this site, but there's still no exact info about on which tracks each one of the guests are playing. More details will be revealed soon.

December 16th, 2002:
Arise Records released on December 9th their "The Keepers Of Jericho - A Tribute To Helloween Part II". This time the album included some songs from the period when Roland was in the band, such as "The Chance", "Sole Survivor" and "Power".

November 26th, 2002:
Marquee Avalon, the company that will release the self-titled Masterplan's debut album on Southeast Asia and Japan, announced that the tracklist for the japanese version will be slightly different from the european one. The songs "Through Thick And Thin" and "The Kid Rocks On" are replacing "Enlighten Me" and "Bleeding Eyes". According to the label, this tracklist is more appropriate for the japanese market. Since "Enlighten Me" won't be an available Masterplan song in Japan, neither will be its single or video.

November 25th, 2002:
After the first week after release, "Enlighten Me", Masterplan's debut single is already on the 15th position on german charts. The band is on the list along with famous names such as Iced Earth, Hammerfall, Iron Maiden, Axel Rudi Pell and Symphony X.

November 18th, 2002:
Masterplan's first single, "Enlighten Me" is being released today and Locomotive Music already released the Led Zeppelin tribute, "The Metal Zeppelin - The Music Remains The Same", featuring their version of "Black Dog". The debut single already got 9 of 10 points in one of the most important german magazines, RockHard. Plus, AFM Records recently confirmed that the album will be released one week earlier than previously announced, and will now be at stores on January 20th. The company also put one short MP3 sample of "Enlighten Me" on their official site for the fans to download. Meanwhile, according to official sources, singer Jorn Lande left the progressive band Ark in September and is probably going to focus mainly on Masterplan from now on.

November 18th, 2002:
Michael Von Knorring left Edge Of Time, the upcoming project that will feature a guest appearance of Roland, among many other musicians. The italian singer Chris Heaven is now the main leader of the project and is still working very hard on it.

October 23rd, 2002:
Masterplan's official website is already online at http://www.master-plan.net/. Currently, most sections are still under construction, but the site will probably be fully completed soon. Meanwhile, some of the first official pictures of the band are already available here on this site, as well as new tour dates for the upcoming supporting tour. The first gig at Bochum, Germany, in January 10th will be actually a warm-up concert without Hammerfall. And everything is ready for the release of the first single "Enlighten Me" on November 18th by AFM Records. The definitive tracklist, cover artwork and full recording details are already available here as well.

October 12th, 2002:
The Hamburg band Arctic Fields is busy recording their first album on Crazy Cat Studio under the production of Roland Grapow. The drums have already been finished and more details about the band and upcoming tours can be followed on their official site.

October 12th, 2002:
German melodic metal band Mob Rules recently released their new album, "Hollowed Be Thy Name", which featured a guest appearance by Roland. He played the intro riff of "All Above The Atmosphere" and the solo on "Way Of The World". Full tracklist and cover artwork can be seen on this site. More details about this and other Grapow guest appearances will be posted soon.

September 27th, 2002:
Masterplan's line-up suffered another change. Janne Wirman is no longer in the band because he is too busy with Children Of Bodom, and replacing him is Axel Mackenrott, who already played on cover bands such as Catch The Rainbow and Machine Head, and currently has his own band, Punch TV. Janne still have some guest keyboards on the album. Meanwhile, AFM Records is already announcing the official release dates for Masterplan records. The maxi-single for "Enlighten Me" will be released on November 18th, and will feature five tracks: two versions of "Enlighten Me", "Kind Hearted Light", "Through Thick And Thin" and "Black Dog", the last two being b-sides, and the self-titled debut album will be released on January 27th, with no changes on the announced tracklist. A limited edition of the album will also be released, with two CDs for the price of one, the second one featuring the promo video for "Enlighten Me" and a 10-minute interview with the band. Touring will start on January as well, and the first gigs will be a supporting act for Hammerfall. The european dates are confirmed and can be found on this site. The tour will have two parts, one in January and one in February and the Scandinavian dates will be added after the german ones, probably in the middle of February. The first official pictures, complete cover artwork, band logo and lyrics from the band will soon be published here as well.

September 4th, 2002:
Masterplan's album artwork is already finished and, as previously announced, the logo might look slightly different from now. The band is going to do the first photoshooting next Thursday, September 12th, and record the first video, for the single edit version of "Enlighten Me", on Friday, September 13rd. The band is very excited and hope to have everything done until January, as planned.

September 4th, 2002:
Locomotive Music is planning to release "The Metal Zeppelin - The Music Remains The Same", the tribute to Led Zeppelin which will feature Masterplan performing "Black Dog", on October 28th. The tracklist and cover are already available on this site.

August 21st, 2002:
Roland wants to work on production of new bands using Crazy Cat Studio, and he's currently working on the first album of the band Arctic Fields from Hamburg, as his first job as a producer. This site will soon feature a special section, with some technical info about equipment, studio pictures and ways to contact Roland, for younger bands that might want his work on their albums.

August 21st, 2002:
Roland Grapow is one of the many guest musicians who will play on Edge Of Time, the upcoming project of italian Redlynx singer Chris Heaven and former Yngwie Malmsteen swedish drummer Michael Von Knorring. The band is current on studio recording their parts and receiving tracks from the guests. Currently, the sessions are going pretty fast and more news are to come soon.

August 21st, 2002:
Helloween seem to have finally confirmed Sascha Gerstner as the replacement for Grapow on guitars. This info came from the band's official webmaster, along with the info that the new album is almost fully written, except for solo parts, and is to be released on Spring 2002. Therefore, the rumours about Helloween's future without Roland and Uli Kusch are finally coming to an end.

August 11th, 2002:
More news about the upcoming release of Masterplan. The tracklist is slightly changed, as the songs "Through Thick And Thin", "The Kid Rocks On" and "Black Dog" will be now either bonus tracks or single b-sides. The new tracklist can be found on this site. It's also confirmed that the album was mixed by Mikko Karmila and mastered by Mika Jussila at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland. Currently, the band and Rainer Laws are working on the artwork and logo, and will probably finish it until the mid of September.

