Wolfgang Schmidder

MOTHER'Z BOYZZ

Wolfgang Schmidder is the singer of German Blues/Rock band Mother'z Boyzz, previously the guitarist of Mirror Black. Today, he takes time out to speak to Metal Temple Co-Editor In Chief Jojo Hamilton.

By JoJo Hamilton

• August 8, 2021

MOTHER'Z BOYZZ Wolfgang "Bad Boy' Schmidder: "I hope the Coronavirus will be history soon and me and the Boyzz will have a nice lil' tour thru' Scotland

Wolfgang, you started Mother'z Boyzz as a bit of fun. How did this happen and how did the band become serious?

Well, there was a Boogie Woogie-Piano Event at my favorite bar and there were 2 guys, Lukas and Werner sitting at our table. Lukas was a student who played guitar and Werner said he was a percussion player, who had jammed with famous German Rock musician Marius Müller-Westernhagen in earlier days. Werner turned 70 a couple of weeks ago. I quit my old band MIRROR BLACK some years ago, because I was very busy with my day job and the musical direction, we were drifting to, was not mine anymore, so I left the band and decided to take a break… So we were talkin' about a jam session and… it worked… So we started this fun project of a three-generation-rock band without any plans. My wife sung Backing Vocals and we made a kind of Acoustic Rock-Thing… friends came and wanted to listen and we had phenomenal reactions and they kept on asking, when are you goin' to play live? You have to…" After a while we said ok, let's try… More than 200 people came to that first gig and so the story began…

Your previous band was MIRROR BLACK. What promoted the change to MOTHERZ BOYZZ?

MIRROR BLACK was a Hard-Rock or Metal Band and I had done this for decades. I was tired of this. I wanted to change the name, but it had to be something with an M and a B, `cause we had this unique logo made by my dear friend Dean Foster (he's a graphic designer and cartoonist from South Africa). When I started playin' guitar at the age of 11 it was the Blues that got me hooked, like JOHN LEE HOOKER or CHUCK BERRY, even the BEATLES were my first heroes, when I was 5-10. When I was 11 we went on holiday to the States, where I saw VAN HALEN in New York and heard KISS and AC/DC all day long on the radio… it must have been back in `79. I thought Mother'z Boyzz is a funny Bandname, because we all called my wife „Mutti", which is an old German nickname for Mother. She hated this… hahaha. So we became MOTHER'Z BOYZZ… and I loved this Irish band, MOTHERS BOYS so I thought, this could be a good idea…

We've been friends over a year now. What has MOTHER BOYZZ been doing during the lockdown period?

Not much – no gigs possible! Except drinkin' beer, hahaha…I've been writing new songs and we rehearsed, when it was allowed, which was not that often….Difficult times for bands…

You've released 2 albums, "Bad Boy Blues" & "Pink Cadillac." Do you have plans to write a 3rd album anytime soon?

Absolutely! This is already in preparation. I've written more than 20 new songs and now we are busy with all the arrangements, Cover Artwork and so on. Choosing the right songs is very important for me, `cause in the end it's like painting a picture. Everything has to fit together and must be in harmony.

Wolfgang, the bands seen a couple of lineup changes. What brought these about?

Oh my god, I've been waitin' for that question. To be honest, there are some bands without a line up change. ZZ Top for example. That's phenomenal and I'd wish it would be like that or that easy. But it's not. Things change in life, personal life situations… marriage, divorce, new job, having children, death, you're gettin' sick, or you just don't wanna play music anymore cause you're focused on other things… and sometimes friendships end. Shit happens, that's the walk of life. I don't understand, that some people have a problem with this.

Bon Scott was not an original member of AC/DC, it was just Mal and Angus. Ian Gillan is not the original singer of DEEP PURPLE… things change… and that's ok. It also depends on what you want… some guys just want to have fun and make music with friends… and some guys (like me) want more and hate to stand still. Both are ok, but it can't work together… By the way, I just heard the news today, that ZZ TOP will continue without Dusty… so, why not?!

You've played some pub & club gigs. Do MOTHER'Z BOYZZ have any plans to tour the homeland of Germany?

Yes of course, not only in Germany. We would love to do a small tour overseas as well. We were often played in Tony Corners Shows in Rock Radio UK, so why not do a small club-tour in GB… or play an open air? Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have also a huge Bluesrock-Fanbase… so why not? Just call me and we'll be there, hahaha… But first of all, this fucking virus must be brought under control. It makes absolutely no sense to make plans or bookings, when you're not able to say with any certainty, if it will happen.

Now with Covid hopefully coming to an end, when's the band thinking of getting back into the studio?

I guess we will enter the studio in late `21 or early `22. The release is planned for late '22 or somewhere in '23. We didn't have any chance to promote our last album Pink Cadillac live at all, due to Covid. We only had 2 Gigs since this fuckin' virus came up, so we first have to sell some CD's at the concerts to get some money back, that we can reinvest.

If you had to pick one personal favourite song from each album Wolfgang, which ones would it be & why?

Wow, that's difficult… I love each and every song from Bad Boy Blues and from Pink Cadillac as well. There's a lot of emotion in Blues For Dad… And maybe on Pink Cadillac it's "Ice Cubes Pissin'" because we were not that shure about that song, but when we heard it recorded, we said: Wow WTF, hahaha… By the way… we will re-record "Blues For Dad" and "Bad Boy Blues" for the new album, because we were not that satisfied with the sound of our first album.

The bands so far is a bluesy rock band. Will this be the direction you take the band in the next album?

Definetly, yes! Bad Boy- and Lone Man-Lyrics but also a bit more serious, not only fun- lyrics, a matter of these crazy times, I think…

Where do you see MOTHER'Z BOYZZ being in the next 5 years? Where would you like to be as a band?

Oh come on… on top of the world… where else…? Hahaha… I don't play Lotto or Bingo or anything like that, hahaha… I hope that the younger people will start a new rock revolution again, I'm tired of all this crap & rap bullshit. Wolfgang Van Halen has passed the ball, if you know what I mean… I hope the Corona Virus will be history soon and me and the Boyzz will have a nice lil' tour thru' Scotland, with a nice lil' woman, called the Rocket Queen, as a tour manager, hahaha…

Wolfgang, I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you for speaking with me today for the readers of Metal Temple & I'd love to be your tour manager for the Scottish leg of the tour! my I wish you & the band all the success in the future.