Chris Boltendahl is a pure work addict! He keeps himself (and others) busy and it seems no pandemic, flood or anything else can stop him. The albums he released with Grave Digger (2022) and Hellryder (2021) are not enough for him and here he goes with the first ever record of his solo band Steelhammer. And it's not just Chris and a bunch of guys who used to be around. The band consists of two ex-members of Oden Organ (Tobias Kersting and Lars Schneider) and one member of Iron Savior (Patrick Klose). A supergroup of Teutonic power metal I'd say. So here we are talking with Tobias Kersting about the album "Reborn in Flames".
Hello Tobias! How are you? How was the release party for “Reborn in Flames”? The place (Rockland in Witten) seemed to be a bit small for such event. Why did you choose it? Were there complains from those who couldn’t make it to the party?
I know the Rockland for quite a while. There are a lot of Workshops and Clinics taken place. Basically it's a guitar shop with a nice stage as a bonus. A perfect fit for such an event. We played a short set including five Steelhammer Songs and a bunch of Grave Digger classics. It was a lot of fun and the first time for us, playing together. I think it was a fun event and the people enjoyed it.
The album also made it to the MediaControl charts. Did you expect something like that?
Absolutely not. We were overwhelmed and very happy for the support we were given.
Exactly like this. He contacted me and said we should talk about an idea he had... So we met and talked about it and immediately started working on the songs.
Did Chris explain you his reasons to form another band as he has Grave Digger and Hellryder? I believe that it was you who brought Lars Schneider as you were partners in Orden Ogan. He wasn’t that active since 2010, so was he in a good shape for this job?
Lars was the only and perfect choice. We always stayed in contact and i had no doubts about his abillities. He also did some small projects over the years and when we talked about Steelhammer, he was into it immediately.
Chris had the idea to do something more old school, or spontaneous. Going back to the roots and don't overthink too much. I think you can hear some rawness and the spontaneous vibe on the record. Of course in a good way. We caught some good energy on the record.
By the way, in Hellryder Chris plays with another Orden Ogan member, Steven Wussow. It seems Chris have special feelings towards this band, hehe. Or is it just a coincidence?
Just a coincidence. Axel Ritt and Steven played together in Domain and we toured together with Orden Ogan and Grave Digger in 2011. If you also play a lot of Festivals, you meet the same people once in a while. So i think, that was how it worked.
How did Patrick Close of Iron Savior become a member of Chris Boltendahl’s Steelhammer?
I met Patrick at an Orden Ogan gig. We talked a bit and i checked out his stuff he did with his other bands. Including Iron Savior and Scanner. I thought he might be the right fit for us.
Did you discuss with Chris in what direction you should go on this album? Did he say something like, “I want this type of sound and this type of songs”?
When we met, he told me his vision he had for this album. We wanted to go more „old school“ and straighter than the recent Grave Digger stuff.
How did you work on the songs with Chris? Did you present him complete songs and he wrote his lines? Or did you send files back and forth? Or maybe did you jam in a rehearsal space?
Chris had an idea for the songs, how they should sound. Some songs were finished pretty fast and some songs took a little longer. Sadly there was no chance to jam or rehearse, but maybe that will change next time.
When did you start writing for the album and what were the first songs you came up with? How natural was the writing process? Were there songs or arrangements which you had to struggle with a bit?
The first complete song was “Out of the ruins“. That came together pretty fast. Chris had an idea for the writing process and that worked out pretty good and was a lot of fun. He also had an idea for every song, how it should sound. That helped to get a better idea of the songs he had in his mind. There were a few songs that took some turns until we were completely happy with‘em. The title track “Reborn in flames“ needed some extra effort but i think it turned out great.
By the way, did you use some old ideas on this album?
No, all brand new material.
Who came up with the idea of covering Midnight Oil’s “Beds Are Burning”? Was it spontaneous decision, or was it done on purpose?
Chris had the idea when he was stuck in traffic. The song played on the radio. He immediately told me his idea. I liked it a lot and we worked on our version.
That’s really tough… but i like “Out of the Ruins” a lot. “Iron Christ” is also one of my faves, same as “Reborn in Flames”, “Beyond the Black Souls”, “Fire Angel”, “Die for Your Sins” and “Gods of Steel”.
Chris described the music on “Reborn in Flames” as “Grave Digger meets Metal Church”. Would you agree with him? What’s your opinion about musical direction of the album?
Since i‘m a huge U.S. Metal Fan and Metal Church or Vicious Rumors are two of my absolute favourite bands, i definitely would agree. There are influences from those bands but also from the great german Power Metal bands i grew up with. So, i think he‘s right.
There are quite a few mid-tempo/groovy songs on the album like “Gods of Steel”, “Let the Evil Rise”, “Out of the Ruins”, “The Hammer that Kills” — almost half of the album. Was it done on purpose? Don’t you think that it can disappoint some fans who expect speed metal all the way from the band?
Not entirely on purpose, but we wanted to have a good mix of styles for sure. I like these dark and heavy/groovy songs, so it was a lot of fun writing those tunes. And we never said that it will be a Speed Metal record, so i don’t think people will be disappointed. But who knows… maybe next time it will be more speed… or even more doomy.
Some magazines already christened the album as a solo project of Chris. Is it fair in your opinion?
Chris had the whole idea for Steelhammer. For the concept, the lyrics, the cover and the musical direction. So, it’s definitely fair. We all worked on the record a lot but without Chris, there wouldn’t have been a Steelhammer. So I’m totally fine with it.
So, the album is released, what’s next? Do you plan some tour in support of it? Will you keep on working together with Chris on other records? Or was a one-off thing?
We will be working on some stuff for sure. We already discussed some ideas, but they‘ll need some time. There are some gigs for this year and also some plans for next year. And when it’s about time we‘ll start working on the next record.
“Reborn in Flames” is your first album since you took a break from music and left Orden Ogan. Do you feel now that you are back on track and ready to became a full-time musician once again?
Well, yes it definitely feels like being back on track. We had a lot of fun making that record together and i‘m very proud of it. We‘ll see what the future brings. I‘m ready for more, but nowadays it’s becoming more and more difficult to be a fulltime musician. The important thing is that we can do what we love. Create and play music.
If there is something you want to add in the end, feel free to make it!
I wanna add that we‘re very proud of that record and hope that people will like it as much as we do! We wrote the music from our hearts! We hope to see you at our shows! Support music! Come to shows and buy records because it’s important!
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