August 8th, 2002:
Roland appeared as a guest during Wacken Open Air, introducing the solo band of Timo Kotipelto in front of 30.000 people.

August 8th, 2002:
Masterplan's recording companies are confirmed to be AFM Records worldwide and Marquee Avalon for Southeast Asia and Japan. The first single will be released in November, except on Southeast Asia and Japan, and the official release date for the album is January. Touring will start in January and February as well, first as a support band, then as headliners and finally playing at a lot of festivals. Also, AFM Records already released 25.000 promotional copies of an compilation of their bands, which included, along with songs from Avantasia, Zak Stevens, At Vance, Edguy, Squealer, Dionysus and more, an edited version of "Enlighten Me". Those limited copies were made for the Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze and Popcom Fair festivals only. Meanwhile, the spanish label Locomotive Music finally announced that the official release date for the upcoming Led Zeppelin tribute is September.

August 8th, 2002:
According to some rumours, Helloween is already preparing the next studio album with former Freedom Call guitarist Sascha Gerstner filling the gap on the second guitar left by Roland Grapow. However, other rumours stated that the band didn't like Sascha enough to make him a member of the band, so nothing is confirmed about Sascha staying, or even playing on the band at all.

July 4th, 2002:
Roland went to Finland some time ago and even met with Timo Kotipelto. The Masterplan album is finally fully recorded, and the band is currently looking for recording deals on Asia, Europe and America. The release date will be probably set up to November. Also, a short note for some people who noticed that the Mastermind logo is very similar to the Masterplan logo, Roland confirmed that the current logo is not their definitive version, and several changes might be made in a near future. The artwork is also not finished yet, but both works can be completely finished now that the album is recorded. There are only a few things left to do now.

July 4th, 2002:
Michael Vescera recently signed a deal with Mascot Records to release the third MVP album still this year. Guest appearances are confirmed by Roland Grapow, Kiko Loureiro (Angra), Rob Johnson (Magnitude 9) and Mike Chlasciak (Halford).

July 4th, 2002:
Unofficial yet very reliable sources announced that the replacement for Roland Grapow in Helloween is former Freedom Call member Sascha Gerstner and that the new line-up is going to Tenerife soon to record the next album, although their official webmaster is not giving signs of life for weeks. Meanwhile, Arise Records did a contest between new metal bands to record a track for the upcoming "The Keepers Of Jericho Part 2" Helloween tribute album, which will probably be released in December, and the winner was the finnish band Celesty. Also, online stores such as Amazon.co.uk are already accepting pre-orders for the new "High Live" DVD.

May 24th, 2002:
After some mixing sessions at Nottingham, Roland came to Brazil to participate on the Helloween tribute concert. He played some famous tunes along with great brazilian musicians, had an autograph session at Manifesto Bar and gave a press conference. Roland gave some news about Masterplan and revelaed that he might produce an upcoming album of the brazilian band Dark Avenger.

May 24th, 2002:
Roland was recently at Nottingham mixing the Masterplan record. Due to lack of time, he wasn't able to finish it on time, before he had to travel to Brazil, but there are only a few parts left. Since Uli Kusch is also busy working, not as a drummer or band member, with another project, there aren't too much news about Masterplan other than that. However, before and after the Helloween tribute concert in São Paulo, Roland brought a copy and allowed Led Slay to play three tracks of the upcoming record, "Spirit Never Die", "Heroes" and "Crawling From Hell". Although the songs weren't fully mixed by that time, the crowd seemed to like them very much. There are very few things to do before looking for a label and releasing it on September or October, but the tracklist might be changed.

May 24th, 2002:
Renato Tribuzy, vocalist of the brazilian band Thoten, is working on a solo project called "Execution", which will feature Roland Grapow on some guitar parts. Also confirmed for this project are bassist Magnus Rosén (Hammerfall), who will play on nine songs, Kiko Loureiro (Angra), famous singer Michael Kiske, Mat Sinner (Sinner), Marcos Barzo (Thoten) and Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear).

May 24th, 2002:
Some sound samples from Timo Kotipelto's "Waiting For The Dawn" album are available on his official site. The album, which features Roland's guitar playing on the track "Knowledge And Wisdom", is available on Stratovarius' online store, Stratoshop, and already reached number 12 on finnish charts. Timo and his band will play on Wacken Open Air, but there isn't any info about a possible appearance of Roland. The album cover by Derek Riggs and the tracklist are already available on this site.

May 24th, 2002:
After some problems with the album press, Locomotive Breath finally released their site and their new album, "Heavy Machinery", through Record Heaven Music. This album features a Roland Grapow solo on "The Adventures Of Zaphod Bebblebrox".

May 24th, 2002:
Henjo Richter declined the offer to join Helloween and decided to stay with Gamma Ray, but during the annual Helloween Marathon in WBWC 88.3 FM, Michael Weikath revealed to Tony Webster that the band already have a new guitarist. The marathon featured interviews with Weikath, Roland Grapow and Mark Cross, and those interviews will soon be available online. Meanwhile, Nuclear Blast America finally got a deal to release "The Dark Ride" on a domestic american version. This issue will feature a special value box and a bonus CD for the single "If I Could Fly". Release date is settled for June 25th. Right now, Helloween will work on a new album to be released during 2003 and the webmaster is asking for the fans' to give material for the upcoming redesign of the site.

April 20th, 2002:
For the brazilians who want to see Roland's appearance on the Helloween tribute concert in São Paulo, the gig will happen on March 18th, 21:00, at Led Slay, and will feature Mário Linhares (Dark Avenger), Mário Pastore (Delpht), Renato Tribuzy (Thoten), Kleber Sansellici (Sacred Sinner), Adriano Lourenzo, Fábio Galini and Márcio Galini (Lost Inspiration) and Gabriel Lobitski and José Antonio Carllilo (Sagga). Tickets are on sale for R$ 20,00. Info about places to buy or how to reach Led Slay on Jornal Rock News.

April 20th, 2002:
Roland is very busy at the moment, and releasing news about Masterplan as soon as possible. Two of the titles of the upcoming album have already changed. "Spirit Never Dies" is now "Spirit Never Die" and "Thick And Thin" is now "Through Thick And Thin".

