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Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 15 2008, 09:57 AM

So, as I mentioned in the topic above, I want to use this forum to answer your questions of course, so whatever you guys would like to ask, about recording, touring, being in a band in general, my equipment or whatever else, feel free to post your questions here.

Posted by: Mark. May 15 2008, 10:10 AM

Ey Marcus,

I'd loved to know if you're really such a big fan of The Lord Of The Rings as it seems when you check out your albums ?

I do really love lotr, and not only the movies; I infact love al J.R.R Tolkiens work
Listening to Nightfall In Middle Earth really gives me the same feeling as reading in Tolkiens works about epic
battles and I just want to thank you for that

And another question I have, but this one can probably be answered by any lotr fan.

Why does Gandalf say in The Return of The King when he talks against Denethor "I'm a stewart myself, you know"
*I dont know if this is how to say it in english *
Gandalf is a stewart from what... ?

Cya later,

Mark.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 15 2008, 07:55 PM

Yes, I am a huge fan of the Lord of the rings, all of BG's members are. I got in contact with Tolkiens universe when I was about 12 or 13, by reading the Hobbit, and I loved it right from the first page. It took me some time to read the Lord of the rings though, I was a bit scared by the size of it in the beginning But well, by now I read both several times, more are to come, those books are just amazing. And yes, I also love the movies, even though I was very sceptical in the beginning, I just did not believe that somebody could turn such a complex story into a working movie... but well, Jackson made it. And about Gandalf being a steward.... hmmm, no idea

Posted by: Mark. May 15 2008, 08:02 PM

Tnx for replaying
I knew that it was kinda a stupid question to ask a BG band member if he likes lotr



I just thought of another question

It's about the album A Twist In The Myth, why did you put this guy saying "You're listening to the new Blind Guardian CD A Twist In The Myth" in When I heard the album at a friend I thought it was kinda bothering
The songs on the album are great, but why this voice? What if you release a new BG CD then A Twist In The Myth isn't the newest BG CD anymore

Anyways still a superb album

Mark.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 15 2008, 08:22 PM

Lol, what you are talking about is called "voice over", it is a kind of copy protection that the music industry is using for Promo CD's. Promos are given away long before the official release of an album, and unfortunately most of them are on the net on the very same day. To prevent having the full songs online weeks (sometimes months) before the release day, somebody had the idea to have those voice overs, like this people can get an impression about the songs, but they are "stimulated" to still buy the album in case they like the songs, the regular version of the album, the one that you can buy in the shop, of course does NOT have this voice over. So what do we learn from this? Either your friend has connections and got a Promo cd, or he illegally downloaded it from the net About a new cd and our general timing about releasing them... well, we are working on new songs, but if you are familiar with BG you should know that we always take our time

Posted by: Canis May 15 2008, 08:28 PM

Glad you do take your time ^^ I've yet to find a Blind Guardian song that's not worth the wait

Posted by: Mark. May 15 2008, 08:32 PM

Damn, why do I always ask wrong or stupid questions Dx?!?


I listened to it at a friend, he had it on his pc, dont know he got it though. And I put it from their on my Ipod
Which is the most recent thing i've spended all my money on

Sorry if it's an illegal and it cost you money. But for me the problem is that I only got like 15 euro's, and I wanna buy a new amp, so the best solution for me is that I "borrow" some music from friends Dx
I'll dropkick my friend in your name okey xD?


Also I can't wait for the new CD got to save like 20 euros for that right? It's almost my birthday so that should do it

But you may take as long as you need, the longer it takes the better it's gonna be

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 15 2008, 08:41 PM

We will take as long as we need anyway, whether you like it or not And about downloading music, I think I will write something about this during the next days, after all I have my own forum here now, so better use it

Posted by: Orlandun May 23 2008, 09:41 PM

I got a few quick questions.

First, Whats your recording setup like that you use at home for making your lessons Programs, equipment, etc?

Also who were your personal guitar heroes growing up? Your inspirations to start playing guitar.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 23 2008, 10:25 PM

I will give a full report about my setup during the next days, ok?

Posted by: Orlandun May 24 2008, 02:46 PM

Sounds good to me.

