GOTTHARD Guitarist Says Band Is Close To Choosing New Singer

Radio Metal recently conducted an interview with guitarist Freddy Scherer of Swiss hard rockers GOTTHARD. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Radio Metal: We heard the new GOTTHARD live [a;bum], and what a performance! It is really nice to hear the band again!

Freddy Scherer: It is true this is a particular performance, because of all the things linked to it, because of Steve's [Lee, vocals] death. We recorded it on the third to last gig of the last "Need To Believe" tour. In fact, we recorded it in order to take a break we wanted a year off to work on the new album and on an acoustic project but unfortunately everything has changed The DVD was supposed to be released in January, but we thought it was not a good thing to do only three months after Steve's death. So we waited for the first anniversary of his death.

Radio Metal: How did the band go through these times right after Steve's death? What happened and what have you done until today?

Freddy Scherer: The first months were very difficult because, you know, if there is a death in your family, you can still go out, you can go anywhere, in a restaurant or a bar. Here there were no places for us to go to; we couldn't run away because each time we went out, the neighbors came out to ask us questions. And when we went to a restaurant, the chef himself came and asked us questions. The two first months were really intense. We took time to talk, just the four of us, we discussed about our thoughts, about what each of us wanted to do. It was a way for us to cope with the situation as well as we could. Two or three months later we met again and talked about our projects, in order to know if we would carry on playing music together, under the name of GOTTHARD. There were so many aspects to consider. First we all wanted to go on creating music, and secondly we all wanted to do this together. And the most important thing was that Steve's family, his father, mother and sister, called us several times to tell us that Steve would have wanted us to carry on under the name of GOTTHARD. They told us that he would have carried on the same if he had been in our place. Considering all these things, we decided to go on, but we didn't know if it was really possible because it wasn't enough just to want it, we had to find a good singer. So in February-March we began slowly to announce that we were looking for a new singer. Six months later, we have almost decided who it will be. I think almost 450 singers have sent us emails, pictures and recordings, etc. Luckily, the management team made a pre-selection, so in the end we received only 150 applications. We invited fifteen singers to Switzerland in our studio to spend some time with us and think together about music and about GOTTHARD. I can tell you that we are hesitating between two or three of them. Auditions are closed and one among those who came to see us will be our new singer. It is the final stage, we are composing music and writing songs with them and we see how it goes.

Radio Metal: Are they famous rock/metal singers or unknown ones?

Freddy Scherer: You can find both among them; there are very famous ones and others nobody has heard of. Today, we can still choose between two or three singers but we decided not to give out their names because it can be disturbing for the famous ones. I believe that in about a month or two we will have made our decision. It is really important for us to take all the time we need. A year has already gone by; we want to take as much time as we can. Besides, we began to write songs for our next album, we began two or three months ago, and at the moment we already have thirteen or fourteen songs that we have already worked on in studio. We'll see how it goes. For now, what matters most for us is to make a choice and then make the album with the new singer, because I believe it is very important to introduce him for the first time with a new project, so that he will be able to show everyone his own nature. It would not be a good thing to introduce him on a tour, playing our old songs, because naturally, everybody would compare him to Steve, and he will not be able to make a name for himself.

Read the entire interview from Radio Metal.