April 20th, 2002:
The final details are confirmed for the solo debut of Timo Kotipelto. The official tracklist also has "Secret Name" as a japanese bonus track and "Book Of The Dead" as a finnish bonus track. A limited digipack edition will also be released, featuring a booklike version of the album. It's also confirmed that none of the songs on the "Beggining" single has Roland's rhythm guitars and solos, and of the two announced songs recorded with his guest appearance, only one, "Knowledge And Wisdom", is actually on the album.

April 20th, 2002:
Locomotive Breath's "Heavy Machinery" album, which features a guest solo by Roland, was supposed to be released on April 8th, but due to some technical problems and difficulties, the label will receive it from the printers and release it only next week.

April 20th, 2002:
Sanctuary has recently released reissue versions of all Helloween albums with Roland on guitars, such as "Pink Bubbles Go Ape", "Chameleon", "Master Of The Rings", "Better Than Raw" and "Metal Jukebox", and also deluxe versions of "The Time Of The Oath" and "High Live" with special packaging. They're also planning to release a special DVD version of "High Live" later this year.

April 9th, 2002:
Some changes on the line-up of Masterplan. Jan-S. Eckert, from Iron Savior, is replacing Jürgen Attig on the bass. Eckert already recorded all the bass lines for the album in February. Plus, all the 13 song titles for the first album, "Masterplan", as well as the complete tracklist and the band logo, are finally revealed on this site. This logo currently has two versions and might have some other ones in the future, but the final version will similar, or one of these. Michael Kiske's duet with Jorn Lande is on the song "Heroes".

April 9th, 2002:
The confirmed release date for Timo Kotipelto's "Waiting For The Dawn" album, on which Roland plays rhythm guitars and solos, is May 21st. The album has a concept based on myths and reality of ancient egyptian times. It was recorded in Helsinki, Finland, the vocals and guitars at Hästholm / High And Loud Studios and the bass and drums at Sonic Pump Studios, and produced by Timo himself, mixed by Mikko Karmila and mastered by Mika Jussila at the Finnvox Studios. The tracklist can be found on this site.

March 26th, 2002:
Roland has recently confirmed that he'll go to Brazil on May 18th, as a guest musician for a Helloween tribute concert. This concert is being organized by the brazilian magazine Jornal Rock News, for their second aniversary, and will happen at Led Slay, in São Paulo. Along with Roland will be famous brazilian musicians, like Mário Pastore (Delpht), Mário Linhares (Dark Avenger), Renato Tribuzy (Thoten) and Kleber Sansellici (Sacred Sinner), among others. Roland will probably play four or five songs.

March 26th, 2002:
The Masterplan recordings are finally coming to an end. The vocal lines are finished, and the band is very happy about Jorn Lande's performance. Mixing sessions will be concluded on April 15th, since producer Andy Sneap is taking a break for now. After searching for a record deal, the album will probably be released around September, or later. They have 13 songs finished, and 11 might be on the album. The title will probably be just "Masterplan", and the song titles will soon be revealed, perhaps in a couple of weeks.

March 26th, 2002:
Timo Kotipelto signed with Century Media to release his solo album, "Waiting For The Dawn", which will feature solos and rhythm guitars from Roland Grapow on two songs. Some song titles are already revelaed: "Battle Of The Gods", "Vizier", "Secret Name", "Beginning", "Travel Through Time", "Arise" and "Beautiful Has Come". According to Timo, the album concept is based on Egypt mythology. The single "Beginning" was released only in Finland, on March 15th, with the songs "Beginning", "Waiting For The Dawn" and "Kadesh", the last one a b-side, and reached number 4 on finnish single charts. There's no information if one of Roland's guest appearances are among these three songs released. A MP3 sample of "Beginning" is available on the official site of Timo.

March 26th, 2002:
The new confirmed release date for Locomotive Breath's "Heavy Machinery" album, which features a Roland Grapow solo on the song "The Adventures Of Zaphod Bebblebrox", is April 8th. The mastering sessions are finished and only few details are left.

March 26th, 2002:
The last details are confirmed for Helloween's upcoming compilation, "Treasure Chest". The cover has already been revealed and can be found on this site, as well as the tracklist for the third CD, "Buried Treasures", with b-sides and bonus tracks. Amazon and CDNow are accepting pre-orders for April 9th, for both the regular and limited editions. The songs "Starlight", "Murderer", "Ride The Sky", "Dr. Stein" and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" have been completely remixed by Charlie Bauerfeind, and all tracks are remastered. The release date is still confirmed as being April 1st, by Metal-Is. The limited edition will be a boxed set with "Buried Treasures" and a Helloween Family Tree poster. Meanwhile, due to the successful release of the Helloween tribute, "The Keepers Of Jericho", the spanish label Arise Records is working on a second album, to be released in December of this year. Covers of "Starlight", "Dr. Stein", "Rise And Fall", "March Of Time", "Sole Survivor" and "Twilight Of The Gods" have already been confirmed.

February 24th, 2002:
Next Monday, February 25th, Masterplan will start recording the vocals. On a recent interview to Tony Webster, Roland said that the album is nearly finished as far as mixing. There are 16 songs written, at least five of them sound like a traditional Helloween and Stratovarius song, and the rest have a more modern sound, like one step ahead of Helloween's "The Dark Ride". The band doesn't want to waste any of the songs as b-sides because all of them are good, so some might be released on an EP or on the second album. According to Roland, nothing is cheesy and nothing is weak, so a lot of people might like the album. He's also surprised that Andy Sneap, with his experience, managed to create a good sound at his house, without spending a fortune. In March, when the record is finished, they will look for a record deal, because they have a band, a concept, a good sounding record, and it's better to have a finished work to get a deal than getting one just because of their reputation as former Helloween members.

February 24th, 2002:
The title of the upcoming solo album of Timo Kotipelto, on which Roland plays two solos, is "Waiting For The Dawn". The negotiation with record labels is finally over, the company will be revealed soon, and the album will probably be released on May.

February 24th, 2002:
Locomotive Breath's upcoming new album, "Heavy Machinery", which will feature a solo from Roland, will be released on April 15th. On February 21st, the album has been mastered by Martin Kronlund at JM Studio and it's almost totally finished.

