A band like HELLOWEEN has a lot of promo stuff to do, so we decided to share things. It is easier for everyone, I mean Weikath and Sascha did Scandinavia, France and I don't know which other countries, Markus will do all the phone interviews.

During the last tour we got into this very good mood; You know after this successful 'Legacy' tour and after the also successful DVD release we thought why wait and not put together another album. We were all excited and anxious to get in the studio and we were writing music during the tour. We finished touring in October 2006 and by the beginning of January we have already spent time together discussing the new ideas and by that time most of the songs were ready to be recorded. I started recording the drums in the beginning of May and we had to give the master tape in the mid of August. I think this is the first time that HELLOWEEN didn't wait to get another album.

No, we were all in such a great mood! Everything worked just fine and I can say that the working process was so relaxing and there was nothing negative.

Well we are free to write without thinking the music direction; whether it should sound like Better Than Raw or other Keepers. There weren't previous thoughts of how it would be to become successful. We had some ideas and we worked them out. It just happened like we ended we the title Gambling With The Table eeeh I mean Devil...(Laughs). You know this is a kind of a promo joke; we were in Spain three days ago in a live internet radio broadcast with this crazy guy... who said [changes voice] We have HELLOWEEN with a new album Gambling With The Table. He said that a couple of times so we said Yes we are Gambling With The Table. So yes, this album was based on our thoughts and nothing more; it was the first time in my life where nothing was planned it just happened. With the Legacy album we had to fulfill with this big headline Keeper Of The Seven Keys. I think you can imagine what happened in the studio; we were thinking whether King Of A 1000 Years for example would fit a Keeper album. After listening to the whole album we were quite sure that it would stand as Keeper Part 3. The only thing you can say we've planned is the Devil on the title and on the lyrics.

More or less you can say that but it wasn't planned. Andi this idea of gambling with the devil- your life and you know he wrote this trilogy with The Bells Of The 7 Hells, Fallen To Pieces and I. M. E.. The first song talks about a leader that everybody follows as sheep and when they get to know the real evil character then everything gets Fallen To Pieces. It happened in my country [Germany] in the past with that guy, I don't want to call that fucking name, who was leading our country...

Exactly, we were told that everything was good and nothing about the war. After he lost the war and the truth came out everything collapsed. Actually The 7 Bells have to do with the seven deadly sins and all that stuff about how the leader convinces the people to follow him. After Fallen To Pieces you have the chance to put all the pieces together and stand for yourself and that tells you I.M.E.. If you don't like what I am then piss off I will stand for my ideas and beliefs.

Through hard touring and practicing. He changed his technique just before the start of the Legacy tour; during those days he was in such a silent mode... I don't know how he is doing this but he hitting precisely every tone! I remember that in one show in Belgium he was sick but due to his new technique he performed in such an excellent way!

We haven't! Everybody put his own ideas on the table and through band meetings we decided together to record everything and then choose. We had about 24 songs. The rest of the songs will be for special editions, Japanese or South American releases, this kind of commercial stuff.

Biff had the idea of doing one song with Andi, Lemmy [MOTORHEAD] and Angry Anderson from ROSE TATOO that will be posted in the next few days in the internet and will be available for free downloading for all the fans from the www.saxon747.com site. So, Andi asked Biff to do the intro for the new album and he agreed.

We just spent one day shooting the band performing. The rest will come later with some computer animation and some actors; it will a classic HELLOWEEN video. I just saw one minute and was a little bit strange... I am looking forward for the whole clip though.

Did you see the DVD?

Yes, I remember with the narrow street to the venue [Sporting Basketball Court]. I was standing beside the driver that day who was completely pissed off because he could not do the maneuvers with the bus, I had a great laugh that day!

Well, we had a lot of 'best shows' I think the one in Sao Paolo where we shot the DVD. You can hear the fans singing every single line! They were so loud!

This idea was there before I joined HELLOWEEN. They performed Future World together in Wacken 2004 and that was a promoter's idea; everyone thought that it would be cool so they did it. This also happened last year on 'Masters Of Rock' festival in Czechoslovakia where the whole band came on stage and we did Future World and I Want Out. It was just a big party!

Yes, we have prepared some special features...

Mmmm No. It will be a surprise. We have actually rehearsed some old songs.

The show will last about 2 hours and Kai will jump to perform two songs with us. If anyone from GAMMA RAY wants to get with us on stage then he is welcome! It's an open thing. You might see some HELLOWEEN members getting on stage while GAMMA RAY are playing. We have also prepared a whole new stage and GAMMA RAY will get the time and whatever they need to get their show done.

I am not quite sure. Maybe as a special feature or a bonus but not as another full DVD release. It would not be fair for the fans you know.

Yeah! If you were in my position, what would you say?

Indeed. I very happy and this time I was free to do the drum arrangements; in this album you can hear my performing style.

Andi was responsible about his voice and his composing stuff. Charlie is a band member he is my father, my mommy, my friend my kick ass man and he is doing all the production.

Indeed in the beginning it was a lot of pressure to be in the same place where all these musicians have been. Finally it worked out I fulfilled HELLOWEEN's expectations. As I said I was free to work on the drums in the new album without being restricted by anyone. Of course I am open minded and accept other ideas. I can say that in the new album 80% of what you hear in the drums are my ideas.

No, nothing. It's a sad thing though. They said some stupid things about me.

Yes. I heard some ridiculous rumors saying that they are pissed off with me and if they ever going to see me they will hit me. Real kindergarten stuff like this. I am way too old about this so I quit the band. I have deleted the band's name from my mind. You know I was the main composer and the manager of the band and this is how they treat me.

No I don't.

YES, I am a vinyl collector too and we've come up with some pretty interesting ideas during the promo tour about this release so it would be something really special! And for low budget.

Thank you too, we are expecting you on the upcoming tour and remember that we don't have any commercial or marketing stuff on our minds; we just want to play music and give you a great mood.