I'm sure there are a lot of people here on GMC that are interested to know how you made it.

How did you go from being just a guitarist, to being in a headlining band?

Great question; I'd like to know that too.

I would like to know too how and when did you start man if it is ok

I'd say it is mostly through contacts and a huge amount of luck, I don't know though, just my guess!

man id love to know this too!!!

AND hard work I guess

And writing amazingly catchy and awesome songs helps

Muris should be famous as well. All instructors on this site deserve success.

Luck? We're not talking Ashley Simpsons here.

It takes ALOT of hard work!

its about hard work, dedication and love of the music. contacts and luck play a very small role.

Only a few bands (excluding pop) are truly lucky. Metallica for example. They got famous basically overnight.

I wouldnt say that..
Metallica slowly built up a HUGE fanbase in the 80ies, without a single video on MTV or much airplay. Then they got a break with the Black Album.

They played quite big arenas before the Black Album was released

They went from playing in clubs one day to touring in stadiums the next. I don't mean that literally of course, but they built up a huge fanbase after Kill 'em All. The Black Album was very commercialized, though, so that was when they got even bigger. But look at other early thrash acts like Megadeth, Exodus, etc. Metallica was insanely popular compared to them.

I think luck definately plays a huge role, you could say that it is all about hard work, to make things SOUND good, but I know of plenty of bands that work their butt off 24/7, are dedicated like none other, and get nowhere, but usually that is ok, because they just love music so much that being famous is just a plus. So I would say hard work is important, but has a minor role in becoming famous.

Well.. How'd you get to know them?

If you want to be famous, you CAN be famous. It might require quitting your job and touring the country with some other bands. You might have to use your amp as a pillow and eat more than a few cans of beans; but you can make it through hard work. Sure, you could wait around and just hope that a record exectutive is at one of your shows and likes what he hears, but I would perfer the other option.

I just hope that I have the courage to do it some day.

Meh, underground music scenes. I'm not a big fan of hardcore music but there are couple bands in my town at various venues that you can just feel how hard they are trying in their music to make a statement.

I'm not sure if I consider luck to be a factor. Some bands may seem like they are over night superstars but, assuming they are any good, they spent countless hours practicing, writing and gigging with little recognition.

Of course there are always pop stars that just know the right people. They get songs written for them, have their voices changed by computers and sadly make millions of dollars... but you know what? I rather be a dirt poor true rocker than to be a marketed image like they are. I don't think any of us want their "luck"

A lot of bands that make it big do so through by being aggressive. Instead of hoping that a record company will sign them, they go out and get a contract.

That being said, just the other day I thought about how it would feel to be in a big band. I'd be very interested in knowing how Marcus got to where he is, and how he feels about it.

I can't even imagine the transition from first learning to play a few notes on guitar to becoming an internationally respected guitarist

I'd say without a doubt luck is a factor. Hard work is crucial but luck needs to be there for things to work. Now luck has diminished quite a bit due to myspace and such but luck is still necessary.

Muris is a wise man I guess what made us become the band that we are today is the fact that we shared a vision about what we wanted to achieve, and the will to work for it. We have not been this kind of overnight success that some of you guys talked about, we grew slowly but steadily with every album that we released. We always focused on our vision, we never compromised about this, thats the reason for example why the time between 2 BG albums is not really short. If it takes us 2 years to write 10 or 12 songs for a new album then we will take those 2 years to write them, we don't want only 2 or 3 good songs and fill the rest with weaker stuff just for the sake of releasing an album once a year. I am not saying that we were not lucky, a bit of luck might have been helpful too of course, but luck doesn't make a band last for 20 years in this business We put a lot of work into our band, a lot of devotion, and most important, we LOVE what we are doing, we enjoy being in this band.

exactly. i don't believe in luck.

Inspiring words, Marcus, for all the people that are trying to live with his music ... like me !!
I think we must be prepared for the worse but fight to get the best. That's my thought

Actually small amount of luck is welcome,
just to get to some point(or someone) a little bit easier and faster maybe.
But it's not crucial for sure,hard work and devoting is.

Thanks for a very inspirational reply Marcus!

I find this part particularly motivating



Not only does this justify the time gaps between my own band's songs but I also think this applies to playing and practicing in general: If you want quality (and who doesn't ? Quality is what you hear in your favorite musicians) give it some time combined with extremely hard work!

Well I believe that there are two major things in life, things that depend on us and the things that don't.

For the things that depend on us, we cannot hope for the luck but work hard to achieve it, but also need a bit of luck that the other things align with us as well

I think it's quite hard to stay together for 20 years+. That probably means, you guys just fit eachother, that's cool!