February 24th, 2002:
On a recent interview to Tony Webster, Michael Weikath revealed a lot of news about the upcoming Helloween compilation. The album will be released on April 1st through Metal-Is, which has the rights to all Helloween songs except the ones on "The Dark Ride". Nuclear Blast will handle all the upcoming Helloween albums except for this one. There are some rumours that the album will be released in Japan, the regular version on March 27th and also a limited edition, with an extra CD with bonus tracks, a booklet and a sticker, on March 29th. Only 3000 copies of this special version will be released. Nothing is confirmed about it, but Weikath said that one of the original ideas was to include a third CD with all the older b-sides with Michael Kiske on vocals, except for "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Red Socks And The Smell Of Trees", and to put the "Live In The UK" version of "How Many Tears" on the regular CDs. However, most of the original ideas had to be ignored due to lack of time. Therefore, "How Many Tears" it's on its original version, and "Windmill" has not been re-recorded. The cover will be made by a person in Sanctuary who already made the cover for "High Live". Meanwhile, Nuclear Blast is working in giving rights to release "The Dark Ride" on the USA, and Weikath said that he didn't like the last Helloween album, and now that Roland and Uli Kusch are out of the band, they will do something different on the next one. The band offered the guitar spot to Gamma Ray's Henjo Richer, but they're still waiting, since he didn't decide if he'll accept it or not.

February 8th, 2002:
Roland and the rest of Masterplan are still on a break to write more lyrics, and seems that Jorn Lande will do half of it. They will start recording again on February 25th, there are only the vocals and some solo parts left. Then, after ten days of vocal recordings, they will start the mixing process and will probably finish around the mid of March, and seach for a record deal to release it in June.

February 8th, 2002:
Timo Kotipelto is currently negotiating with some different record labels and his solo album, with a guest appearance from Roland, will probably be released around April or May around the world. A single will also be released some weeks before the album, but it's unknown if it will include Roland's solo. Soon the album title and track names will be available, as well as some sound samples.

February 8th, 2002:
Helloween's upcoming compilation will also include the song "Halloween", which was not included on the tracklist before due to an error on the press release, and a booklet full of pictures. A lot of rumours about the compilation are being spreaded, about the five tracks that were remastered, Kai Hansen re-recording his vocals for some songs and a third CD which would include some b-sides and bonus tracks. None of these rumours are confirmed to be true. Meanwhile, seems like the band has already chosen the new guitarist but, contrary to many rumours, it's definitely not the former Angel Dust member Bernd Aufermann, since he recently joined the legendary band Running Wild. There are only rumours so far and the band is not revealing anything important about it.

January 30th, 2002:
Roland will do an interview with Tony Webster, from the official Helloween website and WBWC 88.3 FM radio, on Sunday. Any questions from the fans should be quickly sent to Tony through his site. He'll put the interview online as soon as possible.

January 30th, 2002:
Currently, there are no important news about the upcoming Masterplan album. The band started recording again, working on bass, guitar overdubs and solos. Rainer Laws is still confirmed and will soon do the album cover, booklet design and the band logo.

January 30th, 2002:
Roland has recorded a guest appearance on the upcoming new album of Locomotive Breath, "Heavy Machinery". Roland plays a solo on the track "The Adventures Of Zaphod Bebblebrox", along with Pontus Norgren, Mattias Eklundh and Micke Andersson. According to the guitarist Janne Stark, Roland recorded six different solos, sent them all to him and the band took some time to select their favorite. The album is already recorded and mixed and it's defined as probably the heaviest album that the band has ever done. The album will be mastered as soon as possible and probably be released on the end of March, through Record Heaven Music.

January 30th, 2002:
Official news about the upcoming Helloween compilation are finally revealed. As highly rumoured, the double album will be called "Treasure Chest" and will feature songs from all albums remastered and remixed to modern standards, along with a nice package. However, there will be no new songs, new versions of old songs, unreleased tracks or b-sides. Only regular album tracks. Amazon UK is already taking orders and announcing the release date as being March 18th, but nothing is confirmed about that. The announced tracklist and other details can be already found on this site. Meanwhile, there are still no news about Roland Grapow's replacement, but the band will reveal it as soon as possible, although there are rumours that they've already chosen it.

January 16th, 2002:
As the first news of the year, finally the name of Roland and Uli Kusch's new band and the new singer are revealed! After receiving many suggestions from the fans and discussing, Roland, Uli and the others decided to name their brand new band Masterplan, a suggestion from the fan Gerardo Treviño Garza. The replacement for Russell Allen is also decided: the new Masterplan singer is Jorn Lande, from Norway, who sings in the progressive hard rock band Ark and also released a solo album called "Worldchanger" some months ago. His style is different than the traditional power metal high-pitched voice and more progressive-oriented, which is favorable to Roland's decision of not copying the Helloween style anymore. Jorn sang on the already recorded cover for Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". The band doesn't have a record deal so far, they want to finish the production before looking for one, but they intend to finish the album in March, and release it maybe in June. The album is being recorded at Crazy Cat Studio in Hamburg and, as mentioned before, Michael Kiske will record his vocal lines for one song, probably a duet with Jorn, in February.

January 16th, 2002:
The first album from Stratovarius' singer Timo Kotipelto, on which Roland does a guest appearance along with Janne Wirman, Mikko Harkin and other famous musicians, was being recorded since July and was finished in December. The songs are recorded, mixed and mastered, the cover by Derek Riggs is done and the singer himself is working with Rade Puolakka on the booklet design. This album will probably be released around March or April. Roland plays guitar for two songs of the album, and Timo just described his guitar lines and solos as "awesome". News are constantly being updated on Kotipelto's official website, by the singer himself.

January 16th, 2002:
Helloween still hasn't revealed the replacement for Roland Grapow, but there are some rumours about the upcoming compilation. The official info is that the band will probably go to studio around Spring to record the new album, which may include some remixes and b-sides. According to some unofficial websites, the album will probably be called "Treasure Chest" and will have songs from since the "Walls Of Jericho" era. However, the announced new version of "Windmill" with Andi Deris on vocals won't be possible because the original multitracks of the song were lost. These last news aren't official, but the sources are very reliable.

