Metal Storm logo
Avantasia interview (03/2010)


With: Tobias Sammet
Conducted by: Baz Anderson (in person)
Published: 15.03.2010

Band profile:

Avantasia


Tobias Sammet known as the frontman of Edguy, and mastermind behind Avantasia finds himself at Hammerfest II to answer a few questions. Just about to release two new Avantasia albums, and taking Edguy on a headlining tour of the UK in the next week, he is a busy man. This is what happened when I got chance to talk to him about both of his bands:





Part 1



Part 2




Many thanks to Tobi for his time, and Adam & Lucy for helping arrange it.
Conducted and edited by Barry Anderson.
Recorded by Glenn Searing.






Posted on 15.03.2010 by Member of Staff since 2006


Comments

Comments: 16   [ 2 ignored ]   Visited by: 342 users
15.03.2010 - 02:27
4look4rd
The Sasquatch
Nice interview and its good to see that Tobbias is becoming more and more prolific
----
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 06:24
Number Juan

He seems like an extremely down to earth person. Really cool interview.
----
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. - Bertrand Russell
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 07:30
WorpeX
Made of Metal
WOAH. Jon Oliva is on these albums!!??! Kay, you sold me Tobias. I'm getting them.

Great interview though, he seems like a really cool guy.
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 09:59
Ellrohir
Heaven Knight
Written by WorpeX on 15.03.2010 at 07:30

he seems like a really cool guy.


nice you have noticed it through all this bashing him for moneymaking
----
My rest seems now calm and deep
Finally I got my dead man sleep


Loading...
15.03.2010 - 10:07
insanity.peppers

He answered that radio-friendly question really well - what kind of radio actually plays his stuff? Scarecrow might have more mainstream elements and influences, but he got those from great bands who were radio friendly back in their day and wouldn't be touched with a ten-foot pole today. Tobi, you are great
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 19:58
Baz Anderson

Haha, you shall!!

Thanks everyone for the comments!
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 20:39
DreamNightmare

Tobias rules! i love everything he puts out. somehow he just manages to create better songs each time, be it Power Metal or Heavy/Hard rock whatever. Needless to say i've had the Deluxe box set on pre-order for a month. Support the artists people!
Really enjoyed the interview. does he ever stop working!!! that's dedication right there - new Edguy album by the end of the year as well!!!!!??? he's a machine
Loading...
15.03.2010 - 21:43
JÄY
Metal slave
His dedication is very commendable, but i no longer enjoy his work
Loading...
16.03.2010 - 17:22
Kingface

Great interview! Tobias seems like a sound guy. Can't wait to see Edguy live this Friday!
Loading...
17.03.2010 - 03:04
Mother_North

That's really interesting, all of you are saying what a great guy he is but I was the one who waited for him after a damn concert junt to have a damn autograph and he simply went to the band bus and didin't give a shit about the fans who were there waiting in a cold February night.
After this I no longer want to meet musicians, I bet most of them we'll have these kind of rock star atittudes. I go to a concert, I see the bands and I go home.
I was a great fan of Tobias...
----
"i still can't imagine any of them dead. They live on; they are fixed on that far-off region called childhood, were nothing ever dies, not even oneself."
Loading...
17.03.2010 - 23:23
Zeh

Written by Mother_North on 17.03.2010 at 03:04

That's really interesting, all of you are saying what a great guy he is but I was the one who waited for him after a damn concert junt to have a damn autograph and he simply went to the band bus and didin't give a shit about the fans who were there waiting in a cold February night.
After this I no longer want to meet musicians, I bet most of them we'll have these kind of rock star atittudes. I go to a concert, I see the bands and I go home.
I was a great fan of Tobias...


Well.. nobody is on the greatest mood everyday. It's said he normally polite and fun to everyone. Well.. I'm not into grouping and taking autographs, mainly because I like shows but not worship nobody.
----
Zeh
Loading...
18.03.2010 - 05:42
Mother_North

Quote:
Quote:


Well.. nobody is on the greatest mood everyday. It's said he normally polite and fun to everyone. Well.. I'm not into grouping and taking autographs, mainly because I like shows but not worship nobody.


