For nearly 40 years, Ralf Scheepers has been the voice of European power metal. His career began in the 80s with underground kings Tyran’ Pace, exploded in the early 90s with the Kai Hansen formed Gamma Ray, and grew even larger in legend the half of the decade with the formation of Primal Fear, who celebrates their 25th anniversary this year. To celebrate this historic occasion, Atomic Fire Records are releasing a special edition reissue of the band’s classic self titled album. We sat down with Scheepers to discuss this album, the early day’s of Primal Fear, and that time he almost sang for the Metal Gods.
Greetings Ralf and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Ralf Scheepers: Hello Joe! I’m fine, thank you. How are you?
I’m doing fantastic! We’ve got a lot to talk about in such little time, so let’s hop right into it. This year, Primal Fear celebrates their 25th anniversary with a reissue of their self titled debut album. Now we can’t talk about this album without talking about the band’s formation first. What events occurred that led to you teaming up with Mat Sinner and Tom Naumann?
RS: Yeah, there’s a little bit of history. We didn’t start with Primal Fear right away with our single careers. There was Sinner and Gamma Ray, like you just mentioned before. The split (with Gamma Ray) also happened because of the application with Priest and so forth, which did not happen, so I was sitting around doing nothing *laughs*. Then Mat called and asked me if I wanted to join them in the studio in his hometown area of Stuttgart. They were recording another Sinner album and asked me if I wanted to join to do some choirs in the studio, which is what I did.
We sat together later and he said, “Hey Ralf. You just can’t stop your career. You have to do something.” So we somehow decided to write some songs. That’s what we did! We recorded the demo with 4 tracks, which is also on the first album. We sent it to Japan because those guys were still waiting for me from JVC back in the day. We got a record deal right away with Japan, which was a great start. Then the European companies got to know that we teamed up, so a fight actually started! People wanted to sign us, which is a great position to start from *laughs*, so that’s what happened. We were really happy. We went into the studio and recorded the tracks.
Whereas Gamma Ray played straightforward power metal, Primal Fear always seemed to go between power metal and the more traditional metal sound associated with Sinner. Did the band intentionally set out to combine the two styles, or did it just occur as such?
RS: Exactly the second. It just occurred. When we write songs, it’s an honest thing, whatever we do. When we don’t stand behind something, we would never release it. That was really written from the heart, what we felt back in the day. We didn’t care about the grunge times or that metal was not so popular back then. We didn’t care about that. As a musician, you only sit down and right, no matter what’s popular. That’s what we did and I think it was quite successful. We were really happy about it.
It definitely was successful, and I think that’s what fans appreciate, not just then, but now. Of course, as you said, back in the late 90s, there was always that need for the traditional metal sound, even if it wasn’t “fashionable” or whatever may have you. You guys tapped that vein and came storming out of the gate with this album that’s rightfully being celebrated.
RS: Yeah, our chart position back in 1998 was #48, which is quite different nowadays. You have to sell some pieces and that’s really, really a good thing.
Definitely. When it came to writing those first songs for the demo, what was the band’s songwriting process? Who handled lyrics and who handled music?
RS: I remember we sat together as a team. Tom had rudimental guitar riff ideas and Mat as well, and also lyrics and melodies. It was 3 people writing back in the day, Tom, Mat, and me, and then Klaus (Sperling) as a drummer, of course. The second guitarist, Stefan (Leibing), came in on the second album, so you could tell it was just Tom, Mat, and me writing, which is still the basic team nowadays as well in terms of writing.
Although Primal Fear was formed after your departure from Gamma Ray, Kai Hansen guested on “Formula One”, “Dollars”, and the cover of Deep Purple’s “Speed King”. Was it important for you to be on good terms with him after the split? Furthermore, how was it to have him appear on the album?
RS: After the split with Gamma Ray, we settled things out like 2 weeks later. I’m not a guy who likes bad air or bad laundry or whatever. I called him up and what a great phone call. He totally understood my application with Judas Priest. He said he would’ve done the same thing in the end. Things were set already by the record company for Gamma Ray to have Kai as the singer because people wanted to listen to him sing, which is also, of course, smart. Everything was fine. We’re buddies since then and always. Everything was sorted out. We invited him to the studio to record 2 solos and it was a great time again. It’s always good to have a good time with old buddies *laughs*.
You and Kai go way back. In fact, I read in an interview with him that upon their formation, you were the singer Helloween initially wanted. How close did that come to happening?
RS: It’s funny because I think I was too young *laughs*. I think I was 16 or 17 and still in my first band, Tyran’ Pace. We released 3 albums with that band. Those guys were my friends, my buddies, but I had family here. I was just starting to learn a job, so that was really too early for me to leave my home and join a band from Hamburg. That was pretty much me being a greenhorn, not being mature enough to decide those kinds of things, which is a huge step.
Speaking of the “Speed King” cover, have you ever crossed paths with any members of Purple over the years?
RS: Yes! I’m really happy I got to know Ian (Gillan) during the Rock Meets Classic tour. I was a choir singer and every night was a fanboy experience, being back there and listening to his voice in my in-ears. That was just great. What a gentleman. What a really, really honorable guy that he is, especially with his history. He’s a really nice guy. That’s always coming back. Whenever I met my idols from back in the days, whenever I met those guys, I’m really happy that everybody is so down to earth and so nice and wonderful. That’s just great.