December 24th, 2001:
During their short break from the recording sessions, Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch have wrote a special Christmas message to all of their fans, to say thanks for all the support so far: "To all the Uli, Roland and Helloween fans: We are wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful and happy New Year 2002! We are looking forward to present you our new album and band soon, and hope to see you somewhere on tour again next Summer. Thanks also for helping us to find a band name, which we hopefully gonna present you in January, on this page first. Also million thanks to Keyper7 for his big help. Always yours, Uli and Roland.".

December 22nd, 2001:
There has been some rumours on famous and reliable websites about Michael Kiske being the main singer of Roland's band, but this is not true. He's only going to sing one song as a special guest, and everything is already settled to record his vocals in February. He's too busy with his own band to do anything more than that. However, there's been a change in the line-up. When the project was being planned by Roland and Uli, they were on Helloween and weren't thinking about going on tour. Now that the project turned into a real band, Russell Allen won't be able to be the singer anymore, since he's already busy with Symphony X and both bands are even going to play on some festivals together. Roland stated that it was a very difficult decision and he's very sorry to Russell and to all the fans who liked the idea to hear him on the record, but the band needs someone who can go on tour and support the band without any problems. Janne Wirman is still on the line-up, since he's free during the next year, so probably there will be no working conflicts between the band and Children Of Bodom. Roland has nothing against the band members playing in other bands or doing side projects, but Russell have to prioritize his own band next year. The band will introduce a new singer and the band name soon, but meanwhile the fans can keep sending suggestions. Moreover, their cover for Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" is probably going to be a b-side and be on a tribute promoted by Locomotive Music. This tribute may also feature Blaze, Grave Digger, Gamma Ray, Angra, Rage, Doro, Elegy, Axxis, System Of A Down and Black Crowes. The band already has a tour agency, All Access. Info for booking the band on festivals or so must be sent to them. Their address, e-mail and phone number can be found on their website or this one.

December 17th, 2001:
Roland and his new band already finished recording the rhythm guitars. Currently they're having a Christmas break to write more lyrics, and will start working on the mixing process in the second half of February. They've already mixed their cover for Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" for the Locomotive Music spanish label and will release it in Spring 2002. Obviously this song won't represent the band style, since it's a cover from a 1972 song. Also, the band got offers to play on some festivals next year, like Wacken Open Air in Germany and Rock Machina in Spain, but there might be some schedule problems. They're still looking for a new band name and accepting suggestions from the fans. They'll soon send a message to the fans, since they appreciate the support so far.

November 26th, 2001:
Roland is very busy right now in his studio, Crazy Cat, working more than 16 hours a day on the recordings of the upcoming debut of his new band with Uli Kusch. After the poll, the members decided not to take "Mr. Torture" as the band name, but they're still accepting suggestions through his site, since they didn't come up with anything new so far. He already recorded the guitar lines for 6 songs, but there's still a lot of work to do on the melodies. There are 16 compositions by him and Uli, and they're planning to record a Led Zeppelin song for a upcoming sampler. Andy Sneap is also doing a great job on the production, according to Roland.

November 26th, 2001:
Bad news for Helloween fans. Apparently, the japanese reissues, with original artwork, remastering and bonus tracks, announced some time ago to be released in October, and were already delayed to November, now unfortunately seems to have been cancelled without explanation. On the other hand, the band is already working on their upcoming compilation. The songs are being remixed and remastered by Charlie Bauerfeind for a double CD with nice booklet and other stuff. The album won't include any b-sides because they're planning to release a b-sides compilation later. However, an old song, probably "Windmill" from the "Chameleon" album, will be re-recorded with Andi Deris on vocals. They intend to release it still on the end of this year or maybe January 2002.

November 10th, 2001:
Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch want the fans' help to decide their new band name. They want opinions about their first tentative name, "Mr. Torture", if the fans approve it or now, and new suggestions, which can be sent through a form included on this site.

November 8th, 2001:
The line-up for Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch's new band is officially confirmed, and nothing changed since it was announced. Russell Allen is confirmed as the singer despite his work with Symphony X and the drums are already recorded and sound great. But the most surprising news of them all is the confirmation of the former Helloween singer Michael Kiske as a guest appearance for some tracks. They have a temporary band name, but they didn't decide yet which will be the actual name. Roland and Uli are still discussing it, and maybe will ask the fans for help deciding and maybe to send new band name suggestions.

November 3rd, 2001:
Roland is very busy with his new band right now. The band started recording the drums on Halloween, October 31st, with the production of Andy Sneap. According to Roland, Andy is a great guy, he's doing a great job and everything about the album looks fine so far, without any problems on songwriting or recording. More news and recording details will be revealed as soon as possible.

November 2nd, 2001:
Helloween's upcoming compilation was postponed to February or March 2002. There isn't any other news about the band, since their official website is not updated since September, the official message board is not working and the official webmaster, Tony Webster, is missing for some weeks. Thus, there are not sources of news other than unofficial websites, which are not always reliable. Recently, on October 31st, one of the webmasters of the Future World website made another "Helloween Marathon" on WUSR 99.5 FM radio and played every material from the band, including b-sides, bonus tracks and solo projects, but without interviews.

October 12th, 2001:
Roland approved the Kaleidoscope as his new official website.

October 12th, 2001:
A tentative name for the new Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch band is already chosen, but Roland said it's too early to tell yet. He also said that more details about the band will be revealed in three or four weeks, like the line-up and recording reports.

October 12th, 2001:
Bernd Aufermann from Angel Dust said on an interview that Roland might play on his upcoming project, Shining, along with Markus Grosskopf and other famous musicians, but nothing is confirmed yet, specially now that Roland has left Helloween.

September 23rd, 2001:
Axel Rudi Pell recently released a double compilation called "The Wizards Chosen Few", that includes his guitar duel with Roland Grapow, "Total Eclipse (Opus #2 Allegro E Andante)", which was originally a japanese bonus track from the album "Magic".