Of course being lucky once in a while is a nice thing, but you just can't make any plans for your own future based on luck, if luck is all you have to offer you won't survive, period! And Kristofer is absolutely right, quality takes time, of course it is possible to write a full album in a few weeks and record it in another few weeks,but will the songs be good ones in the end? Will the album sound good? I have my doubts... well, I know that I can't write songs like that at least

So well explained.

There is an old saying that might be appropiate too, it's something like "Chance favors the prepared mind"

I believe that's true.

This is definitely true. German golf pro Bernhard Langer once hit an incredible ball that was actually stuck in a tree, and when some guy asked him in an interview about his immense luck with this ball, his answer was "Yeah, funny, the harder I practice the luckier I get"... Words of wisdom

Well said

for the ones who don't knows bg history, I suggest to read this article:

http://www.the-following.com/page.php?show=history_bg

It's also very funny, it's an interview released by hansi I think

Maybe marcus has some other funny things to tell about that time don't you?

I've just seen the topics development and had a great inspiration, thanks all, some very nice stuff said, especially from Marcus and Muris.

thanks for the responses marcus!

You want to hear something funny about the old BG times? Lol, actually I had to think of this while recording my warming up lesson... back then, warming up for us looked like this... we put our hand above a heater for about 5 minutes

haha that's great

Dude, that reminded me so much of myself. Whenever my band gets together to jam it is always so cold! The joints are all numb and locked up and we crowd around a tiny space heater/run hot water then warm up exercises...then all over again.

Words of wisdom: practice in warm places!

if im playing a show i warm up first, then keep my hands in my pockets in between the time i go on stage haha. oh and i bite on my fingertips a bit before i go on, gets the blood rushing and a little tingly and ready to go, at least it feels that way to me hahah.

That's the secret... the [fornicating] heater! Tell us the brand!

Edited for language - Andrew

How do you feel about BG cover bands or bands playing BG covers? Does it compliment you that young people are trying to play your music and enjoy that?

What are your memories of Belgrade and the concert you had here on 22 jul 2007 ?

Cheers

Of course it is great to see that our music means something to new bands, that we are inspiring or influencing them, so yeah, I love to hear covers that other bands do of our songs. And we also love covering other bands from time to time, like we did with Queen, Deep Purple and many others. And that gig in Belgrade was awesome, all the shows that we played there on the last tour rocked. The only problem that we had last time was our Nightliner, it was so damn hot and the aircondition was about to die The outside temperature was like 42° and inside the bus, WITH the aircondition working, it was around 38°... But playing in Belgrade definitely rocked.

Did you ever think about studying physics deeply or working at a bank?
Do you have favorite movies based on World of Warcraft engine?
Did you try other mmorpg? Lineage 2 to be precise
What do you think about Quake 3, Starcraft?
Did you see a ufo or any member of BG talked to you about it?
Do you believe in astrology?

those are not cool question m8

Studying physics? ähh.... no Working in a bank? No way, I would have to wear a suit and a tie all day long, not my thing My fave movie based on the WoW engine is the cinematic trailer or WoW
If I tried other mmorpg's? What do you mean, other than World of Warcraft???? Are there other games than World of Warcraft?????? Before 2005 I played about every computer game that has ever been released (yeah, I know, I am a bit addicted to computer games), but since the day I bought WoW I stopped playing any other games. All I need is WoW, that's fine for me.
I always loved Starcraft, and I also like Quake 3, just as I loved Parts 1, 2 and 4, but as I just said, since I have WoW I don't really play other games anymore, I buy them, install them, try them for about one hour... and then I go back to WoW
Yes, I already saw an UFO, but no, I don't believe in astrology

Why am i not surprised that someone from BG is playing WoW.... ? haha

lol, I don't know, maybe because it is well known that Andre and me are addicted?

I think I have a title for the next Blind Guardian album: "Nightfall in World of Warcraft" - or the orchestral album will be about WoW, not LoTR

next album??? Orchestral project?????????????? I don't have time for this, I have to raid Mount Hyjal now

Too bad the music in WoW ain't that epic, though

Don`t forget that you also have GMC, we are still waiting for new lessons How about a note in the next booklet under "Marcus thanks..."? But I'm looking forward to see "Marcus & Andrè thank Blizzards' World of Warcraft for its inspiration"

marcus how do you guys came out with bard's song? What the hell have you eat at breakfast that day?

They problaby ate some cereals called: "Win!" and drank "Pure Awesomeness!", and came up with the Greatest acoustic song EVER