Posted by: Smikey2006 May 24 2008, 06:59 PM

Marcus.. how much time did you spend practicing a day between the ages of 20-25 annddd how well did you do in school/ do you have any higher education ( university degree) or did you do all music school stuff?
thanks

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 25 2008, 12:19 PM

My practicing times never followed a clear pattern, there were days when I played all day long (not only practicing, but also composing or just playing around, having fun with a guitar), and there were days when I didn't play at all, sometimes I can be very lazy If your other question means if I skipped school to play guitar, no, I didn't I finished my schooltime here at the Gymnasium and got my degree, I didn't go to any university after that though cause we already had a record deal while I was still in 11th grade, so after school I just did my civil service and since then I am a professional musician.

Posted by: Harlequin May 25 2008, 06:56 PM

Because you didn't want to cut you hair?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 26 2008, 07:33 PM

Is there a better reason not to go to the army?

Posted by: black and white May 26 2008, 07:44 PM

OK, google can answer anything...............and yes I have way too much time on my hand............

A steward is a caretaker.....Denathor was a Steward (caretaker) of Gondor.


http://greenbooks.theonering.net/questions/files/040100.html

Q: Gandalf is talking to Denethor and says something like "I'm also a steward, did you not know?" What is Gandalf referring to? What is he a steward of? All Middle-earth, perhaps.



A: I truly think you have answered your own question in this case. Gandalf’s task was to be the Enemy of Sauron. To me that says doing everything he could to preserve Middle-earth from the terrifying reign of Sauron that would commence if Sauron regained the One Ring and was able to take control. He is a Steward of the freedom of the peoples and the unspoiled-ness of the lands of Middle-earth.

Posted by: TreyDeschamp Jun 13 2008, 03:18 AM

How did you start/ or get into your first band and how do you right your music?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jun 13 2008, 10:20 AM

I started my first band as most likely many of you did it too, I just had some friends who also played an instrument, and instead of sitting at home, playing along to some records, we decided to for our first band and play together. Actually I only had one friend back then that also played guitar, but he knew somebody that played bass, and that guy again knew somebody that played drums... and guess what, the drummer knew a singer
About songwriting, in the beginning we were meeting in our rehearsal room and we were just jamming, maybe somebody had an idea and we tried to work on this, but back then we wrote songs all together. Today this is a bit different, in BG we all have our little studios at home, this is where we work on our ideas, we don't really jam in the rehearsla room anymore to write songs, we exchange our song ideas that we recorded and then for example Hansi can try some vocal lines with a playback that I recorded.

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jun 13 2008, 07:36 PM

Hi Marcus! I would like to ask You, what guitar was the acoustic one that You played in the studio video of Bard's Song? I will have to find a new acoustic for myself soon, this will be out of my price range most probably, but still worth a try..

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jun 16 2008, 04:30 PM

That was my old Ovation Legend, a very nice guitar that I have been using for a very long time. Ovations have a very unique sound since there is not much wood used to build those guitars, but many people like them a lot and they are very reliable, specially on stage.

Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Jun 16 2008, 04:40 PM

Hello Marcus

Whats the best part of being in a succesful band ? Honestly ?

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jun 16 2008, 05:07 PM

Thanks for the answer Markus! Sadly this beauty is out of my price range, but one day...!

Posted by: Nighthawk Jun 23 2008, 05:11 PM

Hi there Marcus,
I was wondering if you could upload a GP5 file your Penta Solo lesson...I find it hard to play it with the right rhythm without it and I can't play along the video yet when I begin to play that lesson...would be great....And oncemore MANY MANY compliments to that solo...it sound absolutely breathtaking...(and that's the reason why I wanna learn the exact timing) Viele Grüße nach Krefeld..it's an honour to have such a prominent guitarist here with gmc...

Posted by: Gitarrero Jun 24 2008, 02:30 PM

Hi Marcus,
I've got two questions, one being a technical one...
First: Since you put the song Otherland on the last album and Hansi (I think) said in an interview that the whole theme of the book(s) can't obviously be covered in one song, how about releasing an album based on that novel? I think it's waaay better than Lord of the Rings (sorry, I know you like it...).
The technical question:
Does the fret (or string) height matter when playing metal? I've got 4 guitars, and only one has a very low string height on which it's (relatively) easy to play fast solos and tapping stuff. The other ones (among them a nice Strat that I got from my dad) have high fret heights, so I have to push the strings down with more power. I tried to adjust it, but then the strings touch the neck and the sound is awful. I've read that Hendrix played on a Fender with a high fret height, and that it was almost impossible to play (except for him).
So, what's your opinion on that? (I`m not sure if fret height is the wrong term, I mean the distance between the fret and the bottom of the strings).
Grüße aus Münster
Gitarrero