September 23rd, 2001:
Helloween announced that the replacement for Uli Kusch on the band is Mark Cross. There were strong rumours about this for a long time, but nothing was confirmed until now because Mark still had to leave his former band Metalium officially. The replacement for Roland Grapow was not announced yet. There are rumours that he could be Sascha Gerstner (Freedom Call) or Bernd Aufermann (Angel Dust). Bernd sounds a stronger choice, because some time ago he announced a project called Shining that would have some members from Helloween. Kai Hansen confirmed on a recent interview to Metal Meltdown that neither he or Henjo Richer are going to join the band. Also, a couple days ago someone broke into the warehouse where Helloween stores their equipment and stole some of it. Several Michael Weikath guitars and Markus Grosskopf basses are missing. The complete list of the stolen equipment can be found on their official site, and any information that might help them to recover something shall be sent to their official webmaster, Tony Webster. However, that doesn't affect the band's plans for the future, and Weikath said that Helloween is still planning to release a "best of" compilation probably on October 8th, with songs remastered and remixed by Charlie Bauerfeind. He said that it will definitely includes some of the "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" songs and maybe some rare b-sides and bonus tracks.

August 30th, 2001:
Today is Roland Grapow's birthday. He is now 42 years old, and has been playing guitar for 30 years.

August 30th, 2001:
The project with Uli Kusch, that now will be a full-time band, will probably be very much like Helloween, the usual german melodic power metal with some progressive features and modern sound. So far, they have 13 songs, 8 were written by Roland and 5 by Uli. Some other songs will be written with the help of Roy Z, who, despite his busy schedule, may produce the album along with Andy Sneap. Recording sessions will start on October, and they're still planning to release the album on February or March 2002. Roland said that Russell Allen's work will depend on his schedule, and the band will probably have another singer, from Germany, to replace Russell or maybe share the vocals with him. He and Uli are very busy songwriting right now and are still thinking about a name.

August 30th, 2001:
The tapes from the solo debut of Stratovarius' singer Timo Kotipelto are already on the way to Roland's studio and he will record his parts very soon and send them to Timo. He will most likely play some guitar solos for two songs of the album.

August 30th, 2001:
Some more details taken from the August 23rd "Helloween Marathon" in WBWC 88.3 FM radio about Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch leaving Helloween. Roland said that when he was arranging some songs with Roy Z in Los Angeles and his wife called to tell him that he was not on the band anymore, he got very shocked, because he never thought this would happen. He was sad on the first days after he received the news, but his wife supported in moving on his career. He also said he is very thankful for being the band since the Christmas of 1988 and has nothing bad to say about the band. He and Uli, along with the remaining Helloween members, agreed to not talk too much about their internal conflicts, to avoid repeating what happened when Michael Kiske left the band and the press wrote some aggressive and unpleasant statements, most of them untrue, making their relationship even worse.

August 25th, 2001:
Despite their departure from the band, Roland and Uli decided to keep the Helloween style as much as possible on their upcoming project. Roland said that he wrote some really fast songs with Roy Z at Los Angeles, and he's sure that Helloween fans won't be disappointed with this album. However, they are still trying to figure out what to do now that they are out of the band, because this project will become a full-time band, which means that Russell Allen and Janne Wirman probably won't be able to become definitive members. Roland mentioned that he may call "a german guy" to sing the entire album or some parts of it, maybe it could be Michael Kiske, but it was just a joke, because it's impossible to happen, since Kiske is too busy with his own projects.

August 25th, 2001:
Some more details were revealed about Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch departure from Helloween, which happened about two or three weeks ago. During the radio marathon on August 23rd, Roland and Michael Weikath were interviewed and gave their versions about the fact. According to Weikath, little things about Roland and Uli started since the recording sessions of "The Time Of The Oath" album, regarding musical differences and songwriting. When Weiki was writing the song "Mission Motherland" and it was about 2 / 3 done, he asked the rest of the band to help him to finish writing, but Uli and Roland gave the impression that they thought it was a waste of time collaborating on other songs. Also, the side projects were stagnating the songwriting process, because the two would be recording their project with Russell Allen later this year, when Helloween was supposed to be writing songs for the next studio album. According to some acquaintances of Roland and the band, their relationship became critical right after the recording sessions of "The Dark Ride" because the whole band was disliking the way how Uli and Roland were giving too much attention to their project. So, Michael Weikath and Markus Grosskopf talked about how they weren't liking the current situation and how these differences were tearing the band apart once again. They decided, along with Andi, to fire them before things would get worse. Weikath also didn't like the musical direction on "The Dark Ride" album, because it was too simplistic for him, and he missed the complexity of the older songs. For the next album, he expects the traditional Helloween sound, with some modern and progressive features. He said that he already has some musicians in mind to replace Roland and Uli and that the band is not holding auditions. Some rumours are being spreaded about how Roland and Weikath were always discussing about the band and Roy Z helped them not to split, and that Roland himself decided to leave the band since January, staying that long only because of the tour. Despite if this is true or not, Roland said he is very sad with this situation. During his interview for the marathon, he said that while he was at Los Angeles writing songs with Roy Z, he got a call from his wife, saying "You're no longer in Helloween." and there were no meetings at all with him and Uli before the announcement. They were just fired at sudden and got very shocked and disappointed with the news.

August 22nd, 2001:
Sites like Blabbermouth and BW&BK were spreading a shocking rumour that was just confirmed by Helloween's official webmaster, Tony Webster: Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch are officially out of Helloween. According to a spokesman for the band, "It was mutually agreed that Roland and Uli would leave the band. You can cite the usual musical differences but actually it was more down to differences in priority. It was felt Roland and Uli were paying too much time and attention to their solo projects. After a very successful tour behind "The Dark Ride" album, Michael, Markus and Andi felt quite rightly that the focus of Helloween members must be 100% on Helloween. This lack of focus had been affecting the band creatively for some time so now the band will be able to get back on track. Roland and Uli have been with us for a long time so it's obviously very sad when this sort of thing has to happen but there was really no alternative. Everyone wishes them both the very best of luck with their new venture.". Michael Weikath confirmed the news, and Sanctuary Records is about to release an official statement. Apparently, although Roland and Uli are not in the band anymore, there's nothing wrong with their relationship with the other Helloween members. So far, a few things are certain: the band is definitely not breaking up, even though Weiki once said it would if the line-up suffered another change, and Kai Hansen is not replacing Roland on the guitar spot, neither singer Michael Kiske is going back to the band, despite the fact that some fans think that's gonna happen. According to Nuclear Blast, the remaining members are currently interviewing guitarists and drummers to replace them, and rumours are that they already found replacements. On August 23rd, Tony Webster will interview both Michael Weikath and Roland Grapow during the "Helloween Marathon" on the WBWC 88.3 FM radio and update the site as soon as he get official news for the fans to know more about all the reasons that ended up on these surprising and sad news. Weikath already made the following statement: "We expect to announce our new line-up soon. There is a lot of great talents out there and we are all excited about the future possibilities for Helloween. Once the new line-up is finalized we will start writing for the new studio album for release later next next year. It will be a new era for Helloween which will inspire us to give all our fans the very best!". Roland and Uli didn't make any statements yet, and will probably do it only on the marathon. Roland's presence is confirmed on it, even not being on the band anymore.

