HANK SHERMANN & MIKE WEAD (Interviewed on May 08, 1999)

ME : Let's talk about the new MERCYFUL FATE album "9". I personally think that "9" is quite different from the previous ones since "In the Shadows". How can you explain that change? Was there a special atmosphere during the recording? Or did you choose a specific way of writing?

HANK SHERMANN : Yeah, it was a kind of choose. We definitely wanted to do something new, trying to make some new inputs for MERCYFUL FATE. You know, make some different guitars harms and in the writing we definitely wanted to do more fast heavy metal stuff and trying to create some new heavy sound. That was my goals. And also King wanted to put a lot more melody in the songs compared to the last "Dead Again". That's basically what we tried to go for and also to get the production a little bit more powerful. So, all that together made that album "9".

MIKE : We tried to keep the beat rough, this time, you know, to make the sound more contemporary. But it wasn't really intentionally, we intended to experiment with different sounds so we wanted to make it as heavier as possible.

ME : Mike, you wrote your first song (the last song entitled "9") for MERCYFUL FATE. Was it important for you? And do you have a different feeling when you write and play for HEXENHAUS and for MERCYFUL FATE?

MIKE WEAD : Well, not really. I mean I try to write as good songs as possible for each band I have to write the songs for. And also I really didn't have any problems writing the songs. I actually brought it with me, I already had written it before we started to rehearse the new songs. I had it on a demo tape and I played it to Hank and later to King. And they both liked it. So, they said : "Yeah! Why not make a MERCYFUL FATE song with this?" because they thought it would be a good song for MERCYFUL FATE to do. It's a bit different, you know, but sometimes you want to do something different. I didn't have any problems at all. I have written the song the normal way I do when I write songs.

ME : Hank, how did you proceed to make "9" so consistant? Did you work with King before or during composing or did you write separately?

HANK : Basically, what I do is like also in the early old days for the first records : I work alone. Like composing the sounds, the music and then I send the tape to King and then he writes the lyrics. So we don't actually work that much together, we don't sit together and say "what about this or that...". And the same is also with his songs. He works completely alone and he sends the tapes and if we have "seditions", of course, we can move around  some of these music pieces.
 

ME : You are going to be on a huge European tour in a few days. And you will play with METALLICA on many dates. Do you plan to play some songs with them onstage?

HANK : That's something depending of the situation, if there would be an opportunity. We don't know about that.
Anything that we can calculate, that's something that has to be in the moment, you know. Maybe, sometimes Lars
gets crazy, he likes crazy stuff like that. We have to see what will happen!

ME : How this tour with METALLICA was set up? Did they contact you?

MIKE : Yeah, I think it was like that. I mean they have been in contact with Mister Diamond, of course, and
Olé Bang, the manager. And they actually wanted us to do the shows. First, there wasn't so many shows but they came more and more. We were actually invited as special guest stars.

ME : You will be in France for three concerts (Paris, Belfort and Lyon). It's the first time you come here. Is there any special reason for that?

HANK : Actually four! The fourth one is in Toulouse on June 20th. Because the club in Marseille was not available. It's the first time we've come here because the French promoters said they never wanted us to come to the clubs, you know. And sometimes they only offered thousand francs (US$ 165) ! It costs us so many to go in and play clubs in France. We were not offered enough, that were really really low offers we had. And though at this time,
we will travell to Spain, helping us to get into the French market.

ME : Could you tell me about your best and worst memories on tour?

HANK : About the best experiences, certainly one of them is the "Monsters of Rock" in Sao Paulo, Brazil, because it was so big, there was 40.000 people, a big stage,... that was a kind of interesting thing to try that even though we have played for even more people at the Dynamo '93. I think that also in another place in Copenhagen
there was quite a lot of people with METALLICA in 1993 but there was kinda special atmosphere in Brazil, it was so cool. It was one of my best souvenirs. For the worst, it was in San Francisco in 1984. I was asleep at a motel and I woke up, the American tourmanager were calling me : "hey guy, you're asleep" and that was by the time we were supposed to be on the stage! I felt really bad and I was very tired, so I took my stage clothes and just walked down the street, there was a kind of a new place, when I got to the place I couldn't get the way in, find out where I should go in. It was a big mess, you know!

MIKE : There are so many good memories! But when we play in Santiago especially, early last year supporting the "Dead Again" album, it was a great show with like 5000 or 6000 people, they were going totally crazy over MERCYFUL FATE. And that was really really really good and cool show! So that's probably my best memory like that. And the worst memory, I mean you intend to forget all the bad things. It's like in ordinary life we only remember the good times. When you look back when you went to school nowadays it seems fine, you know! You only remember the good times but when  you were in school there was a pain in the ass, though. But the worst point, I think,  is the travel. It's not the travel to different places because I really like to see new places but it's the actual travel when you sit in an airplane for maybe 10-12 hours like that, that's really boring.

ME : During the last few years, many bands have covered MERCYFUL FATE songs as it was done on the French Tribute. But I also found covers released by: BEWITCHED, USURPER, ANCIENT, EMPEROR, MORBID ANGEL and of course METALLICA. Did you listen to them and what do you think about them?