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jun 24 2008, 07:01 PM

I guess there are many great things about being in a succsessful band, it is awsome to be able to make a living with something that you love of course, it is incredibly great to be able to tour around the world and see so many different places and cultures, it is awesome to go on stage and get this immediate feedback when you play your songs and you see all the fans go nuts



About Otherland, I have to say that I didn't read those books yet, thats still on my "to do" list, so I can't really judge how good they are, but obviously Hansi liked them a lot, so there might be more songs about them in the future, not necessarily a full concept album, but who knows...
About the setting of your strings, I guess this is something very personal. I for example don't like those ultra flat settings, all my guitars are more medium I would say, this is how I feel most comfortable. So as long as you feel fine and get along with your settings, why change? Of course it might make sense to experiment a bit if you never did this so far, maybe you find a setting that you like better than the one that you are using now, but as I said, as long as you feel fine there is no real need to change anything.

@ Nighthawk: I have to admit that I never used this GP5 software so far, I don't even have it in the moment, but I will see what I can do, ok?

Posted by: Nighthawk Jun 24 2008, 08:24 PM

@ Nighthawk: I have to admit that I never used this GP5 software so far, I don't even have it in the moment, but I will see what I can do, ok?
[/quote]

That would be great thanks a lot...

Posted by: Gitarrero Jun 27 2008, 07:48 AM

Hi Marcus, I`ve got a couple of other questions about many different things, but that`s what this forum is for, isn`t it? ;-)
About being in a band:
I myself play in an "Oldie-Band" with a couple of older men ;-) 50+, though I`m only 27, but well...since my Dad did the same I grew up with the music of the sixties. Personally, I like it a lot more to play in a pub with only 50 or 100 people standing directly in front of the stage (in case there is a stage...) than playing on some birthday party or so in a ballroom, where the crowd is far away from the stage. I know you play in another league, but many professional musicians say they like the small club concerts more than big stadium concerts. What`s your opinion on that? Would you rather play in front of, let`s say, 800 fans in a club or play on the main stage at RaR or Wacken? It must be awesome to play for so many fans, but isn`t it easier to establish a connection when there are not so many fans and the atmosphere is kinda...cosy, like in a small club?
Puh, already wrote alot for just one question, I`ll keep the rest short ;-)

How are BGs rehearsal sessions? Do you meet and say "well, let`s play these 10 songs today, and next time we`ll continue with 10 other songs"? Cause that`s the way we rehearse, but I`m never sure if that`s so effective.
About songwriting: Do you write something, play it for the others and they add their ideas? And about finding lyrics, would Hansi say to a song "I think Otherland-based lyrics would fit nicely for that song" (here we go again ;-) )? Or would he write such a song all by himself?

About guitars:
In my Band, I play a Strat, because it`s a great guitar to create a nice sixties sound. But besides Yngwie and the guys from Iron Maiden no metal guitarists seem to use them. Why is that? Is their sound to smooth or tame?

About you:
What music do you listen to? Do you stick with metal, or do you also listen to bands from other genres (let`s say Ärzte, Green Day etc.)? What are your favourite bands? Do you listen to non-guitar music like Hip-Hop or electro stuff (like Massive Attack etc.) as well?

Oh, when are you going to give a new lesson? And how do you like the Blind Guardian lesson by Lian?

Well, that`s quit a lot, would be great if you could answer all of it sometime :-)

Thanks for your reply to my other question, since I gave it a shot and tried to play faster stuff on my Strat with the higher string height it works pretty well. I think you just have to practise.

Grüße aus Münster

Gitarrero

Posted by: RIP Dime Jun 28 2008, 09:38 AM

Is it true that when we (the fans), buy albums, most of the money goes to the industry? And that bands members rarely make a living off selling albums, but they make a living by playing live?
It concerns me because I really want to support the bands I love, and in Hawaii, not many bands come here.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jul 9 2008, 09:52 AM

Wow, many new questions are waiting to be answered ok here we go:

About the gigs, well, both, small club gigs and also big festival shows, have something special, and I have to say I like both as much. Of course the contact to the audience is more direct in smaller shows, when you play big festivals like Wacken for example, the pit in front of the stage is like 5 meters, if not more, so this limits this feeling of having direct contact to the first rows of course. On the other hand, when 80000 people start singing the bard song this is more than amazing.