August 22nd, 2001:
Gamma Ray's leader, former Helloween member and power metal hero Kai Hansen recently said on a interview to Emision Digital that although there's no possibility of a rumoured Helloween reunion that would involve he, Roland, Michael Kiske, Markus Grosskopf, Dirk Schlächter and Uli Kusch, and that this is never going to happen, he said that he might do something together with Roland Grapow on a near future, like a project or a guest appearance. Obviously, it's just an idea, and since there's nothing confirmed yet, it's possible that this doesn't happen at all. But Kai's relationship with Roland is great, and a project like this would be pleasure.

August 7th, 2001:
Roland will be meeting Uli Kusch and Russell Allen at Roy Z's house at Los Angeles to do some arranging and writing. Roland is very happy to have Andy Sneap as the producer because he loves the job that he has done with Nevermore's "Dead Heart In A Dead World" and Blaze's "Silicon Messiah". Uli Kusch described the project as "epic, bombastic, orchestrated and atmospheric", according to a recent interview. So far, 6 tracks were written by Uli and 6 were written by Roland. Russell is also helping on the songwriting and already recording some demos. No official recording sessions have already started yet, though, only rehearsing.

August 7th, 2001:
Helloween has recently played at Wacken Open Air, at 22:300 on the Double Mega Stage, before Saxon and three other bands, on the second day of the festival. The setlist was basically the same of the whole tour. There is also great news for Helloween collectors: Melody Blvd is selling the very rare limited edition japanese reissues of the Helloween albums, which will come out on October 3rd. They can be bought individually or as a full set. All albums are remastered, with original artwork and bonus tracks. Unfortunately, they can only be pre-ordered until August 8th. If you order them as a set and tell them you are from the Helloween website or fanclub, you can get US$ 24,90 off of the entire set. Check out their website for more details or e-mail them. Some websites were spreading rumours about the release of "the best album of Helloween" on October 3rd. It's probably a wrong interpretation of these reissues.

July 28th, 2001:
The project with Uli Kusch suffered some changes, and also more details are confirmed. Due to his work with Rob Halford, Roy Z won't be able to produce the album, he will just arrange some parts and help on songwriting. Roland will meet with him in Los Angeles from August 14th to 24th. The new confirmed producer for this project is Andy Sneap. The band will be working from September 24th to November 11th, including the recordings on Roland's studio (Crazy Cat) at Hamburg, Germany, and mixing on Andy Sneap's studio (Backstage Productions) at Nottingham, England. Confirmed line-up is: Russell Allen (Symphony X) on vocals, Roland Grapow (Helloween) on guitars, Jürgen Attig (former Casanova member) on bass, Uli Kusch (Helloween) on drums and Janne Wirman (Children Of Bodom) on keyboards. Artwork, cover design and probably the logo will be made by Rainer Laws, who did the covers for Helloween's albums "Better Than Raw" and "Metal Jukebox". They are still looking for a band name.

July 28th, 2001:
Since Andi Deris is almost fully recovered and able to sing again, Helloween's postponed tour dates in Mexico are finally confirmed for August 6th and 8th, between the Wacken Open Air and Menorrock festivals. The band wants Andi to be perfectly fine before.

July 16th, 2001:
The mexican organizers from Dilemma are trying to bring Helloween to Mexico, for the last two south american dates, on August 6th to 9th, to replace the concerts that were postponed due to Andi Deris' illness. Nothing is confirmed yet, but the band will still play on Wacken Open Air and Menorrock festivals. Deris is recovering at Tenerife, while Roland Grapow, Michael Weikath and Markus Grosskopf are waiting at Germany before the rest of the tour, which will only continue after Deris is recovered.

July 10th, 2001:
Roland is already making some plans for the future. He may release another solo record under his name, with the same classic guitar style, in a couple of years, but there are no plans for it right now. He's currently working on two songs of Timo Kotipelto's solo album and, in the future, would like to work as a producer for younger bands. Just thoughts so far, nothing solid going on.

July 10th, 2001:
Recent info about the project with Uli Kusch and Russell Allen. According to Roland himself, he and Uli will be the main songwriters and will also help on the production, which will be mainly made by Roy Z. The keyboardist is probably going to be Jens Johansson (Stratovarius) and the bass player, "a guy from Germany". They are still thinking about a name for this project. The album will probably sound like "The Dark Ride", with some progressive feeling. Recordings will start on September and they intend to release it on March 2002. Roland said that this project is "more than just a side project" and "very important for Uli and him". They would even like to go on tour with this band, although they'll still be dedicated Helloween members and will still prioritize their main band.

July 10th, 2001:
Tony Webster, Helloween's official webmaster, and Roland Grapow himself confirmed once again that the rumours about Andi Deris' departure are completely untrue, and the band is staying exactly as it is now. There is definitely no animosity between the members or any internal problems. Andi is recovering quite well of his recent illness, but it's not confirmed yet if the Mexico concerts will be really rescheduled or simply cancelled. The band hopes that Andi recovers fast enough to sing on the festivals at the end of the tour.