HANK : Not all of them. I heard ANCIENT doing the "Black Funeral" cover. It's pretty similar to MERCYFUL FATE in almost every details. And, then, of course, the French Tribute : there's some good versions, different versions, some fun and some bad versions. It's just that someone has spent money and time to do a tribute, that's a real honour to have a tribute of your band, that's cool...

ME : A bootleg CD recently came out in the USA, it's called "House of Satan" and contains two very old and unreleased MERCYFUL FATE songs : "Truck Driver" and "Persecution". I know that there's still old unreleased materials like this. Why don't you release them as for "Return of the Vampire" album?

HANK : First of all, these two songs have never been MERCYFUL FATE songs. So, that has nothing to do with MERCYFUL FATE. The musicians who performed the songs are kind of old MERCYFUL FATE members but the songs were written for the Michael Denner's band, a new band he formed, called DANGER ZONE in 1980. Then he formed this band DANGER ZONE which was kind of access to a new type of music, new heavy metal like IRON MAIDEN. He just asked me and King to help on doing something. And then mistakenly, these songs have been under the name of MERCYFUL FATE, which is definitely not the truth because these songs are not worthy in MERCYFUL FATE's name. That's just a misunderstanding.

ME : But a lot of fans would like to get such old songs from BLACK ROSE or DANGER ZONE period! Don't you want to release them?

HANK : No, no. because these songs are not good enough for MERCYFUL FATE. It would be silly to do it. The interesting thing for fans is that Michael Denner, Timi Hansen, me and King Diamond have performed on the songs. That's the interesting point, I think. So, I don't think we will do any of these songs ever.

ME : And what about new live songs or official video tape?

HANK : I am not sure but METAL BLADE has been speaking about releasing a kind of a video, a kind of compilation with all our videos, now we have about six videos or something.For this album "9", there is not at this moment any plans of suiting a new video but maybe that would be something that we will do later this year and for the new songs during the European show, we will probably do two songs from the new album : "House on the Hill" and "Burn in Hell".

ME : And now, the last question. Many fans on the official MF site asked questions about your tastes and opinions. So, if you agree, I'd like you to answer to some short questions about yourself.

1/ What are your favorite books?
HANK : "The Alchimist" from P. Coelho. And the other one "The talented Mr. Ripley" by P. Highsmith.
MIKE : I read a lot of Swedish authors. I like detective novels where I know the places especially those about my own town Stockholm when they write about different street names or things like that when you really can feel yourself home in the story-line. You can recognize the streets and you know what they are writing about. But I also like some horror books like S. King. But I really don't like the newer books but the older ones like the excellent one "Shining".

2/ Your favorite movies?
HANK : I like "Goldfinger". You know, the James Bond's movies, I like that!
MIKE : Probably the first "Alien". I really like that one. I think it's a classic horror movie, it was so different when it came out. I was just old enough to be able to sneak into the movie theaters and you got really scared because you have never ever seen anything like that. But I also like many of the S. Spielberg's like "Forrest Gump" and more serious movies like "Schindler's List" and stuff like that. I think those are great movies. Great story-lines, great actors...

ME : You seem to be a lot into horror movies and books, so, I guess you were a MERCYFUL FATE fan when you
were a teenager?

MIKE : Absolutely, I was a fan from the first days. I bought the first MERCYFUL FATE EP, it was very expensive input because they didn't have any distribution in Sweden at that time.

3/ What about your dream?
HANK : I would like, one day, to get a house. It's not really a dream but a goal. To get a house, the ultimate freedom. Actually, I live in a flat, in a complex with a lot of people and shit! That will be great with a little studio in the basement and a look to the ocean or something like that. That would be great!
MIKE : Ordinary dreams like playing live shows, I dream about ordinary day life, nothing strange like having wings, opening the window and fly out in the night. Normal normal dreams, you know!

4/ And your nightmare?
HANK : Being in a room with living big spiders, not being in a cage...
MIKE : I never ever remember them when I wake up, you know. But I know that I had really bad nightmares because my girlfriend is allways telling me!

5/ Do you thing that religious beliefs are necessary in life?
HANK : Yes. Definitely for a lot of people that is necessary to have something, a holding point in their life. So they have something constant in their life. A lot of people need to have religious beliefs in their life. I am not such a type of, though. Because I am just living by my heart. I feel good enough!
MIKE : It's up to each person to decide what they want to believe in. If a person feels confident in a religious belief, then I think it's ok. You should go for what you think it's the best for yourself and I would never force any opinion about any religion to anyone. It's really important that all the people make up their own mind about life. I don't have any religious beliefs but I believe in mankind, I believe in the power of the soul and stuff like that. You should try to be your own god without being blasphemous. To be your own maker and believe in that.

ME : Do you have something to add for your fans on Internet?

HANK : Definitely, looking for playing in France because that's one of my favorite countries. Frequently, I have been on vacations in France. And I have been to all the cities where we are going to play anyway, so, that's going to be good to come back to these cities and play!
MIKE : I thank you to support us for all these years. And it's cool because we will be able to play in France for the first time ever for MERCYFUL FATE. We are really glad to get the opportunity to play so many shows because I think we are doing 4 or 5 shows, this time in France, so, that's really cool! That we can play in all these towns like Paris, all the biggest bands go to Paris, I guess.