About our rehearsals, well, BG is a band that doesn't really rehearse that much The normal situation for us is that we rehearse before we go on tour. First we decide about what songs we want to play on the next tour, normally we play around 18-20 songs per night, but we always rehearse more songs, so we can change the set a bit each night. So after deciding about maybe 30-35 songs we start rehearsing, which means we rehearse every day, for 2 or 3 weeks, up to 6-8 hours per day, after this we should be fit for touring

Songwriting is something that we all do at home, we work with our little studios (Pro Tools, Logic, whatever) and capture our ideas, and at some point we hand them to Hansi so he can sing to whatever we recorded before. About his lyrics, he is in charge of singing, so he writes all the lyrics, we don't interfere with this.

About stratocasters, well, as you said, it is a great guitar for certain styles of music, but when it comes to metal I think other guitars deliver a better sound, but well, this is a matter of personal taste of course, and as you said, Ingwie would never pick anything else but his strats.

About my taste in music, I listen to all kinds of things. For me there is music I like and music I don't like, if a song catches me I don't care at all if it is metal or anything else, then it is just a good song. I like all kinds of metal bands, but also love bands like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Bad Religion, Green Day, Dire Straits, Marillion, Rush, Tori Amos...

And about my next lesson, well, I recorded the videos yesterday and after answering your questions I will just write the tabs and upload it And Lian did a BG style lesson??? Damn, I didn't see this yet

and yes, it is true that the biggest part of the money that we have to pay for cds doesn't really end in the musicians pocket.

Posted by: Dirrio Jul 23 2008, 06:12 PM

Ganker or gankee? Or do you prefer to play on pve realms?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jul 24 2008, 10:24 PM

Nope, I play on a pvp realm, but I have my pvp and my pve seasons, in the moment I am only interested in raiding Hyjal and Black Temple, so the horde is not in danger

Posted by: Rethla Oct 4 2008, 05:29 AM

Since youre open for question, really nice of you btw, i have one for you

I just herd the new song on youtube and it sounds great. I will buy the game for sure but i was wondering will you release a single to? If so that wuld be really great as you culd also throw in All the kings horses and such wich the japs are constantly gloating us with

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Oct 4 2008, 11:59 AM

There is no plan for a "Sacred" single, but we might use the song for the next album, maybe in a slightly different version, we will see.

Posted by: Canis Oct 4 2008, 09:03 PM

How's your WoW going? ^^

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Oct 6 2008, 07:08 PM

As always, very well 10 days to go until the patch, a bit more than a month until the add on...

Posted by: Tono Fyr Jan 13 2009, 05:06 AM

I'm really sorry about the barrage of questions I'm about to send out on you...

How do you guys decide on which songs to play before you go on tour?

And I have to ask, will you guys be playing more new material this upcoming tour? I loved the show in Atlanta back in 06 (I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to meet you guys - though I did get to see you get off the bus and into the car to go to whatever hotel it was you were staying at), and it still stands as the best show I've seen, but I think the classic list is honestly getting a bit.. stale? I don't like to use the word, but honestly, only playing 3 or 4 songs off a new album during the tour for that album seems a little strange to me. I know there are some classic songs that you just have to play live - every Blind Guardian fan DESERVES to experience "The Bard's Song" at least once in a live setting - but, I don't know, I just feel like you guys could stand to change it up a bit. I'd love to hear some underplayed (or Unplayed) songs, Battlefield or The Curse of Feanor or Straight Through The Mirror or... (this list could just keep going, honestly). I think you guys could fill up three setlists worth of songs you haven't played much live, and all of them would be fantastic!

And are there any tentative dates for the next tour? I've got my fingers crossed that there'll be some US dates!

When are you going to post your next lesson? I'm sure you're level 80 already : P

And lastly, I just want to say, you guys are pretty much my favorite band, and one of the major reasons why I started playing guitar.