July 6th, 2001:
Confirming the bad news, Helloween have just returned home due to a virus contracted by singer Andi Deris, that impedes him to sing, and even speak in some cases. During the last concert, Andi flew right over to Madrid, where his wife was expecting to take him to his doctor. Roland and Michael Weikath had to sing the last two songs of the setlist, without Deris. The last two Mexico gigs have been postponed. The band is planning to return to studio after the tour, on September or December. Meanwhile, some new rumours about the band are being spreaded. Fabio Catena, the vice-president of Dr. Stein, the brazilian Helloween's official fan club, said that Andi himself told him that is probably leaving the band, and maybe will be replaced by Thomas Rettke (Heavens Gate).

July 2nd, 2001:
Tony Webster talked recently to Andi Deris and Michael Weikath, and confirmed that the rumor about Andi leaving Helloween is untrue. He's definitely not leaving, so fans won't have to worry anymore, despite all the rumours spreaded on the Internet.

July 1st, 2001:
Bad news for Mexico City. Due to some problems with Andi Deris' voice, the Helloween concert on this city will be postponed to July 15th. Apparently, Andi already had some problems with his voice during the brazilian tour, at Porto Alegre, probably due to the cold. Since it's not a huge problem and Andi will probably recover fast, seems like the other dates won't suffer any changes.

June 27th, 2001:
More rumours about Helloween. Seems like some gigs of "The Dark Ride" tour are being recorded for a upcoming live DVD. Apparently at least at São Paulo, Brazil, the band brought their own equipment to record the concert on video.

June 23rd, 2001:
Russell Allen has already confirmed that he'll be singing on the Roland and Uli Kusch project. He made an official statement for his webmaster to confirm the rumours. You can check his words on Symphony X official website: "Yup, it's true, Matt. I met with Roland at our Berlin gig, and I agreed to do a side project with him and Uli. I'm stoked about the project, and I hope that Helloween, Symphony X, and metal fans everywhere are as excited as we are about this project. Hopefully we can complete it in time for the end of the year. Although it'll be difficult, due to our schedules with Symphony X and Helloween, I'm sure we can get it done.".

June 11th, 2001:
Rumours are being spreaded about Helloween's possible internal conflicts with Andi Deris. Some unofficial sources, like websites and magazines, already told that Roland Grapow and Michael Weikath said once that after the gig at Spain, Andi will leave the band. Nothing is confirmed yet, and probably this is totally untrue, since Weikath said once that Helloween would end if the band suffered another change on the line-up. Rumours like these are constantly being spreaded, so it's most likely not true at all.

May 22nd, 2001:
More news about the upcoming Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch project. So far, there are 8 songs already written and band members are being chosen. The singer of this project will probably be Russell Allen of the progressive metal band Symphony X.

May 22nd, 2001:
On August 23rd, WBWC 88.3 FM radio in Cleveland, Ohio (USA) will play the "Helloween Marathon". This program will be 18 hours long from 7:00 to 1:00 (EST), which is 13:00 to 7:00 (CET). Tony Webster will host the marathon, playing Helloween album tracks, rare b-sides, live stuff, and solo projects material. Various members of the band will be also present during the marathon. You can hear it if you are in the Cleveland area, or you can access it online. Meanwhile, Helloween is already playing the last confirmed dates of "The Dark Ride" tour in South America, without any supporting band. The rumours about Imperio opening the south american gigs were either untrue or it didn't work out. Future plans are to start recording the new album with the band around May 2002.

May 20th, 2001:
The argentine band Imperio, for who Roland made a guest appearance on the last album, will probably be opening for Helloween during the south american tour, but nothing is confirmed yet, except for the fact that Blaze definitely won't be the opening act.

May 17th, 2001:
Roland is already confirmed in the upcoming solo debut of Stratovarius' singer Timo Kotipelto. This album will probably be released on the beginning of 2002. The following guitarists will be playing on it: Roland Grapow (Helloween), Michael Romeo (Symphony X), Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) and Sami Virtanen (Joe Doakes). Also, the following musicians will also be playing: Jari Kainulainen (Stratovarius) on bass, Mirka Rantanen (Tunnelvision) and Gas (H.I.M.) on drums, and Janne Wirman (Children Of Bodom) and Mikko Harkin (Sonata Arctica) on the keyboards. Roland will probably compose and play solos for one or two songs.

May 14th, 2001:
During this short break that Helloween is having before the tour in South America, Roland took a day off to do a jam on Yngwie Malmsteen's house, in Hamburg. It wasn't anything serious, not a project or something important, and nothing was recorded.

April 29th, 2001:
Helloween is already confirmed in two major european festivals: Wacken Open Air, in Germany, on August 3rd and 4th, which will feature some famous bands like Saxon, Dimmu Borgir, Krisiun, Nightwish and Nevermore, and also Sweden Rock Festival, on June 8th and 9th, which will also feature well-known bands like Hammerfall, Grave Digger, Metalium, Nocturnal Rites and Symphony X.

April 17th, 2001:
"The Dark Ride" tour is over in Asia and Europe for now. Helloween is taking a break before going to South America.

March 29th, 2001:
Roland is already working a new album, along with drummer Uli Kusch. The project is already being carried on and should be released still in this year, or the beginning of the next one. According to Roland himself, the band will sound like a progressive Helloween. It will be nothing like Yngwie Malmsteen. Roland and Uli will do the songwriting, production and almost everything. The band itself will probably have a name, it won't be just "Roland Grapow" or "Uli Kusch". It's a project, not a solo album.

March 6th, 2001:
According to Roland himself, he'll not only try to keep the same line-up for his next record, but also involve all members on composition. He'll write most songs and will probably work as a producer or co-producer. The main reason is because he doesn't want the next album sounding like a typical guitarist solo record, he wants 100% of band feeling on it. Everybody should be involved on the recording process, as a member and as a songwriter. The band will probably think about an actual band name and a worldwide tour. All members will be responsible for everything, and not just Roland. They are already working on a project, that will probably be released after the current Helloween tour. The album is intend to be very powerful and aggresive, with lots of melody but without so many ballads this time. Roland will be important on this project, but not as much as on a typical solo record.

February 24th, 2001:
"The Dark Ride" tour with Blaze started today on Korea.

January 12th, 2001:
Roland is planning to keep the same line-up of Kaleidoscope for his next solo album. At least Michael Vescera.