Volker Leson is the bass player of German heavy metal band Wizard, but recently his musical heart told him to do something different for a change, so he started a project. This project – based on the books of German science fiction writer Wolfgang Holbein – was recently released as ’Delany – Blaze & Ashes’. We of course wanted to know some things about this project and rapidly found out that true heavy metal bass players do not play complex…
My compliments on the Delany album, it is enjoyable listening experience! It is something completely different of what you normally do, so why this project - based on a novel by a German writer - and how did it al come together? It is now more than five years ago I built up my first recording studio and I thought doing by learning is the best. To write songs is no problem for me but to record them was. I decided to do a solo project that has nothing to do with Wizard, but I needed stuff for the lyrics. Then I found the first two books from Wolfgang Hohlbein: ‘Chronicle Of The Immortals’. They were amazing. This would be the right stuff for lyrics. So I asked Dano, our guitarplayer, if he was interested to play the guitar for an solo project and we did it. During this time I have learned a lot of things about recording and so on. A a couple of years though I thought that most songs were actually pretty good. So I searched for Wolfgang Hohlbein on the Internet, found his site and got in touch. I wrote: “Hi, here is Volker Leson from Wizard. I have made an solo project about ‘Chronicle Of The Immortals’. Can I release the songs? I think they are good.? Please contact me on the phone....” So after five minutes my phone rang and the management from Hohlbein was on the other end of the line. “Hi. We think it will be great to do a project with you. Come to Wolfgang tomorrow and we can talk about it”. Alright, the next day I sat in the livingroom of Wolfgangs home and we talked about how to realize this project. This is basically how it all went down and nowadays Wolfgang, his manager Dieter and their families and my family became good friends and we invite us as often as possible.
What did Wolfgang think of the idea at first? And did he have a listen to the album? Wolfgang and Dieter are both metal and rockfans, so they thought very positive about the cooperation between books and music. Yes of course, he and Dieter heard it and they like it very much and they are looking forward to realize more musik projects with me.
The songwriting was done by you, Davy Vain and Torsti Spoof. Did you knew these guys already or did someone propose them? I didn't know them. The record label proposed them and I am very glad about this happening, because we have all our own style to write songs. So the album has many different styles on it so it does not become boring. By the way, all musicians are great on this album and they all did an amazing job.
The ones who read ‘Chronicle Of The Immortal’ already know, but does the album follow the story of the novel? Nearly. Davy an Thorsti didn't know the story as good as me but their lyrics every time have something to do with the dark feeling of the book. I think they did a great job.
It appears that most songs are written in favour of the vocals. Some songs could have been slightly ‘better’ (perhaps) by having something extra (guitar) or if there was some more power or complexity. What is your opinion - as a heavy metal bass player - on that? Haha. You ask the heavy metal bass player from WIZARD for complexity. That's a good one hahaha. Okay, seriously now. When you are finished with a song you always think it is great, but after two months you think like hmm, here a guitarlick and there a drumbreak that could be better. This time it is the same. I know that there are some parts that are not as good as other parts. But shit happens you know. I think that this is an album with good songs, good singers and good musicians who came from all over the world to create something new in a short time span and for that is it really good.
With David Readman, Lana Lane and Davy Vain some fine singers are brought together in the ‘Delany’ project. Also the musicians are established names in the scene. Is there a chance this ‘group’ will perform on stage (like a musical) or is it just meant to be a project to listen to? I hope so. It woul be great to rock with them on stage but if it ever happens, I don't know.
Were these names the first ones that came up or did you have other singers and/or musicians in mind? Oh, we had a very big list of singers and musicians. So the record company asked them and the one who are on this album believed in this project and came over to do their job.
There is a song ‘Angel Of The Dark’ sung by WIZARD singer Sven D’anna that should be meant for a ‘bühnen-show’ (live performance). Was he put aside in favour of the other singers? I don’t think so, because Sven sung this song only for a demo.
Did all participants join in at once or were there some doubts? This album was recorded in three or four studios. At first we made demos. On that demo Tommi played the drums. After that we recorded my bass and Dano’s guitar in my studio. Then Lana sung her parts in the studio of her husband. David sung his parts in another studio and Davy too. When this was done all files went to Dennis Ward and he mixed and mastered it.
Now you released a new Wizard album (‘Thor’) almost one year ago and with all the participants having their own commitments, are there any plans for a second Delany album? There are indeed plans for another Delany album. We will see when and how and with which musicians. It is an project that can be established in the metal scene if the people like it. We will see what time will bring.
With Wizard you have a twenty years of heavy metal history. Now that you have done this project do you feel like making more of this kind of rock music? This time I had the feeling for that kind of music. Perhaps the next one will be harder, or maybe not. I will just do what my heart tells me. I think this sound of music fits to the book of Wolfgang and that is the main thing for me.
Some say the ‘The Chronicles’ should be filmed. Would you like to do the music, if asked? Yes of course I would like to do it. I like filmscore’s. If they ask, I will do it immediately. It will be something new for me but I think I can manage it. And a movie about the ‘Chronicle Of The Immortals’ will be great, I think
That’s it for now, if you would like to add anything or have a shout at our readers, the space below is yours… I'm very proud of this project and I think it is a good piece of Heavy Rock. Let me know if you like it too or not. Write to leson@magichall.de.Metal on!
It appears that most songs are written in favour of the vocals. Some songs could have been slightly ‘better’ (perhaps) by having something extra (guitar) or if there was some more power or complexity. What is your opinion - as a heavy metal bass player - on that?
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