PS: I know you guys are never going to play Majesty again if you can avoid it : P

Posted by: Rethla Jan 13 2009, 01:07 PM

Yeh i agree. If you play The Curse of Feanor next time in Sweden it wuld truly be awsome

Posted by: Mandos Jan 13 2009, 01:46 PM

Play The Curse of Fëanor in Stockholm and I'll be very happy indeed.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jan 23 2009, 05:49 PM

Don't worry about asling questions, thats what this forum is here for, isn't it? About setlists... actually this is a rather tricky thing. As you mentioned yourself there are some songs that we HAVE to play, otherwise we will be tared and featherd at the end of the show, there are some old songs that we didn't play in a while and that we would like to play again, and of course there is a new album that we want to present... and the solution can only be a compromise. About the amount of new songs, personally I really dislike it if a band plays the full new album on tour, I prefer 4 or 5 new ones and then a classic mix, like this there is also more room for old and "underplayed" songs. About the songs that we "have" to play... unfortunately this list gets bigger and bigger with every new album So all we can do is pick some of those "must play" classics for todays show and exchange them with some others for the next show. Actually this is something we always do, if we play 20 songs in a show we rehearse about 30 or 35, so we can change the set a bit every night, like this we can cover more songs. Sometimes we even skip the "must play" songs if we are just not in the mood to play them. For example, in our last Tokyo show we kicked the Bards Song, it was the very first time ever since 92 that we played a show without that song, and it was a nice experience About the next shows, we will play some festivals this year, for example the Bang your Head festival in Germany, Graspop in Belgium or the Gods of Metal in Italy. It won't be a real tour, just some festivals, the next tour will only start after the release of our next album, which should be somtime next year. And about the setlist for the upcoming festivals... well, so far there is no setlist When the time comes we will all make a list with songs that we would like to play and then we will somehow try to turn it into a setlist. And about majesty... I guess this song will still be haunting us for some more years

Posted by: jer Jan 23 2009, 05:52 PM

Will you guys be returning to the US anytime in the near future?

You can all stay at my place if lodging is the hold up.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jan 23 2009, 07:13 PM

Lol, thanks for the offer, does this include our crew? About US dates, I don't know, in the moment there is no show in the US scheduled, but our booker is still working on the schedule for this year, just keep checking our website for more details. Oh, and I forgot to mention, yes, I am level 80, but there are still some T7 items missing and I still didn't tame Loque-Nahak

Posted by: Mandos Jan 24 2009, 07:20 AM

I'd love to see you guys at Sweden Rock this year. Especially since that's the only festival that I'll go to this summer.

Posted by: Tono Fyr Feb 14 2009, 07:47 AM

If Blind Guardian was approached by representatives of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band series, would you be behind putting one or more of your songs on one of these games?

Posted by: jer Feb 14 2009, 03:26 PM

GOOD QUESTION!

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Feb 15 2009, 06:58 PM

Sure, why not? I have Guitar Hero myself, it can be a lot of fun, and it introduces a lot of great songs to kids that normally would never listen to those songs, so I think it is a good thing. The only problem about those games is when kids suddenly think they are musicians only because they can play whatever song on Guitar Hero. This is a game, nothing more, nothing less, fun for sure, but it doesn't have to do anything with playing an instrument.

Posted by: jer Feb 15 2009, 08:28 PM

Except eye / hand coordination and a bit of rhythm.

It does have that.

Posted by: Mandos Feb 15 2009, 09:18 PM

And you also improve your finger independence.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Feb 17 2009, 10:16 AM

Well... in my humble opinion, the better you play guitar, the harder Guitar Hero gets, cause after all, what you have to do in that game is not really what you would have to play on a real guitar. Still, it is fun, but I really don't consider it to give me any benefit concerning me playing guitar.

Posted by: jer Feb 17 2009, 01:54 PM

I agree there.

My point was from a "someone who hasnt played guitar before" standpoint.

I think a kid with a year of Guitar Hero under his belt will have an advantage over a kid with nothing, when they both pick up the guitar and start playing for real.

Not a HUGE advantage, but some.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Feb 18 2009, 11:05 AM

Maybe, though I have to say I am not really sure if this is an advantage, after all we are talking about pushing down some colorful buttons, not holding any real chords... but one thing is for sure, the kid that played the game at least got to know some cool songs

Posted by: jer Feb 18 2009, 03:55 PM

Hey Marcus, I see you guys will be at the Gods of Metal festival this year in Italy.

Tell Dio "Jer says hi" will ya?

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Mar 6 2009, 11:56 PM

Okay this isn't really a question, but I just can't believe it - Blind Guardian is coming to Poland The information is confirmed day after I bought a ticket for Masters of Rock festival to see BG After years of waiting for You to come here, I finally used my brain and discovered that I can see my all time favorite band in another country. And now I will see it twice the same year, am I dreaming?