Well it seems that he decided not to be polite with me and my bf. Next time I'll decide not to give my money to him and stay at home when he comes to play here.
----
"i still can't imagine any of them dead. They live on; they are fixed on that far-off region called childhood, were nothing ever dies, not even oneself."
Loading...
20.03.2010 - 02:33
corrupt
With a lowercase c
It still is not predominantly about the (quite pressing, no matter what he acutally thinks about it) asumption he's trying to make more money with it but about the fact that he uses Avantasia to sell this kind of music. I can't find a reference anymore but Tobias himself once said that Avantasia hat turned into so much more than he had hoped for and had such an epic impact that he wouldn't dare to ever touch it again for fear of destroying the magic. That was after the second part of the opera was released and I totally agreed.

Now look at what we have. I know I'm repeating myself but I do regard the original Avantasia some of the best power metal ever made and this might bias my opnion. The scarecrow and tinnitus sanctus are so much alike it's creepy. When people talk about radio-friendlyness, even if they can't put a finger on it, it's usually related to song structures and in particular to this scheme where a song has a powerful intro and then softens right before the singing starts. And that's exactly what we've seen on both of the above albums. Tobias might call this more diverse, he also calls himself a better musician than he was during the old Avantasia albums but that doesn't make the music any better. It's simple, it's predictable and I would even say it's boring but I don't want to move the discussion into that area. Having an immense number of people on the album doesn't change the fact that the result just sounds cheap.

And here's the tricky thing. I am convinced that, if the music would live up the the old standard, more people would actually buy it. It's like he said; if you like the music, please buy it. It's just harder to find people who actually do.
Metallica tried this too. Move to the nu-metal scene because that music is easier to make. They came back to their old fans that they can rely on for support. Maybe Tobi will too in time.
----
Loading...
21.03.2010 - 13:35
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Written by Irritable Ted on 21.03.2010 at 13:08

Tobi said on Friday night that Tinnitus Sanctus was too commercial and didn't sell well. I don't know if he was joking or not.

He seems to have a different perception of commerciality (real word?) anyway. Of course it didn't sell well. That's because the old Edguy fans don't like it and people who would will have to notice it first. When we say his music sounds commercial, we mean just that. The music. For the musician this would be measured by actual sales and that's a different story. He also said in this interview that his music wasn't radio-friendly because they didn't play it and in the same sentence explains that it had more to do with his name and age. It was obviously sent to radio stations to be aired so there's the real answer to Baz' question.
The best way to keep selling is to continue what fans liked the most I guess and he's definitely not doing that. Which is in fact why I'm so mad he uses the Avantasia brand for this. To get at least a few people who associate good stuff with the name to buy the new material.
----
Loading...
01.10.2010 - 05:33
Lovecraft
Account deleted
Interesting interview.
Loading...
17.12.2010 - 02:38
Mountain King
K i K o
Nice interview! I've seen countless discussions about how Tobi has changed n everything just like all the comments above mine. The Scarecrow had some good songs and the 2 new albums are really good. They aren't the best, but honestly, some songs from the 2 new albums are simply amazing! For example: The only song i would prefer over "Stargazers" is "The Tower". As much as i think that the metal opera pt. 1 (And only pt.1) is one of the best Power Metal albums ever, some songs from "Angel Of Babylon" are just as good. The thing is that there are some really bad songs on those new albums and that's what bothers me. Not mention Tobi doesn't sound like he did before let's say on "Mandrake" , "Theater Of Salvation" or The Metal Operas. I like that Tobi is doing some new stuff but i just would like him to balance his style a little more. He needs to add a little more speed and epicness to some of his new songs because they turn out the best!
Loading...

Hits total: 11813 | This month: 6