Of all those classic singers, who was the one that made you say, “I want to do this.”?
RS: I was an 80s New Wave of British Heavy Metal boy *laughs*. Of course, I also include Scorpions and Accept, because they weren’t British, but German. I was, of course, a Maiden and Priest guy. When (Judas Priest’s) Unleashed in the East (1979) came out, I was just blown away. I was walking through the alleys of my hometown and just copying those screams. I thought, “Wow, I can do that too! Maybe I should be a singer!”
My favorite song on Primal Fear has long been the epic ballad “Tears of Rage”. How did this song come to be?
RS: Actually, it was Mat’s idea. It started with the synth, and that was the extraordinary thing on that album, with the synth intro and everything. That was pretty much a Mat thing. Of course, if you are a singer, you always will go into the story to transport the lyrics and the feeling. I always say, and this is still nowadays, if somebody’s playing on an album and brings in his soul on an instrument, it’s also his song in a certain percentage. Of course, there’s the rudimental composer who comes up with the ideas and so forth, but we always worked as a team. You can’t say, “This song is only from that guy.” or “This song is only from this guy.” Whenever somebody brings in his soul in a song, it’s also his song in a way.
From a vocal perspective, which songs on Primal Fear were the most fun or challenging to record?
RS: I think “Nine Lives”, and “Speed King” was not so easy to cover as well, but it’s a cover song. So from our songs, it’s pretty much “Nine Lives”.
This expanded edition of Primal Fear features three bonus tracks: A cover of Accept’s “Breaker”, and live versions of “Chainbreaker” and “Running in the Dust”. Are these live tracks from around when the album was released or were they recorded more recently?
RS: I think it’s more recent. Well it’s not really recent, but about a decade ago. I really don’t know. We’ve played those songs all around the globe for so many years that I can’t remember *laughs*.
What are your memories of Primal Fear’s first shows? Did the band immediately hit the euro fest circuit upon the debut album’s release?
RS: Yes, we did Wacken and I think we did an opening show for Running Wild, which was pretty impressive for us. I think it was a 5 or 10 show tour, which is not much, but in the end it was very impressive. You feel that there’s a chemistry and that people like our style. The raw sounding band was really convincing the people that this was an honest thing going on. That gave us a good feeling too, after the first album, that we were accepted so well live.
After gaining that momentum, when did you first tour America?
RS: Good question. I think that was later. That was in the Nuclear Fire (2001) era. After the third album, we stepped into America for the first time. I think we did some ProgPowers before, and some kind of odd indoor festival thing. It was those kinds of things, convention halls and that stuff. It was pretty different to what we explored here in Europe as festivals.
Yeah, the festival scene here in America has always been different from Europe. It’s funny because from the way you’re describing it, was one of those festivals Milwaukee Metalfest?
RS: Yes! Exactly *laughs*!
Yeah, Milwaukee is only an hour or so north of me! I didn’t even know you guys played one, but as soon as you said “convention hall”, I thought, “That sounds like the stories I’ve heard of the old Milwaukee Metalfests.”
RS: Exactly, it was those kinds of things with noise coming from every corner of the building *laughs*.
During those early Primal Fear shows, aside from the first album, did you find yourselves doing Gamma Ray and Sinner songs as well?
RS: Yes, we played “One with the World” from Gamma Ray. We also had a Priest cover track, and some Sinner too. I think we played “Used to the Truth” and one other song from Sinner. With only one album to our name, we had to pimp up the setlist somehow.
As we said earlier, the Priest thing was pivotal to Primal Fear forming in the first place. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say you got the Priest gig. How do you think your inclusion, vocally and creatively, would’ve impacted the band’s sound?
RS: I don’t know *laughs*. I only know that I can sing the Priest stuff and that’s why I did my application. In the end, I did not accept anything at first until the letter came in that they were interested, but that’s so long ago now. I even have the letter back here *points behind*. The answer from the management I’ll always keep, because it’s a milestone when you get a letter from the band you worship. Everything happened correctly and everything was OK for everybody in the end. Primal Fear was born, Ripper (Owens) was in Priest, and now Rob (Halford) is back in Priest. Everything’s just fine, so everybody’s happy.
I agree. Can we expect subsequent Primal Fear reissues in the future?
RS: Never say never, but I think yes. Of course, there will always be some candies included in addition to somehow please the fans and give them back a little something. They always were so true to us and stick with the band. We’re going through a hard time still with the illness of Mat and so forth, but you can be sure that we will be around and record some new stuff soon or play some live shows again. Be patient, we’re still there. We did not somehow vanish. We’re working on stuff and it’s gonna be great.
It’s funny because my next question was going to be, “What are Primal Fear’s plans going forward?”, but something else occurred to me. With the reissue of this album, as the years go by, we’re going to start seeing the 25th anniversaries of all those early Primal Fear albums because they were released back to back. Is it amazing to you that all these years later, the band is still in demand and the fans are still that excited?
RS: You don’t know where the time went! Of course, we all started earlier with Gamma Ray and Sinner and so forth. Even with Tyran’ Pace, I was a 16 year old boy, which is now 42 years ago. Time just flies. In our heads, we’re still those metalhead kids, but we can somehow tell by our bodies that something’s changed *laughs*.
The deluxe edition of Primal Fear comes out Friday, July 15 on Atomic Fire Records. For more information on Ralf Scheepers and Primal Fear, visit www.primalfear.de/home/.