PS: being a fanboy is bit embarrassing

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 19 2009, 12:07 PM

Hehe, yes, we'll come to Poland so you can see us there. And ok, I will greet Dio

Posted by: jer Mar 19 2009, 03:10 PM

Got any sneak previews of the new BG stuff?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 19 2009, 03:57 PM

Hehe, nope, no previews for public so far, you'll have to be patient

Posted by: ZakkWylde Mar 19 2009, 03:58 PM

Can we come backstage for a handshake on the next tour?

Posted by: Tono Fyr Mar 23 2009, 03:26 AM

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?

Seriously, though, I just want to meet you guys. You probably get this a lot, but your music really did change my life. I play guitar almost entirely because of the impression left by you and Andre, and I got so much more into metal after hearing my first BG song (Battlefield) that I'm pretty sure I'm here to stay, y'know?

I really just want to thank each of you for all you've done for me through your music. It's truly some of the most inspiring stuff.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 24 2009, 05:06 PM

We never avoided any handshakes, we go out after the show, or we do sightseeing before, and whenever we meet fans they can get a handshake, pic or autograph or whatever.

Posted by: Guillaume Mar 24 2009, 11:23 PM

That's right

I saw Hansi in 2006 in a french bar in Paris after a pre listening of A Twist In The Myth and he was very sympathetic with me, we talked 10 minutes and he invited me to take a beer in this bar.
I was impressed, you're my idols guys

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 25 2009, 03:06 PM

... which does not mean we are not absolutely normal down to earth guys

Posted by: Guillaume Mar 25 2009, 03:12 PM

Yes of course

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 27 2009, 05:10 PM

Posted by: Bartleby Apr 6 2009, 09:20 PM

Hi Marcus,
I don't know if it's the good place to ask this...but I'd really like to know the tab of Follow the Blind (the track, not the album of course )
I've searched everywhere on the Web and I can't find it
I noticed that some tabs are provided on the BG's website but not this one. Actually, I didn't know you have the permission to give a tab protected by copyright

Another little question, why did you change the lyrics of The Lord of the Rings since The Forgotten Tales (Gnomes -> Dwarfs, Halls -> Hearts etc, if i'm right) ?

PS: too bad you guys are not coming to the Hellfest this year

Bye

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 13 2009, 07:07 PM

Tabs for Follow the Blind? Hmmm, I have to say I still really like that song, but after recroding it we played it live exactly once, in 1989, and since then we never ever played or rehearsed it, so I have to admit I have not the slightest clue about what we played back then I would have to completely relearn the song myself and since we are just relearing some other songs for the upcoming festivals I won'T work on Follow. About tabs online, some time ago I checked some of them for fun, also some people showing how to play our songs on Youtube, and sad but true none of them was even close to what we are playing

Posted by: superize Apr 13 2009, 07:13 PM

Have you checked on 911tabs.com

Posted by: Bartleby Apr 14 2009, 12:31 AM

What a shame, maybe one day i'll be able to tab it...and play it . Thanks anyway for your reply. BoF and FtB are still my favourite albums, I appreciate the "heavy" side you used to play in, not that i dislike the other albums of course (fanboy inside)
According to "we never ever played or rehearsed it", I can imagine BG won't make Album shows like Amon Amarth in december. Lucky me, you still play live Banish From Sanctuary and Majesty

You wrote in a topic that Strat' are not the most appropriate guitar for playing Metal, but I searched for videos about BG months ago, and surprise surprise, you had a Strat' , check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5MgsXhvtUM
About the video, is it official ? If it is, do you still have the tapes ?

I hope I could see BG again live in the coming years.

Thank you again for your time Marcus.

Bye.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 14 2009, 04:17 PM

911 sounds familiar so I guess i checked their tabs back then, I am not sure though. And no, we don't plan any "album gigs", we prefer a mixed set, that doesn't mean we won't play any old songs though, actually I am practicing some older stuff in the moment About Strats, I was talking about the classical Fender type strat with single coils, a great guitar for a lot of styles, but for a heavy sound I would always go for a guitar with humbuckers. If you pay attention, my guitar in that video is not a Fender, it is my old ESP Horizon, and it is equiped with an EMG 81 And no, this video is not official at all

Posted by: jer Apr 14 2009, 04:20 PM

we're you on the right or left? if looking at the stage. (crappy video quality)

The guitarist on the right had a fender looking headstock.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 14 2009, 04:36 PM

Oops, sorry, my mistake I am stage left, which means on the right side if you are in the audience, and yes, it is a Fender type headstock, still it is an ESP guitar with EMG 81 pickups

Posted by: Marc_Maiden Apr 14 2009, 05:32 PM

when are you coming back to the US?


most importantly



when are you coming back to the San Francisco bay area? Id love to learn from my instructor LIVE!
haha

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 15 2009, 09:56 AM

This year we will only play a couple of festivals in Europe, but next year we will for sure come back to the USA. I can't give you any dates yet, but as soon as our new album is released (sometime next year) we will go on a big world tour again, for sure covering the USA again too.

Posted by: audiopaal Apr 15 2009, 10:48 AM

What about Norway?

Posted by: Guillaume Apr 15 2009, 11:04 AM

Very good news
I hope for shows in France

Posted by: Tono Fyr Apr 15 2009, 03:22 PM

If I'm not mistaken, haven't you guys played almost all of IFTOS in your sets before? I realize that the DVD was filmed over two nights, but it's still got all bu one song off that album presented as a single set.

I honestly really want to hear the version of Theater of Pain you guys played. I remember seeing the bootleg somewhere, but I didn't manage to grab it before The Following went down (mostly due to the system they had set up for it).

Posted by: Canis Apr 15 2009, 04:02 PM

Okay, two almost equally important questions:

Are you coming to Norway in the next few years?
And: What are your opinion on the new WoW expansion?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 15 2009, 07:55 PM

Lol, we didn't book the next tour yet, only this years festivals, so please don't ask me when we will play in whatever country, I don't know yet. As soon as we have confirmed dates we will publish them on our homepage, until then just be patient. About songs from Imaginations, I guess we already played every single song of that album live, but as you mentioned, the DVD was recorded on two nights, so we didn't play the full album in one set.
And about the Lich King, well, I still love WoW so it can't be that bad even though the end game content was not very demanding so far, but now, with Ulduar this might change a bit, I will see about this tomorrow

Posted by: Red Apr 15 2009, 08:22 PM

I suppose that someone have asked this before in this thread, but let's say i buyed one album from Blind Guardian for about 15 euro/dollars, how much of that would you guys get?

I really would feel alot better when buying an album if the band i bought from would get around 10 euro/dollars of that 15.

I suppose that it's a really high number, but do you get anything near that?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 15 2009, 08:40 PM

There is no fixed price, it depends on many things, like the country in which you bought it, if the cd was full price, mid price, low price, whatever.

Posted by: Red Apr 15 2009, 08:47 PM

But can you get as much as that from an album? Sorry if I'm annoying.

Posted by: jer Apr 15 2009, 09:24 PM

How about this. Is it better for the bands if we go thru the merch links on the official band website?

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 15 2009, 09:31 PM

Guys, I don't know what kind of deals other bands have with their merch companies, I can't answer such questions, sorry.

Posted by: jer Apr 15 2009, 09:34 PM

no prob. I can understand that.

Fans want to support them as much as they can. I'd buy the cds at the gigs if I didnt want the album on opening day.

Posted by: Didrid Apr 19 2009, 12:44 PM

Who of Blind Guardian has more achievement points? Do you have any feats of strength like Ashes of Al'ar, Scarab Lord or Realm First? :-)

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Apr 26 2009, 05:43 PM

I don't care about the achievments that much, I do them when I am in the mood, but I for sure didn't try to be the first in anything on my server, we are talking about a game that I want to enjoy, this is not sports to me.

Posted by: Tono Fyr May 21 2009, 03:42 PM

How involved are you currently with the writing process of the new Blind Guardian album? I know Hansi and Andre are trading stuff off with each other via the internet, but are you?

Do you plan on writing any songs for the new album?

Just throwing this out there, All The Kings Horses could've been on Twist, I would have definitely preferred it over 10+ minutes of silence leading up into the interview.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 25 2009, 12:39 PM

What is so bad about the silence? About writing, I always work on some things, but Andre and Hansi definitely are the main songwriters.

Posted by: Didrid Dec 4 2009, 04:27 PM

I wonder if you are taking part in celebration of WoW anniversary by submitting a photo http://www.wow-europe.com/wowanniversary/battlecry/

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Dec 4 2009, 09:39 PM

I celebrate my 5 years of WoW in a different way... I play the game